Wow! I sure fell behind with our blog. And now we're running out of time. It's kind of surreal that we will be returning home before Christmas. We are so anxious to be with our family again, and yet we are feeling a little sad and subdued about leaving our home here. We have so many dear friends here who will live in our hearts forever.
Since the last blog post, we have had more visitors, which we love, Brent was able to baptize Vicky, and give the name and blessing to baby Saori and baby Daylan. And, he has been asked to baptize a 9-year old boy the Saturday before we leave. Our mission here has been so rewarding and we have been blessed.
We are so excited to announce that we have Hermanas! Sister missionaries! It's been over two years since there have been sister missionaries in our zone. Ours here in Huatulco arrived in October and they are amazing. We love Hermana Salgado and Hermama Jimenez.
In October, we had a nice visit from my brother and sister-law, Jack and Kathy Arrington, and their son and daughter-in-law Dan and Dalena with their darling little girl, Viviana. We, of course, took them on a boat tour, a land tour, and to the beaches for a little snorkeling, guacamole and limonadas. Dalena's mother is Mexican and Dalena spent many of her growing up years living in Mexico so she felt right at home. She made us an incredible authentic Mexican dinner.
Our next visitors were dear friends from our neighborhood, Salmons and Garners. What great friends we have to come so far to visit us. Oh wait, it was probably a trip to visit the paradise of Huatulco but we're grateful we live in a place they would want to visit. One thing we did different with them is take the long, winding road trip to Oaxaca City. After a drive along the beaches the day before, none of us was sure we wanted to make the trip but it turned out to be just fine. It's a beautiful drive with little villages all along the way. And, we all enjoyed the colonial city of Oaxaca and visiting the ruins of Monte Alban.
Toby and April and their family realized they didn't have a place to go to for Thanksgiving this year 😞 so they decided to come have Thanksgiving dinner with us and the missionaries. It was such a fun treat to have them here. They loved spending time at the beaches every day and also visiting the waterfalls up in the mountains. They said the waterfalls were worth the long, rough drive. However, that long, rough drive is one of the reasons I opted to stay home and make six pies and stuffing for Thanksgiving dinner the next day.
In November, we drove to a mission conference in Teuantapec, about 2 1/2 hours away. We rented a tiny mini-van and squeezed six missionaries in the middle and back seats. I'm not sure I believe the three elders squished in the back seat, but they said it was better than taking a bus. I know they liked the stop we made at Dominoes Pizza, however.
For one of our final tokens of friendship, we went with the branch to the temple in Oaxaca on the
BUS. They were surprised but thrilled we would join them. 😀 It wasn't so bad and at least Brent didn't have to drive over the mountain this time. The bus leaves Huatulco at about 9:00 pm, travels through the night and arrives at the temple around 5:00 am. Everyone rests in the church building there until the temple opens at 6:00 am. then spends the day in the temple until it closes at 3:00 pm. The bus leaves around 4:00 pm and arrives back in Huatulco at around midnight. Not sure we would do it again, but it was an adventure we're glad we had.
During these last few weeks we will have Zone Conference with President and Sister Conde, and District Conference with our branch and the neighboring four branches. And as I've said before, "conference" means choir. (Not the missionary Zone Conference, but the District Conference.) 1-2 hour practices three nights a week for several weeks. Try that at home. 😮
Our time here is short but we will cherish every minute of it with these wonderful people of Mexico. We are sad that there is not another senior missionary couple to take our place. The members here wish there was as well. Maybe someday. And we will for sure return to visit.
THE ARRINGTONS
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| Chillin' while we watch the waves. |
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| The blow hole was at it's best for our boat ride. |
The new family pet?
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| Always limonada at the beach. |
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| Cabbage, green onions, and grapes the size of robins' eggs! Just a bit of the amazing produce here. |
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| Sushi in Mexico. |
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But nothing compares to a delicious homemade authentic Mexican dinner. Thanks Dalena!!
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FRIENDS
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| A little dip in the ocean. |
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| A Sunday stroll on the beach. |
Salmons and Garners were able to celebrate Daniel's birthday with us. All of our visitors fall in love with these three darling boys.
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| Terry is learning how to cook tortillas over a fire. |
Beautiful parts of nature.
The trip to Oaxaca
We visited the ruins at Monte Alban and made our own pyramid.
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| This is the Tule Tree. It is the most robust tree in the world and is just outside of Oaxaca City. |
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| We took a walk around this beautiful hotel which used to be a convent. |
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| There is always color when you visit Oaxaca. |
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| Champolines? No thanks! I'm with you Terry. Fried and seasoned grasshoppers. They eat them like popcorn. |
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| We love these crazies! |
THANKSGIVING AND FAMILY
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| On our morning walk with Huatulco in the background. |
And during our morning walk, we stopped by the exercise park and the beach.
Fun at the beach every day.
And at the waterfalls.
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| Brent has an obsession with large trees. And there are plenty around to love. |
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| Beautiful Thanksgiving flowers from a beautiful girl. |
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| Thanksgiving dinner with missionaries and friends. |
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| Hermana Marta Pon prepared the most amazing seafood dinner for us. Such dear friends. |
More crazies!
Members and Missionaries
These two beautiful babies were given a name and blessing by Elder Johnson.
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| We took Hermana Conde for a mini tour while President Conde was busy with interviews. |
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| These sisters are working on food storage. These wafers are "comida completa" (complete food). If I ever need to use mine, I'll let you know if we survive. They taste good though. |
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| This is not "comida completa" but it sure tasted good. We found Corn Chex one day at the supermarket so we made our favorite mix to share. |
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| Sacrament Meeting Presentation by the Primary. |
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| This is a common site at our weekly branch activities. Always yummy food. |
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| When church conflicts with nap time....💤😏 |
We have Hermanas! And they have already been a great blessing to Huatulco.
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| Hot fudge sundaes and banana splits after Priesthood session of General Conference. |
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| One of the large supermarkets here occasionally has A&W Rootbeer. Most of the missionaries love it and come by to raid our supply. It's OK because that's who we buy it for! |
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| Trick-or-Treat!🎃 |
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| We spent five hours crowded in this mini minivan. |
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| But I think the Dominoes pizza was worth it. |
Our our trip to Oaxaca City, we visited a small archeological site called Mitla.
Oaxaca is known for this beautiful black pottery called Barra Negra. Most of it is made in a little village just outside of Oaxaca City, San Bartolo Coyotepec. We visited the shop of a member family there and learned how it is made and, of course, purchased a few pieces.
We were happy to enjoy one last grand parade before we leave. Day of the Revolution is one of the most celebrated holidays in Mexico. We love all the traditional dress and each school with its band and uniforms. Many of the students were dressed in costumes which included fake bullets.😜
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| At the temple with a group of very special forever friends. |
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