Mail for missionaries...

Sending Packages to Torreon...
Hey all of you mission moms! We've learned some very interesting things about mail service over the almost three years we have been here. One important lesson that has been reinforced recently is that DHL is NOT a great way to send things to your missionary. We've had a couple of families send things through their local, friendly DHL people in the US and when they arrive at the office in Torreon, there is an added expense to receive it because of taxes and customs fees. I'm talking like $150.00 worth of taxes and customs fees. Nothing you would normally send would be worth that amount. Several packages sent through DHL have been inspected and delayed because of their contents--any quantity of the same item looks like you are trying to sell them here and they are confiscated. At times food items are regulated by a government agency and not allowed in DHL packages. Any drugs sent must have a prescription accompanying them...etc. Below is a photo of a box sent through DHL that was held up at customs, sent to several addresses and finally delivered to our office for a huge charge.

We suggest that you use the US Postal Service for your packages. They sell those boxes that you can fill with whatever weight. Those work great. They are durable and usually are not delayed at customs. (don't ask me why) We have had a few things stolen from packages by postal workers but for the most part, they come through great. I have personally received packages in 13 days. Usually it takes a little longer and plan way ahead to send things for Christmas. We got a box that was mailed from the US on Dec. 13th on Valentine's Day. Nice gift, just two months late. Remember that once the package arrives in the office, we have to take the packages to the areas of the missionaries during our zone conferences or interviews, or, the zone leaders take them out when they return to their areas after zone leader council which is once a month.

You will notice the religious stickers on these boxes. Sometimes this helps the postal workers be honest and not want to defile something of a religious nature. We do whatever we can to get those packages to our missionaries.

Address to use: Missionary name (you would be surprised to know how many letters and boxes we receive with no name on them.

Apartado Postal 792 (this goes to a post office box and our office elders pick mail up three times a week)

Torreon, Coahuila

Mexico 27000

Missionaries love mail so keep those cards and letters coming. We will do all that we can to get them to your missionaries in a timely fashion.

If you have questions, send me (Sr. Clark) an email at bclark6053@hotmail.com

Surprise seminar in Cuernavaca--April 2011

Seminar in Cocoyoc

All the mission presidents in Mexico (23, soon to be 24) have a twice yearly meeting to share new information and be rejuvenated spiritually for the next six months. This year, the wives were invited to the spring meeting as the Area Presidency announced some exciting changes which involve the assigning of trainers for new missionaries. The meeting was held over the mountain to the south of Mexico City in an area called Cocoyoc. The property used to be a sugar plantation and was built in the 1600's. It was turned into a hotel property and has been beautifully maintained. Although the meetings took the majority of our time, just being with the other presidents and wives made the trip a pleasant change of pace and rejuvenated our spirits.


Hotel Hacienda Cocoyoc is in the state of Morelos near Cuernavaca. This area is called the land of eternal springtime so here is a sample of the flower beds in bloom in April.

One of the plantation buildings which has been turned into a banquet hall.

President Clark stands under a stone archway covered with the roots of a very old tree.

Muscle Man!

Just wishing we had the time to enjoy one of three pools...

We had most of our meals out doors. Here are the Villareals who serve in Mexico City and the Castenedas, who serve in Villahermosa. President and Sr. Casteneda are originally from our mission area. He was released as president of the Gomez Palacio Stake so that he could serve as a mission president.

President and Sr. Rex from the Puebla Mission

Our Area President and wife, President Daniel and Leann Johnson.

Sr. Hansen (Veracruz) and Sr. Heyn (Tijuana)

A view of the inside of the banquet hall.

The outgoing generation of mission presidents and wives together one last time. We will all return home in July. We are missing President and Sr. De La Cruz who spent the night in the hospital because of a worrisome chest pain. They are pictured below. (all is well)

Left to Right: Clarks (Torreon), Heyns(Tijuana), Nancollas (Mexico City North), Hansens (Veracruz) Rex (Puebla), and Velazco (Tuxtla-Gutierrez).

President and Sr. De La Cruz (Oaxaca)

Presidents Velazco, Heyn, and Clark, visit President De La Cruz to give him a blessing and bring him back to the hotel so that they can catch their flight to Oaxaca.

