February 1st to February 7th, 2016 Back to the Temple,Stake Conference, and Eating Chapulinas

This week we want to wish a very Happy birthday to my sister Debi, on the 8th, to Doyle and Erika who get to share a birthday on the 9th, and to Ross' sister Ramona on the 12th. This is a week of very special birthdays for very extra special people! It's too bad we can't get together for a very special party and celebrate. We hope you all have the most wonderful day and that it is just the beginning of the best year of your lives. 

Monday our week started with going to the temple to help with some of the cleaning and laundry in preparation for it to open the next afternoon. To get in we had to dodge tools and tarps and paint sprayers and workmen and furniture underneath tarps, if you ever doubt that God is a God of miracles just visit a temple that is under closure for maintenance the day before it opens! You would never believe it would be ready the next day, we worked on what we could until a little after noon and then went home, the next morning when we went back the change really was miraculous! We helped again Tuesday morning with the final details and then went home for lunch and back at 3:00 with all ready  to open for patrons.

It has been a great week, it is nice to see all the familiar faces of our friends that come regularly to the temple as well as the workers who we have come to know and love. We have come to love the customary abrazos of greeting and it is just second nature now, we will probably have a hard time not greeting everyone with an abrazo and a beso and a greeting of "Gustan Verlo" when we come home! 

Wednesday we had a great experience, our good friends the Villanuevas came with their youngest daughter, Adele, to get her endowment.Adele  just received her mission call to Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. Dad got to do the interview in the office, I was the secretary and then I got to help with her ordinances, President Serrano was the president on shift and his wife was sick so he asked me to give the instructions. It was such a privilege for both of us to be able to help this beautiful young lady that we have come to know and love. She reminds us of our sweet precious grand daughters and we both had tears the entire time, just one more sweet experience to treasure in our hearts. There was another sister this same evening that came for her endowment and I was able to work with her and give her the new endowment instructions also, to me it is so amazing that the spirit is able to give us the gifts that we need when we need them, such as the gift of tongues and interpretation of tongues, I know that there is no way that I have the ability on my own to do the things that I do, it is only through the enabling power of the spirit that I am able to give these beautiful instructions to these precious sisters and have them understand and feel and know the importance of the things they are learning in the temple. 

Friday we had 2 couples come  from Puebla to spend 2 days working on their family names in our temple. It is actually closer for them to go to Mexico City but they told us that they prefer to come to Oaxaca because of the feeling they get here. That the workers are all so kind and friendly and so much easier to work with. They spent most of both days in the temple and were delightful people, they were in and out of the office, the men were brothers and both spoke excellent English, we helped them print name cards and they got a lot of their work done, they left very happy!

Saturday we had 3 buses from Tehuacan Stake with 125 people, we also had a young couple come at 4:00 for their sealing and a special session at 5:00 for the Barrio Independencia, so it was a long, busy day. We did almost 1900 ordinances!

After the last session we had been invited to a birthday dinner for our friend Luis Perez, we thought we were meeting at a restaurant, turns out it was a catered meal at a restaurant/ party place. There were a lot of family members there along with us and the Peñas. They brought us a great salad to start and lemonada to drink, then the main dish, pechuga relleno con chapulinas, translated that is chicken breast stuffed with grasshoppers, with a side of cactus salsa and broccoli and carrots. We wished that we had said no thanks we are fasting! But we had already eaten the salad and the hosts were sitting right by us and we really didn't want to offend them, so.... we ate the chapulinas! It took a lot of hot sauce for me to get them down, especially since the chicken was very dry and we have both been a little "jumpy" ever since we ate them but other than that it's all good!

Singing to Luis

More Birthday Celebration

Eating Capulinas, Notice the looks on the Peñas Faces.They had never tried Capulinas either.They think people in Oaxaca eat some weird food! Laura is at the end of the table, she loves chapulinas! I was trying hard to swallow!  

Today we went to Amapolas Stake Conference,  Amapolas is the stake we have been in charge of. The visiting General Authority was Elder Toris of the Seventy. He talked about a lot of different things but one of the things he said that really hit me was that we are eventually released from all of our callings, except that of the calling of parents, never underestimate the importance of that calling! Hold family counsels, give father's blessings. Set righteous examples. Sister Madsen said much the same create a spiritual ambiance in your home, and President Madsen added we are a church of order and it starts in the home!

