update on the Smiths

Monday, June 22, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

Sorry for a one day delay in the weekly letter. We spent the weekend in meetings with our contacts in Merida, Yucatan and just returned to Mexico City a few hours ago. Merida is a short hour and 15 minute flight and much better access than a 14 hour drive.

Our trip to Merida was very productive and exciting. It was a first opportunity to train one of the new couples called to work with Young Single Adults. And, to tell you the truth, they could just as well have trained us they were so prepared. In fact, they have made plans for a mid-August Young Single Adult convention in Merida in which they expect 620 young people to attend. They have even developed their own web page with information about the convention. While the plans are for Young Single Adults in the Yucatan area, they have had inquiries from Young Single Adults in the North of Mexico asking if they can attend. As you will recall, Yucatan is about as far South as you can get in Mexico, right next to Guatemala. It shows you the power of the electronic age and how young people don’t miss a thing. Here is the URL if you want to take a look at the web page (www.jaspenisula.org)

The unique thing about the Excellence in Leadership for Youth convention in Merida will be its length. It will cover six days of activity and they will touch on one of the six workshops each day. They are expecting 1,800 kids to attend and it will be an outstanding event.

While in Merida we took advantage of visiting with a Sister missionary Dave knew about 48 years ago. She has raised three outstanding children, three boys and one girl, and currently lives with her daughter and son in law in Merida. Her husband passed away a few years ago and she has been an active church member all of her life. She didn’t remember Dave until we showed her a picture of what he looked like in 1961. Still as handsome as ever, but at that time he weighed about 125 pounds. It was a delightful visit.

We were also fortunate to be in Merida at the same time as our friend Tom Holliday from Nauvoo. We met Tom and his wife Bonnie last November when we took a little vacation trip to Cancun with Dale and Garna Mickelsen from Idaho Falls. Dale and Tom are in business together in Nauvoo where they operate a hotel. We had a great visit with Tom, but we sense we may have worn him out before Sunday was over with meetings and most everything in Spanish. Nonetheless, he was able to make an excellent contact with one of the church members who could help him with some other business plans he has here in Mexico. Funny how things work isn’t it.

We also enjoyed dinner in the home of Brother and Sister Sumano and their two children. We had a great afternoon of conversation and wonderful food. It is such a great experience to see how Mexico has changed over the past 45 years. Homes are much improved, people have taken advantage of educational opportunities, and the growth of the church together with the extraordinary opportunities to serve has been more than you can imagine. Brother Sumano for example is an industrial engineer and has worked for Ford here in Mexico. He currently has his own consulting business specializing in business operating systems and quality service. In addition, he and his wife have started a finger nail business. They have three stores in Merida and one in Cancun. Remarkable what they are doing to support their family and serve in the church.

We send a Father’s day wish to our sons and son’s in law, and thank them for being great fathers, husbands and special sons. It’s too bad old dad can’t be in town for a golf game, but we can at least put that on hold for another time.

This new week will provide us with the chance to visit some of our couples in the northern states of Mexico. We have not firmed up our exact plan yet, but we will put things together tomorrow and set out for another journey and we will report the results to you next week.

One last happening. The employees at the Area Office held a farewell fireside and luncheon for Elder’s Mickelsen and Grow and their wives on Thursday last week. It was a sad and happy event as we are all sorry to see these two great leaders leave Mexico after many years of service. In addition to the wonderful counsel given in the meeting, we all enjoyed the traditional Folkloric dance of Veracruz performed by Sister Mickelsen in her beautiful Veracruz dress. Some pictures of the event will be posted on the blog.

Our love to all, hope you have a great week.

Dave and Elaine

Grandma and Grandpa

Mom and Dad

Elder and Sister Smith