Christmas in Guatemala

Kim and Carolyn with a friend during the Christmas Devotional the other day. The spiritual talks and the quiet part of the meeting was over when lunch was announced. We went into the church parking lot for a steak, turkey, sausage meal... a meal that went on and on and was incredible. Then the fun began....Karaoke!
Did I spell that word correctly??? We thought they were joking when they asked us to participate. We declined, but the rest of the devotional was dedicated to K. and at the end of the party...huge pinatas. We were amazed at the fabulous voices from our Area office singing songs from Madonna, Elvis Presley and Verdi. Then, after 2 hours everyone got up...Area President included..to hit the pinatas. There were 8i huge pinatas and men in suits and ties, women in beautiful clothes were given bags to put their candy in. It was a made scramble and we were right in there with the rest.

Our good friend, Carlos Rabenales, at one of his piano recitals. They are on their way to the U.S. for Christmas and we may never see them again. We have been a part of this family for 18 months. His granddaughter is having a birthday tomorrow in a little town called Boca Monte.

Especially For Youth....same enthusiasm no matter where on might be in this beautiful earth. See those little cities...we are getting 20 of these complete with little cars to donate to the places the girls are going. On that note, we are so eager to see and work with Jessie, Jaime, Maddie and Lindsay. They will be doing great things to help in various places in and above Guatemala City (Lake Atitlan where they will be doing our last reading glass clinic. Now we will have witnesses as to the great work you have all done in sending glasses to us.

We home teach this wonderful couple and here we are doing our home teaching. In November we were taking turns recalling things we are thankful for in church service. We made a funny little turkey out of feathers and styrofoam balls as we were stating our blessings. It was the silliest activity, but it was fun. Like our grand-children, they put up with our goofiest ideas.

The three beautiful young women on the left and middle, Nahomy, Mauritza and Alma, are either our grand-daughters or our "Moms". They work in the Area Office with us and take such good care of us.

You will see two volcanoes on this blog. One is in El Salvador and one in Nicaragua (this one was in El Salvador). These are only two of the many throughout CA. The isthmus is a site of great geo-thermal energy and sometimes it seems as though those shocks strong enough to form mountains andvolcanoes still hover in the air. We are walking on great magma pools that are at rest for the moment underneath the surface that somehow, just seem to be waiting to pounce. We have experienced a few earthquakes. We keep our shoes handy at all times.

Three weeks ago these little houses on the edge of this river in El Salvador in San Vincente were sites of peaceful family life. Some of these people were members of the church. It rained very hard for a few days and like a flash flood in the deserts of the West, water collected and rolled down a nearby volcanoe, raising the water level 80 feet. The surge wiped out everything along the river. The highways were many scores above the river still had huge boulders and debris from the volcano along the length of the road beneath the volcano. We took many humanitarian goods to help these people, as did many countries in the world.

Carolyn and two friends! They became delightful friends that day. We gave them a Book of Mormon and shared the Plan of Salvation with them. and they loved being with the Dental Brigade and with us. They took such good care of us for the four days we were there helping in the Brigade. They stopped all traffic on a busy highway just so I could take pictures of the El Salvador temple just being built.

The dental brigade was a magnificent gift to Central America. There is no telling how many people have been blessed by these dental donations from the U.S

Here is a volcano from Nicaragua. We have been in Nicaragua and in El Salvador, both, the past month. This past month and a half has been a wonderful adventure as we have worked for four days with an Apostle of the Lord, as he instructed us, plus zone conferences and dental brigades. How could TLOPS (two little old people from Sugarhous) have the experiences we are having.

President Don Clarke and his wife and Niel Anderson and his wife are great leaders. They are passionate witnesses of Jesus Christ.

Here we are in a golf cadillac at the seminar during a few moments of fresh air. The seminar, though, was even more glorious than the landscape.

We are coming home on January 7th and we feel such joy to be able to see, hug and talk with our family members and friends. We will do one more blog when we get home as a record of our 18 months in Central America. To be able to post photos and text of the work Jess, Jaime, Maddie and Lindsay are doing will be our last blog. This blog has been our journal, our "Large Plates" with bits and pieces about Central America. We will share the "Small Plates" when we get home. As with Nephi, one set of plates records the happenings on the outside of our very interesting and beautiful land, but the "Small Plates" is the record we will cherish forever.

We love all of you! The Christmas season in Guatemala is one of fireworks. We go to bed with fireworks and are often awakened by strings of firecrackers. This is the way one's birthday is announced and the days celebration is begun. We love the sound of fireworks and can't wait for the girls to see the Christmas Eve fireworks which begin exactly at midnight. We will be observing the sight from a 10th floor apartment. What a way to end our mission!!!!

