Just a few tidbits after Spencer's post

One of the things that is really fascinating around Atitlan is that many of the men still wear the tipico traeje (traditional clothes). Now, while the weather is cooler they wear pants under the skirts, but in hot seasons their legs are bare below the skirts. Here in Quetzaltenango and in most areas we have visited it is only the women who wear the tipico traeje. There is a fascinating variety in the clothing, even among the women. One stop we made (where Spencer stayed in the tuk-tuk, rather than go in) was for a shrine for Mayan deity. Not all are truly converted to Christianity yet. He is a wooden, carved statue with a big cigar in his mouth. There are two replicas in other parts of Guatemala. He is rotated each year between nine families. In the same room there is a glass coffin to honor Christian heroes. Interesting. And out back lots of men were gathered to drink a homemade alcohol all as part of this festival. Boy did I feel like I stepped back many hundreds of years! In Santiago we found they used pickups as "people movers" and men carried wood on their backs, just as we have seen in other parts of the country. We found the trip to be relaxing and nice. My abdominal pain held off most of the time we were there--but not all of it (unfortunately). But I am beginning to have more good days than bad days, so that is always good--I'll take all of the good days I can get and feel grateful for them. This afternoon we will be helping prepare the temple to open tomorrow. Then it is back to our normal routine. I'm not sure what we will do for pictures for the blog in the future. Hmmm.... Stayed tuned and you can find out. I love the work here. It is wonderful to serve the Lord and to serve His children--on both sides of the veil. We appreciate the love and support and especially the prayers you offer in our behalf. I especially appreciate those who have made the effort to keep my name(our names) on the prayer roll of the various temples. Prayers make a big difference. As much as I love this mission, all of the health issues have made it very challenging at times. But I know I'm where the Lord wants me to be.

Our last week of temple mantenance closure

Spencer's report: Saturday, the 10th, I walked down into the huge bus terminal area in Xela to find a bus that would take us to Lake Atitlan. In seemed rather intimidating at first. There are two or three bus lines in there and it's very dirty and crowded. There are no signs for directions--only men yelling out names of towns and rudeness with men trying to fill up their buses. These are the local buses, not the nice ones we have used going to Guatemala City. They are mostly Bluebird Buses designed for schools or transportation between smaller cities in 3rd world countries. Here is a picture of the man sitting across the aisle from us as we left Xela. He is wearing the "tipico traeje". The seats are not built for comfort, but rather for crowding extra people in with stops and starts with people getting on or off at small communities along the way. They have schedules and you just have to learn where they park and when they leave. Anyway, I found the bus that makes the run to Panajachel (Lake Atitlan) and the bus helper yelled quickly their departure schedules. Monday morning we drug our suitcase down there. Luckily we left early thinking we'd have 30 minutes to spare. But it was leaving at 10:00 not 10:30, so we barely got there in time. I had even suggested Jeanine might want to wait at WalMart, but thankfully she didn't want us to be separated. I forgot to get my money (I had used all my cash to pay Fast Offerings the day before), but Jeanine had some money to get us there. I paid my 3 Quetzales to use the public restroom. The smell and sanitation would make you "hurl". Away we went. At one point there were three people on our bench seat (made for two), three across the aisle and one standing. It was that way all thru the bus, but with each stop after that it got better as more exited than entered. Often people got on the buses to sell something--mostly food, drinks and "snake oil" that will cure everything. The ones I can't stomach are the preachers. We made the trip in good shape in about 3 1/2 hours (an hour longer than by car). Jeanine had reserved a nice hotel. She called and the price was way too high, so she went online and thru Expedia it was less than half as much! I liked everything about it. There was a nice swimming pool. We had it mostly to ourselves because it was cold water. Here is a view of our hotel from the lake. Panajachel makes its money by selling tipico items made in that part of the country. People come from all over the world to visit Lake Atitlan because it is so beautiful. This man gets up and down the street on his hands and knees. He protects his knees with car tire rubber. The lady sitting down shuffles herself by swiveling her hips. She's also using recycled tire rubber to protect herself from the cobbled streets. On Tuesday morning we took a private boat across the lake to see Santiago Atilan. The water got really choppy and we were bouncing from the top of one wave to the next. There are three volcanoes around the lake. There are at least 12 towns that are named after the twelve apostles. We were fascinated to learn that San Pedro, Santiago and Panajachel all speak different Mayan dialects that have no overlap or relationship with one another. They can only communicate with each other by using Spanish. Here are pictures showing the volcanoes. Each community has its own style of clothing. Much of their economy is the tourist trade. They also grow produce on the sides of the volcano slopes. The church has these nice two story churches on both sides of the lake. We talked some missionaries and they said the missionary work is going strong in the area. The government built a laundry with nice pilas (the sinks with a rubbing board on the side), but the women prefer washing their laundry on the shores of the lake. Jeanine was just dying to get our there in the cold lake and wash clothes. It would have made a great picture. In the last picture you can see the laundry facility built with shade and everything, but no one is using it. We visited the "Parque de la Paz" (Peace Park). It is where the army and the natives came to an agreement to stop this "unholy" war. It was going on in the 1980s and 1990s. The Mayan people were being slaughtered--sometimes only because they couldn't respond to questions asked by the soldiers in Spanish (a language they didn't understand). So the soldier would shoot them. The president of the country apologized and set up a plaque stating that they will not have military force there in the future. The killing of the Lamanites is foretold in the Book of Mormon. One fun stop was to visit a little old matriarch that demonstrated the making of the "hat" she wears everyday--as do many other women in this town. She begins by wrapping her hair and the cloth together and then she starts winding it around her head. She also makes wuilpils (the handmade blouses). What do you think of Jeanine in this headdress? (only she didn't start by winding her hair in it!) This is the "real McCoy" on the dock by our boat. This is beautiful country. These are children of Lehi who are now accepting the gospel. They have suffered for 2000 years. I'm so glad to be part of this work. I'm so glad to be part of this work. These are the remnant of the seed of Joseph spoken of by Capitan Moroni. I love this lake and surrounding areas. this is the Book of Mormon land! Of that, I'm sure.

