Testimony from Jeanine

This morning when I was reading the Sunday School lesson (#15 I Am the Light of the World), a particular quote jumped out at me: Elder John K. Carmack of the Seventy said: “Jesus explained, ‘If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself’ (John 7:17). In other words, as you try it you can know it is true. This requires the faith to try, but it yields spiritual evidence. To the disciple who tries the experiment will come conviction, knowledge, and light” (Ensign, Nov. 1988, 26). Of course, I immediately thought of Alma 32 and his unsurpassed explanation of the importance of planting the seed. We teach our little children to pray, but it actually takes many years before they turn to pray in times of pain, heartache or even rejoicing. They have to experiment upon the word. The same can be true fasting. Sometimes that takes a crisis before someone immediately thinks of fasting on their own. Even something as frequent as partaking of the sacrament has to be experienced in a particular way. During this mission I have looked up the sacrament prayers and during the quiet time, I sometimes read them in Spanish and sometimes in English, but I have tried to reflect on whether or not I have taken upon me the name of Christ during the week and how I might do it better in the coming week. I think that is true of temple ordinances as well. Most everyone I know was a little overwhelmed when they received their endowments. It takes attending many times before you begin to fully grasp the significance of the gift you have received. As we have been on this mission, I have been in the temple 5 days a week for about 6 hours. My understanding and love for every area is many times greater than ever before. As I listen or speak the words of the various ordinances: initiatory, sealings, endowments, I am so very grateful for our Heavenly Father’s Plan. A testimony of temple ordinances comes from attending frequently and prayerfully listening. It takes having a heart open to whisperings of the Spirit. I’m grateful we aren’t expected to understand any principle on the first exposure—even the basic things, such as prayer. I’m thankful the Lord is patient with us as we struggle, question and ask the same questions more than once. I’m thankful, as a mother, I was able to teach my children and watch them grow as they planted the seeds for themselves and learned to do the Savior’s will until they knew it was from him—as was spoken of by the Apostle John (as cited in the quote from Sunday School). I’m grateful I’ve had this missionary experience and have enjoyed the spirit and blessings of the temple on a daily basis.

April post

Hi family, We have been negligent in posting anything. I'll start with pictures, since that is what appeals most to some of you. I keep reminding Spencer he can just write a letter without pictures, but to no avail. In early April we had a big excursion come to the temple from the departmento of Huehuetenango. This area speaks Mam. They spent most of the day here at the temple, because it is such a long trip for them (about 5 hours). They left at 2 AM. As you know from previous posts, the older children tend the younger children--and do an excellent job of it! But I had to laugh because as I was leaving the temple about 1 PM, I could hear a toddler crying without even stopping for a breath. As I walked past a planter I saw him sitting on the sidewalk and I think his older brother was just plain tired of it because he stood by him to be sure he was safe, but he finally just reached out and kicked the sole of his shoe and told him to stop! I went back outside a little later and there two brothers and several other kids were playing on the temple lawn. I loved the women's and girls' clothes so I asked permission and took several pictures. I thought you might enjoy them as well. The two brothers are in the center of the first picture. Now for the fun clothes: The first pictures of this group are a grandmother and her grandchildren. Sweet, loving people. I love helping them here at the temple. Now for a quick update on my health. I haven't been to the temple for over a week because I have a nasty virus. A doctor in our ward made a "house call" both Sunday and Monday. We did blood work and it is a virus--nasty cough and bronchitis, but it is improving now. He says to stay home for 3-4 more days to recuperate and to not spread it around. So I guess I'll return to the temple on Saturday of this week. Also, yesterday I had the test done for h. pylori (a bacteria in the stomach) to determine if that is why my gastritis didn't get better with all the meds since the middle of December. Interesting. 0-40 is negative, 40-70 undetermined, over 70 is positive. My number was 153!! No wonder I have so much abdominal pain. I described it as feeling like someone kicked me in the gut. Dr. Province describes the gastritis pain as someone knifing you in the gut. Whatever. But now I'm on a regime with three different meds (including an antibiotic) for 10 days; then a different combination of meds for a month; then two weeks with no meds (which I had to endure the last two weeks) and we will repeat the test right before we come home. Hopefully it will be negative. La doctora says if we get that cleared up I will feel so-o-o-o much better than I have felt in a long time. Interestingly, there isn't an antibiotic known that will eliminate h-pylori by itself, it takes a combination of different drugs. She gave me a bag full of meds that would have cost a lot of money to take care of much of the treatment. If h-pyhlori goes untreated, there is a higher incidence of stomach cancer. So I am 100% compliant (as always) with the treatment. I am HAPPY to have a treatment plan and look forward to relief! Yeah!!! So, I'm a happy camper! Also, with lying around the last week with this crazy virus, I've had NO back pain, since I can keep my legs propped up and my lower back stretched, so that has been great!! Sunday was good because I had the above mentioned visit from the doctor as well as a medical student (resident) who is a temple worker and received great medical care. Then a few hours later, the priesthood from the ward came with the sacrament. It had been three weeks since I had received it because of General Conference and being sick. So it was a wonderful Sabbath Day. Now I look forward to getting back to the temple!!

