New ideas, most welcome visit, and some wonderful experiences

The little girl in the previous blog stares into the camera with eyes that are too big for her little face. Her name is Shirley and she has no palette in the roof of her mouth. Both she, and her mother, Carmen, have this genetic handicap. They live in our branch and we have loved them. Niether can speak, but they are bright. They live in a small house at the end of a long dirt lane in the hills of El Fiscal. Dean and Marilyn Bawden, Area Humanatarian Missionaries, figured out a way to get surgery for Shirley. The Bawdens are miracle workers and it is a joy to work beside them. We get a chance on weekends to play a lot, as well.

We came flying home (in the car) from Quetzaltenango in time to dust our house, do a bit of work in the office and then got James and Tammy from the airport. They couldn't have come at a more propitious time, as this was Holy Week, or Samana Santos. This is a week of a peaceful pause. No murders, kidnappings, thefts, robberies - as everyone observes this holiday with reverence. It is a family time where wonderful traditions are evident everywhere.

We had been invited to participate in the building of an alfombra by friends who live in Zone 1. We were not able to do this as we had to go to Quetzaltenango, but on Friday, we rented a van and hired a tour guide to take us to Antigua. While alfombras and subsequent processions occur everywhere in Guatemala, Antigua is famous all over the world for the way they observe Santos Semana. In our pictures you will see a few of the Alfombras made by families and friends. These "rugs" are begun early in the morning and are made in the middle of the streets. They are precise and beautiful. Some are truly fabulous, others are not quite so artistic, but all are made for one purpose: to observe the crucifixion of Christ. These alfombras are a gift the families give and the procession that will follow is the way the gift is accepted. Everyone wears purple robes like the ones worn in the time of Christ. The purple color signifies the Jacaranda Tree that blooms this time of year. I could go on and on about this tree and have saved blossoms for my journal.

Some people are wearing Roman costumes, especially of soldiers and centurions. At noon, the processions begin. All the men in the city, and there are thousands, take turns carrying a 2 ton platform with a large statue of Christ carrying the cross. There are many floats and many processions. Some of the Christ figures wear red robes, some blue...and they go down the various streets and walk through the Alfombras, obliterating them completely. The floats are beautifully made of mahogany, elaborately carved. It takes about 30-40 men to carry it. The procession is huge (and there are others going on all over the city with floats that are almost identical). No one can stay under the platform for long and the huge procession of men take turns. This is a family day and little children wore the same robes their fathers do. Picnics are held in little plazas as families wait for the processions. There are drums and mournful brass instruments that follow the platforms as they go through the streets. We followed several of the processions and followed them into the cathedrals. This is a time of prayer and the churches were full of people praying and lighting candles and I felt a great spirit throughout the day.

At 3:00 the robes change to black symbolizing that Christ has, indeed, died. We were in one chapel as the figure of Christ was taken from the cross. New processions begin, but this time the floats are smaller and depict the last days of the life of Christ.

Pictures follow this text. Tammy and James were with us, in fact, we planned this for them, but we had about 18 senior missionaries who went with us.

The next day we drove to a huge relief map that is situated in a park in Zone 1. It was made about a hundred years ago and,by viewing it and walking around it, makes it possible to see the fantastic topography of Guatemala. The lowlands in the North-east rise into huge mountain ranges consisting of many volcanoes in the West. Later in the day we went to Tec Pan, a Mayan site built many hundreds of years ago.

With James and Tammy and the Bawdens we were able to observe religious observations made by the Mayans. Large fires were built, candles placed in the ancient walls, and people praying as the fire died down. The next day, Sunday, we were able to go to church in our branch.

Immediately after church we began our long drive to Lake Atitlan with 600-700 glasses intended for an reading glass clinic to be held across the lake on Monday.

Now, the story of the clinic. Since this is burning season it is difficult to see the incredible volcanoes around this lake, but as we drove across the lake we were able to discern the mountains. UNESCO lists this lake as one of the historic and beautiful landscapes in the world. There are little villages on the other side of the lake and we met the missionaries on the beach in Santiago. We didn't intend to begin our clinic until 10:00, thinking we could walk around this town for awhile, but when we arrived at the church we found hundreds of people waiting for us.
We began at once, but were immediately baffled by this kaliedoscope of color and pattern. Everyone wears traditional dress, including the men, but they are stubborn people (these are the words of the missionaries, not mine) and they have a right to be. They have been subject to practices that speak of genocide, major wars, hunger and lack of education. They are beautiful people, but they overwhelmed us. We had three measuring stations set up with James, Dean and Dad, but they took glasses and pouches, tried to go through the lines more than once. It was a half hour of real frustration as we tried to get our footing. It took us only a few minutes to realize what was happening and we were able to modify our approach, but the line situation just got worse and worse. I was controlling the crowd and realized we would have to put the glasses away and close down until everyone sat in their chairs and waited for their turn. I was saying a prayer and then a miracle happened.

