Presidente & Hermana Lozano

Thanks to Pres & Sister Lozano's son, Ulises for this current picture of his parents taken July 2009.

Temples

At the beginning of the mission, there were no temples in Mexico. Here are pictures of the 2 temples that were later anounced and built.

Mexico Villahermosa Temple




Mexico Merida Temple

Cambios

In the states it seems that missionaries remain in an area 6-9 months at a time, but in our mission it was common to get a letter to "cámbiese inmediatamente" to whatever the new service location would be. Most looked like the one above, but could also come in the form of a visit from the APs. My longest transfer was from Tapachula to Valladolid, a trip of about 22 hours.

In the mission where I now reside, a mission van travels around picking up missionaries for transfers and they ride together. I remember riding with another missionary halfway to Valladolid. Sister Perez, was the other missionary. We talked during the day and she got off at Villahermosa while I travelled on. I don't know how many other elders and sisters travelled together, but I'm sure it was rare, but travelling alone was the norm.

It didn't matter a lot if you didn't know where the new apartment was, the taxi drivers could usually take you there for about 10 to 30 pesos, depending on what city you were in.

Money, the Root of All Purchases

When the mission began, the value of the peso (old) was $12.49 pesos to one dollar. It enabled missionaries to afford life quite easily. The average cost for a month was usually around $125.00 US dollars. Most apartments had a maid that did the cooking, cleaning, washing and shopping.

Even in 1975, the bills shown here were outdated. The 5 and 10 peso notes were soon replaced by coins. The 10 peso coin was octagon shaped. The 20 centavo coins, solid copper, were also soon replaced by much small coins.

Before long the peso was devalued against the dollar and missionaries received up to $30 pesos to the dollar and we all went shopping for souvenirs. It was always easy to tell if the exchange rate was about to change by the big wigs at the bank changing their money to the direction that would best benefit them.

Since the days of the mission runaway inflation caused Mexico to cancel all the old currency in issue new pesos. All our old bills and coins have more collectors' value than they are worth at the bank now.

Autobus for Intercity, Camión for Around Town

At one point in time during my mission, I planned to stuff a pillow case with bus tickets. These are what you got on nearly every bus ride, whether travelling for transfers to another town or just riding from one part of town to another.

The bus systems were not the best, but many times better than walking. Who can forget riding on the bus where the driver had taken out all the seats to fit in more passengers. Riders needed to hold onto rails on the walls or roof of the bus.

I can't be the only one who rode on the outside of the bus. If it was full, you stood on the step outside the door and held on. One time I was holding my briefcase and filmstrip projector while standing on the outside step. My companion was outside of me holding onto the rails to keep both of us from falling out.

Nothing makes a 3 hour trip better than turning it into a 6 hour trip by bus. Send me a picture if any of you have any bus pictures.

I wrote to a cousin of mine in Argentina during my mission and told her we traveled around by camión. She got very confused because in Argentina that is the word for a truck or dumptruck. Interesting the local variations on vocabulary.