It's been a month...have a computer for a minute

We can't believe we have a computer for a minute. The bubble may go out any minute, but here goes, cross our fingers and let's see how much I can write before I lose the connection. Guatemala City is quite amazing with its layers of culture. On the surface it is a modern, bustling city with stores like "The Gap", incredible technology, up-scale malls; yet right beside this (which is like a tip of the iceberg that shows above the ocean) is an eclectic city mix of 1950s and on back to ancient times. Maids and nurses still wear their uniforms, people in Nordstrom- like clothes walk next to women and children in their clothes of long ago...beautiful weavings that indicate the place they come from and also traces their heritage. To find art that reflects early history is difficult and we have been too busy to seek it out. Zona 1, which is a very, very old, low-rent district is fascinating, with buildings built several hundred years ago. To find an old building is wonderful because most big buildings built in the last two centuries have been leveled by earthquakes. Guatemala is still a very active geo-thermal site with volcanoes that still spew out lava. We haven't seen this, but many people in our Area have told us that you can see the lava flows at night from the tops of some of the buildings. We have a friend that calls Guatemala City "Little Manhattan". While it's not quite like that, it is growing. In 1999 the guidebooks say no building above six floors existed, but now there are many buildings with 20+ stories. We have had our own private starparties on the roof of our small building and while I can see the stars and constellations (in a different position in the sky) I can't see any of the northern constellations because of some big buildings right across the road.

This will be a long blog because I have so much catching up to do. We find the city wonderful, with constant temperatures of about 70 degrees except at night when it cools off a little more (and is great sleeping temperature). No one has heat or air conditioning in their living spaces. Business buildings and churchs do have AC. We have a small apartment with two fairly large bedrooms. The kitchen is very small and Kim and I have learned some ballet routines in order for us both work in the kitchen at the same time. We had Family Home Evening here on Monday and we had 22 people in our living room and actually were able to have people get up and walk around, serve themselves for the treats and still felt comfortable. Which means that...we have room for company. We have warm showers in the morning, not hot...our oven doesn't work, the computer doesn't work (except for right now), the dish-washer doesn't work, and yet our apartment is really quite nice and very secure - which is a biggie in Guatemala. The men who work in our apartment are great. Money is a constant problem for nearly everyone. Like many places in the world, including the U.S., it has a very large poor population and a smaller group of fairly wealthy, business people. We have a boy (about 10 years old )who comes into the office to shine shoes to earn money. He has no socks and is so dirty and yet we have learned to love him. His name is Gregorio and we will be buying him some socks and shirts. There is much to tell about this child, but I will have to put it in a personal journal.

We haven't had a chance to tell you about Panama. While there we were able to see the Canal. TheMission President took us to dinner at a restaurant directly above the lock. We were about 300 yards from the canal. We watched the ships being lowered and raised as the locks were locked and opened. It is a miracle of engineering and it is difficult to even comprehend that someone could have figured out how to do this, and further, that it could have been accomplished from these visionary plans. I can see why many people lost their lives with Malaria and other diseases. It was interesting to see the ships lined up in the Pacific and the Atlantic waiting for their turn to enter the Canal. We flew to a city in the north of Panama to do a clinic and then returned for further clinics the next day. We were taken, by a senior couple who had been working on the temple that day, for a private tour. The open house was over and they were just finishing up the final preparations for the dedication. There were 8 of us and we saw every corner of the temple. Enough of secular matters. We are going to post this blog as we don't know how long the computer will last. We will continue on the next posting which will follow immediately.