We love you all and miss you!

During the past week we worked in the temple on the morning shift on Tuesday-Friday. It wasn't nearly so busy as it has been during the first three weeks of the month--but I love it. We are on the evening shift the next two weeks (2:30-9:30 PM). I feel a little more needed in the evenings because there are less local workers. I LOVE working in the temple. It is wonderful. You may have noticed in the Church News that last week they announced our new temple president for later this year. Brother Galvez is a Guatemalteco, but has a home in the United States now. Last Monday we had a fun BBQ on the patio of the President's apartment. It was a farewell party for a couple who are headed home to Guatemala City. Their name is Garciasalas. They have been wonderful friends and we will miss them very much. He is a temple sealer here and it will take about three months for the process to move forward where we will get another sealer. I took a picture with my two "mothers" at the BBQ--Lupe Agustin and Vilma Salguero. They are wonderful friends. I have also had a lot of help from the Quetzaltenango mission nurses--Sally Gunnell and Carol Jackson. They came to our BBQ as well and are pictured next to me and then you see Zoe Maes and Chrys Meadows. I continue to need their assistance since my UTI is still going strong. I finished the 10 days of antibiotics and tomorrow I will go for another culture and sensitivity test. Sigh. Here are three random pictures from last Saturday. I was playing ball with the kids and when they caught it they had to name a blessing they had received. It is my routine "gathering activity" prior to our charla. The second picture is a sister who faithfully attends the temple every Saturday as a patron. We are standing in front of a beautiful painting of the Waters of Mormon. The third picture is three random sisters eating in the DR. The last picture is of an activity where RS sisters made pin cushions. They gave me one as a gift. It was nice of them. Last night I really enjoyed the Women's broadcast. I watched it in English on the computer. Spencer turned on the TV in the same room and watched in Spanish. It was very distracting because he was about 30-40 seconds ahead of me. I had to use ear phones and even then sometimes it was difficult. But we both enjoyed it a lot!!

Sunday, March 30th 2014

Dear Family and Friends (all of you are family), I'll start my report with two little brothers (about 2 and 4), all dressed in white being escorted from the Annex building over to the side door of the temple to be sealed to their parents. Then a picture when they got back to the children's waiting room. I can't think of anything more emotional than that when you think of what transpires during that saving ordinance. I've had a couple of things I'm happy about this week. I complained a little about not being asked to officiate in initiatory ordinances or to be the officiator in the sessions. I was given some additional training with the dialogue and watched in a session or two. The good thing is that I'm now officially passed off and I am getting the opportunities I wanted. I've made a few mistakes, but they are going away now. It's still intimidating though, to lead the prayer circle and to express something correctly and appropriately in Spanish. I'm looking for vocabulary to make that easier. The other events that I'm excited about are opportunities that came while we are off shift and/or Saturdays. There are often large groups (or small) that visit here and would like a discussion about the temple. We are the missionaries that are called to meet with them. I feel more relaxed doing that and I value those experiences. One group that came was from Retalhuleu (about 2-3 hours away). The sister missionaries came with them and they brought their investigators on the bus with the ward members who had been endowed. I was able to meet with and teach the investigators. They seemed very enthused and I think they felt enlightened when we talked about the temple when they were right here. Another group came in from a local ward. The mission leader gathered up all of the new converts and all of the current investigators and brought them here to the temple annex. I've never seen a mission leader so effective. We talked about the temple purpose and had the new converts talk about their involvement doing baptisms and how they, too, could bring the names of their ancestors who have passed on and start the temple work for them. If the investigators are baptized they can begin the same process. The ward mission leader had already taken them thru the front door of the temple and into the waiting room. All in all I just felt the power of talking about the temple, while being here at the temple. There are many such opportunities just from walking around and visiting with people outside. They will almost always open up about family circumstances and ask about the temple. It has been wonderful.

Noche de Hogar--Family Home Evening

We were in charge of FHE last Monday with the temple missionaries. We held a trial to determine if Joseph Smith was a prophet or an imposter and used testimonies from lesson 43 in the JS manual. We gave assignments to different missionaries and they all bore their testimonies as well. It was well received. Each witness came to the witness stand (El Estrado). Spencer conducted the trial and called the witnesses.