Waiting for Dinner

We are sitting in a lovely hotel in San Salvador waiting for dinner. We've been driving all day and our only sustenancee was two Mrs. Field's most wonderful chocolate chip cookies. I'm not complaining, mind you, but some veggies would be nice at this point. Preston and Vaugna King and Kim are giving instruction to the dentists and doctors who are here to do a major dental brigade for pre-missionaries. Prior to the clinic opening in the morning, everyone needs to be taught how to make use of the new on-line system. There is no way to explain what happens in a brigade. David Sheets, the director of this massive humanitarian method around South and Central America, has been doing this for many years. Many thousands of missionaries are able to serve because of brigades like this one.

Just a brief explanation of what these brigades are will hopefully paint a picture of people from around the globe who donate, over and over, incredible ways of providing dental care. Just now, as we drove into the hotel, there were two doctors in the lobby. One, a Dr. Prince told us this is his 7th brigade. Another man, whose name I did not get, told us that this was his first one. He was from Atlanta, Georgia.

These men take their office - literally - from their place in various cities. Chairs and all are unscrewed from the floors and packed into trucks to be airlifted into places in Central America. When they get to the area where the brigade is stationed, the chairs are recovered and placed in a chapel, in this case San Salvador. Each station is set up as a complete dental office. The gyms hold 20 mini-offices. There are labs, X-ray areas, orthodontics, surgery set up in classrooms and on stages. Teeth are extracted, cleaned, cavities filled, jaws restructured, and on and on. For 10 days these dentists and technicians and doctors who give all the physical and medical exams will work from early morning until late at night. This brigade, which begins in the morning, will be our third opportunity to experience the bee-hive of miracles in the making.

The last brigade served 930 young men and women. This brigade has over 500 pre-missionaries signed up. Buses will come from all over El Salvador, most having driven all night, and deposit young men and women from every corner of this beautiful country. Their work begins as they step off the bus. Hair cuts, mission photos, used clothes....are just a few of the service given during these days.

Many of these dentists, doctors, technicians, and the families of these people who serve from all over the US use this time as their vacations. This is a great expense for these people and yet many have been doing this service for 20 years. Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala are countries who have been sites multiple times for these brigades. I'm so grateful I have a chance to rub shoulders, even just for a few days, with great people such as these.

Photos for the prior post

Here are a few photos of the evolution of the dental clinic.

Good friends...as all the Senior Missionaries have been. This is Neil Anderson in the red shirt. He lives across the hall from the us. These people are adventures waiting to happen.

The Bawdens the day before they left to go home. Still waiting for the chairs.

This is an orphanage for girls. They love the Bawdens and the Alberts who have spent many hours building this clinic.



Nahomi with two phones at her ears at the same time has a smile for everyone.
This is a country of smiles and laughter.

Babies are always carried in a sling on mom's back.

The dental clinic is finished except for the chairs which are in customs limbo somewhere.

Two amigos from our branch. They are our right arms...and our left. The branch is so good to us. We are left alone, now that the Bawdens are gone. And yet, today, everyone looked after us. We love these people. The dental clinic at the beginning. This was a garbage area and yet the Bawdens had the vision to see what could be done.

Diana, in the yellow, will go to Puerto Rico for her mission this week. Francisco and Hayley will be married next month. See those smiles?

Halloween - then....Feliz Navidad

Photos are coming in next post.

Happy Halloween! Today is the "Day of the Dead", a lovely family holiday in Guatemala. It is not celebrated the same in Guatemala as it is in Mexico. This is a sweet family holiday where people visit cemetaries and lay flowers on the graves of their loved ones. Children and parents, grand-parents, aunts and uncles and cousins get together and have picnics. Special food is prepared and served. In some areas the very large kites are flown. I had many pictures last year, but the kites are flying on Sunday this year so we will not have a chance to watch them go into the air. Kites are everywhere, sold along the highways and typify the connecting of heaven and earth.

