And we're back with pictures from Seth.

First we have a winter-rub-your-nose-in-it picture. Evidently, Seth and his companion run on this beach every morning. Evidently, the river-looking water to our right is a sewer drainage system. He says it looks pretty but smells otherwise.

Evidently, Seth and companion left the apartment, locking the door behind them only later to realize they left their keys on the desk.  Here is his account of how they solve their problem.

"We obtained a screwdriver and a large stick, and my companion used some of the things he has learned in México to open one of our windows, then we used the branch to drag our desks to the window, in the process throwing a lot of things to the ground, but we finally got in after a lot of prayer and running around."

Here is how the apartment ended up as a result of this process.

The big news of the week was that Esteban Cayetanos Rosas was baptized.

Here he is surrounded by branch members who helped with his conversion.

Here's why his letter was short again.

"We have been praying a lot lately to gain the confidence of members here, and to have opportunities to serve. Today we were pushed a little behind because we helped clear a plot of land with machetes and sticks for Hno. Aragon. We received the request from him last night, and although it was our P-day, I didn't want to miss any chances to serve when a member asked us. I didn't take any pictures, but it was a lot of work, and I have a lot of blisters. But I do know how to use a machete more efficiently now to do landscaping."

Seth didn't give me any material this week either. Therefore, I thought I would focus on how long he has been preparing for his mission - specifically for the Mexico Villahermosa mission.

If you have been following this blog, you are aware that "la mordida" is an important birthday tradition in the area where he first served.  He established a connection with his future mission on his first birthday by completing his first mordida in fine fashion.

Certainly, proper grooming is an important part of being a missionary. Here Seth is practicing so he can be clean shaven throughout his mission.

You may not be aware that Seth now sleeps in a hammock. He also began his mission preparation by trying one out in the woods. He wasn't quite ready to solo yet so I helped him out.

Anyone who has served a mission knows you can end up having very small living spaces.. Here we find Seth preparing for the most extreme of /confined living.

On to a more serious note, I thought I would share a note I received when I posted something on Facebook about Seth. It came from his seminary teacher from his senior year in high school and suggests that Seth's starting so young to prepare for his mission has paid off.

"Seth, you were a phenomenal seminary student and class president for me. You will work wonders for the Lord in the mission field and throughout your life. I have rarely seen a young man as prepared as you to face the challenges of the latter days. You are to be highly commended brother! I am so glad that I got to teach at Davis last year and was blessed to have you in class. I hope our paths cross again down the road. God bless you my friend."

Seth didn't have time to write much or send pictures so I will provide a little more information on Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz.

Here is a picture of its coastline at night.

Here is some information that I know you will find very interesting.

The population in 2010 was over 300,000.

Highest elevation 160 ft

Lowest elevation 0 ft

It covers 182 square miles.

One of the interesting sites in this city is the Olmec Archaeology Museum. Here is a portion of the graven image that sits on top of it. I'm guessing it is supposed to represent Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent.

Here is the city's shield. You can see the pyramid on which the above image sits.

Here is Seth's testimony from his last letter.

"Testifico que todo será bien si guardamos los mandamientos primero y nos preocupamos luego. Tendremos aflicción, y tal vez no veremos el fin de sufrimiento, pero siempre si haremos que ha sido mandado, salimos en la manera mejor." (I testify that all will be well if we keep the commandments first and worry later. We will have affliction and, perhaps, we won't see the endd of suffring but, if we we will do what has been commanded, things will go best for us.)

We have our first pictures from Seth's new area.  We will start with an introduction to his companion.

This is Elder Milan. His home is roughly 30 minutes from the MTC so he isn't far from Mexico City. He has been in the mission just over 12 weeks.

Now we get introduced to the house in which they are living. Seth reports, "It´s pretty big especially compared to the one in Carmen, with an entry room, small kitchen, and 2 bedrooms, 1 bath. Even though its about 2-3 times as big, its about a third the price of our previous house."

