Week of October 19th to October 25th, 2015 Barrio Ocotlan

Monday we thought we might be busy helping to show the new President around, as it turned out his kids were still here so they did a little sightseeing and spent the day with them. We spent part of the day with Jan and Greg, Ross went to the Mission office and picked up our new resident cards, we are now legal for another year! We got the laundry done and the house cleaned and that really was about all for the day.

We had a great week in the temple, not terrible busy but nice and steady. We got a lot of the family names that I found done, in fact we did several sessions this week that were all my family name cards.  Ross thinks I have caught the Family History bug. He calls it a good sickness. President Cardenas was telling him that one of the Stakes here is having a Family History Workshop and they are looking for people to help teach, he thought maybe I could help teach, I told Ross that is funny because if we were home that is the kind of thing I would go to so I could learn how to do Family History better, I certainly don't feel like I am qualified to teach! Although I have had the opportunity this week to work with several sisters and help them find names, this is generally Jan's job, but she is in the states playing, I mean helping with,  her new grand baby, so I have had a couple of sisters come to me for help. It is an amazing feeling when you are finally able to trace a line and find some names that are ready to have the work done.

 President Cardenas has planned a special session for Monday Nov. 2nd for Dia de Muertos to honor our antipasados (ancestors), this will be all the coordinators and temple leadership and he wants everyone to bring a family name. What a great idea.

Saturday evening we had a special session for one of the wads in the Amapolis Stake, this is the Stake we have been assigned to. The session was at 6:00, we are usually closed by 3:00 on Saturday, but stayed open for them, we had a great group, plus kids for baptisms. Ross and I got to lead the session, it was wonderful, afterwards we got so many hugs and heartfelt thanks, so many of these people work so hard and so many hours and just don't get a chance to come to the temple unless it is a special session like this. There is a saying in Spanish "Vale la pena" it means worth the cost or the pain, sometimes it is a pain or a sacrifice to get up and be at the temple by 6:00, like we did Saturday for the buses, and sometimes we do work long hours and are tired, and it is certainly a sacrifice to be so far away from family, but it is definitely worth it when you see the joy on peoples faces as they leave the temple uplifted spiritually, or as you help a sweet sister  or brother at the veil as tears of joy stream down their face, or help as a primera vez comes to the temple for the first time and 'gets the significance' of the wonderful covenants and blessings, or we get to witness that sacred sealing ceremony as a family are promised eternal blessings. We have one sweet little gal that comes with her parents, this little gal is probably in her late 20's and is handicapped and a little bit shy, she can not speak, but you can see the intelligence and love in her eyes. She loves the temple and she knows the ordinances but she can't speak them, so whoever works with her gets to be her mouthpiece, she lets you know if you get it wrong, her spirit is so sweet and strong, her smile lights up the room, last night she came to me and gave me a big hug, it made my day. Definitely vale la pena. 

Today we went to a town called Ocotlan to a branch to speak, what a cute little place, the town was a lot bigger than I thought it would be, but the branch was even smaller. We went to Ocotlan by taxi it took about 4o minutes and cost 300 pesos roughly 20 dollars, We came back in a small, very nice bus, same amount of time but the cost was 50 pesos, they dropped us off at Walmart and we had to walk the rest of the way home.

grandpa in front of the Capilla at Ocotlan

Branch President Antonio, I think he is about 25 and is still in University.

That would be quite a bit of responsibility along with a wife and being a temple worker.

Another shot of the Capilla

This is the entire Primary

   
  We enjoyed the branch, there was a very sweet feeling there and we felt so welcomed by everyone, but then we have felt that way in every ward or branch we have visited here in Oaxaca. The people are so friendly and accepting. One more thing I can learn from these good people.

The scripture we will be ponderizing this week is found in D&C 130:22-23  if anyone wants to ponderize with us. We will be thinking about the fact that our Father in Heaven has a body of flesh and bones, the Son also, but the Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit so he can dwell in us. I will be thinking of ways to improve my life so he can be my constant companion and tarry with me always as I ponder on this scripture. I will also be thinking about the great inheritance I have as a daughter of God and of other things besides a body like His that I have inherited from Him. I hope that as I think and ponder on these and other things it will help to lock this scripture into my heart and mind for future reference.

We love each and everyone of you and hold you in our hearts, thoughts and prayers. 

Oct. 12, to Oct 18, 2015 Out with the old in with the new.

