Super Missionaries

One of our granddaughters gave us this big S before we left for our mission. We put it up on the wall so we can be the Super Temple Missionaries that the sign represents.

The temple will be closed for maintenance for two weeks beginning July 2 through July 16th. Our schedule, when the temple is open: Tuesday through Saturday. One week we are on the early morning shift which starts at 7 a.m. and ends at 1 p.m., Tuesday through Friday. On Saturday, we start at 4:30 a.m. and end at 12:30 p.m. On the afternoon shift we start at 3 p.m. and end at 9 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. On Saturday, we start at 11:30 a.m. and end at 8:00 p.m.  During the next two weeks time, while the temple is closed, we are going with some other Temple Missionaries to a place here in Guatemala named Coban, for a visit. We are also very excited that our daughter, her husband and their two older children will be here for a visit the last part of the two week closure time. We have some things planned to do with them. We will share pictures of these events with you.

The Ups and Downs this week

The down side was we had to go to the immigration office on Tuesday morning. The upside was that we only had to have our picture taken and sign two papers. Upside, now we are here legally in Guatemala for the full time of our mission.

Immigration building

On the way back to our apartment we were behind this fruit and vegetable truck. Where is his seat belt? Is it the rope holding the crates of fruits and vegetables? Hope they don't hit too big of a bump and lose that young man on the back!









The upside is we had a BBQ at the temple Presidents home. Because June is the month for Fathers Day, we celebrated the fathers. From the left to the right, back row is Elder Zamoa, Elder Brinton, Elder Lopez, Elder Murri, Elder Viveros, Elder Barlow, Elder Svenson, Elder Pitcher.
Sitting is Elder Cuellar, President Southwick, President Burk, President Harris, and Elder Velasquez.

The downside is the wives sang a fathers day song.

It really wasn't too bad!

It was better than eating at the Alka-Seltzer Cafe!

 On Sunday we had the Alley's over for dinner. They are with Embassy here. He is with law enforcement. They arrived about three weeks ago and are still waiting for their first shipment to arrive. They have the three daughters, ages 16, 14 and 12. The youngest is the tallest.  The upside is they are good company and they don't have their things yet, so they don't have their kitchen tools or dishes and other stuff.  The downside was that we had a surprise party coming one hour after they left.

 The upside is that we got things cleaned up before everyone came for the surprise birthday party for Sister Southwick.  She is one of the matrons at the temple and this week will be their last week because their mission is completed on July 5. Sister Southwick is holding the cake with candles. She is loved by the temple workers.

President and Sister Southwick

The upside of the week is that the week went well at the temple. The downside of that is, I forgot how to say one of the ordinances in English, because we had a tour group from Utah that came to the temple and they wanted to go through the temple in English.

Fathers Day

HAPPY FATHERS DAY

TO

THE FATHER OF MY CHILDREN

AND THE GRANDFATHER

OF MY GRANDCHILDREN

 

He uses a Math voice to help with homework

He loves his family

He had a candy drawer for anyone to take from

He is a college graduate

He speaks Spanish

He likes basket ball, base ball and football

He teaches by example

He loves to cook

He loves to fish

His favorite color is Orange

He loves the Lord

He loves to serve

 



Dinner on the Veranda (really on the deck)

It was soooo hot one night, in the apartment, that we decided to eat out on the deck. We made sandwiches and took the chips out with some dip and some fruit. On the one end of the deck is a little ledge, so we took two chairs over by it to use it for our table. We even had two small plants as center pieces. You can't see them very well, but they are there. It was just the two of us. Our room mates were at their shift at the temple. The breeze was wonderful and it was so fun.



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There are some hand signs and words that are used here that we think are interesting. For the word OK, the word here is BAH.  The hand signal for come isn't with your hand, palm up and the pointer finger moving from straight to curled toward the person motioning to come. It is with your palm down and all four fingers going from straight out to moving toward the person who is motioning for you to come. I always think I am being waved to when they are telling me to come. The reason we use hand motions is because it is more quiet than saying "come here" in the temple. Its like putting your pointer finger up to your lips to say "please be quiet".
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  Last Saturday was our 47th wedding anniversary and our room mates                                                                             anniversary was on Monday, so we celebrated our anniversaries on Monday evening with some salmon that we bought from Costco and we made some Black Bottoms for desert.

this weeks items of interest

At the temple this week I, Blair, was asked to help train 6 men from the mountains who speak Ke-Chi.  They also speak Spanish, so I helped them learn the ordinances.  It took most of the shift but by the time I finished, they had some experiences in doing the work. That will be a great help, when the Hill Country people come to the Temple that only speak Ke-Chi, to be able to do all of the ordinances in their own language.  Ke-Chi is an ancient Mayan Language that has only been in the written form for a few years.  Most of the older people do not understand Spanish.  When we were finished, they said that this had been one of their most spiritual experiences for them.  They were all set apart as ordinance workers earlier in the day.

                                                   Sunrise in Guatemala City   

If you look really good at this picture, you will find the driver of this truck asleep in his hammock under his truck. Its good to not drive too tired. By the way, the truck is parked on the street in front of our apartment building.