"I'm well!"

From Jeanine: Last Sunday we headed back to Guatemala. I went to the lab Monday and the doctor Wednesday. I have no infection for the first time since February! Yeah! I have to take two different medications for 3 months, and have a culture done monthly--but that can be done here and we will consult by phone. Cesar and Tuli were once again our wonderful life savers, chauffeurs, hosts, cook, etc. We took a few pictures in the streets of the capitol--a typical huge tree, a round about with a statue in the middle and a police woman, trees over the street, old buildings, new buildings, etc. While we were gone there were some huge rain storms that created lots of flooding. Monday it rained super hard and Tuesday a huge wind was added to the rain. It toppled about 30 trees around town. In many parts of town the power is still out because of power lines that were snapped. Two missionary apartments and many "huespedes" (guest) apartments here in the annex were flooded by rain that came in under the windows during the storm. I guess it was pretty crazy. According to the news, in Huehuetenango, one river overflowed its banks and swept a house away with a family of five inside. I don't think there were other deaths, but lots of damage to roads and stuff. Last night after we finished our shift all of the North American couples went out to eat. It was a beautiful restaurant--lots of atmosphere. The grandkids would have loved the suits of armor flanking the curved staircase up to the restaurant. Too bad I didn't have the camera. The meal was divine and it cost me $12. Can't beat that! Today we spoke in a ward here in the Quetzaltenango Stake. It was fun to see some of our temple workers and youth that attend regularly in the congregation. It was in the oldest part of Xela and the streets were made of stones with cement in between. They may have been cobblestones once upon a time. But they are flat, but still very bumpy now. We met in the 2nd oldest building. Here there is generally just one ward to a building--I think because so many members have to walk to church, so they build more of them--and because the construction costs are a lot less here. Our talks went great. We were able to stay for classes since we weren't traveling from out of town, With all of the rain, our daytime temperatures have been in the mid 60's. It is definitely the coolest June and the greenest June I have experienced in my entire life. It is beautiful! Even if the dampness cause arthritic pain and the greeness causes allergies. :) I'll take it! Wish you were here to enjoy it with us!

June 8, 2014

From Spencer: Hi family and friends, Writing does not come easy for me, but it does help recap experiences and it helps me to realize blessings that I may not, otherwise, have focused on. NOT to nauseate anyone but I will tell some emotional things. We prepared our usual Saturday lesson for the children visiting us while their parents are in the temple. It was about Jesus and Heavenly Father love each one of us. It included evidences of that love. I thought it would be a ho-hum lesson. As we proceeded with our team teaching, I began to be the one who felt emotional and instructed. It helped me reconcile many things that had heretofore made me feel sad. I truly did feel His love and as I guided the children around the gardens and into the temple lobby I felt His love and His appreciation for what we are trying to do; including, of course, our daily shift as temple workers. #2 If you feel "gaggy", just skip this paragraph. I feel drawn to people who are so unfortunate. Look at the old man in our pictures. He is totally deaf. He has ragged clothes, and is sort of homely. His ward did a charitable thing to put him on the bus and take him along. [Note from Jeanine: He watched our lesson and enjoyed seeing the kids. When we played a spin the bottle activity, he sat on the floor and took a turn spinning the bottle. It was awesome. He had ragged shoes, no socks and pants that were "hemmed" by just cutting them off.] #3 Yesterday I ended up in the baptismal font and baptized youth until I was ragged. There are a couple of handicapped youth and one who is deaf. My heart bleeds for them and I always give them a hug in the font. I easily performed 200 baptisms. #4. You'll get sick of this, but I can't help myself and my feelings of love and emotion for the children who walk over to be sealed to their parents. I seems to open up my vision of the hereafter and the eternities. Hey, both Jeanine and I are growing in our ability to speak Spanish. She is saying most anything and is not afraid to get in and communicate. I feel so encouraged to able to stand with anyone or groups and talk, even if it is not totally without flaws. I keep a little electric translator in my pocket and try to absorb words wherever I am. Its such an exhilarating hobby. The down side is, its a life time effort to become completely fluent, plus the fact the words change regionally.

