This has been an exciting week for us as we were able to Skype with Seth on Christmas.

Here is a screen shot from our Skype session. We were glad that Kevin, McKenzi, April and Clarke could be here to enhance his Skype experience. He looked and sounded good and he has a firmly established farmer's tan. Here is an excerpt from his note to Mary. "Thanks for the edifying call, I think I gained a lot more than you guys know, or than I gave you."

During the week, they had a surprise birthday party for Herman Geny Galvez. 

Here is a related excerpt from Seth's letter. "She has served the missionaries a ton, so we decided to surprise her with a cake and songs that I don't know. She was very emotional to see us, and the family expressed a lot of gratitude. It wasn't much we could give, but the people here appreciate the action more than the things they receive, and after we gave her a surprise she gave us dinner. One thing here is that people are quick to give thanks no matter the circumstances."

Their mission motto is "esforzsarse" which means to exert yourself or strive to do something. 

Since it also has to do with strength (fuerza), they often take pictures attempting to show physical strength.

They were able to  have a zone Christmas celebration with the mission president and his wife.

Here is what he said about that. "We were blessed to have a Christmas Celebration with Pres. Haws and his family, where we enjoyed some gifts and way too much food. It helps us keep the Spirit at times when we can have fun and celebrate with others. I have found it harder to rejoice at times in this area because so many people are suffering from the economy, and destruction in their families. But we carry the promises of the Lord in our hands, and through His mercy we can all be healed, in any level of transgression we are in."

This week, Seth introduced us to some of his new favorite foods, all of which seem to be shrimp based.

"Some local food that we enjoyed. Caldo de Camarón y camarones en general con una salsa. This was super good, but I don't really know how it is made. The tiny shrimp were hand picked out that are in the soup, and it was delicious. " (Note: Here is a description of "caldo de camaron" I found on line. "Caldo de Camarón, or Mexican Shrimp Soup, is a hearty soup full of shrimp and veggies. Usually made with yummy, comforting goodness and lots of love.") 

Finally, here is a portion of his testimony.

"Cuando cada otra cosa falla, todavía tendremos las promesas del Señor. Tenemos que guardar los mandamientos aun si necesitamos sacrificar nosotros mismos. Jesucristo hizo cada cosa para nosotros a fin de que podamos regresar en Su presencia y tener nuestra recompensa en acuerda con nuestras obras."

 (When every other thing fails, we will still have the promises of the Lord. We must keep His commandments even if we need to sacrifice ourselves. Jesus Christ did every thing for us so that we can return to His presence and have our reward according to our works.")

This has been an exciting week in Ciudad del Carmen.

This picture introduces us to Elder de los Cobos, Seth's new companion, on the right. Seth is next to Alejandro who, obviously, was baptized. Next to him is Abraham, a recent convert of Elder Vasquez. On the far left is Ricardo who is investigating the church.

Here is something Seth wrote about events leading up to Alejandro's baptism. "When he [Elder de los Cobos] saw that we had a baptismal date set for Alejandro, he simply said well I guess we are going to visit him every day this week and baptize him. Needless to say I didn't refuse. So we went every day and worked with this young man, and he was very prepared to be baptized, and we believe sincerely that a lot of his family will follow his example."

They played soccer on their P-day. Seth noted that they don't have soccer fields of grass but they play soccer on the basketball courts. To an old basketball player like me, that seems heretical. ;-)

This is a sign of the city's name on the beach. Mary likes to watch Christmas movies on Netflix and one that we watched last week mentioned going to Carmen in Mexico several times.

Here is Seth's early endorsement of his new companion. "We have had a lot of success with setting and securing the goals of baptism with many people. All of our goals for the first 3 weeks of January are very promising with 11 people. The area and I have been very blessed to have Elder de los Cobos to work with us, and I have learned a ton."

Finally, a portion of his testimony - "Sé que si podamos honrar las cosas que sabemos son buenas, Dios va a guiarnos en nuestros deseos. Tengo debilidades, pero estoy aprendiendo ahora mas y mas que él nos ama, y va a guiarnos... tengo mas esperanza ahora en las cosas que puedo hacer por medio de la Expiación de Jesucristo. La fe es en vano, si no podemos ver que todas de estas cosas solo son posibles porque Él sufrió para nosotros."

