We moved to our little Casita

On Wednesday, September 25th, we moved into our little Casita

Before we had arrived for our mission

here in Guatemala, 

we had been told we would live in a 600 sq. foot apartment in the MTC (CCM).

Just before we went to the Salt Lake Temple for our training before

coming we were told that we would be sharing an apartment until July

with another couple, the Barlows, and asked if that would be okay.

We told President Burk that we were okay with that.

When we got here, we moved into the Condo Santa Barbara. It was a big apartment on the fifth floor.

Our roommates were very easy to get along with, but it is sure nice to be by ourselves again.

our eating area in our new casita

our little bathroom in our new casita

packing to move

all our food closet in the old apartment is packed except for the bowl and spoon and box of cold cereal

all our kitchen stuff is ready to go over to the new casita. 

I have just checked our fridge in the other room for anything else

the medicine cabinet needs to be packed

a few cloths left to be packed from the big apartment

Now we are at our new casita. The phone is connected and so is the computer

These are that last of the things to be moved

I am waiting for the rain to stop so we can complete the move

The old apartment is almost empty now

the counter, cupboards, fridge and food closet are empty in the old apartment

deciding where to put everything in the new apartment kitchen

looking to see what the oven is like

our new front room 

our new bed room with a bathroom close by where we don't have to go through a common area to go to

one of the two sky lights in the new casita. Love this feature

we can see angel Moroni atop the temple from our front room

there is a circular stair case that goes up to the roof and to the top floor apartment so they can go to the back yard

This place is like Fort Knox. There are four doors or gates to go though and each one has a different key to lock or unlock it. Bubs is at our front door looking for the right key here.

this is the second door down the hall from our front door on the way out

behind the door above is a gate that needs to be unlocked

This is the final gate to get to the street outside

We have a kitchen out side. It is really nice. All we need is a grate and briquettes to cook on.

the other side of the back yard

 We will put some pictures on of how things look when all our stuff is put away. We really like our little casita. We are a bit closer to the temple and we don't have roommates.

The people of Patzicia

This is on the temple grounds as we were leaving for the day. The people from Patzicia had been at the temple. These people always have a smile regardless of their lives circumstances. Every time we see them they are always dress in their native dress. I also am in a blouse that I purchased that is native to Guatemala.

 This was their temple day

Here is a difference of traditional dress and the modern influence.

it's time to go

These are some of the youth who came for baptisms.
What cute kids they are!

You can find shops set up on any street corner where you can buy almost anything. This shop is set up just outside the Paiz Mall. You see all walks of life at these shops. In cars and motorcycles, on foot or bikes.

This picture and the one below are some of the Guatemalan crafts and pottery that can be purchased

This is a store where you can purchase the blouses and fabric for the skirts.

Independence Day in Guatemala

Today is Independence Day. September 15th. There are celebrations going on, but we have not heard any firecrackers, or seen any parades. We did sing the national anthem at Church. It is a very pretty song.

On the way to the airport and the Artisans Market there is a wall that children have painted depicting the history of Guatemala. Here is only one frame of the wall as we drove by.

We went to the Artisans Market last Monday. It is across the street from the airport. In fact, you can see the airplanes at their gates waiting for passengers to load and un-load. The Artisans Market is very clean and is not crowded. It is a market where you can negotiate for a price on items you are interest in purchasing. This is part of what the market looks like.

A boy showing me how his top works

Last night, Saturday, we had a pot luck at our place after the temple closed for all the temple workers and we had invited the President of the MTC (CCM) and his wife and the nurse and her husband. We had a lot of food and everyone enjoyed visiting.

We have had some slow days at the temple this past Thursday and Friday. On one of those days, I had prayed that I would be of help to someone. Towards the end of our shift at the temple I was helping in one of the ordinances. It was myself and another sister and an older lady who had come to do some temple work. She had a very hard time with reading the names, as many of us do. But it wasn't until after she was done that I was in the hall by the prayer roll. She came out and wanted to do some names on the prayer roll. I gave her a piece of paper and was handing her a pencil and she said, "I cannot write the names." It was then that I realized that she really could not read very well. She asked if I could write the names for her, so I tried. I am hoping that the Lord knows the people she asked me to write down, because I am not sure I spelled the names correctly. Prayers are answered!

Traffic and other things

I took these pictures from our apartment window. Across the street is the school that is run by the sisters of the convent. At the time of these pictures the children were being picked up from school, but not all the cars are picking up school children. Notice the garage gate opening and a car is starting to pull out. It gets into the street and goes back wards so another car can pull out onto the street. In the mean time, there is a blue van that goes across the street and pulls into the driveway of the school. The white pickup truck gets out of the mess somehow and so does the white van. You will also notice that there are cars in the middle of the road that are facing each other.                                                                                                                        The drivers seem to get things figured out, but I am glad that we don't have a car here. 

I saw this woodpecker in the tree. It is a beautiful bird

And the rain comes down like this almost every day.

These are the missionaries at the MTC (CCM) out on the court doing some kind of class activity or something.  We can see them out here every day.