My best night ever in the temple

The last three Saturdays the temple has been filled to overflowing. It has been wonderful, but I have felt sort of bad that I was never able to be in the temple to feel the spirit and witness the strength of the sisters because of our assignment to work with the children and the adults that aren't/can't enter the temple. On Friday afternoon we had a very large group come from up in the mountains. The sisters all had their hair tied up on their heads--they looked magnificent. At the last minute, I was assigned to be the follower for the session. As more sisters kept coming--many from here in town, the brethren had to keep adding folding chairs. Eventually we had 52 sisters, 9 brothers and 4 sister temple workers. The room was truly filled beyond capacity (we only have seating for 40 generally). But more importantly, the room was filled with the Spirit. It was palpable. When the film started, I looked out over there sisters and the tears started flowing. I couldn't stop crying as I thought of the rejoicing of Lehi and Sariah. It was almost like they were there, being overjoyed at seeing the faithfulness and strong testimonies of their righteous daughters. One of the sisters right in front of my knees (that is how close the chairs were) looked like a young Lamanite princess. And on the row behind her was a matronly, beautiful woman who glowed with the spirit and looked like she could have been a model for a Book of Mormon painting. It was so incredible that it is beyond words. The 30-40 women who had come in from the mountains struggled with Spanish and it was thrilling to be able to guide them with love, understanding and short phrases to help them when they needed it. Then I had a short break and was asked to help with another session where we had 37 sisters and 9 brothers. Most of this group were from the city and are frequent and faithful temple attenders. Those were the two largest groups I have been with--and it happened on an evening shift! So I was able to participate--Heavenly Father had heard the prayer of my heart. I will never forget it.

Head coverings

I wish your could actually see the sisters when they come into the temple. Some are wearing scarves tied in the back; some have their hair divided into two parts, wound around their head and tied in a knot in the front; Some have blankets folded and just sitting on top of their heads. In the streets they would have large baskets of things sitting on top of these blankets. But here I have seen sisters get dressed, wrap their temple clothes in the tipico fabric, plunk it on top of their head and head for the elevator and/or outside. We tried to get some pictures. Unfortunately some didn't turn out. But enjoy what we have.

Tipico traje--native clothes

I know I've commented on these clothes before, but, this week I saw lots of of "tipico traje" on the young girls. One of the brothers baby sitting had to work to get his little sister upright enough for me to take her picture of "toddler tipico" And here are four young girls wearing complete tipico--except for one jeans skirt! But notice the babies on their backs as well. They are precious! I love taking pictures of them in the tipico traje. I have several things that are tipico that I wear a lot. Yesterday, some of them stopped me and asked if they could take their pictures with me--they loved my dress as much as I love theirs! You can get a glimpse of my dress when I am helping some of the kids.

El cuidar los ninos--caring for the children

While mothers are in the temple, someone has to care for the babies and toddles and it is generally an older sibling. Occasionally a dad or grandmother is here to take on that responsibility. I love seeing the girls carrying kids that must be 1/3 their body weight on their backs! There was one little boy tending his toddler sibling sitting on the outside of our class. I could see that he wanted to do the coloring activity. I offered to watch the baby so he could color right there on the floor. He started to say yes--then he shook his head--there was no way he was going to get out of the chair his little sister was in. So I brought the paper and colored pencils to him so he could participate while sitting beside her. When you are looking at the babies you sometimes see dimples, sometimes a head of hair that is thicker than mine EVER was.

HOLA 23/3/2014

Today was Stake Conference. There were powerful messages from very knowledgeable men. If someone thinks that there are only people here with limited education, well, think again. These talks would fit anywhere in the world. Here is a picture of a priesthood leader and his wife who came in from one of the stakes. You can see by the nice bus that isn't one of the poor areas in the mountains. Some may wonder if all we do is tend kids and help adults. I would say that that isn't all we do, but it's a rewarding activity we've been assigned on Saturdays and we can't take pictures or talk much about our activities the other four days of the week. Yesterday was special for me. Nothing quite excites me as much as talking to and working with these wonderful people from this large temple district. I can't get enough. I even go get on the buses with them. Some kid around with me and tell me to get off their bus or some try to persuade me to go home with them. Yesterday I was going up and down the aisles between tables in the dining room with a garbage can or sack and talking to them as if I was the city garbage collector and honking like the open bed trucks do when they come by picking up trash in town. It's like the Tenney boys used to do in Prescott--but I do it even better here in Quetzaltenango! The people from the mountains are so unique and fun, but you have to keep blinders on because there are so many moms nursing their babies. Working in the temple brings an increased awareness of the sacredness of this work. I'm thankful for people like my mother who provide the names thru the indexing program. These names, for the most part, keep the temples going. All of the ordinances for all the children of God will be done at some point. That is incomprehensible. And each ordinance must be done one by one by one. We talk quite often with members who made that terrible bus ride (old buses, day and night) to Mesa to do their temple work. This went on through the 50's, 60's, and 70's. Those were modern pioneers. Some made the trip 4 or 5 times. I talked to an old lady yesterday about the trip. I have a great picture of two boys going in by the side door to be sealed to their parents. There are two temple workers with them. They wait in a special room--the guarderia--over here in the annex and then go in by a door that is right next to the sealing room in the temple. From your very loveable and adoring father who loves you.

