Temple Missionary Paseo

Today we had a fun day. It was planned and arranged by President and Sister Galvez. They have a son who lives about an hour and a half away from here in a community called La Perla. They have a nice pool and picnic area. There were 20 of us who went--including four from the family of the Assistant Recorder (who happens to be the nephew of Sister Galvez). Interestingly, we were the only North American missionaries who went. Some just didn't want to go where there might be mosquitoes. We didn't see any--they usually are out later in the afternoon and we left by 2 PM. Some felt like it wasn't good for missionaries to be in the water. There isn't a church wide policy on that--it is up to the mission president. And some were just tired and wanted to rest. But those of us who went had a wonderful time in a very beautiful location. There was a little stream near the pool with lots of bamboo growing around it. What a fun place for kids to play. Here is a collage of pictures from today's activity. Next to the pool was a house with the color scheme Spencer loves! He wishes we could do the same paint job to our house! Seriously. On the way home we saw typical road side scenes of small markets, people carrying heavy loads and women carrying things on their heads. We were only able to get a few pictures as we drove past. We were happy to have an opportunity to become a little bit acquainted with two new couples (Guatemalans) who will be serving in the temple with us. This week we had an interview with the Temple President. He asked if we wanted to come back in about six months, because he would love to have us. I think Spencer would have said yes. I explained that I needed time re-bond with all of our grandchildren. Especially the little ones--and I have a lot of health issues to follow-up on. But it was nice to have him express his love for us. We love all of you and look forward to seeing you in a few months. Jeanine

Guatemaltecos

Dear loved ones, Saturday, Jeanine said we didn't have any pictures. So I went our taking pictures of beautiful people. They are beautiful people inside as well as out. They are easy to spot. Their countenance shows thru to the outside. I love them. The second picture was of one of the gardeners and the third one is taken inside of the Distribution Center, which is in the basement of our annex. There are a few pictures of the open air market. The people don't always have beautiful countenances, however. These markets are very big. Some of them go under covers and into buildings that are dingy and ugly places. To me, it shows the oppression of generations of spiritual darkness--not just the blocking of the sun. I wish I could teach our children what that means. The difference in their countenances shows what it means to bring someone into the gospel. Spencer

Hi everybody, Here are a few pictures around the temple, of the plants and landscaping. Some plants look like what we called "sacatone". It wasn't a good thing then because cows that were hungry would poke their eyes out with it, trying to browse down by the roots. The church has an exceptional water well here and is able to irrigate several acres around--to care for the temple and Annex where we live. The well is deep enough that the water is good--it is actually safe to drink without filtration, which is unheard of here. However, the church still filters it for us. There's nothing to compare here in Quetzaltenango. This shot is taken from about on top of the well. Where the temple is, is truly the light on the hill, so to speak. This site was selected many years ago, in the heavens, as all temples are. The church was able to acquire property adjacent to the temple site for a stake center. Now, there's an upscale housing development going on further down the hill, adjacent to the property on the other side. How that contrasts with the Catholic church and old downtown plaza (I'll try to get pictures of those for next week). Those who have eyes to see, can distinguish the difference and those who don't will continue in their dreary traditions. Love, Spencer Here are the landscaping pictures:

Emotionally exhausting weekend

Friday we learned that our good friends the Riggs had to go home this week. He has had difficulty with his prostate several times since arriving. Now his blood work demonstrates that he has about a 30% kidney failure. The Area medical doctor said he had to return home to get a complete diagnosis and resolution. It all happened really fast. Saturday morning, Spencer had to drive them to the hospital in the Meadows car so he could have a catheter put in. The North Americans went out to eat last night. He had all of the brothers assist in giving him a blessing on Sunday afternoon and we had pie Sunday evening. We have all been very teary. They left this morning for Guatemala City. They fly out in the morning. He sees a urologist and a nephrologist (sp?) on Wednesday. They are hoping to be able to return in a month or two. They left one big suitcase here. If they don't get to come back it will be shipped home to them. Their house is leased out, so they have no home to go to. However, one son is a doctor in Utah so they are going to his home and will be seen by doctors in the Salt Lake area. The Brown kids probably remember that LaVonne Riggs is a sister to Sheryl Brown. We love them and we will miss them very much. I am so grateful that I have been able to tough out and find relief for my problems so that we have been able to stay. This has been very emotionally exhausting.

