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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