I Believe, Help Thou Mine Unbelief

This blog is to share how I have felt the Lord in my life. I love the story of the man who brings his son that is gnashing his teeth and foaming at the mouth for Jesus to bless him. And Jesus said unto him,” if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said in tears, “Lord I believe; help thou mine unbelief. ”I feel so much of the time that my faith and belief are not enough, that I need to be helped. As we journey through this  23 month mission to the Mexico MTC, for the Chiurch of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I want Him to help mine unbelief, to strengthen my faith and help me be a better servant to Him.

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Home

September 29, 2023

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September 28, 2023

Sadie finally come to the CCM, and we leave. We loved being able to spend sometime with Sadie b before we went home. We kept getting different dates that she would be there. You could tell that her district and her companion loved her. Sister Rodriguez said she thought she looked like both Tracy and me. what a compliment!

I was really fun to have Danny show me the walls of several of the building he had designed, using my photos.

It was a fun surprise.

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September 2023

Brother Casteñeda came up to the Area Office for me to film him. It was so fun to have the connection with George Fillmore.

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Independencia

September 15,16 2023

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Ceremonia por La paz en Mexico

September 13, 2023

Tracy and I attended the interfaith day of prayer. some of the pictures I took were published in the Liahona. It really is a beautiful feeling knowing that we can join hands in Faith with other religions.

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Independencia Celebration Kickoff

September 11, 2023

The Argueta's had the celebration in their apartment. Sister Argueta purchased dresses from many of the different states. So, after dinner, the Senior missionary sisters dressed up some of the traditional clothing from several of the states. The dress I wore was from Chiapas. After the fashion show we played some games, one being an electrical shock game, that I guess is pretty common in Mexico.

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El Tepozteco Hike

September 9, 2023

This is where we hiked, this picture make the top look deceptively close.

We visited Tepozteco, so that we could hike up to one of the famous pyramids in Mexico. I am afraid I would not have gone if I would have realized how steep this hike would be, it was almost a 1200 elevation gain, and it felt like we were going straight up. Here is a picture of us when we were only half way up. I think Vickie Deaver's face shows how hard the hike really was.

The trail became entrenched with overgrowth as we climbed higher. When you almost to the top, they have a steel stairway that goes straight up. We were so glad when we finally saw this.

The view was pretty incredible.

We treated ourselves to maracuya ice treat when we returned to town.

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University of the Cloister of Sor Juana

September 2, 2023

We asked Sister Lima to take us to the private University that she attended, the Deaver's were also interested in coming. The University is named after Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz. The school is the in the historic section of Mexico City and was a the former San Geronimo Convent. Sor Juana is famous for her writings and is actually on the front of the 100 peso, so she is well know in Mexico.

It was fun to hear Sister Lima talk about her experiences at the school. There are only 16 students accepted into tthe creative writing program, and she felt very happy to be there. Sister Lima is an amazing Young woman, and knows the value of hard work.

She said walking into this room filled her with so many memories. This was the first class she entered as a freshman.

We then took Sister Lima to the Grand Hotel for lunch. The Grand Hotel was made famous because of the 2016 007 movie. We loved going there, it over looks the Zocalo.

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Happy Birthday Mel

August 30, 2023

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Brunch with the Holtom's

August 26, 2023

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Mexico Sureste

August 23, 2023

We spent the week in the Mexico City Sureste  (South East) mission. I was happy we didn’t have to get on another plane. I think I have spent more time in the Mexico City airport that the Salt Lake City airport. I was nice to meet the new Mission Leaders there. It is such a learning curve to be in that position. I tis a 24/7 job. It seems the first 3 months are the most difficult .We always love meeting with the missionaries and have some that we recognize from the CCM.

The missionaries do love their to have their pictures taken!

Here are some of my pictures that were published on the area noticias.  https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/the-church-of-jesus-christ-joins-the-fight-against-breast-cancer-in-mexico?cid=email-CCD_EM_NEWS_082623_News7c&mkt_tok=NzUyLUlOUS02NzQAAAGN0vdsYUesHqmgria-JebLw4Vpie119FuZuHa80xr6XVuuHheQkKb9ZDJG2irf0yXqEWJ_BKyh9XSHfa3tGv0jsQZdUeFvCwt3cdjSL-of  

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Happy Birthday Hillary

August 22, 2023

Happy Hillary has a Birthday

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Happy Birthday Sadie

August 18, 2023

Sadie is our newest missionary!

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Ozzie's Birthday

August 22, 2023

We are so glad he is here!

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600 miles around the Guadalajara Mission

August 15, 2023

Instead of having the missionaries meet us in certain cities, we went to every district in the mission. The countryside that we drove through was beautiful, many areas looked a lot like Hawaii.

We got very well acquainted with the Alvarez mission leaders. Some days during the week we did 2 health conferences. Tracy and President Alvarez ran 5 miles every morning, so they had a lot of time to talk. Every morning Tracy and President Alvarez would run 5 miles.

The Guadalajara Temple was beautiful.

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Davey's Birthday

August 15, 2023

Davey turns 10!

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Leadville

August 11, 2023

There is no greater joy than to see your children supporting and loving each other.

Mell called me in July and asked if there was anyway I could go to Leadville. She said Jonny keeps saying, ¨I wish mom could be at the race.¨So I told her I would ask our area President, and he said yes.

Mel didn't tell anyone that I ws coming. I arrived after Jonny had left for the race, my plane was delayed and poor <mel had to pic me up at the airport at 1:00 am. We drove to Leadville after the kids were out of school. They are such sweet kids! When we arrived in Leadville we drove close to where the Airbnb. Mel had me duck down so no-one would see me. Jonny was outside, and he came running up and gave me a hug. We then walked to the house, and Stephen said he saw me and thought, ¨Oh there's mom.¨ By then I was in the house and as I walked in Hillary screamed, and Paul and Stephen both gave me big hugs. It felt so nice to be so welcomed. We all went to bed early because the bikers were leaving getting up at 4:00 am.

I took some pictures before the race began.

We watched them take off and jumped in the car to meet them at their first stop.

Stephen made it into the finsh line with 15 seconds to spare, we were all yelling for him and so happy that he made it under 9 hours.

Tracy and I bought silver bicycle bracelets from Taxco for me to give to them when they finished the race. What an amazing experience it was to be with my boys.