Things like Wal-Mart and marriages...

Alex's e-mail this week sounded great! He had 2 baptisms on Sunday - A woman named Teresa and her son Benjamin. When I asked Alex if there was a "Dad" he said "there is now, I had to pay for their wedding, in order for them to get baptized". He said "keep an eye on my pre-paid card.. I've been trying to be careful, but with things like Wal-Mart and marriages, money seems to go fast!"

You might ask.. well, what did he buy at Wal-Mart? All the comforts of home, like.. A TOILET SEAT! He didn't have one prior to last week. Yikes...

P-Day Monday was spent at Zocalo which is a big city center tourist area with a large Catholic Church, he said "we even went to Burger King"... Boy, he's livin' the life..

Finally, he said that he taught the whole first discussion "all by myself" today. He taught it to the guy that was shining his shoes! Go Get "Em Elder!

Alex at Zocalo... must have been prior to the shoe shine!!

thinner and tanner...

I recieved more pictures from Alex yesterday! It makes me so happy when I see a photo with him in it! He said that he had a zone activity today, where his entire zone gathered and he got to see his "MTC generation'". He described them all as thinner and tanner.

Luckily he hasn't been stomach sick, but he has had some body aches and misses crashing on my king size bed! He described pocco a pocco... good days and bad. He said that the name calling has begun and that one guy yelled "arriba satanas, arriba satanas" (hail satan, hail satan). I think that sounds super scary!

He's eaten some pretty scary food, and has been offered "tongue taco's" more than once. The meal below is his favorite thus far and is called a Torta! He said " it's delicious".

I'm just glad to see that he has a washing maching (look closely).

Stairway to Heaven..

Here are a few key pionts from my Mothers Day conversation with Elder Al P.

He's having a pretty hard time with the language - he say's he doesn't mind the "rathole" he lives in, "la cucaracha" as his roommates, or his room that is a "toilet / sink / shower" - but he does mind that he can't understand anything that is being said to him. He said he doesn't talk to people because he's afraid they'll talk back!

He had a baptism on Sunday - he said it was a miracle!

Although his spirits are a little low, he seems to be smiling and hasn't lost his sense of humor, as depicted in the pictures below!

This is the stairway to his apartment on the 3rd floor! Looks a tiny bit like a war zone!

Don't leave your car unattended in Mexico City!

Ghetto boy!
I think he's on his last belt loop! Wow- so skinny!
Still Smilin'!

12 weeks? May as well be 12 minutes...

Everyone - "Wow, he's been gone 12 weeks, hasn't it gone by so fast?"
Me - "No"
Only 652 more days... Yeah, it's flying alright!

Now boarding, all seats, all rows...

Alex called again on Thursday, May 1st to let me know that VISA's were approved and he was leaving first thing Friday, May 2nd for Mexico City. He was kinda freaked because he had just the afternoon and evening to get everything packed and ready (and to decide what to do with the 8 packages of girl scout thin mints that had been sent to him while at the MTC). He also let me know that he had received approval to call me from the airport, since families don't really do the "airport thing" anymore.. More on this later...

Friday morning came and sure enough at 7:30 a.m. we got the call... He was through security and waiting at the gate. He had about 2 hours before he had to board.

Kenyon was able to talk to him for a few minutes about really important stuff like the Jazz vs. Houston series and the NFL draft, then it was my turn.

Here are my top 10 favorite things about the call:

10 - He didn't want to hang up to eat breakfast with the other boys - his comment was "I can eat anyday"

9 - He passed the phone to Elder Hugely to talk to me when he had to go to the gate to check in

8 - Hearing him talk about listening to Elder Holland and other General Authorities speak to them

7 - Hearing him say that "no other mom, wrote to their son's about tender mercies"

6 - Telling me that he was confident in his language skills until he got to the airport and 2 janitors were speaking in spanish to one another and he couldn't understand anything they were saying

5 - When I asked if all the missionaries were on the phones surrounding him he said "no - they were all done awhile ago"

4 - Hearing "Now boarding all seats, all rows" in the background (not that it was good, but knowing he wanted to talk up until the last moment - felt great)

3 - Him reminding me that he gets to call me again in on Mothers Day

2 - Overhearing the "I love you's" between he and Kenyon

1 - "Mom - if I never got a letter from anyone else but you for the rest of my mission, I'd be fine"
So what if I know it's not true!!!! Just hearing him say it brought me to tears and I could barely hold it together.

I don't think I could have done the airport thing.. I'm so glad I got to talk to him, and that we had that personal 1 on 1 time together before he left and I am even more happy that his last memory of me at the airport is not clinging to his leg and trying to beat me off with a BOM.

Look Out Mexico City East Mission - Here they come!!

A delay...

For those of you scolding me for not updating Alex's address with his new Mexico address as of 4/21/08, please be advised that he is still delayed. Feel free to keep sending his letters / cards and care packages to the MTC! When I asked him in e-mail if there have been any updates on his travel to Mexico City he replied "nada"... seems he's picking up the spanish! :)

"Hi Mom"

Today I had a small miracle happen, or as Wendy would call it "A Father in Heaven story". Let me start by saying... I get calls to my cell phone all the time with unknown numbers and I NEVER answer them. I figure, whoever it is, can leave a message, and when I get around to checking voicemail, I'll call 'em back...
Let me also say that I am horrible at answering my cell when I'm at work! Unless it's a work call, and a known person - I'm pretty lame at it. I'm just super busy, so anyone that knows me knows that it's hard to reach me during the day WHILE I'm at work..
OK - here is the miracle... and how it all comes together!
My washer broke on Saturday, so the GE Repairman had to come to fix it today. Once he came, and left, I was on my way to work. I'm driving in my car, and my phone rings. I look at the number, and don't recognize it, but.. I'm driving.. so I figure, I'll just see who it is.. As I pick it up - my finger hits the little button on the side that sends it directly to voicemail. For a split second I think - I'll just find out who it is later... then - I hit re-dial and dial the number back.. I have no idea who it is....
Mystery Person = "Hello?"
Me - "Uh, Hi" (I still have no idea who it is)
Mystery Person - "Hi Mom"
Me - (screech my car to the side of the road) "Alex - what are you doing?" (giant lump in my throat).
Alex - "Our VISA's were delayed so I get a 5 minute pass to call and let you know that we are not leaving on Monday as planned"
Ahhhhh - Pure Heaven!!!
The best part of the story is - a few minutes into the call "Hey mom, there is no timer on this phone, so I don't know how long we've been on - can you check your phone and see?" I check - "ah oh - 8:04"... Alex said "well it's an honor system thing, so I gotta go". Again... best, most obedient boy ever!
Everything lined up in my favor today:
#1 - I wasn't at work and crazily distracted
#2 - I called the number back
Now I understand even better Elder Benar's talk about "Tender Mercies".