Idaho Spud Transplants

Monday, September 3, 2012

Sights and Sounds of the Rio Grande Valley

As we have traveled the mission, we have seen some things that we are not use to seeing in Idaho. You may see some of these in other parts of the US, but they are new to us. We have taken pictures and wish to share some these with all of you or you all! We will add to this section, so check back often.

One of the first things we noticed was the Palm trees. There are several varieties here
in the Rio Grande Valley.

Many of the churches and buildings make you feel as if you are in Mexico.

There are always flowers blooming in the Rio Grande Valley.
Even the Cactus have beautiful flowers.

Can you see the mountains in the background? I didn't think so. It is very flat although
it is called the Rio Grande Valley. In this photograph, Mexico is just about a mile away.

Sorghum is a major crop in Southern Texas. These fields are about two weeks away from harvest.

That is an oil well in the middle of this Sorghum field.

Cotton is also a big crop in Texas. Here the cotton balls are beginning to form.

Ready for harvest.

The cotton is harvested and put in a big bale and then hauled by truck to the cotton gin.

A big bale of cotton.

Sugar cane is another crop grown in the Rio Grande Valley.

We got up close and personal with this Texas Longhorn. He wasn't quite sure about us and we didn't know if he would charge or pose. Luckily he posed!

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Border Patrol Checkpoints

Mexicans can enter the United States for 3 days at a time, but they cannot go farther than 50 kilometers(60 miles) into the country. Therefore the Border Patrol has set up checkpoints along roads that lead from the border into Texas. At the checkpoints there are Border Patrol Officers and drug sniffing dogs. As we travel around the mission, we have to pass through these checkpoints. They always ask if we are United States citizens and sometimes they look in the mission trasfer van that we drive. I have an army ammunition box that I carry my tools in. This caused some questions from one of the Border Patrolman on one occasion.

This picture was taken on June 28, 2012. So far this year at this checkpoint, 122,762 lbs of drugs had been seized and 8527 illegal aliens had be stopped. Notice the cameras on the left side. Every vehicle and person gets their picture taken. It is all computerized and by the time you get up to the Border Patrol agent, they have run your license plate and know pretty much who you are.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Texas Size Storm

On March 29th we had a Texas sized storm. It began raining, then the wind blew at 70 mph, then the hail came with 1 inch diameter frisbee shaped hail stones, and then it rained some more. Oh yes, there was lightning and thunder throughout. All in all it lasted about 3 hours and did lots of damage. The way our apartment sits we had rain and hail hitting our kitchen sliding door and our front door. The hail stones hitting the windows and door sounded like gun shots. The storm dumped about 6 inches of rain. Lots of damage in our area with broken windows, damaged roofs, and flooding. We were fortunate with no broken windows but we spent most of the time holding towels and rags up to the top of our windows catching water that was running down the inside. Several windows in our apartment complex were shattered. There were about 30 windows boarded up waiting to have glass replaced. Lots of cars in our parking lot have hail damage and two had their back windows completely shattered. We park under a metal cover but the front of the car sticks out and our car has hail damage too. We have to have our hood and right front fender replaced.

The mission home had their front windows broken out and several holes in the roof. Many homes still have plastic tarps covering their roofs. The roofing businesses and window shops are having a field day.

Some of the old timers tell us that this storm was worst than their last hurricane. We hope its not a preview of storms to come.

Standing at our front door, this is what we saw the next morning.

Even the dryer vents were not safe!

This was the north side of the apartment complex.

The mission home took a direct hit!

Missionaries from the area help out the neighborhood.

This was some of the wind damage at the mission office.

It looks like someone was shooting at the Colonel, but it was only hailstones!

This picture was taken at the end of April, a month after the storm and the windows had not been replaced.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Helping Hands Service Project

One of the first great activities we participated in was a "Helping Hands Service Project." It was planned and arranged by several Stakes of the Church in this area to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the welfare program of the Church. Some of the missionaries here were ask to help so Elder Choules was assigned to coordinate the Mission effort with the Stakes effort. The project was to clean up a "Colonia" or a neighborhood in Weslaco.
The neighborhood called Colonia Llano Grande was so run down and overgrown that the garbage trucks couldn't get down the alleys to pick up trash. Trash had just stacked up and was over flowing. Years of neglect and limited resources had left this area in a mess.
The service project was held on Saturday, March 17th and about 600 members of the church and 60 missionaries participated. We all wore yellow " Helping Hands" T-shirts or vests.
We trimmed trees, bushes and weeds that were choking drainage ditches and alleyways. We cleaned out trash, brush and junk from vacant lots and streets. We helped repair houses by replacing new windows, making roof repairs, and built wheelchair ramps.
It looked like a sea of yellow as you looked up and down alleyways and streets. Everyone came together to serve and in one morning the Colonia was transformed.
All in all we filled 20 of the huge garbage dumpsters with almost 100 tons of junk. The church provided the volunteers and the county provided the dumpsters and trucks to haul everything away.
What a great experience! To see the Colonia at the beginning and then at the end was amazing. One lady that lived there commented, I didn't expect this. I'm giving thanks to God. He is the one doing all of this. What a profound statement. We are just the Saviors hands to do his work. We were so proud of the saints here and so impressed. Everyone working so hard laughing and joking and enjoying being together in a great cause.
Our testimonies were strengthened so much. It was a blessing to be involved.

President Chandler, Emily and Autumn greeted everyone and handed out gloves!

We found some strange things in the trash. This is an Alligator Gar fish.

So much trash. Where do we start?

All this from one alleyway.

Cleaning one of the alleyways.

Some of our sister missionaries.

We filled about 20 of these dumpsters.

We are working hard. We were in charge of taking pictures for the Mission.

A sea of yellow working to clean an alleyway.

Here is our group of Missionaries.

A job well done!

Friday, March 16, 2012

Philip (Elder Choules) Birthday

It's the first time in Elder Choules' life that he went swimming outside on his birthday, March 16th. We invited Emily and her family to Fuddrucker's for dinner and then came back to our apartment complex and went swimming in our pool. It was about 85 degrees and the water was perfect. After our swim we did a Monster Pinata and opened presents. So fun!