March 28th through April 3rd

March 28^th through April 3^rd: Monday we went to the central market right next to the main plaza in lieu of our Monday morning grocery trip.  This is mostly souvenir shopping.  When we got back, the Dibb’s had received a call from their granddaughter’s mission president and he gave them permission to take her to lunch.  So we loaded up the car with the Dibb’s and the Hurst’s and headed to San Lucus.  San Lucas is the town that is the turn off on the highway to go to Antigua, about an hour away.  The Dibb’s had their granddaughter’s cell number and used my phone to call her and we met up with Sister Dibb and her companion Sister Ziga.  Small world! Sister Ziga is the daughter of Pres. Ziga, a stake president from Cualtla, Mexico who would bring his stake to Oaxaca during the time we served there.  We became very good friends.  We had our picture taken with our group and I sent it to him and he immediately responded to my email.  He said he will come and get his daughter when she finishes her mission in September and will stop by and visit us. 

Lunch with L to R Elder and Sister Dibb, Sister Dibb, their granddaughter, Mom and me, Sister Ziga, and Sister Hurst, Elder Hurst is taking the picture.

We went and saw one of their areas and when we dropped them off and headed home we got lost and had to have Lola, our GPS navigatior, get us back to the highway.  The dirt road she took us on would have needed 4 wheel-drive if it had been wet.

The dirt road back to civilization.  We wondered if Lola knew where we were.

We got back about 4:00pm and everyone was too tired to go grocery shopping.  So we decided to go Tuesday morning. Tuesday we went grocery shopping and then we had the afternoon shift.  Wednesday I went and did initiatory and then we had presidency meeting.  Thursday we had the morning shift and Friday the afternoon shift.  On Friday, Mom went over to the temple at 6:30am to do a session.  Sister Rosado was sick and didn’t come for her shift, so Mom stayed to help and then went back for the afternoon shift.  She was a tired girl.  Saturday the temple was closed for conference and so we had all the missionaries over for soup between the afternoon session and the priesthood session and then after the priesthood session we had everyone over for root beer floats.  All the men went over to the MTC for the priesthood session and the girls stayed at our place and had their own little meeting.  Conference is the best in the mission field.  No distractions, you can sit down and listen to every session and really feel the Spirit of the talks and testimonies.  I loved conference and feel so blessed and edified by the talks and the music.  We were thrilled by two announcements in conference.  First, the announcement that there will be a temple in Quito, Ecuador where we were missionaries 45 years ago.  We served under the first mission president, Louis Latimer.  There were no wards or chapels and very few members.  Now, there are 230,000 members, 36 stakes, 5 missions and now a second temple.  We are so thrilled to see the growth of the Church in our lifetime and to be part of this great work.   And second, we heard our good friend, Brent Christensen, be called to be an Area Seventy.  We support him and congratulate him and his wonderful wife, Sharon.  Sunday we had all the missionaries over for dinner between sessions.  It is fun to get together and share good food and conversation.  These couples that are here are the best, we love them and are so grateful for their lives of service and their testimonies of our Savior.  What an honor it is to serve with them. 

Cleaning up after Sunday's dinner.

We finished the day calling all the kids and seeing the grandkids on Facetime.  Another great week in heaven on earth.