Week of March 23rd to March 29th, 2015

This week the news from home was all about broken bones, Sunday Mclean broke his arm, they had to put him out to set it and then wait to cast it, when they were ready to cast it Thursday, they discovered it was no longer in place and would not stay in place so he ended up with both bones having plates and screws. Poor kid !!! Meanwhile Hailey was playing softball in Milford on Tuesday and as she rounded second base, the base moved and she went down and broke her ankle, they are worried about the tendons so she sees the specialist this Thursday and they will decide from there if she needs surgery! McLean said they will become movie watching buddies while they recuperate!

Here in Oaxaca the weather has for sure decided to change, the rains have started and we have had a storm nearly every day, we broke down and had the Roesberrys get us a bigger umbrella when they went to the big market with friends. It has already come in handy!

Monday we went on an excursion to see another old church, unfortunately it wasn't open, so we only got outside pics. We then decided to go to Teotitlan to look at rugs, we had been before but not into town just the tourist trap on the outskirts when we went on a tour. I can't imagine how they can sell the rugs for the prices they do. They are handmade with all natural dyes and so similar to the Navajo rugs and so incredibly inexpensive! A saddle blanket size for $20.00.

Roesberrys, Chris Norman (John is taking the Pic) me and Ross, The Peñas and Laura Perez  at the door of the Church

 

 

Ross by a big tree outside the Church

 

 



We were very glad we took an umbrella as it rained most of the day.



 

 

There are so many old churches, this one will be open for the Holy week, not sure if we will get back.



 

We stopped at a little café for lunch, there was a cute lady making tortillas on an open fire in the back, I took pics but they didn't turn out, there was also a flood in the back room where the roof leaked! But the food was delish, I had a chili relleno, it was stuffed with shredded chicken and cheese, Ross had chicken mole.

We got home about two and decided we were going to the movies again, we went to see "The Imitation Game",  it was pretty good, but kind of sad and a bit heavy. While we were there we had our picture take with Cinderella.

 

 

 

We had a great week in the temple, we stayed busy with lots of people coming to get sessions in before Easter and Conference. We had busses Thurs., Fri., and Sat. and had long and satisfying days each day, it is so wonderful to see the people come filled with joy to come to the temple and then leave with even bigger smiles and filled with the spirit. We love to be able to work with the amazing people we work with each day and to feel of their love for our Father and His Son, so many sacrifice so much just to come and serve. Thursday evening we had two young ladies come to do baptisms, we didn't have any scheduled but the president arranged it so they could come in and do some anyway, they were passing through traveling on vacation with friends, they were from Argentina. I think they were in their early 20's. They had been in Mexico City and the temple was closed so had come here instead. Their other friends were outside waiting for them then they were going on to Puerto Escondido and some other places, but they wanted to come to the temple first.
 
 This morning as we were eating breakfast we noticed that there was a letter stuck in our door, our first thought was oh no, have we done something wrong and is the President letting us know we are in trouble! But is was a sweet note from President Atkinson letting us know that he loves and appreciates us. How thoughtful and kind, he has so much on his mind right now, his sweet wife has been quite sick for over a week and he has had to juggle his schedule and reassign some things so he can be with her, yet he still took time to do something so thoughtful. Please remember Sister Atkinson in your prayers this week.

   Tomorrow is Ross happy birthday and though he would like to forget it I  am glad is here to celebrate another year, meeting him really is the best thing that ever happened to me, and it is such an honor to have him as my eternal companion and best friend. I treasure every minute I get to spent with him. He is the best husband, father and grandfather I know and has always been a great example of love and sacrifice. Happy birthday!!!!

Love to all and have a wonderful week!!!!!

   

Week of Mon. March 16th to Sun. March 22nd, 2015

This week we have been 5 months in the mission field!!! We are almost 1/3 of the way into our mission already, it is hard to believe how fast time passes.

Today it is cloudy and looks like it may rain again, we haven't gotten any rain since the one storm I told you about, funny thing about that storm, we thought the miracle was that it didn't rain until the roof was done. Turns out the miracle was the storm itself, because of the storm it was discovered the roof leaked and had some problems that would not have been discovered until  later when the storms really came and the roofing crew was gone. The President did some checking and found that in the last 30 years it has not once stormed on that date or that early! Sometimes what we think of as a miracle or an answer to a prayer is in reality or hindsight a completely different answer! This to me is such a testimony that God truly is aware of us and what is going on in His Kingdom and in our lives and that He is indeed involved in all the details. The problems have been taken care of and the roof is now ready for the rains and the crew is wiser and ready to do the next five temples the right way.

