Haws Kids Visit - Part 1 Villahermosa

In December our three youngest children were able to come stay with us for two weeks.  The first week, they got to see what our mission life is really like - we went to a Zone Conference/Christmas Activity everyday of the week.  Driving to each corner of the mission; Minatitlan and Acayucan Zones in Minatitlan, then Coatzacoalcos Zone in Coatzacoalcos, Gaviotas and Cardenas Zones in Villahermosa, Carmen Zone in Carmen and last Villahermosa Zone in Villa! They enjoyed meeting all the missionaries and playing broom hockey with them and helping us set-up and serve the meal. We then enjoyed Christmas day together and attended the Deportiva Ward in Villahermosa.  President and I were asked to speak, so they even got to see us speaking, which we do that a lot!
  The second week, we were able to be tourists a little bit and go see some of the places that we have heard about in our Mission area.  Here are some of the photos of some very wonderful places.
In Villahermosa:

A famous building in Centro of Villahermosa

Mirador from the street

The walkway to Mirador crosses the
Grijalva River in Villahermosa

This is a Lookout Tower that is very famous in
Villahermosa called Mirador.  

Seth and Sam and I climbed to the top!

The view from the top of Mirador

We visited a cacao plantation. They make the
cacao plant into chocolate!  Seth, Sam,
Emily and I took the tour while President was
working.  But we brought him back some
chocolate!

LaVenta Park is in the center of Villahermosa.  It has
Olmeca ruins that were brought in from the
archeological site named LaVenta.  It also has a zoo.
This alligator is stuffed and has his own exhibit, because
he lived at the park for 20 years. When he died they had
him stuffed and there he is today.  He is huge!

At the LaVenta Zoo, you can hold some
of the animals!  Sam is holding a very
famous snake, you may have seen this
snake with some of your missionaries, he
is photographed a lot!

Seth got to hold a beautiful macaw. We
were able to walk into the aviary and the
birds were right next to us.

I got to hold the crocodile too!

Emily got to hold a crocodile!

The famous Olmeca head at LaVenta Park!

You may have heard about the famous fish
in Villahermosa - it is called the pejelagarto.
We have wanted to try it since we arrived and with the kids seemed like a good time to eat it.  So we went to a members restaurant, we had to let her know we were coming the day before, so she could get it for us. There it is, one for each of us and it was really good!

President and Sam are excited about this!

I was ready to go, and it was
pretty good!

Not everyone is excited, Emily
was skeptical

Seth was having fun, there are other
things to do with a scary looking fish
besides eating it.

We also had the famous fish- mojarra frita
Very delicious, they are very common and
sold many places.

Christmas Zone Activities and Program

The week before Christmas we went to each Zone and did a special activity and program with the missionaries for Christmas.  We played broom hockey with the whole Zone for a couple of hours.  Everyone enjoyed this fun and rigorous activity. We played outside on the courts at the buildings.  Then everyone changed back into their missionary clothes and we had a nice meal with decorations and everything!  We then had a special Christmas program and teachings from President Haws and we sang Christmas songs to celebrate the Nativity.  After the program we had some fun exchanging "white elephant" gifts.  It was a lot of fun to see what the missionaries came up with; some things from their apartments, some made things, some purchased small things- all had a great time. Below are pictures from all the Zones and it is a wide variety, to show the various activities we did with all the missionaries.

The Zapata and Tenosique Zones met at the
Palenque building, we began by playing 
broom hockey

President Haws explains the rules and
keeps things moving along

Elders waiting for their turn to go in. Elder Thaller,
Pedroza, Thompson and Perez

Elder's Jenkins, Moreno, Cuellar and
others get their food at the buffet

Zapata and Tenosique Zones

Zapata and Tenosique Zones

The Zapata and
Tenosique Zones enjoy the
Christmas meal!

Minatitlan and Acayucan Zones had
a rainy- but not cold day.
They played on!

Minatitlan Zone - Elder Wood played
even though all he had was his
missionary clothes

Everyone in the Minatitlan and Acayucan Zones!

The Coatzacoalcos Zone- we took a picture
before the broom hockey began!

Our three youngest children joined us for the
Holidays, they came and helped and played
at the Zone Conferences. Sam, Emily and Seth!

A Christmas feast, Elders in the
Coatzacoalcos Zone

The Hermanas with our family and the
Zone Leaders from Coatzacoalcos Zone

The Gaviotas and Cardenas Zones
read along as President Haws reads
and talks about the Birth of our Savior

Elders Martinez, Falcon, Rivera and
Vizcaino looking festive!

The Carmen Zone taking a break and
cooling off after broom hockey

The Carmen Zone Hermana's are excited for
gourmet pizza

The Carmen Zone -Hermana's each get a
"white elephant" gift

The Carmen Zone Elders enjoy
the feast

The Carmen Zone Elders are ready to open
the gifts!

Hermana Guzman received more
smiles to add to her own

Elder Carneiro made everyone smile
with his gift. He is a Zone Leader,
we told him to use the gift appropriately

The Carmen Zone with Presidente y
Hermana Haws

The Haws kids helping again!

The Villahermosa Zone - the dinner is ready
and waiting while the missionaries change
back to missionary clothing from broom hockey

Hermana Scholes, in the Villahermosa
Zone, unwraps the  Christmas gift that each
missionary received from us, so that
everyone could see it.  They received a
custom Temple Recommend holder,
with a photo of the Villahermosa Temple
on one side and a photo of the giant
Olmeca head, that is here in Villa, on the
other side. It was imprinted with our
favorite phrase - "se esfuerza al maximo"!

The Elders in the Villahermosa
Zone watch while their gift is
unwrapped

Christmas Happenings Around the Mission

Cardenas Zone Elders with Presidente in the Mission Office

Haws Family with Bishop of Deportiva Ward and his family
and the Assitants to the President on Christmas Day at their Ward.

Elder Hancock and Elder Davis, Assistants to the President,
with the Haws family, Presidente, Hermana, Emily, Sam and Seth
on Christmas Day at the Deportiva Ward meeting.

Palenque Branch Christmas celebration with the
Navtivity.

Palenque Branch celebration

Presidente Mata, 1st Counselor in the
Mission Presidency with his
family and friends in Minatitlan

Balancan Elders with Presidente Valencia, 2nd Counselor
in the Mission Presidency and his family and friends