Predictions Update

Chad: South Africa Johannesburg
Joey: Russia St. Petersburg
Grandpa A: Tennessee
Grandma A: Brazil
Tyler: Argentina Buenos Aires North
Me: Argentina Rosario
Russ: Still thinking! :)
Brent: Chile Santiago
Brad: Mexico (not MCE)
Paula: Ireland
Daniel: Southern States or Mexico
Jessi: North Atlanta or Idaho Boise
(welcome to the family Jessi!)
David: Portugal
Sarah: Spain

Book of Mormon Reading for this week

We've really enjoyed our Book of Mormon Study Program so far, I can't wait to hear from the missionaries on how they are doing.

Here's the reading schedule for this week:
Monday: 1 Nephi 13-14
Tuesday: 1 Nephi 15-16
Wednesday: 1 Nephi 17-18
Thursday: 1 Nephi 19-20
Friday: 1 Nephi 21-22
Saturday: 2 Nephi 1-2
Sunday: 2 Nephi 3-4

It's not too late to get started!

Where will Ryan go?

Here are the predictions that we have so far:

Chad: South Africa Johannesburg
Joey: Russia St. Petersburg
Grandpa A: Tennessee
Grandma A: Brazil
Tyler: Argentina Buenos Aires North
Me: Argentina Rosario
Russ: He's still thinking about it :)


Please send yours to me or put your prediction in the comments!

Happy Birthday Chad!

I think this is such an appropriate picture for Chad's birthday! He has always loved to hold the camera out in front of himself and snap pictures. We have A LOT of these from his mission, and throughout his life. This is just something Chad likes to do, and we like to see. :)

We can always count on Chad to come up with nicknames for people (his brothers). Some of the favorites are:

Swaddly-odds

Chachi

Tubs of Luv

Tubs of Joy

Tubs of Peace

The Stallion

Reeyanos

The Chippewa

Tiddlywinks

Child of Joy

The SOURCE of all wisdom

Happy Birthday Chad - We love you! :)

90 Day Study Program

Yesterday our mission began a unified study of the Book of Mormon. We are reading together for the next 90 days.

We are marking four different things in four different colors:

1. Every reference about Jesus Christ (any of His names or pronouns that refer to Him).

2. His words (said by Him or by Prophets when they say: "Thus saith the Lord").

3. His attributes.

4. The doctrines and principles about conversion.

Then we count the number of references marked about Jesus Christ and write the total at the bottom of each page.

"There is a power in the Book of Mormon which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book. You will find a greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow path."

President Ezra Taft Benson, Ensign, November 1986

We'd love to have anyone and everyone join us for this study program. Yesterday's reading was 1 Nephi 1-3, and today's is 1 Nephi 4-6. Saturday is 1 Nephi 7-10 and Sunday is 1 Nephi 11-12.

"Cambios"

Russ meets with the Assistants, Elders Puga and Zapata, and also the secretaries, Elders Carretaro, Bryan, Olson and Munoz - to go over the transfers for the next cycle. They are a tremendous help and give good insights into what is going on in the mission.

These are the missionaries that finished their mission last Friday. Elder Can, Elder Lozada, Hermana Lome, Hermana Ramirez, and Elder Castaneda went back to their families. We'll miss them!

My New Favorite Picture

Pictures from Italy (Finally!)

We received a CD with pictures from Tyler on Monday - YAY! Here are some of my favorites.

Zones of the Mission, Part 3 of 3

This is the Los Reyes/Ixtapaluca Zone.

No sisters here.

This is the Azteca/Vergel Zone.

All of these sisters also work in the Visitor's Center.

This is the Neza/Pantitlan Zone.

No sisters out here, either.

That's everyone in the mission right now.

Things will change with the next transfer, though - it's right around the corner.

Zones of the Mission, Part 2 of 3

This is the zone in Pachuca, a city about two hours drive to the north and slightly to the east.

This zone includes a senior couple who work with CES in Pachuca.

This zone is Pachuca Centro.

Most of the missionaries in this zone work in a city called Tulancingo.

This is the Anahuac Zone, mostly elders again,
but two sisters who also serve in the Visitor's Center.

Zones of the Mission, Part 1 of 3

We have a total of nine zones in our mission right now.

This is the La Perla Zone.

