Kim and Carolyn Taylor

Last Blog, summary

2010-01-18T19:06:00.000-08:00

It is January 2010 and we are home. Being with our children and grandchildren is heaven on earth. This is the last blog for my journal, but it wouldn't be complete unless I added the activities of the last three weeks of December and the first week of January. This journal entry will conclude our account of our wonderful experience in Central America/Guatemala.

On December 16, 2009, we waited with great anticipation for our grandchildren to arrive at the Guatemala Airport. We will never forget the sight of them pushing their way through the glass doors into the walkway. They are so beautiful and good and they were the only thing we could see through our tears. Suddenly, the rest of the crowd disappeared.

They arrived on Saturday and we spent that night briefly going through the activities for the next few weeks. They came with a purpose which was to engage in meaningful service projects throughout the Guatemala City area. They did this and much more. We began Sunday with two church services. Jaime helped me play for a ward choir in another chapel. This was a Christmas concert and it was comforting for me to be the page turner. Jaime just took charge much to my relief. After our own church meeting we ran home for dinner just long enough to get little sacks full of gifts they had made the day before. We went to a hospital in Zone 1. It was so basic and needy and the many children were given gifts, the girls sang to them and Jaime and Maddie accompanied with our little traveling techlado. We have carried this with us throughout Guatemala the last 18 months and its odometer would read something like a thousand miles...if it had one.

That evening, on the way home from the hospital, we drove across the city to a fairly rough zone to visit Gert Karnischitsky. He has a little house down in a gully, but he has made this tiny house comfortable with his skill in planning and creating. He is from Austria, Czeck, Holland...a gracious and distinguised gentleman, etc....and the girls were fascinated by his stories. They sang to him, we brought treats and had a little Feliz Navidad Program.

Monday morning (December 21) was spent making cookies, planning and working on orphanage gifts, shopping. We spent the afternoon in Antigua where the girls had a wild time shopping, visiting and taking millions of picturs. Jessie is so talented and her photos are posted on her facebook. We gave up taking pictures as Jessie could do it so much better. Her record of Antigua is wonderful.

Tuesday and Wednesday (22 and 23) were the only real play days for Lindsey, Jess, Jaime and Maddie as we had programmed every other day of their two week stay with service projects.
We visited Quiriqua (spelling), my favorite archeological site as it seems to be "the library" of Mayan history with its enormous stelae, and late in the afternoon got to our destination in Rio Dulce. We stayed in Banana Palms that night. During our mission we have found that the game of Dominoes is actually a real game. All this time we thought it was only created to drop from the shelf onto the floor of the utility room so one could make tunnels and highways. What do you know? We played a lengthy game of Dominoes with the girls winning every game.

The next day we took the boat trip down Lake Isabell, visited a little Caribbean town and went further into the ocean and banked in a cove, hiked a trail called "Seven Alters" which are a series of limestone pools that wend their way into the jungle.

On the 24th, Christmas Eve day, we finished our projects for the orphanage, met all the senior missionaries in the building, had our little program and hung socks on the bookcase. The girls made tons of cookies while dad and I gave a lectures and shots in the CCM. We went to the hospital with the Robertson family and had pizza that night with this remarkable family who had girls almost the same ages as ours. At 11:00 p.m. we went to a small buffet with our wonderful friends, President and Hna. Torres who live in a 15 story apartment building. At midnight the fun begins as the whole city lights up with fantastic fireworks. We went up onto the roof and spent the next hour trying to decide which direction to look. Close to the building the fireworks were huge. The full moon was in the Western sky and it was difficult to decide which to look at as both the fireworks and moon were bright. I have a few pictures with the moon and the fireworks together. One gets the vastness of the city as we look as far towards the volcanoes and hills as possible as the fireworks diminish in size with distance.

The next morning (25) we had a scone breakfast as the Graffs and we, the girls and many other senior missionaries walked around the corner and found ourselves in a different world. Kim and I had been working with the orphanage for months and we spent many hours in the next three days working with these children. Between 70 and 130 children under age 5 are in this building. They have a little food, mismatched shoes, bare mattresses...but the children do have a roof over their head, someone to change diapers, and keep them on a schedule. Imagine taking care of 130 children, 20 tiny babies, 24/7. The staff is stretched, but wonderful. No one has time to hold or sing to these children, so on Christmas Day we took hours in the afternoon to do some little programs and then just hold and play with the children. The girls were incredibly loving and helpful. That evening we had a fireside for the missionaries in the CCM The girls sang and played the piano.

Saturday (26th) was also spent in the orphanage, later in a hospital. We had a moment to shop in Central Market, visit the topo map, and drive through parts of Guatemala. The girls spent time in the Guatemala Temple doing baptisms and confirmations...about 95 of them.

Sunday..(27) .again church...donate a techlado for Hna. Silva and host a dinner in our tiny apartment for the missionaries, the Marroquins and the Astorgas. We had dinner, sang Christmas Carols until it was time to take these wonderful families back to El Fiscal where we go to church.

Monday (28) the girls spent many hours in the orphanage once again, visited hospitals, distributed blankets and church baby kits. I believe this was Roosevelt Hospital.

Tuesday, (29). the girls visited a hospital with the Robertsons to play and work with children. I had planned a night of music for our ward that evening so I spent the day preparing for that and wringing my hands. Our good friends, the Blackburns, went with us to be Santa Clause. The Robertson family came to support us, as well. We were undecorating the Chrismas tree and Santa came by to tell everyone how much he had enjoyed his Guatemalan vacation. We knew from past experience that maybe no one would come. To our surprise the chapel was filled from wall to wall and side to side. We had planned this night as a gift to our little town, elFiscal. The missionaries had taken fliers around the town and people actually came. Every person in our branch attended that night plus family members who were inactive. We had 15 non-members and their children, many less actives plus our own branch members. We had planned refreshments and the branch president took charge which was a miracle in itself. This was the crowning activity in our beloved branch and many knew it was our last time to be in church. They loved us, helped us, were patient with us these last 18 months and everyone gave us hugs and very kind words. We will never, ever forget our little El
Fiscal Branch and its wonderful people. It is difficult to imagine, I know, but try! Two little old people from Sugarhouse spending three hours a week, attending church where a language was spoken that we didn't understand very well, and yet feeling great love and support. People sitting on both sides of us would help us find the correct hymns, point to scriptures we were supposedly reading in Sunday School and Relief Society. There was a great love and bond between the 79 members of our branch and with us. It is difficult to explain, but we felt loved and cared for and, what's more, they allowed us to give to them through music and example.

We had so many other activities: all service oriented, but at noon on Tuesday we piled in our car to head to Lake Atitlan to do an eyeglass clinic. This was to be our last clinic as we had saved 300 glasses to dispense in the little town of San Lucas Atitlan. Jessie helped us measure, Maddie, Jaime and Lindsay helped people select their glasses, clean them and generally encouraged the people who came through. We always work with missionaries and they were wonderful. We speak such little Spanish, but it doesn't matter when the missionaries are there. It doesn't really matter anyway...we did a clinic in the Polochik about a year before and the missionaries had to leave for awhile. We did just fine. I clown around, Dad grabs people to help him measure, and language doesn't really matter.

We stayed in cabins in the jungle that night and walked through the famous gardens of the Hotel Atitlan ( we didn't stay there). The next day the girls did a fabulous zipline through the jungle.

The following days: Birth defect center...most distressing, but the girls were gracious and kind. This was followed by a visit to maternity hospital to distribute baby kits. This is a hospital for the indigent as the women knock on the door of the little facility and tell them they are in labor. They stay in the hospital long enough to have their baby delivered and rest for a few hours before they have to leave.

In between all these activities with the girls we were trying to finish our mission duties. Our friends, the other Senior Missionaries, were so kind and supportive. Never before in our lives and probably never again, will we find such a compatible group. We all had diverse assignments in the Area, and yet we were united in every thing we did. We helped one another, we supported one another...and the many things we had to do that last month were assisted by our good and dear friends. They welcomed and loved our granddaughters. They provided many material things we were able to give away those two weeks. In every way they extended love and service to us. How can we even begin to describe the love we feel for each of them. These people are/were great souls, multi-talented and gracious and generous in their love for us, for each other and for Central America.

We dropped the girls at the airport on Saturday at noon and drove home long enough to clean, sort and organize the office, do carpetas and then go back to the airport to pick up the new AMA. They would be staying with us for the next five days while we trained these wonderful people. Instant friends and kindred spirits were these two dedicated people.

We left on Thursday morning to come home to our family. We saw Charlie and Tim first and as we left the airport surrounded by our wonderful family we could only say a quiet prayer of thanks for the last 18 months. We love our Lord and Savior, we know Central America is a unique and dedicated land. We have love and admiration for the mission presidents, the missionaries, the members, and the people in general. Where in the world, except here in Guatemala would every person getting on or off an elevator say, with genuine feeling, "Buenos Dias? Tardes! or Noches!"? Meeting anyone at the grocery store, at a door, a restaurant, the men who took such great care of us in our office and apartment building always resulted in a genuine smile. This greeting was something we will never forget. A smile always got a smile back in return!!! We loved Guatemala, we loved Central America. Our dear mission president friends...will always be our friends. In this last post we thank everyone with all our hearts.

Christmas in Guatemala

2009-12-10T19:30:00.000-08:00

Kim and Carolyn with a friend during the Christmas Devotional the other day. The spiritual talks and the quiet part of the meeting was over when lunch was announced. We went into the church parking lot for a steak, turkey, sausage meal... a meal that went on and on and was incredible. Then the fun began....Karaoke!
Did I spell that word correctly??? We thought they were joking when they asked us to participate. We declined, but the rest of the devotional was dedicated to K. and at the end of the party...huge pinatas. We were amazed at the fabulous voices from our Area office singing songs from Madonna, Elvis Presley and Verdi. Then, after 2 hours everyone got up...Area President included..to hit the pinatas. There were 8i huge pinatas and men in suits and ties, women in beautiful clothes were given bags to put their candy in. It was a made scramble and we were right in there with the rest.

Our good friend, Carlos Rabenales, at one of his piano recitals. They are on their way to the U.S. for Christmas and we may never see them again. We have been a part of this family for 18 months. His granddaughter is having a birthday tomorrow in a little town called Boca Monte.

Especially For Youth....same enthusiasm no matter where on might be in this beautiful earth. See those little cities...we are getting 20 of these complete with little cars to donate to the places the girls are going. On that note, we are so eager to see and work with Jessie, Jaime, Maddie and Lindsay. They will be doing great things to help in various places in and above Guatemala City (Lake Atitlan where they will be doing our last reading glass clinic. Now we will have witnesses as to the great work you have all done in sending glasses to us.

We home teach this wonderful couple and here we are doing our home teaching. In November we were taking turns recalling things we are thankful for in church service. We made a funny little turkey out of feathers and styrofoam balls as we were stating our blessings. It was the silliest activity, but it was fun. Like our grand-children, they put up with our goofiest ideas.

The three beautiful young women on the left and middle, Nahomy, Mauritza and Alma, are either our grand-daughters or our "Moms". They work in the Area Office with us and take such good care of us.

You will see two volcanoes on this blog. One is in El Salvador and one in Nicaragua (this one was in El Salvador). These are only two of the many throughout CA. The isthmus is a site of great geo-thermal energy and sometimes it seems as though those shocks strong enough to form mountains andvolcanoes still hover in the air. We are walking on great magma pools that are at rest for the moment underneath the surface that somehow, just seem to be waiting to pounce. We have experienced a few earthquakes. We keep our shoes handy at all times.

Three weeks ago these little houses on the edge of this river in El Salvador in San Vincente were sites of peaceful family life. Some of these people were members of the church. It rained very hard for a few days and like a flash flood in the deserts of the West, water collected and rolled down a nearby volcanoe, raising the water level 80 feet. The surge wiped out everything along the river. The highways were many scores above the river still had huge boulders and debris from the volcano along the length of the road beneath the volcano. We took many humanitarian goods to help these people, as did many countries in the world.

Carolyn and two friends! They became delightful friends that day. We gave them a Book of Mormon and shared the Plan of Salvation with them. and they loved being with the Dental Brigade and with us. They took such good care of us for the four days we were there helping in the Brigade. They stopped all traffic on a busy highway just so I could take pictures of the El Salvador temple just being built.

The dental brigade was a magnificent gift to Central America. There is no telling how many people have been blessed by these dental donations from the U.S

Here is a volcano from Nicaragua. We have been in Nicaragua and in El Salvador, both, the past month. This past month and a half has been a wonderful adventure as we have worked for four days with an Apostle of the Lord, as he instructed us, plus zone conferences and dental brigades. How could TLOPS (two little old people from Sugarhous) have the experiences we are having.

President Don Clarke and his wife and Niel Anderson and his wife are great leaders. They are passionate witnesses of Jesus Christ.

Here we are in a golf cadillac at the seminar during a few moments of fresh air. The seminar, though, was even more glorious than the landscape.

We are coming home on January 7th and we feel such joy to be able to see, hug and talk with our family members and friends. We will do one more blog when we get home as a record of our 18 months in Central America. To be able to post photos and text of the work Jess, Jaime, Maddie and Lindsay are doing will be our last blog. This blog has been our journal, our "Large Plates" with bits and pieces about Central America. We will share the "Small Plates" when we get home. As with Nephi, one set of plates records the happenings on the outside of our very interesting and beautiful land, but the "Small Plates" is the record we will cherish forever.

We love all of you! The Christmas season in Guatemala is one of fireworks. We go to bed with fireworks and are often awakened by strings of firecrackers. This is the way one's birthday is announced and the days celebration is begun. We love the sound of fireworks and can't wait for the girls to see the Christmas Eve fireworks which begin exactly at midnight. We will be observing the sight from a 10th floor apartment. What a way to end our mission!!!!

Waiting for Dinner

2009-11-20T15:24:00.000-08:00

We are sitting in a lovely hotel in San Salvador waiting for dinner. We've been driving all day and our only sustenancee was two Mrs. Field's most wonderful chocolate chip cookies. I'm not complaining, mind you, but some veggies would be nice at this point. Preston and Vaugna King and Kim are giving instruction to the dentists and doctors who are here to do a major dental brigade for pre-missionaries. Prior to the clinic opening in the morning, everyone needs to be taught how to make use of the new on-line system. There is no way to explain what happens in a brigade. David Sheets, the director of this massive humanitarian method around South and Central America, has been doing this for many years. Many thousands of missionaries are able to serve because of brigades like this one.

Just a brief explanation of what these brigades are will hopefully paint a picture of people from around the globe who donate, over and over, incredible ways of providing dental care. Just now, as we drove into the hotel, there were two doctors in the lobby. One, a Dr. Prince told us this is his 7th brigade. Another man, whose name I did not get, told us that this was his first one. He was from Atlanta, Georgia.

These men take their office - literally - from their place in various cities. Chairs and all are unscrewed from the floors and packed into trucks to be airlifted into places in Central America. When they get to the area where the brigade is stationed, the chairs are recovered and placed in a chapel, in this case San Salvador. Each station is set up as a complete dental office. The gyms hold 20 mini-offices. There are labs, X-ray areas, orthodontics, surgery set up in classrooms and on stages. Teeth are extracted, cleaned, cavities filled, jaws restructured, and on and on. For 10 days these dentists and technicians and doctors who give all the physical and medical exams will work from early morning until late at night. This brigade, which begins in the morning, will be our third opportunity to experience the bee-hive of miracles in the making.

The last brigade served 930 young men and women. This brigade has over 500 pre-missionaries signed up. Buses will come from all over El Salvador, most having driven all night, and deposit young men and women from every corner of this beautiful country. Their work begins as they step off the bus. Hair cuts, mission photos, used clothes....are just a few of the service given during these days.

Many of these dentists, doctors, technicians, and the families of these people who serve from all over the US use this time as their vacations. This is a great expense for these people and yet many have been doing this service for 20 years. Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala are countries who have been sites multiple times for these brigades. I'm so grateful I have a chance to rub shoulders, even just for a few days, with great people such as these.

Photos for the prior post

2009-11-01T18:40:00.000-08:00

Here are a few photos of the evolution of the dental clinic.

Good friends...as all the Senior Missionaries have been. This is Neil Anderson in the red shirt. He lives across the hall from the us. These people are adventures waiting to happen.

The Bawdens the day before they left to go home. Still waiting for the chairs.

This is an orphanage for girls. They love the Bawdens and the Alberts who have spent many hours building this clinic.

Nahomi with two phones at her ears at the same time has a smile for everyone.
This is a country of smiles and laughter.

Babies are always carried in a sling on mom's back.

The dental clinic is finished except for the chairs which are in customs limbo somewhere.

Two amigos from our branch. They are our right arms...and our left. The branch is so good to us. We are left alone, now that the Bawdens are gone. And yet, today, everyone looked after us. We love these people. The dental clinic at the beginning. This was a garbage area and yet the Bawdens had the vision to see what could be done.

Diana, in the yellow, will go to Puerto Rico for her mission this week. Francisco and Hayley will be married next month. See those smiles?

Halloween - then....Feliz Navidad

2009-10-31T09:42:00.000-07:00

Photos are coming in next post.

Happy Halloween! Today is the "Day of the Dead", a lovely family holiday in Guatemala. It is not celebrated the same in Guatemala as it is in Mexico. This is a sweet family holiday where people visit cemetaries and lay flowers on the graves of their loved ones. Children and parents, grand-parents, aunts and uncles and cousins get together and have picnics. Special food is prepared and served. In some areas the very large kites are flown. I had many pictures last year, but the kites are flying on Sunday this year so we will not have a chance to watch them go into the air. Kites are everywhere, sold along the highways and typify the connecting of heaven and earth.

We love the laughing and joking in every conversation by those around us. Laughs and jokes and silly comments are part of every day, every minute discussion everywhere. We have learned a whole different kind of humor in Central America. It's sometimes difficult to hear laughter and not understand the joke, but Dean Bawden says that takes years to pick up. We hear and understand enough, though, to be delighted by the good-nature of everyone. Here is an example of the simple jokes and entertainment. We went to a farewell lunch, daybefore yesterday, for Dean and Marilyn at Appleby's. The lunch was attended by ex-mission presidents, Area personnel...all very distinguised, stake presidents, etc. I only mention this to illustrate the contrast. After lunch, a physician who is, at the moment, over all Welfare in Central America whispered something to the fellow on his right. The whisper began to go around the table to see how it came back to the original person. Didn't we all play this when we were kids? Soon they had whispers going this way and that. Everyone laughed when the whispers morphed into something completely different from the phrase as the beginning. Another example: We had a wedding shower for one of the young men who handles all communication throughout the 12 missions about a month ago. Our floor was invited. After he opened all his presents (the bride was not invited) they played "pin the veil on the bride" , and some other silly childhood games we use to play. This all occurred in the lunchroom of the office. I sometimes think we get too "grown-up" and forget the childhood delights.

Speaking of Dean and Marilyn Bawden, they are leaving to go home tomorrow. We love all the Senior Missionaries around us, all the people we work with, our Guatemalan friends and the friends we have in all the other countries, but the Bawdens are very special to us. Jean Bird, our dear friend from the Mt. View Ward, is related to them and spoke highly of them before we left Salt Lake to go on our mission. She was right! We have played, gone on adventures, shared service projects, worked almost side by side in the office, shared our families, driven many hundreds of miles together and we will miss them. On the other hand, we understand and look forward to our own release in the futures. That's the way of missions.

Our branch had a surprise dinner for the Bawden's last night...surprise in that they didn't know about it until few days ago. We sat out on our new lawn beside the church and enjoyed everyone's company. We are so fond of everyone. We hope and pray this little branch of the Lord's vineyard will grow and flourish.

We were invited to attend the temple with a young woman who has become a dear friend. She works on the 3rd floor of our office. She is going to Puerto Rico on her mission next week. I always say a prayer for Central America and make the time in our temple a time of focus for the missionaries and especially for the people in these countries. As I was sitting waiting for our session a thought jumped into my mind. A chorus from one of my favorite oratories, "Elijah" entered my mind. I hadn't thought of this music for awhile and yet these words just flowed into my mind. "He, watching over Israel, slumbers not nor sleeps". I think it was a reassuring answer to my prayer for Central America.

We have communicated with the people taking our place in January. They will stay with us for 5 days while we orient them. They are from Springville and they sound like wonderful people with whom we'd like to be neighbors. They will rent our apartment in the "Mormon Dorm".

This season throughout Central America is my favorite. Everything cools down, and in some places, gets cold. People pull out their jackets and coats and bundle up before going outside. Everything looks greener, everything has a vibrancy and we have seen rainbows every day this week. While the rainy season is over with, the rains that come now are precious gifts. The sky changes every minute with blue skies which change to a bit of mist, then grows into a dark cloud that begins to move across the sky. One feels ahead that there will be rain in 10 minutes. As at home, it is possible to read the dramatic language of weather.

We have been hoping and praying the 5 dental chairs will arrive. They have been sitting in port in a container for a week. The port officials have promised Dean Bawden they would be here every day, but they don't come. These are the last items that need to be installed in "Dean's Dream". The clinic is just incredible. It is located in a girl's orphanage and tucked into a space which just held a lot of garbage that had accumulated over the years. Dean and Marilyn saw this space and saw the possibilities. The Bawden's have put off their departure for three weeks just waiting for the chairs, and day by day they have had to change airline tickets, but they must go tomorrow. This is the last "tooth-pick before the finished sculpture". The installers have come from Salt lake, but they too are just in a holding position. Getting through customs and other port formalities in any country is a perplexing and undependable process , and often a "cross you fingers" process. Medicines, supplies and other commodities will sit in these containers for weeks. We have had major problems with every country project we have been part of- Africa, So America...now Central America, Russia. Eventually it all arrives, but we all learn to be flexible in setting definite dates.

