Hi family/readers, The days of work sort of run all together in my mind; partly because the assignments changed so rapidly in the temple from one hour to the next, and partly because I was over there before our shift to make photocopies for our charlas or to do other extra things. The coordinator asked me on Thursday if I could handle being the officiator. I knew it would be a challenge whenever I did it for the first time, since it has been four years since I did it. I made some mistakes, but I am glad that I tried. So on Friday I went over in the morning and attended a session reinforce my memory and learn from my mistakes. That was a good choice. Jeanine and I officiated Saturday before our shift and all went well until we were presenting at the veil. There were some embarrassing and stressful challenges. Prior to officiating in the session at the temple we had given our little class with the kids. I wasn't exactly prepared for it. But the kids liked learning about how families can be forever. This morning we headed out for San Marcos to a very nice ward to give our temple talks. We spoke in the largest ward in the stake and in the newest building. There were 195 in attendance. The church building was clean and neat with the exception of the bathrooms. The leaders were educated people. They were very friendly. In that ward almost everyone walked to church.

It was about 1 1/2 hours to the Stake Center and then another 20 minutes to get there. I prayed for some extra help and the ideas and words came and the talk was, I think, well received. We're back now for a restful afternoon. San Marcos is a beautiful area. It was jacket weather there. It is very much Guatemala with narrow streets and all that goes with a third world country. To add to that there was an earthquake there in 2012. San Marcos was the hardest area hit. One brother said there were 2000 homes and buildings destroyed. The pictures show some sights--properties that have been covered with sheets of t

in. The commerce seems to be going normally with street vendors and people buying and selling. There are lots of buses and crazy drivers. There was even one woman taking a goat around to milk if you wanted to buy milk. One thing that is striking is the number of people families who have missionary sons and daughters. In the two wards that meet at the stake center there were 27 missionaries out! It seems that their hardships are to their advantage. This is a choice assignment (not easy yet). I've had good missionary associations and a nice place to live. I hope all is well! Give us a call 928-554-2348. Love, Dad