Our Work in Oaxaca (Wa-ha-ka): July 2016

Up front apologies for the long post. This is kind of our journal.

Since our last post we have been busy getting to know our neighborhood and our neighbors, meeting with church members and the young missionaries, and exploring the beautiful Oaxaca coast. In the past 10 days we spent time making our apartment our "home," meeting our neighbors and several shop and restaurant owners in the neighborhood, and visiting beaches and bays near Huatulco.

Last Sunday, July 17th, we attended the Huatulco Branch where we were both asked to speak. My comments were quite short but I was able to share my testimony of the gospel and of Jesus Christ. Brent, of course, was able to connect right off with the members with his 45 year-old Spanish. I was asked if I played the piano. That is a valuable tool in districts and branches of the church. I have played the piano in every meeting since. Thanks to our son, Brandon, for recommending I bring a spiral-bound Spanish hymn book. I have played in probably 7-8 meetings and played only 5 songs. They do have their favorites.

Monday, July 18th, we had a Family Home Evening (Noche de Hogar) in a member's home. She had invited other members and Brent gave a lesson about the Book of Mormon. Not quite sure what she served for the treat but we drank it anyway.

Early Tuesday morning, July 19th, we loaded up the Zone Leaders and drove 2 hours to Puerto Escondido where we participated in a 3 hour zone meeting. We are so impressed with the 18 elders in the Huatulco Zone. That afternoon we began our duty of visiting and inspecting the homes of the missionaries. The 18 elders live in 9 separate houses in 6 different towns. It is a 3-hour drive from one end to the other. We didn't do much inspecting this time but were still pleased with the tidiness of their humble abodes.

We spent the night in a quaint hotel on Zicatela Beach in Puerto Escondido. The beach is world famous because it has the third largest waves in the world. It is a surfers paradise. Wednesday, on the way home, we dropped by the famous turtle sanctuary. Many beaches here are active turtle nesting areas. Thursday morning we went to see some archeological ruins, Copalita, about 30 minutes from our home.

Thursday through Saturday there was a district-wide Young Single Adult Conference here in Huatulco. Over 150 YSA attended, which we were very impressed with.

Saturday, we were able to attend the baptism of an 11 year-old boy here in Huatulco. Brent bought Spanish CTR (HLJ) rings before we left Utah and we gave him one. They don't have CTR rings here so it was a special treat.

Today we went with the District President, Presidente Pineda, and his family to the little branch in Coyul, about an hour away. There were 25 in attendance and we were both asked to speak again. We are always in awe of how the gospel is the same where ever we are in the world, no matter the size of the congregation or the meeting place.

We are both doing well and I am working on my Spanish. We love our home, our town, and the people.

Family Home Evening. Notice the large gourds we were served the treat in. It was kind of like drinking rice.

I was able to figure out the oven and, besides cooking dinner, baked Snickerdoodles to take to Zone Meeting. They sure did disappear fast.

This is an actual truck taxi. Yes, it is legal.

I still smile at this picture. At the Zone Meeting, all the elders line up their cameras on the tables, press the timers all at the same time, then run and form a group picture before the cameras start going off.

And the result!
Interesting fact: 5 elders from U.S., 10 from Mexico, 1 each from Ecuador, Bolivia, and Honduras.

Elders' home in Rio Grande.

Elders' home in Puerto Escondido.

We ran into our first bloqueo (blockade) on our own going to and from Rio Grande. The blocqueos are part of a fight between the government and the teachers. No violence, just random blockades.

Enjoying fresh pineapple on the beach.

Dinner with District President Ruiz and his family in Puerto Escondido.

The giant waves at Zicatela Beach

At the turtle sanctuary

Stopped for lunch.

Copalita Ruins

The Young Single Adult Conference

Proof I can still play the hymns and Primary songs after all these years.
This is a special musical number at the baptism.

The church in Coyul

Preparing. Notice only one of each tray, one chair in front and one chair behind.

Primary in Coyul.

I wondered if this family of chickens were members. They were outside the church the whole time.

Lunch was served after church in Coyul.

We love the beautiful children here.

President Pineda and his family.

Brent found this sweet specimen (dead) in the bottom of his backpack. We think it came from our outing with the elders last week at the beach. We actually haven't seen any bugs or creatures in or around our house, or anywhere.

We have officially begun our mission and are in our assigned location in southern Oaxaca, Mexico. The past week has been very eventful, exciting, and enjoyable. We completed 5 days in the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah last Friday. On Saturday, we flew via Mexico City to the city of Oaxaca where we were greeted by mission leaders. We spent the next two nights living in the mission president's home, attending a district conference two hours away in Nochixtlan.

Monday morning we received our car, a Toyota City. We followed our mission president and his wife, Presidente and Hermana Madsen, on a 6 hour drive over the Sierra Madre Mountains. Never have we been on such a windy, mountainous rode. It was like driving on Lombard Street in San Francisco for 6 hours. It was a beautiful drive, however, and we were very glad to arrive at our new home in Huatulco, Oaxaca.

We are getting acquainted with our new apartment which is quite nice. The apartment and our car have air conditioning which is a blessing because it is very hot here in Huatulco. On Tuesday, we were able to attend an activity with the Huatulco Zone missionaries. The activity was at a secluded beach at Puerto Angel (40 minutes west) where we played volleyball and frisbee, had pizza, and played in the sand until the missionaries had to return to their work since this was their substitute preparation day.

Huatulco is as beautiful as people have said. We are doing well and are very happy here.