Tuxpan Stake Conference

We have been in Tuxpan this weekend for the last stake conference we will attend here. This is another stake that will be part of the Veracruz mission on July 1. These are two of the great missionaries that serve here. Elder Avila is the zone leader and Elder Chandler is a great new elder. We wish we could have kept them both in our mission but the inspiration said otherwise. We will miss them all so much.

After stake conference on Sunday we were invited to President Ramos' home for comida. They have a very large extended family that live in Tuxpan and in this stake. They were all there. A tiny house with about 40 people. Left to right: The Bentley's, President and Sister Cruz, 2nd counselor; President and Sister Mariscal, 1st counselor; President and Sister Ramos and next to Dad is the visiting Area Authority 70 assigned to the conference, Elder Hernandez from Tijuana.

This woman is the mother of Sister Ramos. She cooked last time we had stake conference in Tuxpan. Today the menu is MOLI. I have no idea what is in it but I can say that it was very good. It's a sause with pieces of chicken served with rice and corn tortillas (or bread if you prefer). Then we could either have cake or flan for dessert. Of course the drink was soda.
The peach dresses are the uniforms of the choir members. They even sing in parts which doesn't happen everywhere. Back row is Sister Ramos; Patricia who is Pres. Ramos' sister; Sister Ramos' mother and in front with me is another sister of President Ramos. And that's not all of that family. They are very strong in the church and have a big presence there.

Before comida, one of the Ramos' daughters played their little keyboard and everyone sang hymns. These people are so kind and so humble. They don't seem a bit embarrassed about their surroundings, which by our standards are very humble. They just want to share what they have with you. The spirit in the home more than makes up for the lack of any material items.

I know that you don't ever compliment someone on something they have because they will end up giving it to you. Sister Bentley saw a necklace on one of the women in the family and asked her where she bought it because I had been looking for something similar with the colors of Mexico on it to wear on their holidays. She took it off and the earrings and gave them to me. There was no talking her out of it. She felt honored to give me something so we took a picture.

(It sometimes feels that every day is a bad hair day as soon as you walk out the door and hit the humidity. Oh, well.)

This is a walk through of the living room and kitchen area where we all congregated. There were also some at a table in the front of the house. All of them happy.

Dad spoke with the first counselor, Pres. Mariscal, about his conversion. Here's what he said:

At the age of 15, he was attracted to the church by basketball. One church member his age was sensitive to his goodness and invited him to a family home evening at his house. Pres. Mariscal accepted. After the FHE, the father of the home loaned him a copy of "A Mavelous Work and a Wonder". He went home and in the next few days read it and then immediately went to the Bishop's house and requested baptism. The Bishop was excited about the prospects of him being baptized but indicated that he'd need the permission of his parents which Pres. Mariscal didn't think would be an issue but soon found out different. Not only did his parents say no but told him he had to stay away from the Church. He went to church every Sunday for the next three years against the wishes of his parents and on his 18th birthday was baptized a member of the Church. Three years later he left on a mission, was transferred to Tuxpan as a young missionary, met his wife who was then a young women in the branch. Some time after finishing his mission, Bro. Mariscal returned to Tuxpan and married the young women whom he met. The young woman, Patricia, is the sister of President Ramos, the Stake President.