Christmas Morning in Mexico

Yes, it was a beautiful sunny Christmas morning on the beach. Our stockings weren't very big, but they were full.
Okay... if you don't like olives this may seem gross, but olives stuffed with Bleu Cheese sounds yummy to me.
Dad got a whole new wardrobe for Christmas. 3 new Button up shirts, 2 pair of new jeans and 5 new Neckties.... but no new socks. :-)
Thank you Jesse and Kelly!!! I love it. (Yes, I used it on Christmas Day.)

Dad's famous photo from Aquatica earns a prominant place on the family Calendar! Thank you Cali, Travis and Gideon.

A gift from Boyd Fife... a new husband reminder..... er... Black Walnut rolling pin. Boyd and his son Tyrell made it from one solid piece of wood and it is beautiful.

As Darryl started to open this gift he said... well, this one can't be clothes. Wrong-o buster... I come from the Peggy Cunningham school of wrapping. The shoe box contained a pair of Wranglers and a new Button up shirt and Tie!

A special gift for me from Darryl. A little Nina for my home.

Cami and Jacob sent down gifts with Jesse and Kelly, and let me tell you, those cans of nuts and packages of Oreos didn't make it to Christmas Morning. YUM!!!

We had a wonderful Christmas. Thank you everyone!

The SUU Humanitarian Project

I thought you would like to see pictures from the SUU Humanitarian Project. They are building a little house for a woman named Rosario and her 5 children who live in our stake. Her husband was abusive and I understand he is gone.SUU sent one group down the week before Christmas and then a group of families came down the week of Christmas. They cleaned up the lot, laid out pavers for a walk way, staked off a footer that surrounds the existing structure and start digging the footer and putting in Drain lines. Then they pour the footer and start laying up concrete block walls.
Kathryn and her sisters play with the neighbor children.

For Utilities they have a hose that runs city water into a barrel and some buckets so they can have water and an extension Cord that bings power from the meter on the street to their house. No indoor plumbing at all.

This is a look into their one room shack that

measures about 12' x 12'.

The walls are not finished, and will be completed when another SUU group comes back for Spring Break in March. They did pour a small section of floor and installed a toilet and shower
base then put a temporary roof over these meager bathroom facilities. They still won't have running water so they will have to bucket flush, but it is better than what they had.

Above you can see the front wall of their existing home and the little bathroom area. The bathroom area measures about 4' x 5'.

Boyd and Tyrell put them temporary roof on over the "Bathroom".

Boyd asking Darryl for his opinion about something as they discuss the bathroom.

The side and Back corner of the old house and the new walls. When the new house is finished the family will be moved to a friends house for a night while the walls of the old house are demolished and carried out the front door and a new floor is poured.

Yes, the other side wall is just cardboard and foam.

The only table the family had was kept outdoors along with much of their clothing and personal belongings.

The pile on the right is sifted through a screen to produce the pile on the left which is used in construction. The group also planted a small garden and did some landscaping of sorts.

This is the second group made up of five families from Ceder City, Alton and Kaysville, Utah.

The Neighbor kids came to watch the Americans. We were the new curiosity in the neighborhood.

L-R: Doug Heaton, Carol Fife, Kirsten Hofeling and Blaine Hofling in the background.

Brother Boyd Fife, who heads up this project and is the head of the Construction Dept. at Southern Utah University with Rosario and her children.

Boyd will be back with another group of students in March. We look forward to working with them. On Saturday the 26th, Darryl and I went to Rosario's and fixed the toilet (it had a part that broke and had to be replaced) and cemented in the last of the pavers. We plan on making several trips over the next few weeks to continue the work on the walls. Helping this little family really made for a Joyful Christmas.

Christmas Eve With The Elders

This was my yummy Birthday Cake. Chocolate Bundt cake with a layer of Sweetened Cream Cheese filling and Cream Cheese "Trim".
Elders Del Val, Lopez and Estrada.
Our new Missionary, Elder Bonny is from Mountain Home Idaho. He had a very hard time speaking English because he hasn't spoken to any gringos in Months and months.

We gave the Elders a little something for Christmas. New socks and big boxes of cookies.

Elder Bonny used the computer to Skype his folks, so that the reason he is not in the Pictures with the other Elders.