The days are not long enough. Yesterday, we had a Zone Leader Council Training via video-conference with one of the Honduras Missions. Preparation, phone calls, carpetas, research, correspondence with missions all contribute to busy days in our office. Time seems to stretch in remarkable ways as we get to work about 8:00 a.m. or so. We begin our work and when we think it's time for lunch we are often surprised to find that lunch hour has come and gone. It's interesting that we never know when we will be finished enough to go home. Our calling is autonomous and we decide our schedule. As the afternoon progresses, and this is so interesting, we both will know when to leave. We will look at each other and realize we both have a pause. Sometimes it's late and sometime's it's early. Sometimes we have finished something, but that moment just arrives and both of us feel it at the same time. We may not have an earthly boss, but someone is sitting over our shoulder saying, "It's time to go home".

We always pray that our family...one by one...will find someone to help each day. Smiles, service, phone-calls - are ways to serve others. We will never look at "service" quite the same way, ever again.

Medical Mystery

2009-10-03T19:18:00.000-07:00

Medical Mystery
October 2009

This clown is from an orphanage we visited the other day. It was National Children's Day and children everywhere were having parades, special parties, etc. in schools throughout the country. The only two holidays I know of that we have in common with the US is Feliz Navidad and Columbus Day.

This has been an eventful two or three weeks. We have had a particular pesky medical issue arise during the last six months and dad has been perplexed and baffled by treatment and diagnosis. Our very insightful and intuitive Area President asked that we have a bit of help from Salt Lake. Two doctors from the Missionary Medical came down to Guatemala. We had set up interviews for the doctors prior to their coming so we kept them busy from dawn 'till dark for two days. It was interesting to see the medical detectives work to solve this mystery. Equations on the white board, interviews, questions and more questions. What have we learned? We know for sure this situation is not really solvable. There are so many variables that the three doctors finally gave their best guess and advised us to act accordingly. The two days could be put in an medical fiction format, but without a solid answer. The two days passed in a blur and we have been doing all the follow up the last 4 or 5 days.

We went to our first Guatemalan LDS Church) wedding reception. The weddings here are not "come and go" events, rather sit-down dinners. In Guatemala, if you come to an event on time (except for soccer) you are a few hours early. We had just come from a zone conference in another part of Guatemala and we were tired and hungry. We remembered, with the urging of the Bawdens, that we were supposed to be at the reception and it was already 7:30. We didn't eat, knowing it would be dinner, and drove about 15 miles to the place where the reception was to be held. We couldn't find it and the only place with the same name was a bar with only a few customers. We drove into the village and it was dark. We decided to go home and as we turned on to the main road we saw a beautiful chapel set off the street with many cars in the parking lot. There it was! Being an hour late, we were still an hour early. We were so excited to see the bride but she waitied till 9:00 to come out. This was in the cultural hall. She entered the room out of the Relief Society room with her little flower girls and wearing the most gorgeous satin dress. She walked through the cultural hall and met the groom and they had a little ceremony. The sealing had been done in the temple earlier that day. About 10:00, after a beautiful program, we ate dinner, finally. The bride and groom had come to our home for family night some time ago and we have worked with Laura and Jose each day for months and months. It was a lovely evening and we are so glad to have made the effort to get there.

Zone Conferences remain a special experience for us. We have had three days of mega-zone conferences in three different places in Guatemala, one being in the city. It is so nice to come home at night even if it does mean 3 hours of driving. This mission president and his wife were terrific. You can take the temperature of the president just by attending the zone conferences. The 180+ missionaries loved one another and loved their president and it was a delight to see the common goals they all had to do their best for the Lord.

Medically, this has been a challenging 10 days as Missions have called us with serious issues. We have been on our knees, lately, praying for these missionaries who needed more help than medicine and medical support.

It's interesting to work with a group of Senior Missionaries from the Area Office: humanitarin, PEF, Financial, Security, etc. A simple project seems to take on a life of its own as these wonderful missionaries start brainstorming. We have seen it time and again, and dad and I have two projects, simple projects, which have turned into huge affairs. We are going to a village on th7th of October to give out the last of our reading glasses. Everyone wanted in the group of senior missionaries wanted to come along. This project has turned into a mini-health fair. We will have dental hygiene, hygiene workshop, a story corner and baby kits. It is suddenly going to be a massive group with at least 16 of us going. Now we have to find hotels and transportation and make other elaborate plans. We are so excited by the help and support and know this will be of great service for the people in that area. The eyeglasses have been a wonderful window, no gateway, into serving many people throughout Central America.

General Conference was remarkable. We sat in our apartment and projected the conference on the wall and it was as good as being there. There were a couple of men working on the apartment next door. We were so excited at seeing our prophet and apostles we ran next door and asked the workmen to come and see a prophet of the Lord and his apostles. They noticed our Biblia on the table and asked about it. We then told them about El Libre de Mormon. They both wanted one so we ran to the office to find two written in Spanish.

Dad went to the Priesthood session with other English-speaking Elders and the women in the apartment had a baked potato bar, with Chimichurri, an Argentinian specialty that is delicious and very common in Latin America. I have a recipe and will share it with everyone when we get home...which will be January 7th.

A crisis has developed in parts of Guatemala as the rainy season never arrived. There are parts of Guatemala, as you have probably read in the paper, with a million or so starving people. Children have died and families are desperate. Help has come from around the world, our church, as well as many other churchs and humanitarian aid, has poured in to bring relief to the towns in the "dry area". Many of these people have no idea how to help themselves. The interesting thing has been so see how the Guatemaltecans have suddently become united in an effort to bring food to these people. People have donated food: rice, beans, sugar, maize and one other thing that I can't remember at the moment and a huge warehouse with volunteers from all over recieves the food and takes the food out to these people as fast as it comes in. Dad and I took this picture when we went to drop off food.

We know our departure date: about January 7th. What a blessing this mission has been for us!

2009-09-13T17:38:00.001-07:00

The blog bumped me off before I was finished, but I will conclude with a brief explanation of the pictures in the blog above. Most of them were taken with the Honduras Mission President and the nurses. These conferences are times of revelation for us in every sense of the word.

The other pictures are taken in another orphanage we went to a few days ago. This is a small orphanage and we will definitely help in as many ways as we can. They only have 14 children and the objective is to get them back to their parents if at all possible. Usually it is not, but they try. We were so impressed by the love we felt as we walked through the rooms and met the chidlren. The orphanage seemed more like a family to us than an institution.

We are blessed!

Introducing Bridger

2009-09-13T16:05:00.000-07:00

Bridger James Taylor weighed in at 5 lbs and 13 oz. He has dark hair and is asolutely beautiful. Tammy and James were so kind about keeping us infomed during the day. James i-phoned us with text, pictures just about every 15-30 minutes, or so and it was just about as good as walking the halls of the hospital. We can't hold him in our arms, but at least we can look at the

pictures and dream about it. Both Tammy and the baby are doing just fine. They were able to take Bridger home the next day.

Below is a totally unposed picture of the wonderful army of Helaman. The missionaries were taking a break

between lectures and just stepped out on the porch. This is a great picture of eager young men who serve the Lord with such diligence and commitment.

Look at the smiles on the two elders on the left: one from Wyoming and the other from Hawaii. They were our drivers from the airport to the hotel in Panama. These are just two examples of the men and women we meet and they typify the great spirit we sense throughout the Area. Dad's presentations are just great, by the way, and it is totally different from what he did in the first part of the mission. Our treatment card is out and everyone from Panama to Guatemala with many stops between are so enthusiastic.
We have given out about 2,000 so far and will now distribute them in the CCM. Each mission will have extras for the missionaries who come directly from the Provo MTC. This project has been such a blessing and has been an Area project. Many friends have blessed us on the way. Carlos, for example, has translated the whole thing from English to Spanish, helped us format everything and held our hands throughout the whole project. Every mission in all 7 countries are participating with such enthusiasm.

Dad did a Zone Leader's Council Training in Panama and then did three days of mega-zone conferences in San Pedro Sula Mission in Honduras. We have traveled from the Pacific to the Carribean with the Mission Presidents. We don't get the tourist information, but we do get a wonderful experience with men and women who probably have the most difficult calling in the church. An example, we had to go to La Cieba, about three hours away from San Pedro Sula. President Cruz sang hymns the whole six hours with all of us (dad and I and the two sister missionaries-nurse) joining in. These hours in the car were very precious to us and we will remember it always. The Cruz's don't speak English and we don't speak Spanish very well. We were to stay in their home for three nights and four days. Needless to say, we were very concerned. Somehow, we didn't just "get by", we were able to converse and laugh and share stories. We left both missions with dear good friends.

We had one day before the Zone Leader Council Training and thought we would try to go up into the rain-forest. We thought we might rent a car as everything tour we had been interested in was full. As we checked into the hotel we saw a little tourist counter. We went over to look at the brochures and a man came up and said there was one tour (of five people) that would like to addtional people.

We went up into the rain-forest by a long, stable, dugout canoe. Some of these pictures can illustrate the beauty of the Panamanian landscape. This yellow poncho is dad on the way out of the river. This was a day-long project and we were covered in mud. That night we tried to get all the mud from our shoes and pants so we could meet the President and his wife for dinner. The Madrigals are very experienced and without a nurse, Hermana Madrigal handles all the health issues for her mission. Meeting and working with these people throughout Central America has been inspiring.

On the way back down the river we stopped at an indiginous village for a fish lunch. Their native dress was incredible. A funny story, though, illustrates how much tourism helps the economy of all the countries. The picture with the young man on the end of the canoe is a case in point. As
we were trying to communicate in our horrible Spanish he began to laugh. He told us he only came back home during Spring Break from Harvard.

We hiked up a small tributary to a beautiful waterfall. If you look carefully you will see me holding the arm of our guide. Walking through the water is almost impossible for me, but the destination was worth everything. The waterfall, though short was breathtaking.

We don't often get the opportunity to do something like this and we were very grateful we had the time to do something like this.

2009-08-23T16:14:00.000-07:00

This is Tio Juan's Orphanage and the children were most interested in my nose, every band-aid, my hearing-aids, etc. Older people are too polite to notice, but kids are curious and question, freely.

Diana and Mario Astorga have become dear friends. They are like our grandchildren at home and we love them dearly. We are the home teachers for this couple and we have done many wonderful things together. We are so blessed to have such good friends.

This has been a great 10 days, but there are a couple of highlights. Hence, this blog is printed a little sooner than usual. Last Thursday I had made an appointment for any senior missionaries who wanted to join us for a tour of the SAFE-PASSAGE School in Guatemala. I had heard much about this school since our arrival last year. Finally, we had time to set it up and a group of us were able to take a tour of this amazing school. A young woman, who had been travelling with a group saw people scrounging for food in the Guatemala garbage dump. She was stricken and called her parents and told them to sell everything she had and send it to her. She never went back! She began a little program for the children of the people who, for 20 Quetzales, are permitted to comb through the dump. They live there, eat what they find in the dump, use cardboard and plastic for walls and roofs and use plastic sacks for fuel for their little fires. Most can't read and 80% are without fathers. She started with a few students in a small house which, in the last 8 years has expanded to about 400 students. This is a school labelled "Safe Passage" and if one googles it they can find quite a few sites.

This will be difficult to see, but the dump is way down the slope. If you look closely, notice that the grass in the foreground is the place where we are standing. Way down the hill are a number of tiny buses, tractors and the many people who live and work in the dump for a few Quetz. a day. I was shocked to learn that families with 5, 6, 8, + children work for the amount we pay for a McDonald's hamburger. Hunger is prevalent, education opportunities almose zero, options for other work are totally out of reach for these people.
This school provides a place to study, learn English, learn study skills, eat one or two meals, and provides a safe environment. There are two shifts and the ages of the children range from 5 to 21 take the opportunity this neighborhood school provides. It is difficult to describe the miracle this school has become for this area. As we took the tour we looked through windows of the classrooms and saw many of the older kids studying with their high school textbooks on the table. This school is a resource for them. All of the children go to neighborhood schools, but before Safe Passage, the kids might go one day and not the next. The students have to sign a contract that says they must go to school if they want to be part of Safe Passage. And everyone does! It is an encredible learning environment with a gifted staff of permanent educators, managers (mostly Guatemalan)and volunteers. The volunteers come from all over the world. The can come for a few weeks, a few months ->even longer. The young woman who began the school died in a car accident a few years ago but the staff decided to continue. Therefore, all the staff and they are all young, andI mean young, at least they look so to us. The teaching staff is all under 35, I'm sure. The two in the photos are both working on PhDs in the United States, but they are permanent educators on staff. (pictures below)

A year or so ago some of the mothers of the children wanted to learn to read just as their children were doing. There are now classes for these women. A week ago, one of the fathers asked if he could come and learn to read. This is a remarkable event as many of these families don't even know where the fathers are located. As well as learning to read, the women have learned to make brilliant and gorgeous beads from the paper they find in the dump. They are making beautiful jewelry. The school has taught the women how to set up a business, with a board of directors, etc. Now they are not only learning to read but learning about opportunities and possibilities. A very prominent hardware store (sort of like Lowes in the US) is going to feature their jewelry in September. This has opened up many doors for these women.
This school is also providing scholarships for colleges for students who show they are working hard.

al Elder Albert with a friend in the school library.

The staff is so young, but incredibly accomplished. Their passion for this project makes me want to help. I am planning to call them this week. Perhaps I can help in some way. The young woman in the dark blue shirt is Karen in the photo on the right. She is the volunteer manager. The young women in front is a PhD and is in charge of all scholastic efforts. The young woman in the left photo has set up an amazing library and supports and teaches study skills. She is from California, she is a PhD candidate. These women are on the permanant staff.

This is the school as it is now. What began as a small house is now a building with a couple of stories. There are quite a few little classrooms and a large cafeteria. The meals the kids get here are the only meals they will have during the day.

Dr. David and dad. He is my dermatologist in Guatemala and has become a good friend

This bridge was in Texas, but we were awed by the amazing structre and mathematical arrangment of cables.

Dad is holding the little shorts and a little backpack for Tammy and Jame's baby. We couldn't go to the shower, so here is our gift. The shorts are sooo Guatemalan, but they could fit in anywhere.

As always, it has been an amazing week. We learn so much everywhere we turn. There is much sadness, much poverty, but the humanitarian work in Guatemala from all sorts of agencies and many churches is very helpful. Remember the starfish story? We see that metaphor everywhere. A starfish here, a starfish there...and little by little there is progress. This is social change, but the most significant change occurs as people join the church. It is here that we see changes that affect families, then communities, then cities and finally these changes will change Central America. Why do I say this in the future tense? In dynamic ways it is already happening. Right now we are a tiny part of it. How could we be so blessed?

This is how we feel sometime...

2009-08-10T17:25:00.000-07:00

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!

JULY 1ST--JULY 20TH

2009-07-20T19:59:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-06-28T19:17:00.001-07:00

We have had a wonderful week with our friends Kathy and Marian. On the last day we were able to go to Tikal, Guatemala. This great city was discovered more than a hundred years ago under dense jungle. To everyone's surprise, a great archeological and historical treasure was
revealed. Pyramids, ball courts, stelae, alters, sophisticated arrangements of great buildings were excavated bit by bit. This complex continues to be carefully researched and uncovered. Dad and I climbed two of the pyramids via little wooden staircases. The last one was a bit scary, but we made it up and down.

This is just part of a single section of buildings the archeologists have discovered up to now. Tikal, even though on the northern end of Guatemala and fairly close to Mexico, is in the lowlands of Petan. With our North American orientation it is difficult to think of the flatlands being in the North. The Isthsmus is actually oriented east and west...and it is difficult to sort this out in our Utah brains. The south and west of Guatemala consists of a huge series of volcanic ranges. This northern section contains many millions of acres of the first real jungle I have ever seen. It is the beginning of the rainy season and eveything is so green it almost hurts our eyes. Everything just glistens.

If you look closely you can see a monkey in the tree. We saw so many Spider Monkeys. We looked for the Howler Monkey, but never saw them. The monkeys we did see were as curious about us as we were about them. There is a whole ecological layer under all the foliage that is very small. We saw a very tiny, but beautifully colored lizard about the size of the first joint of the thumb. We understand there are frogs the size of flies, tiny fungi, tiny insects under all that dense understory and thriving under all the leaves and soil. The Ceiba Tree, the national tree of Guatemala, is incredible with huge thorns that cover the lower trunk while still immature. This tree grows straight up and it is so tall that it towers above other trees. The survival tactics used by plants and animals is so evident in an environment such as this.

Here we are, an intrepid group with walking sticks, sweatbands and smiles. We were so fortunate to have, as our guide, a good friend Servio Naves. He is a Latin who has become a very good friend and a passionate advocate for placing these sites in Guatemala with those of the Book of Mormon. We tend to agree with him and we had the distinct impression that Helaman, Nephi, Mosiah, etc., might just step through one of the little entrances at any time. The evidence that shows the area from Northern Honduras and then in a sweeping arc into Mexico, with Guatemala as being the epicenter of a great civilization is difficult to ignore. Bishop Naves is a bishop in San Lucas and works with Joe Allen and other BYU Book of Mormon tours.

Bishop Naves on the left. In the distance one can see the vast flatland behind us, as far as the horizon draws a line. We were so fortunate to have Sergio spend all day Saturday, in Antigua, as well as all day Thursday in Tikal. We learned so much and just the learning is just about as exciting to us as the actual visit. We got up at 4:30 on Thursday morning and Sergio drove us to the airport. We boarded a small plane and flew to Santa Elena. An hour drive put us into the Tikal area where we walked almost all the way throughout the area. Walking made it possible to poke around in corners and behind structures that we couldn't have done if we were in a little truck.

Here we are, eating lunch on Lake Atitlan. We are on the way to Santa Katerina and Santiago Topolo, little towns across an incredibly beautiful lake. Behind us is a vague profile of one of the three major volcanoes surrounding this lake. When we stepped foot on Katerina we decided immediately that this would be our next reading glass clinic. Because of some of the dangerous conditions tourism is down. This is difficult for these little towns and villages throughout Guatemala as the people depend on the few Queztales they might earn selling their beautiful textiles, pottery and wood objects. We love these people and feel comfortable in these small towns. These people often speak three or four languages. This is a humbling fact as we consider that we are struggling with our second language.
The trip was wonderful as we went to museums, shopping, looking at Guatemalan sites, and hearing a beautiful piano recital given by a young man who had been hosted by the Knowltons while competing in the Gina Bacheur Piano Competition held in Salt Lake City. This competition is held every two or three years. We loved having them with us more than we can say.

This isn't all we have done the last three or four weeks. We have spent two weeks in Zone Conferences, prepared for and accomplished our video-conference, and modified and refined our little Missionary Health Treatment Card. We are so excited about the card and how it's developing - should be finished by August and distributed to 2,000 missionaries, and so pleased with how the video-conference turned out. This was the #1 scary thing we have done, but we have learned so much from this process. I wouldn't want to do it again, but now that it is behind us, we see what a learning experience this has been.

Notice these two wonderful A.Ps from Guatemala South Mission. Elder's Peterson and Peralta were our gracious and attentive helpers until we were finished. After two weeks they are celebrating , notice the posture, not having to tow us around anymore. Dad has developed a new zone conference presentation and he used it for these two weeks. I think this presentation is fabulous as it discusses the difference between doctrine, principle and application as they pertain to health.

Here are the nurses we worked with, the APs and President and Hermana Alvarado. We always learn to love these people as we work so closely with us. Note the age of the nurses - all very young. Dad talks to the nurses in each country almost every day and these young women have become very dear to us and friends we will continue to keep in touch with forever . They remind us so of our grand-daughters and we can't help but regard them with tender affection. They are truly dedicated and committed. They are all prosylyting missionaries as well as beging nurses for a whole mission. Wow!!!

Thse two beautiful hermanas are Hna. Tyler from Wyoming and Hna. Barrios from Honduras.

This is the "half-time" break on one of the zone conference. Happy missionaries reflect the spirit in these conferences.

A friend, Judy Albert, drew this illustration to go with our zone conference presentation and it goes with the scripture found in Jacob 5:61-64. She is also making a huge tile mosaic that will go on the wall in the new dental clinic. She is a talented artist, and living in the apartment next to us, is a perfect neighbor. Her husband, Charles, is the talented and dedicated and very generous man who is donating time and money to provide this wonderful clinic in Guatemala.

How can this be so? Jeff and Becky are the grandparents of these beautiful twins. Lauren, just after birth, smiling but tired. If Jeff and Becky are grandparents - what does that make us? Jackson and Quentin were both over 5 lbs. Beautiful children and happy mom!

How could we be so blessed? This is a question we constantly ask each other. We can't answer, but we are so grateful. We are so appreciative of the support we recieve from family and friends.

Our branch is actually moving into a REAL building in two weeks. And...I will play a REAL piano. I don't even know if I remember how to do it. The techlata has keys that are just a millimeter smaller than piano keys so I will have to adapt. I can't wait to try!

Adios from Guatemala....June 29, 2009

36 hours

2009-06-01T20:04:00.000-07:00

This is the Polochic River which drains hundreds of miles of valleys and mountains. We spent the last 36 hours in Chulac, high in the mountains above the lower end of Polochic River. These communities all along the Polochic are Mayan with the characteristic huipiles and cortes. It was an intense weekend with 12 hours of driving there and back. President David Torres, President of the North Guatemalan Mission asked us to go to District Conferences with him to distribute reading glasses while he held leadership meetings on Saturday. We only do these little glass distribution clinics on Saturdays or after Zone Conferences, but they have been such a blessing to us.

This is one of the ways these people get to church. Fifty people will crowd into these trucks and they will travel over these high mountain dirt roads with all its bumping and shifting, and yet, they will come to church each Sunday. Remote parts of the mountains have yielded many converts and the church is growing. Our conferences (we held two on Sunday) were full and overflowing with many people standing in the courtyard or looking in the window.

Here is an example of the houses with thatched or tin roofs. Notice the immaculate swept dirt around each house. The landscape looks as though it could have been the Garden of Eden. There is no forest, but dense green foliage that covers the mountains like a carpet.This is not a good picture, but it hazily gives a picture of the quality of green.

We had to bring our own food and we found this table in the yard of the little house where we found a room lower down in the valley for the night. We had breakfast on paper towels and bagels and cream cheese, but could there have ever been a prettier place for breakfast?

Someone had actually built a pool in the corner of the yard with clean water. It was probably the only source of clean, filtered water within hundreds and hundreds of miles.

