November 23, 2014

 

Ross and I with the Peñas and Sister Norman at the Madera Store
in San Antonia Arrezola. This is the town or puebla where they started
making these intricately painted and hand carved figurines. Most of the
stores are family cooperatives and most of the pieces are signed. You can find anything
from dragons, to butterflies, to cactus, actually anything!

This shows how they paint, she has a cup full of syringes filled with
different colors of paint. She is using the syringes for detail work. Tiny brushes with
one or two hairs and other tools are also used.
 



We then went to another little puebla, San Bartolo Coyotopec, where they make beautiful
black pottery, very similar to the pottery made by the Santo Domingo
Indians in New Mexico, except way, way cheaper, or I should say mas barrato. This
huge tree was outside the restaurant where we ate lunch. We bought a couple
of pieces of pottery and 2 figurines to help liven up our apartment, so it wouldn't look so empty and plain ! 

Tuesday morning we had to go downtown to get our fingerprints
taken for our resident permits. Afterwards we met the Normans
at this old Catholic Cathedral and then wandered around the Zocolo and
the downtown area. This is inside the Cathedral. There is also a museum attached, which we will go to another day,
this is all Gold! 

We went into this market, you probably can't tell what is in these
bowls, it is a delicacy here and a lot of the people love them! They are called
champolinas (not sure of the spelling) in English it is spelled g-r-a-s-s-h-o-p-p-e-r-s!
We will be sure to bring some home for you all to try, I have been told the small
ones are the best because the legs don't get stuck in your teeth like the ones I tried in Mexico City.
 

More of the market in the Zocolo

These are the cute Missionaries who are working with us on our
papers, the one on the left is from Jerome, Idaho, he is adorable.
The other one is harder to get to know, but he is cute too.
We asked if it was far to walk, they said pocito lejos, (a little far)
but if you brought money we can take a bus, we told them we would be staying downtown, they said then
let's walk so we can show you the town. It was pocito lejos, we definitely got our
exercise for the day!
 

 

All in all it has been a great week, the temple wasn't quite as busy as expected, but still busy. we are starting to feel more comfortable and starting to recognize people. Again people came on the buses we knew from our last mission, how great it is to see them and be remembered fondly. We both got to work right with a brother and sister we knew and worked with that we really liked, the Fernandez'. Also their son who was a coordinator.
Friday we worked 10 hours and when we got home Sister Norman, Sister Peña, and Laura were just getting ready to go into town to do a little girls shopping, it was about 4:00. So I hopped in with them. We had to go around a blockeao, ( they are still doing a few protests, but they have all been very peaceful) but when we got into town we went to some fabric and craft stores, it made me want my sewing machine. Chris (Norman) has one that belongs to the temple that I can use. We bought
some Christmas fabric for tablecloths and we had a yummy pastry and laughed and had fun.
Saturday was another early day at the temple, the busses arrived at 5:30 so the first session was at 6:30, we worked  from 6:00 until 3:00.
I worked with the sweetest older lady on Saturday, there was just something about her that touched my heart, she had the kindest eyes and I think it was because the Spirit of Christ just shined in them. She was there with her daughter and you could feel their love for each other, but you could feel her love for her Savior also, she was such a beautiful soul. I want to grow up to be like her. I wish my Spanish was adequate to have expressed to her how I felt. For some reason when I was in her presence it felt like home and family.
Dad and I also got to work with several of the Primera Vez, or First Times, that too is such a priveledge, I can not describe to you the joy that I see on the faces of the couples when they take each other in their arms and know they are eternal families. I can only begin to imagine the joy of the reunions in Heaven as we meet again after being separated for a short time from our loved ones. That is the joy we want and anticipate for us as family and friends.