Parras

The bus ride to Parras was only 3 hours and we arrived in the early evening. Parras is a smallish city (arround 44,000 people) kind of an oasis of a city in the middle of a forsaken desert. There are miles and miles of vineyards (in fact, parras in spanish means vine) but the wine factory has been closed for years. Jesse says they just export the grapes to somewhere else to be processed now. But there are trees EVERYWHERE! We just drove through this parched desert and then BAM! Lush, green trees and grass everywhere! I loved that they weren't merely decorative either, all the trees in the parks and gardens were producing either nuts or fruit. Around the swimming pools they had pecan trees and at the park there were mulberry.
When we first got into Parras we drove around to find a hotel room, and to our dismay, after checking 6 hotels and finding them all full we found out that they would all be full that night because the governor was baptising his (infant) daughter in the old wine factory so there were hundreds of people in town. We weren't that put out though, because knowing how much these people loved Jesse there is no way we'd go without somewhere to stay for the night. We went to visit the Soliz family first and Hermana Soliz taught me how to make tortillas. At first she refused my help and wanted me to sit down at the table with Jesse, but I had Jesse explain to her that I wanted her to teach me exactly how to make them she accepted my help and became like my own mother, patient and kind.
The measurements of the ingredients are how you'd expect them to be, a kilo of flour, a handful of salt and another handful of rexal (baking powder) and then a chunk of lard. She does it by sight, so the only way to learn is to watch and remember the best you can. I helped her roll them out too and I couldn't quite get them as round as she could. She kept saying "no hermana, like this..." She would pick up my mishapen tortilla and show it to Jesse and laugh. Jesse didn't care about the shape though, he was just happy he had homemade tortillas and beans (and the prospect of having them at home too made him even happier!) Hermano Soliz was 67 years old, but you wouldn't know it by looking at him (that's him below on the left). He runs five miles and eats 6 small, healthy meals every day. It's not very common to find someone in rural mexico interested in fitness and nutrition, but Brother Soliz is! He showed us several nutrition books in that he has read in english even one by Jillian Michaels! Brother and Sister Soliz have 3 children and we were able to visit with 2 of them; Elsie lives just down the street with her husband and daughter Marianna (Elsie is in the blue striped shirt, and mariana is on the far left in pink being held by Hermana Soliz in yellow). Rosy lives a few miles away, but came into town to see us while we were there for church (she's in the black shirt and blue sweater holding her daughter Sitlaly in the peach dress, her husband Eduardo is in the black shirt.) Also in this picture are Edgar (brown shirt) and Paloma (black shirt on the right) and their son Jesse(peeking out behind Paloma in the red shirt... and yep, he's named after Jesse!). Mosiah (Jesse's missionary companion) said something very touching to little Jesse the night before we left. As we were all shaking hands and kissing cheeks ( I love that custom!) and saying our goodbyes Mosiah looked at little Jesse and says (in spanish) "protect your name". I love that Mosiah is concerned about Jesse's name, and it being protected.... I love these people.
Rosy and Eduardo with me and Jesse:This is a shawl Hermana Soliz crocheted for me:
Church in Parras was something I will remember forever. Even though it was in spanish, I could feel the devotion and faithfulness of the members in the branch. Towards the end of sacrament meeting Jesse was dozing off and all of a sudden we heard the branch president say "something something Hermano Callahan something something" I look at him and say "did he just say you're saying the closing prayer?" "I dunno, I think so!" He said. So when the time for the closing prayer came he glanced around to see if anyone else would stand up, and when no one did, he stood and said the closing prayer. They also asked me to say the closing prayer after gospel doctrine, I said "In english?" They said "Sure! We'll just imagine what you're saying!" (you mean like I've been doing this whole trip?!!)
This is the whole branch at church (when Jesse was there on his mission, they didn't even have a chapel and only a handful of members): Jesse with Araceli... so much to say about her, but in a minute: After church we visited this guy, he was very racist and had a foul mouth ( he yelled "F You!" to a bicyclist who got in our way) but he was very funny and kind. He would take my hand in his and look me in the eyes and say to Jesse in spanish "tell your wife that I hope God is with you on your travels and that you return again to visit soon." His daughter and her two children lived with him and this baby (Zoey) fell asleep on my lap and drooled on my arm and I loved every minute of it :)
We spent the rest of the day driving around town with the Soliz family and looking at their city swimming pools and parks, I think that was my favorite part of the trip because it actually felt like we were on vacation (for an afternoon at least!).
This is Jesse and Eduardo in front of one of the swimming pools. They are filled with irrigation water and have fish, most of the fish were goldfish sized but we saw one fish as big as a cat! We also visited the house that Jesse lived in when he was a missionary:Mosiah and his wife Erica came that night (after 14 HOURS on a bus from Mexico City) and we had a wild time playing games and quoting Nacho Libre. I understand now why Jesse loves Mosiah so much and why they get along so well, they're both so goonie!

Jesse tried to take a picture of all the girls, but he told us all to frown. He didn't realize that he gave the directions in spanish, so here I was smiling away because I didn't know he said to frown.... we had a good laugh over that. Gabby is the one on the left and she just got back from a mission.
The next morning we had breakfast with Mosiah and Erica and she said to Jesse and Mosiah (since they all know at least a little english) "Lets all speak in english so Laura is not left out." (it reminded me of how kind Jacqueline was in Zacatecas, she insisted Jesse speak english to her in front of me so that I would not be left out) I know it wasn't easy for them but they did a wonderful job and for a few minutes on the trip I could understand the conversation, so thank you Erica :)Then we went grocery shopping for Araceli:
While most of the members we visited live in humble circumstances, these were extreme. Araceli's family hasn't had money to pay their water bill in 5 years or to pay for gas or food. We were very fortunate to have the means to be able to share with them. To little Araceli, even though you will probably never see this: I love you, God loves you and there is no need to be ashamed of that.

