April 8, 2010
Wow! We really are on the count down—we only have one more week left in Guatemala. What a bitter sweet thought that is! I think you all can understand!
Spencer did a wonderful job reporting on our Semana Santa week at the temple. It was a truly amazing week. I was working hard to get the needed signatures to be certified – and I did it! I know that if we work in a different temple, I have to be certified there, but it was a personal goal to be passed off on all ordinances in Spanish before leaving Guatemala. It isn’t just the ordinances, but also the logistics of helping patrons/families in the baptistery, the child center (waiting to be sealed), and the laundry, all of the tags for new people, escorts and those being sealed. It is always satisfying to meet a personal goal. It probably doesn’t mean anything to anyone else but who cares? I met my goal.
When we left the temple on Thursday it was a challenge to get a bus to Chiquimula. It was even a challenge to get to the bus terminal. There were very few taxis and most city buses weren’t running. We rode a city bus (not recommended in the City—lots of shootings by extortionists) and shared it with two young elders. It got us to within a couple of blocks and then we walked. We got the last two seats together and there were people sitting on stools in the aisle all the way. Some were even standing and there were kids on laps everywhere—it was as crowded as the smaller (often called chicken pig buses) are that we take to Esquipulas. Everyone was traveling home for Good Friday and Easter. The bus lines shut down on Friday and don’t start up again until Sunday afternoon.
Friday was a fascinating day. Last year on Good Friday we were at the temple in Guatemala City with Nate and Christena. This year we experienced the culture. Groups of people spent most of the night creating “alfombras” (carpets made of colored sawdust) on the streets with religious themes. Many streets were blocked off for the processions (Spencer asked about the parade and was quickly corrected). At 10:00 AM there was a procession from two different Catholic churches, each carrying huge platforms with statues. They weren’t as large, heavy or elaborate as the ones Nate and Christena saw in Antiqua. But they were impressive. The other platforms had Mary (mother of Christ) and various saints. They were carried by men wearing either purple or black robes. Lots of people also were dressed with shawls and other religiously significant clothes and they joined in. The crowds were pressed in tight against each other. I’m glad we didn’t have claustrophobia! We watched all of this with the Andersons.
Friday afternoon we went to the Central Park and there were other alfombras around that block and another procession that afternoon with different platforms. Maybe that was supposed to signify taking Christ’s body to the tomb. There was a third procession at 10:00 that night that was right outside the apartment (but we didn’t stay up to watch it) we could hear the music of the band, however. Jumping ahead, on Sunday morning at 6:30 AM there was another procession with the resurrected Christ on the first platform, followed by the platforms of Mary and the Saints. LOTS of people followed the platforms carrying little white flags saying “Alleluia!” “He is Risen” and similar messages. The men carrying the platforms were dressed in white robes. It was fun to experience the culture of Easter in a Latin American country.
Saturday, Susan Anderson and I watched conference in the apartment on their computer. I cooked the macaroni and cheese to finish making the chili mac for Sunday lunch. I had cooked the chili beans in advance and had the freezer filled to the brim. Susan made a Texas Sheet Cake and Snickerdoodles. We were ready!
Conference was truly amazing. So many messages focused on the family. I hope everyone was able to enjoy it as much we did. I won’t try to recap it in this letter, but I want to do that later.
Sunday morning we had a member of the bishopric pick us up to transport the huge containers of food, paper products, serving utensils, aprons, cleaning rags, bottles water, etc. to the church. The kitchens here do not have even one serving spoon, plate, glass or even a salt shaker in them. Susan and I watched the first hour and Bob and Spencer monitored the kitchen. We switched at 11:00 and we began heating the food. A sister from Esquipulas brought 100 fresh, warm, homemade tortillas to supplement the lunch.
It was wonderful. Between 50-60 came from the branch (waaaay more than attend church). Several people we have worked on reactivating were there. There were about 10 investigators in that number. We also fed the four elders from Esquipulas, three from Ipala, Tere’s family (she helped us serve and clean up) and the four of us. So once again we fed about 75 people. Everyone loved it.