It was a very Happy Birthday and a very Merry Christmas Eve.

(Funny Story... The socks came in packages of 3 so I bought 2 packages thinking I would give the 2 extra pairs of socks to Darryl in his stocking. Then, on the 24th I picked up two of the Guaymas Elders who were hitchiking. They saw the gifts and asked who they were for. I told them for the Mirmar Ward Elders. They said "Not for Us?" and laughed, so I broke down and gave them Darryl's socks. They couldn't believe it. I found out that when they got out of the truck they Called Elder Del Val and told him they knew what the other missionaries were getting for Christmas but wouldn't tell them. Darryl never did get new socks!)

The Video Uploaded!!! Yea!!!

Our lip Sync video finally loaded!!!

In the previous post you will find the second Lip Sync Video that we made. The first one was filmed at night and was much better visually (there was no glare) but at 122 MB it was too big to upload. This one was filmed at 9:00 a.m. yesterday and we used the web cam. But as Cami says.... What you see is what you get. We had to come into work to upload it. Enjoy!

Come To My House This Christmas!

We realized that we had a very limited selection of CD's to choose from here in Mexico. For Christmas we have The first Manheim Steamroller or the Forgotten Carols. The other U.S. Christmas CD is instrumantal only. Three weeks ago dad purchased a Mexican Christmas CD. There are traditional Christmas Carols in Spanish, and a couple of traditional Mexican Christmas song.

The one we have chosen is titled "Ven En Mi Casa Esta Navidad". "Come to my house this Christmas". The singer is listing all of the reasons to come to her house for the holiday. I am sure one of the reasons is "Because unless you are in Florida, it is warmer here than where you are.", or "We will eat Mexican food all day!" and maybe "Go barefoot all day and your feet won't get cold." What ever the translation..... Enjoy!

"VEN EN MI CASA ESTA NAVIDAD"

Nauvoo Fun In Mexico

Sunday After ChurchThe Hofelings ('07-'09 pre-show and Blue cast) and the Davis and Fife families (2009 Green Cast) came looking for Darryl and I after church on Sunday. They have decided to spend their Christmas working on a humanitarian service project here in Mexico.
I didn't know the Fifes until last week...

..and I just met the Davis'. (Although Gabe and Molly went to school with and know Hillary and Cody). What wonderful people to give up the gifts and the goodies of the Christmas Season to help build a house for people who lost almost everything in the hurricane.

Since Sunday is not a work day, we had lunch in Guaymas at a friends home where they are staying, and then they came out to the beach by our house to hunt for shells (We do live on a great beach for shell seakers), watch for the dolphins, chase the stingrays (Jeremy actually caught a tiny stingray!) and enjoy the beautiful sunset.

Brother Fife decided to take the scooter for a spin!

Brother and Sister Hofeling pose for Sister Fife as she takes a picture in the perfect sunset.

The whole Nauvoo group on Bahia Delfin Beach, San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico!
Darryl and Cindy Cunningham.
Blaine and Kirstin Hofeling with Catherine, Christiana, Matthew, Daniel, Caroline and Carissa.
Mindy, Max, Molly and Gabe Davis.
Boyd, Carol, Heather and Tyrell Fife
Jeremy Jensen (2009 Work Crew)
MERRY CHRISTMAS or FELIZ NAVIDAD!

A New Nativity

Today Darryl and I went to the Temple in Hermosillo. They had this beautiful little nativity set up near the front of the Temple.

The palm fronds are obviously fresh because they are still a little green. It was a beautiful and peaceful day.

Merry Christmas!

The New Dome, SUU and Us.

Here are a few photos from the last 10 days.

We had Construction Students and their instructors from Southern Utah University visit to see the dome....They were part of this group. A humanitarian house building contingent from SUU.

We inflated the 180' dome yesterday. The 138' dome is directly behind it. We started the inflation at 7:00 a.m.

Victor's shadow as he walks around the outside of the dome during inflation.

The shadows of a few onlookers.

On Sunday the 5th Brad Davis took these pictures of Darryl and I on the beach in front of our condos.

We are looking forward to spending Christmas with the SUU Humanitarian group.

Y'all have a great week..... and a very

Merry Christmas!!

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!