A Birthday, A Baby, and Big News

Monday was my birthday and Tuesday was our one year mark on our mission, so it was a week of celebrations. When we woke up Monday morning, our door had been decorated. Pat Wright usually does that, but the Wrights were out of town, so I don’t know who did it. That evening, the missionaries all gathered to have cake. Ron told me that was going to happen, so it wasn’t a surprise. What was a surprise is that instead of getting one of the cakes from the bakery just up the block, the Frandsens went all the way to the Zocalo to get me a cake from the Ideal Bakery, which is famous here. The cake was delicious, so the bakery lived up to its reputation. We have a great group of missionaries, and it is always fun when we get together, even if it is to celebrate me getting older.

     

During the day on Monday, we had a visit from Ally, who was the secretary to the DTA when we first arrived. Her desk was right outside our office, and she helped us a lot as we adjusted to our assignment. About a month and a half after we got here, she left for maternity leave. She sent us pictures of her baby, Tino, but Monday was the first time we got to meet him in person. He is such a doll! It took him a minute to warm up to us, but then he came to me, and he was all smiles. I wish we could have captured his smile in the photo, because as cute as he is when he isn’t smiling, he’s even cuter when he is! It was fun to get to play with a baby for a little while. We miss that here. On Friday we went to the temple. As we were walking up to the gate, I saw a guy who looked familiar. He was holding a baby, and when we got close enough that I could see the baby, I knew why. The baby was Tino, and the guy was Ally’s husband! So we got to see that cute baby twice in one week.

We were able to attend another humanitarian protocol this week. It was for Autismax, a school for children with autism. It started thirteen years ago when a woman named Mary found out her son had autism and started looking for help for him. She found that there were very few resources available for families who couldn’t afford to pay for them. With the backing of a family member, she opened Autismax, which now serves between 40 and 45 children. For the oldest group, ages 17-21, they have a program where they teach them to bake, which gives them a marketable skill. They make cookies, breads, and jam, which the school sells. The school receives money from a couple of foundations which covers their basic expenses, but for extras, they rely on their sales and other donations. Their oven was in bad condition and in constant need of repairs. So our Church stepped in and bought them a new commercial oven, as well as a freezer, a mixer, a baking rack, and other commercial grade equipment. One of the therapists told us she cried when she heard they were getting a new oven. Mary said she cried when she saw all the new equipment. They thanked us profusely, but we told them they were the ones who should be thanked for the great work they are doing. It gives me hope for the world when we get to attend these events and see so many wonderful people who are working to make the world a little better for someone else.

This is Mary welcoming us into the school's new kitchen.

   

Jill Lloyd is in the blue shirt and the rest of the women are from Autismax. The Lloyds are humanitarian missionaries, and it is always a joy when we get to attend events with them.

    

The school's products ready for sale.

     

Of course Ron couldn't leave without buying some of their jam. (They gave us the cookies.)

Here are a few random photos from this week:

We said good-bye to a couple more of our districts from the CCM as they headed out on their missions. It's amazing how quickly we have come to love these kids. They are wonderful!

These parrots are wild and live on the CCM grounds. Getting a photo of them is hard because they are green and are usually in the green trees or on the gree grass. This time they were on a red tree, so they stood out enough to get a photo.

We passed these window washers as we walked to Costco this week. They were hanging from cables from the top of the building. Look closely and you can see a fourth guy way up higher. This looks like the ideal job from someone who is into rock climbing.

     

The marigolds and Dia de Muertos decorations are starting to come out. I'm sure we'll be seeing them all over the city by the end of the week.

     

It was a busy week, but Saturday we finally found time to go out for my "Birthday Dinner." We went to a nice seafood restaurant on Prado Norte. The food was good and the company was the best!

I’ll end with our big news of the week. Saturday our son Colby and his wife, Sydney, sent us a video of their “gender reveal” for their baby who is due the end of February. It’s a boy! So the boys are pulling ahead of the girls in our family. We couldn’t be more thrilled. Now when I see all the darling little Mexican clothes for babies, I’ll know what to buy.