Mitla Bookstudy

Our first experience.

Mitla is another city about an hour south of Oaxaca.They have just started up an English group and thisweek was their second study. We left our apartment at4pm to meet up two other american sisters, who livesouth of town, at 5pm. The bookstudy was set to startat 630 so we wanted to leave plenty of time to make iton time as the buses aren´t reliable. These are the second class buses where you will find chickens andfresh harvest stored on the racks above your heads. We made it into the city of Mitla but the bus we were on didn´t go as far as the hall so we hoofed it therest of the way up the hill, all around green coveredmountains, no visible civilization, we walked alongthe road with goats and sheep until we the onlypristine building shining in the distance. The majority of the bookstudy were Mexicans trying to learn English for the field that is developing inMitla. A Mexican brother conducted and B and I and the other sisters were the only native speakers...so we of course gave the bulk of the answers. He askedBrandon to say the prayer. So far each of the meetings we´ve been to, field service, bookstudy, etcthe brothers are already using Brandon with saying prayers at each meeting.

After the meeting we all piled into the back of a local brothers truck as he drove us down to the bus stop...all the sisters in their skirts hoping in the back along with the brothers. Buses also seem to stop their routes early here, around 8 or 9 or 930, you never know as there is no fixed schedule. One bus passed but said they weren´t picking up any more passeger as it was the end of their route. So we waited and waited as it grew darker and finally an hour later the last bus came and we took the long busride back into town. Once we reached Oaxaca center B and I had to catch the bus back up to our side oftown. We waited and waited and none passed. We finally took a taxi and arrived home at 1030pm from a630 bookstudy!!!

The congregation was really sweet and very appreciative to have us there and have the group starting. Most of the friends that assist the bookstudy in Mitla are from the Oaxaca congregationand b/c of the expense associated with taking a longdistance bus ride the English congregation resolved tohelp the brothers pay their fares for the bus so theycan fully support the new arrangement. On a sadder note, to give you an idea of the area andwhere to direct your prayers. A single mother of 5works from her home sewing. She sells skirts for 4pesos and whole dresses for 6 pesos. At the end ofthe day she earns a meager 40 pesos, which for thosequick with math is only $4 a day to support her familyof 5. B/c of the low wages she can barely feed herchildren properly. Her 12 yr old daughter two yearsago contracted anemia b/c of malnutrition and thesister couldn´t afford to bring her to the doctor. Over the next two years her anemia developed intolukemia and she died just last week at 12 years of agefrom this disease!!So while the territory is rich it´s dwellers are poor. We are doing all we can to bring relief of aspiritual kind to the people here and bring them hopethat one day their circumstances will change for thebetter!