Monday we were going to go on an excursion but no one was really up to it, Chris is still recovering from her knee surgery, Jan wasn't feeling well (turns out she had strep and was sick in bed all week), and Ross was still recovering from his cold, so we stayed home and rested up. Part of that resting up included going to the movie Cinderella at noon, matinees here are pretty reasonably priced, for just over $7.00 we can both go to the movie. What a cute show, we all enjoyed it so much, if you haven't seen it, we all recommend it, even President Atkinson went and liked it, all week our catchphrase has been be brave and be kind! We also ate dinner together at the Norman's, he made two kinds of Chinese and I made fried rice, sister Peña made a delicious mango desert. I will have to make it when I come home. It turned out to be a wonderful day.

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty normal temple days, we really enjoy the missionaries Wednesday mornings, one of the girls from the states told me how much she likes to visit with me because I remind her of her grandma, that made my day! Thursday we had no busses scheduled so the temple was closed until 3:30, Ross is coordinator Thursday and I was subbing as the coordinator, it was really slow so they sent us home early since we had to be back by six in the morning. Friday we had 4 busses and were programed to have 3 Primera Vezes, quite often they don't make appointments and we had a lot more than that! Plus they had a bunch of sealings.
Saturday was incredible - We worked 13and1/2 hours,10 straight of that dad was in the baptistery, they did around 3200 baptisms and confirmations and a total of 4200 ordinances, we had 12 busses and a group of 100  young single adults that came in cars for the evening. We had 22 first time endowments and 7 sealings. This day broke every record for our little temple. You would not have believed the quiet and reverence and the beautiful feeling inside with that many people, it was amazing. Also the spirit of love, unity, and cooperation. We truly can accomplish great things through and with Christ.

We got to see our friends the Avilas on Saturday, they were here from Pachuca, it is always good to see them. We also saw a young man we worked with in Mexico City while he was waiting for his visa, Elder Rincon, he is of course home now, he is engaged and working at the CCM in Mexico City. His English is now really good and he was so happy to see us. It has been so great to see so many of the people we knew from our first mission and such a fun surprise. 

Today we went with John and Chris Norman to the other Universidad Ward, John was teaching the joint Relief Society and Priesthood class for the Ward Conference. It was such a great meeting, he is a master teacher, he taught about being yoked with Christ through our temple covenants, and how we truly become His as we take His name upon us. Oh how we love the temple and learning about the importance of the temple in our lives.

We love all of you so very much, take care of each other and of yourselves, hugs and loves to all.

This week they got the water cistern in and covered, see the new concrete in front.
But they have piled dirt back on top of what was leveled in back. 

Week of March 9th to March 15th, 2015

Happy Birthday this past week to Miss Molly who turned 10 years old! This next week we will celebrate Aunt Phebe's birthday and Aunt Maria's birthdays, so happy, happy birthdays to these two beautiful ladies.

 For those who haven't heard the exciting news AndiJo got her mission call!!!! She will be serving in the Spokane, Washington Mission, she leaves July 1st.  Moscow, Idaho is in her area.We are so excited for her and so proud of her, she will be an amazing missionary and the people there are fortunate to get her and will love her.

It has been wonderful to be back to work in the temple and doing the work we were called here to do. Tuesday the temple was really busy with the local people coming back, it was great to see the regulars and get abrazos. Wednesday was not nearly as busy, but Thursday, Friday and Saturday we had busses come, in fact Saturday we had 5 busses in the morning and four more in the afternoon. John Norman said he thought maybe we had hit our max. We were expecting 6 Own Endowments during the day but we had more like 10 plus 4 that were just sealings! Many times they don't make appointments.

