Sunday, April 26, 2015
Arriving in Mexico:
We flew Sunday morning direct from Salt Lake which felt like a breeze compared to the never ending travel to Ghana in January. But the customs line was something to be seen. ..almost an hour to get through that line. In the end all was good since the only suitcase they opened was Kim’s carry on, with just clothes and basic stuff in it. Whew! All the painting tools, smuggled in primer in shampoo bottles and food we brought didn’t get stopped.
Arriving at the temple grounds, we found out to our dismay that we were not staying on-site in patron housing as we had thought but would be housed across the street from the temple in four separate apartments. Two of them half a block down the street from the other two and down an alley and through a metal door...pretty sketch! I watched as disappointment set in with my crew. We settled in and decided we could live with the situation. As Camron and I walked back to see Kim, Vicky, Hanna and Patti, we noticed Kim and Vicky were not only missing from their apartment, but their mattresses were also missing. I knew immediately what had happened. They had hauled their mattresses over to Hanna and Patti’s and now it would be one large slumber party on the floor. It reminded me of Honduras when we totally rearranged the apartment to all sleep in one room. The difference is that these apartments are basically two small rooms with a tiny bathroom…all three together about the size of my kitchen at home. Adventures! But they were just beginning.
As Camron and I prepared to shower before going to bed, we found that not only did the hot water in our shower not turn on at all (as in you couldn’t physically turn the faucet) but the water did not come out of the head and instead shot at the back wall through a tiny tube. Showering with a trickle of freezing cold water made me think of Danika and the countless other missionaries throughout the world showering in such conditions. It was not a pleasant experience for me since my back was in a lot of pain and I was exhausted (probably from the past three crazy weeks of long paint days and the emotional stress of this silly contractor for the last 6 months making me dread coming to Mexico for this job in the first place). More Adventures!
Also tonight Scott, the contractor guy, basically warned us that they were not ready for us and to be patient with them. OH NO, OH NO!!!! A two month delay and still not ready! Pretty crazy stuff!
Also… bad news…no internet in our living areas. The only internet available is standing outside the contractors trailer on site which means none in the evenings. My crew is not happy since internet is needed to call home. We walked over to the temple visitors center to see if we could connect to Pioneer 47 but had to convince the security guards to let us in since it was 9pm and closing time. After about 30 minutes they were ready to kick us out and let us out the back gates closer to our apartments and strongly suggested we don’t go out after dark again since “this isn’t a safe area.” J More fun times!
Monday April 27, 2015
The temple construction site looks like a major construction zone and inside the temple is no different. Thinking that they need to turn this project over to the church by mid-June would make me panic. First thing the contractor told us is that we are at 7,000 feet so if we feel winded going up to the third floor every day, it is totally normal and not to panic. Three flights of stairs really do make you feel out of shape each time we climb them.
We located our product, brought it up to the third floor and started prep work on the panels. They were supposed to be ready to go when we arrived, but the painters have not been able to match the primer from Quality Cabinet and the silly company did not ship their primer as they were requested to do more than once. So, while we crew sanded and taped and Camron caulked I worked with the painters to see what color paints were on-site that I could mix with my smuggled primer to match the base coat. Several tries later, I was successful and we were on track to move forward. We spent all morning from 7:30am til 1pm prepping the four Instruction rooms. Considering what we came in to, I feel good at the progress we have made.
After lunch we were able to do first layer on two of the rooms.
Despite the promises from the contractor, we still had no shower by Monday night. Sponge bathing is becoming quite the experience!
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
The best idea Camron had for coming down here was freeze dried meals. Mountain House brand cans of lasagna, Mexican beans and rice and several other varieties are what we brought for dinners. They are excellent and greatly increase our variety of “safe meals.” I feel like we are eating well for being our own cooks in Mexico. Peanut butter, tuna and chicken and plenty of snacks brought from home all contribute to our menus. We wash all of our fruits in a diluted Clorox solution and then rinse in GSE water to help kill whatever bugs are on them and then peel. So far, so good.
Another day…another cold shower, but tonight I filled pans from the kitchen sink with hot water so I could mix it with the cold drizzle to make it more bearable. I think I’m adapting slowly. Danika is my hero!
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Bathroom issues:
For three days we have had no shower…only a drizzle of cold water. Our sink is super slow draining and tonight when I got back after working an hour longer than most everyone else, the toilet was clogged and no plunger anywhere to be found. After talking to a few people, we were told that someone would bring us one in 5 minutes. An hour later…still no plunger and I’m thinking that they have now promised us for three days that our shower will be fixed “tomorrow, for sure.” I’m thinking tomorrow will never come. All I can think of is Danika’s word from her mission…Adventures!
