Week of June 1st, to June 7th, 2015 Elections in Oaxaca

Happy Birthday today to Jenny, tomorrow to Emily Ann, 12 years old, Mclean the next day, 15 years old, the 12th to Conni, and on Sunday the 14th Clark will turn 13. It is birthday week for the Ray family. I don't know whether to be sad or glad to miss out on all that cake and ice cream. My mouth is sad and my weight is glad! Notice I
didn't give ages for adults.

It has been an interesting week here in Oaxaca, we are glad we live in a bit of a protected missionary bubble. Yesterday was election day, the elections were for congress and governors, The PRI Party is in power, there have been lots of protests against this party, in fact a lot teachers union protests are against the policies of this party. This week the protests have really ramped up, the states that have been the most outspoken have been Guerrero, Chiapas, and Oaxaca. There have been protestors break into government buildings and steal the ballots and burn them, there have been candidates killed,  (some of this has been done by the drug cartels), they have blocked the gas refineries so that the stations have no gas and gasoline has been rationed, with long lines for gasoline and then people can only get a few litres at a time. The government has stepped in to assure the safety of the people and that voting could be done smoothly and with now problems. We have seen and heard planes come into the airport with federal troops, helicopters flying over the city and the presence of the troops has certainly been felt. As far as we know there have not been any serious problems.

It was our Stake conference this weekend, we went with the Peñas to the evening meeting on Sat. and when we got there at 15 minutes to, the building was locked up and no one was there, we eventually found out that it had been canceled, it had been decided that due to the unrest that a large meeting was not a good idea, the decision was made by the Mexico Authority in Mexico City. Then on Sunday we all had regular meetings, we were blessed to have the area authority in our meeting, it was a wonderful meeting and all the testimonies born were amazing.

Line up for gasoline, you can't see, but there were about 20 cars lined up.   

What if you went to conference and no one came?

Monday we had a special treat, President Atkinson had a special family home evening for us, we met in the front waiting room of the temple for dinner at 5:00, he had it catered, then we changed and wet into one of the sealing rooms and had a very spiritual family home evening. it isn't often you get to have a family home evening with a temple president, inside the temple where you can ask any question. We continue to learn so much from this great and humble servant of god and are so very grateful for this opportunity to serve with him and the other missionaries here.

The rest of our week was a little bit slow, because of the gasoline situation and the blockeos most of the busses canceled. It was still a good week, because any time spent in the temple is good.

The construction across the street is slow, they built one of the columns in the wrong place and had to tear it out.

 

   

This morning we heard a little commotion across the street at President Madsen's house.
A group of new missionaries had just arrived, aren't they a beautiful group, all excited and ready to serve the Lord.


This week we want to leave you with this thought from Elder Jeffry R. Holland "However late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you think you don't have, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of Divine love. It is not possible to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ's Atonement Shines."
We too testify that this is true, we feel His light and love daily in our lives, he lives and loves each us. We love each of you so very much and think of you always.