Spencer breaks his silence on week 3 :)

On the week before this one we had a very busy (extra hours) week. For example, they called me to come in on Friday before our shift and I baptized youth for 554 names! Then I had lunch and went back to work for the afternoon. Then on Saturday we taught a huge group of kids before a Primary came--so the morning was really busy and then we served our shift in the afternoon. Sunday right after church we left town with three other North American couples and drove to Lake Atitlan. This is only part of the lake with one of its many volcanoes. Some would see the many volcanoes in this area (when erupting) as being at least partially responsible for the darkness at the time of the crucifixion. The sulfur dioxide emissions could make it so dark and wet that there could be no light. The city that is under the water in the lake could be the city Jerusalem which was mentioned as the water coming up over it (lava from erupting volcanoes would raise the water level). There are pictures taken under water of the remains of a city. Now the lake water has suffered from sewage and fertilizer from crop tail waters. The water in the lake is not as clear as it once was. Friday there were people in the temple from San Francisco Atitlan. That's across the lake and is only accessible by boat. If I can have a selfish wish, it's that we can be sent there to talk some Sunday. We stayed at Hotel Atitlan. The gardens there are exceptional. Here are just a few pictures of the "shabby place." The fairly famous painting by Arnold Frieburg uses the water falls at Lake Atitlan as his background for the Waters of Mormon. When we drove down the mountain on Sunday it had been raining hard and it was flooding and the water was muddy. It was beautiful and clear on Monday when we drove out. Yesterday, the 6th, I was at the desk and a large group of people were peeking in the front door. I motioned them in. There were about 30. I noticed that they were a kind of rough looking and loud bunch. They wanted to come on in and see. They started crowding me on both sides, and I was a bit unsure what was going on. The kids were peering toward the entry way and they were making joking comments. I directed them to move over to the waiting room. They were members of the 7th Day Adventist Church. I had the pleasure of explaining to them that they've seen our chapels, but this was a place where we make certain promises and it is a sacred and more guarded than other places. I told them I could teach them or set them up with missionaries. That dissolved their quest to go into the temple. They left peacefully. I greeted each one cheerfully as they passed back through the front door.