He didn't comment so we are not sure he knows what to do with that thing which is in the corner.

Here we see beds but we are under the impression Seth is using a hammock.

I was going to guess bathroom for this picture but the next picture and the microwave above would suggest they have an awesome kitchen.

Somebody really has things figured out here. As you can see, they have a table full of reading material available to you before you go into the bathroom.

This would appear to be the stereotypical missionary study area.

Blessings come from above, for sure. Sometimes, other things come from above as well.

A bird was feeling pretty good about his/her aim about the time this picture was taken.

Finally, Seth had a nostalgic moment.

The big cross in the distance reminded him of the huge cross just off the freeway about 30 miles from where we lived in Illinois.

Here is part of his testimony. "Testifico que Él pueda hablar a la corazón de cada persona, y si escuchamos al Espíritu y guardamos nuestros convenios podremos ayudar a muchos de sus hijos a venir a Él. Él nos ama, y siempre cumplirá con Sus promesas." (I testify that [God] can speak to the hear of every person and, if we listen to the Spirit and keep our covenants, we can help many of His children come to Him. He loves us and will always keep his promises.)

The big news of the week is that Seth has been transferred.

He was transferred 344 kilometers (214 miles - 5 hours) from Ciudad del Carmen to Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz. This city s a major port city in the southern part of the Mexican state of Veracruz, on the Coatzacoalcos River. Coatzacoalcos comes from an indigenous word meaning "Site of the Snake" or "Where the snake hides". According to the legend, this is the place where the god Quetzalcoatl made his final journey to the sea around the year 999 and where he made his promise to return. (Wikipedia)

Seth is now senior companion and his companion is Elder Milan. We don't know anything about him yet. Seth was serving in a ward but now will be serving in the Olmeca branch.

Here is Seth's final view of Ciudad del Carmen as he is leaving.

In his new area, he will still be looking at the Gulf of Mexico without being able to get in it.

Seth reported, "I knew that this was going to be my last week in the area, and the thing that surprised me most when I told people was how much they were grateful for what I helped bring to pass. The people that we baptized were very grateful, and it helped build my faith a lot to see how they really have had a grand change in their lives."

Here are some pictures from some of the goodbyes.

They helped Carlos Tello celebrate his birthday. (You will recognize "la mordida" to which we were introduced in Seth's birthday celebration.) In Seth's words, "He has been a huge support to us."

The following two pictures are from when they had a farewell dinner with Hermana Marisol.

Hermana Marisol was baptized with her family last week and Seth says he will miss them a lot. Her son Juan Daniel joins them in the second picture. Seth said, "He is really trying to change his life and we helped him in the process and hope he will be able to be baptized soon and receive all the blessings he can." 

I saved the highlight picture for last.

This picture is of the "baptism of Brandon Jared Ramirez Garcia. We helped reactivate this family and Brandon is 10 years old, so we had the opportunity to teach and baptize him. This family is very diligent now, even though they are making a lot of sacrifices."

We are grateful for the good companions and good experiences Seth had in Carmen. We know the Lord has heard our prayers and those of many others in his behalf.

This has been another eventful week for Seth, in very important ways. Let's start with the less important.

Seth stated, "We visited a less active member of the ward who has a business of selling shrimp to a lot of the island. Here we have a photo of about 400 kilos of shrimp that are about as big as my hand extended."
By my calculation, that is 880 pounds of non-shrimpy shrimp.

Calamari is, perhaps, my least favorite food in the world (at least that I have tried).

This picture is of "squid cooked in its own ink." Seth said it actually tastes pretty good. He must have been REALLY hungry.

Now on to important matters. 

A couple who is living together without being married may not be baptized. Romana and Regulo wanted to get baptized and Seth and his companion wanted that for them too. So, their quest to get them married led them to this little house.

Inside this little house was a lady with a typewriter and the authority to marry people.

I guess she conducts official business by pulling a little desk into her living room. Having received the required fee and completed the required paperwork, she declared them husband and wife.

