May 15th through May 21st

May 15^th through May 21^st:  Thursday morning found us trying to finish packing and cleaning our bedroom and bath.  Mom insisted on leaving things very neat and tidy.  We left for the airport about 8:00am.

"All our bags are packed we're ready to go."

"We're leavin on a jet plane don't know when will be back again."

We first flew to Houston and then had a short delay leaving Houston.  We arrived and cleared customs about 10:00pm.  President and Sister Atkinson met us at the airport and drove us to our apartment.  It is in a residential area across the street from the temple.  (Unfortunately the street is a 6 lane highway, so we cross very carefully.)  The Church build a 4-plex ten years ago when they built the temple.  The mission president for Oaxaca has a house across from us.  Our apartment is very nice. We have a king size bed, our own washer and dryer and the rooms are much bigger than the apartment we had in Bolivia.  We will be very comfortable and content here. 

The front of our apartment.  It is a 4 plex and we are on the end.

Our front room and dinning.

Our bedroom.

Our king bed. This beats the twins beds we had in Cochabamba.

Our bathroom, very roomy.

Our kitchen.

Friday morning we started at 9:00 at the apartment of Pres. Atkinson.  He had a big binder prepared for each of us with all the information that we will need to do our jobs here.  He spent 3 hours going through the binder and then we went and had a tour of the temple and then we went to lunch with Pres. Atkinson, his wife, Cathy, Pres. Allred and his wife.  Clyde Allred is the first counselor and his wife, Lora Sue, is an assistant to the matron.

This is the temple in Oaxaca.

We spent much of the afternoon shopping for groceries and things for the apartment.  In the evening we unpacked and put things away.  Saturday we had free and we went to Walmart and tried to get everything we forgot to get on Friday.  In the afternoon, we went to the temple to meet some of the missionaries and workers and Chris met one of the secretaries she will be working with.  Sunday I went to a meeting with Pres. Atkinson and Pres. Allred at the temple with one of the stake presidents from here in Oaxaca.  We then came and got Chris and went to a ward where Pres. Atkinson spoke.  He was the only speaker in Sacrament meeting and he reminds me of Pres. Crayk, the way he can get everyone involved and then teach them.  We stayed for all the meetings. 

Sacrament Meeting.  Can you find mom?

We fixed a light dinner and then went over to the temple to be set apart.  This was very special.  Pres. Atkinson set us apart and then gave us time to make notes about our impressions.  He told me I was a man without guile.  I was very moved by his blessing.  We then had a two hour meeting in the temple with all the coordinators.  I was set apart as an ordinance worker and the executive secretary to the temple presidency.  So I took the minutes and made notes of the meeting.  Monday we again met with Pres. Atkinson in his home and he finished our orientation.  We then went to the FM (Facility Management) offices.  There we found a desk we can use in our apartment.  One of the workers then took us to buy a cell phone.  Pres. Atkinson and his wife then took us to immigration to find out exactly what we need to do to get our temporary residency visas.  We then ate lunch together on the main square. 

Lunch on the main square with Pres. Atkinson and his wife, Kathy.  The older man is our waiter 82 years old.

They left us downtown and we walked through the big market there.  We took a taxi home and found that our desk had been delivered. 

My new desk.

We don’t have internet yet, but they bought us a stick that we can use until the internet is installed.  This only works for email and a little bit of web browsing.  We will still need to steal our neighbor’s internet for Skype and such.  We got together with all the North Americans at Pres. Atkinson’s home for dinner and some wonderful pecan pie that Sister Roseberry made.  They will only be here for a few more weeks. 

Dinner at Pres. Atkinson's home.  L to R.  Mom, Jan Roseberry, Pres. Atkinson, Kathy Atkinson, LoraSue Allred, Greg Roseberry and Clyde Allred.

Tuesday, I started at 8:00am with Pres. Atkinson at a meeting of all the employees who work at the temple.  It was a 2 hour meeting where I had to take minutes of all the tasks/assignments for each employee--which ones they got done and then I will update the ones that were added.  Next was a 3 hour presidency meeting, and again I took notes and minutes.  After 5 hours of meetings, my brain hurt from all the translating from English to Spanish and Spanish to English. I was trying to keep track of so many things.  I will have to do the minutes and send them to everyone.  We took a short break for a quick bite to eat and then went back to the temple to work on learning all the procedures and computer programs before Pres. Allred and his wife leave in July.  I got home at 6:00pm but Chris stayed to help with one of the sessions and didn’t get home till 7:30pm.  We are trying not to feel overwhelmed, but we can see that we will be stretched to meet needs and expectations of this assignment. Wednesday, it is 5:00am and I just felt an earthquake.  It woke Chris up so it was a pretty good one.  We went to the temple about 8:00am and mom worked in the office all morning and I got to officiate the session.  It has been almost a year since I have done a session and I made a few mistakes.  We did a little more grocery shopping on the way home for lunch.  We made BLT sandwiches.  The bacon was pretty good and I was a little surprised by that.  We went back to the temple in the afternoon and tried to get our arms around some more of what we have to learn about how the office runs.  Each shift has a secretary and mom spends a lot of time with each one learning what they do.  I finally got my ldschurch email account set up.  It is the only one I can access while in the temple.  We had a debriefing meeting with pres. Atkinson at his house in the evening and he told us that we had better breath while we are swimming.  That means take it easy and don’t overwork ourselves.  We feel like we are trying to drink from a fire house.  The Allreds will only be here for 5 more weeks and I still have to learn everything about the recorders job.  We will set our own schedule until we have a handle on everything.  There is another missionary couple from Mexico that has spent all their time contacting stake presidents and scheduling the temple.  They contact them and find out how many they are bringing to the temple and when they will arrive and they are responsible for filling the temple.  They leave in July and guess who is going to take over their responsibilities.  They are away for the next week so I can’t even think about that until they get back.  We ended the day with a visit from Doctor Morales who gave me a prescription to get my blood checked.  So I have got to do that tomorrow.  Also we need to get pictures taken for our visa.  Pray that we learn how to swim and breathe at the same time.