Jay-B's Reflections: Mexico Trip

We had the car for another day because we planned to attend church in the small ward of Tulum, an hour away, and then visit the ruins at Tulum by the sea. This was the one day that didn’t go exactly as I had hoped but it was fine. We learned from the experience. Before we left, Jason had contacted the Bishop at Tulum to ask if there were any needs we could meet for their ward. We figured with it being a small ward away from the tourist area, there might be something we could do. He gave us the names of 15 children who had not been able to receive Christmas presents. We were able to shop with Mom and the kids before we left and put together packages for each child. It was a bit harried and hurried but we got it done. On Sunday, we arose early, dressed for church and drove down. The chapel was so cute — it looked like a miniature model of ours. We arrived a bit early and the chapel quickly filled to capacity. It was fast Sunday and I had been sorting out in my head how to share a testimony in Spanish if there was any down time. Well, I needn’t have worried! Person after person arose and shared beautiful testimonies without a second to spare in-between. Although they were few in number, they were strong in spirit and love for each other and the gospel. It was so wonderful! I was able to understand about 50% of what was said and I took turns translating for Ashtyn and Alyssa who were sitting on either side of me. Jantzen, Aubrey and Jason were almost falling asleep in the warmth of the room and the hum of the Spanish language. I was proud of everyone for singing the hymns and greeting the people with rounds of “Hola and Buenos Dias!” After the meeting we talked with the counselors in the bishopric as the Bishop was out of town that week. With the help of a sister missionary translating, we were able to convey what we had brought. They were not aware but found out that the Primary President knew who the children were. By then primary and classes had already started and we felt a little awkward. There was no one to translate for us, as I had hoped might be the case. We spent the 2nd hour wrapping the packages we had brought and affixing the gift tags out in the parking lot. Then, we brought them in and left them in the Bishop’s office with his counselors. The Primary President would help them to deliver them later that day. Although it could have been a good experience for our kids to go deliver the gifts and see the children, we also felt like this was better. We really had no connection to these people and we didn’t want to feel like the big old Americans who came in with the presents expecting gratitude or something. It felt good to leave them and go on. I would have liked for the kids to attend Primary and Young Women meetings in their church and see what it was like in another country but with no one to translate I wasn’t sure if they would get anything out of it and we felt awkward barging in on their meetings as if we expected someone to try to translate for us and accommodate us. We decided to just go on to Tulum, where we had planned a peaceful afternoon with a picnic and reading of scriptural passages from 3 Nephi. Well, it was an extremely HOT day and the sun was blazing down. Tulum was not quite what we had expected. It was very commercialized and not a very peaceful place at all until we got right to the inside and could find a shady place apart to eat our picnic lunch we had brought. A few people had suggested that we really needed to get an LDS tour guide to hear the Book of Mormon perspective on a lot of the buildings and what they were really used for. But, with it being Sunday, we didn’t feel like we should do that. We did end up on a short tour of sorts, which was a little bit helpful but mostly boring for the kids, who were literally melting before our eyes. It was a very interesting place and very beautiful set off of the seashore; we felt like we would have had a better experience had we planned ahead to have the LDS guide and to go on a day when it would be cooler or overcast….or go first thing in the morning. So, perhaps we will go back. After our visit, we had planned to also drive over to Coba, another ecological site, but it was another 45 minutes away and the sun and heat had literally sapped us dry. We decided to head back to the hotel and everyone ended up taking a nap in our rooms. We finished off the afternoon/evening by reading passages from 3 Nephi 11 - 16 in our rooms and discussing what we had seen that day. We also sat by the pool with appropriate books while Aubrey and Jantzen played in the water. They convinced Jason to join them eventually and had a smashing good time. Maybe we’ll make another trip sometime and see Tulum and Coba. We later learned that Coba is so large that you generally rent bikes and bike around the site, stopping at the various buildings. Coba is cool because it is the one remaining site where you can actually climb up the temples.