Interesting things happen sometimes

This week we were also very busy. The weather here is starting to get warmer and more people are coming to the temple. With us being busy at the temple, sometimes interesting things happen.

I was assigned to the men's clothing rental. About the middle of the morning one morning when a man came with a friend. This was the first visit for this man and his wife at the temple. He and his wife were to be sealed. We have the men stand by a measure tape next to the door to see how long his pants need to be to fit him. I asked him his waist size. He did not know his waist size. Finally his friend said, give him this size. So I did. I asked him his shoe size. He did not know his shoe size. His friend said give him _ size shoe. So I did. Then he needed a white shirt with long sleeves. I asked him his neck size. Again, he did not know. We found a shirt for him. As this man was signing for his white shirt, I got the clothes for the man who came with him. The temple worker was in such a hurry to get this man back to prepare him for the session that he took this man before he paid for the rental of the temple clothes. So I thought I would just remind his friend as they came back from talking with the counselor in the temple presidency. As they came back, I started to tell his friend to tell him to pay on his way out after the sealing. But, I noticed that the pants were too big around the waist of the man to be sealed to his wife, because he was holding them up. So I asked him if he would like some pants smaller around the waist. The whole group waited while I got him some smaller pants. I didn't find out the rest of the story until later in the evening after our shift was over.....

This is the rest of the story.... When this couple got on the session before their sealing, they were invited to join the prayer circle. As he was standing there, his pants fell down to the floor. The lady assigned to that session jumped up and got a couple of pins out of the emergency bag and gave to the officiator on the session who pinned the pants up so they could continue.

These three pictures are up on a look - out above Antigua, Guatemala. The volcano that is erupting is Volcano Fuego and the people are some nursing students on an outing.

Here are two more stories. These are sad. A young girl came for the first time before she was to leave on her mission. She was from Honduras. When she finished her day as a first timer in the temple she could not find her shoes. Because I had worked with this young lady earlier on, I was called by the Sister Burk, the temple matron, if I knew the where abouts of this young ladies shoes. I didn't but gave her some possibility of where they could be. They were not found and have still not been found. The assumption is that someone there who does not like Hondurans hid or took the shoes out of spite. One of the temple workers who was there went to her apartment and got some shoes of hers and gave them to this young lady. That also happened to another lady several months ago, however, in this case it was a blouse that was missing. I had taken two blouses to the temple and had them in my locker. I really don't know why I had them there, but I felt like I needed to have them there to give away. When this ladies blouse disappeared, I remembered that I had two blouses in my locker. One of them fit perfectly and went very well with the skirt this lady was wearing. Who would have known that she was going to need a blouse. The Lord knew.

ALL Guatemalan children are adorable

Crazy busy

We have been back to work at the temple now, since the closure, for two weeks and it has been so busy that we come home and drop. You all know how that is. According to President Burk, our temple president, with the dedication of the Tegucigalpa Honduras Temple in March of 2013 the forecast was that the ordinances would drop by 30% from 2012 in the Guatemala City temple. In 2013 the total ordinances performed were up 56% since 2012. The members in Guatemala have increased their temple service by 87%. Its no wonder that we come home and drop. This is a good thing. These people here in Guatemala are people of faith and they love the Lord.

the Park

Several of the temple missionaries have talked about this park that they like to go walking in. We asked them where it was. Finally one of the couples showed us how to get there. It is not far from where we live so we went walking there this week.  Our usual walks are to and from the shopping areas on the main street Vista Hermosa. So now we have another place to go for a walk. I think we will go there once in a while from now on. The park is part of a housing area and looks like it is kept up very well. There is a guard there. Of course there is a guard or two or three almost everywhere we go. There is not a BBQ grill at the gathering place, however. It looks like the house keepers that walk the owners dogs use it and the neighborhood kids play on the play ground also.

The roof has a lot of growth on it, but that is normal around here.

a home in the area of the park

an apartment complex in the area

We went back to work at the temple this week. After all, that is what we are here to do is work at the temple. It was good to be back. After the first day it felt like we did not have a three week break. It was good to see the temple workers that we work with from here and we had a fairly busy week.

at the Xela Temple

This is our last week of closure while the temple gets its semi-annual maintenance. So on Wednesday we went to Quetzaltanango where the Xela temple is. (sound the X like it is sh). This temple is almost three years old. It is beautiful. We were able to do one session on Wednesday and then the next morning, Thursday, some of us did sealings and some also did inititories. When we arrived in Quetzaltanango, we went to our hotel to check in and change into our clothes to go to the temple. We ran into a few problems in the process. The streets are steep and narrow and the big bus was blocking the straight shot that we needed to get to the hotel. Some of us got out and ran inside to check in. Because of the steepness of the road up I could not shut the side door to the temple van we were in (centrifugal force). So I left the door open. President Burk inched around the big bus and tried to make the corner, but accidentally damaged the passenger door (the one I just got out of and left open). We could not shut the door after that. It had to be tied closed for the rest of our trips to the temple and back to Guatemala City. Before we left on Thursday we had to wait until the roads were cleared of the teachers strike that was going on. We were told it would not be safe to go and try to get through the teachers. They had guns and would not be afraid to use them. So we had lunch at the temple annex building and waited until the middle of the afternoon to leave when the word was that it was safe to go.

Looking out toward the central park by the hotel we stayed at in Quetzaltanango

The big bus blocking the narrow street we needed to go up to park

look how narrow the streets are

The foyer of the hotel we stayed in when we were in Quetzaltenango

The Xela Temple at night in Quetzaltenango

Those of us who when on this trip are from left to right:
Murri, Sister Cordon, Roberts, Barlows, Burks, Harris, President Galvez and Sister Guzman in front of him. The Padillas and Sister Galvez are missing from this picture.

President and Sister Burk

the Padillas also went with us but were not in the group picture because they went into town after the temple session on Thursday morning.

Volcano Fuego (which is currently active)

view of the city from the temple grounds

We are ready to go back to work at the temple. This is what we are here in Guatemala for. We will be using some of the other pictures of our trips in other blogs.