First I want to start by wishing our brilliant, sweet, beautiful daughter in law (daughter of our hearts) Donna a very happy birthday. We have been so blessed in the spouses our children have chosen to bring into the family. We love everyone of them and they all fit into our family to make it even better than before. Thanks for joining us Donna and happy birthday.

Monday I went to the dentist and got 3 of my cavities filled, the dentist is a beautiful young woman just out of school. She speaks some English and likes to practice. She is single and still in her 20's. She was very gentle and did not use any anesthetic, There were only about 2 times when she was drilling that I felt the least bit of pain. I go back in 2 weeks to get the top one done. I'm sure glad we caught them early as I don't do well with root canals or deep cavities.

In the afternoon we went with the Peñas and the Roesberrys to see the movie the Martian with Matt Damen. It was kind of a space Cast Away movie. it was pretty good. But like the movie Everest we decided most of us didn't want to try Space Travel. Ross of Course would go in a heartbeat. He has always wanted to be an astronaut. Not me! I don't even love airplanes. After the movie we picked up the Atkinson's and went to dinner at an Italian place downtown and across the street from the restaurant where we ate on the roof a few weeks ago. We ate on the roof again at this one. It was a beautiful evening and the food was fabulous. We are beginning to see why Oaxaca is famous for their cuisine! We just hadn't been going to the right places.  We could see 8 big old Catholic churches within the few blocks ot the roof top of the restaurant.

Isn't the view beautiful, President Atkinson always says the view from 5 feet up is gorgeous.

Looking down on the city and the lights.

 
This week we have been a little bit busier in the temple, we are hoping this means that people are getting more used tot he new hours and it will just keep getting busier.
We keep getting more and more workers coming in to learn about genealogy and they keep telling Jan and I stories of ancestors coning to them in dreams with desires for their work to be done. I have certainly had wonderful feelings of peace as I have been working on genealogy this past few weeks. I have found about 100 more names this week and it feels like they are calling to me to hurry and get the work done for them. We have one Sealer that I have become good friends with ,Hermano Sanchez, who has been encouraging me to get more and more names for him to Seal. He is a temple worker, his son is a temple worker. and his darling grandson who is waiting for his visa so he can leave on his mission to Texas is a temple worker. They are the neatest family. They were all in the temple Saturday with the daughter in law and the two grand daughters who were doing baptisms and confirmations.

We had the greatest experience Saturday, Our friends Velia and Gerardo Perez were Sealed, then their daughter Wendy was sealed to them, then they were sealed for his parents, then he was sealed to his parents. These were the last ordinances president Atkinson performed as the President of the Oaxaca Temple. He talked for just a few minutes before the sealing about the the fact that we aren't really sealed but that blessings are sealed on us. So often we think of the Sealing as giving rights of ownership when in fact it gives us power and blessings.  There was such a wonderful, sweet, tangible, feeling in the room with us, to me I thing it can only be described as pure, all encompassing love, and really that is what this gospel is all about, Love.

Saturday afternoon our new President was supposed to arrive at 3:30 p.m. we aren't sure what happened, whether they missed the connecting flight or what, but I got a call at the temple office saying Hermana estoy Victor Cardenans and then he started talking faster than a Chilean and I had to break in and say please talk to my husband. Long story short, they ended up having their son drive them from Mexico city and got here around midnight. Ross met them and helped get their stuff into the house, I did not. He says they are gracious wonderful people and we will love them.

We said goodbye to President and Sister Atkinson last night with a promise to see them when we return home. We have grown to love and appreciate them so very much and we have learned so much from them. It has been so hard to say goodbye. A lifetime in the church has taught us that change brings about growth and growth is good for us. I think it is a good thing we have learned this lesson! I think it is also good that we understand that there is an eternity where friendships and relationships continue

.

President and Sister Atkinson

We had another nice surprise this week, they redid all the landscape in the front of all the apartments, we came home and thought we were in the wrong fracionamente? haha.

 Our Temple Engineer and his wife designed the landscaping,we wonder if they will come home with us and design new landscaping at our house! there are little oasis' like this in front of each departmento, it looks so nice and will be pretty year round with the weather here.