"I know that, if we honor the things we know are good, God is going to guide us in our desires. I have weaknesses but I am now learning more and more that He loves us and is going to guide us.. I have more hope now in the things that I can do through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Faith is in vain if we can't see that all of these things are only possible because He suffered for us."

We're back.

Seth and Elder Vasquez (pictured) were able to accompany their recent convert, Elizabeth, to the Villahermosa temple on Saturday. I am sure it was a cherished experience for several reasons, including that Seth would soon say goodbye his beloved first companion.

Here is Seth's comment about the temple trip. "Estoy muy contento que pudimos llevar Elizabeth al templo, y que ella podía sentir el amor de Dios allí." (I am very pleased that we could take Elizabeth to the temple and that she was able to feel the love of God there.)

Speaking of saying goodbye to his companion, Here is a send-off party provided by the bishop for Elder Vasquez and Hermana Keller. It included tacos and a Dairy Queen ice cream cake. 

Here Seth and Elder Vasquez are standing with the stake president. Seth seems to stoop a bit when taking pictures with shorter people.

Here, they had a farewell dinner with the zone leaders and their ward mission leader. Elder Herrera, in the back, finished his mission a couple of days later.

Here is an excerpt from his letter. "We had a lot of edifying experiences this week. President Haws made a surprise visit to our Zone Class, and it was a very humbling experience. We had 5 missionaries leave for their houses today, and they bore their testimony and in general the meeting was around them and how we should work in our missions. President Haws described the mission as our temple that we are building to God, and how there should be no laziness, but working in all diligence to make the best temple we can. It is like the Temple of Nephi, who didn't have perhaps all the materials to build a temple like Solomon, but could say that the workmanship was exceedingly fine, and I imagine that no labor or material was spared in making it."

Well, Seth only sent one picture so we will get to it first.

His mother prepares "12-Days-of-Christmas" treats for all the children and grandchildren. They have a treat package to open on each of the 12 days leading up to Christmas. She sent Seth's to him in a missionary stocking obtained in a family White Elephant exchange last year.

Here is a comment he made about the package. "I received the package and no I have not opened any yet. I did remember a couple days later we have problems with ants, and a stuck the packages in the freezer after banging out a lot of them. I hope all is well, just a little more crunchy when I can enjoy the presents."

Since he hasn't developed a pattern of sending many pictures, I have to come up with some of my own. The following shows the distance between where he is serving and where Kevin served about half of his mission

Kevin served on San Pedro Island (noted by the red marker) which is a 10-hour bus/ferry ride from Ciudad del Carmen (city name was cut off in the picture - it is in the Campeche province) and Belize City a 7.5 hour bus ride. Seth gets to see (but not get in) the Gulf of Mexico. Kevin got to see the Caribbean Sea but only get in the bay for baptisms.

Highlights of the week...

• Splits with the Zone Leaders on Wednesday (Seth's companion is district leader so this happens some what regularly.)
• A bad run of intestinal problems which kept him from enjoying a nice meal offered to them
• Helping clean the house and car of a family that rents the apartment to the Zone Leaders on Thursday then traveling to Villahermosa for a zone conference.
• Friday they had a zone conference with a general authority, Elder Pino. Seth learned that he was the Seventy that visited our Stake a few months ago, but we missed it because of a grandson's Baptism.
• Sunday was a big day, "I have been struggling for months to really be happy in this work, and to sacrifice what I needed to with desire. I really don´t what changed, and I couldn't say with exactness something that I realized or anything, but I did learn how to love people a little more. Elder Vazquez is a great example of loving the people and making them feel great, and he is in general energetic and enjoys the blessings of this [work]. When I started acting a little more like him and letting myself joke and talk with the people, I could feel the Spirit enter more."
• Shortly after coming to the above realization, Seth learned that Elder Vasquez was to be transferred in a week -short of the normal training period new missionaries are with their first companion. Elder Vasquez has been a wonderful trainer and we are grateful for him.