We love the laughing and joking in every conversation by those around us. Laughs and jokes and silly comments are part of every day, every minute discussion everywhere. We have learned a whole different kind of humor in Central America. It's sometimes difficult to hear laughter and not understand the joke, but Dean Bawden says that takes years to pick up. We hear and understand enough, though, to be delighted by the good-nature of everyone. Here is an example of the simple jokes and entertainment. We went to a farewell lunch, daybefore yesterday, for Dean and Marilyn at Appleby's. The lunch was attended by ex-mission presidents, Area personnel...all very distinguised, stake presidents, etc. I only mention this to illustrate the contrast. After lunch, a physician who is, at the moment, over all Welfare in Central America whispered something to the fellow on his right. The whisper began to go around the table to see how it came back to the original person. Didn't we all play this when we were kids? Soon they had whispers going this way and that. Everyone laughed when the whispers morphed into something completely different from the phrase as the beginning. Another example: We had a wedding shower for one of the young men who handles all communication throughout the 12 missions about a month ago. Our floor was invited. After he opened all his presents (the bride was not invited) they played "pin the veil on the bride" , and some other silly childhood games we use to play. This all occurred in the lunchroom of the office. I sometimes think we get too "grown-up" and forget the childhood delights.

Speaking of Dean and Marilyn Bawden, they are leaving to go home tomorrow. We love all the Senior Missionaries around us, all the people we work with, our Guatemalan friends and the friends we have in all the other countries, but the Bawdens are very special to us. Jean Bird, our dear friend from the Mt. View Ward, is related to them and spoke highly of them before we left Salt Lake to go on our mission. She was right! We have played, gone on adventures, shared service projects, worked almost side by side in the office, shared our families, driven many hundreds of miles together and we will miss them. On the other hand, we understand and look forward to our own release in the futures. That's the way of missions.

Our branch had a surprise dinner for the Bawden's last night...surprise in that they didn't know about it until few days ago. We sat out on our new lawn beside the church and enjoyed everyone's company. We are so fond of everyone. We hope and pray this little branch of the Lord's vineyard will grow and flourish.

We were invited to attend the temple with a young woman who has become a dear friend. She works on the 3rd floor of our office. She is going to Puerto Rico on her mission next week. I always say a prayer for Central America and make the time in our temple a time of focus for the missionaries and especially for the people in these countries. As I was sitting waiting for our session a thought jumped into my mind. A chorus from one of my favorite oratories, "Elijah" entered my mind. I hadn't thought of this music for awhile and yet these words just flowed into my mind. "He, watching over Israel, slumbers not nor sleeps". I think it was a reassuring answer to my prayer for Central America.

We have communicated with the people taking our place in January. They will stay with us for 5 days while we orient them. They are from Springville and they sound like wonderful people with whom we'd like to be neighbors. They will rent our apartment in the "Mormon Dorm".

This season throughout Central America is my favorite. Everything cools down, and in some places, gets cold. People pull out their jackets and coats and bundle up before going outside. Everything looks greener, everything has a vibrancy and we have seen rainbows every day this week. While the rainy season is over with, the rains that come now are precious gifts. The sky changes every minute with blue skies which change to a bit of mist, then grows into a dark cloud that begins to move across the sky. One feels ahead that there will be rain in 10 minutes. As at home, it is possible to read the dramatic language of weather.

We have been hoping and praying the 5 dental chairs will arrive. They have been sitting in port in a container for a week. The port officials have promised Dean Bawden they would be here every day, but they don't come. These are the last items that need to be installed in "Dean's Dream". The clinic is just incredible. It is located in a girl's orphanage and tucked into a space which just held a lot of garbage that had accumulated over the years. Dean and Marilyn saw this space and saw the possibilities. The Bawden's have put off their departure for three weeks just waiting for the chairs, and day by day they have had to change airline tickets, but they must go tomorrow. This is the last "tooth-pick before the finished sculpture". The installers have come from Salt lake, but they too are just in a holding position. Getting through customs and other port formalities in any country is a perplexing and undependable process , and often a "cross you fingers" process. Medicines, supplies and other commodities will sit in these containers for weeks. We have had major problems with every country project we have been part of- Africa, So America...now Central America, Russia. Eventually it all arrives, but we all learn to be flexible in setting definite dates.

The days are not long enough. Yesterday, we had a Zone Leader Council Training via video-conference with one of the Honduras Missions. Preparation, phone calls, carpetas, research, correspondence with missions all contribute to busy days in our office. Time seems to stretch in remarkable ways as we get to work about 8:00 a.m. or so. We begin our work and when we think it's time for lunch we are often surprised to find that lunch hour has come and gone. It's interesting that we never know when we will be finished enough to go home. Our calling is autonomous and we decide our schedule. As the afternoon progresses, and this is so interesting, we both will know when to leave. We will look at each other and realize we both have a pause. Sometimes it's late and sometime's it's early. Sometimes we have finished something, but that moment just arrives and both of us feel it at the same time. We may not have an earthly boss, but someone is sitting over our shoulder saying, "It's time to go home".