Here we are in front of the beautiful waterfall. Now it's time to get back to work, finding, teaching, baptizing, and building men out of 18-26 year old missionaries. It is a joyful work but it is work.

March 2011 Changes

This photo should be at the end of this segment but my blogging skills are less than perfect so I'll just say that this is what an excited new missionary looks like. Elder Rodrigo Rodriguez was the last of the 16 missionary we received during a very long day in March. We got up at 4 a.m. to prepare to be at the airport at 5:00 so that our outgoing missionaries could catch their planes at 6. Elder Rodriguez arrived that same night at 11:30 so it was a long day but well worth it as these missionaries are going to be great.

This is what some of our North Americans always want to do when they enter the mission home...lay on the carpet. Most of the homes in our area have tile or cement floors so this is a simple pleasure that Elder Adams, Elder Abbot, and Elder Jones enjoyed on their last Sunday in the mission. Some of the members from Barrio San Luis brought Elder Chatu to the mission home and posed for one last photo together before his return the following day.

On the Sunday of change weekend, the returning missionaries come to the mission home during the afternoon to have their final interviews with President Clark, to weigh their luggage, and to visit and share mission stories. Some haven't seen the rest of their group for many months, some not at all, depending for their assignments. After the interviews, we enjoy a lasagna dinner together and then have a testimony meeting so they can share with each other the wonderful, faith building experiences they have enjoyed. It is a bitter sweet reunion.

Elder Chatu and Elder Morales enjoy a little Torreon sunshine for the last time.

Our office staff and their replacements pose behind the rose garden at the mission home.

Left to right: Elder Payzant, financial secretary, Elder Welch, new assistent, Elder Robb, former assistent, Elder Gutierrez, current assistant, Elder Young, membership secretary, Elder Castellanos, former secretary of the mission, Elder Juarez, new secretary of the mission, Elder Wahl, missionary returning home for knee surgery. He has been helping out in the office while waiting for his travel.

Nine of the best...Back: Elder Adams, Elder Abbot, Elder Gallegos, Elder Franco, Elder Weyland, Elder Chatu. Front: Elder Robb, Elder Morales, and Elder Jones. We miss them a lot.

Monday morning we put 9 missionaries on planes and were blessed to receive these three outstanding young men from the Missionary Training Center in Mexico City. L to R: Elder Gomar, Elder Canul, and Elder Gil.

B: Elders Carter, Seiter, Peterson, and Strong.

M: Elders Porter, Jensen, Olea, and Orr,

F: Elders Kennedy, Sorenson, Perry and Pack

I know a lot of US moms have been checking this blog daily to see their sons photos appear after their arrival from the MTC in Provo. It is hard to believe that they all received their visas on time and were able to join us Monday evening. We all ate a bit of dinner and hit the sack so that we could hit the ground running the next morning. It was a challenge to get everyone processed and ready to meet their trainers by the 2:00 meeting but things went like clockwork and all are happily serving in their first areas.

We are now in the process of visiting all the zones in the mission and doing interviews and we are pleased that all are doing so well.

Change is in the air...

Change is in the air...

and we are not just talking about the cold front that actually froze all of the plants, fruit, and flowers outside and also the missionaries in their cement houses. We are talking about the constant changes in the mission. The months of January and February seemed like a dream. In this dream, we seemed to drive to the airport many times, to take missionaries, to pick up missionaries, to return to the airport to pick up lost luggage, etc. We are so grateful for a nice small airport where everyone knows us by now and the workers are always very gracious and helpful. Our regular change day was held on February 14th but we made many more trips before and after.

Companions Elder Pacheco and Ray say goodbye the day before Elder Ray flies to Oregon to be with his family again.

Members from the Bosque Ward in Gomez Palacio bring Elder Ray to the mission home. On the far right is former Elder Ali Rios who now lives in Gomez and is the ward mission leader and teaches institute.
Elder Lamb poses with Elder Polo (from Peru) Elder Lamb returns to California the next day.

Hermana Baquerizo (from Equador) says her goodbyes to her companion and trainer, Hermana Escorcia who returns to Cuernavaca.