It is difficult to describe this, but a man wearing a golf shirt and levis, about 35 walked in and saw the difficulties we were having. He was immediately observable because he was the only one, in a crowd of hundreds who was wearing modern clothing. He walked over to the front of the line and turned and looked at the crowd. With words I could hardly hear, with an incredible look of love and respect for these people, he began to put everything in order. He was gentle and patient and yet I couldn't discern if people actually knew him. At once, everything changed. With smiles and gentleness he organized us all. He stayed with us until we had to leave to get to our little boat about three hours later. I watched him closely to try to see what he was doing and how he was doing this, but all I could see was love. He had such a spirit about him and we all felt it. With his help, we were able to give out, clean, distribute (with all the little pouches) about 600 - 700 glasses. When we were ready to leave he wrote a note for us. The note said, as we translated it later, was to bring medical help to these people. (we have done nothing all day, today, except write letters asking for medical assistance) We all felt that he was truly an angel or one of the three Nephites.

Driving home that afternoon we all reviewed the miracle we saw. To give service, with the help of all of our friends and family, has been a humbling experience for all of us. We will have given away, when we are finished, at least 8,000 reading glasses. We laugh as we thought we were completely audatious to even consider 1,000 pair by Spring. The glasses keep coming from places and people we have never heard of, to say nothing of our friends and family. I think we have enough glasses now. We leave in December or January to come home and we have found that the ability to measure for power is the thing that has made these clinics successful.

If we had to rank the effect on the various people participating in these clinics I think it would be impossible. But I will make an effort to describe who has been blessed the most. First, the people who receive the glasses...even if 50% of them use these glasses (and we think it will be much more because the correct power is issued). But even more important are the missionaries who help us. In every little clinic it is the missionaries who take over. Many of them have had to learn to measure. They run the clinics. In the meantime, they give scriptures away, give pass-along cards, make appointments for first discussions. They are excited and motivated by learning new skills. The members of that particular district or stakes help us as well.

The Mission Presidents and their families are part of every little clinic. Many of them are not "little" as we have done these clinics througout Central America. Some of the distribution clinics are huge. Dad and I have been blessed in so many ways. We keep thinking that since we are running out of glasses it might be time to quit. We have received "swift kicks from Heaven" as glasses literally fall into our laps. We have learned that this was not our project at all, but promptings from Heaven. We take no credit.

We do give credit to the hundreds of people, some of whom we don't even know, who have collected and sent glasses to us. The service all of you have done in the United States has been phenomenal. Because of you, hundreds and hundreds, actually thousands, of people who would never have heard of the church, much less entered a LDS building, have been inside chapels, met the missionaries and members who are their neighbors.

Enough said, I know I promised a month ago not to spend anymore time on this topic, but I can't help it. We only do these eyeglass projects after our work is done in Zone Conferences and on Saturdays, but look at what has happened. We have four clinics in El Salvador, Honduras, and one high in the mountains of Guatemala (which can only be reached by 4 wheel drive vehicles) in the next three weeks.

We have a life besides the eyeglass clinics. We love our assignment and work very hard at trying to accomplish what we were asked to do. Most of our time, actually, is laboring as medical advisor. We have learned so much.

I wish you could have seen James and Tammy labor with us. These people are tiny and Tammy, who was wearing a white blouse, looked like an angel as she worked all day. James, in a white shirt and tie, was such a dignified and able measurer. (I don't think that is correct wording, however.)

We got home late, had soup and long conversations, and finally went to bed. We took James and Tammy to the airport at 6:00 a.m. and were back to work in our office at 8:30.

Life goes on and how grateful we are for everything. Elder Bednar says time is irrelevant when one is serving the Lord, and we have felt time stand still for us.

This is my personal journal, and probably only dad and I will ever read it, but it will be precious to us.