From Spencer

Over half of the people at the table will be gone on or before the first of November. Paul Mortenson and his wife (Dale Mortenson's brother) who grew up in El Frida, is part of the temple presidency and all of the presidency will be released when the new president walks through the doors of the temple. Instantly the temple keys will change hands and the previous presidency will quickly exit the building. Paul has been bishop twice, a stake president, a mission president and a temple sealer in Louisville, KY and in the temple presidency here in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. He and Patricia are at the end of the temple. We'll see what changes come about. They are very hard workers and dedicated to their duties, as well as generous with transportation in their car and with their time. We have a choice calling here in this part of the world. They will definitely be missed!! We continue to teach the kids every Saturday. This is also a choice calling. It is great!

Wow--once again!

News flash! On Monday the President requested all missionaries to come to the temple at 3:30. We were given names and did a session--which included the newest film. It has also been translated into Spanish. That was a very special treat. Afterwards we met and discussed our ideas behind the films. It was a great and surprising treat. If you haven't been to the temple recently--and regularly, you need to make it an important part of your life!

Hmmm... If you wonder why I don't have pictures, it is because I wait until Spencer writes so that we don't duplicate. He literally used every picture (but two) from this past week! So I'll tell about the final picture. When the church was buying the land for the temple, President Perez had negotiated to buy the land down the hill from us as well. Some one from the temple department made a counter offer and it ticked off the owners so they withdrew the offer. During the past year they started working on it and to our dismay we learned that they were building a 10 story apartment building in front of the temple. When Elder Cook was visiting in January he learned about this situation. He reported it to the General Authorities. Now the church has purchased the land immediately in front of and down the hill from the temple and in the contract, the owners agreed to never build anything higher than the first floor of the temple. Whew. We dodged that bullet. So now the view of the temple sitting on the hill won't be obstructed. Here is the property we bought (on the front side of the aluminum fence) and the other property beyond it. One other story you will enjoy involves Spencer. Patricia Mortenson has been submitting a lot of names for temple work. She needed baptisms done and sent word she wanted Spencer to be baptized--partly because one of the names was "Brown". So kind, willing Spencer agreed. The problem was that they couldn't get him completely under the water! There were many incomplete baptisms that had to be repeated. He tried placing his knees different ways and tried to help. And then when the baptizer would get him under the water, he had a terrible time getting him back up!! Everyone in the baptistry was getting a kick out of it. I wish I had been there!! So "Spencer, el bautista" does better when he is the one doing the baptizing than being baptized! As you have probably noted, I like looking at dates and locations of names and birth places when ordinances are performed. It makes it more real for me. I was very touched this week, to do a veil presentation for a woman born in 1596. It didn't give her birthplace, but her name was hispanic. Wow--400 years is a long time to wait. It is hard for our grandkids to wait even a few months when their baptism is getting close. We had a nice treat last Tuesday morning. The president asked all missionaries to be at the temple for a 5:30 AM session on Tuesday. He didn't say why. I was really touched when I saw the the second new film has been translated into Spanish. It is beautiful. It was available in English last January, but we had never seen it. It isn't in any other languages yet. I wonder if the third new film is also being translated. I guess time will tell. All temple workers had the opportunity to participate in a session this week. What a nice surprise. I LOVED conference. I've typed up my notes--but they are too long to share. There seemed to be some themes: Personal agency/accountability/responsibility; sacrament; receiving personal revelation; following the prophet; Heavenly Father's love for us; and loving one another/missionary work/reactivation (which go together). I pray that those of you who were looking for answers received them--either thru hearing a talk, or being taught by the Holy Ghost. I continue to study hard on Spanish. I'm using the MTC program of 6 months of infield tutoring for senior missionaries. I'm pretty OCD about doing well each week, so consequently many days I spend 2-3 hours studying. Subjunctive mood is hard! We don't have it in English, so it really takes a lot of work to understand when to use it and when not to.. Oh, well. Studies have shown that one of the best ways to prevent Alzheimers or other dementias is to learn a foreign language after the age of 45. I'm way past that and I continue learning more all the time, so it should save all of my family from having to take care of me in a really demented state of mind! I love you all--hope you are enjoying our news. If you want to comment or respond, you can't just hit "reply". That is a "no-reply" address if you notice. Either send us an email--which I would LOVE! or go to the actual blog to add a comment at the end of a post. Many of you have been responding and we never knew it. But we would love to hear from you in any way shape or form. It gets pretty lonely down here. This is the last note I received from some of you.