These children were my constant companions throughout the day on Saturday. We played every game I could make up, we sang every song I could remember, and we even played "touched you last". If you could see a 72 year old grandma running around playing tag I think you would laugh. The children laughed as I finally sat down on the stairs. When I got up I had gum all over my skirt (my only skirt). It was so hot that day I was so grateful that Diane had made me scarves to use as headbands. Everyone who came to our clinic was soaking wet and it didn't take long for us to join the group.

The women in Guatemala hug and kiss when they greet someone. I will miss the genuine warmth and love I feel from the people we meet. I love these people so much and I cry every time I must leave one of these dear places throughout Central America.

In between meetings everyone gathered on the grass. It really is impossible to cool off, but we tried.

The young girls help with their little brothers and sisters. She was fascinated by the glasses and her little brother was fascinated with her.

If Waldo knew how many thousands of miles he had traveled in Central America and how many thousands of people have enjoyed looking for him, I think he would take off his little red hat and bow. For those who haven't been introduced to Waldo they really must buy the book. He speaks to anyone in any language and the adults love him as well as the children. "Where's Waldo" is the way people pass time in the long wait for glasses. It has been a huge hit.

While Kim and the missionaries distributed glasses I was able to spend the afternoon with the children and the sisters. They all speak a language very different from Spanish. We have to have a translator in district conferences that translate from Spanish to Qu'che (which is different altogether from Qui'che). The spellings of those two languages are not correct, but they are phonetic. We have done glass clinics in several languages. This language was a new one. Smiles and hugs and love are the same, though, in any language and we had little trouble in communicating.

In the morning district conference I felt a little hand reach up and curl into mine. A little girl entertwined her fingers into my fingers. I looked down and saw my white hand and her little brown fingers and realized that race, culture, place...none of those things matter. This little girl just recently came from Father and I am closer to going back to Him. That was the only difference that mattered. I kissed her little hand and said a little prayer that these children would be stalwarts in the gospel in the generations to come. These are a happy people, for the most part. They have little, but they have the gospel. They may not have the things we are used to, but they are not poor in the things that count. In some way, I wished they could stay the same forever, but I know change will come.

We went to two conferences while we were there, both high in the mountains. Both were full to overflowing with people standing in the courtyard and looking through the windows because there were not enough seats for all of them. They came to see their district president, they came to see each other, but mostly they came to hear the gospel. They have a little hymn book written in their language and a paper Book of Mormon. As I looked at these and saw how tattered they were with underlinings and corners of pages fold back I realized how precious the words of the Prophets were to them. This is a sacred country. Of that, I have no doubt.

El Salvador and Belize

2009-05-24T20:45:00.001-07:00

"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!"

Is it already May?

2009-05-06T17:16:00.000-07:00

Choir for the El Fiscal Branch
President and Hna. Chaverri and Maria
Tegucigalpa Mission Honduras

Hermana Chaverri in the thick of things:

Hna. Gomez Wife of President of Comayaguala Mission Honduras

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His little tag on his coat reads

"Future Missionary". We were at a dinner given for all the workers in the Brigade.

This is a typical picture of the traffic and road situation in Guatemala. Could never feel an earthquake on these roads. The buses are never painted the same way. Just as the clothing in Guatemala, the buses are also a riot of colors - each one different, and there are hundreds of thousands of buses all over Guatemala. My mind is still back in February, but time is relentless in Guatemala. I think we pedal a bit more slowly than we used to, although having goals and deadlines keep us moving. We love the challenge and hope the challenge can put up with the two of us.

Some of out family has written to make sure of our safety in this episode of earthquakes. The first one we felt, but the second one, last Sunday, occurred as we were driving home from church. The roads in Guatemala are so bumpy they are little earthquakes in themselves. We wouldn't have felt any earth movement had it even been much larger. These have not been large earthquakes, but enough to rattle dishes, walls and doors. We do not feel worried and feel protected in all things. Check out the road situation in the photo above.

Honduras, Tegucigalpa Mission, was a great experience for us as we did something quite new. We decided to develop a training meeting for all the leaders in this mission. It was just great. Prior to that, the President has set up an reading glass distribution project and it turned out to be a wonderful missionary activity. We had many people visit and the Mission President, his wife and daughter, missionaries, along with people from the neighborhood who just all of a sudden appeared behind the table made this last clinic lots of fun.

President and Sister Chaverri speak no English, but somehow we communicated. They are warm, hospitable people and they are dedicated to their missionaries...even to the feeding of them in indescribable amounts and with such variety. I came home with recipes for chicken that I can't wait to use. Watching these Mission Presidents interact with their missionaries is quite inspirational as they seem to somehow to be able to motivate them to mature and accomplish the impossible. They do! We heard a quote the other day that seems to typify the message given by all the Mission Presidents. "We can count the seeds in an apple, but we can't count the number of apples in a single seed". What these young men and women are doing throughout the world will have great impact in a generation or two.

I was speaking with a Sister Missionary yesterday who has been out on her mission in Central Mission. I asked her if she was busy. She has been here 4 months. She said that she was not busy at first, but that now she had little room in her appointment book for new contacts. The sisters are amazing and they seem to be able to reach people the elders simply cannot. The sisters go everywhere: on buses, walking the streets until 9:30 at night, in neigborhoods where others would fear to go, knock on doors closed to most people.

We returned home in time to help with the Dental Brigade. Nine hundred and thirty-four young men and women from Guatemala came by bus and car. They came by stake - from all over the country. These "soon to be missionaries" cannot afford the dental care, the medical assessment, the photo, and many other things required by the church when they to to fill out the application. Over a hundred people from across the US came for 10 days. They brought their equipment and at least 20 dentists "offices" were set up in the cultural hall. There was a surgery, an implant unit, and on and on with all the necessary for oral health. Wisdom teeth were removed and it was interesting to see many people each day with handkerchiefs to their cheeks. Dad did physical exams and I helped him when possible. Everything was done for these young men and women. We even had a barber. There were tears when huge afros and spikes and curls were removed in order to have a "respectable" photo to go on the application. One of the pictures shows dad and the nurses making bean and bread sandwiches...a staple here in Guatemala, to feed kids who had been on buses since 3:00 in the morning. One of the other pictures shows Carolyn with the women who were instrumental in providing this wonderful service.

In the middle of all this, Elder Cook from the Quorum of the Twelve came for devotionals and we were invited to both of them. I have several wonderful stories that are too long to relate, but he is approachable, insightful and the missionaries from the three missions in Guatemala who attended, as well as all the missionaries who watched via satillite throughout Central America were thrilled with the opportunity. It is interesting to note that many people (missionaries) who aattended all came with different questions and they left with their questions answered. They were mostly personal, individual questions, but somehow, in the course of the devotional the Spirit seemed to touch all of us and gave us the counsel we needed for ourselves.

There is a photo at the end with an hour activity in our apartment. Jason had sent many prescription glasses we can't use. As an apartment activity, we polished them (frames and glass) and these many glasses look like new. There are many places around the city who need these prescription glasses and we will distribute them as fairly as we can.

We are nearly ready to move into our new church building and our choir is practicing every Saturday night. I don't know how Nick has perceived this, but Guatemalan time runs about an hour later than our watches read. Our choir practice begins at 5:00, supposedly, but when we arrive at this little town at 5:00 the village sees our car. Then, people start walking up the streets to choir. This is a long way out for us and since choir never gets going until at least 6:00, it is very late when we finally get home. The next day is Sunday and off we go again. I love playing the Techlata. It is lots of fun to "carry my piano" in the car. We take it in the back of the car for all functions. The boys in the branch just love to be in charge of setting it up.

I have written our life, so to speak, in a few short paragraphs, but upon reflection, I am touched at the memories of the last three or four weeks. It is difficult to isolate the many special moments, the sacred words we hear, the inspirational activities in which we are involved in a short journal account.

While in the temple this afternoon, the words of a hymn in our green hymnbook came to me. The song, "Sweet is the Peach the Gospel Brings" on page 14 ends with these words in the first verse, "With light refulgent on its wings, it clears the human view". We do see things differently and know that this sight is something we should treasure as it is unique to the mission experience. How grateful we are for this experience and opportunity.

pictures of pascua and eyeglass clinic

2009-04-15T21:04:00.000-07:00

New ideas, most welcome visit, and some wonderful experiences

2009-04-15T19:44:00.000-07:00

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.

our cup runneth over

2009-04-09T04:57:00.000-07:00

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!

Pascua and Santos Semana

2009-03-26T11:20:00.000-07:00

Easter and Holy Week:

There is an excitement everywhere about the up-coming holiday. Even though this is called the approach of winter - this is when plastic pools, lawn chairs and barbecues are sold in every store. The dry season is almost over and in a month the rainy season begins. There is a lavender blossom on the jacaranda trees that is so riviting. The blossoms looks like a blueish grey mist from a distance. These trees grow everywhere here along the sides of streets but I hadn't noticed them until they began to blossom. The blossoms have a faint, sweet and very exquisite smell that causes me to try to want to keep breathing in and not out as the perfume comes and goes with the breeze. If I breathe out I might miss the next waft of perfume.

This is Easter or Pascua or is Holy Week, and there is a feeling of sweet reverence as families make elaborate plans to celebrate this holiday. School is out for 5 days, but in this instance, the focus is on Jesus Christ and the events that went on in the last week of His life. This is a week full of traditional activities. We are in charge of family home evening this next Monday and we have asked a member of the church to come and talk to our group about Guatemalan Easter traditions. We have also asked this man to take 14 of us to Antigua on the 10th in a large van. He does travels and tours and is also a member of the church, and he is very gracious about making sure all us gringos get a good chance to participate in Guatemalan culture. James and Tammy will be with us. In fact, we planned this for them, but now 14 of the Senior Missionaries are going to go with us.

I will digress for a moment and mention that Family Home Evening last Monday night was so much fun. Every one came with a silly skit. We did a very goofy routine I remembered from girl's camp years ago. It took about 2 minutes for the Bawdens and the Taylors to put on this melodrama and make complete and utter fools of ourselves. Dad was the villian, Marilyn the heroine, Dean was the hero with balloons in his arms and legs for muscles and I was the narrator. We invited a young woman from our office who is not a member of the church to join us . I have learned to love her. She, in turn, brought her boyfriend and her mom. They were so delighted with all the foolishness they asked if they could come again. The point of this is that Julio, the boyfriend, and his family make an ALFOMBRA each Easter. And that is the reason for the detour in the narrative I just made. He was so taken with all the activities at FHE that has invited us to take part in the making of his family alfombra. We never, ever dreamed of being a part of something like this. We didn't know there were alfombras made in Guatemala City, but we have now been included in the Pascua tradition here in the city. I will try to illustrate what this is; however the pictures will have to wait a week and a half 'till we go to zone 1 on Wednesday (8th) and Friday to Antigua (10th) with Tammy and James.

The alfombras in Antigua are famous all over the world, and everyone says that the world actually does seem to come to Antigua to see these carpets. There will be crowds of people, but the city is large enough to accomodate all of us. I don't care about the crowds because these carpets take my breath away.

Alfombra just means carpet and that is the vocabulary word that defines any carpet. But the Pascua carpets are unusual and typical mainly for Guatemala. I have only seen one up till now, and it was made in the lobby of our largest hotel for a brief time. It was fairly small - think twice the size of our living room in Salt Lake, but I have an idea, now, of how fantastic they actually are.

Streets are closed as each alfombra takes up about half a city block (60' x 20'). Families plan every detail, draw, obtain the molds, the sawdust, the dye etc. months ahead. Aunts, uncles, parents, kids, neighbors, cousins, and strangers who have been invited (like we were)begin to build the alfombra early in the morning. The family will clean the street and lay a layer of sand. Most of the streets are a type of cobblestone so all the cracks and spaces between stones have to be filled with sand. It is leveled and packed. Then comes the drama. All the sawdust that has been dyed prior to this day is brought into the street. The pattern, molds, and stencils that have been crafted for months are laid on top of this huge structure. From here on out the carpet is made with colorful sawdust of all the brightest colors. Everyone works on this as quick as they can, but everyone has been rehearsed and all know their jobs and they are ready. The edges come first, then the middle and then the beautiful fruit, designs, cultural depictions and finally the middle edge where everyone walks out at the end of the project. Evidently there will be 60 of these in Zona 1 this year. At noon, all the alfombras are finished. Looking at them, you would be sure these were fine wool and silk carpets. Even upon close inspection one can't tell this is sawdust.

At this point, everyone goes up and down streets admiring each other's creations. The purpose for all this work is made evident at this time, as then, from the Cathedral, a huge procession enters the street. Many men hold up a platform of beautifully carved wood with a standing sculpture of Christ, usually in blue and holding a golden cross. He is larger than life size and the whole structure is extremely heavy.

The procession begins to travel up and down the streets, and street by street, the procession will walk through the middle of each alfombra in turn. It takes about 12 hours to go the whole route and the men in their best suits and traditional clothes take 5 minute turns in carrying the casket. The young man who came to our FHE showed me the photo his family took as he was taking his turn last year. This is a very Catholic tradition, and the lore has it that as the procession walks through the alfombra the family is cleansed. This is why they work so hard for months and put their very best effort into this.

Now, this is just in Guatemala City. The alfombras in Antigua are even more grand, evidently, and we will see those on Friday the 10th. I don't know when the procession (s) begin there, but I know they take a longer time for display than the carpets in the capitol city. We are looking forward to this and I will take pictures to put in my journal.

Guatemala is the marshmallow capitol of the world. This has nothing to do with Easter, but I must mention this observation. Cotton candy is sold on every street corner and marshmallows in every size, shape and color are sold in every store in the candy section. Guatemalans' love sweets. Maybe this is why I love them so much!

We have had several special opportunities for missionary work the last week and I am so grateful when these moments come. We don't get a much of a chance to do this sort of thing as lots of what we do is administrative. We are grateful for every one of these little contacts.

James and Tammy will come in a week and a half and we have planned some fun activities. I hope they don't get too tired. We are so excited and looking forward to being with them.

The week after they leave we will be involved in a huge dental project called a "dental brigade". We were able to see one of these projects last Fall, and we are excited to be able to participate in this one. Dad will be working on the physical exam side of this. Several times a year, in different places in Central America, a stake center is set aside for 20 or 30 dentists from the United States to come and bring all their equipment. They bring everything from their offices: chairs, drills, surgical instruments...in fact they strip their offices. They set up 20 - 30 separate offices, all in the gymnasium. The purpose of this is to help prepare the young women and young men in Central America who have already spoken to their bishops and stake presidents about a mission. This project will help prepare the way for these future missionaries to address medical and dental requirements that would ordinarily be impossible for them to accomplish on their own. The dentists do surgery, wisdom teeth, cavity repair, in fact, they do everything. There are over a thousand pre-missionaries already signed up for this one. This will take 10 days altogether and everyone will work dawn till dusk. If a missionary needs repeated care, he will come every day of the brigade until his work is completed. This type of help is needed in Central America as most applicants cannot afford to have dental problems resolved.

We will then go to El Salvador for a week of Zone Conferences in May. Before that, we will go to Tegucigalpa, Honduras in April for a two day training. Next we go to the South Guatemala City Mission in June. We have two or three other immediate trips in the next several months but they are still in the planning stage. Finally, our Central America Medical Directory has been printed and distributed to the Missions. This was a huge job and I am so glad to have it behind me. We have one other huge project we are working on, and that will probably take the next six months to complete. There is much to do and everything is one big adventure. We are very tired at night and we are so glad to come home to our cozy, little apartment. We love it and are very grateful for it!

Our church building is nearly finished and we are practicing our choir for the dedication. Our little branch is so excited and so are we. Our building will be beautiful and is, by far, the loveliest structure in this little town, although it nestles right into the landscape and is not intrusive. We love our Branch and the people in it. Everyone is so patient with us even though we simply cannot learn Spanish. Hugs and loves are the same language no matter where in the world one might be.

Our Central America Health Newsletter just gets better and better each month. It is so much fun for dad and I to tackle this project together.

Many eyeglass projects are scheduled for the next few months: Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, etc. then, I think, after this batch of glasses is used up we will be finished with this project. We have a pressing project we must finish before we leave in December.

As we think of this project we realize that we have been partners with the kindest most generous people in the world. The hard work has been done by all of you. We get to do the fun part. We love our family and friends for eveyone's vast contribution of glasses. There will have been close to 3,000 pair of glasses distributed by the time we are finished. Think of this from your perspective. Consider the money you have donated, the time you have taken to accumlate and prepare and send, and the love you have given to us with every pair of glasses. This has been so overwhelming to us and it is difficult to describe our gratitude.

Buenas Noches!

Pictures El Salvador

2009-03-14T10:59:00.000-07:00

Lake Cotepeque

Santa Ana

Elder Barker-Lehi Utah

Lake Cotepeque-serenade

2009-03-14T09:39:00.000-07:00

OK, it's now Saturday. We had a late night, as the whole building had a potluck dinner and a huge Bingo game. We slept in, went to the gym (and I actually went and just did the treadmill very slowly without much discomfort), and now we are doing a bit of cleaning and we will leave in a bit to go to the Popul Vu Museum. I have been reading everything I can get my hands on on Mayan, Olmec and Aztec art, architecture, fabric, history and culture from a perspective that is not church oriented. I have also read the church literature about this area and it has been lots of fun to compare and contrast them. The Popul Vu (that the museum is named after) is the Mayan Bible compiledfrom codex's recovered after Spain wiped out nearly every single thing relating to religion and history. This was in 1500, and Spain wanted to wipe out all religious and traditional beliefs and replace it with Catholicism. These writings sort of illustrate the purposes of the glyphs and stele, buildings, streets, but not completely. This leaves a tantalizing mystery as many of the explanations differ with each researcher. But, and the most important thing is that from 1100BC to about 600 AD even Egypt was surpassed in astronomy, mathematics, elaborate religious traditions by the sophistication of Mayan building and art and a complex system of government and religious structure.

The most interesting this I have read is the Popul Vu which is the Mayan Bible. There are many translations of this and they consist of poetic interpretations of their Geneis. It is essentially a creation story and it is stunning in its resemblance to our creation story. The more I read about creations stories from other countries: Egypt, Asia, Middle East, Polynesian - and I have been studying them all, the more similarities I see. It is completely fascinating.

Well, we are just going to the museum right now and I look forward to doing this. It has been a busy week with doing catch up after our trip to El Salvador, but we are beginning a new project that will probably take months to develop. Dad and I are excited about the ideas we are getting in response to our plan and when it is finished will be something the whole Area can claim they have put together.

We are planning to do an eyeglass clinic in Santiago the Monday after Easter. Santiago is situated across lake Atitlan and we are excited. We will contact the Stake President and he will set it up. The Mission President has already given us permission and the missionaries will help us. The language these people use is Quic'he and so the missionaries will have to help. This is a touristy town on the surface, but only the surface.

Back to El Salvador now. In one of the zone conferences I was sitting on a bench in the chapel and listening to an Elder sing a hymn as he played the guitar. I looked out the window and noticed that tendrils of plant beside the window were creeping into the chapel throught he grate. The quiet in the chapel, the sweet music in the air, the balmy atmostphere, the Spirit that attended that meeting were all componants that echoed the many places and experiences we have had and been a part of throughout Central America. I don't think I will ever forget these little moments. The place and time and chapel sort of are blurring already in my memory, but the feelings are unforgettable.

On our drive home we decided to visit a lake situated in an ancient caldera. It is round as it is formed by the sides of the volcano, but I'd say it is the same size as Fish Lake in Southern Utah.

This lake is not polluted as are many lakes in Latin America. We had an idea that if we could find a place to stay we would do so for that one night. The lake is beautiful and has freshwater shrimp, crabs, talapia and many other fresh water fish. The buildings surrounding the lake are all fenced in and it is impossible to get to the edge of the lake, but all were inviting guests. It is difficult to see what the little hotels look like, but from glimpses we could tell that there is decay, as there is everywhere (in spite of the gradual building and development boom that is beginning to happen)around the lake side. We finally went through one gate and drove down to the pier and had a great lunch right on the edge of the lake. We were serenaded as we ate by an accordian and guitar and they were actually very good, but we felt sad for these people as they are trying their best to make a living. There were few people and the scenery is so fabulous it is difficult to think that no one visits. The approach down into the crater though was breathtaking. At each curve we could see a new aspect of the lake. Wow!

During one of the conferences in El Salvador I experienced one of those moments we all get occassionally when something we have never really thought of or something we have been perplexed over suddenly becomes clear. I know this will sound mundane, but to me it was revelatory.

Two missionaries were giving a demonstration interview and, in Spanish, one young man used the word "constant" in his part. At that moment the meaning of this word and all its ramifications crept into my mind in a glorious way. The missionary used a reference of 3 Nephi 6:14 and I hurried to find it in my scriptures. While searching other words came to me as though they were gifts and with each I was able to see how they related. While they may seem as merely words they have new meaning for me. A few of the words that illuminate the word constant are trustworthy, loyal, dependable, responsible, diligent, careful, inspired, forgiving and always approachable. I have many more, but sometimes, as these experiences come to me I feel that "my cup runneth over".

We have two zone conferences ahead of us. One, in May in Belize, all of West El Salvador, and in June Guatemala South Mission. There will be more, but we are not wanting to do anything that will get in the way of Tammy and Jame's visit in April. We are able to control our schedule better than we could before when we didn't really understand what we were doing, and will try to limit our traveling to once a month. This leaves lots of room for anyone who might like to visit.

Buenas Tardes!

I can't believe it's been nearly a month

2009-03-11T12:43:00.000-07:00

Much of Central America is burning and there is smoke in the air all over the isthmus. This is the season to burn corn and sugar cane in order to get the fields ready for the next planting season. The air burns one's eyes and we have had many missionaries needing eye drops all over the Area. This is a seasonal event and announces the beginning of the wet season in about a month or six weeks. We are at the end of the dry season and the weather has been very dry. One needs anti-cling sheets in the automatic dryer, for example, as the air is so dry we have to peel the clothes apart when we remove them as little flashes of static electricity bounce into the air and sting our arms. We love Guatemalan weather - all of Central America weather - but we have had the luxury of not feeling the extremes, except for cold. November, December and January and February is cold and there is no heat in any of the buildings or homes. So blankets, coats are needed. This, by the way, is Guatemalan summer.

