Fun surprises from thoughtful missionaries!

In the past two months, Presidente y Hermana Henke have celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary and Hermana Henke’s birthday. The missionaries have been so thoughtful and planned lots of sweet surprises to celebrate!

A surprise anniversary lunch!

Hermana Leon and Hermana Lopez- the creative force behind our

 surprise anniversary celebration!

Elder Mateo is the chef! La comida fue delicioso!

Another surprise party for Hermana Henke’s birthday! What thoughtful, kind missionaries!

A surprise birthday cake made by Elders Orantes y Oropeza for Hermana Henke!

A beautiful watercolor painting given to Hermana Henke on her birthday. 

The artist is Élder Dante Garcia.

This beautiful geranium from Hermana Bahena and Hermana Amaya was also a birthday gift!

These thoughtful missionaries must know Hermana Henke well, all of these surprise gifts are some of her favorite things! ❤️

More Goodbyes 😢

After the mass exodus of missionaries in March/April, departures have slowed, but Presidente y Hermana Henke have still had to say goodbye to too many Missionaries! This picture of their granddaughter adequately shows the way they feel about it:

Goodbyes are hard! 

The first goodbye with these Missionaries, Hermana Daza and Elder Castellanos:

Just kidding! Hermana Daza and Élder Castellanos flew to Mexico City - then flew back! They spent ten more days with us before they were able to get a flight home:

Last picture before leaving the office for the airport- May 7th.

On May 2nd they said their goodbyes to Elders Piedra, Davila and Vega and Hermana Agreda as the Missionaries boarded the plane to fly to Mexico City. From Mexico City they caught a flight to their home country of Peru:

May 4th, they took Hermana Gonzalez from Uruguay and Elder Condori from Boliva to the airport. These goodbyes were not easy!

Hermanas López, Osorio, Ramirez, San Martin y Hernandez pose for a final picture. Hermanas Osorio and San Martin have completed their mission! Son muy buenos misioneras!

Sweet look shared between Hermana San Martin and Hermana Hernandez, 

two Sister Training Leaders:

Hermana Leon said goodbye to her companion, Hermana Lopez, who was 

flying to her home country of Panama:

Elders Aguirre y Mateo say a final goodbye to Élder Timana, also from Panama:

Goodbye Elder Turcios!

A final picture with Elder Calderon, from El Salvador. He and Élder Turcios served 27 months because they weren’t able to get home to El Salvador in March. 

Mission life during quarantine

The Covid-19 Pandemic has necessitated LOTS of flexibility and creativity! There have been lots of moving missionaries, realigning companionships, emptying houses, many trips to the airport, and getting creative with how to share the gospel through the internet! 

In the process of cleaning empty houses, a football was found.

 Presidente and Élder Turcios play catch:

Preparing to receive our first missionaries since March and COVID-19, Elders Aguirre y Turcios playing ‘the game’ of how to transport the missionaries to their new house and companion. Transporting everyone has been quite the feat, given the rule in Juarez that you can only have 2 adults in the car at a time!

An Hermana reunion in Satelite. Hermanas Lopez, Ramirez, Hernandez, Bahena y Chegue:

Sunday Sacrament with Hermana Mendez y Hermana Sondon:

Elders Turcios and Aguirre on a Sunday morning taking the Sacrament to the Hermanas! I know enough Español to like these words on the wall behind them! 

Translation: Since I didn't know it was impossible, I did it. 

Two of the happiest Hermanas you will ever meet! Hermana Chegue and Hermana Bahena were even happy with a collection of random ties that were brought to them:

Haircuts for Elders Hernandez y Oropeza by a kind member in the Azteca ward:

Quite a bit of time has been spent cleaning up empty houses the last two months. Élder Turcios is contacting the Owner to let her know the house is clean and empty:

Visiting the Hermanas in Jilotepec is a tight squeeze for Presidente 😄:

While Presidente could squeeze down the narrow stairs at the house in Jilotepec, the air conditioner could not! So Presidente lifted it over the balcony to Elder’s Turcios and Aguirre. Mission accomplished!

The stick that found its way into Hermana Velasco’s leg 😜:

A trip to the ER, and she is all better!