El Salvador and Belize

"Everyone with a water bottle stand up!"
We try to encourage, prod, urge, insist that ALL missionaries carry water with them at all times. If they come to zone conferences with water we give them a treat. Usually there are few, but this conference was an exception. This is only one side of the room,by the way. Look at all the water bottles in the air.

Muy guapo and bonita missionaries...this describes all the missionaries we see...and they now number about 2,000. When we spend a week with the nurses and the APs and then travel all over the mission where we see the many other missionaries in that zone we feel so grateful to be with them. Hnas. Despain and Poteet and Elder Casperson were with us day and night and we have learned to love them. Elder Campbell is standing over on the other side, so though unseen, he was a mighty presence. We put hundreds of miles on our car as we traveled all over San Salvador (capital) many, many, many times. We went to two of the major towns North and West of San Salvador. We also flew to Belize. However, we can't say we've "seen Belize" as we flew into the country in the morning, went straight to the chapel where we stayed all day and then flew home. So, we've been to Belize, but we can't claim we've seen it.

One evening we didn't get through with an eyeglass clinic until about 9:00 and we had been doing conferences since 9:00 that morning. The missionaries were hungry and tired and although it was going to be past their check-in time with their zone leaders they wanted FOOD. We called for permission from the president, got it, and tried to find a "sit-down" dinner, as that is what the elders wanted. Everything was closed. We were in a large mall but everything but Pizza Hut was closing and wouldn't serve us. We finally bought pizza, took it into the mall and found benches and had a "sit-down" dinner right there. Have you ever seen a 3 foot pizza? The mall was quickly becoming deserted and we all decided we would sing Primary hymns as loud as we could...sort of like singing in the shower, and it was beautiful to hear the echos of "I Am a Child of God" resounding from the windows of the closed storefronts. There was an echo ,and watching the elders and hermanas sing without fear of being heard was an incredibly special moment.


One of the zones had a large group of hermanas...and they are so beautiful! In Central America all sisters give hugs and kisses on the cheeks even though they may not know each other. When I go home, I will miss the many hugs and kisses I receive all the time. Sister Lopez is standing on the right. I love her so much and in one short week she has become a "best friend". This has happened in each zone and as I leave I feel like crying as I know I may never see these dear sisters again. Each mission president's wife has a direct responsibility for the health of the missionaries. They have a title that barely describes the many duties and responsibilities they have 24 hours a day. These women are the Mission Health Specialists. If there are nurses, they are responsible to her. Our next round of zone meetings will most likely be training meetings and so perhaps I will see them for a short two hours in the next 8 months. I hope so!

"Do these glasses look good on me?" There was another miracle as we ran out of glasses the first night. We didn't know we would be having four clinics...each day of the conference. There are NO glasses for a dollar in Central America. All of us working the clinics had prayers when we realized we were in trouble. The glass clinics had been promised weeks ago and we didn't know what to do. As we searched for ways to obtain glasses we felt comfortable that God would somehow provide them. We found them....several sources, actually. There is no space or time to describe the wonder we felt as glasses literally fell into our lap. It was another miracle. With the last thousand glasses still to come we feel overhwhelmed and so very grateful to everyone for their help in this project. By July we think we will be finished, and by the end, we will probably have dispensed over 8,000 pair of glasses. This is so much more than the goal of a "Thousand Pair by Spring" which we thought to be audacious in October. Thanks to our friends and family at home.

We also had a chance to visit one hospital, but, in spite of our plans, there was no time to really investigate other health facilites in El Salvador. As this is supposed to be one of our major errands we were sad not to able to fulfill this obligation. Nevertheless, we simply didn't have time. There were just not enough hours in the day.

The wonderful Lopez family (President).
El Salvodor Oeste Mission is terrific. The first night of the conference we were invited to the President's home for Family Home Evening and dinner. We had a wonderful time. When we were ready to leave I asked one of the nurses ,whom we have learned to love and appreciate over the last 8 months, if she would sing a hymn for us. It was such a spontaneous thing, but she graciously said she would sing "Oh My Father" if I would play for her. I asked one of the Lopez children (boy in blue) if he could play the piano when I left the piano bench. He said, "No!". Then all of a sudden he told us that maybe he could play something for us before we left. He sat down and played a complex chordal piece and left us all standing there in amazement. Then the young girl on the right (in the photo) said she would do a dance for us. She put her costume on over her levis. This was all happening as we were ready to leave. President and Hermana Lopez then decided that they should do something as well. They turned on marimba music and began to ballroom dance for us right in the living room. It was one of those moments of pure joy. Unplanned and spur of the moment, and it was magic!

We just can't seem to figure out how to do photos and text and make them look like other people's wonderful blogs.

Teachers in Antigua School. We're hopeless!

A couple of weeks ago we went to a school in Antigua for an intense week of a Spanish language school. We went to work a bit early so we could get all our work done in the office and then left about noon for Antigua. We got home about 9:00 that night and then did it all over again each day for a week. It was such fun and our teachers were just great. My teacher is on the left of the photo. Dad's is on the right. They were helpful and patient and even though our 72 year brains are slow we felt some progress. We discussed the church in depth and even used the Book of Mormon to help us ways to figure out how to pronounce some of the words correctly. This is the secret to understanding a speaking Spanish. Even though we had learned much of what they taught us many times before we were able to understand a bit more. Perhaps by the time we leave we will be able to converse a bit.

Here is dad in front of his little classrom. Each little "classroom" was situated around the periphery of a little garden. It was difficult to concentrate as there were many different birds singing in the trees above us. I am hungry for bird sounds. We hear few in Guatemala City.

Now, back to our trip to El Salvador - at least the last day of it. The drive home from El Salvador is fascinating. It was five hours of pure beauty. We love Guatemala...every stick and stone.

We were tired when we got home last night and Sunday is never a day of rest for us. Church is a five hour project as we travel so far to get to our branch. This afternoon, we went ever further into the hills to go home teaching. Our Home Teaching message was about the verse in Isaiah which says, "Sing and be glad!" We are glad to have the opportunity to teach this young couple. When we returned home from church we went over to Sunday dinner at another senior missionary apartment and then went to an open house for a dear young man who is leaving on a mission. It is good to be home in our little apartment tonight. We are tired and we have a huge week ahead of us. It will be crazy now, until the end of June, and then I truly believe we will finally have some control over our days. We have two zone conferences in June, plus joy of joys - Kathy Knowlton and Marian Martin are coming down for a week.

"Be of good cheer!" This comment is in one of the verses in the Doctrine and Covenants which we used this afternoon. How could we not be "of good cheer" as we are blessed to be able to serve our Lord and Savior.

We have had several wonderful missionary experiences this week and we are becoming bold. We have few opportunities to approach people, but we are learning to do this when we have a chance and it makes us so happy to be able to do this.

"Sing and Be Glad!"