I was so happy to talk to so many of you this weekend. I love all of my family sooooo much! You are the best. Even my Patriarchal Blessing talks about having sweet and obedient children who love me. What a great eternal blessing that is in my life. And when I’m far from home, I especially benefit from your love and support.
Mothers’ Day in Guatemala was fun and interesting. Here it is always celebrated on May 10th—no matter what day of the week that is. This year it happened to coincide with the American 2nd Sunday date. It is typically a holiday and we noticed that lots of stores closed Saturday afternoon —I guess so that employees had some time off for Mothers’ Day. Because it is often on a weekday, there is usually a celebration separate from Sunday. So our Ward had a party on Saturday afternoon. The first part was a spiritual meeting—song, prayer and thoughts from the Bishop. He quoted D&C 1:38 where the Lord says “…whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.” Then he read some quotes from prophets about mothers and stated that those represented the esteem the Lord has for mothers. It was great. There were some other poems and musical numbers as well. Then they put on a DVD from CES Old Testament series. It had been going for about 2-3 minutes and I was completely engaged in it when other sisters started chuckling and they turned it off and suddenly I realized it had been in English. I laughed and told them I understood every word, what was their problem? They started it over in Spanish and then I understood about 2/3 of it. It related the story of Hannah taking the boy Samuel to the temple to a modern day situation on the value of being a righteous mother. I would like to watch it in English so I get all of the little nuances that I missed. After a closing song and prayer they started games. There was a whole table of gifts. They acknowledged the oldest, youngest, most prolific, etc. Then we played a lot of fun games. They made sure that every mother there received a wrapped gift. Most were useful things like kitchen gadgets or bowls with covers, etc. It was really a nice event. Spencer went on home because he was a 5th wheel at a Relief Society party. Refreshments are typically more practical foods—sandwiches, tostados, apple cider and a tiny piece of cake—people need real food—not cookies and punch. It started pouring rain during the party. We briefly lost power a couple of times. When the party ended, we had a deluge going. We were stuck inside for probably another hour. Very few families have cars and you have to walk a ways to catch the buses. That part was frustrating. We joked around about spending the night and being early for church on Sunday morning. When it let up a tiny bit, I struck out. There was only one area where the road was completely flooded and I had to walk sideways on about a 3” concrete edge to the road to keep my feet out of a small lake in the road. I jumped across where the water drained down the hill and continued on the edge until I got to higher ground. I made it without submerging my feet in water! You who know how uncoordinated I am can recognize what an amazing feat that was! I had on a plastic rain “capa” so I was OK otherwise. Once I got off the bus, part of the way to our house, I had to walk in the middle of the street because the gutters were like small rivers. One good thing about the rainy season—there is a lot less litter in the streets—it gets washed to the rivers. Eventually, when the rivers run higher it will get washed out to sea. One of my tourist books advises tourists to avoid beaches where rivers empty into the ocean for the first few weeks of the rainy season because there is so much garbage. Disgusting—but the country does look somewhat cleaner now.
Spencer ordered me a corsage for Mothers’ Day and they make them out of artificial flowers. Since it is red, I can also use it for Christmas and Valentine’s Day. No one else at church had one so that is apparently not a tradition here. I felt very loved. But the best part of the day was talking to family members. I miss you all and love you more than words can express.
Last week I alluded to our conference in Zacapa. It was really interesting. Elder Quentin L. Cook was in Guatemala City. He had been visiting various countries in Central America. They did an Area Conference for all Central American Missions. The missionaries in the city were in the same chapel and the rest of us went to the Stake Centers and watched by satellite. It was a great conference. He shared such solid advice about using “Preach My Gospel.” He talked about its creation and how much inspiration played a role. He emphasized focusing on the attributes of Christ and incorporating them into our lives. This is a book that can be utilized by all members of the church for FHE or personal study to try to become more like the Savior. He pointed out that not all spiritual gifts are enumerated in the scriptures. We should determine what our gifts are and magnify them. He also pointed out that a missionary can do everything just right and still not get the results he hopes for—and that is OK. All people have agency and the Lord knows our hearts. We have to know that we have honestly done our best—that is what the Lord asks of us. We aren’t accountable for the choices made by others—just our own. An aside note that was funny, during the conference several times Skype calls came in for Elder Cook over the internet. The first time it just kept ringing for a long time. Finally one of our Elders in Zacapa went to the computer and clicked on “reject call” and it stopped. I wondered if the ringing was heard all over Central America. When succeeding calls came in, Elder Carling rejected them immediately so it wouldn’t be so disruptive. Technology is our friend, but sometimes it is inconvenient.
