Time Flies

A little over a year ago we moved to this beautiful corner of the world know as Huatulco.  This has been the ideal mission experience for us.  This little town is beautiful, friendly, safe, clean, and HOT.  The church members are faithful and strong, and have touched our lives for good in so many ways.  We have been able to associate with some of the finest young missionaries anywhere and have so much love and respect for each of them.

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.

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Missionary Moments

Here's what's been happening--

500 Books

We placed 500 copies of the Book of Mormon in one day!  Well, that's kind of how it happened.  This is a picture of one of about ten all-inclusive resorts located in the next bay over from us.  It is a Barcelo Hotel.  We tried in the past to go inside one of the resorts just to look around.  You would think we were trying to enter the White House or Buckingham Palace.  They would not even let us park our car.  Well, a few weeks ago we got a call from the mission office asking us to check out a request the hotel had made online for 500 copies of the Book of Mormon.  They were requested from the site where you can get a copy for free.  The office wasn't sure they should send 500 free copies!  We made an appointment with the general manager's assistant, who had placed the order.  She met us at the gate and welcomed us inside.  She explained that the owner of all the Barcelo properties throughout the world wanted a copy of the Bible and the Book or Mormon in every hotel room.  There is a little more to the story but, of course the mission would be happy to send 500 free copies of the Book or Mormon!  After our meeting, she showed us around the property, we met the general manager, and they provided lunch for us in one of the restaurants.  I think that was probably the best food we've had in the past 11 months.  

Rain!!

We have been complaining that the trees and hills are so brown and dry since we haven't had rain in over 6 months.  The locals warned us about that.  But they didn't warn us about tropical storms when it rains for days.  Fortunately these tropical storms happen only about every ten years or so.  Tropical storm Beatriz hit land right on top of us this past week and deterred much of our work for a few days, but at least the trees and hills are green again.  I did not know that so much rain could fall so hard and so long in one place.  It rained hard for almost 72 hours.  On Friday morning, the last day of the storm, we decided to visit several members who we knew may be flooded or not able to leave their homes.  We bought some groceries, then went with the Relief Society President to deliver them.  The families, of course, were grateful.  There were even three families who stayed at the church one day and night because they had so much water in their homes.  But now the sun is shining and we are once again complaining about the heat and humidity. 

Before and After

Temple Trip

Friday and Saturday, May 19-20, we made a trip to the temple in Oaxaca City with our branch.  Although they go by bus overnight, we drove up in the day with our dear friends, Marta Pon and Sergio, which made the drive much more pleasant.

Sights along the way.

Bathroom stop and quesadillas at this mountain restaurant.

This is actually the first time in our mission that we had to use a bucket of water to flush the toilet.

A Bazaar

So this was an interesting event.  The branch members were asked to donate clothes, shoes and household items to sell in a little pueblito about 20 minutes away.  They call it a bazaar.  The money from the bazaar will be used to help a sister in the branch pay for surgery.  Supposedly they do this on occasion to help pay for specific needs.  We set up under this huge tree in the center of town and  someone announced the event over the town's loud speaker.  Before long, there was a crowd of ladies searching through the piles of clothes.  Turns out it was a successful event and the bazaar has been held again in two other locations.  

I even found a new dress!




Reactivation Project
The leadership of our district, consisting of five branches, made plans to visit each branch and invite less active families to return to church.  We, along with the four young missionaries, supported them. The first Saturday of the project Brent and I were able to visit three families in a little town about an hour away.





I carry little coloring books and packs of crayons with me.  These kids were thrilled with the books as well as Brent's suckers, which he almost always has with him as well.

Chicken soup after visiting.  (Chicken soup made with every part of the chicken including soft, unlaid eggs!)



Missionaries

Zone Conference

Hermana Madsen instructs the missionaries on various things each Zone Conference.  This time she had suggestions of simple food they could prepare in their apartments.   We made smoothies and French toast for lunch as part of the demonstration.   When we do apartment checks, we are amazed at how little food the elders have in their apartments for breakfast or late night meals.

The elders after zone conference carrying supplies with them to the bus station.

Brent likes to take the elders sightseeing on P-day.  Some elders who come here have never seen the ocean.

 Monday lunch.

Change days can be very complicated.  Who is leaving, who is staying, who has a connecting bus, who will travel with whom, who will wait for the new elders to arrive....  We use our car for luggage transportation and last Monday it was quite exhausting. 😉



Waiting at the bus station for new companions.  There is A LOT of waiting in Mexico.

We take a snack and drink to District Meeting each Tuesday for the eight elders in our district.  Missionaries are always hungry.  Maybe they like us just for our food. 😁



People and Activities

Sarah's and Adrian's baptism day.  They are not related, just had the same baptism date.  Sarah's grandparents went to the temple with us in May.

 I really like pozole and Hermana Nicefora taught me how to make it.  It's not a recipe, just verbal instructions.  One thing I did learn is how to shred cabbage with a knife.

 Another beautiful handmade gift.

 Beauty night at the church--makeup and hair.

 Friends for dinner.  The husbands in these two pictures each returned to church after many years of not attending.  And they both baptized their wives as well. 

 Friday night branch activity.  Always food--tacos and a birthday party.  It's special if your birthday lands on a Friday.  You get a branch party!

 These crazies go to school next door to us.  They sometimes stop by our house after school.

We have been so intrigued by this 85 year old couple who sells baskets every day except Sunday.  They start out in the park across from the bus station and then, when the sun gets too hot, they move across the street to the plaza outside the bus station.  They are from the hills in the north part of Oaxaca.  They don't have a home here; they just sleep where they can.  Brent paid them for an "interview." 

 Elder Johnson's "girlfriends."

 April 30th is Day of the Children and, as with most special days, there was a fiesta at the church.  The Primary teachers performed a special song and dance for the kids.  It was quite entertaining!

 This is a common site.  A family of four easily fits on a moto.  This cute family is in our branch.  Her husband was out of town or there may have been five.

 And finally....

 Brent is addicted to mangos.  Most days he eats two or three.  We're going to miss these.

 We rarely eat off the street but this is a very popular restaurant so we decided to try it.  The food was delicious and we are still healthy.

 Brent is so proud of the tropical flowers he's growing.  He's added two new ones in the last month.

 A new hamburger place opened up a while back.  It replaced one that wasn't very good and we don't think this one is either.  It is near our house and we rarely see customers there.  Don't know if it's the food or the atmosphere, but naming anything "Trump" is not a good idea here in Mexico.