El Salvador is sort of like a country in miniature. I can't explain it well, but even though it may be hours from one city to the next, it seems more like a state in the US than a country. It is an admirable country in many ways - speaking of the people, I think. The horrible devestation from civil wars in the 1980s + or - left hundreds of thousands dead or desolate, and yet today the country is pulling itself up by its bootstraps and there is an energy that one feels. Many places in San Salvador are booming, yet there are others that are struggling like all the Central America Area. It's mostly hilly, but has large volcanoes looming up out of nowhere. El Salvador is not a country for tourists. Of all the seven countries, this one has to rely on its own resources for income. It's been a struggle, but they are doing it.

We got royally lost one night. We went to Pizza Hut for dinner that first night and it was just getting dark. We thought we might take a little drive down one street before we went back to the hotel. This was the first trip we have taken totally by ourselves, and should have known better. We drove down the street and it was so interesting we wanted to just keep going. It became so compelling we forgot to notice the street had become a one way street. When we decided to go back it was completely dark. As we rounded a plaza to return we realized our mistake and noticed we couldn't go back the same way. So, we did the old Watrous maneuver of "going around the block". But there is no such thing as a "block" in San Salvador. Several hours later of trying to find our way, and after driving in some scary areas, we decided to pull into a spot and say a prayer. As we pulled out into the street dad said, "I have an idea. Let's find a hotel and see if they have a taxi. We drove until we found a hotel, and sure enough there were taxi's in front. We hired a "tugboat taxi" to guide us back to the hotel. It was quite comforting to have those tail lights ahead of us.

I will finish this blog later. We have three mission presidents and their wives coming to dinner and a work meeting in our apartment at 6:00 and we are trying to prepare the agenda and material we will be working on. We need to get home to put everything together. I am using Lori's lasagna recipe and everyone raves about it. Not sure, but I think it might have come originally from Ann Koelliker.

There is so much to report and as this is my own personal journal, will probably go into more detail. We have been in all countries except Belize and we will be there in May when we go to another week of Zone Conferences in the El Salvador Mission, and the edges are beginning to blur. Every conference has been unique and these mission presidents such examples of leadership and inspiration that we have learned extraordinary things and been taught and influenced by the examples we witness. We can't say that one conference has been our favorite as there is no comparison between any of them, although they are following the same guidelines and having the same objective, they are vastly different.

Next blog a bit later!

A crazy week..

2009-02-28T15:18:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, in the middle of the night I jumped out of bed too fast and as usual my blood pressure was very low. I guess I fell and woke up with a very sore lower back and a bump as big as a goose egg - actual size on the side of my head. The next day, after countless MRI and X-Rays found I had broken the tail bone. Actually, it just a nuisance, not a catastrophe. Uncomfortable rather than real problem. The last time I had a broken tailbone was many years ago when we had taken the young men and young women to Bear Lake and we were playing musical chairs on rocks. I had forgotten just how painful it is and there is really nothing one can do about it. Lots of blessings, though, has come from this: first, or course, that it wasn't worse. Second, I found out how good everyone can be. I have been coddled by dad, pampered by the other senior missionaries, and eaten yummy food brought by everyone. The week has been painful and has passed in a blur. It is Saturday night and I truly am beginning to feel a bit better. I did have a concussion, but that, too, is better. I missed a few mornings and afternoons of responsibilities, but was able to attend to almost all necessary things.

Living in the "Mormon Dorm" is interesting. We rely on prayer a lot. We are all Seniors and not all of us completely healthy so priesthood blessings, commisseration, laughing at things we must endure because we are too old to cure it is a common occurrance for us.

Just now, though, a friend of ours - our very best friend here, had to go to the emergency room and we are praying right now. Marilyn Bawden has struggled with back problems lately and had been scheduled for an MRI this morning. This afternoon, something went wrong and Dad went with the Bawdens to the Hospital. I am waiting for the phone to right as I write.

Since the week as sort of passed in a blur there won't be a lot to write, but I will try to catch up. Yesterday, we took all the Guatemala nurses, their companions and two of the three Mission President's Wives ( because they are the Mission Health Specialist) to lunch. It was wonderful. We gave them all a favor of one of the crocheted Guatemalan Balls with a poem illustrating the way these women are on the "ball".

I am growing pansies, allysum, mint, flowers and oregano in my bedroom by a sunny window. I hope they will continue to do well. It is so much fun to watch them germinate and grow bigger and bigger. I keep a hand-lens beside the pots so I can watch every tiny movement and growth spurt. Right now, the flowers are beginning to shake off their little hoods that covered the seeds. I am not touching them, even though I would like to.

After a week of not thinking much of work I have come too appreciate our little apartment, It has been a haven for me as I have been in a world of hurt. It is just right for us and I love it. I have found a classical music station that just makes me feel at home. In the early morning while we get ready the station plays marimba music prior their starting their classical programming. Marimba music is almost a religion here and I love it. Children stand on boxes to reach the keys as they learn to play. This, too, is one tradition that might slip away in a generation or two and it would be so sad.

The big news, and I have already told my family, is that I actually drove for the first time. Traffic and streets in Guatemala City is crazy because they are narrow, no signs, no addresses, detours, and billboards regularly change their advertising almost weekly. There goes the landmarks. I really haven't paid a lot of attention as I knew Dad would do the driving, but last Friday we got to the CCM and we had left over half of the stufff we needed for the lecture in the office, We didn't know what to do. It's about as far as Bountiful to our house, maybe a bit less, but there isn't a street in Guatemala City that is really straight except for two that I didn't need anyway. I volunteered to go back! I took off, and said a prayer, and got lost immediately at a forked turn. The fork I took went toward El Salvador. I realized I was lost, did a U turn and went back to the CCM. Started over - and got lost again doing the same thing. I realized that this was Heaven's way of telling me that I shouldn't try this. So, I went back to the CCM again, but this time I got lost again and found myself on the right road - one that would take me to the office. I actually did make it, picked up what we needed, and found my way back. It was a miracle and I don't think I will make a habit of this. Although I am getting a driver's license next week. Just in Case!!!

If you are not watching Venus, please do! For the last month it has been at Maximum Brilliance - an unheard of -4.5 magnitude. We will never see it this way again in our lifetime. Last night, to top it all off, there was a crescent moon beside it. Venus will begin to descend this week, but for the last month it has been a spectacular show. Next month Venus, Jupiter and Mars will be beautiful morning stars and will be almost as fun to watch. This dance in the heaven is part of our creation and was planned before the world was. It is dynamic, and truly is for "signs and seasons" as we are told in Abraham, Moses and Genenis.

Dad just called from the hospital and told me that Marilyn Bawden has Typhoid Fever. We don't know how this happened, but they have been in Nicaragua lately. She is comfortable and resting and has many doctors looking in on her. Dad will keep me posted.

We love our branch so much. They are stuck with me as I play this funny little instrument called a techlata for Sacrament Meeting, but they will never be able to budge me out of the job. It is so much fun to watch people come in. The missionaries do an outstanding job and there was only one chair left last week. Our building is coming up and it is so exciting to watch. It will be the largest building in this little village and we drove to El Fiscal to Home Teach last week and took the time to go through it. It is amazing and we need it so badly. It is not large as most church buildings go, but for us it will be perfect and have every single thing we need. I had not idea the steeples were made of fiberglass. I guess I though they were marble or something.

We leave Monday to go to El Salvador for Zone Conferences and we are looking forward to this. I think we will take Friday and Saturday to look at the touristy spots as we don't usually have a chance to do this. Since we are going to take our own car we will have the luxury of planning a bit of the trip.

The last time we were in El Salvador I saw many bright, colorful birds, incredibly huge butterflies, even monkeys were in trees although I could not see them. El Salvadore is a beautiful country and San Salvadore is very modern. We stayed in a beautiful hotel the last time we were there and evidently, we stay there again this time.

Newsletter is finished, other jobs just about finished and the big one we are hoping to make so effective in the whole Central American Area is just being started. Dad took the doctor of the Pres of Guatemala, and a member of the church, out to dinner on Tuesday and asked him what he has done in Quatzeltanango and he has volunteered to help with this project. This may take the rest of our mission, but we have a vision of what we think we will do and we are excited.

Well, dear ones, we love you. You have no idea how much we feel your prayers for us. We are confident in the efficacy of your prayers. We are grateful and know that the inspiration we feel comes because of you.

Next stop...El Salvador

However, I am going to end with a joke we were sent from Frank Higham - who is recovering nicely.

"It seems as though there were two silk worms who tried to out-do each other in everything. as luck would have it, they were named "One" and "Two", respectively. One bright day, One said, " Two, let's us get this settled once and for all. I challenge you to a race to the next tree. " Two immediately agreed, and off they went. At first, it seemed that One would win handily, but Two soon caught up and passed One. Gatehring strength, One put on a burst of speed, and was soon inching ahead of Two. Thus the race went, first One was in the lead, then Two. But, it was all for naught. They both ended in a tie.

I few things about Nicarugua I forgot to mention -

2009-02-15T19:48:00.000-08:00

Nicaragua - a safe country - we loved it and felt comfortable and secure. It is a country without many cars, but great highways everywhere near Managua (miles in any direction). We loved driving and it is a good thing, because we spent many hours in the car driving to and from zone conferences with the wonderful Mission President and wife. We loved them right from the beginning and I could hardly bear to think we might never see them again. They are going back to Argentina in July.

Nicaragua is a world of bicycles and carts, mules and donkeys. The carts are everywhere and carry wood, groceries, produce, things I sacks and bundles that I can hardly guess at. These people are long, shapely and beautiful. The houses are colorful and the streets narrow. As one drives along each house has a little pathway into a dim, dark and colorful yard in the back where everyone lives and cooks. I tried to print a picture of one of the little paths, but I'm not sure it is really discernable from that photo. Some streets are cobblestone and some are dirt. Some paths are concrete. The markets, though not as numerous as Guatemala contain gorgeous fruits and vegetables. Carts with cantelopes, pineapples, bananas, etc. are everywhere. One day we stopped at a market and the Mission President's wife bought so many things. We walked up and down this market and with that produce loaded the back of the van. One has to watch where they walk, and sometimes the smell is unpleasant for obvious reasons, but it is a vibrant scene. the fruits and vegetables were just hours away from being picked.

Coffee plantations with beans in sacks all up and down fields are waiting to be gathered. There are "orchards" of trees that will grow so straight they will become utility poles when harvested. Ah, the trees. If I love anything in Nicaragua it is the trees. Trees of every kind - with twisted, spiral barks, trees that are so huge two or three families could live comfortably underneath, trees with branches so huge that one could put a city of tree houses in them - in short, I fell in loved with the trees.

Horses and cattle are not skin and bones, rather they are fat, sleek and well cared for. Nicaragua is a land of horses. One rarely sees a starving homeless dog as we see by the thousands - perhaps millions in guatemala. Even the many horses pulling the countless carts are well- cared for.

The land is fairly flat with rolling hills, but the sight of volcanoes dotting these lands here and there is fabulous by contrast. We spent days in two towns of considerable size and were able to walk and drive through the narrow streets and colorful houses. Flowers are everywhere, hanging from roofs, homes, fences...and it is a land of flower stalls. Fresh flowers, just cut, are sold on every corner.

Parts of Nicaragua will be very hot and very soon, at that, but some of these places are like the top of Emigration Canyon and will stay nice and cool all year. We hit Nicaragua at a perfect time. The weather couldn't have been better.

The mission president's home was beautiful and from the small back yard I could see stars, the full moon, and parts of the city of Managua. We were so amazed that the Mission President could park his car in the front of the house and leave it. Never a worry about security. We are accustomed to watching carefully for any difficulties.

To end, another word about President and Hermana Fraatz - they were the most wonderful people and have become good friends. We thank them for an inspirational experience.

2009-02-11T20:22:00.000-08:00

2009-02-11T20:04:00.000-08:00

2009-02-11T19:17:00.000-08:00

Finally, we have a moment and I hope I haven't forgotten anything

2009-02-11T18:10:00.000-08:00

Our two words of the week are "olvidar" and "recordar", and if one adds a "no" and then conjugates it in first person they mean "do not remember - recuerdo", and "I forget - olivado". which seems to be the story of our life. Our poor teacher shakes his head as these two 72 year old gringos seem mentally handicapped. We struggle on...and on!

We are back from Nicaragua. It was a wonderful week of family and workshops and clinics and eyeglasses. During our time in this beautiful country which is like southwest Colorado only with lots of volcanoes. we stayed with the mission president, President Romel Fraatz and his absolutely wonderful wife and their four children: 14, 11, 10, and 7 years of age. We felt at home the moment we walked through the door. We loved them and I cried when we left them. We were with them for 7 days. I had worried so, but I didn't need to as they were fun, funny, interesting, dedicated and delightful confersationalists. We spent many hours in the car each day as our conferences were, except for one day, in various parts of Nicaragua. We had such talks about everything under the sun (and including the sun) that we hated to get out of the car when we got home. To think that the children were waiting for us, however, nudged us and we postponed our conversations until the next day. We loved the family so much! Jeffrey, who is 11, however, lost his Harry Potter book as I confiscated it the night before we left. I did give it back the next morning, though.

The conferences were totally dedicated to health issues and lectures and discussions in the morning and clinics in the afternoon. Both Honduras and Nicaragua Missions cordially invited Kim to use up ALL the time during the day. Every mission president is different and presides differently and it is a joy and a miracle to see how each president approaches his mission a bit differently, although completely effectively.

In one of our glass dispensing - which we also were able to sandwich in, we had two remarkable women come for glasses. One was 90 and the other 97. Both were beautiful and gracious and both, as many people are in Nicaragua, without the means to buy something like a pair of reading glasses. I am no longer going to call those without resources in Latin America poor, as I just received an e-mail from Ann Koelliker. Suddenly, I have a new concept of what "poor" might be. I have cried all afternoon at the plight of people in Zimbabwe as Ann has described unspeakable need. For the most part the people in Latin America have access to water, they can eat something even if it is rice and beans. There is peace in the land - even if it is sometimes fragile, and children can, if they want to go to school. True, some choose not to take advantage. We have circulated Ann's e-mail in our Area Office and I have sent it to my family. I wish there would be something we could do for these people in Zimbabwe.

But, back to Nicaragua. It is a land with trees that defy description. We loved Nicaragua and thought that if ,and when, we grew up we might live there. It is comfortable for some reason. I can't think of any other way to describe it. Perhaps it is because I think I was on the desert committee when the Earth was created. I love desert and open land.

There is only one mission in all of Nicaragua. We had hoped we could fly into the more remote part of Nicaragua as they have some missionaries there, but it didn't work out. Instead, we went hiking. They have a volcanoe with a huge caldera and it has been preserved as a sort of National Monument. With gas masks and helmets we went through a lava tube for a little ways. Small bats were hanging from the walls and flying around as we disturbed them. As far as caves go it was not spectacular, but as we saw the tiny stalagtites of calcium carbonate we realized we were in an embryo of cave formation.

We were the guests of the Mission President and his wife. On this excursion we took the six office elders with us. At the bottom of the volcanoe there is a little museum about the geology of this part of the isthmus . (Did I spell this correctly?). After we walked through it the elders disappeared. We laughed as the six elders came out of the restroom dressed in their levis, long shorts and wild t-shirts. They wore this for the several hours we were on the mountain. We didn't need the helmets at all, but there were several places we needed the gas masks. I couldn't identify the gases, but they were not pleasant and made it impossible to breathe. Back at the museum the elders again disappeared for a minute. When they came back, they had ties and white shirts on and looked, once again, like proper missionaries.

We drove on to another inactive volcanic area and had lunch above a beautiful blue "lake" although they call it a Lagoon, nestled in the caldera of the ancient volcanoe. The wind was so fierce that we had to hold on to one another or to nearby furniture or posts. As we were eating lunch, inside- mind you, the wind came through the windows and doors and blew the food off the end of the table.

We still pinch ourselves at the wonder of being able to participate in the Central American Area as we do. We can't even begin to believe, even after all these things are over, that it really happened and is happening every day. We are blessed in so many ways, but mostly because we know there is no way we could do the things we do without help. We are taught what to do because our Father wants it to be a certain way. Our worry is that we don't listen carefully enough and there might be something important we miss. Ideas have come that we never thought we could dream of much less instigate into the missions here.

Dad is amazing! As he stands and gives health lectures and discussions, holds clinics, dispenses glasses, and uses his Priesthood as he cares for the Area missionaries in a dear and kind way, I feel grateful that he can have this wonderful opportunity to serve and to be affective in that calling.

There is nothing we want or need that we don't have, materially. We have a lovely little apartment, work to do and 7 countries to do it in, many opportunities for enjoyment such as concerts when we have time, and great people to associate with and inspire us. But, if we could have it, there is one thing we want more than anything, and that is for more Senior Couple Missionaries to come to Latin America. We need them so badly. As we travel around the missions we see that there are not nearly enough in any country. Nicaragua, for example, have none, not a single one. Costa Rica has three couples and who are stretched thin. These are just a few examples. Every country needs the leadership as the wards and branches, districts and stakes begin to grow. The church will continue to grow without us because this is a dedicated land, but it would help to have couples here. We need them in droves. We need couples in every country and in every mission. We need people who can love and lead, and it doesn't matter if they have any skills at all because the Lord, through the Spirit, tells us all what to do anyway. What we are experiencing is not a sacrifice in any sense of the word.

Enough of my pleading! We are so happy here and we are happy with the opportunity to serve. We think our son and his wife, James and Tammy, are coming in a few weeks and we are so excited.

Adios!

Honduras - reminds us of Yellowstone

2009-01-30T19:49:00.000-08:00

We have learned that the onc constant in the LDS Church is that of "change". We have learned to be flexible in all things. People we have learned to love, come and go. Challenges are faced, solved and then a new one emerges from nowhere. Solutions never before considered enter our minds. Each new day is a new adventure. We are slow learners, I'm afraid, and to be a little "off-balance" has been the way we learn best.

We have just returned from Comayaguela, Honduras Mission. Five, very dear days have flown by and are becoming a blur already. If I don't write a few memories I will have forgotten them by the time we have the next Zone Conference in Nicaragua. We leave on Sunday. It is Friday night.

We admit that we aren't able to "sight-see" in any of the countries we visit as these visits are intense working days. But as we drive hundreds, perhaps thousands of miles, we can see the landscape, visit markets, talk to people who live in these places and experience the joys and discouragements of the development of the church. This is all we could ever ask for. We see parts of these countries in an intimate way we think miraculous. For example, we were so close to Tikal, but couldn't find an hour to go there, on the other hand, we wouldn't trade these hours
for anything in the world.

Honduras is beautiful! In fact, it is one of the most beautiful lands we have seen in Central America. It is the only country without volcanoes and yet is is the most mountainous. It is the least inhabited and so thousands of miles are pristine. Forests of pine make us think of Yellowstone and Western landscapes. The undergrowth is not as thick as one might think and it is possible to hike and walk through these places. It doesn't appear to be as dangerous as Guatemala, although in all of Central America one has to be aware of surroundings at all time. Neverthe less, we still love Guatemala more than any of the countries even with its difficulties and disadvantages. There is a vibrancy and an energy...eclectic and interesting that we don't see anywhere else. There is not country in Central America with the incredible ancient history of Guatemala, and that ancient history is still living and evident today.

Our Zone Conferences were wonderful as we had the whole day in each zone to do lectures and clinics. We sometimes feel as we are talking to ourselves when we talk about balanced diets. We discovered that eldeers eat 13-14 eggs a day because they are inexpensive, for example. We field amusing questions and as we go through our clinics often hear some discouraging health issues. The miracle of it all, is that these young men and women - sometimes from backgrounds of abuse, poverty, serious mental and physical disabilities, families who have disowned them become such incredible people. These young men and women come into the mission with all these issues and learn to rely on the Lord. They rely on the Spirit and they grow. We see an obvious light in their countenances and come away almost in disbelief that they are becoming such great men and women.

We loved the Mission President and his wife. They were both from Argentina and were so gracious and kind to us. We went to their lovely mission home one night and the President cooked an Argentinian barbecue with several kinds of meat that could melt in one's mouth. They had six childen who seemed perfect. They go to a private school and our friends who we met last summer are the senior couple in this mission, pick them up from school. One day they asked if they could go to McDonalds after school. They purchased one child's hamburger and a small fry. They each took little bites and passed it on to the next one. There was not a single murmer or argument. This may seem insignificant, but is is an example of the generous nature of all the people we have met.

We were too busy to take even a single photo so I can't record anything in pictures. I feel sad, but hope I can remember the missionaries, the leadership and the landscape. One disadvantage of being so busy is that sometimes wonderful events merge with other wonderful events into a blissful blur and it is difficult to isolate memories.

We leave on Sunday for Nicaragua. This time we will be there for 7-8 days, but will stay with the Mission President for all that time. I worry as it is difficult for me to do this. As I was grumbling to myself as we were flying home yesterday, a song popped into my head. "Nephi's Courage" with the words "I will go, I will do just what the Lord commands..." was the Spirits way of giving me a swift kick. I have been laughing about it all day. I am still worried, but we will do our best.

If I could wish for one thing, it would be for more Senior Missionaries. We haven't been a single place, visited a single mission where Senior Missionaries are not needed with urgency. Why did we wait so long to go? How can we convince others to come and help? The church is growing so rapidly that leadership and example is essential to provide stability. Without a doubt, the church here in Latin America will continue to grow without seniors, but it would help so much to have men and women who have experience in the gospel provide leadership.

On now, to Nicaragua. We had a disaster lecture in the CCM this morning as we had missionaries from the CCM in Chili crowd the room as their CCM is temporarily being refurbished. The Elders in the back couldn't see Kim, the screen, the board and became restless and hot. We don't know how to fix this, but we have thought of a few strategies should this happen again. Besides all this, the computer failed half-way through and Kim had to do the lecture from memory. Now, we hope all will go well in Nicaragua. So far, the lectures, activities and clinics have been fabulous. They have all been very different, but successful just the same.