Spencer's pictures and report

Lupe and Francisco Agustin will be leaving us in a couple of weeks. He and I partner up when we can on our temple assignments. I'll really miss him when they are gone. Sometimes personalities just "click". Between the afternoon session and priesthood we took them out to eat for Francisco's birthday. They were the only Latins in the annex for conference weekend. The Mortensons will be leaving us when the new temple president arrives on November 1st. They will be sorely missed. They have been an amazing resource for all of the North American missionaries. I was kidding him and said that "nothing good could come out of El Frieda, right?" He laughed and said that his brother Dale (our brother-in-law) was the exception. In their family they always said that Dale was the really good one. We counted Marial as coming out of Pomerene, so she wasn't mentioned in that context. The North American missionaries took them out at the same time we took out the Agustins. It was a very small thank you, for all they have done for us! This was a nice restaurant dinner in appreciation for both couples. Jeanine loved the "knights in shining armor" at the restaurant. It made me think of scriptures and I want to remind all of you to put on the full armor of God. I like the temple under the clouds, so Sunday I disappeared from the apartment to take pictures. But I eventually came back. The flower gardens are pretty right now. We have our own volcano, "Santa Maria". It's not active, but "Hijo de Santa Maria" sometimes emits ash and/or sulfur. This is what we mean when we say we walk up and down the hill to go shopping. Last week I mentioned that Jeanine sometimes kicks me into gear so that I work--here is proof that I'm not afraid of a little manual labor! Family and friends, I want to conclude my thoughts by saying that this assignment is a privileged call. The work inside the temple bridges our lives with the Spirit World. I have felt close to some of those people whose names I have been involved with. Spencer

Circle of Life

In the past week we have celebrated the end of a beautiful life (Michele), a great upcoming experience of life (Nathan Judd's mission call to Minneapolis, MN, and the beginning of a new life (grandchildren number #48 to be born to Jon and Marjon). We are truly feeling blessed.

September 28, 2014--Spencer

I have a special housekeeper. However, she has been known to kick my pants and make me do some of it! These sweet children are in a corner taking care of each other while their parents are in the temple. [The big sister had been carrying the little one around on her back prior to this picture being taken] I took a soft rubber ball over to them to play catch. They lighted up and went with me to the class. By the end of the hour and our trip around the temple they were brave and enjoying the experience. They have probably never been away from parents. Time to get over to the temple: Here comes the next bus load of people: I love to greet people getting off the bus. They love it that someone notices and greets them: Kids in activity after class: This lady is carrying a drink to sell on the street. Her customer is purchasing and enjoying the drink (you won the lottery when you were born in our country). This past week has been heavy, but I have had some uplifting experiences, especially while conducting my temple tours with the children and in the baptismal font. There is great variation in those being baptized. Some of the 12 y.o. young men are no bigger than our 7 y.o. grandsons. One young man was 6'5" and weighed 300#. Occasionally there are older women who are pretty heavy as well. I get my work out on those shifts! Note from Jeanine: Saturday the sister missionaries told me that they visited with a woman who sat in the background listening to our class. She then went on the tour Spencer led. She reported that she learned more about the temple that day than she had in the year since she has been a member. She especially loved Spencer's tour. She is now determined to change her life and prepare to come to the temple. SUCCESS!!

Another great week in review!