Cool picture

Just thought you'd enjoy seeing how sisters come to this temple. They aren't carrying the normal little suitcase with temple clothes. Instead they are wrapped in a blanket and carried either on their head or on their back. It is so cool to see!

Hidden blessings and funny stories to share

Hello all, Sorry, I have no pictures to share except those you can create in your minds when you read. :) Hidden blessing #1: As many of you know, beginning several years ago, I started getting bruises on my forearms and the back of my hands--really big, ugly bruises. Because of them the doctors told me I should no longer use ibuprofen or aspirin products since they cause more bleeding. That was tough because I relied on ibuprofen for my back. Instead I had to start taking Celebrex (very expensive). Last week when I was working in the temple, the thought came into my mind that in reality the bruises were a HUGE blessing, because at the same time I had gastritis going on, which I was unaware of. The endoscopy I had done a few months ago shows major trauma on the inside of my stomach and some in the esophagus and duodenum. The damage has been going on for years. If I had continued taking the other meds I would have probably had major bleeding. Heavenly Father knew what was going in, even if I didn't, so the bruises actually protected me. Hidden blessing #2: We live up the hill from all shopping and church. Early on I made the trek with great frequency. But it started bothering my back more and more. The spasms were such a problem, that I finally decreased significantly my treks up the hill. I not only had back spasms, but lots of shortness of breath. Well, since then, I have learned that I have a heart problem (which I will get worked up when I get home). The cardiologist told me the symptoms were chest pain (which I haven't noticed), shortness of breath and dizziness. I have had increased episodes of light headedness and shortness of breath. My guess is that my heart issue would have been much worse, it I kept walking up that hill at this altitude (7,800 ft). The back spasms protected my heart. Interesting, huh? Funny story on Spencer: One day in Sunday School class, Spencer was asked to read some scriptures about when Peter, Andrew, James and John were called as apostles. He misread fishermen (pescadores) and instead said "pecadores" which means sinners. There was a chuckle around the room and I whispered what he had done. He didn't miss a beat. He said they might have been fishermen, but they were probably sinners, too, since we are all sinners. Funny story on me: You probably needed to be there to really get the humor on this one, but here goes anyway. One night in the locker room, I asked the coordinator and two other workers about the pronunciation of "-ie" at the end of a name. We all agreed that it should be two syllables (-i-e), since it isn't a diphthong. My observation is that the sisters do that with names like "Sophie", but with "Marie" they always leave the sound of the "e" off the end. One sister suggested that maybe they were trying to make it more like the English pronunciation of Mary. I explained that Marie and Mary are different names in English, Then the coordinator suggested, "Hermana, why don't you just say to them, 'Please pronounce it Mar-i-e' when they say is wrong." My eyes just got big and I incredulously blurted out (in English),"You have GOT to be kidding!!" They all started laughing, even though only one of them understood the words--they all understood the meaning. In fact the bilingual sister mimicked me right back "You have GOT to be kidding." I told them that was NEVER going to happen, I wasn't going to be the gringa that came down from the USA and started corrected their Spanish pronunciation! We could hardly stop laughing and kept shushing each other to be more reverent. What a fun, choice memory.

March 29, 2015 from Spencer

Hi ya'll (saludos a todos), This evening I have some pictures I took in the market. It comes around every Monday morning. I take the hike there and then catch a taxi back. When we need fruits: pineapple, melons, watermelon, bananas, papaya and oranges, potatoes, and eggs, it's way too heavy to pack a mile up the hill. The small stuff like radishes, tomatoes, broccoli, cucumbers, spinach, celery, onions and other are not too heavy--but I never buy just those things. Here are some pictures: She's going to market with her radishes. He is taking a heavy load of potatoes into the crowd. Don't these mangoes and bananas look good? This some of the beautiful cloth that ladies make their skirts with. They even sell shredded vegetables. The watermelon looks inviting, but I'm not sure how clean the knife was that cut it. We always buy a whole watermelon, bring it home, soak it a chloro solution and cut our own. Chinese shoes are cheap and get the job done. This may look very dull to you, but if you love the people as we do, you recognize that these are special people. This is a third world country. What is significant to me is that these are sons and daughters of Lehi and when they are converted they become a delightsome people.

What do the kids do while at the temple?

Some of you have asked what the kids do on Saturday mornings since we are no longer teaching our classes. We took some pictures one Saturday to share with you: They randomly wander around the Annex -- sometimes with adults near by and sometimes just the kids. We donated our coloring pictures to the office staff in the Annex and they loan out the colored pencils and provide pages for kids to color. Sometimes they are waiting for family to finish in the temple and they are part of wedding photos. Mostly, they are just bored and "hang out".

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