The temple:
The work at the temple is going well. Three days down and all four of the Instruction Room Basketweave Panels are finished. They are beautiful! In addition, Camron has been caulking the panels in the Celestial Room for two days and Vicky and I stayed late so we wouldn’t be in the way of the marble guys so we could start painting out the bondo mends in the seams in the panels to hopefully help us not spend the whole day tomorrow doing prep work in there. Our only problem right now is scaffolding. There is only one small set in the Celestial room, making it difficult for more than two people to be up top at the same time and since all our work is 14-16 feet in the air, we don’t have enough “high floor space” for everyone. We love to solve our own problems since going through the contractor is a long drawn out, slow, not so happy process. But I learned on Monday that it might cause me problems.
On Monday I asked the painters in the Celestial Room when they would be done so we could come in and start and he told me Thursday would be great. When I mentioned that to Scott, our contractor contact, I basically got a lecture that everything needed to be coordinated through him since marble guys are in there and they have deadlines too. I’m thinking to myself, “If I run everything through you, I’ll be here an extra week .” So we, instead, took matters into our own hands and Camron sweet talked the marble guys in his most excellent Spanish to allow only him to be in there and he promised to not be in their way and to move anytime they needed him to. Yeah…or we’d still have two days of caulking to do. But moving the scaffolding in probably needs to be run through the contractor. I wonder how many hours that will take tomorrow morning?
The oxen:
The font area is super far behind as they are waiting to receive the rest of the stone (Never heard this before on a temple project :/). When we went down Monday to look at them, it was a joke…nowhere near ready for us. But somehow after the conversation with Scott yesterday that we needed to get down there by Monday at the latest or come back the first of June, they decided they didn’t want to spend any more money bringing us back in June and said they would get the prep work done today so we could start tomorrow (we’re thinking, “yeah, good luck with that.”) After lunch around 2pm they hadn’t done anything more in the baptistery. Tonight around 6:15pm we noticed they had cut the round base to the new octagon shape. Well, at least it’s a start. Stay tuned for the results tomorrow. I’ve seen more miracles than one on a temple project in the past.
Latest news just in…Camron talked to Scott when he saw him drive in around 8pm…he thinks they are ready for us down in the baptistery for tomorrow…claimed they mended the broken horns and everything. Camron and I are going over at 7:30am to see what the situation is. We’re having the crew come 45 minutes to an hour later so we’ll have figured out a plan before they show up.
Alicyn
Today it rained so much we started the day by leaving Finland guess where we ended up en Estonia
We are staying with a Sister from the ward who is older and has a really old home with antiques. We went to the opera and she made us all wear these long dresses that she had in her home. Very funny. 
We left early to go to the castle at Frederiksborg. Yes, another castle, another day filled with mouthwatering pastries, great sandwiches and cakes and the original Carl Bloch paintings in their home. Here at Frederiksborg are many original Carl Bloch paintings of the Savior, many of which we know very well. They were not under glass and we were able to get “up close and personal” with the paintings. The man at the castle explained that Carl was commissioned to paint these after the original paintings for the church had been destroyed in a fire. While they were interviewing painters and deciding on who to hire to duplicate the original themes depicting the life and times of the Savior, Carl Bloch pulled out a series of sketches he had made of the original room in the chapel at Frederiksborg with all the original paintings (in a lot of detail) just a few months prior to the fire, which enabled him to get the job. I’m thinking it was no “coincidence” that he took the time to sketch out the room and the scenes of Christ while he was there visiting. Today these Carl Bloch paintings are very well known. Although we had seen several of the paintings when they were on display at the Museum at BYU a couple years ago, it was super cool to see them in their home (and be able to take photos of them).
After visiting the chapel with the paintings first, we toured the rest of the castle. Frederiksborg is so different than Kronborg in that it is a dedicated museum with everything restored to it’s period state along with the artwork. Kronborg was mostly a large empty building with a few pieces of artwork and furniture, but mostly it was just the old building that you were looking at. While at Kronborg yesterday, a catering company was setting up for some kind of dinner in the grand ballroom. So if you ever need an event venue, and have lots of money, we learned that the Kronborg Castle might just be the place. They have also filmed a lot of movies at Kronborg as well.
After the castle we were starving and found a highly recommended little café on tripadvisor that was near the castle. It was called “Andres Café” and it was a great find! The sandwiches were huge and so delicious, but what the place is famous for is their cakes and pies. Andre, the chef and owner came out and introduced himself. He was down to earth and told us the cakes were all gluten free, which surprised us all since they were so good. He is publishing his recipes in a cookbook that comes out in a few months here in Denmark. We’re hoping to help him get the recipes published here (so at least we can cook a few delicious cakes).
We only had an hour before the church closed, but really wanted to go see Vor Frue Kirke (Church of Our Lady). Here stands the original carved statue of Christ that is so familiar to all of us. In addition were the Twelve Apostles also carved from stone that I understand will be replicated for the Rome Temple. Six Apostles are on each side of the church. Each Apostle had an angel watching over him from above and Christ had a beautiful angel near him as well. This church had a very good feeling about it…not dark and dreary like the churches and cathedrals we saw in Mexico or El Salvador. It really represents well the resurrected Savior instead of the dead Savior on the cross like so many churches from Mexico and Central America. It was a sweet experience.