Our friends from Huatulco, the DeWolfs came back to Oaxaca again this weekend, their district came for a temple trip and it was also Coordinating counsel Meeting so the District President, President Piñeda asked if they would drive instead of taking the bus with everyone else and stay over so he could come wwith them and stay for the meeting. We were able to spend a little time with them last evening with the Peñas and Roesberrys visiting and eating goodies and playing Tensies, evereyones new favorite game. We got talking about forgiveness and Brother DeWolf said something that has really made me ponder and thing and go to my Scriptures and ponder some more. He said as he has thought about forgiveness through his life and especially when working for a difficult boss one time he felt impressed that it really wasn't his responsibility to forgive anyone, it was his responsibility to become Christlike enough to get to the point where he could not be offended and forgiveness was not necessary! He said there is no place in the scriptures where Christ says "  I forgive you", Because Christ was never personally offended. He said your sins are forgiven go and sin no more. But he chose not to be personally offended. Pretty hard to get to that point. I think it takes a lifetime of living and trying to be humble and teachable. Many hours of walking in others shoes and learning compassion,and turning the other cheek. But it is food for thought.

All in all it has been a wonderful week, a bit emotional, but that isn't always bad. We miss everyone but the time is flying, today we hit our one year mark! Six months to go and we will be home. For these last six months we will be fortunate enough to have our good friends the Roesberrys as next door neighbors, they will be moving in where the Normans lived at the end of the month, hooray! Jan leaves Tuesday morning for the states to help her daughter who just had a baby, she will be gone for 2 weeks and when she comes hope it will be to a new house. Poor Greg gets to move alone, well not alone, we will help!

Our ride will be here any time for our Coordinators mtg. So I will close, Much love to all.  

October 5, 2015 to October 12, 2015 week of despidida (goodbye)

This week as we have been tagging along with the President and his wife to one farewell party after another, I have thought about the ways we show our love for one another. So often we show our love by feeding each other, it made me think of Christ asking Peter in John 21,  "Peter lovest thou me?"  and Peter answered and said "Lord thou knowest that I love thee."  and Jesus enjoined him to "Feed my Sheep"  We all know that Christ didn't necessarily mean for Christ to literally feed them, although I think he meant that also, when needed. This week we have been fed literally and spiritually.

Monday we were invited to the home of the Perez family for  barbecoa. Velia is a temple worker, her husband was not only inactive but somewhat antagonistic towards the church when the Atkinsons arrived in Oaxaca, however they befriended them, Perez' live next door to one of their daughters and family and Atkinsons became great friends with them all. The oldest grand daughter is now serving a mission and returns home in one month. Turns out the husband started getting active and became temple worthy and this Wednesday President Atkinson is performing their sealing and sealing their daughter to them. They also announced they are going on a mission, most likely to Guatemala to join the Normans. They are so excited and love the President and Cathy for their love and friendship. Anyway they invited the presidency and us missionaries for dinner, they had beef shipped from Sonora, we arrived at 4:30, what we thought was a half hour late, because of heavy traffic only to find out we were 2 1/2 hours late, the President got the time mixed up with another party later in the week! We felt so bad! However they were so sweet and gracious about it, the evening was wonderful, they are an amazing family and we immediately felt like we were a part of their family and always had been, we were enveloped in their love, we shared laughter and tears great food and wonderful conversation which of course turned to the gospel, the President gave some wonderful teachings, he is a master teacher and can turn any situation into an opportunity to learn.We went home with full bellies, full hearts, enlightened minds, and uplifted souls.

Part of the Familia Perez with the Atkinsons

La Familia Perez

Monday I also went to the dentist thinking I just needed a cleaning and found out I have 7 small cavities, what a downer. I have an appointment next week to start getting the work done. I think they are caused by eating mints in the temple. We found sugar free mints awhile back but the damage was already done! And yes they are really cavities , I can see them with my naked eye.

Tuesday we had our normal meetings and then the 2 normal sessions in the evening, we were able to go on the second sessions as patrons, it was great. We so love the temple and being there almost every day, it helps us to be better people.

Wednesday mornings we are always short workers so we usually get to help with ordinances, we enjoy being able to do that and it gets us out of the office and working with the people. After the morning sessions we went to the mission office and visited with President Madsen, if we can get approval from the new temple President he would like us to come and work in the Mission office several days a week and help with some of the paperwork and record keeping and free the young Elders up to do more teaching. That will be a fun and interesting opportunity for us and will help us stay busy and make the time pass faster. We have also been given the assignment to be over the Amapolis Stake, we aren't 100% sure what all this entails but we will be having more speaking assignments, Ross will have a few more meetings, and we will be visiting he wards in Amapolis on a weekly rotation basis when we don't have other speaking assignments. These will be growing experiences for us and hopefully our Spanish will improve or the people will we speak to will get the opportunity to take lots of naps in Sacrament Mtg. and Sunday School! 

