July 6th through July 12th: Monday started off with an 8:00am cooking lesson. I taught Sister Pena, Sister Ray and Sister Roesberry how to make Helen Kennedy’s Famous Cinnamon Rolls. It was a lot of fun. We are saving them for our going away party that will be later today.
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I had a lot of good help with the rolls. The hardest part is the kneading for 10 minutes.
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It takes 3 hours to make cinnamon rolls, but it is always worth it.
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When we finished the rolls we made a quick trip to San Bartolo Coyotepec to pick up some black pottery that we had ordered for last minute gifts we want to take home. We had time to do some grocery shopping and laundry. Before I went to bed last night, I got about 6 lbs of pork and 3 lbs of chicken marinating for our BBQ. I got the coals started about 3:00pm and had all the meat cooked for our despedida (going away party). The verb to say good bye is despedir and you can turn it into a noun by changing the ending. There were 16 of us: the Rays, the Roesberrys, President Atkinson and his wife, President Pena and his wife, President Madsen and his wife, Laura and Luis Perez and their 2 kids. The Perez’s surprised us by hiring a Mariachi band to serenade us. Wow, what an experience. They played and sang and really entertained us for almost an hour. Listen to the videos. The food was delicious and we had ice cream and cinnamon rolls for desert.
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| L to R Sister Atkinson, Sister Pena, Sister Ray, mom, Sister Roesberry and Sister Madsen. |
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| Elder Ray helped me cook the meat. |
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| Our despedida at the Madsen's home. |
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| Our despedida at the Madsen's home. |
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| The Mariachi Band. |
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| Mom enjoying the music. |
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| Listening to the Band. We were blown away by their music. |
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| So fun. |
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| He even got me to sing with him. He could hold a note a lot longer than I could. |
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| Mom and I and Laura and Luis Perez with the Band. |
Three videos of the Mariachi Band
Then we had a family home evening and mom and I got to tell everyone what we had learned on our mission. It was very emotional for us. President Atkinson then expressed his feelings. He said some very nice things about us and how we had made a huge difference and that our service had blessed many lives. He said he was sure that we had been sent to Oaxaca for a specific reason and that we had been an answer to his prayers. He made us cry and feel not only his love, but the love of our Savior. Thursday morning we found out that the group from Guerrero was canceling and so mom and I got to officiate a session for all of the workers. We haven’t done that in a very long time. Friday we had 2 buses and in the evening we had dinner at the Roesberrys. It was another despedida of sorts. We will miss the Roesberrys, but we have faith that they will do another mission and be with us in Guatemala in 2 years.
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| Dinner, Friday night, at the Roesberrys. |
Saturday we had 7 buses come to the temple. We had a big group of young single adults come from Puebla. They came at the same time as 4 other buses. They wanted a meeting with President Atkinson, so he started talking to them before 7:00am and we told him that we would be ready for them for the 11:00am. session. He entertained and taught them for almost 4 hours. He is one of the best teachers I have ever met. After we got that last group all “tucked into bed”, I went home and started cooking. We had all the secretaries over to our house for a dinner and another despedida. We fixed Café Rio pulled pork salads. They were a hit. They brought the desserts and drinks. They gave us some very fun recuerdos, gifts that will help us remember Oaxaca. One was a small bust of Joseph Smith made out of black pottery. It is really nice. They made us feel loved and appreciated. We will miss working with these great women.
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| Some of the secretaries. |
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| I think this is everyone. |
Sunday we had to pick up 3 musicians from the bus station at 7:00am. They were invited by President Atkinson to come and provide the music for the devotional for all the temple workers we will have later in the day. We got them settled in a hotel and then went and spoke in two sacrament meetings. We have now said good-bye to all seven of the wards we have been assigned to for the last 14 months. We will miss the good people of the Amapolas Stake.
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| Sunday dinner with the 3 musicians and the Rays. |
We had a wonderful devotional. All the talks by the presidency and their wives were great. Elder Miron, the area seventy also spoke. The music was beautiful and really added to the meeting. President Atkinson announced our new calling and we had a lot of people wish us well in our new assignment. We will miss the people here in Oaxaca.
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| Sorry you can't see Vicky at the piano. Ivan is the violinist and Miriam is singing. |
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| They stake center was filled to capacity for the devotional. |
We will be on a plane headed home next Monday. I will probably get up really early and post my last blog post from Oaxaca before we head to the airport. What a great mission this has been. We have been so blessed and we have learned so much. We are better prepared for our next assignment for having been here in Oaxaca. We will miss the other missionaries and miss working with the presidency and miss all the temple workers. But most of all, we will miss the special experiences we have had with the patrons who have come to worship in the House of the Lord. We look forward to having similar experiences in the Guatemala temple. Just a note for all the Cochabamba missionaries, the Johnsons, Bill and Linda, are putting in their papers and guess where they want to go and who they want to serve with? We are thrilled that they would want to serve with us again. Who will be next to sign up?
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This is a picture that Charlotte sent to us. My grandson, Miles dressed up and then said to his mom. " Look, I'm Poppa in Mexico". And I look just like him.
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| More windows were installed this week. |
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