Saturday June 21, 2014

Yesterday morning we were planning on teaching at 9:30 since some buses always arrive as we are finishing up. At 9:10 we got a phone call that there was a Primary out there waiting for us! No one had made an appointment. Spencer took the easel and poster out while I gathered up electronics for music and the less on material. He rushed back in and said "This group was here two weeks ago and already heard this lesson! So in 30 seconds I had to find the materials for last month's lesson. The pictures had been refiled and had to be retrieved and placed in the sheet protectors on our poster board. It was a crazy, confusing 5 minutes or so. You REALLY have to be flexible here. But as the saying goes "If you stay flexible, you'll never get bent out of shape." After the lesson, Spencer took them on the tour of the gardens and to visit the temple waiting room. I went to make 75 more copies of our coloring activity (I already had about 15 or 20 and we used them all up!). While in the temple I observed that there were large numbers of patrons waiting for a session and two brothers asked if Spencer was with me. The president was trying to contact all of the missionaries to come and help with the ordinances for the huge numbers of people. Bottom line: when Spencer finished the tour he turned right around and went back to the temple at 10 AM. I stayed with the kids until 11:30. Then I received a call asking me to go to the Guarderia (nursery) where a teenager needed to view the DVD before being sealed to his parents. There had to be two sisters there. That went fine until he went to get dressed. He had no idea how to tie the white tie. So I put the tie on myself and reached back 50+ years to when our band uniforms had ties in high school. I tied it on me (the knot wasn't symmetrical--but it was better than not being tied at all). I pulled it over my head and put on Jose. He was very grateful. His 18 year old brother was in the temple with his parents. He leaves on a mission in a few weeks. After the sealing and after Jose changed clothes I went on over to work the afternoon shift. It was a crazy and exhausting Saturday. The high light of the kids was a darling little crippled boy who walked (rapidly) on all fours (hands and feet--not knees). He could stand and climbed off his chair and put on his jacket before dropping to his hands to rush out. The room was really crowded where we taught, as you can see. We now doing the coloring activity in the dining room (comedor) and it went really well. I appreciated the help of other adults since Spencer was in the temple by then.

Trip to Fuente de Georgina

One of the fun things we did this week (on Wednesday morning before our shift started) was to take a short trip into a most beautiful area where there is rich volcanic soil and abundant rainfall. The native farmers plant and harvest vegetables. Each of their little plats are on steep slopes. [Actually most of the land is owned by wealthy land owners and the farmers work for $6/day] The field is prepared and tilled with a big hoe and hard labor. I noticed that they do spray their vegetable crops with back packs and a hand sprayer. The views are breathtaking and to add to that there are hot springs everywhere with steam/vapor coming from the water. There are lots of pictures here, but we wanted you to see a variety--planting, tilled ground, workers in the field, women working on very steep slopes, an adobe shed, the steam coming up from springs down low and the Santa Maria volcano in the background. We made our way on up the hill to a resort (sort of) where there are natural hot springs with swimming pools and facilities. Too bad we didn't have time or swimming suits to enjoy. We might go back during our break in July. The hot water comes from down deep where there is volcanic activity. The whole valley below is filled with vapor clouds. There is a rain forest all around it and some hiking trails--we just went a little way on one of them. Near the Fuente de Georgina (the hot springs) there is a nice little chapel and a branch of the church. In the bottom of the valley is a fast moving river and on the other side is an area called Almolanga. Some scholars thing is where Alma took his people when they fled from King Noah. It is the land of Helam. They lived there about 20 years. There were eventually discovered by the Lamanites and enslaved with Amulon. Remember in Mosiah 23 where the Lord indicated that He remembered their covenant back in the Waters of Mormon and He would deliver them? Then He helped them bear their burdens until they escaped to Zarahemla. Today there are no members there and no missionaries because it is an area where they practice witchcraft and devil worship.

Fathers' Day in Guatemala

In Guatemala, el Dia de las Padres is on June 17th (Tuesday this year). Of course in the US it was on Sunday the 15th. So the sister missionaries planned a great lunch to celebrate it on Monday the 16th. The Latin sisters prepared the food and the American sisters paid for it. The meal was amazing and the men all seemed to enjoy it. After the meal--which the women served to the men, we were in charge of the activity. Each sister named one attribute that attracted her to her husband. Some were funny and some were serious. We started with Sister Perez and she just looked at her husband and President Perez said, "Just tell them how handsome I was Mama!" Following that activity we had sets of pictures upside down on the table and we went around playing the game of Memory to try to find matches. It was a lot of fun--and great mental exercise for all of us "ancianos". We told the men they should return the favor next Mayu and President Mortenson said "Great idea!" but of course he won't be here! Then Brother Maes suggested McDonald's take out. It was a very fun day. After that about 5-6 people stuck around and played Dominoes--I played and Spencer didn't. Is anyone surprised by that?!

