COCOYOC

Cocoyoc is a city south of Mexico City where the Area Presidency scheduled 2 days of meetings.  We stayed at the Cocoyoc Hacienda which used to be a cane plantation in the 1600's.

 It is a beautiful, old Spanish style resort now with all the old buildings and furnishings and architecture.  There are fountains and trees that seem to grow without having their roots in the ground.

 There are also about 5 pools.  Of course, we were not in any of them but every chance we got to go outside during our meetings we walked around them and stared at the beautiful golf course.

 WHERE ARE MY GOLF CLUBS?????????????

 It is a beautiful course with real grass.  The weather is not quite as hot and isn't nearly as humid as Tampico.  What a temptation. 

 This is one of the old original building that on the last night was a large dining room for all of us where we were introduced to the Area Seventy that has been assigned to us for the next..........We have loved having Elder Morales as our Area Seventy for almost 2 years and have grown to love his family.  They actually live in Monterrey and he travels on the weekends to do his assignments.  Area Seventies have regular full-time jobs normally and do their church calling on the weekends.  They are on the road nearly every Saturday and Sunday doing Stake conferences somewhere in Mexico and holding coordinating councils with the stake presidents, temple presidents and mission presidents in their respective areas.

The first day we were treated to lunch outside on the grounds.  It was wonderful to be surrounded with these people who we have come to love so much.  There are many pictures of people here that you don't know but they are dear to us.  They represent all the mission presidents and their wives that serve in Mexico, the Area Presidency and their wives, and the new MTC President in Mexico City, and his wife.
Center: The Romney's, Monterrey East.

Left to Right: the Jesperson's, Guadalajara South Mission; Villarreal's, Mexico City West Mission.

The Sauceda's, Guadalajara Mission.

L to R: The Heyn's, Tijuana Mission and the Salinas', Merida Mission.

L to R: Hansen's, MTC Mexico City.      Hansen's Veracruz Mission.   Yes, they are both Hansen's.

L to R: FM Rep. in Mexico City; and the Walker's, Monterry East Mission.

Starting with the front couple and going left: The Nancollas', Mexico City North Mission; Rex's, Puebla Mission; Tervort's, Mexico City Northeast Mission; and Hicken's, Mexico City East.

The two couples on the right are L to R: The Castañeda's, Villahermosa Mission; President and Sister Tenorio, 2nd Counselor in Area Presidency.

L to R: Pres. Chávez, Mexico South Mission; Velez', Hermosillo Mission; Del Valle's, León Mission.

L to R: Spannaus, Cuernavaca Mission; De La Cruz', Oaxaca Mission; a translator who is the daughter-in-law of Pres. DeHoyos.

L to R: President and Sister De Hoyos, 1st Counselor in Area Presidency; Angulo's, Chihuahua Mission.

L to R: Cantú's, Culiacan Mission; Brother and Sister Channer. He is Legal Counsel for the Church in Mexico.

L to R: Velasco's, Tuxla Gutiérrez Mission; Clark's, Torreón Mission.

L to R: Elder and Sister Allred, Executive Sec. to Area Presidency; President and Sister Daniel Johnson, Mexico Area President.  Somehow we've missed a picture of two of the couples.  There are 23 missions in Mexico right now with another one beginning in July in Mexico City. 
They are all amazing people and at times we look around and wonder, "what are we doing here?"  We are all doing the best we can to do what we feel the Lord expects of us. 

These are the Hansen's.  He is the new MTC(CCM) President.  We have an interesting connection with them.  Pres. Hansen was our nephew, Michael's basketball coach at Clearfield High School.  You have to be good everywhere you go because for sure you will meet someone that you know.  They are wonderful people and couldn't say enough complimentary things about Michael and Uncle Doug and Aunt Diane. 

These are the Velasco's.  This is their final year and will be going home at the end of June.  He is president of the Tuxla Gutierrez Mission.  Before this dinner, we had a testimony meeting where all of the retiring presidents and their wives shared their testimonies with us.  They spoke of the miracles that had occured not only in their experiences in the mission but with their families at home during the last 3 years.  President Johnson read to us the promise of Joseph Smith that was quoted by Orson Hyde in a 1910 conference about blessings that come from consecrated service in the church.  Many of those blessings have been realized while they have been serving.

Sorry for the cheesy grin but we were all laughing at the constant addition of sisters for pictures.  This is only about half of us. 

These are the Heyn's.  They are both from Columbia and 4 months after his conversion he was in the mission field after some extenuating circumstances.  It's not the norm but he is not like anyone else.  They are wonderful friends and we plan to see them again in a year and 3 months.  They have lived in Lehi for several years so our opportunity to be together will be possible.  They also go home in 3 months.  He let us know that they already have their season tickets purchased for BYU football this Fall.  They are serving in the Tijuana Mission.

 Just a final picture showing 3 of the pools that are surrounded by the architecture of the old plantation.

And the Hacienda was decorating for a wedding in the quaint little chapel on the property and there were fresh flowers everywhere. 

 Then it was time to go.  The traffic is more than terrible around the Mexico City area.  The bus that was supposed to arrive to take us all to the airport to catch our flights was stuck in bad traffic.  So they started to load some of us with earlier flights into the cars of the Area Presidency to get us there on time.  As we got about halfway there, Pepe, the driver of President Johnson's car that we were in, noticed that the gas was on empty.  We had quite the adventure finding our way back to the only gas station we had seen for miles, winding our way through a little city to get back on the "freeway" going the right direction and finally...... 

 arriving at the Mexico City airport.  We checked in, ate a quick bite at a "Wings" restaurant, and walked up without much waiting time to board our plane.  We were laughing during our adventure getting there but we were also praying that we would get there. 

 Just thought you'd be interested in the picture of one of the menu items at the restaurant in the airport.  We had club sandwiches but this looked "different".  They gave us English menus and this says it is a thin noodle pasta dish.  I just can't figure out why it looks like it has chocolate sauce on it.  Who knows what it is.

We are so grateful for these short conferences.  It is always good to get back home after but it is a spiritual feast while we are there.  It was wonderful because it was only 3 days after General Conference.  They shared some of their experiences there.  And hopefully you all had the opportunity to hear Elder DeHoyos talk Sunday afternoon in conference.  He is the 1st couselor in the Area Presidency.  His English as he spoke was a little hard to understand in the beginning of his talk but he actually can speak very good English.  He is in one of the lunch pictures above.  He and his wife have stayed in our home and met with our missionaries twice since we arrived here.  We love and appreciate them both.  Elder DeHoyos served in the same mission as Dad but arrived just after he left to come home in 1972.