Nealtican

Nealtican, you ask? You mean you've never heard of it? Well, don't feel too bad if you haven't -- few outside of Puebla ever have, and even many of the city's inhabitants don't recognize the name when I mention it. But among members of the Church here, it is a legend. It is a small town, only about 10,000 inhabitants, and lies on a little-used highway that runs through the countryside and up past the great volcano Popocatepetl. But about 80 years ago, the restored gospel of Jesus Christ arrived here with a few missionaries, and a small but powerful branch was established. Over time the fire of faith spread from house to house, and several wards were formed. Just five years ago the town split off to form its own stake, along with several other tiny towns that surround it, and it is already the biggest stake in Mexico. Just a few months ago Elder Bednar came to Puebla not to visit one of the main city stakes but to speak at the stake conference of this tiny town, drawing a record attendance of two and a half thousand members at the meeting. Rumors abound that the stake will be split into two as soon as arrangements can be made, and it wouldn't suprise me -- the people we met there were incredible.

Yes, we finally got to visit! Nealtican only lies a few miles beyond my dear Santa María Acuexcomac, which I've visited almost a dozen times since being here in Puebla, but there were always school assignments or invitations to attend to in Santa María that kept me from making the extra trip. Besides that, Nealtican always felt a little special to me, as if going there would somehow leave an indelible impression on me, and knowing that we were scheduled to teach a Career Workshop there this week I felt unable to force myself to visit earlier. Finally the time came for the workshop, and this Friday and Saturday we drove the hour out of town, through the fields, past Santa María, and into Nealtican. It was surprisingly similar to our other workshops: the participants were a bit late, the specialist very kind, the refreshments excellent, and the group quite a bit larger than normal but not unmanageable (40 both days). But Saturday, when I bussed out to visit the town a few hours before the workshop, I still felt an oddly special feeling for it. The picture below was taken that afternoon, when I climbed a hill next to the town to get a better feel for it. A few notes on that picture follow, along with some others from the town...

Nealtican. Note the big Catholic church in the middle of the town -- still the focal point of historic attention, but no
longer the religious center of the town. Straight past the church, at the edge of town, you can spot the red-roofed
LDS stake center (see below for a close-up). Just out of view on the right is one chapel, while two more lie just to the
left outside of the picture. Since the coming of the Gospel, the town has blossomed as a center of commerce in the
region, with small factories of block for construction blossoming everywhere.

The stake center up close, where we taught the Career Workshop to
40 wonderful saints of Nealtican.

The entire street outside the stake center flooded during the workshop!
If you click on the picture and look close, you can see it rolling onto the
dirt road like a Wyoming rapid, and out into the fields.

The graduating class at the Nealtican workshop.

The rest of that Saturday was absolutely charming. The simple faith of the people, their willingness to participate, their desire to work hard and start businesses, all were incredible. And the sincere gratitude that almost every single person expressed at the end of the workshop was wonderful. I left that night feeling comforted and strengthened for the week ahead. Indeed, I couldn't keep myself away from Nealtican for long -- Monday I headed out with a friend and ran into a family from the workshop, who promptly invited us back for lunch on Thursday and set up an appointment with a friend to learn how to make traditional figures out of corn leaves. I'm excited to see what comes out of Nealtican next.

Another fabulous adventure this week was the adventure on Monday with Manuel Navarro, a friend that I've made here in one of the wards we attend. I had mentioned my visits to Santa María in a conversation with him, and he promptly asked if he could accompany me on my next trip. So we traveled the familiar old highway to the little town (see above), and worked for a little while on the map of the city that I have now almost completed. He is just a pure, good individual, and it was a wonder to see him gushing about the joys of country life and the view of the mountains and the pure air and the fields and the beauty of Mexico -- it made the trip all the greater.

One of my map-making excursions -- I'm sure they wonder
what in the world a white guy is doing walking around
town writing things down on a notepad!

One of the singular experiences that Manuel and I had was visiting Gloria Azcatl. You may remember her from a blog post a few months ago -- she was the first person I met in Santa María, a simple woman, quite closed when we began talking but very willing to be friends once she realized my intentions were good. She was making breakfast and lunch for a committee of neighbors that were gathering donations for the yearly fiesta in August -- the week after I leave Mexico --, and she invited me to come and eat that day. We did so with gusto; it was a simple fare, but nice and spicy and well-cooked. I am still a bit taken aback by the house, however, and amazed that they've been able to make it there so long. I've included a picture below:

Gloria's house, with my good friend Manuel by the window. The usually-
empty living room is filled with tables for the committee members, and the
end of the room is occupied by the community saint that she is taking care
of this year. The cinder-block walls, concrete floor, unsealed windows
and doors, and constant flies were all witnesses to the simple life she
and her daughter lead there. But despite that, they are so generous.

The other fun adventure from this week was hosting a small dinner party at our house this last Sunday! Elder Myers -- who I have had the privilege to teach with several times -- finished his mission on Monday, and in addition an investigator that we had taught together was going to get baptized this last Sunday, so we planned a dinner for after the baptism. She ended up with cold feet and no baptism, but we decided to go ahead with the meal anyway and starting prepping the food at 11:30pm on Saturday! Only in Mexico... it was a great experience helping them make pozole (a soup made of corn and meat) late into the night, and after church we had a wonderful time with the missionaries and friends and more people in our house than ever before. I leave you with a few pictures from that night, and warm wishes from the central highlands of Mexico. Hope all is well with everyone, wherever you are!

Elder Solis, myself, and Elder Myers on Elder M's last day.
They were a great companionship.

Pozole!