JULY 1ST--JULY 20TH

Just like the pictures on the blog the text will be a bit jumbled. In many ways it has been a quiet month for us, yet we have had many activities and projects. Many of our projects have actually been completed and it has been a source of wonder as we look back at many months of study and effort and planning that have led up to the reaching of some of our goals. The photo just beside the text is a shot of us holding the little missionary treatment card we have worked so hard on for many months. This has been a project in which we have utilized all 12 missions in the planning which makes it all even more special to us. We sent the test card (three missions volunteered) on Friday. After a month we will determine what needs to be changed, if anything, and print the final card on wonderful glossy paper and just the size to fit into the missionary handbook. The nurses will not even talk to the missionaries unless they have their card in front of them. We hope this will be a teaching tool as well as a reference tool. We felt like breaking a bottle of diet coke or ginger-ale over the desk in an inauguration. What a thrill to see it actually finished a making its final test run.

The big news is that we are now in our new chapel. If one could visualize a doll-house and then apply that idea to our church you would be right on. It is sort of a miniature building, but oh, so beautiful.

This is a happy group of senior missionaries all in our white or pastel blouses for our choir debut in the new building. We had about 25 branch members sing in the choir. The building was
so full on Sunday that we had to pipe the conference into the Primary room. It was the days preceding the dedication, though, that was so special. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday the building was open to the little town of El Fiscal for an "Open House" The first night no one came and we were all so disappointed. The rooms were decorated with information about each auxilliary, the guides were poised to take visitors around, we had a thousand cookies we had made, we had flowers for each woman who would come through. On Thursday - no one came. This is the Relief Society Room with the Sisters just waiting for visitors. No one!

On Friday and Saturday it was different and everyone moved into action. All of us North American missionaries just were part of the wallpaper as we watched the branch members show off their new building for the community.

This is the new chapel. If you could see the floor you would see a million, nay zillion flies. The cookie crumbs attracted every fly in Guatemala
but on Sunday they just disappeared like magic.
The most beautiful feature of our building is the window arrangment. The windows are partitioned with white metal and the landscape outside is invited to come inside. Remember when the Brighton chapel was built many years ago and the windows faced Mount Millicent ski lift. If one sat on the stand and looked at the audience everyone head was turned to the window during the service instead of watching the speaker. In a way, it is the same here. The view from the windows on either side of the chapel is so compelling it is hard to focus on the speaker. From my vantage point at the piano the top sill of the window matches the horizon line of mountains nearby. I can't help but look at this spectacular scenery during the meeting.

Here are a few of our happy sisters on Friday night. Sister Darden, our Relief Society President is glowing and she is the first sister on the right.

These women are so kind to me. If I do all the talking I can do just fine. I know enough Spanish for that. It is the listening part I have trouble with. Everyone is very patient with us as we mumble along in Spanglish.

The young women have a room of their very own. These rooms are so tiny. If you could think of our little study across the hall from the kitchen one can get an idea of the size of these rooms. And yet, they are beautiful little rooms. For us, for our branch at this time, the building is just perfect. There is lots of land adjacent to our building that is part of this tract of land. Someday we will build on it as we enlarge this building.

I love these young women and they are faithful and dedicated. They come to every choir practice and they never miss church unless they are deathly ill. They are few in number, but they will soon double their roll, of this I have no doubt.

Isn't this a beatiful hallway? There is so much wood in all the buildings in Guatemala. The wood is rich and polished. Some of the buildings have lower walls in wood, but always the doorways and windows are lined with mahogany or other hard woods that shine to a deep gloss. Notice that the floors are tile. It is so easy to keep clean. There is so much humidity and so much difficulty with fleas and other pesky critters that all the buildings..not just in church, but everywhere use beautiful tile for floors.

Olga Marroquin and her grandson Carlos have been special friends to us. Olga and her husband are converts to the church and they went through the temple in December. She is always bringing me little (and big) treats to take home for Sunday dinner. Gift giving is a part of this culture that is interesting...and sometimes aggravating, as there is an ethic about giving and receiving that is sometimes difficult to understand.

I think I just lost their picture, which will be sad, as I want to remember them always.

Beside the text is one glorious day a week ago when Carlos and Dad were reaching the end of putting the card into the right format. Carlos is a master of computer logic and we couldn't have done this project without him.

Just below, Hermana Barney and Hermana Oreoduma concentrating on FHE. At least, I thought they were concentrating. They looked up as I caught this pose with the camera. They are both very dear to us. Losing the missionaries is difficult, but I hope we will not lose contact.

In an environment where we are so different one tends to have the center of our lives in our Area Offices. We are very comfortable with the culture and the language, but when we go home at night apartment doors are open. We

say "hello" or "bueno noches" as we go to our own apartment. We take care of one another and there is always someone to do something with when we have a moment on Saturday. Our office is close to the entrance and usually, sometime
during each day everyone checks in with us.

Our Family Home Evenings are very special to all of us, as we are the only family any of us have so far away.

We wanted to take some pictures of our little apartment. Here is one of the bedrooms. It has my struggling little garden next to the window. It is doing better at the moment because the hot season is waning and the rainy season sort of tempers the heat from our window.

Here is a partial view of our cozy living room.
We love our apartment. All the furnishings are a part of the Medical Advisor legacy. It was here when we came and we will leave it for the next medical advisor. We feel very blessed to have such comfortable surroundings. We never expected to have anything as nice as this.



Here is a photo of dad and I standing in our living room. Our kitchen is on the other end and it is so tiny it is difficult for the two of us to stand in it at the same time. Like our chapel, it is sort of like a little doll house and we love it so much. When we come in after a long day it is warm (and

sometimes very cold as there is no heat) and welcoming.

Our July 4th picnic on our roof was a classic 4th of July. We just lacked the fireworks, but we get those on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.

Dad and Brothers Tilly and Graff using a hair drier to speed up the cooking time. We bought this little charcoal cooker just for this picnic. We love our roof, especially at this time of year when we can see the sky.

Warm friends and a burning in our hearts for the great work that goes on here day by day is a great blessing for us. We attended a marvelous youth fireside, yesterday, with hundreds of young people. There is a light I can't describe as these young people meet together.

This was a quiet month of "catch-up" in the office. We will go to Honduras and Panama towards the end of August. Later in the fall we will go to Costa Rica and another mission in Honduras, We hope to go to Nicaragua in November, although that isn't on the calendar yet. But July and the first part of August have been a special time for us as we have been home in Guatemala City, which is "home" to us.

We will probably do a few more zone conferences up until the middle of December. It will be busy in the Fall, and that is why we have loved July and why we look forward to August.