This is how we feel sometime...

This is how we feel at times, as we talk daily with the nurses throughout the Area. The missionaries are great, but sometimes they are discouraged when health issues arise. We hope our little treatment card will help them become more confident and capable and we pray daily for their good health while they are doing this incredible work. We love the missionaries and their Mission Presidents and wives. We don't think anyone will ever be able to understand the great work these presidents and their wives do for the growth of the church, but especially for the care and keeping of their missionaries.

I love this picture of Christ and have it surrounded with little Guatemalan dolls. None of the dolls are like any other. I have 10 in all, one for each grand-daughter. Somehow this makes me remember that we are loved, no matter who or where we are.

Here is the next mosaic. This is one of two that will be going on the dental clinic wall and it has been truly amazing to watch these wonderful tile mosaics appearing, almost like magic, as the little girls and Sister Albert put these together.

This dental clinic has been an incredible kind of engineering that defines Guatemalan architecture. If anyone needed a graduate thesis for a school or architecture, this would be the place to do it. Buildings seem to defy gravity as floors cantilever out into space. We've never seen such creative designs. We are in Houston for a few days and all the buildings are glass. The profile of downtown Houston is verticle. While beautiful, it seems a bit boring in comparison. There isn't a building in downtown Guatemala that fits a conventional downtown building concept. The ceiling of the dental clinic is a case in point. Roofs made of two feet of concrete is a typical building strategy. We were at the site when the roof was laid. It took about an hour to do it and the ceilings are supported by bamboo. In this case, the supports were temporary metal, or something. They are removed after a week or so, and the roof just stays in place. If there is a single thing that makes Guatemalan architecture work it has to be "rebar" and concrete.

My dearest friend! This smile is so typical of Marilyn Bawden. The Bawden's will be returning to Utah in October and we will miss them. It is so difficult to see the senior missionaries come and go.

Note the reinforced concrete. This is a roof, folks, not a floor.

Two good friends who have left this summer... Sarah is on the left and Darlene is on the right. We can actually say their first names now. Hermana...is a catch-all, and appropriate, title while on missions.

We were in Quetzaltenango a few weeks ago for a health fair. While there we traveled to Momotenango, up in the mountains. This is a typical sight. Carrying wood for cooking fires is the most common sight. There is no way we could put this load on our backs. Here, children, old men and women, in fact, everyone must engage in this arduous task. We have been reluctant to take pictures of these people doing their everyday tasks, but this man and his son said we could take this picture for 5 quetzales.

Questzaltenango is the fourth mission in Guatemala and remains one of our favorite places. This mission is found in the west-northwest part of Guatemala along the volcanic ranges. The crops grown from high mountains to coast reveal the altitude changes in just a few short miles. Pinapples, sugar cane and bananas are grown on the coastal areas while flowers and other, many other, vegetables are grown in the higher elevations. Just looking at the fields crawling up steep mountains and covering the valleys is proof that Guatemala is a major export resource for fruits and vegetables and flowers for the US...in fact for the world. Momotenango is famous for their wool blankets. We bought two blankets while we were there. I think they both weigh about a "ton". These people need the wool in the cool seasons.

The health fair was an incredible experience. We gave away at least a 150 pair of reading glasses and dad was able to give counsel and advice to others with vision problems. Mostly, he just tells people what they need to tell an ophthalmologist when they see him...but most of them will never be able to afford to go to a doctor.

Here is the old Maya costume and the new. These aprons are placed over the wondrous embroidered huipies (blouses) and cortes. The aprons are an institution of their own. I plan to buy 3 or 5 before I go.

This little girls adopted us and couldn't be budged from our side the whole day of the health fair. I don't know if this was at the beginning or the end of the fair, but she was fascinated.

Getting ready!

This is the smile dad always wears. He is just great. Dad always has an arm for me. What a guy!

We had a final thousand glasses a few weeks ago and couldn't face sorting them out by ourselves. We invited our apartment friends up for pie and they had the thousand sorted in an hour. We sounded like an auction as people were shouting such things as "here is a hundred...anyone want a hundred?", speaking of powers of glasses. We had the whole front room labeled in certain areas for certain powers. The glasses were on the table and resembled a mountain. Everyone took a station and someone pulled the glasses off the table and gave them to the people standing in front of those particular powers. Another miracle. The next day, we were invited to go to the Quetzaltenango Health Fair. We couldn't have gone without this help.

We are grateful for all our blessings. We are in Houston at the moment having a little, very little, procedure done, but will be home in a few days. We then go to Panama and then Honduras before September 5th. From then on, until we leave, we have various zone conferences to attend. What a wonderful opportunity we have had to participate in our Area in the way we have.

Life is good to us!