Shopping with the Mortenson's--they are on the right.

We are a random group--one from each of the couples. Jeanine Brown, Zoe Maes, Ken Meadows and Paul and Patricia Mortonson.

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!

This is the view out our bedroom window at night! It beats javelina!

Jeanine's report for the week ending January 26th: It has been both exhausting and exhilarating in the temple! We have been shorthanded (especially the sisters) since some have had emergencies and family deaths. One night we only had eight sisters to cover all of the positions. I was on my feet for more than 5 hours straight--but it gave me a BIG jump start on memorizing the initiatory ordinances and I was able to become certified in everything except the very last paragraph! I thought that was pretty good for the first week here! Now I just have to finish learning that paragraph and how to be initiatory coordinator. I will then be A-OK for all ordinances. One shock I've had to adjust to is that the other two sisters who came when we did have limited Spanish. Chrys Meadows' is really new to the language. Both the anglo and the native sisters turn to me to do all of the translating and explaining! I didn't think my Spanish was strong, but I am to help and to translate more than I ever thought I could. Today I was dressed in "tipico" clothes and when we went to the remote branch, I told them I was "pura chapina" (a true Guatemalan). One brother laughed and told me it didn't work--but only because of my hair--that my Spanish was good. He was very kind. :) In this culture children are not left with babysitters. When parents come to the temple, the children come to and play in the annex or on the grounds. They are really very well behaved. Spencer and I have a special assignment. Each Saturday morning we are to give a "charla" or lesson for about 30 minutes to the kids. We taught about prayer on Saturday. We had a ball that they tossed back and forth and mentioned things they were thankful for and later, things or people to ask blessings for. At first kids were reserved, but they warmed up and it was great. One morning Spencer and I were returning from a walk when we spotted an old Datsun pickup pulling into the temple grounds. It had a tarp over the back and we thought they were delivering something. But no, when they arrived, 12 people climbed out of the back ready to attend the temple. They were the wonderful, faithful Mayan saints who sacrifice so much to come. The kids are tired, but the adults immediately begin their temple worship opportunities. We love hearing from you. You can call us at 928-554-2348. Our MagicJack is now working and you can leave a voice mail. But we love emails and/or responses to the blog.

A day at the open air mercado. Ken Meadows is the tall (6'4") American

26 Jan 2014 Hi family and friends, These are my (Spencer’s) thoughts for the week. Keep in mind that this information is the most objective report of the two of us. [Hmmm, who does he think is typing this? I could modify anything he wrote by hand!] Starting today and going backwards for the week. We have the unique experience of going every 2nd or 3rd weekend to a distant ward or branch in the temple district to give talks in Sacrament meeting on the topics of Jesus Christ and the temple. Today’s trip was northwest of us. We traveled in several cars and caravaned about two hours to Santa Cruz de Quiche where we picked up local leaders one into each car and then we split up to go to other branches. We drove about another 35-40 minutes to Chinique. We will post some pictures taken outside the building. It is a branch of 104 members. Today there were about 85 in attendance and sometimes it is in the upper 90’s. They dress mostly in “tipico” clothing (it is the native Mayan clothes). Our car was the only one in the parking lot. There were two “motos” everyone else walked. Some lived close-by but some walk 45 minutes. The ones I talked to seemed to be very knowledgeable and very humble and said that they would see us in the temple soon. The have a date set and the branch will take a bus to the temple. I’ll have Jeanine include a picture of us at the Santa Cruz chapel with our Temple President and his wife and some of the other leaders. I’ll let Jeanine report on other things. We’ve had some exhausting shifts at the temple, but it is all good. Love, Dad/Spencer

Los hermanos Maes, Brown & Meadows. We came together to Xela

We have been very busy shopping and getting things set up in the apartment. Tonight we had a great dinner with the temple missionaries. There are about six Latin couples serving and one is going home at the end of the week. It was really nice. I am so touched by the sacrifices made by these Latin couples. The brother who is going home came on his mission when he was 78 year old. He was still working as a cement mason right up until he left. They financed their mission by selling all of his scaffolding and all of his tools. There is someone in the USA who provides $300/month for the Latin couples. They are only charged $100 for the apartment (theirs are very small compared to ours). They live on the other $200 unless they have sold everything in order to be able to come. Their sacrifice is amazing.

Aren't they amazingly beautiful people?!

January 18, 2014 Dear Family, We’re here in Quetzaltenango and in very comfortable conditions. The missionaries are in the same building with the patron housing and we are above the Distribution Center. We have a private entrance. It’s first class! We look out the window straight up to the angel Moroni. The temple sits about 50 yards away. It is small, but very nice. It is very similar to the Snowflake Temple. It is, of course, by far the most attractive spot, in an otherwise typical Guatemalan city. There are very adequate shopping places with some nice fast food locations. But it is all up hill to get back home. We’ll go to a local LDS Chapel in the morning. There are 15 stakes and six districts who attend the temple. This morning there were 15 buses (some micro and some large) of people show up to the temple. This challenged our capacity. There were 19 new endowments, with five outgoing missionaries. Today we helped with baptisms and then went through our first session. Then we studied the cards with our scripts. President Perez gave us a beautiful setting apart and some sound instruction. We must be very tolerant of the patrons as many come from extremely poor families. There are about 300 native temple workers. It’s because they are often very young. Even the women workers are often mothers with young children. They work when their children are in school or when their husbands can help. Most mature men are out making a living. Young men (elders) help since they may only have part time work or more free time. I think we are going to have an enjoyable time. I hope all is well at home. I (we) love each of you. Love, Dad