Four families/individuals brought gifts for us. Julia (who had already given me a bag of fruit in Esquipulas) brought a wall plaque, Iris brought a homemade table scarf, Hermano Recinos brought a basket with a lid and Norma (from the ward) brought a little nativity holy family. She and her kids had spent our first Christmas eve with us and she wanted us to always remember. Gladys and Porfirillos family clung to us in tears. Tere’s family also cried a lot. I cried the most of all. It was tough.
Spencer took lots of pictures and then put the camera in his hip pocket—and sat on it. So now the camera is defunct. We hope the picture disc is OK. When we arrived at the Mask’s I put it in the computer to check it and the computer started screeching with warning signs flashing and I lost my internet connections. Needless to say, I took the disc out. I rechecked for internet several times. We decided to have one of the temple engineers check it on Wednesday after we returned. But it fixed itself (or our prayers were answered) while we were gone. We bought a disposable camera to finish out our mission and we will buy a new digital when we return home. Sigh.
Monday morning we left before 6:30 AM with the Masks to travel to Lake Atitlan. It was an incredible two days. We stayed at a very nice hotel (got the last two rooms because there were three different tours groups from Israel there for Passover Week). We shopped and ate on Monday. Spencer bought a suit and went swimming. We were tutored by President Mask on Book of Mormon and archeology. I found two incredible huipils (hand embroidered ceremonial blouses) that I love.
Tuesday morning I got up and went out before 6:00 so I could see the sun rise over the lake—only it was in the wrong part of the sky and was behind a mountain. But it was beautiful to see it reflecting off the volcanoes surrounding the lake. The gardens are amazing and I wandered down every single path. Spencer joined me after a while and we also connected with Hermana Mask. What a peaceful morning. Then we ate a huge buffet breakfast and sat by the pool and talked for hours. We saw the skyline and waterfall that Arnold Frieberg used in his BoM painting of Alma baptizing at the Waters of Mormon. I just sat there looking around at the volcanoes and thinking I needed to pinch myself, because this couldn’t really be true.
Wednesday, Spencer worked at the temple. I washed clothes, repacked in order to get the souvenirs into our suitcases, caught up on emails and did lots of “housekeeping stuff” that wives have to always take care of. In the afternoon I visited a great shop with tons of tipico fabric and décor—oh if only money were no object!
Today we are headed to the ruins of KamalJuyu (spelling ?) and a huge geographical map. We will work in the temple this afternoon.
I need to sign off for now and get ready to go. Love to all of you!
Friday, April 9
Thursday, March 25th was our last day to have classes at the church. My students had been asking if I would be there. I'd said yes, but only as an observer. That afternoon I was very busy trying to get some money organized from the donations to give to a brother in the bishopric to be held over for another school year to register Gladys Ramirez/ kids in school. To make it short, I didn't want to go into the Anderson's class so I wouldn't distract from their teaching. I ran back to the bank to get another Q1000 and someone came in a car to get me (Jeanine told them where she thought I had gone) to take me back to the classes. I discovered that they had chipped in a bought pizza. They were so proud of that, and I was the ungrateful absent guest of honor. I was almost a social disgrace, but it did turn out well in the end. It was hard to believe the shower of love and gratitude from the loving people, all nonmembers of the church. They were kissing and hugging me with such emotion. I'm not a hugger and kisser, but I had to be that night. I really did see them as wonderful people who attended class to learn English and I didn't visualize a party with hugs and and didn't kisses and repeated well wishing. I'm a social klutz in those kind of situations. [No-- I don't need any comments, thank you!]
Friday the 26th at 6:30 AM we made our way to the terminal in Chiquimula with our eight pieces of luggage. They are very used and over-packed with tape and bungy cords stretch around them to make sure they hold up during our last big move. The Anderson's came with us so they could learn the ropes of trips to the capital. They needed to get a feel for the terminals and feel comfortable when they want to make the journey themselves. We are glad we could do that for them.
We started full time temple activities Friday afternoon and we worked most of the day Saturday. The Masks were so kind to let us stay with them in their (temple president's) home. They were gone Saturday and Sunday and they let us stay there even in their absence. The security there is amazing. We have been accompanied many times to and from their door. They were understanding when we kept triggering the alarm system when we were letting ourselves in and out of the house. They would lock the house doors and gates electronically. They provide surveillance 24 hours a day year round. It is amazing. There is always a concern about kidnapping with requests for a big ransom. The church doesn't pay ransoms (if they did, every missionary in the world would be a target).