In the Evening Wednesday Jan taught me how to do genealogy using descendency, or a method of descendency that John Norman told her about, during the next two days I found 187 names that were ready to go to the temple, I was so excited, I have been looking off and on and felt lucky to find one or two names! I thought our work was done! Sat. we had a big group come and we got nearly all the names done. I can't wait to get back on the computer and find some more!

Thursday and Friday evening the DeWolfs were here from Huatulco to finish the paper work for their visas so we had them and the Roesberrys come for dinner and games on Friday. It was great to see them and hear what they have been up to.

Saturday we had 3 buses from Tehuacan as well as what they call a Marathon of baptisms by the Monte Alban Stake, we had over 200 youth come to the temple between 6:30 and 2:00, altogether there were over 2000 ordinances performed by 4:00 when the temple closed. It was a great day.

After that we went to another despidida at the home of the Villanueva family, (the same family that let us use their condo in Huatulco during the Temple Break) The Atkinsons were delivered to the party in a 1934 Ford.

We all followed behind and arrived at the same time, there was a marimba band set up in the front patio with tables, soft drinks, and appetizers. There was an area for dancing and nearly eveyone took advantage of the opportunity.

Dancing

After the dancing we all went downstairs to the back patio for dinner, it was a feast! We also had a Mariachi band playing during dinner, we had a surprise guest singer, I think he even surprisedthe band, at least I think that is surprise on the trumpet player's face.

He is a Ham!

Abish, Alan's wife, Laura and Luis Perez 

Los Presidentes

Again the evening was tremendous, after dinner we moved tables and sat around and talked and visited, one gentleman brought his guitar and he and his wife sang, and then different other people took turns playing and singing, including Ross, eventually they served hot chocolate and sweet bread. Finally around 10:00 the party started to break up (only because some people had early church).The Villanuevas are such gracious hosts, when people in Mexico say "Mi Casa es Su Casa" they absolutely mean it and they mean it forever, they adopt you into their hearts and homes. They have such wonderful traditions of love and acceptance and such open loving hearts, they freely, openly share whatever they have, whether it is little or much. This is just one of the many Christlike attributes that I hope I can adopt and learn from them and continue to practice when I come home.

Sarai y Moroni singing

In many ways it has been a hard week, I can only imagine how hard for President and Sister Atkinson as they contemplate leaving this beautiful place they have called home for 3 years and all the many people who have become family, the mixed feelings as they look forward to being reunited with their immediate family. 

We have come to love, respect, appreciate, and enjoy the Atkinsons so much. It is hard to even think about them not being here, but we know we will continue our friendship with them, they live in the Salt Lake area and we are already making plans to get together when we get home. 

Sunday we attended Church in the Barrio Independencia with the Atkinsons, he taught Sunday School and Aaronic priestood, we were the support group. We figured if we could make a fairly quick get away we would have one hour before the 17 people arrived at our house for dinner and it would be just right with the prep we did before church. As with all good plans it is best to have a back up! We did not! The bishop wanted to honor the Atkinsons so he and the Ward leadership planned a little light dinner after the meetings, how do you break hearts and say, "No I'm sorry we have other plans". YOU DO NOT! So we ate with them. Rushed home and had 20 minutes to prepare second dinner. We ended up with 20 people not 17. No worries, all was well, I always cook too much and we live in Mexico and everyone is used to things being a little late after all. And no one minded fasting a little bit longer because food tastes that much better when you are really hunger anyway. 

Everyone waiting for the Salmon to finish  cooking. (Thank you President Norman for the recipe. It was delicious.)

Finally eating

Sister Serrano and her beautiful Nieta

The week finally came to an end, we fell into bed Sunday night exhausted but happy and ready to start a new week. We have one final week with the Atkinsons, it will be a little calmer, they have scheduled things so they can spend most of their time in the temple. I will close with the Scripture we will be 'Ponderizing' this week:
 Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
May he direct you paths this week and always, we love you all and hold you in our hearts, thoughts, and prayers.

