We also want to wish a happy birthday to Zeke who turned two on the 14th, (this was also Ross' mom's birthday) it was so much fun to talk to him on his birthday, he can actually visit with us now but when he is done then you might as well hang up because he is on to other things!
Monday we decided to go with the Roesberrys to a little town called Zaachila it was a powerful Mesoamerican city about 6 km outside of Oaxaca(although on the bus it took about a half an hour or more because of the stops to pick up and drop off people). The city is named after Zaachila Yoo, the Zapotec ruler, in the late 14th and early 15th century. It is now an archaeological site. A large unexplored pyramid mound is in the center in which two tombs were discovered in 1962. These tombs are thought to belong to important Mixtex persons.
Following the fall of Monte Alban, Zaachila became the last Zapotec capital. Sometime before the arrival of the Spaniards, the capital was conquered by the Mixtecs. The history of the pre-Hispanic city is unclear. One theory is that the site flourished 1100 and 1521 AD. Another theory is that the city was founded in 1399 and could be compared to Tenochtitlan, as it was a city in the middle of a lake. The full extent of the ancient city is not known either, principally because excavation is impeded by the fact that most mounds have inhabited structures on them and very little of it has been excavate.
 |
Looking down on the one excavated ruin, you can see the tomb of Chief Nine Feathers that we went down inside off. ( the lid is open)
Another view of the Church in Zaacila.
|
 The old church in Zaachila |
 |
| Bas relief inside one of the tombs, I think this is the God of the underworld. |
Look how well preserved the owl is.
Grandpa with the clock tower in the background. I love old clock towers!
Tuesday it was back to the temple with Presidency meeting in the morning, President Serano came back from Salina Cruz and arrived at meeting a little late but Sister Serano stayed in Salina Cruz for another week. Sister Atkinson was not feeling good again this week so she only made it to the temple for the first evening session Wednesday, and then she and the President were out of town for the weekend. That left me to give instructions to the Own Endowments again this week, I think we had a total of 8 sisters this week, it has been a great experience, I love the sisters and getting to know them and feeling their sweet, tender spirits. Thursday we had 2 busses in the morning, we went home for a break about 2:00 and couldn't get back to the temple for a couple of hours because of rain and flooding in the streets. Friday all the busses canceled but Saturday we had five buses, with 6 nuevas and 2 special sessions Saturday evening, in fact we went to the temple Saturday at 6:00am to find the bus was over an hour early, we had planned on taking a break mid day but the secretary didn't show up so by the time we came home it was about 8:00 pm and the last session was still going! One of the groups that came Saturday were from Puebla, this is their last trip to our temple, we had quite a few of them tell us thank you so much, that they have enjoyed coming here to our temple and that it has been such a great experience and they wish they could still come here. With the traffic it doesn't take much more time to go to Mexico City but the distance is much farther. I am afraid we will have some really boring long days coming soon when the Mexico City temple opens!
 |
| For those of you that were interested, this is the progress on the construction across the street. |
They have been doing some improvements on our houses, they have painted outside, I like the new color better than all white.
This picture is for John Norman so he can continue to follow the progress on the construction of the other house. Next time I'll get closer!
This week my thoughts have been about power, I have been thinking about the story of the woman who touched Christ's robe and was healed, it tells us in the account in Mark (Mark 5:27-34) that Christ felt virtue leave him, in the Greek translation the word used is power and strength. To me this makes much more sense. Joseph Smith explained that he had had that experience of feeling power leave him as he had given a blessing, I think there are many ways that our power and strength can become depleted as we serve and strengthen others and are bombarded by daily life. Thus it becomes necessary for us to renew this strength and power constantly, so how do we do this and how do we go about helping others to do the same? How do we "touch the robe of Christ" in our lives? First I think it takes faith, believing that it can a will happen that we can be healed from whatever illness, doubt, infirmity grief, sickness, trial, ( all under one heading these could be labeled as distress) afflicts us, that Christ truly can heal, then we need to "touch His robe" through the principles and ordinances of
the Gospel, by first doing the simple things prayer, fasting, scriptures, studying the words of the prophets, taking the sacrament to renew our covenants, then allow our faith to work the miracles in our lives and the lives of our family and friends. I promise you this works D&C 46: 30 says "He that asketh in the Spirit asketh according to the will of God; wherefore it is done even as he asketh." We love each and every one of you and pray for you always.
No comments:
Post a Comment