Three Busy Weeks

It's been a busy three weeks since our last post. Mexican Independence Day was celebrated on September 15th and 16th with parades, dancing, and even a Mexican rodeo. It was three hours late in starting, which is typical. As I've said before, there is much time spent waiting here in Mexico. Our branch had it's own little fiesta at the church with pozole (a type of soup), jamaica (hibiscus) punch and my chocolate chip cookies. I think I have baked more desserts in our three months here than I do in a year at home.

The week of September 9-11 was Mission Zone Conference here in Huatulco and District Conference in the Puerto Escondido District. We traveled to Puerto Escondido on Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday afternoon. After three visits, we finally found a hotel we like there. I don't mind visiting, but I'm glad we don't live there. It's too much of a "surfing beach bum" environment for my liking.

While there we inspected two missionary houses and spent time with Pres. and Hermana Madsen. When we visit other branches, the members are so welcoming and want us to return soon. One of the branches in the Puerto Escondido District is in Rio Grande which is one hour's drive. There were members who came to both the Saturday evening session and the Sunday morning session. Many of them traveled together in the back of a truck taxi. So dedicated.

While in Puerto Escondido we drove to a little place in the jungle where a man will take you in his little boat out into a lagoon with beautiful birds and crocodiles. We also went back to the beach where they release the baby turtles into the ocean. It's fascinating to watch.

The day before Zone Conference we went on a nature walk with Sigi through the jungle to a beach  called Chachacual which is only accessible by boat or through the jungle. It is a beautiful beach just barely out of the trees and very secluded. I've mentioned Sigi before. He is a church member and tour guide here and we still think he knows everything there is to know about this area.

We love the people here so much and continue to meet more church members and people around the town. There are baptisms nearly every week with several more planned for October. We are extra happy about the Santos family who have returned to church the past two weeks. Hermano Santos especially will be a strong leader one day.

I was also excited to receive seven keyboards and instruction materials through a grant available through BYU which will allow me to teach seven branch members to play the piano. If they complete the course, I will send an application for them each to keep the keyboard. At the end of the course they will be able to play the hymns in the simplified LDS hymn book.  Classes begin next week.

Last week was transfer week for the missionaries and we have five new elders in the zone who we will get to know over the next few months. Thirty missionaries are either currently serving here in our zone or have served here since our arrival. We will miss those who were transferred but hope to keep in touch with them throughout their missions.

This past week (Wednesday evening through Monday morning) we had so much fun getting to know our newest grandson, 3 month old Will.  His parents, Brandon and Netell, were kind enough to bring him down for a visit.  While they were here, we ate lots of yummy Mexican food, went on a boat ride to see four of the nine bays and the guys did a little snorkeling. Brandon and Netell were able to meet Pres. and Hermana Madsen and many of our friends here. Baby Will was the big attraction with his blue eyes and red hair. He seemed to enjoy all the mamas and grandmas speaking Spanish to him.

One mini disaster while our family was visiting was that our power went out in our apartment for a day and a half. We ended up spending the night in a neighboring hotel so we could have light and air conditioning. We would have braved staying in our hot apartment but, without even a fan, we surely would have baked overnight.

We have had rain here over the past two weeks. It usually comes in the evening or night time and rains really hard for about an hour. It doesn't cool the temperatures but it's a nice change to the mundane hot, humid weather day after day.  We are happy here and love serving these wonderful people of Mexico.

Beginning our walk through the jungle to Chachacual Beach.

Chachacual Beach. (I am not using a cane. It's a hiking stick!)

This cute little man took us in his cute little boat out into a lagoon to see beautiful birds and crocodiles.  He propels and steers the boat with a long, thick stick.

This is Violín Beach. It is another beach accessible only by boat or a short hike through jungle.

Independence Day Parades

WAITING again...for a parade to start.

Missionary Life

I still like pictures of missionaries walking down dirt roads, even when it's us.

Teaching

Inspecting missionary houses

Another Monday lunch with the local elders.

At the baptism of this awesome young
man, Gabo. His mother was inactive
and now is one of the strongest
members of the branch.

Puerto Escondido District Conference

Conference Choir

These members took a one hour truck taxi to attend conference. They are eating lunch while waiting for the taxi to pick them up for the one hour ride back to Rio Grande.

Baby Will's visit

Pony Boy

Brandon was super nice to make his "Costco Cookies" (family joke) for the Zone Activity on Monday. Of course the elders loved them.

People, kids, and creatures

This indigenous man and his wife set up their wares every day in the plaza.

We love our cold water!

Pony Girl

Occasionally a child will have an electronic device. The others are entertained just by watching. These boys were waiting for their parents after church.

Below--sometimes church is just too long.