More earthquake info

We forgot to tell you that after the earthquake we had last Tuesday, we talked to one of the gardeners and he reported that the Angel Moroni was swaying back and forth for a while. Now that would have been a sight to see! We forgot that in our training they told us the first thing we should do is open a door, because the first damage is usually the doors become jammed. Oh well, it turned out Okay. This morning at 4:05 we had another shock. It wasn't as violent, but it made our heavy curtains sway clear to the top where they are hung. This is a very different experience for us!

Sunday, June 15, 2014 (earthquake report)

This post will be a blend of thoughts from Spencer and Jeanine since it is too hard to separate them. Last Tuesday morning we were awake and sitting on the couch and chair in the LR when suddenly it felt like a piece of heavy equipment had driven into the side of the apartment building--but in reality at 6:26 AM there was a 5 pt on the Richter Scale earthquake about 30 miles away. The epicenter was in Coatepeque. We have felt the tremors before that cause things to sway, but this one shook all of the furniture, moved the TV and a heavy center piece. Spencer described it as feeling like a power driven hammer on concrete. It was very short and didn't hurt anything, but it was intense! Sorry, no pictures of the earthquake! We will add pictures when we receive them by email to show you some of yesterday's activities. We only knew about one Primary coming at 9:00 AM. Suddenly at 8:30 when I started setting things up, Spencer had to go teach a group of 18 investigators from Barrio Libertal, Malacatan Stake. He was still with them over at the temple when a bus pulled up with a HUGE Primary. The staff had helped me set up lots of extra chairs and they even had a photographer (who says she will email us pictures). Our normal kids joined with them and we had about 75 kids along with many adults. I had to start by myself and was surely happy when Spencer arrived so we could do our normal team-tag teaching. When he left to take them to the temple, I packed everything back to the apartment and prepared the pictures and colored pencils for their coloring activity. The staff informed me that they will be coloring in the dining room from now on--great idea--I like the tables. I asked about putting the chairs away when they said that the Primary from Totonicapan El Centro Barrio was NOT there yet. We had just taught the Primary from Las Rosas Barrio, Bosque Stake! We didn't even know they had planned to come. It was a good thing it took extra long for the bus from Totonicapan. I grabbed one of the staff members and said, "Roberto, quick, help me get everything back out of the apartment!" I was finishing setting up when they arrived on ANOTHER BIG BUS. This time there 30 kids and about 6 adults--including the Bishop. They had an agenda. An 11 year old boy conducted the meeting following an agenda and an 11 year old girl lead the singing. All of the children had on name tags that said "future missionary of..." It was really great. They had their own opening song "I Love to See the Temple". Our prepared lesson was "Heavenly Father and Jesus Love Me." So-o-o-o, I had to start out with material I remembered from a previous lesson about the temple and I segued into our prepared lesson. I had just completed that when Spencer brought the first big group back from the temple. It was really crazy--but everyone seemed to love all of the lessons. I had to make two trips to the temple to make more copies of pictures for kids to color. We were exhausted by the time everyone left about 11:30 or 12. We have only a couple of poor quality photos of the kids conducting in the second group. This morning we left at 6:45 AM, went to a local stake center and dispersed to different wards. We spoke at El Prado Barrio in Bosque Stake. This time we had more than ample time. Jeanine spoke 15 minutes and Spencer spoke 20 minutes. With visited with three different families who needed encouragement in attending church and/or the temple. Two families were endowed. We hope our visits helped animate them. The last family we taught we caught by surprise. There were the two of us and two priesthood leaders. Spencer asked them to share their conversion stories and they responded well. He felt there hints of conflicts with other ward members. Spencer says "I felt like asking how long it had been since they had received priesthood blessings. They responded that they hadn't, so we, the brothers, gave them blessings." It was special to have visits set up for us and to feel the boldness or confidence to speak directly to them about their needs. It was great. Before bringing us back to the temple the brothers asked if we would like to drive to the top of mountain that overlooks the city. It was so amazing and beautiful. We took pictures with the iPad, so we have some to share. On the way home we passed a procession. The women had on their beautiful tipico clothes and the WOMEN were carrying in sort of decorated casket thing. It is representative of carrying the body of Christ and in this manner you can receive forgiveness for your sins. I asked the brothers we were with if that meant the women needed more forgiveness than the men. I couldn't get a good shot of the women carrying the casket. We are definitely into the rainy season. Spencer tried to catch some clouds behind the temple. And just one last thing to share. I thought it was pretty cool this past week when one of the names for temple work was for a woman named Moshumba from South Africa. Pretty cool. I'd say about 75% of our names in this temple are from Hungary. Someone has done a lot of indexing on Hungarian records! We love all of you and enjoy news from home and visits by telephone. Happy Fathers' Day to all of our sons and sons-in-law. We love you all.

Spencer's aboriginal queen

I wear a lot of "tipico" (native) clothes because I love them. The great side benefit is that the people love me for it. They are always commenting about it and I tell them that my heart is "chapina" (Guatemalan). Last week when I arrived in the dressing room at the temple, three sisters were telling me I was "chula", "linda" and "bonita" (different ways to say beautiful). I laughed and told them they only tell me that when I wear "tipico" clothes, so I think it is actually the clothes they are commenting about. They laughed and contradicted me--they are so loving and complimentary here. It touches my heart.

"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.