I went to one sealing that was so special, here is the background story: There was a couple with 2 kids a boy and girl who were preparing to go to the temple, about 2 weeks before they went the parents  died ( not sure how). This made the whole family decide to prepare for the temple, so  the sealing I attended had a brother and sister in law and 3 kids sealed, the grandma and grandpa sealed, the dead parents sealed, the 2 kids sealed to the dead parents, all the kids sealed to the grandparents including the dead son and another dead son. The  dead great grandparents sealed and their kids sealed to them. Four generations sealed!!!! The spirit in the room was  tremendous, their bishop and some friends were there and everyone was in tears, Brother Norman was the sealer and he does such a wonderful job, but then he talked specifically to the kids and told them he had also lost his dad when he was 8 years old and he knew that because of the promises of this sealing ordinance that angels would watch over them and that the veil would be thin and they would be able to feel the presence of their parents. I had such a powerful confirmation of the love of our Father in Heaven who makes it possible for us to continue to be with those we love for eternity. I am so very grateful that this short life is not the end of our family relationships. The temple and the truths taught there are such a powerful testimony to us of that eternal truth. 

One of the brides.



The construction site, not sure if you can see, they have one section of concrete poured,
can you see the mixer in the  right hand corner of the picture.



Different angle

This is our neighbor hood cat Morona, At first her name was Moroni, after the golden angel Moroni on top on the temple, but then some one discovered he is a she, thus Morona. 

This little bush outside my front door has bloomed since we got here, they are the brightest purple blossoms.

This week we got the first rain of the rainy season, everyone had been praying it would hold off until the roof on the temple was finished, Wednesday afternoon they finished with the seal coat, flooded the roof to check for leaks and Wednesday night it rained. then Thursday it really came down, we came home from the temple, with an umbrella, and we were wringing wet, it has taken 3 days for my shoes to dry. We are going to have to buy some boots and a bigger umbrella!

Grampa hasn't been feeling very good, he has a sinus infection and bad cough, he is on antibiotics and should be better by Monday. He has been running a fever and just feels rotten, Sister Roesberry has been sick also and has missed several days at the temple. It seems like ever session you hear at least two or three people coughing and there are always one or two workers sick, we just seem to keep passing it around. Maybe the rain will clear the air.

Monday we ended up locked out of our house, the lock broke and our key just turned and wouldn't unlock the door. No one had the right tools to just take the lock off and there were blockeos so we couldn't get the locksmith and we were beginning to think we would be sleeping on the Normans floor when President Atkinson popped open the bathroom window, which to our surprise has no latch, and climbed through and let us in. I so wish I would have had a video of him breaking into our house, it took all of 45 seconds! He missed his calling, he should have been a cat bugler, or he has had previous practice with lost keys because he made it look pretty easy!

Well so much for the exciting life of the Oaxacan Missionaries, really life doesn't change much wherever you are, just the surroundings. You still have the same routine get up do your work, whatever it is, chose to be happy or not, make the best of life, or not, serve, love, do your best, pray, eat, sleep, start all over. Life is wonderful with happy fun surprises and trials and joys, family and friends to help us and our Savior to rely on, what more could we want. Take care of each other and yourselves, love you all to the moon and back.  

     

Monday March 2 to Sunday March 8th, 2015

It has been a short but good week and the last week of the temple closure. It will be so good to get back to work in the temple! We have had fun but it is most certainly time to get back to the purpose of our Mission and be busy again. I really don't think I would like being on vacation all the time, it is so much better to be busy and have a purpose and a reason to get up each day.

Tuesday was a catch up day, we did laundry, cleaned the house, got groceries, did some mending, and all those fun maintenance things that go with everyday living. Wednesday we went with the  Roesberrys to the Zocolo and ate lunch in a fun little restaurant they call the bird house. It is in the front of a motel and has an open courtyard with caged birds of all different varieties that whistle and sing while you eat. It really is pretty and to top it off the food was reasonable and tasty, especially the desert. We then came back and went to see the Disney movie "Into the Woods".

Thursday we went on a tour of 5 different local places, the tour cost 200 pesos each, about  $13.00 American. It started at 10:00 am, and they picked us up at our house, and ended at 7:00 pm. It did not include food or entrance to the parks. But still pretty reasonable and the van was  pretty new and had air conditioning ( not always the case in Mexico).  We had quite a diverse group with us, one guy from Brazil, Pedro, a musician who had been in Mexico City helping with a concert, 2 young women on a 3 week tour of Mexico from Poland, A couple from British Columbia, Canada filming a music video in Mexico, another young woman musician from Spain, 2 ladies from Mexico City, an older lady from New York, and us 4 transplants from Idaho and Arizona. We went to Tulle to see the big tree again, it was just as impressive the second time. I didn't post pictures this time.

The next stop was a place where they make rugs. It was really interesting to me as I remember
sitting by my grandma Robinson and watching her weave rugs.

