We have been sad to miss the baptisms of two of our grandchildren, Nathan and Kryton. As an added blessing for our Temple service, we were invited to attend Hakeen Tuyub's baptism in Zazil-Ha First Ward last Sunday. It was the Primary children's program so there were family members from other wards present to watch, and there were many of the members whom we recognized from the temple. After the services we all went to the font for the baptism and then Hakeen was confirmed by his father. The Primary children sang songs, and the talks on baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost were just as well-done as if we had been in Maple Valley or Wildomar. Afterwards the family took pictures, with the greatgrandmother, two grandmothers, the mother and Hakeen. We were honored to be in a "family" photo along with other Church/Temple workers.

Hakeen is the son of one of the workers on whom Gerhard depends. Ignacio Tuyub Dominguez (Nacho) is the Temple's specialist who does the carpentry work, the decorating of the chairs, the upholstery of the furniture, the refinishing if a nick or gouge appears in a table. He has a prosthesis on his right leg, and moves very awkwardly, but he is truly an artist.

The ward is not one that Gerhard advises, so we had the Bp. of the other ward that meets in that building (Zeniff Leo Pech) draw us a map. We started on 70th street and had to go east to 44th , and south from 63rd street to 103rd. We allowed 1/2 hour to travel and made it within that time, so we were early enough to greet the members. In the Sunday School class the teacher said the distance the handcart pioneers would travel in one day was equal to the distance from the chapel to the downtown area (where the Temple is).

It was good that we had the Smiths along, and not just for navigation help. Elder Smith's nephew had recently been assigned to the other ward, and they were glad to see each other. The two sister missionaries assigned to the ward came to speak to Sister Smith, our missionary sister. One of the girls is from Bolivia, the only member of her family, but she is in touch with them on Mondays when she can email her brother. She has a degree in photojournalism. The other is from Coahuila, and has a degree in agrobusiness. Neither of them is accustomed to sleep in a hammock, but they are comfortable in their apartment here and were happy to have an investigator family come to the meetings.
Also, Gerhard was able to talk to the Primary President who wanted to arrange a visit to the temple with her Primary children. He was able to give her some encouragement and she felt very happy.