Tuesday September 29th to Sunday October 4 2015 General Conference Weekend

This was a short week in the temple as Saturday we closed for conference. 

Tuesday evening we had a great evening in the temple, Ross and I finished up in the office in time to catch the second session. Wednesday morning they needed us as obreros instead of office workers, we have also been doing a little bit of genealogy and so we have been putting a few family names through. It is hard to find very many family names on either of our lines, most of what needs to be done requires quite a bit of research and when we have time is when we are slow in the temple and we don't have internet access inside the temple to very many records. Seems like that is one disadvantage of having a pioneer ancestry, all the genealogy and temple work has been done! 
Thursday we were able to go on another session as well as get alot of our office work done. 

The temple has been pretty slow and quite often we are finding ourselves at loose ends with not much to do, President Atkinson suggested we talk to the Mission President, President Madsen and see if he could use our help a couple of days a week. So we did, we are going to the mission office tomorrow at noon to complete the renewal of our visas and we will meet with President Madsen to see about working as his office couple for one or two days each week.We will also visit with him about doing some visits to the wards and branches on Sundays or if there are other areas where we can be of help to him, we have been feeling some pretty strong promptings that we are not working to our potential and that we need to be doing more as we finish this last 6 months of our mission.

We had a great Conference weekend! We made plans for the English Speakers to watch conference at our house on the projector and then for any of the rest of the Presidency and Missionaries that wanted to join us for some meals in between sessions. Pres. and Sister Atkinson were going to watch with us but Sister Atkinson wasn't feeling well so they watched at home and just joined us for the meals. Madsens joined their missionaries for the sessions and came for meals, The Peñas of course watched in Spanish at the Stake center and came for meals. 

The living room all set up for conference.

Jan, Greg and Ross Watching Conference

Ross and Pres. Peña cooking the Chicken and veggies.

The Chef

Lunch Saturday, Pres. Madsen is healing really well, no more bandages, the wounds are closed and look great!

Neither one of us could talk if we didn't have hands!

Breakfast Sunday Morning! Everyone brought something, each item would have made a meal by itself, we could have fed the whole neighborhood, as usual, my favorite was enchiladas swissa. No more food the rest of the day, because tomorrow we are going to a going away party in the afternoon for Pres. Atkinson at the home of some of the temple workers, they are flying in beef from the state of Sonora, the guy, Hermano Perez is known as one of the best at barbecoa in the area. Everyone loves Pres. and Sister Atkinson and want to feed them and honor and thank them before they leave!

Wow, were we ever spiritually fed this weekend with conference, usually the Saturday morning session is kind of soso, we all commented on how powerful it was and each session was as good if not better. I generally take notes and put a star next to my favorites or the talks I want to study first, I have a LOT of stars. I kept thinking this talk is just for me! or Now I know the answer to that question, or Now I know the direction I need to go or what I need to change! My notes are full of ideas and things I need to be doing better or more of trying harder to become.

Some thoughts: 

Simplify!

Church life transforms life from ordinary and dreary to extraordinary and sublime!

See yourself and Others as God sees you!

Be better about Sabbath day observance.

Start where you are!

When we center our lives on/in Christ we live after the manner of happiness!

It will all work out!

The Holy Ghost gives customized counsel!

(So be more specific in our questions.)

Our direction is ever more important than our speed!

What is keeping me from progressing?

Divine protections are provided when we are righteous!

Reach up-Not across

We can learn lessons about light riding bikes in  dark tunnel.

Lack of spiritual habits makes us forget the spiritual feelings we have had in the past.

The enabling power of the atonement empowers us to be better and helps us to heal the broken hearted.

We fail only when we fail to take a step forward.

Turn the worldly volume down and listen to the still small voice!

Ours is the OPPORTUNITY to help others.

I stand all amazed!

It's not about us, it's about the Lord and His work and His Children!  

The Lord needs strong women who can raise sin resistant children.

Choose one verse a week to PONDERIZE!

God wants us to have JOY, PEACE, HAPPINESS, AND SUCCESS!

Trust God

Things of an eternal significance rarely are easy.

When you can not do what you have always done you only do what matters most!

And finally God lives, Jesus Christ loves us enough that He gave His life for us, each one of us individually,personally, His grace truly is sufficient for all, each apostle bore this special apostolic witness of this beautiful truth, I felt again a powerful witness touch my heart that it is indeed true.

We love you all, have a wonderful week.