The choir warming up before conference.

President Junco to the side, the leader is Sister Albrecht from Argentina.

Pres. Junco

Elder Toris and Pres. Cardenas after conference

Part of the choir,middle front is Adele Villanueva, facing forward.

It was an amazing conference, the first speaker was the stake president, President Junco, he talked about how great our Savior's love is for each one of us and how he can heal us of our wounds our imperfections, our doubts, and our fears he used the stories found in Mark 5 about the woman who had so much faith all she had to do was touch Christ's robe and she was healed, then the story of the leader of the synagog who came to Christ because his daughter had died, he was told " she is dead  so why are you bothering the Master?"
But Christ heard him and said "Don't fear, only believe" and Christ went to his house and raised her from the dead. As he talked to us and bore witness of the truthfulness of these accounts I felt so strongly the assurance that through Christ's love and atonement and our faith He truly can heal any and all infirmity or affliction, no matter how great or small. I believe with all my heart this is true.
We love you and appreciate you all, you are all, always in our hearts and prayers.

Jan. 24th to Jan 31st, 2016 Good Friends, Good Food, Sunshine, and Beaches

Sunday the 24th we went to church in our Universidad Ward in Oaxaca and then had dinner with the Roesberrys and President and Sister Cardenas at our apartment, we all put what we had together and enjoyed a potluck and especially the company. It has been so nice to be able to have good friends when we are so far from family. It seems to me that where ever you go in the world when you find the church you have an immediate family of loving, kind people.

The rest of the afternoon and evening we finished packing and hung around, skyped with family and waited  until time to catch our bus to Huatulco. At about 11:00 pm President Cardenas gave us a ride to the bus depot, which was very kind and thoughtful. We arrived in Huatulco at about 8:00 am and Rosa DeWolf picked us up, we ate breakfast at a little cafe near their apartment, checked into our room and took a nap. We had a great time with the DeWolfs and the Roesberrys in Huatulco, we went out on a fishing boat and snorkeling, we ate great seafood, visited,walked through town, cooked the fish we caught, and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Preparing the boat for the day fishing and snorkeling.

I stayed in the room this day with a bad migraine.

Rosa and Gilbert DeWolf, Greg and Jan Roesberry and Captain Chava's Cousin

(Chava is a very active member from Huatulco)

Pancho the owner of the boat (another ward member) 

Gilbert with his first catch

Gilbert and Greg

Chava (This is a common nickname for Santiago)

Gilbert with a puffer fish

Catch of the day Bonita (similar to black tuna) cooked with a pesto of onion and garlic, sliced poblano chillis and chipotle mayonaise. Deliscioso!

We hiked down to Violina Bay, it is called violin because when the water is high as it goes in and out of the cave on the shore it sounds like a violin. It was very isolated and a beautiful place to snorkel.

Jan with her Catch

I love the contrast of the cactus and the ocean.

The lighthouse at Huatulco

I bought a cute blouse from this sweet lady, she is dressed in native costume, notice how tiny she is, her and her sister do all the hand work on the blouses they sell. She told me the blouse would cost more if I wanted a picture!

Wednesday afternoon Ross and I caught a bus to Puerto Escondido, just over 2 hours way. We thought we were so close and don't know that we will ever be here again so we thought we should see as much of the area as we can. We arrived and got checked into our motel, it was in the main part of town, it was an older motel but very well maintained and full of character. I would say in it's heyday it would have been extremely classy. There were hand painted murals on the walls in the room and in the shower and the yards and gardens were beautiful. We wandered down the tourist area of town and had a great dinner of shrimp overlooking the ocean, we looked at the different tourist shops and enjoyed the evening together. The next morning we went for a long walk on the beach, We watched the surfers and the fishermen getting ready to go out for the day, it is a beautiful area but the surf is much stronger than in Huatulco and the area draws a younger crowd although as we walked we did see a lot of  retired age people walking also, so apparently we weren't the only ones in our age group there.
We did decide that we liked Huatulco better of the two places, there seemed to be more to do and the beaches were a little more user friendly.

