We took Elders Astudillo (Ecuador) and Rios (Mexico) to lunch after working on an apartment we are going to vacate. We ordered Chorillana for four. (French fries topped with caramelized onions, various meats and fried eggs - totally unhealthy but delicious.)

This picture doesn't do justice to how big this mound of food was. We worked hard at it and had to ask for two boxes to take the left-overs.

Now for the important stuff.

Yesterday, Raymon and Natasha from Haiti were baptized in the Tolhuaca Branch.

Raymon called me a couple of weeks ago to tell me he had a dream that he was back in Haiti. He met up with Mary who gave him a big hug and told him that he needed to preach the gospel. I think that dream played a part in his deciding to get baptized. (This is a true international picture with people from Haiti, Chile, Peru and the US.)

We have developed a rewarding relationship with them and they will come visit us in our apartment before long.

First, I will share some fun stuff.

This guy got some of our money. You will notice that he is on top of a very high unicycle with one foot in the air while he juggles fire. The circus is in town but I don't know why we would go since we can see some great acts while stopped at stop lights. (Yes, the clock says 10:50. My senior companion isn't very good at getting us home on time.)

We went to Concepción on Friday and decided to drive along the coast on our way home instead of the main tollway.  Here is proof that we have now driven the coastal highway on two continents.

A little further south, we spent a fair amount of time driving by a huge lake.

I took a quick look and couldn't find the name. The tragedy here is that we didn't see a boat or any skiers on the lake. What a waste of natural resources!!!

The elders in Victoria like to make ties in their spare time.  They gave me one on Saturday and I wore it to church yesterday. Here it is.

I'm terrible with selfies but I think you get a sense of the pattern. Things are different than they used to be.

We organized a combined effort between the missionaries in the zone and the members of the branch to go looking for members we haven't seen for a while. Everybody gave it a wonderful effort and seemed to have a good time doing it.

This isn't everybody who participated but it shows that they seemed to have enjoyed the experience.

Afterwards, the Relief Society provided amazing refreshments (more like a meal) and those are always a hit with the missionaries.

We see a lot of roadside shrines where people have died in traffic accidents. There is a spot on the tollway where a bus crashed and there are many shrines there. However, we don't have the courage to stop and take a picture.

Here is one we came across today. This is the first time I remember a large picture being included.

I apologize for the blur. Believe it or not, I didn't take this one.

Returning to past themes...

Street entertainers - This guy caught our attention with the stilts.

Wood carvings - these are two of about seven on temporary display in our main plaza.

We didn't take pictures of some of the others because they weren't appropriate for younger children (or older for that matter).

Our daughter, April, converted CDs of my Mom's and daughters' music to MP3 so we could listen while we drive. What she sent included my favorite song sung by two of my favorite women and accompanied by another. That reminded me of a Youtube posting which I include here for your enjoyment.

We spend a lot of time on the tollway between here and Victoria. Particularly as we head north, we see many roadside stands selling cheese, honey, mote con huesillos and tortillas.  Here is a sample of one.

It is next to the emergency call station (SOS) - location, location, location.

I haven't been very good about posting lately.  Therefore, I thought I would share with you our exercise program.

This is the stairwell leading up to our fifth-floor apartment. We try to walk up it just about every time we get home from somewhere.  I usually run it. Since we usually start in the underground parking garage, we cover six stories. I'm sure it won't be long before you see our before-and-after pictures on the Internet associated with some article about spectacular weight loss. 😀