September 28, 2014 Wow--this has been a tough week. I had so many emotions battling for precedence when I learned that my sweet, beautiful cousin, Michele Garvin died Monday night. My emotions have been raw. I felt so very, very far away when I knew so many of my loved ones were gathering in Utah yesterday. Oh, how I wish I could have been there. My heart was .... I don't know, I don't have the words. I am so very grateful for my testimony and knowledge of the plan of salvation. I know my Heavenly Father loves me and each person who ever reads this blog. He has a plan for each one of us. Our lives are happier if we learn to let go of our own will and turn things over to God. I am grateful to work in the temple five days a week and further the Lords work here on the earth. Spencer took this beautiful photo with the amazing clouds in the background. We had lots of kids here on Saturday morning. We taught three groups consecutively. In fact, while Spencer was taking the kids on the tour around and into the temple, I had to move forward and cover his parts of the lesson. He would return to the Annex, get them started on the activity and rejoin me whenever he could get there. We were going non-stop for several hours. Fortunately, we didn't have to go to the temple, because it was closing for the afternoon, because of the Women's broadcast from Salt Lake City. Prior to the broadcast we had a Devotional for all of the temple missionaries and workers that have worked with/under President Perez. It was a beautiful, spiritual feast. My heart was overflowing when he testified that he has received revelation in the temple and manifestations. He could hardly talk. They had prepared an amazing DVD of the history and memories of the Quetzaltenango Temple. I can hardly wait to share it with you when we return home. After the prayer we received our DVD's and pictures and had refreshments. Then the missionaries joined the President and Hermana Perez to cut a cake and sing "Happy Birthday" to the temple. I led the singing in both English and Spanish. It was a lot of fun!! Fortunately, we were all able to go to and from the temple on a bus the president rented. Here are some pictures: The chapel we met in was immense. Parking was on the lower level. There were two wings of the same length and a stage in back. It was especially nice to celebrate the 3 year anniversary of the temple. The mission, district, and stake leaders were also invited (and given a DVD) so they can promote temple work here in our temple district. After we got home, I had some computer glitches, but I watched the Women's broadcast with Nita Hinton in her apartment. It is amazing that technology is so available. I plan on listening to talks in Spanish now. One a day next week. It was great that so many of the talks were centered on the temple. Gives us lots of great quotes we can use if we are called on for the spiritual thought in the training meetings in the temple. I will also listen to the talks in Spanish after General Conference--that will take many weeks!! It is good training for my ears. I still can't translate in my head fast enough to keep up. But I am doing great with the MTC tutor. I spend a lot of time studying--probably I'm somewhat OCD about it. Spencer is an excellent resource and helps me review.

Quote for the day!

“God does not begin by asking our ability, but more of our availability. When we prove our dependability, He will increase our capability.” ― Neal A. Maxwell

An example of great faith

On Friday we had a large group arrive from Huehuetenango. They were from an area where they speak Mam. It is very guttural with a lot of clicking noises in it. There was one precious little lady that required a lot of help to get dressed. She seriously isn't more than 4' tall! But she is scrunched with age so maybe she was 4'3" in her prime! She looked like she was about 88-92 years old. She carried a walking stick that was straight from the field. She even used it in the session. When she took off her hair wrap, her long gray hair was down to her waist. We put it in a scrunchy for her. When I asked her if she needed to use the bathroom before the session, I learned that she didn't speak any Spanish. So sisters from the ward helped her. I was assigned to the new name booth. But when she came in I couldn't communicate to learn her last name, so we had to go back out and find someone who could give me her last name, which is needed in the ordinance. As I thought about that my heart was touched by the faith of people like her who come to the temple, and cannot understand the words that are being spoken. She could be taught by the Spirit and she had a fervent desire. She even stayed for a second session. The ward came back after lunch for a third session. But she and her husband waited in the annex. My testimony was increased as I thought about and observed her simple faith. I wish I had a picture of me standing with her--but I didn't know how to ask her to stand up and besides--she was justifiably tired!! She was the star of the week for me!! Just want to share a great experience I had this week with Hermana Herrara. She is my 87 y.o. hero. She comes Tues-Friday for about 3 1/2 hours to perform initiatory work. She is my adopted mother and she calls me her hija (daughter). One day this week I entered the cubicle and there she was. She reached up for me and I bent down to her. She hugged and kissed me and whispered, "Te quiero hija!" ("I love you daughter"). It brought tears to my eyes. Then when I was facing her and performing the work, she reached out, grabbed my hand and held it to her lips while I was speaking. Talk about an emotional high! The spirit of love was so strong and so very special. This is why I love missionary work! It is an amazing experience to be in the temple five days a week.

"Maestro"

Recently I have been thinking about the word maestro. It literally is translated as "teacher" or "master". Teacher is the most common usage. But inchurch videos, you will also see it used in reference to the Savior. He is our Master. At first I thought of Rachelle--as she is a maestra. And I thought about how awesome it is to have the same title as Christ. But then I realized that it has a much broader application--for each one of you is a teacher in either the church or the home. We truly have the stewardship of representing Christ. We are His voice and His hands. Hopefully, we can be master teachers at every opportunity.