Mission Reunion April 2016

Missionaries from Villahermosa 1975-1978; after meeting with President Lozano we have decided to have another reunion on April 1st, 2016. He will come up from California for it and is excited to see everyone. His wife died in February of 2015, we are sorry for his loss. He is 88 and still in pretty good health and we decided we should do this reunion while he can still come. We are missing information on a lot of the missionaries that served and would be thrilled if anyone is willing to help us find them and contact as many as we can. We want to get the word out to everyone. I am attaching an invitation to the reunion and the list that we currently have of the missionaries. Please feel free to contact anyone and also to give us any information you might receive or have regarding the elders and hermanas that served in our mission. Thank you for your help and support. It will be a great reunion to see you all there. Paul Whyte Pwhyte4@gmail.com

Mission Reunion October 2013

Misioneros Mexico-Villahermosa 1975 to 1978 Villahermosa Mexico Mission Reunion will be held October 4th, 2013 in Highland, Utah from 5:00 pm until 10:00 pm. Presidente and Sister Lozano will be there and possibly Sister Parra from the Veracruz Mission. It will be held at the chapel at 6400 West Timpanogos Highway (aka SR 92), Highland, Utah. Directions to the chapel are from I-15, take exit 284 (Highland – Alpine exit), go 4.5 miles East to 6400 West, the chapel will be on the right. We are asking whether you can come or not, if you could submit a one page biography of your life the last 38 years with a picture of your family. We want to make copies to put in a binder for Presidente Lozano. Presidente Lozano is 86 years old and in pretty good health but we wanted to do another reunion while he can still come. If you know where any of our missionaries are please contact them and let them know, also contact me with their information. Paul Whyte, pwhyte4@gmail.com or 208-716-3195 . Hope to see you all there.

Reunion! Reunion!

Elder Paul Whyte writing to inform you that we are organizing a Villahermosa Mission Reunion for the missionaries that served with President Abraham Lozano. It will take place on Friday, October 4th 2013 at a church somewhere close to his daughters home by Provo. Time and details to be determined. We are needing addresses and emails for anyone you know that served then. President Lozano and his wife are planning on attending and excited to come. They live in Lake Elsinore California. Spread the word and send what you can. My email is pwhyte4@gmail.com.

New Elder Allred

My youngest son received his mission call this week. While it is not to the Mexico Villahermosa Mission it is Spanish speaking. He was called to serve in the Bolivia Cochabamba Mission and will enter the MTC on November 16th.

Post Conference/Reunion

Hermano Inzunza, Presidente Lozano, Compañeros, Hermanas y Amigos,

Por el parte de todos nosotros que quisimos con gran deseos de asistir a la reunión de la misión, quiero expresar nuestro amor y tristeza en no poder estar con ustedes. Presidente y hermana Lozano, ustedes eran padres para nosotros sus misioneros y todos en la misión éramos como hermanos y hermanas. Recuerdo con tiernos sentimientos las lecciones, los investigadores, los miembros y la gran abundancia del espíritu con que fuimos bendecidos cada día. Trabajamos mucho y nos gustó hacerlo. La vida era difícil, a veces, pero nos contamos muy afortunados de haber sido llamados por el Señor a servir en aquella parte de su viña. Oro a Dios que nos bendiga a alcanzar una reunión futura en este lado del velo. Si no, sé con certeza que nos veremos más allá.

Elder Lloyd Allred

Reunión en abril 2011

Gracias a Gustavo Inzunza por la información en cuanto a la reunión de la Misión de México Villahermosa. La reunión será viernes, el 1 ̊ de abril del 2011, desde las 2pm hasta las 6:30pm. El sitio de la reunión es 56 East 600 North, Lindon, Utah.

Favor de avisar a Gustavo si va a asistir. Se puede comunicarse con el por medio de Facebook o a inzunzas@yahoo.com o por correos a 607 W 425 N, Lindon, Utah.

Personal Note

Effective November 7, 2010, the Lubbock Texas Stake will have a new branch called the Quaker Heights Branch. This will be a branch with all meetings in Spanish. There has not been Spanish branch here for a long time.

Two former missionaries of the Mexico Villahermosa Mission will be in the new Branch Presidency. I, Lloyd Allred, will be the Branch President and Fortunato Perez will be one of my counselors. Brother Perez served from December 1973- December 1975.

Mission Back Again!

Congratulations to President Nicolas Castaneda and his wife, Blanca Estela, from the Gomez Palacio Mexico stake. He became the president of the newly reformed Mexico Villahermosa Mission as of July 1, 2010.

Though much smaller than our mission, the new mission was formed from a division of the Mexico Tuxtla Gutierrez Mission.

Reunión en abril 2011

Estimados amigos y ex-compañeros de misión,

Estamos organizando una reunión para la conferencia de abril del 2011 con el Presidente Lozano. Sería fabuloso el poder saber si ustedes tienen contacto con alguien más y si me pueden mandar sus e-mails nuevos o de alguien más que sepan. Cuídense. Les mantendremos informados. Un saludo cordial para ustedes y sus familias.
Recuerden que el Presidente Lozano ya tiene más de 80 años y no sabemos cuánto tiempo más estará con nosotros.

Gustavo Inzunza

Las Santas Escrituras

During our time in the mission, this was what our scriptures looked like. The Book of Mormon was in paperback, as was the Doctrine and Covenants (not shown) and the Bible was available in various leather or hardback covers. The Bible was not published by the Church, but was the standard Casiodoro de Reina revised by Cipriano de Valera, generally referred to as the Reina Valera version.

We often ran out of copies of the Book of Mormon and gave away our personal copies. Even though the Book of Mormon is the main tool used by missionaries, we had difficulties in receiving sufficient supplies in the mission. Individual companionships paid for the books we gave to our investigators.

Pictured above is my last copy of the Book of Mormon I had on my mission and my Bible I used throughout the mission and ever since. We were told in the LTM to maintain our mission language. To that end my personal scripture studies and prayers are still in Spanish, in addition to a college degree and day to day conversations.

It was a joyful day when the Church announced the leatherbound Spanish edition of the triple combination. Some missionaries in the Mexico Villahermosa Mission would take the paperback versions and have them bound into a single hardback, but it wasn't the same. Since purchasing my original Spanish triple combination, the Church released a revised Spanish edition with clarifications of translation and corrected typos.

Another joyful day arrived in September 2009 as the Church began filling orders for the new, Church published edition of the Bible in Spanish with the footnotes and other formats already contained in the English Bible published by the Church. Many of you have probably already ordered your own new Bible. I will soon be ordering my own.

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.

Christmas Card 1975

A mission Christmas card was sent out by most all missionaries in 1975 which featured all the missionaries except 1 or 2, as I recall. President and Sister Lozano and the counselors in the mission presidency were also on the card.

Mexico Villahermosa Mission Origin

The Mexico Veracruz Mission split on 1 July 1975 as Benjamin Parra was released. The area south and east of the state of Veracruz, along with part of the state of Veracruz south of the Papaloapan River became the new mission called the Mexico Villahermosa Mission and Abraham Lozano was called as the president. This mission was subsequently renamed the Mexico Merida Mission on 1 July 1978 as the office was moved and was later split.

The Mexico Villahermosa Mission took in part of the state of Veracruz, all of Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan, and the territory of Quintana Roo, none of which contained a stake, only districts.

Getting Started

As the LDS Mexico Villahermosa Mission only existed for three years, other websites have been abandoned. I will list information I have, which will include missionaries with Abraham Lozano as the mission president. Any information, history or pictures will be greatly appreciated.