Our room in Puerto Escondido, the doors lead out to a balcony, notice the hand painting over the window seat and the mirror.  

Beach at Puerto

Fishing boat and net

Our name tags on a rock on the beach, just for fun!

Grandpa

Kind of a Fun Picture

This looks like a Hard way to fish to me

He really didn't like me taking his picture!

This was from the bus on the way back to Oaxaca, we went over the Sierras, we were right up in the clouds part of the time. It was a beautiful ride home. 

This is the van we rode home in, the road was so curvy that there wasn't a 1000 yard stretch without a turn.

We got back to our apartment in Oaxaca about 8:30 Thursday evening to find all well, we spent Friday getting settled back in, getting groceries for the week, doing laundry, housework, etc. Saturday we went to Mitla, a town about 20 miles away where they make a lot of clothing and other textiles, there is also a small ruin there that we have seen before. We wan't to buy a little dress for our new little Ruby girl and a few other things. Jan went with us, Greg hasn't been feeling well, he ate something that didn't agree with him. 

We found some pretty table clothes and a cute dress for Ruby.

 

These are the fabric looms in Mitla

It has been a great week but we have so missed being in the temple, we look forward to going in to help do some cleaning tomorrow morning. We talked with the Peñas at church today and they said that they can use our help the next two mornings getting ready to open Tuesday afternoon, we are ready to be busy! 

This week we have been saddened to hear the news of the death of our friend Lavoy Finicum, regardless of anyone's politics this was a senseless death and we pray for  peace and comfort for the family. Our thoughts and prayers are with all who are affected in anyway by this tragedy. 

President Monson said " Only the Master knows the depths of our trial. He alone offers us eternal peace in that time of adversity. He alone touches our tortured souls." I know this is true, I know that through the atonement He understands our heartaches and will bring us peace. May His  love fill your hearts and homes this week.

Week of Jan. 18th to Jan. 24th, 2016 New Babies and Mexico City

The big news this week is grand baby number 25! Little Ruby Fern Ray was born early Saturday Morning (around 5:30) weighing 8 lbs 5 ounces and 20 inches. She has quite a bit of dark hair, which is different for Jared and Jen's babies, they have all been little blonde's. Mom and baby are both doing great last we heard and Ross and I are having a hard time not being with them.

Baby Ruby Shortly after Birth

Baby Ruby With Abby

New babies are such a special gift from God, we feel so very blessed to have this sweet new spirit in the family  and can't wait to meet her and cuddle and kiss and love on her. In the meantime we know she will be getting lots of love from her family. We also feel so blessed to have her wonderful mother as a part of our family, thank you Jen for putting up with our crazy family and for loving us, we love you more than cake and ice cream and we really love cake and ice cream!

We have had a wonderful week! We left Oaxaca at 2:00 p.m. with the Peñas and the Roesberrys, the Peñas had to go to Mexico City to take of some business to do with selling their home and packing some of their belongings, so they gave us a ride. We had an enjoyable ride until we hit the city traffic and got stuck in a traffic jam. I am not sure why the traffic was so bad, but none of us had ever seen it that bad the entire time we were on our last mission! We were in one intersection for over 30 minutes. The worst part was we all needed a bathroom and there wasn't one anywhere in sight! We finally arrived at the temple and got checked into the hospedaje, the rooms were on the 3rd floor and were dormitory rooms with 2 sets of bunk beds in each room and a common bathroom down the hall, but the price was right, it cost 100 pesos a night or roughly 6 dollars a night! We were in the temple complex with purified water, security guards, and it was very peaceful and quiet, or at least relatively so. The Peñas stayed the first night with us and went to the temple with us Tuesday morning and then went on to their house to take care of their business. We (the Roesberry and us) spent most of the day in the temple then went to dinner at Panda Express. Next morning we got up and went to the temple again and then we went to the Zocolo. We had never been to the National Palace as it was always closed on Mondays, we finally got to see it, it was amazing, there was an art display in the courtyard of Photos of Mexico that was fantastic. The walls of the palace were covered in Diego Rivera Murals that told the history of Mexico, they were indescribable.President and Sister Ruiz part of the Presidency from when we were here before knew we were coming and wanted to get together with us so they had arranged to take us to a show at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, or Palace of Fine Artes the premier performing arts theater in Mexico City. We met them at the theater at 8:00 pm to see the Folkloric Ballet de Mexico, it was tremendous, very hi energy, with great music and fantastic costumes. The building was gorgeous inside and out and was another building that had been on our list of laces to see!
 The Palacio was started in 1912 and is one of the most prominent cultural performing arts centers in Mexico City, it wasn't finished until 1934, it is absolutely gorgeous inside and out. The performance we saw was a folkloric ballet, or folk dances of Mexico, it was fast paced, the costumes were stunning, and the music was beautiful. We were enthralled!
Thursday morning we went back to the temple again, we took some of our family names with us and were able to get a lot of them done, we did 4 sessions, initiatory, and sealings and we felt the Lord's love for us through His sweet tender mercies during the week as we saw many of the good people we worked beside during our previous mission, including the entire temple Presidency.