Here is the happy couple with their marriage certificate.

When they arrived home, family members threw a surprise party.

Now for Saturday.

Seven people were baptized in the ward in which Seth is serving. Seth and his companion taught four of them so the sister missionaries must have taught the other three.

The first family mentioned by Seth was introduced to us above.

This is the De La Cruz Sanchez family - from left to right Romana, Regulo, and Fransisca

Here we are introduced to the De La Cruz Jimenez family.

They are, from left to right Marisol, Victor, Luz, Thomas.

Here is Seth's observation about how things are going in their part of the vineyard. "It was such a blessing to see the excitement of the families and of the ward, and now the doors are opening as more members are bringing friends to church and the families of the people who were baptized are now coming to church and learning more of the gospel."

You might want to take a seat to read this post.

I will start with the less-than-great news.
"...both my companion and I contracted Zika. He had the worst of it Tuesday and I had the worst of it Thursday-Friday-ish. It´s kind of interesting what happens, I had a burning fever, and still have a little bit of it, your eyes hurt pretty bad, and all the bones in your body, and also there are tiny red bumps that appear. From what I hear there are usually more than what I had, but I don´t really know. The virus stays in your system for about 1 year and can reappear during this period."

Any parent who sends a child into a tropical climate worries about this. We pray that the year it is supposed to be in his body will go as well as possible.

Now for pictures with background info...

First, we see Seth helping to make a drink that is quite popular in the Tabasco province. (Ciudad del Carmen used to be part of that province.)

It is called Pozol.  His recipe is a little different than the one I found on line but the main ingredients are ground corn, cocoa, sugar and water or milk.. He mentioned peanuts but the on-line recipe called for cinnamon. I guess you stir it in the blender or by hand. The ground corn sounds more interesting than appetizing to me.

Seth's 19th birthday was on Friday and, evidently, he had plenty of opportunities to celebrate.

Here is the first of three birthday cakes provided for Seth. This was provided by the Arregoita family. It is a tradition in that area to take a bite of cake before it is cut and without the benefit of utensils.

Here he is with his companion upon being presented with a birthday cake in the second celebration. This celebration was with the de la Cruz Jimenez but the cake was provided by the Sister Missionaries.

I guess they use high-impact candles down there.

 Again, we have the mordida (i.e. the unorthodox biting of the cake).

Here we are introduced to the tradition of pushing the birthday person's face into the cake when he/she is taking the bite. As you can see, this one is posed and Seth was allowed to remove his glasses.

The third party was with Sister Geni, Brother Carlos Tello, Sister  Marlene, Brother Marcos, and the young men from the ward.

Here we see that Seth's companion was successful in pushing his face into the cake more aggressively than in the previous posed version.

Here is the picture that made me jealous.

I loved the empenadas in Argentina and this one looks similar to those. Ours were all made with beef but this one was made with seafood.  It looks great.

Here is summary of the birthday celebration.

"The people here were very, very generous for my birthday. We had a celebration with cake 2 times Thursday and 1 time Friday night. It was a little hard to show my excitement because it hurt to even move my eyes but I was truly impressed and grateful how much the people were thinking of me and sacrificed a lot just to have a happy celebration. Here the gifts they give are less material wise, but with great sacrifice and work, because almost all of them struggle to buy food day to day, but they always provide enough for us to leave the house more than satisfied. I have seen that the people here are really relying on the Lord, because even though they have less, they give more."

Here is a portion of his testimony. "He aprendido en los últimos días la importancia de misericordia en nuestras vidas. Cada uno de nosotros tenemos que tener misericordia para cada uno de nuestros hermanos, y para nosotros mismos si queremos vivir bajo la influencia del Espíritu y tener la misericordia de Jesucristo en nuestras vidas. " (I have learned in the recent days the importance of mercy in our lives. Each one of us must have mercy for each of our brothers and for ourselves if we want to live under the influence of the Spirit and have the mercy of Jesus Christ in our lives."