Visit to Santa Lucia and our visitors

sugar cane field with a cloud covered volcano in the back ground on the way to Santa Lucia

a family we stopped to ask directions from. I could not resist the cute little guy strapped on the bike.

President and Sister Burk invited us and the Olson's to come with them to a District Conference in Santa Lucia. It is about one and a half hour drive from Guatemala City. The traffic was crazy and we were concerned that the Burks would be late, but we arrived with eight minutes to spare. The Burks had a speaking assignment. There was a children's choir which sang like angels and behaved the same. They were the high light of the meeting. The talks were also very good.

 chapel in Santa Lucia where we went to District Conference with President and Sister Burk. A couple with two of their grandchildren whom we met.

An old Catholic church close by the stela

Close to Santa Lucia is a museum and a Stela or monument 21. It is a large boulder with petroglyphs which some claim depicts Father Lehi and the 7 tribes mentioned in the scriptures (Jacob 1:13, Mormon 1:8, D & C 3:17-18). Mayan legends say that the Mayans came from the West across the seas and descend from the father of the Maya and the 7 tribes.

We were going to stop to see these, but we would need to walk through a sugar cane field. It had rained so the ground would be soggy and the sugar cane was too tall (it has big leaves that are sharp on the edges), so we decided that we will go see the museum and the Stela or monument 21 during the dry season.

Here are some of the pictures that we took when we drove by it. You can see the rain drops on the car window. Makes it hard to see. sorry

We arrived home in time to finish putting together dinner for two temple missionary couples from here in Guatemala and from Honduras, that we had invited over. They are the Padillas and the Lopez. Our room mates, the Barlows, had already fixed their part of the dinner. So we hurried and got our part done. We enjoyed visiting with these couples. We love them.

During the week we went to the store to get a few groceries. We don't have a car, so we have to get a ride with someone or walk or take a taxi. We usually have someone available to take us on Monday's, but sometimes we run out of something so we walk. On this day we walked. When we were at the store we heard the rain start to come down. We waited thinking it would stop but it didn't and we needed to get home, so we started to walk. I had my umbrella, but Blair didn't. HE WAS SOAKED. 

seeking shelter on the way home

finally home

Fair Day

On August 15th it was a holiday in Guatemala. It is called dia de la Feria, which is Fair Day. The temple presidency had asked us to come in early that day because many people would be off work because of the holiday. When we arrived at about 5:40 in the morning there was a long line of people waiting to get into the temple. President Harris, 1st councilor, and his wife were there.  The Harris were in a panic because the other temple missionaries had not come yet. So we got ready for the day. The Zamora's, one of the missionary couples came and then President Harris started to let the people in who had been waiting in line. We got one session going at 6:00 a.m. with us officiating. Other workers came and other things started going. It was one of the busiest days for a week day that we have had since being here.
On our session there was a man who was probably in his thirties who had a condition, I would guess like Turrets Syndrome, where his muscle's in his body would involuntarily move, so he was in constant motion. I thought how hard that would be to get a good night sleep or eat or write or other daily things. But, he was the one who was happy and had more enthusiasm and was encouraging others. What a good example he was of not feeling sorry for himself or not doing things because of his condition.
There were six sisters who were going through the temple for the first time. As I was helping those sisters I thought of our granddaughter Stephanie. We were able to go through the Portland temple with her before we came on our mission and before she left for her mission. I also thought of our granddaughter Camille who will be going through the temple for the first time this coming week. We will not be able to be with her. As I thought about them, some very tender feeling filled my heart and it was hard to hold back the tears. It almost brings tears to my eyes as I write. Jed will be going through the temple before we get home from our mission before his mission. I'm sure we will be thinking of him when that time comes as well.

On the lighter side. There have been some funny things that have happened that make us laugh. One of the north American temple workers here, a big man probably six foot four inches, was asked to go to an assignment, so he grabbed a coat, thinking it was his and put it on. In reality he had taken Blair's suit coat and put it on. He has a prayer written in Spanish to read. When he arrived at his assigned place he searched the pockets and realized that he didn't have a prayer. That is when he looked to find out he didn't have his suit coat on. This is the Elder who, when they first arrived, came home and told us that he had been told to ask for the last name which in Spanish is apellido. He doesn't hear very well even with hearing aids and thought they had told him to say, "what is your burrito". One of the sisters was upset this week because we had been told that we should eat only in the designated area in the temple. She was eating where the people who come to the temple could see her eat. It reminded me of the song "No, No, They Can't take That Away from Me". That made me laugh.

Last night, Saturday, we had a pot luck activity here after the temple closed for the night. All three of the temple presidency were here. There were twelve couples and the two single sisters temple missionaries, so twenty six of us. There was plenty of food and some good visiting.