Our room in the hospedaje at the Temple.

Jan and I in front of a bronze statue at the Zocolo

Ross with anothe Statue

This is a photo of one of the Photos in th Palacio Natioanl

Isn't she cute!

Rivera Mural

More Mural

Some of these Murals showed how cruel the conquistadors were to the natives, they were very graphic and very sad.

On the walking street downtown, you can find just about anything!

From one extreme to the other!

Local Color

Inside the theatre, this was the curtain.

More of the Ballet

Drummers, The front stage rose out of the ground with the drummers.

The tree was lowered from the sky for this number

This guy and the orchestra were on the sides of the theater part of the time.

Visitors Center

   The newly remodeled Visitors center is very modern and is said to be one of the best in the world. Ross and I did not spend a lot of time there but we did spend some time in the section that told about the history of the church in Mexico, we had heard most of the stories before but is was very interesting to review it again. It is a beautiful visitors center.

On Tuesday evening we were sitting in what used to be the main building of the CCM but is now the Perpetual Education Fund Building and the Family History Center so we could get internet.A couple about our age came down the stairs and greeted us and then started to visit, we had seen them in the temple earlier, they introduced themselves and we found out they are missionaries and are in the apartments where we lived, we talked a bit then they invited us to go home with them to eat, we had already eaten, they also volunteered to take us downtown the next day or anywhere else we needed to go. That is just the way people here are, they are so kind and gracious and so willing to do anything to help others. 

We are looking forward to another great week as we travel to Huatulco, it will be fun to see the DeWolfs and to spend a little time at the beach, but we are also looking forward to being back to work in the temple the following week. We miss seeing our temple family. Yesterday and today we had dinner at our house with the Roesberrys and President and Sister Cardenas it has been fun to spent time with them and get to know them a little bit better. They have offered to stay up late and take us to the bus station at 11:00 tonight so we don't have to worry about finding a cab so late, such sweet, thoughtful people.

The thought I want to leave you with today comes from President Uchtdorf's confernce talk "Be Not Afraid, Only Believe" 
" I wish I could help everyone to understand this one simple fact: we believe in God because of things we know with our heart and mind, not because of things we do not know. our spiritual experiences are sometimes too sacred to explain in worldly terms, but that doesn't mean they are not real.
Heavenly Father has prepared for His children a spiritual feast, offering every kind of exquisite food imaginable- and yet, instead of enjoying these spiritual gifts, the cynics content themselves with observing from a distance, sipping from their cups of skepticism, doub,t, and disrespect.
Why would anyone walk through life satisfied with the light of their own understanding when, by reaching out to our Heavenly Father, they could experience the bright sun of spiritual knowledge that could expand their minds with wisdom and fill their souls with joy?"

I truly believe that the light of the gospel and the love of Christ is what fills our souls and hearts with joy and peace and that this is a lasting joy and peace that we can not find any where but in and through our Savior Jesus Christ, it is what He wants for us, what he paid with His life so we could have, I am and will be eternally grateful to Him for this amazing gift.
We love you all.