How could two little old people from Salt Lake City be participants in such a great work? What a blessing!

pictures of Solola

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Pictures of the region of Lake Atitlan

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wings on their feet and fire in their hearts

2009-01-21T13:29:00.000-08:00

I am reading a wonderful book by Morris West called "The Shoes of the Fisherman". This man is a Catholic scholar and I have read several of his books over the years. This book was written in 1963. I read this particular book while in my 30s and much of what I read then has informed part of my own personal ethic and identity. The book is an account of a man who was just elected by the Cardinals to be the new Pope. The book is fascinating because of the story, but it is also thought-provoking because of the philosophy. I am constantly reading sentences and paragraphs over and over because I see the similarity of love, purpose and service that the men in the book portray with that of the people in our own church and throughout the world, whatever their creed. It is a good book! The night before his installation (I can't remember if that term is correct) he made this plea to the Cardinals. Knowing they would leave the Vatican the next day he asked, "send me men with wings on their feet and fire in their hearts". These words ring in my mind while I am sitting each day during Zone Conferences with young men and women who truly do "have wings on their feet and fire in their hearts".

In another place in the book, one of the protagonists is writing in his journal and remarks that the "Earth is the Lord's textbook". Profound! This was interesting to me as I have been comparing and contrasting the accounts of the creation of the world as found in Abraham, Moses and Genesis.

I know I promised, but I had my fingers crossed. I said I wouldn't talk about eye-glass clinics anymore, but I must mention the adventure we had on Saturday. After 9 days of intense Zone Conferences we went to Solola for the last conference. Solola is situated in a high mountain region of Guatemala and it is right next to one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. Lake Atitlan sits at the feet of three volcanoes and the people there retain a traditional Mayan culture. There is so much poverty here, but the people are kind and the church is growing. Many cannot read and there are many who speak a different language...there are 23 different dialectics in Guatemala.

The missionaries rented a spot right in the middle of the Saturday market. This market is the same as it was 100 - 200 years ago, certainly, even longer that that. By the way, most people wear the traditional dress. It is beautiful! Notice that in the pictures the men wear a "skirt". This is the mark of this particular region. The bags the men are wearing cannot be purchased. The men make these and put their name and town in the knit. They are beautiful. Sometimes the men will make one for a missionary and they are to be treasured forever. By the way, one of the occupations of many of these men is "ganadero" which means cowboy. There are times I think I am right back in Wayne County as often men wear cowboy hats and pointed shoes. They do not wear levi's, however.

We set up our clinic right in the center of the plaza. Fruits, vegetables, CDs, watches, rope, and on and on, are laid out on blankets for people to walk past. I don't know how to describe this. We were nervous before we started, but once we began we forgot fear as we were surrounded by color, noise, chattering, smells of cooking.

Guatemala gives a whole new meaning to "fast food", as everyone seems to eat on the streets. These little vendors are everywhere, but here in Solola we walked past hundreds of little food vendors with their barbecues broiling everything from blue tortillas to sausage, to pollo.

We gave away 150 pair of glasses and then stopped counting. We had 8 missionaries helping us and the whole process was so professional. It was something I don't think I will ever forget. The lake may be, and I, too, (a confirmed sceptic) think that this lake is the same lake mentioned in the Book of Mormon and identified as the "waters of Mormon". If one looks down through the water it is possible to see submerged cities. Interesting!

It was cold on Saturday, as it almost always is, and we finally had to buy a tablecloth at the market to put around the shoulders of one of the missionaries. He would not trade his spot at the table for anything. He was Latin and he loved the process he was involved with. We kept the clinic open for three hours. After the little service project was over we took all the missionaries to lunch in the next town. Panachel is very near Solola and it has the same sort of market on Fridays and Saturdays. All the streets in this town are made of cobblestones and rocks. As I walked down the street I pulled my famous trick of falling. I was stunned by the impact, but suddenly 8 sets of hands pulled me off the street and into the air.

Notice the grounds of the hotel where we stayed on Friday night. We had been to lunch there before. Our window looked out over the lake and before I went to bed that night I opened all the windows - floor to ceiling and from one side to another. The sky is clear up here in the mountains and from our balcony I could see about 1/2 of the sky as well as the black lake. I saw familiar stars and consellations set in the West behind the volcanoes. In the morning, from the bed I watched the sun rise over the lake. It has been an intense week, and hundreds of miles of driving each morning and night. This beautiful hotel and the Solola market was the "frosting on the cake", so to speak.

We have been in the office all week...working some nights till 10:00 trying to catch up before we leave again on Monday. We will go to Honduras for 5 days, then to Nicaragua for a week. After that, things will settle down for three weeks. I just finished the Central America Health Newsletter we send out each month. I am so inept on the computer that doing this newsletter is a struggle, albeit a fun one, to finish on time. I wanted to send this one out in Spanish, so after it was translated for us this morning by a good friend I find that I can't understand a word...even though I wrote it. The pictures in the newsletter are incredible and I took them while in zone conferences to identify certain issues. I save these newsletters and they will be a marvellous part of my journal someday. Each issue highlights the concerns the missions mention in their "Incident Reports" and the newsletter has become a great networking tool between us and the Mission Presidents, and also among the missions.

The pictures are all amusin, but they are serious just the same as they illustrate different sections of the newsletter. One, however, is worth mentioning. In Central Clinic there is a large scale. The missionaries head for that scale before they even check in with the mission secretary. Last week, one of the missionaries who had been watching his diet for weeks stood on the scale, hoping he had lost weight. As he stood there adjusting the weights the nurse put her toe on the scale and the Elder didn't even notice. He was so upset to think he had gained 7 pounds. We didn't tell him that she had given the scale a little push until he had been in the office for about an hour. This was one of those moments where I had the camera ready. It was in my hand just then. It was a Kodak moment.

We tried to go home and watch the inauguration, but we had to settle for re-runs late in the evening. Kim wanted to see the politics, but I was interested in the clothes the women were wearing.

We are grateful to be here. How grateful we are for the prayers of others. They are felt!

2009-01-10T16:33:00.000-08:00

nvmm,

Are you getting tired.....?

2009-01-09T20:26:00.000-08:00

Are you getting tired of our eyeglass stories? My journal will think this is all we have done, lately. It isn't, but somehow, just when we think we'll get a breather Heaven gives us a kick and tells us to get moving again.

The most amazing thing happened on Monday. We had to turn down two Mission requests for glass clinics: Honduras, Comayaguela Mission and Central Mission...both during their zone conferences where we are doing health lectures, and we felt very badly about this.. We were completely out of inventory of the lower numbers. This means over a thousand pair of glasses have already been distributed throughout Costa Rica and Guatemala. We knew we would be getting glasses in Feb. and March, but until then, we were out of business. Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday we made it a matter of prayer...really thinking that we couldn't possibly find anything and that we were asking for the impossible. Surely glasses couldn't/wouldn't drop out of the sky. Well, they did! Sort of!..On Monday we had gone to the Central Clinic for health exams and the Mission Mom asked us to look in some sacks they had found off in the corner. They were garbage sacks full of glasses. A year or so ago a scout had an eagle project to collect glasses and sent them to Guatemala. No one knew how to dispense them and so they were put away. We had to laugh. glasses did, essentially, "drop into our lap". We have enough to do several clinics of a considerable size now, and this will hold us until February and March. We are not working on our second, maybe third, thousand. Then we will quit, I think. Dad is the key to all this success because he knows, intuitively - and of course because of many years experience" how to measure powers. If only we could communicate, somehow, with this scout and tell him that his glasses will now be used. Our grandson is doing another project in Chicago for his eagle project and how we bless these young men and the scouting program that promotes such activities.

Of course, some of these glasses will be lost, unused, broken by chldren, sat on, etc., but we figure that even if 2/3 are making a difference then it is certainly worth it. If we give 2,000 glasses away, then over a thousand will be used to help make a quality difference in someone's life.

We see some other major benefits, totally unexpected about this project and just as worthwhile. First, except for dad, the parents and missionaries, children take over this clinic. They run it and have ownership in it. I sit and play with babies, take pictures, hug people, etc., because the town people take over. The missionaries, wherever we are, figure out how to do the clinic in about 10 minutes. We have a great system and it is very orderly and professional and everyone loves it.

Second, these clinics make these people in the far reaches of Guatemala feel that someone loves them and is aware of them.

Third, the children - 9 - 16 or so in age, are fascinated! They are incredulous with the magnification part of the glass. They can't stay away. They see us work with the printed page, "Where's Waldo" is a hit, and they see the importance of reading. Many children don't go to school nor do they, if they even begin, go past the primary grades. There is no follow-up, no requirements enforced and so unless the child is motivated (or the parents are) the kids stop going to school. In one clinic we had a 11 year old boy named Ricardo (or something like that) stick with us all night. At the end of the evening he told us he wanted to be a doctor. He probably will never have that chance, but what if he did?

Fourth, generous people from all over the US have really been the privot for the project. The glasses are a symbol of caring. Each glass represents someone we love. This project has been a way, and a worthwhile way, to connect our world with a third world country. Guatemala is two countries, actually, with a modern segment of society very similar to our own, and a major portion of the country being very needy and economically depressed. Much of that latter part of Guatemala still is a hundred years behind. And yet a funny sight is seeing women in their traditional dress, walking down the street with a cell phone at their ear.

There are so manyother surprising benefits of this program, but it is late and we just returned from a zone conference.

Something surprising and very affirming seems to be always happening.
There have been other PR purposes, none of which we would have ever imagined.

I promise, with my fingers crossed, that I will try to talk about other things from now on.

Happy New Year...2009

2009-01-04T17:49:00.000-08:00

Things are quiet, here. We have not done anything unusual, nor do we plan to go anywhere for a week. The very quiet is a relief. There is a peaceful feeling about routine, and we are grateful for a moment to breathe and catch-up.

The most wonderful thing has occurred and that is that we are out of glasses. More will be coming in a few weeks, but the clinic we had scheduled next week will likely have to be canceled due to lack of inventory. This is wonderful, to think that over a thousand pair of glasses have been distributed. There will be a percentage of those glasses that will be lost, sat on, forgotten, or unused; but there will be a huge number of those glasses that will help someone to read, sew, comb their grandchild's hair, cook or in someway improve their life in a small way. We read in the Book of Mormon that "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass". Perhaps these glasses won't be a means to "great" things, but they are truly appreciated by many and will be a help in numerous small daily tasks.

Christmas trees in malls and streets are coming down this week. Students are ready to go back to school in a week or two after the three month holiday. It is still the dry, very dry, season. We are beginning to long for a few raindrops.

The more we learn about the Maya the more fascinated we become. I may never know the connection to the Book of Mormon for sure, but this land seems to be a double image. We see the present, but there is a shadowy past that seems to faintly stand behind every hill, every tree and in some ways, every person we see. Traditions and culture constantly hint of something ancient and, yet familiar, because of our study of the Book of Mormon. For example, Guatemalan jade is beautiful. Like Chinese jade, it is between 7 and 8 on the hardness scale. It's toughness and density is close to that of a diamond. It is difficult to sculpt, yet it has been exquisitely crafted in objects that have been discovered by archeologists. There are several kinds of jade, but two are especially interesting to me. There are two types of jade called nephite and jaredite. I'm sure this are scientific nomenclature but who decided to call this mineral those names? Curiouser and curiouser!

Lake Atitlan, each time we see it is more beautiful. Could this be the "waters of Mormon"? There are sunken cities along the shore with columns and homes. Divers are discovering communities beneath the waters near the shore.

We live in a geologically active area. I can hear the plates grinding together off the Pacific shore in my sleep. Of course, I really can't, but I think about this often. Central America, and Guatemala, particularly is the product of forces that are still dynamic.

If I talk about "simple things" I must mention this story. When we came on our mission we knew I would have trouble with my left foot, but we thought that perhaps we would be blessed to have that decline delayed. Blessings and prayers have not been answered in the way we thought. Pain and deformity has, while not stopped me in any way, has been a worry. So, we have left this problem to the Lord. A day or so ago, we passed a kiosk in the mall selling "Crocs". I'm sure everyone knows what those are. I have seen my grandchildren wear them. I bought a pair and brought them home. From the minute I put them on I have been able to walk. I don't know if I can explain the humor in this, but it is also a lesson. I asked for a physical miracle and the Lord, probably with a smile on His face, led me to a shoe store instead.

And on to the next week....

more pictures

2008-12-29T17:31:00.000-08:00

pictures

2008-12-29T17:00:00.000-08:00

Yes!

2008-12-29T11:53:00.000-08:00

Looking back at the blog I can see I focus on the play more than the work. The edges blur a bit because the work is, if not play, compelling and interesting, and the work has a genuine objective or goal that one reaches eventually. The really amazing thing about work is that our "Boss" is the most wonderful one, not in the world, but in all of heaven. We know we are doing His work.

The senior missionaries have a little more latitude for P-days than the young missionaries, and we make the most of it. There is almost always someone in our huge group that is ready for an adventure so off we go.

We really do work, although we have been on the road a lot this last 6 weeks doing zone conferences. I wish I could describe a zone conference to you, but I can't do a good job. Suffice it to say, this is where the missionaries gather every six weeks for a day of meetings about the work. Once or twice a year the missions focus on health. We go to those when invited, and we've been invited a lot lately. This is not work, it is THE WORK! Those days of lectures and clincis seem timeless to us. Usually we go to three or four zones in the same mission in the same week. To get to many we must go by plane or drive. It is not safe to drive much of a distance except on roads that are known and in hours where there is traffic. So, the mission figures out how we will travel and where we will stay. Some of the most spiritual experiences we have had have been at the CCM or in Zone Conferences. I always think of my grandson, Nick, and know that he is doing the very same thing and that his mission president is looking out for him the way we observe other mission presidents do for the missionaries in Central America.

We are going to spend a week doing zone conferences in the North Guatemala Mission in the middle of January but we will be able to drive home each night and sleep in our own bed. There will be the last night and we will stay over so we can dispense eye glasses the next day. In the latter part of January we will go to Honduras for a zone conference. We will be there one week. So far we have nothing in February, but I suspect that will change. March will be busy. We love this so much and meet wonderful people. They inspire us and humble us and help us to try to do a better job. Everyone is enthusiastic, dedicated, committed and totally creative. They are confident they are doing the Lord's work and they go where "angels fear to tread". We love these great people.

Thank you for the glasses. They keep coming. We have a nurse who will be in Chicago the same time our grandson is finished with his eagle project (which will be collecting glasses). She will bring them back with her. It seems that one miracle after another allows us to get glasses and the powers of glasses when we need them. We were totally out of 100,125,150 and so we had to close up shop for awhile, but then some of our senior missionarie's families have come and, unasked, brought just the glasses we need. We will continue this project until we run out of glasses. We know it is finite and yet it has already been more than we had ever dreamed of. We do this in our spare time, usually on P-day, as this is not a mission project. But, it has been a great project, thanks to all of family, especially, and our many friends who have helped so generously. We took white shirts - 30 of them and all brand-new, to the CCM on Christmas Eve. It was a wonderful gift for our family to give.

We are beginning a new project as we are trying to make an Area Directory of Health Services. In the next few months we will continue to do as we have been doing lately, which is to visit hospitals and labs, dentist and doctors offices, with the objective of discovering where we should send missionaries when they need help. A huge percentage of our missionaries come from neighboring countries in Central America and some go home with health issues. We need to find a way to send them to good health facilities. This is interesting to us, although most are not a place I'd like to send my grandsons and granddaughters.

Now, the play part. On Christmas Eve we were on the 12th floor of a building near the center of GC. At midnight the whole Guatemalan world lights huge fireworks. As far as the eye could see in any direction we saw fireworks light up the sky. We were in an apartment with windows looking three directions and we ran from one window to another, afraid to miss some. New Year's Eve will be the same. These displays are announcements: Christmas Eve announces the birth of the Savior and New Year's announces the birth of a new year. These displays go on for about a half an hour and when finished the sky from one mountain range to another is covered by smoke. Guatemala City is located in a high mountain valley as is Salt Lake, but it is about 3 times as large. I think!

We have three big volcanoes near us, visible from our apartment building, actually, and two of those are still active. Picaya is the largest of the three and at night one can see the magma rolling out of vents. It is mountain building in real time. At 3:00 in the afternoon we left to hike the volcano. We drove up to the flanks of the mountain where we picked up a couple of guides and rented a couple of horses. Everyone goes at night because the magma flows are so beautiful. The objective is to get to the vents. I tried my best to make the hike on my own two feet so I could brag to my family. I knew I couldn't walk in the dark, but I thought I could hike up. I hiked up a km, but had a few problems with my heart and had to start riding on a horse. I cried a few tears, but then I realized that from the back of a horse I could see all around me instead of just looking at my feet. Dad made it all the way. I'm proud of him! We could see the other three volcanoes very close to the one we were climbing. This night hike was lots of fun because there were people from all over the world, and in the dark we could hear many languages and saw many headlights and flashlights bobbing up and down as far as we could see
behind us or ahead of us. Five of us couldn't hike the last part of the cone as it was too steep so we watched their little lights go on above us. They were 10 feet of the vent. We were quite close to the magma ourselves, although not as close, and it was beautiful. Riding a horse down a steep mountain, with the guide telling us to "lean back" or we would fall off the horse, was a lot easier than hiking, but I was glad to be down. In the dark, the guide who was leading dad's group got lost in the dark and gave them an extra hike for the money..although not on purpose.

As I reread this blog I realized that I had said we saw mountain building in real time. As I looked at it again, I realize that this is what we are seeing in the growth of the church. There are lots of ways the church is "growing" and sometimes I forget to think of it that way. The increase of numbers of members is how we often think of growth, but the growth in the strength of the membership is a powerful kind of growth. In order to bless the lives of the members they need a strong ward, branch, stake - home teachers, leaders, visiting teachers, friends and family who are active and strong members of the church. There must to be books to read, lessons to learn, values taught, and individuals must feel that they are respected, needed and loved. This is another kind of growth, or mountain building, we are seeing...also in "real time". It is not just happening in Guatemala, it is happening in Africa, Salt Lake City, Chicago, Russia, Asia, everywhere. It is a wonder to be a part of it.

Do we ever work?

2008-12-29T11:52:00.000-08:00

2008-12-23T19:03:00.000-08:00

Trying to spell "folaige"....I got kicked off the computer. I don't think I spelled it correctly and I didn't get a chance to correct my grammar. When we got home this evening from Coban, one of our neighbors brought clam chowder and corn bread to us. After two days of junk food this was heavenly. I close tonight to the sound of firecrackers and dogs barking. I can't wait for tomorrow. I LOVE fireworks.

Merry Christmas to all of us. I am so grateful for our Savior and for the Restored Gospel. This afternoon, I met a man and his wife in Coban. He has been a member for 5 months and has read the scriptures, Jesus the Christ, History of the Church - at least part of it, the Liahona( word for word) and there is nothing more available for him to read. Somehow I must find books for him. I will scour every apartment in the city and see what I can find to send him. He has such a desire to study the gospel. He is alight with his testimony and has the gift of the "convincing" of his peers. He is already the strength in his branch. We hear these stories everywhere. We do have growing pains, there is no doubt about it. People do not understand the concept of work and delegation, sevice through Home and Relief Society teaching. Active Priesthood is a problem, but the church is making distinct gains. The two incredible things that seem to promote activity is 1.) Seminary and 2.) the Perpetual Education Fund.

Fireworks for Feliz Navidad

2008-12-23T18:31:00.000-08:00

Feliz Navidad!

Firecrackers and beautiful arial fireworks are already beginning and it isn't even Christmas Eve. At midnight, tomorrow night, Guatemala City will be the site of thousands of fireworks all over the valley. We have been invited to one of the Mission President's home at 11:00 p.m. for a buffet and then at midnight we will look out the windows (they are in the uppermost floor of their building, but I can't remember which floor for sure) at midnight. Tomorrow will be busy with cooking, preparing for our program for the service project at the CCM where we will donate all the white shirts our family sent to us. We are having a story, music, and the missionaries from each country will sing their country's carol. Then, of course, we will have cookies and milk.

We have to go to the Area Office tomorrow as I have had a friend make dad a gift. He is a wood-burner and does beautiful art. I have asked him to make a round plaque with Mayan symbols and the words "Going Around in Circles" which has become our motto. There really is no Spanish equivalent to this phrase, but we figured out something close. Dad doesn't know about this and he won't read the blog for a day or two, so I can mention it. Our other family motto is "the whole world is going deaf" as my voice is getting quieter and quieter.

Speaking of "going around in circles", we were asked to take 500 cases of school kits back to Coban yesterday. Two sisters from the North Office drove a pick-up and we loaded our car to the hilt. We picked up the pallets from the distribution center and promptly got lost trying to get out of town. We were in Zone 1, which is not a safe place to be, but I wouldn't have traded the two hours we were lost and stuck in traffic for the world. I will add these sights to another blog, but suffice it to say, that if one imagines thousands of little roadside vendors with produce of every imaginable kind, home-made conveyances to move things around, chickens running up and down streets, live turkeys held in blankets, traffic unable to move, color, sights, sounds and smells were a few of the things we were able to observe as we were stuck for two hours. When we were able to move we had to go up one way street and down another, up another and down another, only to find a dead-end. Sounds crazy, but this is not unusual to us. This is every-day stuff. This is a country "on the move" as the streets are full of people in their colorful dress. One reason for this is that there isn't much to entice one to stay home. Four walls and one room for many people is not comfortable so everyone is out in the streets. One goes home to sleep.

It is five hours, for us at least, to get to Coban. We arrived at 8:00 without a place to stay, but the Hermanas had served part of their mission in Coban so they found us a very beautiful place to stay. We saw a Posada from inches away and as I hugged one of the women carring a candle she invited me to join. I couldn't, but just to see it was enough. We saw another one on Sunday night in a little ramshackle part of the valley. We had to deliver a gift and we got lost, again, We went up a little dirt lane in the middle of this little area and saw a group of people in the dark. We were a little nervous as we had been warned not to do this sort of thing. We had to continue, but as we slowly passed them we realized they were singing carols, carried lanterns and were just mounting stairs to knock at the next door. I could only imagine that this was the door where Mary and Joseph were invited it. I love this custom so much.