Today we invited the Smiley family. They are with the U.S. Embassy and have been here maybe two weeks. I was showing their oldest daughter some pictures on my camera and burned the corn and Sister Barlow made some jello that didn't set up so we had steak and potatoes with a green salad that Barlows had on hand and we had made some sugar cookies for the two girls to frost and put dinosaur sprinkles on. We totally enjoyed each others company. Here are a couple of pictures of them and us.

 The Smiley children playing.

 And we are visiting. Blair, Sister Barlow, Brother Barlow on the end and Rebecca Smiley and Levi Smiley across from Blair.

We had to say GOOD BYE and then move on

Seth and Spencer played a couple of games on the computer before we left to get them to their air port for their return flight to Denver.

Saying Good Bye was hard to do. We sure did have a good time with Derek, Natalie and Seth and Spencer. It has been almost a month now since they left.

The reason we are here is to serve at the temple. This is a picture of the people coming and going on a busy Saturday at the temple.

Some events with Natalie and Derek

Here we are waiting for the restaurant to open. It should open at 6, and we are there on time. When they opened the restaurant, the big white doors open to a very nice place. This is in an area where you don't want to be alone.

Natalie and Derek have arrived from a long trip to come see us.

This is one of the many swinging bridges we crossed over a deep ravine in the Atitlan area.

This aqua duct was used many many years ago here in Guatemala City. It still stands, but is not in use now.

There are so many pretty flowers and plants here.

Antigua

Antigua is a quaint city, with much history of Guatemala. We visited it while Natalie and Derek were here visiting with us.

This is a Catholic church that had major damage to it during an earthquake, but it is still being used today.

Derek, Spencer, Seth, Natalie and her dad, Bubs

This is part of the earthquake damage to this church. no roof

The year on this is July 25, 1992

It is hard to read the words of these signs on the Cathedral, but it describes some of the history of this church. The first dates on the sign are: 1545 Construction began; 1688 the first Cathedral was demolished; in 1669-80 Construction of new Cathedral and 1773 it was destroyed by Earthquake.

More earthquake damage.

One of the store fronts of the city of Antigua.

A little horse and buggy ride for sell.

A home in Antigua.

Looking down the street as we walked around the neighborhood. We love this City. I think we will be visiting again before our mission is done.

there is Blair ahead of me.

Plants grow everywhere.

This is a store where we saw some antiques and where they sold jewelry.

Blair, Derek and Natalie can be seen here.This is                                                                                                   a government building.

Most of the buildings are painted with vibrant colors. You can see Derek, Spencer, Seth and Natalie in this picture.

All in a days work

We were watching the men unload a pickup truck of dirt at the CCM (MTC) where they have been working to expand to fit in more missionaries. The man inside the truck bed has a shovel that he uses to fill up the bucket or bag held by a co-worker and then the load of dirt is carried to the final destination on the workers back or by hand. This is giving more people the opportunity to work.

Above is a bucket being filled and here is a bag being filled. You can see some Sister Missionaries studying in the backgound.

The bag of dirt if carried on the workers back.

These are three Elders from Guatemala who are serving in three different parts of Mexico, but had to come back to Guatemala because of visa issues. We asked them to come over to eat dinner with us one evening. They are all three very nice young men and have great testimonies of the gospel. After we ate, we all read favorite scripture to each other and talked about the scriptures.

What a beautiful picture of homes and apartments that we could see from a window in the Medical Building close to us. The red roofs and the green trees and the tall buildings are a very pretty site.

This is Elder Shapel from Colorado. I'm not sure if I spelled his name correctly or not. (sorry) We met him when Natalie and Derek, Seth and Spencer were here. We went to the CCM for Sunday dinner. We were talking with several of the missionaries who were also having their dinner at the same time. He and his companion (in the picture) were among the group. Elder Shapel is the shorter one of the two. He is a convert of two years. When he was growing up all his friends were members of the church. He attended quite a few things with his friends at church. After they graduated from High School, he thought, "I want to learn more about what my friends believe", so he went to Mormon.org and looked up some things. He also started to read the Book of Mormon on line. Then he decided to order the book for himself. The missionaries came with the book. He was baptized and now is going to be going to San Salvador on Tuesday, August 6. His mother lives in the same general area as Natalie and Derek do, so they had her come over to their home to visit. She is not a member, but is taking the missionary discussions. We hope that will turn out well.

Elder Shapel and his companion look very happy.

This is the Barny family. They are an Embassy family who recently moved into the area. They came for Sunday dinner. Sister Barny is a lawyer by education. They have a seventeen year old daughter, a fourteen year old son, a twelve year old boy  (who Seth passed the Sacrament with while they were visiting here) and an eight year old girl.

It was fun to get to know them better.