All elders serving out here, a little too dangerous for the sisters.

This is the Tecamac Zone.

It is a little north and east of the city, but still considered inside Mexico City.

This is the Aragon/Moctezuma Zone.

These missionaries live and work fairly close to Temple Square.
All these sisters also work in the Visitor's Center.

Elder Hinckley Visits Mexico City

Over the past weekend, we had the opportunity of meeting with Elder Richard Hinckley. He is the Executive Director of the missionary department. He came here with Bro. Steve Allen, the managing director of the missionary department, and Bro. Mark Lusvardi, the director of Visitor's Centers and Historic Sites around the world.


They came to see the Visitor's Center here, and also check out the MTC. We took them to our favorite Chinese restaurant on Saturday night - "Blossom" - best chinese we've ever had! Anyway, we had a good discussion with them about some issues we are facing with our Visitor's Center Sisters. They were very responsive and very willing to listen to all of our concerns. It was great to meet all of them.


On Monday, Elder Hinckley and Bro. Lusvardi met with the sisters and gave them some training and words of encouragement. The sisters had worked hard to prepare a special song for Elder Hinckley. They sang "As Sisters in Zion" in English! It was beautiful.

Birthday for Joey

Today is Joey's birthday! Hope you have a happy day and do something fun. We are so blessed to have Joey as our daughter-in-law and a wonderful part of our family. She's a special lady.


Wow, we have had 3 birthdays in four days! I think in the future we'll have one giant birthday party on the 31st!

Birthday and Blessing Day

Today is Camille's birthday and Luke's blessing day. We are so blessed to have Camille as our daughter-in-law and mother of our first grandchild. Luke's blessing was beautiful, we got to hear it over the phone as Brandon pronounced it. Thanks to all of you for including us on this special day!

Thanks to all of our family for all the love, support, and prayers they give to us. We have so many blessings - and our family is the best one of all!

Happy Birthday Anziano Bulloch

Today is Ty's big day. Although he won't see this, I still want to recognize that it's his birthday today. I really liked what Camille did for Brandon's birthday, so I looked up a few facts from Ty's birth year.

President of the U.S.: Ronald Reagan
Vice President: George H.W. Bush
U.S. Population: 244,498,982
World Population: 5.104 billion
Average cost of a new home: $91,600.00
Average income: $24,450.00
Cost of a first class stamp: .22
Cost of a movie ticket: $3.50
Cost of a gallon of gas: .91
World Series Champions: Los Angeles Dodgers
Superbowl Champions: Washington Redskins
NBA Champions: Los Angeles Lakers
Wimbledon Champs: Stefan Edberg & Steffi Graf
Kentucky Derby Winner: Winning Colors
Best Film Oscar Winner: Rain Man
Doppler Radar was invented by Christin A. Doppler
Singing duo Milli Vanilli exposed as lip syncers
Hubble Telescope goes into operation
CD's outsell vinyl records for the first time

We love you Ty! Happy Birthday!

What's This?

Can anyone guess what this stuff is? Hint: It's light and fluffy, like cotton candy. If someone guesses correctly, you will win a FABULOUS prize.

Jen had the correct answer - it's Mexico's version of Beef Jerky! :)

The Gatemen

These two guys are in charge of the front gate of our cul-de-sac. One of the two are here 24 hours a day. We rarely see them together. The other morning as we were leaving for zone conference, they were both at the little casita, probably for the "changing of the guard". Russ jumped out of the car and took their picture. Fidel is on the left, and his cousin Francisco is on the right. They are really nice guys, and we appreciate them keeping our little part of Mexico safe. Sometimes we bring them Krispy Kremes, so we think they like us :)

Christmas Phone Call :)

We enjoyed talking to Anziano Bulloch on the phone for Christmas yesterday. It was the highlight of the day. Russ, Ryan and I all had a handset, so we could all hear and talk at the same time. It was almost like sitting around the table talking like we used to. We loved it!

Ty is doing great. He is in the last stretch of his mission, with just a little more than five months to go. He loves his new companion Anziano McGuire and really enjoys working so closely with and getting to know President Dunaway better. He also likes having access to a car, instead of taking the bus, even if it is a stick shift and he had to learn how to drive it for the first time. :)

It was great to hear his voice and feel the connection to him. He sends his love to everyone and hopes you all have a great 2009.