We said goodbye to our dear friends Presidente and Hermana Madsen at the end of June and the new president and his wife stepped right in on July 1st. They are Presidente and Hermana Conde from Mexico City and we love them already. They visited us at our home on July 3rd, had a meeting with all the missionaries in our zone on July 4th, and then they returned the next week for Zone Conference. They have hit the ground running.
In June we had District Conference. Of course, our branch had a choir with several weeks of practicing, and we both gave a talk/testimony on Sunday.
There have been five new babies born in the past three months with a grand baby shower for each one. One of the showers we had in our little apartment with about 30 people squeezed into a little space. But we celebrated just fine nevertheless.
Brent was honored to be asked to give a name and blessing to one of the sweet baby girls which added to his list of unexpected mission events. He has performed the baptism of three people, spoken at a funeral, and now blessed a baby. All special experiences for us both.
We were also invited to attend the wedding celebration of a beautiful couple in our branch. They were legally married June 30th here in Huatulco then rode the bus with the branch members to the temple that night. They were sealed together in the temple on July 1st. Temple marriages are not recognized here as legal marriages so a couple must be legally married the day before. The wedding celebration here the next week was true to Mexican fashion and lasted many hours. We left after about three hours and it was still going strong.
The native Spanish speaking elders in our district have asked us to help them learn English, which is strongly encouraged by the church. There is an LDS edition of Daily Dose which we are using and it is going really well. We give them a lesson twice a week.
We had a little adventure the first week of July. We had to go to Oaxaca to renew our visas and really did not want to drive six hours over the mountain then back the next day so we decided to try the round trip flight between Oaxaca and Huatulco. It is a tiny fourteen passenger plane and is a 40 minute flight. It leaves Oaxaca at 9:00 am and Huatulco at 10:00 for the return. We flew to Oaxaca, took care of the visa business, walked around the town center for a while, had dinner, spent the night in a nice hotel which used to be a convent, then returned to Huatulco the next morning. Of course, it cost more than driving but cost much less in terms of time and comfort. It was so worth it!
We have had many visitors while we've been serving here in this amazing place. We love visitors! Two of my nieces, Lisa Arrington and Sharon Bolos, came here on vacation the end June and Sharon brought her entire family of nine. They rented a very nice house and we were able to show them around, take them to a few places, and then leave them to enjoy beaches, shopping, and exploring on their own. They came with us to visit several members and we had dinner with them every night. We always like to show off where we live and share the missionary work we do.
Saying Goodbye
Welcoming the New
I love these ladies! (District Conference choir)
Baby Andrea
Baby Fernanda
The wedding fiesta
English Class
Quick trip to Oaxaca
Our little international airport in Huatulco
Bird's eye view of the mountains we cross when we drive.
I love walking through the markets in Oaxaca.
Champolines--fried grasshoppers and crickets.
They eat them like popcorn.
These young boys are selling gum and cigarettes.
The cigarette packs are open and cigarettes are sold one at a time.
Visitors
There was no branch activity the week my nieces were here due to the branch temple trip so Friday night we went to the plaza and sang while the elders talked to people and handed out information about the gospel.
Daily Life
Our neighbor was worried that the branches of this big tree next to his house might fall during a storm so he had them cut back. Funny thing--when they were cutting the branches, one fell on the power lines and snapped them right in two. Luckily, we were without power for only a few hours. One of the worst things here is to not have power for our air conditioning and fans.
What do you do when you are feeding the missionaries and there is no power in your house for cooling? You take your food to the church and use the Relief Society Room!
Brent was in charge of the message at the weekly branch activity. If you've ever been to one of his lessons or speeches, you can see that he hasn't changed his style one bit!
We're not sure the roads will ever be the same after the heavy rains and tropical storm we had in May.
Laundry Day
Brent is still taking good care of his flowers.
Our mission life is so rewarding and we dearly love the people here. We are grateful for our good health and hope we can continue to help bless people's lives here in Huatulco.