We shopped in Coban this morning, visited a museum and drove to a forest preserve. We were all alone for the first time since we arrived in Guatemala. Someday I will tell you why. But, Coban is safe and we felt OK. We took a little walk up into the mountains and watched leaf ants on their little paths. We traced their movements and discovered where they were getting their leaves and then, to our surprise, we realized we were standing beside a little hill completely covered with folige
Christmas morning we are invited for scones and hot chocolate at one of the Senior Missionary's apartments, and then later we will go to President and Hermana Christensen's apartment for a Christmas dinner.

we may never understand Spanish...

2008-12-16T19:57:00.000-08:00

We may never understand or be able to use Spanish very well, but we are learning a new language, and that is the language of the Spirit. We are so grateful for the many promptings and constant guidance we receive hourly. We are struggling with Spanish. We can read it quite well, at least we can work our way through most text, but hearing it is so difficult for both of us. We have not been putting the work into studying the language as we should have, but thanks to our daughter-in-law, quite unknowing to her, we realize we need to prioritize our "to do" list. We have so much to do, and enjoy every part of every task, but we realize we are working too hard from the wrong way up. We fit in Scripture study and Spanish when we finish everything else. And often, we are so tired at night that the effort is cursory, at best. We have begun companionship study and personal study of the scriptures first, and suddenly it seems that the day goes more smoothly and we actually have a little time left over.

Our Zone Conferences in Santa Elena and Coban were learning experiences for us. We probably put close to a thousand miles on our car in the last two weeks. From mountains to valleys, to lakes and streams, from cities to villages and then to single little shacks we drove hither and yon. This trip was a week long. We had two young nurses in the car with us the whole time who spoke impeccable Spanish and had served in the areas we were traversing which made the trip even more wonderful as we listened to them tell us about everything we were seeing. We were also with the Mission President, Elders, etc. which made it possible for us to see and do things we never could have otherwise.

We will include pictures, if not in this post - the next. This is a third-world country and once we leave the city it is very evident. Even though the city is such a mix of modern and traditional it is still evident that past and present are intermingled here. I cannot say in a blog some of the things you might find interesting, but I must say that I love Guatemala - every stick and stone. I love the people we meet, and because of the glasses we meet many more than we would otherwise, and in a intimate way that has been a blessing to us as well as to all of them.

We have given away hundreds of glasses, visited hospitals, clinics, labs all over northern Guatemala in order to evaluate places where missionaries could go if the need arises. If I were a mom or grandma there are few places I would choose for someone I love. In addition to all of this we have worked hard to accomplish all the mission Zone Conference tasks. Those experiences with people we admire so much, have been revelatory to us.

Tonight the Area President came over for dinner. Their children will be here from all over the United States next week and they are bringing the low power glasses we have run out of in our little clinics. They are having 10 grandchilren and children here for the holidays and they wanted to involve them in a service project. Tonight, after dinner, we role-played for them how to run a clinic. Dad taught them how to find the correct powers and then we gave them the rest of the glasses. They will go to a town near the Pacific Ocean and run a clinic for the people who live there.

If one looks at a topographical map it reveals a wondrous profile of mountains in that region. All the high mountains and, old and still active, volcanoes are situated along the coast. This is why the beaches are all black sand. Many people in the towns between the coast and the volcanoes have few resources. This is where our Area President and his family are going. This is a wonderful service project for this family and, even better, they are able to use the product of our family and friends labor and service as they worked so hard in the States to put all this together.

We have many plans for the next 10 days. In addition to some wonderful gatherings with senior missionaries and Area Presidency...we are totally involved in several intense service projects. Several months ago I mentioned the Lion's Club we were trying to assist. We have made over 9o blankets...easy ones...fleece with edges tied in knots and gathered many things to take them to a little party we will have on Saturday. Just listen to this: 5oo diapers, 80 huge cans of some kind of powerfully enriched milk for the malnourished children that end up in this facility, toys, stockings, medicines and first aid supplies. The humanitarian dept. in the church, with the incredible help of Dean and Marilyn Bawden - humanitarian missionaries - have made it possible to tap the resources of the church in our efforts. We are going to play lots of games and have two pinatas.

Our next service project will be Christmas Eve at the CCM. We have 45 minutes and we have a neat program with lots of treats arranged for them. We will give the 30 shirts our family worked so hard to buy and send to us.

We have sent Xmas cards to one of the Honduran Missionaries. The Senior Missionaries sent 89 cards in Spanish, with lots of personal information: who they were, where they lived, etc. The North American missionaries receive so much and many Latin missionaries never receive even a letter from home the whole time they are in the mission. We heard about this need and everyone responded beautifully.

Feliz Navidad! We know our Savior lives. We sense His light in a new way. As I ponder the physics of light and review the electromagnetic spectrum, I have to laugh a bit, as I realize how very little we know about LIGHT. I wrote this poem as I was sitting in a zone conference last week. I got lost as I tried to follow the speaker, but these words popped into my mind. We love our family. We were able to visit with nearly everyone on Sunday evening as they were having their Christmas Party. How dear they are to us.

Light

I can see to pick my flowers, I can see to hold my child.
I can see to climb the mountain, I can see the way you smiled.

I can see to read my scriptures, I can see to sing the notes.
I can see my loved one's face, I can see the words I wrote.

I can see the glorious sunset, I can see the colored 'bow.
I can see the rain-drenched air, I can see the way to go.

The light that is about me, is the same, in some deep way
As the light that is within me-two parts of the same ray.

My Savior is the Source of Light. He warms and lights my world.
He beckons to me with His light. My hungry heart is filled.

I can see to sing His praises. I can see to testify.
I can see to place my footsteps, to be with him, by and by.
-in Coban, Guatemala December 2008

We may never understand Spanish...

2008-12-16T19:56:00.001-08:00

2008-12-16T09:21:00.000-08:00

I had to hurry away last night as dad was coming in the door with our friend who was going to do the FHE. He is a gourmet cook and gave me the responsibility to make the hot chocolate, but the lesson began before I could finish, He brought all these unkown ingredients and didn't tell me what to do. I winged it, poured in this and that, and watched hard to make sure it didn't clump or burn, It did both, but I cheated a bit and did my own thing finally and it turned out afterall. He never knew, and if he did, didn't say. I've told you of this man in prior logs, but he told everyone the story tonight., He was born into a Nazi family and was little Nazi until he grew up and realized how evil this really was. He is an educated man, educated in the best schools in Austria , Germay and Holland and Yugaslavia. He is a delight to talk to over dinner and a delight to hear anywhere. He is on an astrophysics kick right now and it is fun to talk to him.

The boys and girls camp, both different weeks, was fantastic. Many conversions came about at this time. Baptisms all over Guatemala were held as a result of this three day activity. In the boys camp, theyfigured that 6,000 priesthood holders were there. Two thousand tents...smores, and all the activities, campfires, spear throwing, mock battles, and the regular knots, star gazing, etc, were required. We were in Coban when the young men came home. We were in the church and you know the enthusiasm of these men and boys when they come home from camp. This took the missioaries by surprise and soon the whole zone conference got into the act, Just imagine, spears, wrestling, etc. on the lawn, on the eve of the Christmas Devotional.

Guatemala is beautiful. We have driven close to a thousand miles. Each region has its particular dress and one knows when that region is over because the dress is different. We have inspected hospitals, doctors' offices, labs, other health facicilities in this country. Most are pretty grim and I wouldn't want a missionary staying in most of these. At least though, we will be able to pick the least of the worst. This is a third world country, although sometimes I forget it. We also have clinics, do health lectures that are very critical and then, on our own time, distribute glasses to poor people who have no other assets. These are your glasses. These are the glasses you sent from the states. These are the glasses we didn't think we could collect until Spring...a thousand of them. Now we have a thousand already and hundreds and hundreds are being sent before the holiday. We are out of 100+, 125+, 150+ and 175_. Most of all 10+ and 125+. We have used all of them up. We are really out of business at the moment until another week and another supply arrives. Kathy Knowlton is going to send some in February, several eagle projects in the states, and other friends will help after the first of the year. We know this is a finite project and we don't care. We will, end the end, have blessed thousands of people through this project. It won't be just the recipient, but the family, also, will be able to benefit from a grandma's better function with a needle or comb, for example.

While on these conferences we work very hard during the daylight hours. At night, we usually go find a place to eat with the mission pres, the senior missionaries in the area, the APs, just anyone, and it has been so much fun to laugh, talk, share stories and experiences with each other as all of us has come from somewhere different and are having diverse experiences in our missions. Our first Zone was in Santa Elena, a town situation beside a huge lake in Northern Guatemala. There was a beautiful island just off the coast where there was a village full of restaurants, shops, churches...etc. It was beautiful and right on the way to Tikal where we hope to go someday. Maybe over the holiday. We ate each night on the island. They had feasts for conferences lunch breaks so we were well fed. In fact, I have gained 8 pounds in the last 2 months.

Wearing this little badge gives us amazing access to places no gringo could ever go. And, it is also because we are always in the company of missionaries who speak impeccable Spanish or Que'che. We are in homes, markets, stores, down lanes, the middle of crowds,, etc. We all stick out like sore thumbs but everyone is kind to us. We couldn't go alone, nor would be try. Guatemala is a dangerous country, but so far we have seen no evidence of it. In fact, of all the countries, we love Guatemala the most

It's almost Feliz Navidad

2008-12-15T16:05:00.000-08:00

I am sitting here in our little apartment listening to the Messiah, full sound. I am waiting for dad to bring a guest for dinner and later this evening he will host Family Home Evening in our apartment. There will be between 15 and 25 people. We never know how many will come. I think I heard the elevator door shut, so it may be dad. If so, I will have to close, but I will sign in again after everyone has left.

I can't begin to tell of the sights and projects we have been working on. There isn't space, but I can at least speak of the feelings these things leave in our hearts. We have had many "tender mercy" moments. When we say our evening prayers together we finish and look at one another in amazement. Every missionary feels this way, but it is a revelation to us personally. We are so grateful to be here, to be ministered to by the Holy Spirit and to be a part of his guidance and protection. A few mornings ago I woke up with these phrases in my mind, "He will maketh me to lie down in green pastures....my cup runneth over." I couldn't remember where this was in Psalm and when I found it I remembered I had memorized this Psalm while at Carden. We don't listen to much radio or TV and I guess this is why there is room for moments like this. I am constantly humming a hymn. I memorize scriptures when I go to bed at night.

Costa Rica..cried when I left

2008-11-28T19:18:00.000-08:00

I hesitated when I found we would be staying in the Mission Home. It is difficult for me to stay with strangers, it is even difficult for me to stay with close friends and family. I don't know why this is, but it is, and it has been a lifelong struggle for me as I have battled feelings like this all my life. So it has been with a great deal of trepidation that I knew we would be doing this from time to time. When we were called on our mission I was very concerned about this particular aspect. I continue to feel like this, but things have changed a lot in 5 months. We were asked to stay in the mission home when we were in Costa Rica, and almost from the moment we arrived I felt comfortable. Costa Rica, unlike Guatemala City, is not dangerous. Anyone can go anywhere, eat anything, drink the water, etc. It is a wonderful country (but I still love Guatemala the most), and we saw a lot of it. President and Hermana Arbizu were wonderful. The house is set in an ordinary neighborhood, but it is beautiful inside with wood floors with something like in-lay. Houses do not have heat or air conditioning and San Jose is almost as high as Guatemala City. It was so cold. The Arbizu's had a little section of their house with a bedroom and bathroom for guests and kindly had three wool blankets, in addition to the other bedding. We used these in the car as we drove from coast to coast and piled them on our beds at night. For some reason, we thought Costa Rica would be warm, but it was colder for some reason than it had been for years. I almost did not take a coat, but as we were pulling out of the parking garage I made dad go back into the apt. and get a jacket. Oh, I'm glad I did.

Dad did health lectures for three zones and in the evening we went to both coasts to do apartment inspections and give everyone's glasses away via small clinics in wards. There was a fourth zone, but it was so far away that they televised the lecture to take to this zone.

Pizza is sort of a traditional lunch for zone conferences around the world, but the Arbizu's provided a Thanksgiving Dinner all three days with mashed potatoes, huge chicken, gravy, and everything else that goes with Thanksgiving Dinner.

We learned to love the Arbizu's in the five days we were there. They left us alone when we needed it, were there to talk to us and counsel us other times and I cried when we left on Friday morning. For some reason I felt this sister and I were friends in some other time and place.

We came home to COLD weather in Guatemala. Everyone has worn coats and gloves and scarves to the office and it never warms up. I found a little heater in the clinic and it has helped. We had Thanksgiving Dinner with the Senior Missionaries yesterday and the weather warmed up nicely. It was a good thing as the dinner was held outside on the Patio.

We are working hard as Wednesday we will leave once more for another 6 day trip up by the Yucatan border. We will caravan, as we did last Saturday and Sunday when we took the mountain trail into the Guatemalan mountains, but this time we won't be going on dirt roads and will be able to take our own car.

How grateful I am for the many blessings we enjoy. We have learned many lessons while we have been here, not the least is that if we are "weak" as Ether discusses,and yet we want to do something of service, that the Lord will help us in unimaginable ways. We do not know of our family's challenges, joys and struggles for the most part, but we pray constantly for all of them, and feel confident that the Lord is looking after them.

Among those blessings are the glasses everyone has so generously donated. They are a miracle to us and to many others. Perhaps these little $1.00 glasses won't last forever for these recipients, but they will last for long enough. I don't even question this. Somehow we know that even a glimpse of what better vision can do is enough. I will leave it to the Lord.

We were able to clean our apartment, but it will be needing it again when we get back home. Once we get home on the 9th, we won't be going anywhere until January and I am glad. Our little apartment is warm and inviting when we get home from somewhere. We put up our Christmas lights day before yesterday. We have decorated a plant we have always had with Guatemalan dolls and white lights and played Tabernacle Choir Christmas music and it was lots of fun.

We have been watching Venus and Jupiter do their wonderful dance in the southwest sky and it has been spectacular. On Thanksgiving evening the two planets met the crescent moon just before they set in the West. We watched until a big apartment building obstructed our view, but the planets were, and continue to be, beautiful. Orion comes up about 8:00 and when it is not too cloudy , takes our breath away. Betelgeuse has to be one of the most beautiful stars in the sky - likewise, the belt stars.

We are, by the way, at 17 degrees latitude.

2008-11-25T19:48:00.000-08:00

2008-11-25T19:44:00.001-08:00

2008-11-25T19:43:00.000-08:00

2008-11-25T19:42:00.000-08:00

Where to begin?

2008-11-25T17:54:00.000-08:00

What an eventful two weeks. I hardly know where to begin explaining and describing where we have been and what we have been doing. I think I will begin with the Mission President's Seminar. Elder Bednar conducted the whole workshop and, even two weeks later, I still hear his words ringing through my heart. First of all, I will describe where the event was held and who was invited. The seminar was held for all twelve Mission Presidents throughout Central America plus the CCM President, Dad and I, the Temporal Affairs Director, one of the Presidents of the Seventies, the Area Presidency, and all the wives. The Mission President's wives are powerful and incredibly strong. This event was Wednesday through Saturday and I will try to sift through my notes and report on a few of the things we heard. I used a leather book given to me by Leigh and Morgan last summer. It has my General Conference notes and those I could recover if they were lost. The notes from the seminar will remain precious and carefully kept for the rest of my life.

The seminar was held in Antigua, Guatemala, one of the places we will take any visitor who comes. It was the first capitol of Guatemala, but was leveled by several earthquakes over the last several centuries. The small buildings remain and the larger church ruins are treasured. It is a old town with cobblestone streets and where the population wear traditional costumes. That isn't really too different as much of the population of Guatemala wears their vivid traditional clothing. The skirts and blouses are very beautiful, but they are also very easy to wear and are both warm in the cold weather and cool when it's hot. I can't describe why. One just has to see it to understand. The hotel we stayed in is a landmark in Guatemala. It is old, with three museums, places to eat and several places for concerts. The "Messiah" will be held there and it will attract visitors from all over. I hope to be one. Beautiful gardens, walkways, patios, trees and shrubs and flowers fill every corner. Orange, avocado trees, palms, hibiscus, hydrangea and on and on and on, fill every corner. It is very expensive so this will be our first and only overnight visit.

Elder Bednar modeled the way to be a Mission President. We came home with so many ideas of how we could change our presentations to conform with this model. There is no doubt in our minds that this man is an Apostle of God. To be in his company, to eat with him, to listen to his wife counsel the women...all of these things and more were just the surface blessings; but to hear him work with us, question us, to listen to his testimony and to hear him bear witness of the Gift of the Holy Ghost was unforgettable. He spoke with the voice of Authority in his very humble way. He blessed us as only an apostle can do. He counseled us as he taught us to how to work with young men and women so that they can become leaders of the church in their own countries when they finish their missions.

He did not lecture, he questioned. He taught us HOW to listen to the Holy Spirit. We were guided and directed to search for answers to our concerns in ways I have never heard. He
gently said over and over, "Do not waste time asking questions anyone can answer...ask questions that only an Apostle of the Lord can answer". And under his gentle guidance we did. Dad and I sat in the back and from that vantage point we could see everyone and we were struck by the power in that room. It wasn't just Elder Bednar. The men and women in charge of their missions and who are in charge of the hundreds of elders and sisters serving missions, are guided in unexpressible ways. There is simply no way these people could do what they are doing without Heavenly help. It is not possible. There is no way we could be doing what we are doing, as unimportant as it is, compared to the Mission President's and their wives, as we are guided and directed to fulfill and magnify our callings. The more I learn the more I am absolutely humbled. How can we be recipients of blessing after blessing, not just here but in our family and among our friends? Elder Bednar made it clear that our difficulties and challenges are part of mortality and a part of the callings we have, and further, he told us that those challenges will always be present throughout our lives. But what he did do was to help us become confident in patience and trust.

These are sweet teachings I could not ever put in a blog, but they are in my heart and I think I may never forget them. I will tell one interesting story that was part of Elder Bednar's Conference talk. He repeated it to us. When he was president of BYU/Idaho they often had General Authorities visit their home. Just before one of the GAs arrived the Bednars had news of a friend who had suddenly passed away. This man was young, left a young family and a loving wife. Disease is everpresent. They discussed many ways they could help this family. When the General Authority arrived they knelt for family prayer before dinner. Elder Bednar asked his wife to say the prayer. Just before she began, the General Authority counseled her to only express gratitude in her prayer and ask for nothing. She didn't know what to do as her heart was full of grief for this little family; however, she did as she was counseled, and was able to see beyond the immediate sorrow. She spoke in gratitude of the Plan of Salvation and was able to actually understand how it applied to her friends. We have been trying to do this very thing as we kneel in prayer each morning and night, and it is difficult not to ask for favors and blessings for our family. Elder Bednar doesn't mean for us not to ask for blessings, not at all, but to occasionally express only gratitude to a loving Father.

Let me backtrack a bit and speak of the first day. We finally were able to go to Camp Colinas which is similar to the camp in Heber City. They were preparing for a huge regional camp with 6,000 youth and leaders. They had erected 2,000 tents. There was an amphitheater for 2,000 people and yet it was quite small. For the first time, I can understand howKing Benjamin was able to communicate with so many people. Enroute to Antigua we visited a small museum focused on the history of Guatemalan music. This is another place we can't wait to take visitors. Early on Saturday morning we took the bus back to Guatemala City and attended the temple. The endowment rooms are small and hold, perhaps, 40 people. Elder Bednar was in our session and it was wonderful to stand in the circle with he and his wife. When we left the temple there were many teen-agers waiting to see him. That night he held a fireside for all the youth in Central America via telecommunition. Evidently, it was a truly memorable event for the youth. We have spoken to many and have heard this. Elder Bednar did this through means of e-mail. Questions could be asked from any of the seven countries and he could answer immediately.

We are going to load some pictures on the blog and then speak of our trip to Costa Rica where we have seen the hand of the Lord as he guides and directs the Mission Presidents. We were there from Monday to Friday. This last weekend, we went up into the high mountains of Guatemala to give reading glasses while the Mission President of this mission held a District Conference. If our family and friends could have only seen the participants of this little clinic they would shout for joy. The little town of Senahu, at possibly 8,500 feet in altitude, and one which only can be driven to via 4 hours of dirt roads. We gave several hundred pair of glasses away. We ran out of 100+ and 125+ and thought we were out of business until the next wonderful gift arrived. Today, however, when we went to the Central Mission we found a sack from an anonymous donor that held 20 pair of 125+. These little miracles keep happening.

Our biggest miracle, however, is the generosity of our friends and family. The glasses keep coming. Our goal was a "thousand pair by Spring". It was in the Spring, we thought, that we would begin our clinics, but we are giving them away already, as fast as they are coming in. If only everyone could "see" how they are helping others to see. Because of our friends and family we have had at least 600 -700 pair, maybe more, and they are still coming. This little town - next step was the sky and into the clouds because it is so high - had many old people who didn't even know how to put the glasses on. We had impromptu cheering sections from those waiting in line as they helped each other put them on right side up. They all wanted me to take their pictures wearing their new glasses, and I thought it might be helpful if our Humanitarian Missionaries could see that many had no teeth. As soon as I brought the camara up to take a picture they would close their mouths so the camera couldn't take that particular kind of picture. I am going to elaborate on both the Costa Rica trip and the Senehu clinic, but that will have to be later, perhaps tomorrow.

We saw a rainbow as we were coming out of the mountains Sunday night and the end of the rainbow fell into the mountain town we had just left.

2008-11-11T14:04:00.000-08:00

November - palms turning orange

2008-11-11T13:46:00.000-08:00

I know it is November because I have been watching Aldabaran come up over the Eastern hills (all urban - but interesting). It's too cloudy to see the Pliedes, but at 10:00 we begin to see the bright stars in Orion. These two sky phenomena announce the beginning of winter. We have been going up to the roof almost every night to watch Orion come up earlier and earlier. It's been fascinating to watch the big Zenith constellations in a more northerly pathway.