We always pray that our family...one by one...will find someone to help each day. Smiles, service, phone-calls - are ways to serve others. We will never look at "service" quite the same way, ever again.

Medical Mystery

Medical Mystery
October 2009

This clown is from an orphanage we visited the other day. It was National Children's Day and children everywhere were having parades, special parties, etc. in schools throughout the country. The only two holidays I know of that we have in common with the US is Feliz Navidad and Columbus Day.

This has been an eventful two or three weeks. We have had a particular pesky medical issue arise during the last six months and dad has been perplexed and baffled by treatment and diagnosis. Our very insightful and intuitive Area President asked that we have a bit of help from Salt Lake. Two doctors from the Missionary Medical came down to Guatemala. We had set up interviews for the doctors prior to their coming so we kept them busy from dawn 'till dark for two days. It was interesting to see the medical detectives work to solve this mystery. Equations on the white board, interviews, questions and more questions. What have we learned? We know for sure this situation is not really solvable. There are so many variables that the three doctors finally gave their best guess and advised us to act accordingly. The two days could be put in an medical fiction format, but without a solid answer. The two days passed in a blur and we have been doing all the follow up the last 4 or 5 days.

We went to our first Guatemalan LDS Church) wedding reception. The weddings here are not "come and go" events, rather sit-down dinners. In Guatemala, if you come to an event on time (except for soccer) you are a few hours early. We had just come from a zone conference in another part of Guatemala and we were tired and hungry. We remembered, with the urging of the Bawdens, that we were supposed to be at the reception and it was already 7:30. We didn't eat, knowing it would be dinner, and drove about 15 miles to the place where the reception was to be held. We couldn't find it and the only place with the same name was a bar with only a few customers. We drove into the village and it was dark. We decided to go home and as we turned on to the main road we saw a beautiful chapel set off the street with many cars in the parking lot. There it was! Being an hour late, we were still an hour early. We were so excited to see the bride but she waitied till 9:00 to come out. This was in the cultural hall. She entered the room out of the Relief Society room with her little flower girls and wearing the most gorgeous satin dress. She walked through the cultural hall and met the groom and they had a little ceremony. The sealing had been done in the temple earlier that day. About 10:00, after a beautiful program, we ate dinner, finally. The bride and groom had come to our home for family night some time ago and we have worked with Laura and Jose each day for months and months. It was a lovely evening and we are so glad to have made the effort to get there.

Zone Conferences remain a special experience for us. We have had three days of mega-zone conferences in three different places in Guatemala, one being in the city. It is so nice to come home at night even if it does mean 3 hours of driving. This mission president and his wife were terrific. You can take the temperature of the president just by attending the zone conferences. The 180+ missionaries loved one another and loved their president and it was a delight to see the common goals they all had to do their best for the Lord.

Medically, this has been a challenging 10 days as Missions have called us with serious issues. We have been on our knees, lately, praying for these missionaries who needed more help than medicine and medical support.

It's interesting to work with a group of Senior Missionaries from the Area Office: humanitarin, PEF, Financial, Security, etc. A simple project seems to take on a life of its own as these wonderful missionaries start brainstorming. We have seen it time and again, and dad and I have two projects, simple projects, which have turned into huge affairs. We are going to a village on th7th of October to give out the last of our reading glasses. Everyone wanted in the group of senior missionaries wanted to come along. This project has turned into a mini-health fair. We will have dental hygiene, hygiene workshop, a story corner and baby kits. It is suddenly going to be a massive group with at least 16 of us going. Now we have to find hotels and transportation and make other elaborate plans. We are so excited by the help and support and know this will be of great service for the people in that area. The eyeglasses have been a wonderful window, no gateway, into serving many people throughout Central America.

General Conference was remarkable. We sat in our apartment and projected the conference on the wall and it was as good as being there. There were a couple of men working on the apartment next door. We were so excited at seeing our prophet and apostles we ran next door and asked the workmen to come and see a prophet of the Lord and his apostles. They noticed our Biblia on the table and asked about it. We then told them about El Libre de Mormon. They both wanted one so we ran to the office to find two written in Spanish.

Dad went to the Priesthood session with other English-speaking Elders and the women in the apartment had a baked potato bar, with Chimichurri, an Argentinian specialty that is delicious and very common in Latin America. I have a recipe and will share it with everyone when we get home...which will be January 7th.

