Happy Birthday Gringo Grande

It started off innocently enough! The first time he looked down the barrel, the chamber was in. Although the hammer has to be cocked for this little firearm to discharge, we from the west were VERY nervous, and asked that the chamber be removed while they were handling the pistol.


A fun birthday, these volcano candles are so much fun!

I love my Gringo Grande!

Margi, behind counter, Elder Butron (Peru), & Esperanz. . . . . . . Elder Moen with us.

Some of our very dear friends....Juan Carlos , Esperanza and Elda. Elda and Margi are sisters of Jorge, Esperanza's late husband.

You may think it odd that Wayne is enjoying this gift of a little white dog so much. If you look closely, you will see he is hanging it! One of the things that is most annoying to him is that the dogs bark all night. Many of them are little dirty-white poodle-cross looking dogs. So we hunted until we found two dogs,....and they yapped! There was a card that said "Licensia a Matar" or "License to Kill". He was enjoying contemplating throwing them in the river, a knife, ripping their heads off, to name a few. Depicted here is the idea of hanging them from our front door with a knife and ketchup for special effects. Consuelo was concerned that we might really do damage to these cute little dogs, and was willing to take them home before Wayne could kill them.

We assured her they were safe. Consuelo helps Esperanza with the ironing. They iron the towels and the sheets. I made some good old-fashioned hash for Wayne's B-day, it turned out great. A guest at the hotel thought it smelled so good, and asked if he could try some, so he did, then Don Camilo (a cousin of Esperanza's husband) had some, and Juan Carlos. So again, we had no left-overs.

Esperanza had a new idea to help Wayne's hands, a little less painful! He tried to re-enact the pain scene, but didn't do it justice.

I love her hotel, it is so cozy. Janna, I think you and Riley will love it too. You do get the room with the hot water!

Our last P-day with Elder Moen was showing him how to remove stains from his shirts. Paint thinner was the "solution".

A fun family home evening at Elvira's. Wayne was the devil beating someone up....he seemed to enjoy it a little too much! We had about 20 people there. This is a part of the program the Sociedad de Socorro started before Christmas . Members come, usually the president of the rama, Gina, the Relief Society Pres, and others. Elvira is now with Esperanza and Margarita for a Family Home Evening of their own.

It is hard to believe what little time we have left here. We will miss our 2nd family here, but will be delighted to see our family at home. We have missed them, and I think one of the blessings of the mission has been for us to realize just how important our family is to us. We are involved now in working with the Primary to strengthen it, start a literacy class, and establish the library. We have some good people that can serve in these positions, and I am anxious to really get started!

Love to you all,

Elder (really the elder Elder now) and Hermana Jenson