October 6th
through October 12th: Monday
we had another mini paseo (drive). We
went with the Penas and the Perezs (Laura y Luis) to Dainzu and Teotitlan de
Valle. Dainzu has some ruins that are
about 45 minutes east of Oaxaca. They are
not as famous as some of the other sites we have visited, but they were
interesting and there were many figures of ballplayers carved into flat rocks
that might have decorated the main pyramid.
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This is the name of the ruins, notice the explanation is written in Zapotec. |
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Our guide explaining the carvings of the ball players. This one has a small ball in his right hand. |
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Great view of the valley and the ruins. |
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Climbing down in the ruins. |
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Partly reconstructed courtyards, platforms and stairways. |
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Mom down in the ball court. |
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This is a jaguar carved into the lentil that sits above the entrance into one of tombs. |
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View of the ball court. What looks like stairs or stadium seats was really covered with stucco to bounce the ball off. |
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Notice the unexcavated mounds in the background. |
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The ruins are always interesting and are fun to climb in and on. |
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Two tombs were found in these ruins. |
Then we went to Teotitlan, which is famous for
weaving wool rugs. Mom was sure she
would find a rug she would want to buy, but alas we didn’t find the right
one. It is only a short distance from
Dainzu, so we are sure we will be going back again and again. I ate some corn tamales from the street.
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Outside the 17th century church at Teotitlan.
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President and Sister Pena, Mom and Laura and Luiz Perez. |
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This church at Teotitlan was built on the original Zapotec temple foundation. The Spanish would tear down the Indian temples and replace them with their own.
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Ceiling paintings in the church. |
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The
Dominican friars allowed these Zapotec stones to be incorporated in the
church. Of course, they did destroy the temple to build the church. |
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Zapotec stonework in the walls of the convent attached to the church in Teotitlan. |
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Zapotec stone fretwork similar to the Greca remains at Mitla. |
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Zapotec stone head. |
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Mom and the Penas in the bell tower at Teotitlan. |
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A great view of the town square from the bell tower at Teotitlan. |
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This women is showing us some of the natural dyes that they use in their weaving. This is a rich crimson dye made from a beetle. The people produced this dye before the conquest and the Spanish exported it during the 17th and 18th century to Europe. |
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One of the famous weavers in Teotitlan. |
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This lovely lady brought some yummy corn tamales to sell at the market square in Teotitlan. |
We then stopped in Tule on the way back to
show Penas the huge tree there and we wanted to eat lunch. We had been gone most of the day and it was
after 3:00pm, so we ate in the local market.
Mom and I had a tlayuda, a big tortilla spread with black beans and
topped with tomatoes, avocados and melted cheese. They call it a Oaxacan pizza.
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This woman is fanning the flame where she will cook our tlayuda (Oaxaca pizza). |
Tuesday, was a long day (about 10 hours), but
I got a lot of work done and feel a little bit caught up. Wednesday we worked both the morning and the
evening. Thursday we only had one bus
come and they stayed over and were in the temple Friday also. They called me about 4:30pm and said that
they didn’t have any workers and they needed me to come over and officiate the
session. What a blessing, it was one of
the most Spiritual experiences I have had.
I felt overcome with the Spirit and had a difficult time offering the
prayer. Friday, while I was walking over
to the temple, Pres. Atkinson called me and thanked me for going back over the
night before and officiating that session.
He said that a number of people had come up to him after the session and
had told him that they had never felt what they had felt in that session. It is comforting to know that I was not the
only one who had felt something really special.
There were a few times that I had tears rolling down my cheeks as I was
just standing officiating and listening to the words of the endowment. Saturday was something extraordinary. We knew
we had 8 buses coming and we were going to be very busy. We had called one of the stakes and had asked
them to come early at 5:00am so we could get them an extra session. I arrived at 10 minutes to 5:00 and the first
bus was arriving from Salina Cruz. When
I talked to the leader of the group and asked him when his other bus would
arrive, he said, “There are two more buses coming and another small group from
another area coming in a 15 passenger van”.
That was my worst nightmare. We
were already over capacity and now more people than we had been told were
coming. I had not been sleeping well for
a couple of days, worrying about how we were going to handle all the people that
would be coming. I had gotten out of bed
at 2:30am, because I couldn’t sleep and had been praying for days that we would
be blessed to somehow get through Saturday.
Before we got the 6:30am session going, another 3 buses showed up from
Pachuca Sur. I got all 3 buses from
Salina Cruz in the temple and started organizing the people from Pachuca
Sur. They were all in the temple except
the youth for the baptistery by 8:30am.
