Hermanas Juntas

Hermanas Juntas

Saturday, May 9, 2009 marked the date of our 2nd semi-annual Hermanas Juntas (that means Sisters Together). Our mission has only 11 full-time sister missionaries and they are all assigned, as companionships, to different zones in the mission. That means that they rarely have a chance to see each other, let alone be all together at one time. For this reason, Sr. Clark has decided that twice each year, she will host a day of activities for all the sisters in the mission home. This time, they started the day with a presentation about open houses that we are going to begin here in the mission. Then they all went together to see the Museo Arocena in the Centro, followed by an afternoon sharing recipes and techniques for cooking. An inspirational message was the last activity of the day. Sr. Becerra from the Alamos Ward, Gomez Palacio Stake, talked with the sisters about being righteous women. Sr. Becerra is the wife of one of the counselors to Pres. Clark in the mission. Sisters Pena and Marquez who will both be leaving the mission before the next Hermanas Juntas, bore their testimonies about the truthfulness of the gospel and about the blessing a mission has been in their lives. It was hard for everyone to say goodbye but finally the last group left after many hugs.

From top to bottom: Hermanas Morales, Hernandez, Gonzalez, Castillo, Romero, Cabrerra, Pena, Huerta (ex-missionary living near Torreon now), De La Cruz (ex-missionary who served in Mexico), Espinoza,Marquez, Lopez, Clark, and Salas

Our cool assistants who provided transportation... The casual, open-collared look is because for a week, all the missionaries have been asked to go without ties to help combat the spreading of influenza germs. The turned up collar look is to be cool for the photo! (Von Bracht, Lule, and Llano)

Hermanas Lopez, Pena, and Morales show us their new recipe for a sandwich snack! They call it Molope which is a combination of the first two letters of all of their names. What a team!

Hermanas Salas and Castillo demonstrate a delicious dessert using vanilla wafers or galletas maria as they called them. Yum!

Another dessert! Hermanas Marquez and Cabrera make cheese cake using marshmallows!

Our visitor, Judith De La Cruz, just returned from serving a mission at the visitor's center near the temple in Mexico City. She is organizing a series of open houses to promote the church here in the Torreon Mission so spent the day with us, first explaining the role of the sisters in the open houses and then putting together a wonderful dessert using gelatin and a blender.

Sr. Clark demonstrated a quick main course recipe that can be cooked in an oven or a microwave. It uses frozen flautas, canned enchilada sauce, cream of mushroom soup, and cheese. A real Mexican-American classic.

Hermanas Romero and Espinoza tell us the steps to making tacos al pasteur--a favorite of all.

The flour has settled and the happy cooks pose for a photo together with their aprons to remind them of the day.

Sr. Becerra on the left, gave an inspirational message to close the day. It was definately a day they will always remember. These young women are some of the brightest and best! We love them all.