They told all about the different plants and how they make the different natural dyes to make the brilliant colors of wool, they also explained the entire process of cleaning, carding and spinning
the wool, I was glad we were on the English tour.

 



These are a few of the people in our group, we had a fun time visiting with them, several of them seemed drawn to us and just kind of hung around with us.


 

The next stop was the Mescal Factory, they showed us how to make Mescal in the old time honored traditional way. We weren't really very interested. It is made from the Agave plant, after the explanation they had an open bar where our group could sample all kinds of different types and flavors of Mescal, needless to say we did not avail ourselves of the free samples. Although many in our group were a touch happier when we loaded back in the van! And there were several that came back with a few bottles to take home.

Our next stop was the little town of Mitla, right in the middle of the town is the ruin, this was the main destination or reason we took the tour. This ruin is said to be much newer than many of the ruins in the area and our guide claimed it is Zapotec in origin. The main temple has a functioning Catholic Church built right on top of it! This seemed to be the way of the conquerors down through the ages, the Myans built a temple, the Aztecs conquered them and built their temples atop of the Myan temples and so on. It does tend to put a stop to what ever religion the conquered people are practicing!

Our guide for the day by the smaller temple at Mitla, Guillermo
o en Engles William.
 

A wall inside the palace at Mitla, notice the stonework pattern, each stone was hand cut and fitted in place,like laying bricks only there is no mortar, it is so even and perfect. 





Ross at Mitla

Outside the Palace at Mitla

Our next stop was a little roadside café for lunch, it was a buffet and we were glad we had brought a lunch. Our peanut butter and jelly sandwich looked much better than the buffet and we were pretty sure we wouldn't suffer any ill effects the next day. After lunch we went to the falls ( remember lunch in Mexico is always eaten around two or three).  Most of the way to the falls was on a twisty rough dirt road, but it was worth the drive, it was actually called the petrified falls. It was a mineral springs and the mineral deposits had left formations that looked like waterfalls. I thought they were very other worldly and pretty. There is also several large pools where you can swim or soak in the mineral pools, we did not, it was not a very warm day and also we didn't take suits and towels. Pedro swam and he said it was very cold, especially when he got out as the wind was quite cold.

The small pools and mineral deposits.
 

The smaller falls.

More small pools



The large Falls.



This gentleman charged for the walking sticks if you needed one to go up and around and down to the bigger falls, he called Dad a Joven which means young man.


 

All in all it was a great day and it was fun to see some of the things close to where we are living. This world is such an interesting place with so many different places to go and things to see.

Last night on our way to the Roesberry for dinner we stopped in a candy store, I am not sure I have ever seen so many different kinds of candy in one place ever in my life, it was actually almost overwhelming, in a sweet way. Hahaha.

One last picture, 2 weeks later and this is the progress, it looks like they are ready to pour concrete. Every bit of this has so far been done with shovels by hand.


As we have thought about what to leave with you this week that might be an uplifting thought this quote by President Hinckley came to mind " Please don't nag yourself with thoughts of failure, don't set goals that are far beyond your capacity to achieve, simply do what you can do in the best way you know how and the Lord will accept your effort."
Remember that we love you more than you can imagine and that our Father loves you infinitely more than that, the Gospel is true and it brings us so much joy and happiness. Be good to yourselves and each other.

Our week in Huatulco Feb. 23 to March 2, 2015

First off  a great big Happy Birthday to Kayla and to AndiJo, we hope they both had wonderful birthdays and wishing a big and Happy first birthday this week to Wyatt, we can't believe he is already one year old! In other very exciting news congratulations to AndiJo, who put her missionary papers in on her birthday and is now anxiously waiting to see where Heavenly Father wants her to serve. We are so excited for her and the fantastic experiences she will soon be having! We adore the sister missionaries here and know that where ever she serves she will bless the lives of the people and they hers.
Now for your History lesson: legends say that the Toltecs and Quetzalcoatl came from the area of Huatulco, after the Spanish conquest , Huatulco thrived as a port under Hernan Cortes's control, it was later attacked by both Francis Drake and Thomas Cavendish.
Until resort development began in the 1980s it was mostly a fishing port and a coffee growing area. In 1984 FONATUR (Fondo National de Tourism) a government dedicated to developing tourism in Mexico acquired 21,000 hectares of land to develop a tourism center similar to CanCun, the existing population was relocated to Santa Maria Huatulco and roadways etc. were improved and a new resort was born. There are 4 main districts with 9 bays and 36 white sandy beaches and I must say it is a beautiful and peaceful area. Very Friendly a lot of the locals speak English. Prices are fair, Taxis are abundant and very reasonable.
 