Hermanas from the Nazas Ward bring Hermana Escorcia to the mission home. The sister on the right is from the Sarabia Ward and will serve as companion for the night to Hermana Baquerizo.

All of the North Americans from this generation pose for one last photo together. Back: Elders Lamb, Cameron Nelson, Conner Nelson, and Bouchard. Front: Elders Ray, Checketts, Roderick and Glauser.

One of our extra trips to the airport was to take Elder Barcena who developed a herniated disc in the mission and returned home to the care of his family in Mexico City.

Cena de despedida--13 enero 2011

L to R: Hermana Escorcia, Elders Glauser, Miliar, Ray, Checketts, Cameron Nelson, Bouchard, Conner Nelson, Lamb, and Perez Zaragoza.

B: Glauser, Bouchard, Conner Nelson, Cameron Nelson, Lamb.

F: Miliar, Perez Zaragoza, Checketts, Ray, and Hna. Escorcia

These fine missionaries were in the vans on their way to the airport by 5:30 a.m. the next morning to begin their transition into civilian life.

Bright and early, our new missionaries from the CCM in Mexico arrived. Here are Elders Hernandez Mora, Sanchez, Hernandez Olvera, and Soriana with Hermanas Gutierrez and Maqueda in front. Welcome to Torreon.

Elder Orlando Garcia left before the rest of his group in February so that he could meet a school committment. Before he left, he took the final test of the Companionship Language Study program. A certification from this program states that he has completed a certain level of competency in English and is ussued by BYU.

Elder Austin Smith, our financial secretary for some time, returned home due to health problems. We wish him all the best. He has been a great asset to our mission.

Elder McKeon Day joined us on time from St. Louis, Missouri by way of the Provo MTC. He was the first of our February North Americans to arrive.

Elders Thompson, Oehler, and Dastrup are excited to be in the country and are ready to work.
They were only a few days behind Elder Day.

Friday, February 25th was the date for these 5 to arrive. Elder Wahl is making a return appearance after returning home to have knee surgery at the first of November. Next to him on the back row is Elder Wagner from Utah. In front are Elder Ragland from Maryland, Elder Neser from California and Elder Larsen from Utah. This completes the generation of February arrivals.

We already know of 2 new missionaries arriving from Peru on March 4, one North American scheduled for March 7th and our regular transfer day is March 28 when we SHOULD receive 17!!! We are not optimistic that this will go smoothly. We will live through this, somehow.

New missionaries for a new year...2011

With the start of the year 2011, our prayers were answered and we began to receive more missionaries from North America. The visas have been procured in many locations other than Salt Lake City and church travel is being creative in arranging travel to get us our missionaries! We feel so blessed to receive such wonderfully trained missionaries. Those from the north already are speaking really good Spanish and are hitting the ground running.

Elder Bean is from Oklahoma and Elder Ellgen is from Colorado. They travelled together to join us in the Mision Mexico Torreon.
On January 3rd, we were blessed to receive 9 missionaries from the CCM in Mexico City. Two missed their plane because of baggage issues and they joined us shortly after the end of our change meeting. Above on the back...Elders Olvera, Teran, Cruz, and Macedo. On the front with President Clark and I are Elder Ruiz, Elder Perez, and Sr. Cuba. (she is from Peru)

Elder Calderon

Hermana Baquerizo is from Equador

Within the week, we received the 4 North Americans scheduled to be here in January. This is a sign that our prayers are being answered. Elder Dunman from Arizona, Elder Abbott & Elder Tarabilda, both from California, and Elder Hyer from Utah.

They are now hard at work finding, teaching, and baptizing here in Mexico

January 2011 transfers

January 2011

Hermanas Ortega, Garcia, and Palma say goodbye to Hermana Velazquez.
Elders Perez and Stratton baptized this family from area Centro. They brought a cake to Elder Perez on his last night in the mission.

Elders Lunt and Polo say goodbye to their companion, Elder Hernandez.

The whole group. L to R. Shimata, Ramos, Heffernan, Hernandez Lepe, Hna. Velazquez, Watson, Hernandez Vergara, Perez, Galvan, Hernandez Sanchez

Elder Ponce joined President Clark and I in the mission home about a week before the rest of his
group as he returned home early for a school committment.