May 31, 2014

This has been a month of birthdays so we have had the opportunity to talk to quite a few families as we acknowledged the following birthdays: Ben, Carter, Brigham Alexander, Sierra, Cassie, Jason, Nathan, Jon, Melody and Cody. We love getting to visit with you on any occasion--you don't have to wait for birthdays. We haven't had any outstanding events this week. However, this morning while Spencer was in the shower we had a knock on our door to inform us that there were a group of less active members here. So Spencer hurried and dressed and went out to teach them. He got them laughing about themselves and their inactivity and reviewed the essential questions for a temple recommend. Then they walked around the outside of the temple. It was well received. While he was doing that I made the copies for the coloring activity with the kids, set up the easel and posters and all of the other stuff we use for our class. While Spencer tried to gather the children he invited three little boys to join us. They informed him they didn't need to come to our class because Jesus watches out for little boys and they would be OK if they just kept playing. When we were in Guatemala City the last time our mission picture was taken. They needed to do it then because Sister Perez (the president's wife) is receiving chemo therapy and wanted a picture before she lost her hair. It was good timing because it was only four more days before she lost so much hair that they shaved her head. They saved a spot for us in the photo and this week the photographer took our picture and photo shopped us into the picture. We were grateful for their thoughtfulness in making it possible for us to be in the official photo. We leave tomorrow for another trip to Guatemala. This time I'm not sick and anticipate that the doctor will give me a clean bill of health (finally!). He may put me on a low dose antibiotic for a while--at least that was the plan before. We missed being home for the Memorial Day week-end. We would have loved to have been at the cabin and helped with all of the work of opening it up, cleaning things, setting up the playground, working on the play set, etc. We were happy to learn that kids slept in the homestead cabin. We are so glad they liked it!

5/25/2014

On our trip to San Pedro this morning to give our talks in church, we were privileged to make a visit to a home of a member. Behind a tin gate you enter their yard and you can immediately see the pila where they wash clothes. And you can see the hen with her baby chicks in the yard. There was a small one room cinder block building next to their house. The door was open (undoubtedly for ventilation) and you could see the two missionaries on their knees having prayer before they left for the day. It was very touching. When we went into the house we met the family. As we talked, we discovered that the wife/mother was having severe abdominal pain and had a very difficult night last night. She had been in and out of the hospital. We inquired if she had had a blessing and she hadn't. I asked the husband if he had oil and he said yes and ran over to the missionaries next door and came back with the oil. Her husband is the Elders' Quorum president. I don't know why it hadn't occurred to him to do that--probably because they are converts of only three years. In retrospect, maybe it was a good teaching/learning experience that we were guided to provide. I hope it helps her because it didn't look like they had a lot of money. He drives big trucks for a living. Their family was sealed in the temple last December. It was fun to ask the girls what they thought about it. The wife is the Primary President, so they have really become involved in the church programs. All of the family came to church and he also spoke in Sacrament Meeting before we did. After that home visit we went to the church. You can see a lot of pictures of us there, in the street in front of the chapel and looking at the house next door. On our way walking to the park where we were meeting our ride we met a man selling milk. How would you like to have milk delivered to you front door this way? :) San Antonio Sacatepequez is only a small town in the mountains, but it still has a central park that is right in front of the Catholic Church. It was drizzling when we got there, so we were happy for a pavilion to stand under. It was warm in the morning, so Jeanine left her jacket in the Mortenson's car. She really wished she had when the cold drizzle started.

Earthquakes, volcanos and tremors

We have truly come to a different part of the world. During our training for emergencies in the temple, the majority of the time was spent on earthquakes or severe tremors. Now I bet in the Manhattan Temple, Carl and Linda learned about attempted invasions or terrorists or something. But in reality, the temple is built to withstand even severe earthquakes, so that is where I'd want to be if a big one hit. One day when we were in the temple there was a pretty strong tremor and the power was on reduced power (lights) from the emergency for quite some time. Today while I was studying we had another strong tremor that moved my chair and made the light over the table sway for about 12 seconds. We read in the paper that the southern and western part (we actually live in the western highlands--the northern part is considered to be Peten which is in the eastern part where Tikal is) of Guatemala has had 2031 tremors in the last 16 months. We are definitely part of the "Ring of Fire" that circles the Pacific Rim. In addition our many tremors (most in the 4-5 range on the Richter Scale) we have lots of volcanoes. Some are extinct, but many are still active. About 5 weeks ago, one that normally spews only steam was sending lava down the mountainside near Antigua. It was threatening homes and caused evacuations, but then I didn't hear anymore about it. We got some of the ash here and the air quality was zilch for a few days. Then last week, both Spencer and I kept waking up in the morning with horrible sinus headaches. When I mentioned it to another temple worker, she said a volcano just outside of our city that normally only has smoke was spewing out ash and sulfur gases--no wonder our sinuses were messed up! All parts of the world have challenges, don't they? I pray daily for protection from forest fires in Arizona.

The Xela Temple after a rain storm

The rains have started and my friend, Chrys Meadows took this picture after a rain storm. You can see the water in front of the temple at night. A beautiful picture.

