A few more details....

Here is a picture that shows the couples that went together--the Meadows, Mortensons, Browns and Hintons. Spencer told about the beautiful gardens and flowers and slightly mentioned the birds. But he didn't mention the beautiful pools. We had been to this hotel five years ago with Clate and Carol Mask, so we knew to take our swim suits. The bigger pool was slightly warm and was salt water, so it was easy on the skin. Spencer swam a lot and paid for it with sore muscles. I did a lot of water aerobics both in the evening when we arrived and the next day. Spencer even joined me in the jacuzzi. It was great! We had a good time! I hope you can see that! On Monday morning we ran into other North Americans at this resort. From the pool, they looked like they were LDS. Guess what?! It was Elder Beck and his wife (YM General Pres.), Brother Durrant and his wife (counselor in the Gen. Sunday School Presidency, the Area Rep, and Area 70, and church security officer for Guatemala. That was an extra fun treat. We had a chance to visit with them before they left. They were doing trainings throughout Guatemala this last week. Saturday we had a fun group. We are having enough repeat kids that they recognize us before we are even ready. It is disconcerting when I'm out doing my walking at 7 AM when the buses start arriving. I have my hair in curlers and I have on hot pink gloves--because it is very nippy and because they are for my skin (special ones from Bath and Body Works). I'd rather NOT be recognized. But the kids run up for hugs "Hermana, hermana!" Last week a young woman and two young men had their picture taken with me. I laughed and told them I'd look a whole better in an hour--but I think they wanted a picture of the crazy American lady--and anyone would look good by comparison. We now use a Bingo game the Janae emailed me in addition to the coloring after our class and the tour of grounds and the waiting room of the temple. If any of the rest of you have good links or ideas share them with us. Our themes are: the temple and eternal families; my family loves me; Heavenly Father loves me; and Heavenly Father has a plan for me. Here is the last group that played Bingo. Even one of the mom's joined us. I'd had two full tables of kids playing it before this--we have them switch between Bingo and coloring. Today was our stake conference. It was great. In addition to the Stake President, we had talks by the new mission president and his wife, the temple president and an Area 70 (Elder Mavarillo). It was all great--but this is too long now, so I won't elaborate.

Spencer breaks his silence on week 3 :)

On the week before this one we had a very busy (extra hours) week. For example, they called me to come in on Friday before our shift and I baptized youth for 554 names! Then I had lunch and went back to work for the afternoon. Then on Saturday we taught a huge group of kids before a Primary came--so the morning was really busy and then we served our shift in the afternoon. Sunday right after church we left town with three other North American couples and drove to Lake Atitlan. This is only part of the lake with one of its many volcanoes. Some would see the many volcanoes in this area (when erupting) as being at least partially responsible for the darkness at the time of the crucifixion. The sulfur dioxide emissions could make it so dark and wet that there could be no light. The city that is under the water in the lake could be the city Jerusalem which was mentioned as the water coming up over it (lava from erupting volcanoes would raise the water level). There are pictures taken under water of the remains of a city. Now the lake water has suffered from sewage and fertilizer from crop tail waters. The water in the lake is not as clear as it once was. Friday there were people in the temple from San Francisco Atitlan. That's across the lake and is only accessible by boat. If I can have a selfish wish, it's that we can be sent there to talk some Sunday. We stayed at Hotel Atitlan. The gardens there are exceptional. Here are just a few pictures of the "shabby place." The fairly famous painting by Arnold Frieburg uses the water falls at Lake Atitlan as his background for the Waters of Mormon. When we drove down the mountain on Sunday it had been raining hard and it was flooding and the water was muddy. It was beautiful and clear on Monday when we drove out. Yesterday, the 6th, I was at the desk and a large group of people were peeking in the front door. I motioned them in. There were about 30. I noticed that they were a kind of rough looking and loud bunch. They wanted to come on in and see. They started crowding me on both sides, and I was a bit unsure what was going on. The kids were peering toward the entry way and they were making joking comments. I directed them to move over to the waiting room. They were members of the 7th Day Adventist Church. I had the pleasure of explaining to them that they've seen our chapels, but this was a place where we make certain promises and it is a sacred and more guarded than other places. I told them I could teach them or set them up with missionaries. That dissolved their quest to go into the temple. They left peacefully. I greeted each one cheerfully as they passed back through the front door.