The full time workers in the temple consist of adult missionary couples, mostly natives of Central America. There are two sets of US couples as well. We have been told that the Guatemala temple is the second most used in the world (I am guessing the SLC is first). There are 500-700 endowments per day during the busy times. Large numbers come with the excursions for their own endowments--which generates many sealings and the ordinance numbers are even higher. Most participants bring family names as well. I'd say that 2/3 of the name slips are generated by the people themselves. This keeps the sealers busy and the sisters are busy caring for the children and having the ready to join the parents for sealings. Ask Jeanine about little children who have only been tended by their mothers and then are left in the Guarderia for a while. The number of teenagers who come for baptisms is also amazing. All that is to say that when we go in to the temple it is go, go go.
Tuesday the 29th I was able to help with the initiatory ordinances and try to function. I told them I had to have the card with me. I tried maybe too hard (I don't memorize very well). It's always been a challenge. I was always stumbling over words ant the order of things and totally frustrated. I came out of there mentally exhausted. Then I was sent to officiate a session. I thought that was going well, but when I was carrying out my duties one of the brothers in the session, kind of scolded me telling me that "derecho" means right and "isquierda" means left. I was mortified when I realize he was correct and that I had been making that error in front of all those people for several days. [Note from Jeanine: I tried to signal him and let him know he was making a mistake, but he was sure he was right--so it is a good thing that someone else told him as well :) ] I was emotionally exhausted after that experience, then I went to help at the veil and I found myself so exhausted that I was making more little errors that otherwise wouldn't happen. One of the supervisors told me of my mistakes at the veil, which I already knew. I ended that day about as low as I could be. I went home that night just beat up. I asked the Lord to forgive me and strengthen me.
The next day (30th) was pay day. Their were large crowds of people and I officiated twice, once in the morning and once in the evening. I had my right and Left straightened out and my "act" together at the veil and played a key role in many functions there. I felt so good and so blessed to participate in the House of the Lord. Our work and associations there will be in our memories forever.
One more experience and that is enough and maybe too much said. Jeanine and I were asked to officiate the 5:00 PM session. There are just one man and woman officiating. Technically the rooms are for 24 people, but with these smaller people, we can handle 30 without a big problem. We had 35 people crowded in for our session. There were five couples who were there for the first time and were being sealed following the session. They had been traveling from El Salvador all day to get there. They had other members accompanying them, but many of them had minimal experience in the temple themselves. That meant the the majority of the people had to be closely guided at every step. Even the wife who was a witness was brand new to the temple. Jeanine also had an anglo sister to help at the veil who was trying to use Spanish for the first time. Well, we made it without any problems. After that the temple counselor came to me and told me that we had done a wonderful job. My shattered confidence was restored and I felt at peace and deeply grateful for the experience.
Jeanine was then able to help in bringing the children for each couple in for the sealings as family units. The five couples had to wait a long time to be sealed. At the end of the evening I saw the brother who had been a witness and asked him if they were sealed. I commented that it had been a long wait. He said, no, he had been waiting for three years (from when he was endowed) for this to happen and for the blessing of being sealed to his wife and daughter it wasn't any wait at all.
One more thing and then I will have said too much. The Prayer Circle was originally very frightening to me. I have become much more relaxed and confident. I have to tell you this has been an edifying experience.
Note from Jeanine:
We will stop here for now. Our week at the temple was our main event for Semana Santa. On another day we will tell you about the traditional cultural events we have witnessed since returning to Chiquimula. A sharp contrast to the temple--but interesting nevertheless.
We hope all of you are ready for a spiritual feast with conference this weekend. When we get back to our own computer we will add pictures and put this on the blog.
Love,
Spencer/Dad and Mom/Jeanine
Friday the 26th at 6:30 AM we made our way to the terminal in Chiquimula with our eight pieces of luggage. They are very used and over-packed with tape and bungy cords stretch around them to make sure they hold up during our last big move. The Anderson's came with us so they could learn the ropes of trips to the capital. They needed to get a feel for the terminals and feel comfortable when they want to make the journey themselves. We are glad we could do that for them.