SUNDAY, MAY 18, 2014

Sunday we were up by 4:20 (for me)and later for Spencer. Six sets of missionaries loaded into three cars and headed to El Distrito Tiquisate at 5:30 AM. It took 3 hours to get there. Then we met priesthood leaders who joined each group. Our drivers dropped us off at the smallest branch in the district--La Noria--and then traveled a little further to their branch. The chapel we attended is VERY tiny. It had one large room that could be partitioned off into two rooms, a small room in the back and the Branch President's office. The bathrooms were not attached and were in the back. They were very clean--better than many in the large chapels we have attended. The church built the chapel, but we don't own the land. There is a fairly poor dwelling on the same piece of property. The Branch President didn't have any counselors there. He is only 28 years old, he's married, but has no children. He has been a member for 11 years. A counselor in the district presidency and his wife were there and taught the classes (Gospel Doctrine and Relief Society). There were two missionaries and the two of us and 16 other members. We had been looking forward to visiting this district because they are the ones who brought the entire district Primary to the temple recently and we taught them. We figured no matter what branch we visited, we'd see children we had taught, but not so--this branch has no Primary children. Sigh. The rains have started so it was amazingly green. This district is further south than Guatemala City and further west. It is really hot in this area. Here are some pictures that demonstrate the "greeness" of the rain forest. Bananas are plentiful in this area. You can see a tree with bananas growing, some growing in a yard and a load of them in the back of a truck.

May 18, 2014

The only thing we have to offer picture-wise is a ward temple day that one of the wards had here at the temple on Thursday. This was a full day of activities at the temple. We were asked to help in the morning with a class for the children. The parents had a full day to be in the temple, with just a short break for lunch. So the kids needed to be taught and fed little meals all day long. The youth did baptisms in both the morning and afternoon and also had a service project on the temple grounds and did indexing in the Family History Center. The children had individual pictures taken on the wall in front of the temple. You can see our annex building in the background while the photographer was working on one little boy's picture. The annex building is where we live and teach the classes. It is also where people gather when they are not in the temple. The children also had snacks morning and afternoon and a trip to the zoo (to appreciate Heavenly Father's creations). There are a few pictures of an 11 year old taking car of his little siblings, including a little brother with a repaired cleft lip. He was very attentive. It was really amazing how much planning went into this "Day at the Temple". They met at their ward building at 7:30 in the morning and they left the temple at 7:30 at night. Our lesson went well and we had lots of adults listening in from the outside periphery. It is a worthwhile calling. We enjoy it a lot.

Happy Mothers' Day

I can't let this day go by without commenting on the wonderful mothers I have known and enjoy associating with now. First I have to mention my own mom--she loved me, taught me, encouraged;and supported me and thought I could to ANYTHING! She gave me the confidence to try many things. I can't give lots of details and examples here, but I want to acknowledge Grandma Tenney and her unconditional love and cheerful heart. Then there was Noni who loved me and loved my children. I miss all of these amazing women. I'm glad to now have Grandma Brown as another mother-in-law who offers me love. Next are the women of my generation--my sister, Diane, my sisters-in-law (Lynda, Linda, Kitty, Sandy and Marilyn) who were wonderful aunts to my kids; my cousins (Vicki Jo, Judy and Kathy were particularly "present" in the lives of my children). Marsha--who keeps all of the mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles all connected--we couldn't get to heaven without her efforts! And then to my daughters--Rachelle and Janae--you are great moms, as are Ann Marie, Chandra, Christena and Carolyn. AND I have seven more wonderful daughters that I share with Spencer--Cody, Audrey, Kelly, Amy, Marjon, Melody and Tanna! I'm so impressed as I watch face the challenges of life. ALL of my grandchildren are so lucky to have such wonderful and righteous women as mothers(and I cannot forget Cassie --the mother of my great-granddaughter). I knew the list would be long--and it is incomplete even at this length. Just know that I love you all and I am in awe of the mothers in this generation. These are the last days and Satan has made the task more challenging than ever. But we know we will be on the "winning" team in the end. Hang in there, you wonderful and precious women!!

Unplanned trip to Guatemala City

Same song, new verse (or however that saying goes). I realize about a week after finishing my antibiotics that my UTI was back. I went for testing to confirm it. It took several days for results and a visit to the doctor. Dr. Cifuentes didn't want to simply start another round of antibiotics without seeing a specialist--so I called the temple president, called Tuli and she made the appointments. However, by Saturday afternoon (the 3rd--after our busy day that Spencer described) I started getting much sicker. By Sunday I had a high fever and the shakes and was getting weaker by the hour. Our ride didn't leave until 5 PM. I curled up in the back seat with a pillow and blanket and shook most of the way. I was so glad to crawl into bed at Tuli's house. Monday I slept on the couch between meals and doctor's appointments. Finally about 7 PM on Monday I was able to start on antibiotics. Boy was I happy to get some meds. I started feeling a little better on Tuesday after a long morning getting an ultra sound. We had another appointment on Wednesday and then caught the bus to head back home. Tuli and Cesar were amazing hosts. I don't know how we could have managed without our private chauffeur service to get us to all of the right places. :) Didn't figure out exactly why these have been recurring, but there is an aggressive plan in place. I return in about 3 weeks for a little more testing and then will probably be on suppressive therapy with low dose antibiotics for several months. Pablo was home on Wednesday morning, but unfortunately Cesar was taking care of church responsibilities. I was feeling MUCH better by this point. Now I hope this is the last time I have to report on health issues!