The faith of this humble people!

My heart has been touched recently be the many expressions of great faith that I see almost daily. The Guatemalan Temple missionaries here are such an inspiration. The only people here who have a retirement are government employees--or those who create their own retirement thru investments. Most people work throughout their life. One couple just finished their mission. He was a cement mason. He worked until he was 78 years old. Then he sold all of his scaffolding and tools to finance a mission. He and his wife were awesome. Now they have returned home to be with their family. They will just get along the best they can with the help of the family. There are no assisted living or nursing homes here. Spencer mentioned that our temple utilizes the services of a lot of young married men and women. Some leave their young children one or two nights a week to work in the temple. They also have callings in their wards--so church service is a central focus of their lives. On Tuesday night I was visiting with a young man who appeared to be about 28-30 years old. He was the brothers' coordinator for that shift. He told me I was so lucky to be a missionary. He is working VERY hard to save money throughout his working life so that he and his wife can serve a mission. He commented on how hard he had to work, to have any savings. He used the expression "muy duro" over and over--I wasn't certain if he meant the physical labor was very hard or having money to save was very hard--probably both. I don't know of many young husbands at home who have set the goal of working very hard to save money so they can serve the Lord full time in the future. My heart was touched by his humility and sincerity. When we wrote about the branch in Chinique we said the people all walked to church. Where I was sitting in the front, I looked straight down to the front row. One sister had on plastic shoes, but just a short way into the meeting, she slipped them off. I wish I could have captured her feet in a photo. They were extremely calloused and the dirt was imbedded. They spoke of a lifetime of toiling outside in the dirt and walking an untold number of miles on dusty roads and trails. She obviously found the shoes uncomfortable. But she paid rapt attention to the speakers and soaked up the gospel knowledge and information. Once again I was very touched by her strength. Her little boy (maybe 5-6 years old) was wearing dark pants and a white shirt with a pair of plastic shoes no socks). His pants had been hemmed up about 5 inches--I knew because the hem was made with widely spaced stitches of white thread. Now on a lighter note. Yesterday before our prayer meeting started, Hermana Juarez was asked to lead the song. She confided in me and Hermana Salguero that it was hard for her to lead the singing because her body always wants to move and dance to the music. We started laughing and had to get ourselves reverent again. You have to realize that Hermana Juarez is probably barely 5' tall and must weigh close to 200#. Then she told us that her husband is a marvelous dancer--he is tall and handsome with striking white hair and very dark skin. We suggested that when it is their turn to host the FHE they have us dance instead of having a lesson. But that might be difficult because we don't have a boom box or CD's. I even volunteered to use my computer and speakers for the music. We are enjoying getting to know the other missionaries and temple workers. We love you all!