Goodbye Party for Dennis and Patricia Lewis. They were able to be in Manzanillo for quite a long time - 4 1/2 years. They were such pillars. They left a big hole in our congregation.
Rosie is so sweet with the little ones.
We had so many fun visitors this time!!! Tim, Tracie (in the pink) and Cassie (young sister in the tan sweater) - a fun and lively family that we got to spend many fun times in service with.
We had a great time taking different ones to our favorite places. On our Colima tour the volcano was erupting (as you can see by the smoke on the side - at night you could see the red lava).
When we all went to Barra de Navidad we got to see Mexicans fishing. It makes me think of what it must have been like in bible times.
From the left is Cassie and from the "Payne Clan" - Tristen, Ainsley, Jordynn and Taylor. All very thoughtful and warm hearted young people and all of them spent long days in the ministry with us. What troopers!!!
El Salto
Here's a pic with Jordynn. We enjoy all of our visitors but some of them we just immediately connect with. Jordynn, her sweet sister Taylor and their delightful friend Avery are such neat sisters. Because we got to spend so much time with them for a couple of months we were able to really get to know them.
Here we are "attending" Evan's wedding. It's the first wedding we've gone to over Skype. Not the same as being there but very nice to feel included a little in their special day.
George and Donna Payne have visited before. With their 50th Anniversary coming up a lot of their family came down to join them for this special moment. The whole "Payne Clan" is so delightful! Very warm and open hearted. We got to spend time with a lot of them out in service and having adventures. (They were with us for all of the day trips in the pics above) We wished they all could move down!!!
Man, how did we score such a fun group???
Avery taught me to make a Canadian treat - Nanaimo Bars.
While we were baking the guys played games. Ruben - who was living with us at the time, it was great to have him. He is now assigned to our Congregation. Also at the table: Mike, Jordan and the back of Eric's head.
Then it was time to take Jordynn and Taylor back to the airport... :-( We weren't ready for them to go. We felt the same every time we took some of the "Payne Clan" to the airport.
Our rooftop with Rob and Lydia before they left to work in the states for the summer.
The Payne Clan got a fishing trip together
We head out early so everyone is sleepy
But worth it! So beautiful in the morning light.
Then all the sudden lines are buzzing
At one point we had 7 lines going at the same time!
Then time for Dane and Eric to chill
Yay!!! A new friend for Paulina! A really sweet new family moved in a couple of months ago. Mom and Dad are Andy and Sonya and their daughter Naiya is a real delight. Very spiritual and mature for her age and very fun. She and Paulina hit it off right away. I was so thrilled because we don't have anyone else her age in the hall.
Paulina rode a horse for the first time.
A few sights from around our house.
I cannot grow tomatoes here for anything - but this papaya tree started all by itself!
Birds enjoyed this one before we did
Mexico is getting more expensive (gas is now $4 a gallon countrywide) but some things are still a great deal. Trucks come by with whatever is in season - limited varieties but we got this whole pile for $5
Our side yard is a sort of cat sanctuary. Every year we get a new batch of kittens. Adorable! And they take care of mice - and even cockroaches.
For two short weeks the Primavera tree brightens up Manzanillo. This one is next to our house.
This crazy looking fruit is "Guanabana". It has bright white flesh and ebony seeds. The flavor is a bit intense but it makes awesome "agua fresca" (pureed fruit in water).
Dried peppers
Dee's brother visited from Argentina. He gave an encouraging talk updating us on the Assembly Hall project they've been working on.
With a lot of slides to help us imagine it...
Everyone had a good time doing a deep clean on the hall before the memorial. Paulina was a great helper. She's such a good girl. What a treat to get to study with her. She's my dessert.
It was wonderful to have studies and visitors join us for this special night. These two adorable girls are the daughters of one of Laura's studies.
And her husband Mike made such a sweet papa for the evening.
Holly's studies are on each side of her and Avery on the right.
Some of us girls
Some of us went to the beach to see the lunar eclipse afterwards
We get a number of unique situations in Mexico English - here Carissa is translating for a man who only learned American Sign Language
We eagerly anticipated the special meeting with Brother Losche.
The brothers arranged to have the meeting piped into someone's home so we could have it translated into English. In the back you can see Ruben translating for us.
Even though we couldn't hear his words directly it was a joy to watch his warm expressions
Guadalajara for our Circuit Assembly
We had fun showing the Payne boys - Tristan and Mason around
Wait...what? Mason was intriqued
There are a lot of street performers and artists. This woman works with spray paints
And then to seal it...
Mike and Laura stayed with this sister - she introduced us to a really fun bistro in a neighborhood that reminded us SO much of Portland. Even the vendors were selling fun crafts that I would have found at Portland's Saturday Market.
At our Pioneer Day - here's the group of pioneers we spent this service year with.
Cool idea
So many fun times with Mike and Laura!!! It was hard to say "See you Again" at the end of the Assembly. They left with Rob and Lydia from Guadalajara. We missed them as soon as they left.
More sad good-byes. We had Carissa and Paris with us for 6 months and Maddy for 4. All very zealous and fun young sisters.
Grecko did a great job on his first talk. And we loved seeing the use they got out of this old Coke crate
It took crazy long for us to get these pics up. But we have one more post to go for this trip! We'll try to get it up right away. We see our funnest sights in service so we saved that post for just the things we saw while in the ministry. Stay tuned!
Love Em and Dane
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