We felt very blessed to have a friend from the temple who let us use his condo for the week we were there, it was in the Bahia Santa Cruz Area, within walking distance to the beach. We spent the week with our good friends the Roesberrys ad we couldn't ask for better companions. We did a lot of our cooking in the condo and we like to eat the same things, we swam in the pool and in the ocean, we played games, we laughed, and slept, and walked, and talked and read books and just had a great time.

We left Oaxaca just before midnight Sunday night on the bus and arrived in Huatulco at about eight in the morning Monday morning, needless to say, Monday we didn't do much but unpack and get groceries and rest up and walk to the beach. 

Back view of the condo where we stayed.
 

Courtyard and pool of the Condo, we were on the third floor.

Wednesday we went out in a sailboat to watch the sunset and tour the bays, it was beautiful but the water was a bit rough because the wind had come up. Ross a little disappointed because they didn't use the big sail at all. They only used the little one for a short while on the way back. I was a little disappointed because as we were leaving the dock a gust caught my hat (my nice Sunday Afternoon brand Hat) and blew it away, and then even though I had taken Dramamine as the water got choppier and choppier I got sicker and sicker and pretty soon I was leaning over the rail being sick in front of all 24 people on the boat! So I lost my hat and my dinner. Not my finest moment! The bays are all so pretty and there are quite a few that are in the National park and you can only get to by boat or 4 wheeler.

The next morning we went on another boat a smaller fishing boat, this time no seasickness! We caught 8 3 to 5 lb. fish called bonitos, they have red meat, we pulled into a bay and while we snorkeled our captain cleaned some of the fish and took them to the little restaurant where they were cooked and waiting for us when we got to shore. What a fun day. The reef was amazing as were  the different fish we saw as we snorkeled our way to shore. We also pulled into another bay and swam for a while. we looked for whales but were unsuccessful in that venture, although the week before Pres. Atkinson had seen some in the same area.

Me reeling in one of the fish.

Captain Ernesto Pacheco unhooking the fish Jan reeled in.

 

Ross in the Club where we ate lunch Friday 
 

 delicious!
Friday we went to a Beach Club, you could pay an entrance fee of 100 pesos and use their facilities for the day, pool, restrooms, shade, order food, etc. You set under their awning right on the beach. Pretty nice!

Saturday we took a trip to the Water Falls, on the way we passed a lot of little villages, it was like going back in time! We also stopped at a Mescal Factory and a Coffee Plantation (both pretty small) the guy at the Mescal Factory put on quite a show trying to sell his product. He reminded me of an old time snake oil salesman. According to him that stuff is good for everything from headaches to slow libido, especially if you buy the kind that has a little marijuana in it! He even had some in a spray bottle that would keep the bugs away! We about died laughing and he talked so fast we only understood about half of what he said, the Mexicans were really laughing hard.
The waterfalls were really pretty, we had to park and hike a little ways to them, we were the oldest in the group and like dummys we didn't have our swim suits. but we waded a little, Lunch was provided with the tour and it was beans, rice and either chicken or beef cooked on and open fire grill and it was delicious!

Part of the Falls

 

The four of us at the top of the Falls

 

  We went to church Sunday in the Huatulco branch and felt such a warm welcome from the Saints there. It  is such a comfort to know that the church and the wonderful saints can be found all over the world, our Sunday School teacher was a cute young man we had met the first day we arrived in Huatulco, Salvador Chava, and who owns a little snorkeling business. Several others we remembered from the temple. They are coming to the temple in 3 weeks and we will look forward to seeing them again.

It is great to be back in Oaxaca and to hear from President Atkinson that the Temple is on schedule to open next week, he has asked us to help Friday, Saturday and Monday to get things cleaned and ready, we are anxious to be back to work.

How very grateful we are to our Father in Heaven for the beautiful world he has allowed us to enjoy, we have often thought that we will never be able to live long enough to see and enjoy all the many and varied beautiful things that He has created. How fortunate we are that He loves us enough to let us live in such a wonderful world and to enjoy all of His creations. Truly 'How Great Thou Art'
Love to all