A crisis has developed in parts of Guatemala as the rainy season never arrived. There are parts of Guatemala, as you have probably read in the paper, with a million or so starving people. Children have died and families are desperate. Help has come from around the world, our church, as well as many other churchs and humanitarian aid, has poured in to bring relief to the towns in the "dry area". Many of these people have no idea how to help themselves. The interesting thing has been so see how the Guatemaltecans have suddently become united in an effort to bring food to these people. People have donated food: rice, beans, sugar, maize and one other thing that I can't remember at the moment and a huge warehouse with volunteers from all over recieves the food and takes the food out to these people as fast as it comes in. Dad and I took this picture when we went to drop off food.

We know our departure date: about January 7th. What a blessing this mission has been for us!

The blog bumped me off before I was finished, but I will conclude with a brief explanation of the pictures in the blog above. Most of them were taken with the Honduras Mission President and the nurses. These conferences are times of revelation for us in every sense of the word.

The other pictures are taken in another orphanage we went to a few days ago. This is a small orphanage and we will definitely help in as many ways as we can. They only have 14 children and the objective is to get them back to their parents if at all possible. Usually it is not, but they try. We were so impressed by the love we felt as we walked through the rooms and met the chidlren. The orphanage seemed more like a family to us than an institution.

We are blessed!

Introducing Bridger

Bridger James Taylor weighed in at 5 lbs and 13 oz. He has dark hair and is asolutely beautiful. Tammy and James were so kind about keeping us infomed during the day. James i-phoned us with text, pictures just about every 15-30 minutes, or so and it was just about as good as walking the halls of the hospital. We can't hold him in our arms, but at least we can look at the

pictures and dream about it. Both Tammy and the baby are doing just fine. They were able to take Bridger home the next day.

Below is a totally unposed picture of the wonderful army of Helaman. The missionaries were taking a break

between lectures and just stepped out on the porch. This is a great picture of eager young men who serve the Lord with such diligence and commitment.

Look at the smiles on the two elders on the left: one from Wyoming and the other from Hawaii. They were our drivers from the airport to the hotel in Panama. These are just two examples of the men and women we meet and they typify the great spirit we sense throughout the Area. Dad's presentations are just great, by the way, and it is totally different from what he did in the first part of the mission. Our treatment card is out and everyone from Panama to Guatemala with many stops between are so enthusiastic.
We have given out about 2,000 so far and will now distribute them in the CCM. Each mission will have extras for the missionaries who come directly from the Provo MTC. This project has been such a blessing and has been an Area project. Many friends have blessed us on the way. Carlos, for example, has translated the whole thing from English to Spanish, helped us format everything and held our hands throughout the whole project. Every mission in all 7 countries are participating with such enthusiasm.

Dad did a Zone Leader's Council Training in Panama and then did three days of mega-zone conferences in San Pedro Sula Mission in Honduras. We have traveled from the Pacific to the Carribean with the Mission Presidents. We don't get the tourist information, but we do get a wonderful experience with men and women who probably have the most difficult calling in the church. An example, we had to go to La Cieba, about three hours away from San Pedro Sula. President Cruz sang hymns the whole six hours with all of us (dad and I and the two sister missionaries-nurse) joining in. These hours in the car were very precious to us and we will remember it always. The Cruz's don't speak English and we don't speak Spanish very well. We were to stay in their home for three nights and four days. Needless to say, we were very concerned. Somehow, we didn't just "get by", we were able to converse and laugh and share stories. We left both missions with dear good friends.

We had one day before the Zone Leader Council Training and thought we would try to go up into the rain-forest. We thought we might rent a car as everything tour we had been interested in was full. As we checked into the hotel we saw a little tourist counter. We went over to look at the brochures and a man came up and said there was one tour (of five people) that would like to addtional people.

We went up into the rain-forest by a long, stable, dugout canoe. Some of these pictures can illustrate the beauty of the Panamanian landscape. This yellow poncho is dad on the way out of the river. This was a day-long project and we were covered in mud. That night we tried to get all the mud from our shoes and pants so we could meet the President and his wife for dinner. The Madrigals are very experienced and without a nurse, Hermana Madrigal handles all the health issues for her mission. Meeting and working with these people throughout Central America has been inspiring.

On the way back down the river we stopped at an indiginous village for a fish lunch. Their native dress was incredible. A funny story, though, illustrates how much tourism helps the economy of all the countries. The picture with the young man on the end of the canoe is a case in point. As
we were trying to communicate in our horrible Spanish he began to laugh. He told us he only came back home during Spring Break from Harvard.

We hiked up a small tributary to a beautiful waterfall. If you look carefully you will see me holding the arm of our guide. Walking through the water is almost impossible for me, but the destination was worth everything. The waterfall, though short was breathtaking.

We don't often get the opportunity to do something like this and we were very grateful we had the time to do something like this.