We started full time temple activities Friday afternoon and we worked most of the day Saturday. The Masks were so kind to let us stay with them in their (temple president's) home. They were gone Saturday and Sunday and they let us stay there even in their absence. The security there is amazing. We have been accompanied many times to and from their door. They were understanding when we kept triggering the alarm system when we were letting ourselves in and out of the house. They would lock the house doors and gates electronically. They provide surveillance 24 hours a day year round. It is amazing. There is always a concern about kidnapping with requests for a big ransom. The church doesn't pay ransoms (if they did, every missionary in the world would be a target).
The full time workers in the temple consist of adult missionary couples, mostly natives of Central America. There are two sets of US couples as well. We have been told that the Guatemala temple is the second most used in the world (I am guessing the SLC is first). There are 500-700 endowments per day during the busy times. Large numbers come with the excursions for their own endowments--which generates many sealings and the ordinance numbers are even higher. Most participants bring family names as well. I'd say that 2/3 of the name slips are generated by the people themselves. This keeps the sealers busy and the sisters are busy caring for the children and having the ready to join the parents for sealings. Ask Jeanine about little children who have only been tended by their mothers and then are left in the Guarderia for a while. The number of teenagers who come for baptisms is also amazing. All that is to say that when we go in to the temple it is go, go go.
Tuesday the 29th I was able to help with the initiatory ordinances and try to function. I told them I had to have the card with me. I tried maybe too hard (I don't memorize very well). It's always been a challenge. I was always stumbling over words ant the order of things and totally frustrated. I came out of there mentally exhausted. Then I was sent to officiate a session. I thought that was going well, but when I was carrying out my duties one of the brothers in the session, kind of scolded me telling me that "derecho" means right and "isquierda" means left. I was mortified when I realize he was correct and that I had been making that error in front of all those people for several days. [Note from Jeanine: I tried to signal him and let him know he was making a mistake, but he was sure he was right--so it is a good thing that someone else told him as well :) ] I was emotionally exhausted after that experience, then I went to help at the veil and I found myself so exhausted that I was making more little errors that otherwise wouldn't happen. One of the supervisors told me of my mistakes at the veil, which I already knew. I ended that day about as low as I could be. I went home that night just beat up. I asked the Lord to forgive me and strengthen me.
The next day (30th) was pay day. Their were large crowds of people and I officiated twice, once in the morning and once in the evening. I had my right and Left straightened out and my "act" together at the veil and played a key role in many functions there. I felt so good and so blessed to participate in the House of the Lord. Our work and associations there will be in our memories forever.
One more experience and that is enough and maybe too much said. Jeanine and I were asked to officiate the 5:00 PM session. There are just one man and woman officiating. Technically the rooms are for 24 people, but with these smaller people, we can handle 30 without a big problem. We had 35 people crowded in for our session. There were five couples who were there for the first time and were being sealed following the session. They had been traveling from El Salvador all day to get there. They had other members accompanying them, but many of them had minimal experience in the temple themselves. That meant the the majority of the people had to be closely guided at every step. Even the wife who was a witness was brand new to the temple. Jeanine also had an anglo sister to help at the veil who was trying to use Spanish for the first time. Well, we made it without any problems. After that the temple counselor came to me and told me that we had done a wonderful job. My shattered confidence was restored and I felt at peace and deeply grateful for the experience.
Jeanine was then able to help in bringing the children for each couple in for the sealings as family units. The five couples had to wait a long time to be sealed. At the end of the evening I saw the brother who had been a witness and asked him if they were sealed. I commented that it had been a long wait. He said, no, he had been waiting for three years (from when he was endowed) for this to happen and for the blessing of being sealed to his wife and daughter it wasn't any wait at all.
One more thing and then I will have said too much. The Prayer Circle was originally very frightening to me. I have become much more relaxed and confident. I have to tell you this has been an edifying experience.
Note from Jeanine:
We will stop here for now. Our week at the temple was our main event for Semana Santa. On another day we will tell you about the traditional cultural events we have witnessed since returning to Chiquimula. A sharp contrast to the temple--but interesting nevertheless.
We hope all of you are ready for a spiritual feast with conference this weekend. When we get back to our own computer we will add pictures and put this on the blog.
Love,
Spencer/Dad and Mom/Jeanine
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