Quote for the day

​“Cultivate an attitude of happiness. Cultivate a spirit of optimism. Walk with faith, rejoicing in the beauties of nature, in the goodness of those you love, in the testimony which you carry in your heart concerning things divine.” ― President Gordon B. Hinckley

A day late and a dollar short! But I will post today. Spencer spent Sunday evening trying to call kids and siblings so he didn't write. I let him write first so I don't steal his thunder. But this time I will go ahead. Most of our week was the normal routine. However, on Friday evening we had a lot of people come from a branch in the mountains. Spencer was at the desk and I was in the reception area to help direct people. I REALLY WISH you could use a camera in the temple. They were there for a young man to get his endowments for his mission. They all spoke Quiche and wore the tipico traeje. The women's hair is long, divided into two parts in the back, twisted (sort of like a ringlet) and then wound around the top of her head and tied in a knot. One of the older men came in wearing the tipico traeje which is a white woven shirt, a scarf, a wrap around skirt and a sash at the waist. His legs were bare from the knees down and he had on a pair of black shoes that came to his ankles and no socks. It was beautiful to see them there. The endowment session was done in Quiche. I wish I had been in it--but at least it was my friend Lupe who was there. I loved seeing them! Then Sunday we spoke in Totonicapan. I visited with the high counselor and he says the culture and language are dying out. Even in his family, his parents only spoke Quiche and his children only speak Spanish. In only two generations it is gone. That makes me so sad. I'm glad that at least in the mountains it is being kept alive. I know the younger generation needs to be conversant in Spanish, but I hate to see the culture die out. We enjoyed our trip to Totonicapan. We never know how much time we'll have and I think even the leaders don't know. For the last two weeks when we met with the bishop in advance we were told there would be two other speakers. Last week neither one materialized. This wek only one did. Crazy. This ward is one that had their Primary come to the temple a few months ago and some of the kids recognized us--that is always rewarding. On the way to Totonicapan there is a public laundry. We stopped and took some pictures. There was a pool off to the side. I think some people use it for bathing. It appeared to be spring fed. Many women stand right in the water and they can wash their feet and legs the same time they are washing their clothes. There were trees on the way home that was beautiful. When the wind blew, the leaves looked silver. I was sad to see that the picture didn't capture that. It reminded me of the tree of life. The stake center we spoke at was bigger than any I've seen in the states. It is four years old and has full basketball courts inside and out and a stage. We haven't had those included in new chapels in the states for a long time. There were four wings of it surrounding a courtyard. I have on one more of my new wuipil jackets and a tipico skirt. Fun. Fun. Fun! Sunday afternoon we had a fireside chat with the president for just the American missionaries at the Mortenson's house. It was great. I love socializing and we don't really have much time for it with our missionary work. I'd better sign off. It is time for Noche de Hogar (FHE).

