Viva Mexico!

Pre-trip Highlights:

(I had to include these!)

• Fat Bubba buys Beto Breakfast Burritos
• Fat Bubba spills his breakfast burrito all over his khaki pants
• Sasha, Fat Bubba, and Ace leave for the SLC airport... destino... Monterrey
• One mile from the airport, Fat Bubba's car thinks it's Christmas and all the dashboard lights begin to blink
• 1/4 mile from the airport, Fat Bubba's new car dies... :(
• Sasha and Ace get their suitcases out to hitch a ride on a bus
• A nice airport man walks out to help Fat Bubba (who has breakfast burrito stains on his pants) haha
• Sasha and Ace decide that they can walk faster than the bus
• After a giant hug, they must leave Fat Bubba to catch their flight.

Now that you've seen how eventful the first 2 hours of the trip was, here are some of our highlights with pictures!

Favorite thing about the Monterrey Trip:

Sasha: My very favorite thing about Monterrey was watching Ace's converts light up as they saw him and watching Ace's face light up when he saw them.

(Carolina and I acted out when we first found her in the street. See if you can tell what's happening!)

Ace: ...was being able to see all of my hermanos and hermanas that affected my life in Mexico (including the President Romney, Mama Romney, and Brooke). They are truly part of my family and I miss them every day. Being with them reminded me of the strong love that we have for one-another.

(Oscar, Natali, Xochitl, and Wendy. A family who was sealed while i was in the mission.)

Hardest thing:

Sasha: The hardest/worst thing in the whole world is not being able to speak Spanish and express what was in my heart. (And the food.)

(Sasha with Carolina and Irma. They were her "teeechairs de eengleesh".)

Ace: Craving a Campechana from ATM, only to discover that their trompo grill had broken down and that they weren't serving Campechanas... :(.... haha. But even harder was leaving the houses of the people I watched become converted to Christ's gospel. It was very hard having to walk down the street as they watched and waved from their house until we were out of sight... knowing that we won't see one another for a long time.

Funniest thing:

Sasha: ...when a boy asked his mom if he could have the same hair cut as Ace and she said "NO WAY!"

 (Jose, standing next to me, is the one who wanted my hair cut.)

Ace: ...when we went to buy cotton candy and the guy takes our 200 pesos and runs off saying he has to go get change and that we should wait for him. While waiting, a creepy guy comes and starts talking to us... After about ten minutes of us waiting (thinking we got screwed), the cotton candy man came back with change, but told us we have to buy two cause he couldn't get the right change. Then, as we leave, the creepy guy looks at us and says to Sash, in English, "Bee carrreful chika."

(Random pic of Sasha and I outside someones house. The horses were soooo skinny!)

Scariest thing:

Sasha: ...when the taxi driver told us to be careful because he saw drug people up the street! Aaaahhh! So scary!

Ace: The night we left to catch the plane I had to go to the main street (Vasconcelos) to take the lost taxi-driver to the Romney's. While I was waiting, a police car pulled up and rolled down the window... let's just say they were trying to get me to tell them where I lived, and I just gave them the run around. (They were creepy cops!)

Weirdest thing you saw:

Sasha: Bright red hotdogs?!?! Nasty and weird? Who knows what kind of meat was in those little nasties!

Ace: This cute white girl walking down the streets of authentic Mexico!

(Sasha walking around Monclova, Mexico, colonia Margarito Silva.)

Most beautiful thing you saw:

Sasha: This is a tie between Chipinque because this mountain was breath taking, and... Sister Neil because whe is the most loving giving person I have ever met! She was beautiful inside and out!

Ace: Converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints who had truly become converted to His gospel. The member's faithfulness is such a beautiful thing. Through all of their trials, they find comfort in living the gospel.

(Rusbel. A convert who hasn't missed a Sunday of attending church since he got baptized.)

What impacted you the most:

Sasha: In  Monclova, Ace and I went to visit this cute elderly lady. She was so sweet and loving, you could feel how strong her testimony was. During our visit she asked us to sing a hymn from her Spanish hymn book. While we were singing, she started to cry. I had to fight to choke back the tears. The spirit was so strong there. At that moment I could feel just how much love God has for this woman and I know that God loves all of us whether we are a big super star or a humble sweet woman from mexico. That experience opened my eyes to the power of love. Love is universal-- no matter what language you speak or where you come from. I will never forget the woman from Monclova who taught me what true love was.

Ace: ...remembering the Mexican culture. It is so simple, yet so loving. The people there are so friendly... no, that doesn't give it justice. They are loving. They would give you the shirt off their back, their last loaf of bread, the only bed they own... anything. They know what charity is. They are so close to the Spirit!

(Mirna, Emanuel, Fani, and Juanito. Some of my favorite Mexican family members.)

Once sentence of what you learned:

Sasha: Actually, this is going to be two sentences. 1) The people in Mexico are incredible. 2) I am the luckiest woman in the world to have Ace as a husband.

(The Romney family, Gabriel, Alice, Sasha, and me after a dinner with at the Romney's house.)

Ace: As children of a Heavenly Father who loves us, we can grow to love one another so deeply that the love that we feel extends beyond this life and into the eternities.

(Ace with Hermana Rosa and some of her grandkids.)

THE END... for now! Viva Mexico!!!!!!