Week of Sept 21st to Sept. 27th Visit to District Conference in Huatulco

Monday the 21st we decided to go to the Movie Everest with the Roseberrys and the Peñas, we usually go to the afternoon matinee, that is when it is in English with Spanish subtitles, we also get the matinee price, which is  pretty cheap and generally we are the only ones in the theater. It was a great movie in many ways but it left all of us shaking our heads and saying WHY! Why would you risk your life and future for that particular goal? None of us will be trying to summit Everest, we feel there are much more worthwhile goals to spend our time, effort, energies, and money on. 

Tuesday it was back to work with Presidency meeting, missionary meeting, and evening shift. Wednesday I stayed home with another stupid migraine, if someone would come up with a surefire cure for those they would be not only wealthy but beloved! Thursday and Friday were normal days, we are still pretty slow but thinking back on the small temple in Hermosillo, it is about the same as it was there during the week. 

We woke up early Saturday for our weekend in Huatulco, the Peñas picked us up at 10 to 6:00  on the dot, we had a prayer, loaded our stuff and headed out,  Last time we went we rode a bus and traveled in the night it was also in Feb. which is the dry season. What a difference, five hours by car versus 9 hours by bus, plus everything is so green and beautiful this time of year. Ross has said many times how surprised he has been that Oaxaca is so mountainous, the roads are narrow and very curvy, I advise seat belts just to keep you on your side of the car! We understand that the way we went is the least narrow and curvy of the 3 different routes! We have had a running joke with President Peña, we always call him Jaimé (James) as in Home James, because he is always our driver. On this trip I gave him a new name, he is now Mario as in Mario Andretti, the race car driver, he can make that Toyota Sienna get up and go, it is a good thing we don't get car sick! Think of the road through Zion or over Cedar Mountain especially the most curvy parts, for nearly 5 hours! There are really no passing lanes anywhere, but that doesn't really stop anyone! It was so green and gorgeous though, and at times the trees formed a canopy completely over the road and the flowers were brilliant oranges, yellows, blues, purples, pinks, and even reds. Then all of a sudden out of nowhere there would be a village or a little pueblo or a field carved out of the jungle. It was a beautiful drive with something to see everywhere you looked to reminded you of the goodness and grace of God and how much he must love His children to have provided so much beauty and variety for us. And the people all seem so happy and content as they go about life, we passed one little pueblo with a cute little Escuela and the children were out for recess, it was a tiny little school, not much bigger than two rooms, the kids looked pretty poor, but I think they didn't feel poor, they felt happy and loved. It is all in how we look at the world and what we consider important.

We stayed in a nice little Hotel  in Huatulco that overlooked the center or Zocolo of the old part of town and each evening when it cooled down we went for a walk around the town plaza and park and had an ice cream as we walked. The park was full of families doing the same thing, along with vendors selling their wares. The restaurant at the Hotel had  great food, and we a variety of different dishes while we were there. Sunday after the conference we went to the DeWolfe's to eat lunch (they are the new missionary couple that we met a few weeks ago from Utah). While we were helping get lunch ready 2 of the young Elders dropped by and stayed and ate with us, one is fron the Salt lake area but has a Tongan back ground the other one is from Mexico, both are great young men.  We stayed after we ate and visited and played board games for a while. Unfortunately the Hotel had lousey internet so we didn't get to talk to any of the kids. 

We both felt like our talks went okay in the meeting Saturday evening, but, as is usually the case, the Saturday sessions weren't attended very well, Sunday was an overflow crowd with some  having to listen from the Relief Society room. It was a great conference. The District President Hermano Piñeda has only been a member for 4 years and is such a strong member. He loves his members and really does want the best for them. They are a new district and just lack experience, that is where the Dewolfes will be such a help to the District. They will be able to give them direction and experience.

The drive home was just as beautiful and enjoyable as the drive out, we so enjoyed our time with the Peñas and getting to know them even better, they are the absolute salt of the earth, we are so glad they are going to be here with us to the end of our mission, good friends like them and the Roesberrys make it so much easier to be away form home.

They had a wonderful adult choir and a children's choir at conference,

The kids were all in white with red scarfs and ties, they were adorable.

The Kids singing

After the meeting they take the flowers apart and give them to the sisters,

The sister on the left was the choir director, they all wanted pictures with Sister Peña and I.

Lunch at the Hotel

Goodbye Huatulco

Lunch with Rosa and Gilbert

All along the Highway are rocks painted white with scripture references, we only saw one from the Book of Mormom
We had fun trying to look them up!

It was great to get back to our little casa, we love the climate in Oaxaca, it was so hot and humid in Huatulco. It was a beautiful balmy 72 degrees this morning when we went to get groceries and run errands. Today we had a free morning because there was an inspection in the temple, our Presidency meeting and Missionary Meeting were canceled, that gave us time to catch up on our usual Monday things that we missed yesterday with traveling. 

We are looking forward to General Conference this weekend and will be excited to see who will be called to fill the empty positions in the Quorum of the 12. But mostly we are looking forward to hearing the inspired words of our leaders and being fed spiritual by the sweet spirit we feel as we listen to conference.
As always we love you all and hold our in our hearts, thoughts, and prayers.