The rainy season (“invierno” or winter) has officially started. Temperatures are down (but the humidity is in the 90’s) and most of the time we open doors and windows in our room to sleep. One night Spencer went to sleep on the top of the sheet (we had removed the bedspread). I got under the sheet. When a breeze came up later, he automatically reached to cover himself up with a sheet and deftly grabbed the sheet off me and covered himself—like a taco shell. I pulled it back and said, “No way, Jose. If you want a sheet, you have to get under it yourself—I’m not giving you mine!” So now, when he lies down on top I just remind him that there are no tacos and he gets under the sheet instead of on top.
Last Thursday night we had a major storm. We were at the church and didn’t think anyone would show up for our classes. One student came at 6:00—but she drives from Zacapa twice a week for our classes and she had left Zacapa in dry weather. She had no idea what a storm was raging here. Then at 7:00 we had another student show up who rides a bus for Quezaltepeque twice a week for our classes—she also left in dry weather. One couple, who lives in town, skipped the 6:00 class and came at 7:00. So at 7:00 I had 3 students and Spencer had 2. But we still taught. I hadn’t realized that Elda came by bus twice a week for our classes. I know Rosanna was driving in from Zacapa. It certainly made us feel they truly appreciate our classes.
Last week I shared a list of interesting differences I have noticed. One more is the use of apellidos (surnames). I think most of you know that in Latin America everyone uses two—their father’s is listed first and then their mothers. When a woman marries she can add her husbands by using a “de” (of) and then her husband’s first apellido (the father’s name). But interestingly, lots of women never do use the husband’s name. They just continue with their original ones. So even on church records, sometimes families aren’t grouped very well. And when we have names of sisters whose husbands are non members or less active, we can’t assume when we get to the door that the husband is “Hermano______,” because very likely, the wife still uses her own name, and his name is completely different. The children do follow the tradition and use the apellidos of both parents, so that often helps me figure out family groups.
People here love their names. Everyone has two first names and two last names and when they introduce themselves it is with all four names. Even little kids do that and it is really hard for my brain to wrap around what I should actually call them, because four names per person is just a little much for me to grasp—especially with as many students as we teach. It would be like Chad always introducing himself as “Chadwick Nathan Dike Tenney”—said very rapidly! But then, what would you call him in a conversation or a class?
Another interesting difference would not be appreciated by those of you in Queen Creek who had shortened church schedules for a long time. Here, we don’t share a building and don’t have any urgent need to get out on time. The teachers just keep going until they have given all that they have prepared. It is crazy enough if it happens in only one meeting. Yesterday, our Sunday School teacher ran over by 15 minutes. Then in Relief Society we had another long—and great lesson. I loved the lesson on Joseph Smith’s writings from the Liberty Jail. That teacher also just kept going. The kids were out of Primary and running in the halls at 12 noon. RS finally ended at 12:30. But the High Priests didn’t dismiss until 12:40 PM. So Spencer couldn’t say anything about the sister being yakky—the brothers were worse!
Over the years, many times I have heard mothers laugh about a child being allergic to water—meaning they don’t like baths. Well, I have about decided I am allergic to the water here—only I do like my showers! Several months ago I started itching after every shower. I was using lots of Calamine and other lotion every time I showered. I thought it was the body wash, so I switched brands. I have changed soaps three times now—with no relief. Finally, I wondered if it might be the high mineral content in the water itself. So I started quickly getting wet and turning the water off. I shampoo and suds and scrub and then quickly rinse off and turn the water off again to use conditioner on my hair. In other words, minimize the amount of water on my skin. That has been the solution. Very little itching these days. So I guess I am allergic to the water! No long soaking baths for me in the next year (not that I had planned on them anyway).
I hope you all received my email this week with my thoughts on “Trials in the Lord” by Elder Richard G. Scott. His message really spoke to my heart. How incredible it is to have an apostle reassure us that often times challenging times indicate “that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more (see Prov. 3:11–12). He therefore gives you experiences that stimulate growth, understanding, and compassion which polish you for your everlasting benefit. To get you from where you are to where He wants you to be requires a lot of stretching, and that generally entails discomfort and pain.” Maybe that is why I also loved #31 in the Joseph Smith manual. Adversities can be our friends—even if they don’t seem like it at the time.
Studying the gospel is one of the great benefits of serving a mission. There are fewer distractions in life and more time to dedicate to scriptures and gospel study. Besides, the Holy Ghost is a closer companion and I think our understanding and learning is increased. Another of the little miracles the Lord blesses us with when we are willing to sacrifice and serve missions.
I must close. I love all my loving support system. Each one of you is dear to my heart.
Love, Mom/Jeanine
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