I thought I had better blog tonight as we are going to a Mission President's Seminar with Elder Bednar and the Mission Presidents and wives and we will be in Antigua for 4 days. Tomorrow we are going, on the way to Antigua, to the huge, and I mean huge, camp for families and young people. It is almost exactly like the Heber, Utah girl's camp. I have been wanting to see this for weeks and weeks and now we will not only get to see it, we are going to have lunch at the camp.
In late November there will be 6,000 young people here for an Area conference for Young Men and Young Women. They have put up 2,000 tents in the last week.

Everything in the seminar is going to be conducted in Spanish, and as Kim and I are the only ones not functional in Spanish it should be interesting. I have been memorizing D&C 4...have finished (and so has Dad), reviewing praying and my testimony in Spanish, and had a friend help me translate a spiritual experience into Spanish. The women will be meeting with Sister Bednar during the daytime while the men are meeting with Elder Bednar. I have never, ever (except James pointed out that we were married by Pres. Spencer W. Kimball) shaken hands with one of the Twelve and I am looking forward to this. I love Elder Bednar's Conference talks and expect this week to be a spiritual feast.

We get back on Saturday and leave for Costa Rica on Monday. We will be staying at the Mission Home for the week and leave to come home on Saturday. This is why I thought I should write the blog now. We came home from work early to get ready and to prepare for a little meeting we are having tonight to plan our building Xmas project. This little facility we are doing the project for has been developed by the Lion's Club and it accepts children who are abandoned, abused, or taken from their families for some reason or another. The children only stay in this facility for 3 months and then a judge appoints a guardian or allows the children to go back to their families after extensive counseling (or so we hope). We are making fleece blankets, some toys, food, games, books, and we think we are going to get some of the humanitarian projects the Relief Societies put together, etc. Dad and I found a great quality fleece for 2.89 cents per yard (60 inches wide). We bought 12 yards and farmed them out to the young women in a ward nearby. Each blanket is one yard long and 60" wide. We are going to tie the ends and the sides the the way our grand-daughter, Jaime Taylor, showed us.

An Area Mental Health Advisor came to Central America Area on Saturday and we are so relieved and excited. This is an element of our mission that we are not comfortable with. Prescribing medications and counseling, as the last Medical Advisor was able to do, makes dad feel uneasy. This woman will be such an asset to our Area and she will be utilized in every mission. By the way, we have 12 missions and approximately 2,000 missionaries. The nurses and Mission President's wives are on the front line and we watch them with amazement as they treat the missionaries so capably.

Now, there is so much to share, but the main point of this blog is to thank everyone for the reading glasses. We had a goal of a Thousand Pair by Spring, but we are going to reach that goal by January. If you only knew how a simple pair of reading glasses can change a life. We are not going to stop with a thousand. Our next clinic will be in early December up near the Mexican border where the Mayan people live. These people are dedicated, faithful Latter-day Saints and we will do clinics when we are not in Zone Conferences. We will be gone for a week and will caravan with several other cars in order to get there. Maybe we will get to see some ruins. This land is the land of the Book of Mormon. We don't know how, but we realize it doesn't matter. What does matter, is that the Book of Mormon seems to come alive for us as we drive here and there through hills and over rivers and streams. The ups and downs of the landscape suddenly fit and fall into place. As we read everything we can get our hands on concerning the art and architecture from these periods we can't help but see the stories and scenes of the Book of Mormon in such a vivid way.

I think we have stressed that the reading glass project is our own. The Area President is pleased with this effort, but it is not part of the Medical Advisor's job description. I thought I had better remind everyone that although the Area is the one to benefit from this project it is not in the Area Medical Advisor Handbook. I think you all knew that and I hope that won't make a difference. My book groups, friends, Dup, friends, family-family, friends of friends and friends of family have been so generous with their time and money. I think you would be pleased if you could see what the glasses do for individuals. I think you would also be pleased if you could see the environment and the living conditions throughout parts of Guatemala and Central America. We believe we will be directed as to where we should go to distribute glasses now that we have enough to get started in a serious effort.

We are in the dry season at the moment and we haven't had rain for two weeks. The days are warm, but the nights are very cool. We haven't had a boring day since we got here as the weather is dramatic and interesting.

There is much to say, but this will be our last post for some time. We love Guatemala and we are learning so much. Hopefully, we are contributing something to these seven countries. We are trying.

Thank you, thank you! If possible, we will do a little clinic in our own little branch during the Thanksgiving holiday. We have a nice range of glass powers and will be able to do two or three clinics.

The whole world was in San Lucas today..

2008-11-01T21:11:00.000-07:00

San Lucas is about 20 miles out of Guatemala City. The cemetary in this city hosts the biggest kite festival in the country, and I mean BIG in both contexts. We got to the city early, thank goodness, and we were able to park about 5 blocks away from the cemetary. The street vendors were just beginning to open their shops and the smell of food cooking was almost irresistable. We are not allowed to eat this food as it is a source of hepatitis and parasites, but it looked and smelled so good. We walked to the cemetary along cobblestone streets and we were just a bit early as the kites were just getting the finishing touches. The kites are huge, I estimate about 15-20 feet in diameter. Aztec and Mayan designs or just random designs, made each kite unique. Each kite takes a team to pull it up to the top of the crematorium where they are finally launched. If the wind is right, it will take the kite and pull it upward. This was a perfect day. Sometimes the kites went right up, and sometimes they fell into the crowd. People cheered or gasped depending on the fate of the kite. If it fell, the team would run over, attach huge ropes and pull it up to the top of the building once more At one time, we saw 19 giant kites overhead. They also had two 50 foot kites that were not meant to fly. They put up 50 foot poles and a man would shinny up the pole and set up a pulley. When the kite was finished they would pull up these display kites with the pulley and attach it to the pole. It takes 10 or so men to move these kites and put the covers on them. The designs were elaborate and elegant and everyone gasped when they were raised. We stayed for three or four hours and by the time we left the whole world was coming as we were going. Shoulder to shoulder we marched along the roads. There wasn't room to breathe and everyone was kind. It was truly a holiday atmosphere. During that crowd, however, one of our friends had his wallet picked right out of his front pocket. It was so deftly done that he didn't notice it right away. We were prepared for this and hadn't taken anything with us, including our camera - so no pictures unless someone kindly imports their pictures to our computer (fingers crossed). The streets were jammed and parking was stacked up into the next town. People had to walk 3 or 4 miles to get to the kite festival. When we left we saw one street with a whole fleet of yellow schoolbuses. This was the event of the year! We were so lucky to have stumbled on to this festival. Between all the senior missionaries we always manage to find fun things to do. We have a great group of friends in Guatemala. We feel very blessed.

I love kites! When I grow up I want to learn how to make kites.

kites, beautiful kites

2008-11-01T20:30:00.000-07:00

Latin America does not celebrate Halloween or Thanksgiving, although I did see a turkey in the market this evening. I remember, years ago, when we moved to Ohio, how surprised I was that July 24th wasn't celebrated. I laugh at the naivete and remember that it took just a moment to shift out of the Mormon mindset.

In Guatemala, however, Christmas decorations are put up in October. I love the different holidays here, and many of them have to do with some sort of political anniversary It is late evening of November 1st, The Day of the Dead, and we have been observing this holiday today with many thousands of people all over Central America. It is a fun, and yet tender holiday, and is much like our Memorial Day. Each country celebrates the day in a different way. Mexico, for example, has bright and colorful paper mache objects like masks, skeletons and other objects, small and large, but the purpose of the holiday is the same in Guatemala. This is a day to honor your deceased family. In all the countries families gather at the cemetaries and clean the graves, put up flowers and wreaths, and recount family histories. The smell of marigolds hovers in the air and the bright yellow flowers dot the landscape. In Guatemala, they do not have all the little dolls and bright folk art, but they do have kites.

We have been noticing kites for several weeks. We have been seeing kites displayed along highways on fences and gutters. Kites are sold in markets and I didn't know why as I had never seen them in markets before. This is the holiday for kites. Most of the kites have geometric designs in bright colors on them, but we've seen some with Mickey Mouse, Batman, and other comic characters. Children, everywhere, seem to be trying to get kites in the air. The people here are very serious about their kites. But, as in other countries in Latin America, it is a happy holiday.

I think the whole world was in San Lucas today.

First Reading Glass Clinic

2008-10-18T16:41:00.000-07:00

We had our first reading glass clinic today and through it all, we said little prayers for all our family and friends who have sent glasses via people coming into Guatemala. Marci, your gift and your offer to be courier for these glasses are so appreciated. Kathy, Marian, Gerri, Lori, and book group friends, DUP, all of you...thank you. We didn't intend to do a clinic quite so soon, but a nearby stake heard about our project of "A Thousand Pair by Spring" and asked us to come and do a "small" clinic...maybe 10 or 20. This stake is in a poor section of town and the stake building is the most beautiful structure in the vicinity. This small clinic turned out to be huge. People had been in the hall since 8:00 in the morning and were lined up and down the halls waiting for us. We gave away 78 pair of glasses. For a brief, very brief, moment I wanted to wait until we had all 1000 pair before we started giving them out, but almost instantly I felt chastened by the Spirit. The need in the city is as real as the need in the highlands and my axis shifted in a moment. To see these older people suddenly SEE the words in the Book of Mormon was wonderful. The hugs were cherished. These are people who would not be able to buy such a luxury as a pair of reading glasses, and here they were. We nearly depleted our stock, but we have 80 or so left with 400 coming in the next few weeks. I think we will have another hundred or so in December. We had many older people walk away with "new eyes", a few who could not be helped due to other conditions, several children with serious problems for which Kim couldn't be of help because of lack of equipment, and many 50 years old and up. We had a lady come in this morning and she was probably about 65 years old. She picked up a pair of glasses. Later in the morning we went to see the Seminary Graduation Robes that were being made for the graduation next Sunday. There, in the corner, was the lady...sitting at the sewing machine putting these robes together, wearing these glasses and also wearing a huge smile because it was so easy to see the needle. I am so grateful for the generosity of others. If only everyone knew how much this gift meant to these people.

A little miracle

2008-10-16T19:31:00.000-07:00

This may not sound like a miracle, but we are still shaking our heads in disbelief. We went into a bookstore this afternoon to look for "Why the Chimes Rang". We couldn't find it, of course, but while we were there we were laughing about finding pictures with small detail to use at the reading glass project we are having on Saturday morning. Several people cannot read and it will be difficult to help them find a power for glasses without some other clue. We said to ourselves, "Remember the WHERE'S WALDO" books Grandma Taylor used to have? We thought that book, with all its small detail, would be perfect.. Just then, I walked over to a children's section to look at their selection and the first book I put my hand on was a "WHERE'S WALDO". Wow!
This was in a fairly large store and this was quite amazing to us. It was sort of finding the needle in the haystack by sitting on it.

We had a pretty big earthquake today and we didn't even feel it. We were on the highway at the time, and driving in Guatemala is an "earthquake" in itself so we missed feeling this one.

Dad has his CCM lecture tomorrow and which is now #2 on our "scary" list. Zone Conferences are #1. Dad has worked so hard on these conferences. We are depending on Julie Hewlett's "chink theory" which is "that when we have worked as hard as we can, God will fill in the chinks". It is daunting to give a health lecture that is so needed to 70 -80 eager, brand-new missionaries and maintain that wonderful Spirit that has carried them through the first few days in the mission home. Dad is really trying and has grown so very much.

Little things like finding 9 jump-ropes for the missionaries to use in the CCM has made it a perfect day.

2008-10-14T19:42:00.000-07:00

I forgot one thing. As I was playing the tachleta (keyboard) for the Sacrament song, the "d" began to move. I thought it was just the heat, so I followed this note. Suddenly I realized that a fly (mosca) was walking in a perfectly horizontal line along the D line of the staff. I was "playing" the fly. They were the wrong notes, of course. I tried hard not to laugh in the middle of the Sacrament song. This is just one of hundreds of silly situations we've encountered.

Continuing=

2008-10-14T18:58:00.000-07:00

We've had dramatic moments as one elder fainted on a bus and was admitted to a really, really horrible hospital. Just short of the end of our Friday Zone Conference we found out that this Elder was in the Roosevelt Hospital. The Mission President, the two nurses, Kim and I, and an elder left zone conference. President Alvarado knew what kind of a hospital this was. We didn't! When we got there it was an unbelievably grim place. We had to stand at a fence to be admitted. We never could go in, but finally one nurse was able to go in and search for him. She was pale when she came out only to tell us that the Elder had checked himself out. We watched the Mission President pray silently for the hour we were outside. When we found out the elder was home we saw President Alverado smile for the first time. We went back to the ward house for clinic and it was early in the evenng when we finished, so we took the nurses to the Marriot Hotel for dinner, which is a plush place with a great buffet. We had a father call from Salt Lake, worried about his son, a missionary with nerve problems very similar to Multiple Sclerosis, hundreds of back and knee problems, foot fungus (as in many places the missionaries never have dry shoes), colds, a heart problem which required a senior missionary to need to be sent home, and on and on. There is never a dull moment. To underline all that we have lightning and thunder, rain mixed with beautiful skies, and clouds that drift in and out of these hills and valleys. Dad and I took our Sunday dinner up to the roof and while there, had rain, sunlight, cool and warm temperatures. The weather is never boring! We need to shop for food as we haven't had time to do this for 10 days. Our pantry is getting very bare and we are scraping the cupboard for essentials when we get home each night. We are trying our best to eat in the way we encourage our missionaries to do, but we understand why it is so hard. There is no time!

We have asked the local Lion's Club if we can volunteer. We went to a breakfast meeting a few weeks ago and they told us about their main project and asked us if we would go to view it last night (Monday). I couldn't go as we had invited a family with four teen-agers to come to FHE, but dad and another couple (the Bawdens) went. This facility is about an hour and a half from GC and is a place for orphaned, abused, neglected, nutritionally challenged children under 8 years of age. We will help, and do what we can for these children. We are trying to figure a way to do it.

We have 300+ pair of glasses...well on our way to a Thousand By Spring. However, we have a hitch. A stake nearby has asked us to come to their chapel on Saturday and test and dispense glasses to some of the older people in the stake. We are so excited to do this, but now know we will have to keep a running tally of where the glasses go...even if it isn't Spring. Thank you, all of you, for your efforts to go to All a Dollar stores and send glasses down to us. There are always people coming and going so getting them to us is certainly possible. I know who is coming and when. We are getting another hundred in November so any of you with Sub for Santa's, Eagle Projects, etc. think about this project. All of you...thank you! The people in these little hillside villages, highland areas will never be able to afford even cheap glasses, neither will they be able to actually see a doctor or an optician. These glasses are a blessing, and so very needed.

I must say a word about the very able, talented and spiritually strong senior missionaries. We love and honor them and have been so grateful for their support, friendship and example. We have lots of fun activities...and always with food. This is great because lots of us have little time to do big meals for ourselves.

Sights and sounds, colors, and contours of hills, roads, canyons, valleys fill our eyes and ears. A feeling of love for the Gospel and for these young men and women fill our hearts, minds and souls. There is a completeness to our days, short as they seem to be. We are blessed!

Almost the middle of October

2008-10-14T18:28:00.000-07:00

The last two weeks have been incredibly busy. We have had our first zone conference where Kim had to do Health Presentations. This means that we are at the conference from early morning until late afternoon. We had three this week. Two were in Guatemala City and the other about 31/2 hours south of GC. This was a great learning experience, especially on the first day as our Power Point presentation (which is essentially 1 1/2 hours of pictures and information) did not work due to a few insurmountable technical difficulties. It was our worst nightmare, but the Mission President took pity on us and closed our part of the conference a bit early. Dad also does clinics on those days for the missionaries who are too far away to see nurses and/or doctors. We love them and are continually amazed at their maturity and self-reliance. Yet, in many ways, they are still boys and our hearts go out to them. Most of them do the best they can with so very little in the way of money and other things we call necessities, like clothes and food. This conference was a single mission and we were so inspired by this Mission President and his wife. Hope, faith, growth, change and unity - all were topics covered. Dad and I both had to bear our testimony and give short talks in Spanish in all three conferences. I am amazed that both of us are able to converse. We still can't hear, but we are learning to read and to actually make a small conversation. When nature decides to unleash the heavens it does so with gusto. Our drive to Zapata was a worry. In the morning we worried about robbers and traffic, but on the three hour drive home we thought we might get a boulder on our car or be squashed by a landslide...all of which are everywhere during the rainy season. These are not small landslides, but huge hills that are gouged out of the mountain by sheer gravity. They suddenly get to that failure point where an extra inch grows on a root, or a pebble moves at the toe of the hill, and down it goes. Fourteen hundred people were displaced a month or so ago, with 14 people dead. Homes which are built on hillsides are terribly vulnerable. These homes, to make it even worse, are tiny homes for very poor people. If their home goes, and if they survive, they are homeless. We have been with the two Hermanas (nurses) for the whole week for 14 - 15 hours every day. We have learned to love them and have enjoyed our hours in the car, in the clinics, and at lunch and dinner. We played the yellow card game Jazmine enjoys so much where you take a card and have to answer the question and reference it to your own life. The questions are great. We played this game in the car for 6 hours. These Hermanas are about 22 years old and remind us so of Jess, Lauren, and Jaime...easy to talk to, imaginative, full of fun. That is not easy when we have a grim moment or two.

I went tracting with these two nurses. They tract about half the time. We went to a lovely woman's home who reminds me so much of my friend, Sharon Alderman. All the homes in Guatemala are invisible because the wall that sits on the curb looks just like that...a wall. When you are invited in you go through the door into another world. Sometimes the world is not all that great, but often you walk into a lovely garden and a home that reflects that family's personality. We see this over and over. This woman is an art professor who teaches children in her studio at home (which smelled of oil paint, and how I love that smell) . Her philosphy is to put many children doing many things: in park, a zoo, a back yard, a treehouse, a circus; and to have the children standing on heads, doing carwheels, etc. No child is static and there is an electricity to these immature paintings. I would pay good money for paintings like this. She had a delightful sense of humor and her house was full of animals, among which were 3 brand-new dogs and baby birds in a cage who were peeping out of a nest tucked away in the corner of the cage. It was an eclectic and busy home. Our next appointment (and I am going) is Thursday at 3:00. I look forward to it.

We have another lecture on Friday and are frantically trying to revise and tweak it as we are now realizing that many of the things we say, and things that have been handed down from previous doctors, are simply not realistic. Somehow, we have to help the missionaries understand they MUST drink water, eat fruit and vegetables. Last Wednesday, at the end of a lecture we had a little time, and opened the way for a few questions. One Elder said, in all seriousness, "Is it OK to eat peanut and jelly sandwiches all day everyday?" The young men and women are so young, and yet very wise. There is no question in our minds about who is leading these young men. How can they do this, and do this so well, is the question. Without the Lord, they couldn't.

A funny story -

2008-10-03T20:53:00.000-07:00

My language, or lack thereof, created an amusing situation this afternoon. One of the clinics we hold on Friday is at the Central Mission Office. Dad holds a clinic for any of the missionaries in the South or Central Mission who want to talk to the "doctor" about issues for which they might have some concern. The nurses are so competent that this is really just a formality, but the missionaries want to confirm their concerns with dad. After clinic today the nurse realized there was one Hermana who hadn't arrived. We waited, but she and her companion never came. Just as we were about to leave they walked into the office and the Hermana who needed care was crying. She was just sobbing. They had taken the wrong bus and they had come from another town. We held her in our arms and tried to comfort her. After the discussion they needed to leave quickly to get back to the bus. I realized they were probably hungry so I insisted that we go into the back where the office has a little refrigerator. We made three peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (now this is where you picture how bossy I am). I organized everyone and we put together these sandwiches from frozen bread, which had to be thawed, etc. When they were finished I ordered one of the elders to explain to the "supposed" sister's companion that she take the sandwiches. The elder complied, giving me a strange look. The companion, or so I thought, gave me an odd look, but they didn't speak English and I didn't speak Spanish. Suddenly, as I pressed the sandwiches into the Hermana's hands, I realized the Hermana who was in such distress was nowhere to be seen. As we walked out of the office it dawned on me that the reason for the strange looks was that the other Hermana had left long before and I was giving the sandwiches to one of the office workers. Embarrasing!

We went to the Lion's Club Breakfast this morning (at 7:00). We had to be at the CCM at 8:30 so we were flying. This president of this chapter showed us their initiative which was a large facility for malnourished children, children who had been neglected or abused. There are two rooms not being used at the moment where we can, with the permission or our Area Humanitarian people, put a small vision clinic and a dental chair, etc. The Bawden's who live upstairs, and with whom we have formed a fast friendship - and who speak fabulous Spanish, made it possible for us to communicate. He is a dentist and Kim, being an eye doctor, may make it possible to help these children.

A funny story -

2008-10-03T20:52:00.001-07:00

A funny story -

2008-10-03T20:52:00.000-07:00

A Thousand Pair by Spring

2008-10-02T06:36:00.000-07:00

Our new motto...as we are trying to accumulate 1000 pair of reading glasses of all powers by spring. There is a need! What we are doing is to encourage buying reading glasses at a Dollar store in Salt Lake, anywhere in US, and sending them down to us with the people who are visiting. It's unbelievable how much traffic there is from all the senior missionaries families, the Area Presidency, Seventys' going back and forth. We have found a humanitarian source as well. As people accumulate the glasses Marci has volunteered (?)to be the courier to get the glasses from whomever is donating them and getting them to the people who are going to Guatemala. They can't be mailed...they would never get here, at least that is what we think. Actually, we could try it and see what happens with a few glasses.

We are the oldest, by far, of all the missionaries in the Area. Most are in their early 60s. We don't feel like the grandparents for a couple of reasons: 1. these people are so accomplished that we learn from them. and 2. everyone is so nice and we all bring such diverse talents to the group that it seems that age doesn't matter.