The importance of being a friend

This is sort of long but it is a valuable message that I felt deserved to be posted. The Gospel Doctrine lesson on Sunday was taken from Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. There were a lot of topics available for the instructors to choose from. One choice was about friendship, but it probably wasn’t taught just because of time restraints. I want to share one quote that impressed me: Elder Marvin J. Ashton said: “Someone has said, ‘A friend is a person who is willing to take me the way I am.’ Accepting this as one definition of the word, may I quickly suggest that we are something less than a real friend if we leave a person the same way we find him. … “No greater reward can come to any of us as we serve than a sincere ‘Thank you for being my friend.’ When those who need assistance find their way back through and with us, it is friendship in action. When the weak are made strong and the strong stronger through our lives, friendship is real. If a man can be judged by his friends, he can also be measured by their heights. … “Yes, a friend is a person who is willing to take me the way I am but who is willing and able to leave me better than he found me” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1972, 32, 35; or Ensign, Jan. 1973, 41, 43). It really doesn’t take a lot of time or energy to be someone’s friend. And it means so much to them. Several months ago, I mentioned some of my heroes. One was a woman named Nancy Zarate who is an American expatriate living in our temple district. She is a little bit rough around the edges and sort of loud so I’m guessing she has put people off and not had lots of close friends. I think she is amazing because she gives away everything to bless the lives of others and barely squeaks by with her own basic needs. She comes to the temple every week and spends two days and nights here. But she didn’t come the two weeks before the break nor the two weeks after the break. So with the break she was gone for almost 7 weeks. I know she has a heart condition and I became really worried about her. I didn’t know if she was even alive at this point. The temple recorder helped me get the phone number of one of the bishops (I had the wrong ward, but oh well). We called and talked to Bishop’s wife and she said she had seen her at the market that morning and she appeared to be OK. I was relieved. Last week she returned to the temple. While she was in the temple I slipped a note under her door her in the Annex. Something along the lines of “How dare you disappear for 7 weeks and not tell anyone. I have been so worried about you. I even called the bishop’s wife of Patezite ward…. “ She came back over to the temple that evening while I was working. She found me and said, “I cried when I found your note. I didn’t know if anyone even noticed or cared that I was gone. I have been really, really sick. But I’m getting better.” She shared more along the same lines. Then before she left the next day she found me again and said, “I will keep your note forever. I don’t think anyone has ever done anything nicer than that for me.” Wow! I had no idea that expressing my love and concern would touch her to the inner core like that. It made me determined to be a better friend. This is a picture of my friend Nancy. This same week I’ve had two different experiences that I want to record—not to draw attention to me, but to the importance of being a friend. I’ve mentioned my friend Vilma Salguero. She is a wonderful resource to me because she understands a lot of English and speaks slowly in Spanish for my benefit. When we were getting ready to start our shift last week, she said that she felt like we were friends in the pre-existence and that it is great blessing that we found each other again in this life. I was so touched by her kind words. I told her “Yeah, it would have been even better if we were born into families who spoke the same language!” She laughed and agreed. A couple of nights later several of us were working the laundry and Hermana Lupe Agustin told Hermana Socop that I was her best friend—I told Hna. Socop that I pay Lupe to say that. But then Vilma interrupted and said, that it wasn’t true anyway, because in reality, I was her best friend, not Lupe’s. It was all said in fun, and we were all laughing, but it made me realize, once again, how much these Latin sisters appreciate my efforts to take the time to communicate with them and show interest in their lives. They even appreciate the fact that I wear a lot of “tipico” clothes from Guatemala. They feel like I’m one of them—even though I’m a giant and make them slow down and even then I miss some of the conversations. They appreciate my efforts. They are always full of compliments. The new trend is to notice my eyes. Lupe’s son, daughter-in-law and daughter visited last week. I went up to the apartment to have a chance to visit with them. What great people. I guess after I left they all started talking about how striking to color of my eyes was… Jorge teased his wife by saying it was a good thing I wasn’t younger and that he wish he had contacts the color of my eyes. To me it is just amusing, because my eye color is so very common at home. But you know what? Their offer of friendship and compliments to me, has made me pay more attention to using subtle make-up appropriately to look my best. The friendships I’ve developed here have truly blessed my life—and I think I’ve blessed theirs. It is so awesome that so many scriptures on friendship were available last week. We have great examples from the scriptures, most notably, Jonathan and David (who Aunt Dode related to Vicki Jo and me). But the most valuable are those in the NT and D & C where the Savior referred to others as His friends. I hope to live my life so that I am counted as a friend to Christ. Here are Vilma and Lupe--not a very flattering picture of any of us, but that's OK--this is about friendship, not good looks!

Sunday, August 17th

Spencer told about our trip to Colomba, but I wanted to show you the pictures separately. Because of the timing, we spent an hour sitting in front of the locked gates to the church. We arrived at 7 and the meeting was scheduled for 9 AM. Fortunately the branch secretary arrived at 8 AM the president shortly after that. Spencer wanted to say that the one picture he took in front of the church was of a "homeless lady"--I hope he thought she was at least a cute homeless lady. :) Lots of interesting people walked down the street. It was interesting that with the huge parking lot, not one single member arrived in a car. When we returned back to the temple we thought it was beautiful day to get some pictures of us with the flower gardens around the temple. Spencer already covered our week, and I editorialized with the pictures, so I will call this good for this week's report. Love to all of you. So many of you are in our prayers daily as well as in the temple. We think of you and try not to worry, but to trust in the Lord to give you guidance in the important decisions of life. Jeanine