Music in the church

Hi family--I will write just a short note since Spencer was pretty complete in his report. I have been fascinated to observe the music in the church. Most wards/branches don't have anyone to play the piano. The person conducting stands up--sings the first line so you can hear the pitch and the tune and then leads the song. In one branch we visited the "chorister" didn't know how to lead music so she sang the first line, then tapped on the hymn book while saying "uno, dos, tres" and everyone started singing. I wonder if they even have boom boxes to use the cd's the church puts out with the music. I haven't ever seen one used yet. I also wonder what they do when new music comes out each year in Primary for the Sacrament Meeting presentation. You have to have a lot of confidence to lead the music here! I'm impressed. One thing Spencer didn't talk about was the number of charlas (lessons) we taught on Saturday. He started out in the morning with a group of 30 new members and/or investigators to teach them about the temple. We also taught three kids classes. Then in the afternoon we taught together another class to adult women about the temple. When Spencer went to help with baptisms, I had another 30 women to teach about the temple. We took them to the temple waiting room to see the film "Mountain of the Lord" after our class. But in between we spent the entire day visiting and teaching the many, many sister who were here who didn't have recommends. We were teaching all day long and we were exhausted at night. All of the missionaries were exhausted that night. We performed more ordinances on Saturday than any other day since the temple opened (except on the anniversary Saturday where they had 11 sessions). Many missionaries worked a double shift and were in the temple going non-stop for about 12 hours. It fills your heart with joy to see the temple and the annex filled with people who love the Lord and want to be either in or near His House.

We love you all and miss you very much! Thank you for keeping touch via emails or phone calls!

16th of March 2014 Dear Loved Ones, I 'll try to pull up any creativity that I can find. I feel that I don't have much to work with. For example, I told Jeanine that some of the pictures I wanted to take, I couldn't because anywhere you looked, there was a baby "on the receiving end." Jeanine thought that was a little weird. But, oh well, that's the best that I can do. Every March the wards and stakes budget for a bus trip to the temple because the Relief Society Birthday is a BIG deal. Maybe you could compare it to a BYU Women's Conference. The temple is the place to be. Even if they are very old, or crippled, or just don't have a recommend to show, they come. Jeanine and I have the assignment to stay with those outside the temple. We teach the kids and/or orient new converts or non-members about the temple. On Saturday we had a children's class going [we were just finishing it up] and another group showed up. [There literally wasn't a spot available on the floor or on any chairs.] So I grabbed the visual aids and put the children on the steps going up to the next floor of our annex building. There was an adult up on the top and when Jeanine finished up the other class, she joined me and we taught from the bottom. We had them trapped! [or contained might be a better word :)] It was good. [When we finished with the lesson, we took the kids outside for the coloring activity to reinforce our lesson and have something to take home with them. It was a perfectly beautiful day outside. ] You can see the rows of micro buses in the background. There was a man around here that is a reporter for the church magazines. He will have something about the tradition here of going to the temple for the Relief Society birthday. I take pictures of people and buses hoping that I can help get something in the Liahona. I have a picture of a lady in a wheelchair who had been in a bus accident. She is so damaged that all she could talk about is wanting to die. [She lost one eye and is a complete invalid]. Very sad. Another interesting experience was visiting with a young mother and her mother-in-law, whose husband/son had been murdered. When we were here before it seemed that almost every family had someone in their extended family who had been murdered. It is a reality of life here. When wards send their youth for baptisms they are expected to send a team of brethren to perform the ordinances of baptisms and confirmations. That doesn't always happen. Recently I told them that I would love to perform the baptisms. They were very happy to have me volunteer. I'm getting to do lots of baptisms, which I like. It is really different when adult women come for baptisms. They aren't very flexible and you can't get them down, then their feet come out from under them and you can't get them back up! They you have to use psychology to get them to do it again. Lastly, tonight, I'm far from accomplished in the Spanish language, but I'm thrilled at some of the expressions that I can use to communicate with. Life is good. Hasta luego, Dad/Spencer/or some other name you give me when you're mad. PS: Check out the little boy tending his brother while his mother is in the temple. There was a little girl also with a tiny baby on her back, but we didn't get a picture of her.