Our trip to Coban

Last week we only had Tuesday and Wednesday available for "fun". Tuli and Cesar drove us to Coban. We had never been there before. Unfortunately we had a major delay on the highway so it took most of the day. The hotel we stayed at had a zoo of native animals. While we were checking out some birds in one cage, a little monkey reached thru the bars, snatched Spencer's glasses right off his face and threw them onto the concrete. We couldn't even react until it was over. It bent the frames pretty badly, but fortunately we were able to get them fixed (cost: less than $3!) Here you can see the bird that distracted Spencer; the little, but long black arm and the innocent monkey face--little mischief maker! Notice Spencer is minus his glasses! We had fun wandering around town in the evening. The next morning we went to a reserve called Ram Tzal. It is a Ka 'chi word. Even the lobby was fascinating with lots plants, saddles and rustic decor. I was worried about the hike to the view point for the water fall. But I didn't want to be left behind. We took it nice a slow and it was AMAZING! First we walked thru a bamboo forest. In places the trail was about 18" wide--but in those places it was too dark for pictures. We all had bamboo walking sticks--and it is a good thing, because it was slick and rain from the night before kept falling off the leaves onto our heads. When we came out of the bamboos we were in ferns and similar plants. As we started circling around and going up, we were in the midst of a different type of pine. The wet pine needles were slick and it took lots of concentration. We had a guide with us--thank goodness. Finally we got to the look-out for the falls. The picture does not do it justice. Even from a distance (we were much higher and across the canyon)it was spectacular! We loved the bridges over streams and smaller water falls along the way. We owe a great debt of gratitude to Tuli and Cesar. We had hoped to go to Flores and see Guy and Lisette Bake who are serving in the Coban Mission; but the crazy doctors' appointments didn't leave us enough of a window. That is a disappointment. The trip back was fast and uneventful and we arrived at the bus terminal with 15 minutes to spare! We got home late Wednesday to start the rounds of appointments on Thursday and Friday. We love you all. We've enjoyed getting pictures from several families and we've added them to our screen saver.