Hermana Herrera

I mentioned Sister Herrera a few weeks ago--one of my heroes (the 86 year old sister who is in the temple 2-3 hours every Tuesday-Friday mornings to perform Initiatory ordinances). I now have a picture to share so you can see this beloved little sister. The other sisters from USA also wanted a picture with her after church.

Trip to Guatemala City

Last week Spencer mentioned our trip to Guatemala City to get our Resident Visas finished. It actually turned to be a blessing that we had to postpone watching conference on Sunday because when we hit the tops of the mountains we were socked in with fog for about 50 miles or more. Sometimes we couldn’t see more that 5-6 feet in front or to the side of the car. It was so dangerous. Once there was a truck that had just simply stopped in the right hand lane. Another time a motorcycle. It was crazy. There is often fog in the morning—but this was in the afternoon. Tuli says it is called an “Alaska” when this occurs. Lucky us—we were able to experience one. But we arrived safely! I was so impressed with the efficiency of the church in getting our visas. They had done all of the leg work in advance. On Monday morning when our driver picked us up, he received a call that a staff member from the Area Office was already in line and it would be awhile, so we had time to go visit the grounds of the Guatemala City temple. It was wonderful to be back “home”. So many memories came flooding back for us and we even remembered some of the security staff and vice versa. When it was time to head to the Immigration Office, our person lead us in a single file line past people who had been waiting for a LONG time to a designated window. They called us up one at a time, took our picture and verified it matched our passport and we left! We were only in the office for about 5 minutes for the entire group! I had been in telephone contact with Tuli and I was so excited to get to see her. We drove to PriceSmart (a subsidiary of Costco) and shopped. Tuli helped us all check out since she had a current membership card. We had about an hour together. It was wonderful. I was amazed at the things they didn’t have that we take for granted in the USA. We then went to lunch and started home. Our trip back was better than going down, but there was still a lot of fog.

Gathering at the Perez home

April 20, 2014 Hola, Saludos a todos! This has been "Holy week" or "Semana santa". The Catholic church and its people find great importance in the week. The schools are out, many businesses close and government offices are all closed down. People come and go from everywhere. The traffic is so dangerous. Even public transportation shuts down on Good Friday (the day Jesus was crucified). Can you imagine celebrating in a riotous way to commemorate the Savior's crucifixion? [There is a lot of drinking that goes on here. In fact our Temple president told us to do our shopping early and to not go downtown at all on Thursday or Friday.] We should have a special day to celebrate his resurrection because he broke the bands of death in addition to suffering for our sins. I'm glad the week is over. Now we have the excitement of anticipating our trip next Sunday to Huehuetenango (two hours away) to give our Sunday talks in the various wards of one of the two stakes. We will be staying overnight in a hotel and seeing the sights as well as a little shopping in their market for "tipico" merchandise. I think that is going to be a beautiful place. I feel like you see the real Guatemala when you go out and talk in the wards of the Guatemalan families. Huehuetenango is in the mountains. I'm glad it's in our temple district. Our temple was especially built for the mountain people who often have to have special treatment to accommodate their special needs of the people. Last Monday we had a meal at President and Sister Perez' lovely home (to celebrate his birthday. He related the story of his experience of selecting the temple site. He told us that he had never been to this particular spot. He'd been searching and searching. One Sunday during Sacrament meeting he had a vision of the spot the Lord wanted. He went out and started driving around until he found the spot he had seen in vision. He showed pictures of what it looked like before. He told about the privacy he had to maintain when Elder Nelson came to examine the location. He said they have envisioned three temples in Guatemala--the third one being in Coban, but that is for another day and time. He showed pictures of the buses that came to the Open House. They had anticipated 75,000 visitors and they had 137,000 come. There are only 200,000 people living in Quetzaltenango. But people came from all through northern Guatemala. There were official government guests. The dedication was telecast throughout the country. It is the most beautiful building in this part of the country--with many beautiful gardens.

Beautiful new grandson

The best news of recent history is the birth of Chase Nathan Tenney. He was born on Friday, April 4th in Tucson, AZ. Both Chase and Christena are doing well. It has been a busy time and I really appreciate Nathan's efforts to keep us updated. He has sent several photos, but I chose one that especially touched my heart to share with all of you. Sorry, you didn't make the picture, Nathan! And I'm anxious to see a photo with all four of you. We are so happy to welcome grandbaby #47 and I really wish I could be there to cuddle him and help Christena. Our hearts are with you!

Conference Highlights

My heart was touched (as always) by the conference talks. Just a few highlights that touched me: Neil L. Anderson--Families are the treasurers of heaven--warn family members of the consequences. President Eyering--if blessings were immediate, we wouldn't develop faith--leave a heritage of hope! Richard G Scott (one of my favorites)--his future wife didn't use coercion--just loved him and loved Father in Heaven. Help family members in ways grounded in principles. Ask questions that make them think. Allow time to find answers (including in scriptures. Seek to strengthen families. Don't become absorbed in trivial things. Craig Zwick (another real favorite) when his wife jumped from the big rig truck--What were you thinking?! I loved that story. Importance of sharing feelings of love and listening--continue with civil dialogue even when you disagree. Can still speak directly--firm in doctrin, spoken with softness--it doesn't matter who was more right. It matters to listen and understand the other person's perspective--the Savior looks on our hearts. L. Tom Perry--the team of horses must know who is in charge--we need to know that God is in charge. Jean A. Stevens--similar message--God has a plan to see us safely home again--trust in the Lord--He hears and answers our prayers. Pres. Uchtdorf--gratitude!! We resist endings because we are made of eternal stuff. Be grateful during endings that are part of mortality. Pres. Monson--Love is the essence of the gospel, it should be the heart of family life. The ones you love most often become targets--treat each other with kindness and respect. We must not destroy other's confidence. Forgiveness goes hand in hand with love. Blame keeps wounds open and forgiveness heals. I will enjoy reading these talks again. My heart is full and I love my family more than words can tell!

