We're so excited about our transfer from Pinotepa to Cuernavaca. The mission has already found us an apartment and the truck will be coming this Wednesday to move us, which will be a little dicey to figure out how to get ourselves back there, but we'll figure it out. I can't tell you how excited we are. But, as always, leaving a place you'e lived in for 8 months has its downside also...we will both really miss being able to work in the dirt, planting and growing stuff, sweating our brains out, watching the chickens growing. We've really enjoyed doing what we have been doing for 8 months and will miss some of the people here also. Dad and Nacho became good friends.
BUT...we also feel that our time has been well spent and are very happy about the few successes we'e had here: 22 fruit trees planted and the back lot cleaned, the grape vines are just beautiful, the chickens are thriving and we now have a total of 18, some of our women are experiencing very good success in baking and selling, some of the self-reliance concepts Dad has been trying and trying to teach for months are starting to take root, poco a poco we have seen progress, and for that we are very grateful. It's been a very challenging but very good experience for both of us. You boys might get a kick out of knowing that Dad actually got a couple of blisters on his hands from all the shoveling he did a couple of weeks ago...yes, Dad has become a soft-handed sissy!
We're not super sure about our next assignment, only that President Avila wants us to be more centrally located (in our mission area) and then probably travel to other locations for two or three days at a time to teach. He feels very strongly that some of what we have taught could be very good business opportunities for our members and opportunities to become more self-reliant. We might work in the office a bit, we might be inspecting missionaries' apartments, and we might need to get a car now to get around. Pinotepa is such a small town that we didn't feel a car was necessary, but this move might change things for us. We will just have to wait a see...President Avila and us are making up our mission as time goes on because this mission has not had senior missionaries in 9 years at least.
So a couple of updates on our projects: RAIN has finally come to Pinotepa this week so our new trees and grape vines are indeed thriving. They're scrawny but healthy and beautiful. We now have a total of 18 chickens and got our first egg this morning. Dad has always called me a City Slicker, but I am just fascinated watching nature take place with both the things we've planted and the chickens that are growing. Before we left for Acapulco last week Dad and I planted four LONG rows of corn for chicken feed, and with just a little bit of rain many of the seeds have popped up through the dirt and are growing. We really do hate to leave this part of our mission. But the foundation has been laid for these people to become self-reliant and it's great to be a little part of that. Also, a couple of our sisters and their families are doing really, really well with baking and selling, which is awesome. The kids are having a youth conference this summer and need to help pay their way...well, these people don't have extra money AT ALL. Hermana Mayra started baking and her girls are selling muffins and bread out of their little tienda. Mayra approached a small grocery store, kind of like a circle K, and asked if they would sell some cinnamon bread and earn a little extra money, which they did and sold out! After just two Saturdays this family has earned about 1000 pesos, which is enough to pay for one of the kids to go to conference. They are VERY excited about their success. Also our Hermana Eugenia continues her panaderia with success and today was so excited to tell us that her family in Acapulco has decided to focus on making the cinnamon bread to sell and are going gang busters!!! It's pretty darn exciting for us to see this happening...and it also gives others a bit of encouragement to try it also. In Dad's assignment in the District Presidency he has been teaching and teaching and teaching the concept of calendaring, which these people absolutely do not do. Finally today we saw some germination of that also...the District President told Dad today that he was going to start providing a calendar to the district members with activities and assignments, etc. Believe me, this is real progress! Since December he's tried to convince them that if they would save just 6 pesos a day they could have enough to go to the temple quarterly. Today in priesthood meeting he said they talked about that extensively...that it works. The progress here has been so slow, but we can see it happening more and more. So it must be time for us to leave!
So, I only have a few more days to check for scorpions and other critters in our house every morning. Last time I found a scorpion I didn't even get upset...just got my spray and killed the darn thing. I can even sleep now without the sheet covering my whole head!! Of course, we haven't had any tarantulas in several months to really see if I freak out with them. I'm sure there will be other challenges ahead.
Below is a story Dad and I saw in the Church News, which you may have already seen, If not, it's awesome. When we leave here on Wednesday or Thursday or Friday (who knows, this is Mexico) we won't be in contact for several days until we can get internet again. So, I guess if you don't hear from the Church that we're missing don't be concerned. Geoff, that reminds me, I'm wondering if our new phone didn't get activated with the cell service because we don't have any cell service on the phone, only internet. But we're normally either home or at the church so I wasn't concerned about it, but now that we'll be on the road more it would be good to have cell service. Would you check on that for us please, thank you. First the story:
Parker Strong, a 19-year-old from Centerville, Utah, sat on a tro-tro in West Africa. The Ghanaian public transportation was overcrowded and passengers began to pass their goods back for others to help hold. Strong was handed a goat to keep on his lap. It breathed on his face and he looked out the window at the rain forest he was driving through.
"In that moment it just hit me," Strong said. "'I’m in the middle of West Africa.’"
Strong, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was called to serve in the Ghana Accra Mission in 2013. Although he would eventually get used to the culture and learn several different dialects of the language, upon arriving in Ghana, Strong had some major adjustments.
The first three months Strong viewed as an adventure. Waking up each morning to fetch water, using a bucket to shower and living life without electricity seemed exciting. However, the excitement began to wear off as the reality of his new circumstances settled in. Along with longing for the luxuries he had at home, Strong began to have doubts that Ghana was the place he could share the gospel the best.
"I think it’s natural for most missionaries to feel that way," Strong said. "‘Is this really where I’m supposed to be? Is this what I should be doing with my life?’"
One night in September, such thoughts lingered in Strong's mind as he tried to help teach a lesson with his companion. They sat across from a sewer in a tiny fishing village. The sun was beginning to set when Strong looked up and saw a young boy walking by wearing a Jr. Jazz basketball jersey.
"I looked at it and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s the Jazz, that’s my hometown team,’" Strong said. "That alone was so exciting because it was something I recognized from home. ... I looked at that and was like, 'Wow, that really speaks to me, that’s so cool. It’s a little piece of home in the middle of West Africa."
Strong asked the boy to come over, and asked if he could look at the jersey. The boy took it off and handed it to Strong. As he held it on his lap, Strong noticed the jersey was a number zero, the same number he had worn many years ago in Jr. Jazz. Strong flipped the jersey inside out to see the reversible side.
"Inside I saw a signature, and there in terrible handwriting, probably the handwriting of a 10-year-old it said, ‘Parker B. Strong,'" Strong said. "That’s my name. It was an out-of-body experience, it was like, ‘Is this real? Is this really happening? Am I dreaming? Is this really in my hands right in front of me?'"
Overcome by emotion, Strong immediately felt love and awareness from God. "Literally all my fears, all of my doubts, everything was laid to rest," Strong said. "The odds of that happening are extremely astronomical. That just doesn’t happen, that’s not a coincidence. I looked at it and got pretty teary thinking of that and looking at it. Here in my hands was evidence that God loved me and that he was telling me that I was where I was supposed to be. It was in the form of a Jr. Jazz jersey that I’m sure I had signed at the time because I thought I was going to be some big star and it was going to sell for millions of dollars. But no, sitting in Ghana, West Africa, was my jersey and it was more priceless to me than it ever could have been."
We hope you are all looking forward to an awesome summer. Thank you for your prayers...we have been protected while traveling and safe in our home. We hope we have accomplished what the Lord wanted us to accomplish in part of his vineyard.
We love you, Mom and Dad
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