It has been a week and a half since the last blog and we have had changes in plans, new understandings and appreciations regarding Pascua and Semana Santo. New foods have been eaten from Guatemala and Honduras, kind people have entered our lives, music has been written for us to use at zone conferences, new conferences finished and new experiments in the health part of our responsibility to be tried. Above all, we have had two eyeglass clinics that have been phenomenal.
Friends make living and working here a joy in so many ways. Remember, I used to say that my mother was "an adventure just waiting to happen". Our Senior Missionaries in our building, many of the other missionaries, friends we have made outside the mission, are just like that, "adventures just waiting to happen". There is always someone ready to help us with eyeglasses, visit archaeological sites, shop, travel and visit. Because our calendars are not full of civic, family things, lunch with friends, book clubs-all of which are dear parts of our lives at home- we have time to plan on the spur of the moment and go many places together. There is always someone available.
We discovered a new archaeological site two Saturdays ago which has to be Olmec or Mayan. It consists of very sophisticated building - ball courts, pyramids which are laid out in an arrangement dictated by the sun , or the ecliptic. The planet Venus is very important as it has cycles like our moon. Approaches that change each year and each season make this planet so important. It is like a punctuation mark: period, exclamation point,etc...as each approach each year differs from the last one, albeit it takes the same orbital path around the sun, but its path and pattern differs from day to day. Sometimes its a morning star, sometimes an evening star, sometimes appears very close, sometimes , although it is always our brightest object in the sky, dims a bit and on those bright cycles one feels that it is possible to reach out your hand and pluck it from the sky. It appears that close. This is partly why this nearby celestial body was so important to the ancient people and temples and pyramids made it possible to plot its movements. Its dance with other planets was (and is today) so intriguing as they seem to pass each other like cars on a highway.
We weren't able to go to Zona 1 where we had been invited to help with one of the Alfombra. We were asked to go to another Mission in the North-East of Guatemala about 5 hours away, up in the mountains and then down into the coast, to do Health Lectures in two mega-zone conferences. This mission did in two days what most missions plan for 4 or 5 days. It worked beautifully. When Mission Presidents invite us, we jump! These conferences rank in the top 2 of oue responsibilities and as health lectures are not the top of the needs of a mission president, we do our best to accommodate them in any way we can. Besides we love them so. God put them where they are for a very special purpose. The President and his wife of all missions look after all your sons and daughters in ways I couldn't imagine before. It can't be compared to the way it was a generations ago. We live in a different world and the social and economical and health circumstances are so vastly different than a decade ago. A much closer watch is required.
We left Monday, and this time we drove by ourselves as we had 150 eye glasses and pouches in orr do two eye glass clinics in the evenings. We arrived on Monday evening and had dinner with the Mission President and his family and the family Cheney, who is the contractor building the temple in Quetzaltenango. He just finished the Panama Temple and has done many others. I told a story about his wife in an earlier blog. I'll repeat it! While cleaning the temple just before its dedication and open house Sister Cheney heard some workers complaining about how she was demanding perfection. She took them aside and told them that if this structure were her house she would settle for less, but this wasn't her house, it was the Lord's house. She explained to them the meaning of temples and why these buildings were holy structures. They listened intently and from that time on worked as hard as they could. Hna. Cheney made sure these men and their families had tickets to the open house...and they attended with their families.
Our zone conferences were fabulous. Dad does such a great job. There are moments when I perceive his countenance change as he is just a voice for the Holy Spirit. It has been make evident to us, early in our mission, just how much the Lord loves his missionaries and they are protected with a special endowment. We see that, sense that, and respect our calling so much. Dad listens to instructions from spiritual sources and tries his best to minister to these young men and women in the way the Lord wants us to.
Both conferences were the biggest groups we have had. All 190 of the missionaries were there. They had to travel a long way to get there, but they came. Each mission has a different dynamic, and each Mission President brings his own personality and training and background to this calling. While the material and the purpose are the same, the way the Mission President approaches his responsibilities is different. The Lorenzana family is from Honduras and more gracious and generous people one could never find. They opened their home and hearts to us, and we tried our best to open our hearts and efforts to them. It was easy!
Driving in Guatemala as the roads go up and down mountains, into lowlands and into coastal areas is fascinating. I try to take pictures from the car, but often I am not successful. I pray fervently that I will be able to remember the culture and tradition of these people because it is really not appropriate to stop and take pictures. I have taken some great pictures, but they are just pictures. There is no way to capture the way the hills are farmed, the people carrying wood, babies, loads of fruits and vegetables to market on their backs and on their heads. There is no other country in Central America with a culture that is largely untouched by the levi generation. They resist change, they resist help and educational endeavors to help them improve their lives. And in a way, I wish they could stay that way forever. Their colorful clothes, their beautiful small and brown-limbed bodies, their busy lives permitting a subsistance living is precious to behold, but they need more. They are not poor in the sense of the people Ann Koelliker talks about, but they have so little. They sell the vegetables to the markets instead of eating them themselves, for example, and yet they live a tradition that they have lived since before Christ. They are beautiful people, yet they don't often have an opportunity for school or for a balanced diet. Life is difficult for them, but no one is idle. They have to constantly gather wood for their little cooking fires. Each day they have to farm. If they live they have to work. And they do!
We had two eyeglass clinics after our conferences. One on the Pacific coast and the other in Shayla/Quetzaltenango. Both were huge. We had three measuring stations set up, hundreds of glasses given away. The missionaries do all the work other than the measuring. It is a wonderful sight to behold as Kim does the measuring and then gives a little prescription on paper with the power to be given out. The glasses are laid out on a table by powers. The end of the table is equipped with windex, scissors, rags. Sometimes there are eight missionaries helping the people make sure they have the correct power. They do this by usining other Books of Mormon (as Kim uses a Book of Mormon) to double check power and then helping them select their glasses. After they select the glasses they go to the end of the table to have their glasses cleaned, labels taken off and a pouch selected. Kathy Knowlton made hundreds and we have received others from so many people. Some of these pouches are fleece and some are felt, but everyone loves them.
We had members and non members at both clinics and it is wonderful to see the missionaries give pass along cards, make appointments for first discussions, talk with the crowd and present an appearance of great dignity as they work. These missionaries are serious about their missions and they represent the Lord well. We had to inlist others to be trained so we had three measuring stations. We would still be there today if we hadn't done that.
We laugh as we recall our original goal of a thousand glasses by Spring...and wondering at the time how we could ever do this. We will surpass 5,000 by June or July. The one single thing that has made our clinics work is Kim. The fact that he can measure powers makes all this possible. To hand out glasses randomly will never work and we have found a stash of glasses no one wanted because no one could measure. These little guests walk away with glasses in their pockets that are just the right power for them. We still know that probably 30% of these glasses will get lost, broken, become a toy for the baby, etc. but if 70% are used it will have been worth all the effort. Think 70% of 5,000+. Pretty wonderful!
I wish you could see the beautiful women in their cortes, huipies and the incredible aprons with the secret pockets. The women have long braids with bright cloth woven into the braid. Their wrinkled faces are lovely. We only see the older people, but the young ones are startlingly beautiful as well. Many have spent their lives outside gathering wood, which is a constant occupation, working in tiny gardens, selling in little markets and as they would hold hands with me and hug me, smile at me while waiting for their turn I would say a prayer of thanks that people like all of you, my dear family and friends, made all this possible.
Can you believe that we are at a point where we cannot use any more glasses. Those that are still coming are factored into the rest of our clinics. Wonderful week!
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