Wow! Where does the time go!? We went to Mexico on tuesday, June 25th to pick up Jeff1 It was an exciting morning as we got ready to go to the airport. When we got there we had a hard time translating and communicating with people at the airport including the rental car people. We managaed to get a car though and left for the hotel. The Mexico City traffic is crazy1 People do not follow any road laws down there, and whatt would be a 2 land high way in america is a 4 lane high way in Mexico with NO emergency lanes. It is ridiculous! We checked into our hotel and ate dinner in the lobby. We were vey picky about the food down there. Alot of people get sick from the food in Mexico because they get there food from different resources than america and it isn't always trustworthy. We also did not use ice down there. They use there tap water for ice and you can get really sick from the water there. That night we drove to the mission home. It was a really long drive, the traffic was crazy too. As if navigating with Spanish only signs wasn't hard enough. The GPS on my dad's iphone finally told us we had reached our destination. We were in a small neighboorhood in the middle of no where. The houses were all gated off from the streets and there were bars on their windows. It seemed very sketchy, we thought we were lost. Then a van pulled up and a guy with a baseball cap got out of the car. It was really weird, my dad got out and started speaking to him. But he only spoke spanish. News flash, my dad is the worst possible person to try and speak spanish. He doesn't understand any of it and when he tries to speak it we all laugh. It is hilarious. They didn't understand each other. My dad finally pointed at one of the buildings and said "Elders?" The man understood. He told my dad in his best English that he was the bishop of the missionaries ward! We were very excited to meet him. He showed us where to find the Elders. Lot's of elders were there to great us. They waited outside with us and told us Jeff was just coming into town from his last area. There were 12 other missionaries with him on a bust that were scheduled to come home. After waiting what seemed like an eternity, the big bus pulled up! We heard the missionaries inside chanting "JEFF, JEFF, JEFF" He got out and came around and hugged mom, and then me, and then dad. He couldn't get over how much I have grown! He said by to the elders and we took him back to the hotel with us. Me and him stayed up until 3 AM just talking and catching up. It was so fun.
So throughout the week. We visited ruins, museums, members in jeff's area, and attended alot of parties thrown in Jeff's honor by people in his areas.
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It is so nice to have Jeff home! Meeting the people in his areas was one of the most humbling experiences. They are the kindest people you will ever meet and I wish i could have spent more time with them. The last night in Mexico, we went to a small farm town Jeff served in. We got there and went to the bishops home. They then loaded up their truck and had me, mom, dad, and jeff follow them in our car to their church. On the way they picked up several relief society members and kids and had them ride in the bed of the truck on a long dirt road to the church. Several members met at the church. The relief society sisters sung a song for Jeff. I could feel the spirit very strongly in that moment. Then many of the people bore their testimonies. Even though it was in spanish, with translation from Jeff, I could feel the love these people had for the church They were very inspiring and I am so glad I got to experience that with my family. I will always remember this ward.
We flew home the next day. We were welcomed by Josh, Lindsay, Andrea, Sean, Grandma, and Grandpa. Also, Max AND charlie. Max was very excited to see Jeff. We sure do love our dog's in this family!