Monday, February 9th

I want to tell you about an amazing sister in our ward. Hermana Mazariegos translates into sign language for the deaf. She does this professionally. She is a fairly recent convert. Once she joined the church, she started telling all of her deaf friends about it. The first baptism was a woman who has been attending faithfully with her two daughters. Recently, the dad was also baptized and received the Aaronic priesthood. Last Sunday he passed the Sacrament and one of the deacons (probably the president of the quorum) shadowed him in case there was a problem or question. He did a wonderful job and was very proud of himself. Other deaf investigators have also attended. Sister Mazariegos translates everything for them. One slip up I noticed was when the sister received the Gift of the Holy Ghost, Hna Mazariegos sat on the front row to translate the blessing for her. But the priesthood brethren closed the circle so she couldn't see. Oh, well. She felt the Spirit, anyway. Last week Sister Mazariegos brought a whole group of deaf sisters to the temple to do baptisms. Not all of them live in our ward. A couple of them had been there before and a young woman from their ward was translating for them. In both situations the translating sister stood at the edge of the font and translated the prayer and told them when to bend their knees and lean back. It was awesome. Spencer was the recorder for the baptisms and gave each one a hug when she left the font. I was the one to help each of them get the baptismal clothing. It was a special privilege.... This is a picture we took on Sunday with Hermana Mazariegos. What a great missionary and very special person.

Spencer's "PS" to Jeanine's post

I'll just add a few lines to what Jeanine said. I couldn't agree with her more about the divine help we got in making the trip last week. Each connection we made was out of our plan and out of our hands. that was an essential trip first from the standpoint of Jeanine's health (I've seen a marked recovery in her health, which , has gone from "We've got to go home" to "We're going to complete what we came for". and more than that, she may recover from health problems that were previously unknown). The trip was also essential for our spiritual well-being with our visits with Pres and Sister Mask. He took the time to talk with me and rekindle my spirit of the sacred calling of working among these people. This has been a special, one time opportunity, which is a fulfillment of our patriarchal blessings. If you feel weak about the value or the need for us to serve here, Repent! If you could see the difference of your family's lives with or without this service, you would see the difference.

It is February already?!

It has been a couple of weeks since we posted anything. The week before last was pretty basic: ie serve shifts in the temple, prepare meals, clean up, do laundry, clean the apartment, go to the gym (Spencer), walk for exercise (Jeanine)etc. However, I did have to deal with another urinary tract infection--which saps my energy and makes it challenging to exercise and do the things I need to do. The urologist prescribed a new antibiotic and scheduled me for a cystoscopy in Guatemala City. So life became a little more interesting this week. Last Sunday we went to an earlier Sacrament Meeting and then one of our friends drove us to the terminal. We arrived only to be told there was no bus to Panajachel on Sunday. But we caught a shuttle with about two minutes to spare. We had to change buses twice, but all went smoothly. Once again we saw some great traje tipico. We love staying at Hotel Atitlan. We came for a very special reason. We were meeting our good friends Clate and Carol Mask. He was president of the Guatemala temple and we used to stay at their house all of the time. They arrived about an hour after us. We had time to look at lots of his research that determined his candidates for Book of Mormon sites. It was wonderful to have time with them. On Monday 11 more people came. Nine of them were from Xela. They had known them and worked with them in Guatemala City. We knew all of these people as well. It was fun to get together in a casual setting. We should be receiving a group photo by email, but we don't have it yet. One couple came from the capital. We were blessed to catch a ride with them on Monday afternoon. We stayed with Tuli and Cesar--our favorite people in Guatemala. Tuesday morning, Tuli took us to my doctor's appointment. I was scheduled for the cystoscopy on Wed at 6:45 AM. Everything went good. I had a local anesthesia so I was able to see on the screen just what the doctor saw. I have a normal bladder--with evidence of chronic inflammation. Now isn't that an amazing discovery? I'm still on the new antibiotic (less irritating to my stomach) and will have to see him one more time in Guatemala City. My gastritis is improving. I still have some bad days, or bad hours after some meals, but they are far less frequent now. We came back Wednesday afternoon and Spencer served half of the shift in the temple. Saturday we were grieving because we were in the apartment in the morning before our afternoon shift and there was a Primary wanting our class. They need to let the president know, instead of us or other missionaries. We REALLY miss our Saturday classes. We had lots of patrons in the temple Friday and Saturday, which makes our hearts happy--but creates a lot of work. I finished the shift in the laundry this week so my back was suffering from lifting all of the wet laundry from the baptistry. But I love serving and being busy in the temple. It is fun to be studying from the New Testament. I read the book, Jesus the Christ last year, so it is fun to correlate what I read there with the lessons. Scriptures are always good to study. We hope all of you are continuing to have scripture reading with your families and in your personal life. The scriptures are truly a guidepost in our lives. We have had some nice letters from some of you and we appreciate them more than you will ever understand. We love you all.