We had two endowment sessions going (about 100 people), 2 sealing
sessions (about 40 people), about 7 individual to receive their own endowment
with their escorts (14 individuals), 20 restricted workers to help with all the
ordinances and 12 baptistery workers. The
rest of the 6 plus buses were youth that would be doing baptisms for the dead. Once the adults were inside, we had about 130
youth waiting for their turn in the baptistery.
Things were going pretty smoothly and I thought we had been really blessed
to accommodate everyone, partly because the group from Ignacio Mejia, a small
district, had not shown up by 7:00am when they were supposed to have
arrived. But when they did arrive about
9:00am, we had no room for one more body in the temple, let alone the 40 who
had arrived, 20 of whom were youth. We
had a meeting and President Serrano said we should let them have tickets for
the 11:00am session and he would talk to the stake president from Salina Cruz
and explain that some of his people would have to give up their seats for that
session. I took out 20 tickets for the
group from Ignacio Mejia who had arrived late and took the rest of the tickets
to the sealing rooms and explained that I only had tickets for 28 people and
that there would not be room for everyone to attend the 11:00am session. I then asked who wanted a ticket. Everyone but about 5 people took a
ticket. I then went to the other sealing
room and did the same thing. I handed
out tickets to everyone who wanted a ticket and I had one ticket left. I said, “Does anyone want this ticket?” 5
hands shot up. I gave it to an older
woman. As I was explaining what I had
done to Pres. Atkinson, Brother Morales came up and said he had 3 men in initiatory
that had been waiting to go on the 11:00am session. I explained that I only had tickets for the
20 people that were outside. I said, “Let
me go outside and hand out the tickets.”
I handed out the tickets to everyone that was there and I came back
inside with 3 tickets. I went and found
Brother Morales and gave them to him for the 3 men in initiatory. I am crying just typing this story. The
tender mercies we received on Saturday were incredible. About the same time we were letting in the 17
people from Ignacio Mejia, 3 more buses arrived from Tehuacan. This group’s appointment was to enter the temple
at noon, so they were early. We met with
one of the counselors from the stake presidency and he said they did not have a
problem waiting their turn. I got their
entire group into the temple by 1:00pm and then I went and did a sealing session
with those that were waiting for the next session. What a nice way to end a very stressful day
of running around and getting everyone where they needed to be. While I was organizing people, Mom was in the
office printing off family name cards, interviewing those who had come for the first
time to make sure that their documents were correct, and trying to help people
print cards or solve problems in Family Search.
She helped one woman who wanted to be sealed to her dead husband, but
Mom couldn’t find any membership records for him, even though the woman
insisted that he had been baptized before he died. Mom called the helpline in Salt Lake, but she
wasn’t sure anyone would respond at 7:00am on a Saturday. But someone called us
back an hour later and she was able to get all the papers in order. It is such a tender feeling to be able to
help someone who wanted to be connected to their loved ones. Another woman, about 70 years old, could
neither read nor write. She came with a
little scrap of paper with names and dates and wanted to be sealed to her
parents. Mom tried valiantly to help
her, but the records were such a mess with contradictory information, that she
finally had to tell her to bring some documentation the next time she
came. It was hard to see her so
disappointed. On the whole it was an unbelievable
day, one I don’t think I will ever forget. On paper we never should have been
able to have that many people in the temple at the same time. But things just worked out and I left so
blessed and honored to have been part of something so miraculous. We set a few records for the day: 294
endowments, 9+ buses, almost a record number of ordinances 2,543. 21 individuals received their own endowment, 5
marriages, and 7 kids were sealed to their parents. The Spirit of Elijah was present and
powerful. I am still on cloud nine. I am so thankful to be here on this mission.
I am learning so much about how the Lord takes care of things and how this is
His church. The temple truly is His house and He wants all of His children to
be able to enjoy the blessings that are there.
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Buses started arriving at 5:00am. |
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Another 150 people arrived at 7:00am. |
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Three more buses arrived around 10:30am. |
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We are going to have all of these people in the temple soon. |
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Waiting patiently to enter the temple. |
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Some of the youth waiting to enter the baptistry. |
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Some more of the youth waiting their turn, don't you think they look happy. |
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Five cute deacons with their family name cards for baptism. |
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These two brother were waiting to be sealed to their parents. |
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Waiting to be sealed to their parents. |
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This is a member of the church who sets up her food stand right outside the temple. She does a pretty good business on our busy days. |
Sunday, we went to church in Barrio El Bosque and were asked to speak
next week in their sacrament meeting, another tender mercy for us. Wow, what a week.
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