The school children here learn to march. Not a bad idea in my opinion. This is the school next door to us.

A typical humble home on laundry day.

Our garden



.

If you were born in the 50s or 60s you may remember Chicken Fat. Hermana Madsen does it with the missionaries at zone conferences to encourage them to exercise daily.

Many new friends

The past two weeks we have seen our friendship list grow significantly. We have become close friends with several families in the branch. Not only are we getting to know more and more people at church, we now have about 30 families who we have the potential of helping, teaching, and inviting back to church.  Whether or not they go to church, they are still our friends and they welcome us into their homes. We try to make contact with each one at least every other week or so, and there are a few who we visit regularly each week.

The young missionaries continue to work hard as well. We have attended baptisms the past four weeks and there are four more coming up in September and October.  The four missionaries here in Huatulco still come to our home for laundry and lunch on Mondays, and we see them several more times during the week. We love these elders.

There is an activity at the church each Friday night where the missionaries show a short video and give a message. Then there is an activity and treats. This past Friday, we took our turn for the activity again by playing "Do you like your neighbor?" It was as riotous as when we have played it at home and was a huge success.  We also took a turn for treats. I made three pans of brownies and cut them into about 120 pieces. They were gone in less than 10 minutes.

The District President asked the branch to put together a choir for the upcoming District Conference. I am the accompanist and they will sing 8 hymns. Mexican choirs are fascinating. Some have no clue what notes they sing but they always sing with gusto. And, sometimes it doesn't matter what the piano plays, they sing the tune they are used to singing. I love it. I wish our home ward would sing like that.

Elementary school finally started here last week. It is two weeks late in starting because of a teacher strike. We don't know if there have been any resolutions but at least the children can now go to class. It makes the city a little more lively as well. We live next to an elementary school and we like hearing all the activity in the mornings.

The one activity we had time for last week was a six hour boat tour of the nine bays here in Huatulco. The guide's name is Sigi and we have been visiting with him and his wife, Sophia, (the Relief Society President) for a few weeks. Sigi is very knowledgeable about this area and is fun to be with. Our next activity with him will be to hike in the national park here.

The highlight of our week though, was the baptism of our beautiful, sweet granddaughter, Paisley. We were able to be a part of it with the blessing of FaceTime. We love you, Paisley, and are so very proud of you.

This next week's schedule is full and we continue to love the people and our missionary work here. September 15th is Independence Day for Mexico so the community and branch are gearing up for a big celebration. Should be good for some beautiful photos.

There are so many new fruits for us to try. This is our favorite produce market just around the corner from our house and they let us taste a fruit before we buy it.




Street Vendors and Street Food
Part of the Mexican culture is selling and eating food on the street. Our neighborhood is full of these creative people trying to make enough money for their food the next day.

The church building in Huatulco

Brownies and punch at the branch activity

I thought this was an interesting punch bowl the first time I saw it used--a plastic garbage can. But that's all it's used for so, why not. The punch is agua de jamaica and is made from hibiscus flowers. It is very popular and is sometimes good and sometimes not.

I don't really like tamales but these are really good. They are wrapped in banana leaves.

Pres. Ramirez (Branch President) and Pres. Pineda (District President)

The Zone Leaders changed apartments and they are now much closer to their area and to the church. One good thing is that they moved from a ground floor apartment. The bad thing is that they moved to a second story apartment. Another good thing, though, is that they didn't move to a third, fourth or fifth floor apartment!

A job well done with the help of two extra elders who were in town for exchanges. I stayed for a couple of hours and cleaned the apartment so they could get everything organized later in the day.

At District Meeting each week the elders practice the principle taught that day. This day it was contacting. Elder Allman is pretending to be a taxi driver. I thought he was quite clever.

Inspecting the elders' house in Puerto Angel. This is one of the nicer missionary houses.

The Assistants to the President stopped by for a visit and to wait for their bus back to Oaxaca City.

      We have very talented elders here in Huatulco.

Gardening

The couple at the end of the table is Sigi and Sophia. Sigi is a tour guide and I think he knows everything about the Huatulco area. The young couple was on their honeymoon and we met them when we stopped by Sophia's restaurant one day. The next day they went with us on Sigi's boat tour of the bays. They both served a mission in Monterey. She is from Oaxaca City, he is from southern California and is going to BYU in January.

Photos from the boat tour

Lighthouse and blow hole

Sea turtles

The kids are our favorites!

Family transportation. We took this after church on Sunday.

This  beautiful family blessed their baby on Sunday.

Back to school--at last.

Our neighbor across the street got a new thatch roof.

Cruise ships will begin arriving at this port in about 3 weeks. It is 10 minutes from our house.

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