Happy Reunion in Texas!

Bill and I arrived in McAllen, Texas on the evening of Feb. 22. We had breakfast in the morning, and we could hardly wait to see our daughter Katie! She served a mission for one and a half years in the southern part of the state.








We visited with a sweet senior missionary couple at the mission office until Kate arrived. As you can imagine, there were no dry eyes!

From that hour, we had a delightful week in Texas, meeting many of the people Kate had come to know and love. This is the first apartment complex where she lived in Brownsville.



We stopped and visited with the two sister missionaries now living in the apartment. Kate knew one of the sisters very well, and the other one was brand new.


















We visited the Agular family,












Sister Batista and her granddaughters,












and Brother and Sister Johnson.

It was easy to see how our daughter fell in love with these people and their culture. It was also easy to see how much they thought of her!

Rosa








Our hotel on South Padre Island

We took a side trip to the Island to see birds, and to enjoy the beautiful surroundings.



This was a fun deli where we got a sandwich for Kate. It was called the PsychaDeli.







Kate's sandwich was yummy! I know cuz I had a bite :).











We enjoyed touring the island
and walking on the beach (even in heels!).











Kate and I each have a handful of shells.


We liked the Sea Turtle Rescue Center.















This huge turtle had a prosthesis.

This one was missing a fin, but it got around just fine.








There were turtles of all sizes, shapes and colors.



This is the only known turtle with blue eyes!








We hit a couple of huge tourist traps. Well, Kate and I did while Bill took a little siesta in the car :).






Kate had some fun while we were there :).
















She said this was her new boyfriend.


She couldn't make up her mind.















She even met the "King!"
She mooned over this army dude, but then we had to leave!

















Our next stop was Raymondville where we crashed a branch party.


















We went to the house where Kate had lived and met the Sister missionaries now serving in the area.

Alejandra was a new convert to the church.










We visited Brother and Sister Swain, senior missionaries in Harlingen, just a few miles away.










Next we met the Serrato family.

















This little gal loves music and she is quite the dancer!














We visited Eusevia and Janie Valdez where we later had a wonderful dinner.












They cooked homemade tomalies with pico de gallo.












For dessert we had this Tres Leches (or "three milk") cake. I had never tasted a cake so good!

This is Melissa and her daughter.






Our next visit was with Marina and her two daughters. She had a very special story to tell.



We could not resist this little one.














This woman touched our daughter's heart in a special way!
We drove to the Alejandro family and had dinner with them. Raymond (on the left) is Francis' boyfriend (on the right). After a delicious dinner, Sister Alejandro showed us her lovely wedding pictures! Her husband lives in Mexico. Some of the families are separated in this way.













This is Sister Alejandro's grandson.
















At church on Sunday we met Lucy and her sweet little daughter. Lucy is also a recent convert. We were warmly greeted by many of the members. We were so impressed with these humble members. The Branch President is a fairly new member of the church, and his first counselor is also a new convert.
Aurelio Rodriguez, 1st counselor, Raymondville Branch (and Kate :)


After church we visited with John. His story was pretty amazing. He has struggled with some serious health issues, but is doing quite well at this time.












We made the long trip to Laredo and met this sweet mother and daughter. They were delightful!


Can you feel the love? :)















The mother of this family was sick, but Kate was able to visit with Frank and Bethany at the door.

We drove to the Bodega Warehouse and met Lelilah. The warehouse was like a huge Goodwill store!







Our last visit in Laredo was to Brother Acereto, a friendly man with a great sense of humor :).


We drove across the southern tip of Texas to Ingleside, a town just north of Corpus Christi. We met the sister missionary who Kate last served with. She is on the right (Sister Mazy). It was nice to meet Sister Nelson as well.
We met Karen who is from Germany. We also met Robert.











This is Pam, Karen's daughter in law.

This is "Ram." We sat on his porch while he played guitar for us. We loved it!




This is Aaron, an investigator.

This is Danielle.

















This is the Jacobson Family.
We had a fun visit and a yummy dessert with John Johnson family.

Our last visit of the day was to Sister Ramos. Kate called her "Mother Nature." We were so grateful for the opportunity to meet many people who touched our daughter's life. They made a lasting impression on us as they were warm and friendly, and we could see that they loved our daughter very much!