More from Mexico

Hey everyone!
So this week was good. Anyways, mom, yes I´m finally starting to like the food. You get used to eating stuff you don´t like, and I´m starting to gag a lot less when I eat hahaha. Thanks for that wonderful trait mom. =) So ya things are going good. We´ve been working super hard and finding lots of new people. The only down side is the majority of the new people we find, end up not being so great. So ya, it´s easy to find people, you just really need the spirit to find the GOOD ones. Something I need to work on. This country is so crazy. I absolutely love it and especially all the amazing people. ALMOST everyone is so nice and accepting. It just blows my mind to see the happiness the members have here. Even though they don´t have much, they see that family is really what´s important, and aren´t so focused on all the wordly things. I definitely count my many many blessings every day and thank the Lord for the oppurtunity to live where we do. Anyways, I´m out of time again, but I hope you all know how much I love you and miss you. I hope you all have a great christmas. Can´t wait to talk to you guys and see how things are goin. O and I´ll send pictures next week. The computer I´m on is super slow so I can´t do it now. Love you guys, talk to you soon!


I just wanted to send you a few pictures of the last week. That´s Miguel the awesome guy we baptized. And the other ones are of "el Guarda". It´s a church owned ranch where people can go to camp and do cool stuff. They had a sweet zip line so that´s the one with the person hitting the net. It hurt really bad to get stopped by that thing. Also the elder in the green jersey is our zone leader Elder Fillerup. He´s awesome. We bought a ton of tacos al pastor to eat there so it was pretty sweet. Also the other one is of our whole zone. It´s from pretty far away but I think it´s ok. You can play Where´s Waldo and search for me. I´m the only good lookin one so it shouldn´t be too hard. = )

"Freedom Isn't Free"

I hope I can adequately express my feelings that I have had this past weekend. Riley returned to the states from Iraq on Dec. 5th, after being deployed for 14 months. Bart and I felt like we should be there for the homecoming celebration!!! Our flight from Atlanta to Savannah was quite a humbling experience for us. After we took off, we were told that when we landed in Savannah we were to remain seated as an Army escort was accompanying the remains of a soldier returning home. I spent the next hour crying for a family who would not see their son alive, knowing that mine was returning safely. On the base where the celebration was to happen, they have planted a tree for each soldier who has lost his or her life in Iraq. Many of the plaques around the trees had the saying "Freedom Isn't Free". Needless to say, I contemplated the meaning of this statement. After a long wait, the soldiers unloaded the buses and marched onto a field where we all sang our National Anthem, as I sang the words and thought about them, I was brought to tears once again for the sacrifices these soldiers and others are making for us, so that we can enjoy this land that we are so blessed to live in and the freedoms that are ours for the partaking. The soldiers then sang a song and we were told to go find our soldier!!! We spent the next couple of days with Riley shopping, meeting his buddies, eating, and watching him sleep!! He hasn't shared many of his experiences in Iraq, I think he didn't want to worry his mother, thank you son, but as he opened up and shared with us this weekend, I thank my Heavenly Father that he protected my son, and I know he was protected. So to Riley and all the other soldiers serving our country, Thank You from the bottom of my heart. "Freedom Isn't Free"!!!

News from Mexico

Hey Everyone!
I can´t tell you how good it was to hear from everyone this week. I´m glad everyone is doing so good. That picture of the fam at the Eagles game killed me a little bit. Also thinking about Thanksgiving dinner is making me miss home a bit right now. Not really, it´s just I would kill for that food right now! = ) They don´t have Thanksgiving here so I didn´t even know when it was. All the missionaries in the district meeting were debating about when it was cuz we really have no clue. Anyways, I´m glad you guys had a good time in Philly and got to see the Zollingers. Those kids are huge. Anyways, ya this week went a bit better than the last. I guess I just have to get used to it a bit more. That first week with the new comp killed me. I have never been so dead in my life. But this past week was better. We´re doing better and getting used to teaching with eachother. That´s probably been the hardest thing, with my first comp he did almost everything, even most the teaching, but now its the exact opposite. It´s amazing how fast you learn when you don´t have someone there to bail you out of dumb things you do. So ya, we´ve just been working like crazy. This last week was the end of the month and we´re always a bit short on money at the end of the month so we walked SO much! My comp got a nice blister so he´s walking a bit slow right now. It´s been kinda difficult to bond with him. He´s not like me at all. But we´ve talked and I think we´ll do better and be more unified this week. He just isn´t very excited and doesn´t like to have very much fun. Kinda boring actually. So it´s just hard to be myself when I´m not lauging all the time. But ya, this week we got all the references from the Open House in the temple, because all the people who aren´t members filled out their address and stuff, and we´ve been visiting all of them and the majority of them are GOLD. The experience they had in the temple really made them realize how awesome and true our church is and they´re all accepting baptismal dates like crazy. So that´s been pretty nice. Umm, what else, nothing I guess. Tell everyone I say hi and I love and miss them. Always remember that this is the Church of Christ. If we´re going to be members of his church we better be ready to face some challenges. What we go through is so small compared to what our Savior did for us. That´s something I heard in a talk by Elder Holland in the MTC and it´s really helped me accept all the hard work. Anyways, I love you all and hope all is well.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We have had an awesome week!!! Bart, Rhegan, and I went to Philadelphia for Thanksgiving!! You all know that my brother-in-law coaches the Eagles football team!! We had amazing seats (a warm box), lots of food (ribs, wings, and dippin dots), and of course the best part was beating the Cardinals!!! Congratulations Uncle Andy for a great win, keep it up!! We also went to New York and saw "The Little Mermaid" on Broadway. I loved the show!!! We were able to stop by and see the Zollinger family, they used to be in our ward and we loved seeing them so much!!! We really miss them. Bart and I are leaving this week to see Riley arrive home from Iraq, we are so grateful that he has been protected this year while serving his country. He will be able to come home Dec. 24th to spend Christmas with us!! Can't forget Rees, he is doing an awesome job in Mexico on his mission!! We are so blessed and I am so grateful for this time of year when we stop and take time to recognize our blessings and more importantly to recognize the Lord's hand in our lives!!!