We visited the Mena family next and they have a bakery attached to their house.Hermano Mena bakes lots of bread every day. He let me peak into the oven and see all the loaves!
They make all kinds of sweet breads and cheese breads and little fruit filled empanadas... all warm from the oven.... delicious!
And he let me attempt to roll out some rolls :)
One of the greatest parts our trip was getting to meet Mosiah and Erica. Jesse went to their wedding last September and I was unable to go, but I'm glad I got to meet them this trip. Mosiah trained Jesse in Parras for 7 months, so they got to know each other and the area very well. To see them walking the streets of Parras together again was like watching two little kids discover a long lost club house. Mosiah is truly like a brother to Jesse and they will be eternal friends :)

Torreon

After 6 hours on the bus we rolled into Torreon and had a taxi take us directly to the mission offices. The elders visited with us for a while and gave us directions to the mission home so we could visit the mission president and hang out until we had to catch our bus to Parras. We delivered a package to Elder Vanorden (his parents live in our stake and sent a package down with us for him).
When we asked where to eat, President Clark and his wife recommended a place called Farrolitos. They had these tacos they called vampiros (vampires) but they were delicious! They were just some carne asada type meat with the white mexican cheese on homemade tortillas... but they melted in your mouth! They also had amazing horchata! That was pretty much it for Torreon, even though it was the biggest city we visited (about the size of Las Vegas) it was dirtier and poorer and we didn't like spending much time there. The best was yet to come when we got on the bus that afternoon headed for Parras.

Zacatecas

What an amazing trip! There were so many funny, spiritual, breathtaking, and crazy moments that I can't possibly share them all, but, for the sake of posterity, I must try to record some of what transpired on our trip back to Jesse's mission in Mexico.

Our first stop was Zacatecas. We decided to fly into Zacatecas so we wouldn't waste time busing back and forth between cities. However, the only flight into Zacatecas from the states was a red eye from LA that didn't get in till 6:30 am. You would think, oh no problem, just sleep it off and then go do your thing... yeah, unless you're married to Jesse. The minute we hit the ground it was GO! GO! GO!

Zacatecas is by no means based on a grid system (we silly Americans and our GRIDS!) and we would have gotten hopelessly lost on the complicated Mexican road system if it hadn't have been for our wonderful friend Jacqeline. She lives in Mexico City, married to a former missionary from Jesse's mission, Isaac Clawson. She was raised in Zacatecas and her family still lives there, so she graciously agreed to come to Zacatecas and visit with her family while we were in town so she could drive us around and visit with us during our stay. She picked us up from the airport and then we hit the town:
A huge cathedral in the middle of town. The builders of this cathedral (in the 1500's or 1700's, I got conflicted stories) followed the same practices as the cathedral builders in Europe, where they would kill the artisans after they finished their sculpture work on the building. So, in order not to die, the sculptor would just keep adding on statues and decorations, this is the result:
Our Hotel had a beautifully landscaped courtyard: Every few blocks of the cobble-stone town there were town square type things with fountains and benches and trees. Muy tranquilo. In the evening we visited the Tenorio family and found that 2 of the little boys were named Jared, and Isaac after former missionaries (later in the trip we met another little boy named Jesse! Yep! Named after Jesse!) They served us dinner and it was the first authentic meal I've ever had. It was delicious! Chicken with tomatoes and onions in homemade tortillas. The boy in the red was a rebellious teenager when Jesse was on his mission there and wanted nothing to do with the church. We found out that he's not only a member now, but he just returned from a mission!That's Jacqueline on the right:Hermano (or Brother) Tenorio is an artisan and he makes statuettes out of their famous pinkish sandstone (like our red sandstone). This one is a miniature version of a fountain that's in the middle of town: And here's the real version: After the Tenorios we visited Raul y Lisset and their kids Jacob and Rebecca. I was really missing the kids by now and Rebecca was kind enough to sit on my lap and help me through my withdrawls. Plus, she had just taken a bath and had that sweet baby soap smell in her hair :)
A mexican craft store, I could have spent hours in there figuring out what all the stuff in there is for, but there was so much to see, and so many people to visit.
Jesse went on a zip-line accross a canyon and loved it! If there were any more room in this post I would post the video where he gives a very "mexican" yell, but there's too much already.
The view of Zacatecas from the mountain, it looked like this whichever direction you looked in, it's a large city. And then we rode the Bufa (a tram that goes over part of the city on a cable)
Later that day we visited a museum with a whole bunch of creepy masks, the building used to be a monastery.
One thing I loved about Mexico is that the people paint their houses anytime and any color they want to (sometimes it's to cover up the graffiti that is everywhere). Instead of having an accent wall they have an accent house! The last evening in Zacatecas we arranged a dinner at our hotel for the people Jesse knew. The families came that we had already visited, and our friend Osiris (pronounced Oh-see-rees) and her daughter Ruby. Little Jacob drew a picture for Cooper and brought it to me to give to Cooper, it says "I'm Jacob, I have 5" (in spanish you say your age by saying I have five years... so directly translated into english, Jacob was telling cooper that he's 5) and his mother Lisset made a little beaded barret for Leila






The food was incredible and the company was even better. I had no idea I had these amazing friends waiting for me in Mexico, and that's just Zacatecas! We stayed in the resturaunt talking and laughing until midnight, and then in the hotel room we talked some more until 2. We caught our bus to Torreon at 4:30 the next morning: I guess this shows how "un-rockin' roll" I am