Saturday, April 12, 2014 Hi friends and family, I will give a little report about our work in the temple. Part of what we do during the slow times of the week is to act as patrons in the temple. That way the temple is still generating completed temple ordinances that go to Salt Lake. We get names from all over the world--including names that are hard to pronounce in either English or Spanish. We can only attempt to sound them out. Some of them even include letters or symbols that are not a part of our alphabet. Often, we take our turn doing vicarious work in sealings, initiatory, and endowments and I perform many baptisms and confirmations. We also officiate and perform the various ordinances. Jeanine and I have been proxies for long lists of husbands & wives, parents or children in the performance of sealings. Now to make my point, it makes me more aware of the pivotal (and all important) change for the better that those sealings can mean to both living and dead. I feel strongly that those who choose to negate that sealing covenant are on shaky ground. That's why I get so emotional about little kids going to the back door to enter the sealing room of the temple or couples who have just been married coming out the front door of the temple. I hope they know what is being offered them and how serious it is. I hope our families (immediate and extended) solve their problems and stay true to their temple covenants. . Last Sunday we were ready for conference when the power went off. The city was felling trees and lost control of one that crashed over the power lines. So, all forms of communications were out all day. Here we had no phones, internet, TV, etc. We have a generator and a well, so we had power and water. We had planned on leaving for the capital when conference was over, but with the loss of power we left early in the day. We had appointments in the immigration office for Monday morning. We took the iPad and watched one session of conference in our hotel room, using their internet. We watched the last session Monday and Tuesday. I don't know what to say other than we better be studying those talks and applying them. We need to have the protection of being yoked up with the Savior as Elder Bednar said. Sorry for the preaching. Love, Dad/Spencer Just one more picture of a bus load of people headed back home from the temple.

Quick report on my health

Since several have asked, I'll give a quick update on my UTI. The urine culture last week was what I feared--the infection is even stronger and had "overpowered" the antibiotic I took for 10 days (even though it was sensitive to it on the previous test). The doctor had me get blood work and an abdominal ultra sound to be sure my kidneys were not involved. And GOOD NEWS my kidneys are just fine. (Have a few stones in my gall bladder, but kidneys are great and that was our concern). So now I'm on TWO powerful antibiotics, and some other meds to support them. I love this doctor. When I left her office Thursday and she was sending me for kidney evaluation, she hugged me, gave me kiss on the cheek (very common here) and said "I will be praying for you Hermana". She isn't LDS but treats many missionaries. She didn't charge us Friday when we brought all of the results from the lab to her. She plans on calling me on Tuesday. If I'm feeling better, she will increase my prescription from 10 days to 15 days so we can really kill this bug once and for all! I would like that since I am now entering the 7th week since it started. I'll just be glad to not feel like my energy is being sapped to fight this bug. The sisters in the temple have given me a bijillion ideas of things that will help--and I think I'll try them all! :)

Wedding pictures outside the temple in Xela

I loved this bride's traditional (tipico) clothes with an American type of white veil.

Some of my new heroes

I have met so many wonderful people here. I enjoy them all, but some have touched my heart and inspired me in special ways. You might want to hear about them--I don't have pictures, but I'll tell you about three in particular. Hermana Hererra is 86 years old and little, but still fairly spry. She comes to the temple every Tuesday thru Friday and spends 2-3 hours in the Initiatory part of the temple. She makes eye contact with you and nods in agreement to every part of the ordinance. The 20-30 people she doing this work for vicariously each day have each one been well represented. I only work the morning shift every third week, but I sometimes see her at church. I have told her what an inspiration she is and a wonderful role model. Now when I enter the Initiatory area her face lights up like a child on Christmas morning and as soon as there is a break, she embraces me and kisses my cheeks. I will always remember her example and love. Brother Sosa is a temple worker on Wednesday afternoon/evening shift. He uses a bike for transportation. Some time back he was crushed between two cars and lost his leg. He has a prosthesis. He continues to serve faithfully in the temple every week riding 12 miles each way on his bike. One time when we were being taught about how temple workers should dress, he explained that he wears a scarf under his white shirt so that it will absorb the perspiration as he bikes to the temple and his shirt will be clean and dry. I can't imagine the risk riding the bike 12 miles back home in the dark and with the insane drivers here in Guatemala. Hermana Nancy Zarate is an American who married a Guatemalan man and they raised their family in the USA. They were married in the temple. However, he moved in with a younger woman, fathered two more children and was excommunicated. When her last child finished school and moved out of the home, Nancy decided to do something useful with her life and came back to Guatemala and worked with humanitarian foundations building schools and teaching. She is probably in her 70's and is now retired and grateful that she owns a piece of land with a house on it. It doesn't have running water, but she collects rain water during the rainy season and once a month when her Social Security check has been deposited she pays for a truck to come fill her water tank. She does have a toilet, but carries buckets into the house to flush it. She couldn't afford to live on SS in the USA so she stays here--and she commits 1/3 of her SS check to humanitarian efforts--she helps support an elderly couple and two single women. She comes to the temple every week (it is 1 1/2 hours over mountain roads--when they are dry). She stays here at the patron housing for two nights (and undoubtedly enjoys the showers) and does sometimes three sessions a day with initiatory in between. She is a little rough around the edges, but who cares!? She exemplifies a Christ like love for the people here and serves faithfully. There are others, but these three seem especially note worthy.