Feelin Good!!!

O.K., I just have to say that I got some new jeans in a size I haven't worn for a way long time, that is definitely something to feel good about!!! It helps to have Julianne tell me that I can wear things that aren't baggy all the time!! I don't like things too tight!! It helps having Lorene encourage me to hike and eat better!! It helps to have Tara yell at me at aerobics for being a slacker!!! Not sure if it helps that Rhegan says I need a new bra to hold me up so I am not such a saggy boob!!! Gotta love the honesty!!
Other good news is that Riley called and his group is packing up and should leave Iraq at the end of the month. He will get to Georgia the first week of December and hopefully be home for Christmas, Rhegan is happy about that, she doesn't like being an only child.
This weekend I was able to go the the rededication of the Mexico City Temple. It was an awesome experience. I loved hearing from our prophet and my testimony was strenghtened. On Saturday night they had a cultual event that was amazing, I was hoping to get a glimpse of Rees when they had all of the missionaries on the field, but I didn't. Cooper kept asking me "Where's Rees?" I'm o.k. with that because I know he was there. I am including his letter from yesterday, wow, what an awesome missionary he is!!

Mom and Pops,
Hows everything goin at home? I hope all is well. I´m so glad you guys got to watch the event and rededication. Did you only see one of the sessions of the rededication? If so, which one? We got to see both and they were both so amazing. We are so blessed to have a living prophet to guide us. I can´t tell you how powerful it was when he walked into that HUGE stadium. He filled that stadium to the top with his Spirit and no one there could deny that that man is a prophet of God. That event was something I will never ever forget. And something that I will always look to for inspiration and remembrance of the Spirit of the people here in Mexico. So we got to the stadium and met up with the whole mission, and then President Bulloch gave us our ties, handkerchiefs, and ticket for the event. Then we went in and sat down and had to wait quite a while for the event to start. Everyone was so excited and so anxious. We thought we were going to have awesome seats because we were in the second to front row of the stadium, but when we sat down we realized that our seats sucked because all the props of the dances were right in front of us. And there is a huge barbed wire fence to keep the crazy fans from killing their soccer players, and that messed up our vision too. But it all turned out ok. Well more than ok. When we got to go out onto the field and sing and wave at the prophet, I was completely overwhelmed. I can´t believe that you guys didn´t see me because we were in the very front row, and directly in front of the prophet. I saw us quite a few times on the big screen so I figured you guys would have seen me. But anyways, what an amazing experience it was to be in the middle of that huge stadium, everyone cheering and singing, and the prophet and Henry B. waiving their handkerchiefs and crying. I just can´t even find the words to tell you guys how amazing it was, and how lucky I am to have had that experience. I am so happy that you guys got to watch it and see how awesome it is here. These people are so amazing. I don’t know if you saw the session of the rededication when President Monson said that it was the best he´s ever seen…. But ya, it was spectacular. I have really been reminded of how much I´ve taken for granted the prophet all my life. I should have been feasting upon his words and the words of the other leaders of the church in my youth. We have so much to learn and know in this life, and those men are how we´re going to know. The spirit and knowledge they help us gain is such a huge blessing that we have to take advantage of. I love you all so much and am so happy to hear you saw the event and rededication. I hope all is going well at home and that everyone is happy and healthy. Anyways, a bit of news from me, I will be having changes tomorrow. My companion has been in this area for 8 months and its time for him to go. So I´m quite nervous because I also found out that I´m going to train a new elder and I´m going to be district leader… My mind is just goin nuts right now. I hope I´ll be able to do a good job. I´ll let you guys know how it goes. But I´ve been thinking a lot about what it says in my patriarchal blessing about my mission. I know the Lord will help me and provide a way for me to do well. I love you all and am happy to hear all is well. Take care and keep sending lots of emails. I love hearing from everyone. Adios.

Cheer Competition

We had a fun day with Rhegan's first cheer competition.
Check out the video. Sandra Day O'Conner High School came in 2nd and qualified for state.

Letter from Rees

I am posting this for Cindy as she is gone on a cruise (LUCKY)!
-Julianne-

Hey everyone,
Mom and Dad I hope you guys are having a blast on your cruise! I normally would be jealous but I´m enjoying the poverty right now. It´s amazing to see how happy these people even though they have so litlle. So this week was pretty awesome. We got to work at the temple for the open house and it was so cool. We got to work in parking for part of the time and that was super fun! So I´m pretty excited for the upcoming rededication and cultural event. I´m so excited that you all get to watch it. Anyways, there really isn´t much to write about because we spent most of our time at the temple this week. We are so so blessed to be able to go the House of the Lord so often. I took for granted the oppurtunity to go each week in the MTC. I miss being able to feel so close to the Savior. Remember how lucky we are to have temples and remember to go OFTEN. I love you all and hope all is well. Sorry this is so short, keep emailing!