There are two young ladies in our office who want to learn English. They are about 19. Pamela and Laura (although you'd never know the names when said in Spanish) want to learn English, so we have decided we will memorize scriptures - they in English and me in Spanish. We take turns picking the scriptures and usually it takes a couple of days. Then we get together and I give a treat if we can all do it. They do it well, I stumble a lot, but they are patient. One scripture we memorized is the one where Nephi says that if the Lord commanded a way will be prepared...and I am counting on that for learning Spanish.

The Spanish computer keyboard is quite a challenge for me and I still make lots and lots of mistakes. Dad usually uses this one so I have to press keys in certain arrangments to make the accent marks of text in Spanish, which I'd rather do anyway.

We have volunteered to help with the Lion's Club International. Their specific mission is VISION, and we have observed their program around the world. We found a chapter in Guatemalea City and will go to their breakfast tomorrow morning. I am excited about just helping children stand in line as they get seen by doctors, etc.

Traffic is efficient although crazy. No one observes stop signs, but the semaphores are strictly watched. Drivers are generally nice and will let you in during the horrible traffic hours...and they are horrible. Mudslides of hills, accidents, and so on just bring traffic to a halt from time to time. Dad has it down pretty well but most of the time I shut my eyes and pray.

One story, and if thee is any doubt about the expansion of our testimonies - let there be none, as we feel the hand of the Lord continually in small and large things. We are amazed at the guidance we feel from the Spirit. Here is a story for the children. Last week, a wonderful old german gentleman came to visit Kim in the office. He was gracious, dignified and very distinguished. He kissed my hand, and so of course, I was instantly impressed. Brother Gert told his conversion story and I would lie to pass it on to you. He had owned a major airlines, but he also took tours from all over the world to Israel, Greece and Rome. He loved the Bible as a story and knew every word. But, he was a dedicated, committed athiest. The Bible was the most beautiful book in the world and the steps of the prophets in the OT and the travels ofJ Jesus and Paul, particularly, was his passion although he regarded these people as if as in a beautiful story. Over the years he took thousands of people on tours. He is so talented at telling stories that the time he spent in our office seemed to fly. In 1992 a friend who was LDS invited him to their home. They showed him a video from the church and he though it nice but not relevant to him. The second time he was invited to dinner. The father asked the little 8 year old son to give the blessing on the food. This child gave the standard blessing on the food...as all 8 year olds do. Brother Gert was impressed and listened intently at the words this young boy said. During the prayer he had a witness that Christ lived and further, that he WAS the Son of God. Joy infused his soul and he said that when he opened his eyes after the prayer he was a Christian. Later he joined the church. Because of a simple prayer by a child hundreds and hundreds of people in Guatemala, where he has lived the past 20 years ,have been influenced. He is a friend of the Area Presidency and has served in many capacities...all because of a child.

Evidently he has been part of the Family Home Evening Group for many years,but due to very poorhealth has not attended since we have been here , until last week that is.

A quiet week, but a dear one.

El Salvador...another quick trip

2008-09-22T21:08:00.000-07:00

I realize that the blog reads backwards, with the most recent blog at the top. If anyone reads this blog, and as a reference for my own journal, I will have to keep this in mind.

How to begin? Our days are packed with many activities. The ideas that come to us are amazing even to us. Where do these ideas come from? We finish one big project and we think of another one. These ideas come from the Lord, as well as the knowledge of the process needed in carrying out and completing the projects. We are truly instruments in His hand.

One of our nurses, Hermana Despain, in El Salvador has been a fabulous contact and her networking has kept us in touch with El Salvador missionaries. We have wanted to see her and talk with her, but as this is another country, our chance for an immediate meeting was remote. We will go there for zone conferences, but that might not have been for awhile. Thursday, the Security Specialists for CA asked us to go with them to the groundbreaking ceremony for the New El Salvador temple. We immediately called Hermana Despain to see if she and the Mission President and his wife could meet with us for dinner at the hotel and go over the medical issues of the Oeste/Belize Mission. They were excited about the meeting and so were we. It is important to know that the Mission President's wife, throughout the church, has the job of the health of missionaries in her mission. This is a huge job, and she accomplishes this with the help of a nurse who works part time as a nurse and part time as a tracting missionary. Hermana Despain is a young woman who just finished her nursing degree at Westminster College. These people are the first line of defense for the missionary health issues. Kim is the last line of defense, but he depends on these people for the information he requires. With this information he can assemble, analyze and report on the various mission medical issues the Church needs each month. The mission nurses stay in contact with Kim on difficult problems.

We left Guatemala City about 5:00 in the morning and got to our beautiful "wow" hotel about 11;00. We were not invited to the ceremony, but we planned to go anyway. As insignificant as these details sound they are not, as the events of the day proceeded. While in the lobby, as we checked in, two men came over to talk to us. They saw our black name tags and, as it turned out, we found they were the managing director and international director of a large humanitarian foundation. We talked and laughed and Kim and I told them that we had a dream that we wanted a thousand pair of reading glasses by Spring. Joe and Lori have already sent a 140 pair and that is a good beginning. We have no idea how we will get the rest, but we know we will, somehow. The trick is to get them here. The only way they can come into the country is in personal luggage. Well, back to the story. The day was beautiful, San Salvadore, the capital city is modern and certainly rooted in this new century. We took an umbrella to the site, which by the way is absolutely gorgeous, and as we arrived and walked to the site, noticed black clouds forming overhead. We were there an hour early so enjoyed the practice of the choir. Hermana Despain was the soloist and has a riviting soprano voice. She and the 17 year old son of one of the Seventies in CA sang together.

People were coming up the slope and wearing their best clothes, spike heels, beautiful jewelry, gorgeous and glowing. About 15 minutes before the ceremony it began to rain. Huge drops like hail drilled into us. Just as we began the earth under our feet began to turn to mud. There were umbrellas all over in all colors; but in about 1/2 hour the unbrellas themselves began to condense and rain on all of us underneath. Everything went on as planned: talks by the Area Presidency, Mission Presidents, choir, soloists, groundbreaking...etc., all under rain, thunder and lightning. As soon as everything was over, the rain stopped, birds began to sing, insects chirped and flew around, as though the rain were the most natural thing in the world. And, I suppose it was. Everyone was covered in mud from head to toe, but everyone was happy and enthusiastic. The first song was "Come, Come Ye Saints", and no one could complain after singing the words to that song. We were so wet, and our shoes (four days later are still wet)and anything leather soaked. Here we were, slmost on the equator and we were so cold we could hardly speak. We got back to the hotel and our "small" dinner party we were hosting turned into a big one. Fifteen people came. The mission president, his wife and our three nurses were there, but we also invited the men from the humanitarian agency, one of the Area Presidency and his wife (friends of Paul and Ann), two brethren from the church in charge of the architecture and funding of the temple and the security people fromthe Area Office. Now this may sound mundane, but there was a special spirit at that long table as we laughed talked about medical issues, reviewed personal efforts in the church, and just talked. As we walked back to our room, the managing director of the humanitarian foundation looked at Kim and said, "you will get your reading glasses".

It took me an hour of soaking in the hottest tub to finally ward off hypothermia. We had to wear wet clothes until we got home on Sunday to Guatemala.

The border from El Salvadore and Guatemala is like going through a time machine. Guatemala still has a foot in the last century, El Salvadore has too, but the city of San Salvadore is modern, clean, no guns, two and three lane highways. We saw many colorful birds, finally, and watched from our balcony and counted different species of birds. We see few in Guatemala.

We heard two stories in Sacrament Meeting I would like to to pass on. We went to a ward in San Salvador and were so impressed by the sizee of the ward and energy of the members. The theme of the Sacrament Meeting was music. All this was in Spanish and some of the talk I understood, but much was explained to me afterwards. A young woman spoke and in her talk said that her mother was not a talker and she spent her life with a mother who did not speak. But, she said, "She sang!" And as she grew up she and her mother communicated by singing. Music is part of her soul and she thanks her mother for this gift. She played the viola for all the songs that day in church, including the sacrament song. The way she held the viola, cradled it, dusted it, tuned it and carefully put it in the case between songs illustrated her reverence for music. My heart was so touched.

A young couple sat in front of us and we were there early enough to talk for awhile. They spoke little English and we speak next to no Spanish, but we understood each other. She is due to have her first baby - a girl sometime this week and they are so excited. When I asked her whether or not she had picked a name for her little girl she told me that the little girl had picked her own name. I didn't understand, but she told me that when she was 14 she had a dream. In the dream, there was a little girl who told her the name she would have on earth. This young woman looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, "this baby is the little girl from my dream".

Experiences and stories abound!

This morning, Monday, we finally got in contact with the International Lion's Club Guatemala Chapter (at least one of them). Their international mission is vision. We observed them do a vision clinic in Lima, Peru and were so impressed. We have been wanting to volunteer as long as we have been in Guatemala but have been to busy to find a chapter. Today we did and we will help them with vision projects. Even if we just help them line the children up to enter various clinics we can at least do that.

This has been a week of music. We went to the Symphony last Thursday and heard the National Orchestra of Mexico play. A guest artist played the Tchai....Violin Concerto. This was first tier concert and was fabulous. This was the first concert I have ever been to where the orchestra had to play three encores. They have a neat tradition here. At the conclusion of all their symphony concerts they have little containers of local chocolate in tiny packages. As one leaves the concert everyone gets a small chocolate...this chocolate is a specialty of Guatemala. This tradition is such a gracious sort of thing, just a little thing, that makes the concerts special.

Tonight, our family home evening group had a marimba group(the national instrument of Guatemala) play a recital ( I guess you would call it) in the home of one of the Area Specialists. No one reads music, but everyone...from tiny children up...are taught to play the Marimba. Marimbas are like violins and constructed with all the miraculous sounding boards a violin has. The group tonight used a 50 year old marimba (three players on a single marimba) that was such a beautiful instrument built in dark wood and covered with elaborate carvings. The drummer, who stroked his drums softly and balanced perfectly with the marimba was incredible. The men were all dressed in suits and ties and all were over 50.

We are going to the temple tomorrow mornng, and who knows what will happen in the office tomorrow. We have many projects, but other things keep popping up and we never run out of things to do. We love your e-mails and letters. We live for them, thrive on them...thanks for keeping in touch with us.

nifty fifty anniversary

2008-09-19T20:04:00.000-07:00

We were sitting at opposite ends of the office, both working on our separate computers when an e-mail flashed on my screen with a "Happy Anniversary!". It took me a minute to figure out who the e-mail was from and I laughed when I turned around and Kim was laughing at me with that Taylor "glint" in his eyes.

We went to the roof tonight and spent our 50th wedding anniversary all by ourselves on a beautiful foggy, rainy night; looking in all directions over a city we have come to love. The fog drifted around us, the streets were wet and reflected the automobile lights in that certain refracted light one sees during a drizzling rain.

We finished another very important project tonight and gave a copy to our Area President AFTER we had sent it, so we hope he will approve. We didn't want to wait until next week, as this week-end is an incredible event for El Salvadore and the whole Area Presidency is there. They are breaking ground for their temple, and the people of El Savador truly deserve it. They come by the busloads to our temple, they are faithful, beautiful people. There is such excitement in El Salvadore and it will be a wonderful event. Not many people are going from Guatemala as the President doesn't want the crowd to be Guatemelan. We are going with the Security people, but we will stand way back and not intrude. We are not going for this event, but rather, to meet with the Mission nurse and the Mission President and his wife. We will take them to dinner and discuss medical issues of the mission over dinner. We are leaving at 5:30 Saturday morning and be back Sunday night, fairly early. It is a four or five hour drive and will require passport checks, etc. We also go back to a country using dollars instead of the local currency.

We got a school picture from Morgan, a drawing from Tim and Charlie, and everyone in our office wants to know from whom those wonderful things came. We love sharing our family, and hearing about other's families. These pictures are on my office wall just above my computer where I do most of my work.

Just one story, our of many, but we were at the Central Mission Office doing a clinic this afternoon. The elders take turns coming into the office to enter data in the computer. This companionship is often there when we are and they are delightful. They told us, today, that peopole do not smile on the buses. They are very crowded, dirty, and a huge hazard on the roads, but they do serve a purpose. This is the only transportation a good part of the population can afford. The elders say they get on the bus and try to make every one smile or laugh. They "work the bus" trying to "spread joy". This is not a joke to them, they are serious about laughter. They do not try to spread the gospel, but they want to make people smile about something...as much of their life might be difficult. Both of them have contagious smiles and it would be next to impossible not to smile back. What a delightful philosophy and it reminds me of a special family story about my dad that everyone already knows about.

We are sitting in our clean, tidy apartment in a country we never thought we would visit, and feeling gratefulfor each other, for the memories we have shared and for the life we have lived (with its challenges and successes). To be able to close the door of our office and bow our heads in prayer to help us with a momentary challenge or pray for our family-which we often do when we feel a prompting-is an incredible blessing. We love our family and we are so proud of them. We admire them so, and respect them all for the decisions they make.

It has been a nifty-fifty!

we still can't believe it...

2008-09-15T16:47:00.000-07:00

It was a three day holiday in Guatemala, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, celebrating Guatemala's independence from Spain, and also its independence from other states in Central America. So, it was Independence Day! We have been all over the last three days, and seen the celebrations from the big city of Guatemala Ciudad to the smallest villages in the south-east of Guatemala. It has been a whirlwind trip and we are still on visual and audio overload trying to sort out all of the beautiful things we have seen and done. Guatemala is unlike any other country in Central America, even the world, perhaps, because of it's incredible diversity. Not only is the geology, topography, flora and fauna spectacular throughout the country, but the culture is different everywhere we go. From small villages to slums of the small port cities along the Atlantic coast; from wonderful, smiling helpful people to hostile groups, we have experienced a wide spectrum of living styles this long weekend.

The Bawdens, humanitarian missionaries, invited us to go with them. Dean speaks fluent Spanish, and for that we have been exceedingly grateful. We left at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday morning and drove for five hours to a beautiful place called Lake Isabel. This is a fresh water lake and in size it is next largest to Lake Nicaragua, which is the largest lake anywhere in Central America (perhaps most of South America). It is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by a large river named Rio Dulce. This lake was crucial to transporting fruit from the West Coast to the Atlantic Coast and then on to North America. I have been reading about the banana and pineapple exports and the history of the companies who have made Guatemala the unique country it is today, and so it was with great interest that we visited this lake. We stayed in a hotel called the Mansion House and it was situated right on the south end of the lake where the river begins its journey to the Atlantic. If any of our family or friends come to Guatemala it will be the first thing we do for them. We had our own small boat with driver. We spent the next four or five hours going down and up, the river. We went through mangrove swamps with massive trees with their roots sunk in water, seen many acres..many, many areas of quiet, backwash waters covered with water lilies, looking for alligators (didn't see any), and gazing in wonder at the forest beside us. There are little tiny homes here and there, and on the mouth of the river where it empties into the ocean is the village of Livingston which figures in the history of Guatemal. The only way to this village is by boat. We stopped and walked around and shopped in the little tiendas. Saw the first dogfight I have seen in many years, and it was scary. This was more of a Carribean village and quite different in layout from other villages. There were lots of little lanes, no main street that I could see; whereas most of the Guatemalan villages have one street, essentially, with the main road being the action center of the village. This is not true for the cities, as they have massive neighborhoods and shopping areas, historic sites, and many other modern things like "traffic" and large buildings. That is quite different from the small towns.

Our hotel was old fashioned and quite lovely. It can't compare to the modern day Marriot's and other fancy hotels, but it was beautiful and full of families with children of all ages. It was a destination place, not a place where you come and leave the next day. That night, after dinner, I had a hankering for M and Ms, and casually mentioned it to Hermana Bawden. Her husband overheard me and insisted we go into Rio Dulce to look for chocolate. This is a noisy, crowded little town, and as in most small towns, everyone is outside in the streets. Food was cooking everywhere, music was playing, colors, designs, inventory of all kinds(from tourist things to vegetables and household goods) all were crowded onto both sides of the street.President Clarke told us "not to do stupid stuff"...his words exactly. This little trip for chocolate wasn't exactly wise and we will do better from now on. This, by the way, wasn't the only marginal thing we did. But, at any rate, Brother Bawden - taller by a foot than anyone around him, went from stall to stall looking for M and Ms. Everyone was in a festive mood, partly because of the holiday, and it turned out to be lots of fun. We didn't give away any Books of Mormon, however.

The next day we went to Point Barrios, the only deep water port in Central America, and which also figured in the history of Guatemala. The landscape is beautiful, and as in North America, elevation dictates the type of plant life, so is it here. We went from flat lands to forest, to what might be called jungle, to river lands and on to the ocean.

We got lost in the slum area of Port Barrios and somehow found our way out with the help of some kind people. I guess we weren't really lost, but the main road was not where we thought it was. That was the other dumb thing we did, as we went up and down little lanes that reminded us of the outskirts of Lima. People looked at our car and the people in it with suspicion and unsmiling faces, and in one group, perhaps some hostility. We shouldn't have been there and we will be wiser next time.

We were glad to be back at the hotel. This morning we checked out after a sumptious breakfast and drove to the ruins of _____________. This was a connecting city of a string of cities in AD 700 to 800. We saw huge stele, a ball field with massive steps on one end in laid out in pyramidal fashion. We have seen stele in museums here, but these were the first we have seen in the actual site. These were Maya cities...but with great Olmec influence. The Omecs seem to be, to me at least, sort of a mystery civilization. The artistic and architectural influence seemed to sprout from the Olmecs and flourished in Mayan and Aztec cultures.

It was so hot that we were soaked. All three days were hot like this and I understand now, for the first time, the wisdom of drinking water constantly. In all this humidity, dyhydration is a real problem.

As we went through small towns all over this part of Guatemala we were constantly in little traffic jams as each little city had parades. The parades consisted of three or four trucks with "queens" in pretty dresses sitting in the back, school children walking, balloons, and in one city an actual drum band with uniforms that someone must have donated, happy parents watching their children, and flags everywhere. The parades would go a block or two then turn around and come back. Then when they had come to the starting place they would turn around and repeat the same distance. It was a simple and humble celebration which reminded me of the fourth of July parades our Primary used to have many years ago. Torch runners were everwhere, from the Port Cities all the way to the West coast. We saw many torch runners and each had a coterie of runners with them.

It is a nice quiet evening and we thought it a perfect time to catch up on our blog. While this posting has been a travelogue, I must say that the work is going well. We see the hand of the Lord every single day as we find a way to do tasks that were troubling and confusing. Answers to problems have fallen in our lap as we pray for guidance. We actually finished three huge projects this last week in addition to our regular tasks. We will now get ready to visit missions throughout Central America. The CCM (missionary training center) remains a place of wonder for us. And as we have visited the homes many of these missionaries have come from we feel even more wonder at the blessings the gospel brings into the lives of these people. The Perpetual Education Fund has got to be one of the most incredible blessings for people throughout the world. I had no idea of its scope and how it makes possible a better life for many people who have little future. Without it, missionaries who come from these very poor situations would have to go home after their missions and go right back into subsistence living. With this opportunity to learn new skills, many Latin missionaries will have a different future than their parents ever dreamed of for their sons and daughters.

The vision and the ability to carry those visions is one of the miracles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Power and Authority of the church changes lives in a way I have never imagined before. The simplicity of procedures and the respect the church has for the cultures in Central America is different from anything I have seen anywhere else. The church works in a ways that never conflict with politics, tradition, etc. School desks here, an irrigation project there, agronomists teaching people how to fertilize fields, setting up little industries in small villages; all of these projects are designed to not drain a penny from the economy, but to teach skills that will assist the economy of a region. It seems as though it is a gentle system of encouragement. It is difficult to explain and I guess one has to see it to understand it.

There have been many experiences this last week: a small dinner in our apartment - "chili on your lap" party for two sisters who just moved next door to us, a dinner down-town for the family of those who were killed in the airplane crash some weeks ago. The Bawdens and the Taylors hosted this dinner and we had a large group. It was difficult to see the stuggles of these teen-age children, but the Bawdens have arranged for them to meet with Elder Falabella, one of the Area Presidency for an interview. He is a family friend and hopefully will be able to counsel the children and help them get on with their lives. I have given Daniel (17) a copy of Elizabeth Ballentyne's composition for a solo male voice. He is going to learn it and sing it for groups. We have also given a copy to Carlos Rebanales who is a musician and does choirs all over. If someone ever reads our blog, perhaps you could let Elizabeth know how much everyone has loved this piece of music, and furthermore, how it has become a blessing in one young man's life. This music was written for the Aaronic Priesthood, but it has a meaning far beyond that here in Guatemala.

Enough for now! This has been a great week of learning. The only thing we haven't done is testify. That will be our goal for this week.

2008-09-07T14:56:00.000-07:00

Dad bore his testimony in Spanish this morning. I was so proud of him! I was ready to bear my testimony, as well, but the line was way too long. Half the audience came to the stand. The new missionaries are dynamic. They arranged rides for half the congregation. I don't know where they got the money and/or the rides. I am amazed at their ingenuity. Dad's lecture on Friday went very well. We added some new things and took out some of the old. We will still continue modifying it each time we do it. Some things work, some things don't; and each group seems to have a different dynamic.

We stayed home on Saturday glued to the computer as we watched Jeff's run. James started, but due to a pretty uncomfortble medical situation, dropped out at the beginning. Jeff ran 62 miles but the altitude gave him a great deal of trouble. We are so proud of both of our runners. They work hard, set goals and do their best to achieve their goals. Dad and I fasted for them and knew they had angels helping them make the decisions they did. Wisdom is a gift beyond compare and to LISTEN to promptings is the factor that drives wisdom.

This is a pretty active seniors social group. It seems that there is one event after another and all require food. I am making Becky's fudge as we just can't get the handle on our oven. Now it doesn't cook at a high enough temp. Before, it was just the opposite.

Monday! We have a huge list of projects we need to finish, continue or begin. We can't seem to catch up.

Continuing..

2008-09-04T19:15:00.000-07:00

We had an interview in the CCM with some instructors who will help us in the lecture on Friday so we were late in leaving Guatemala City, but we finally left about 11:00. The security missionaries, the humanitarian missionaries and the medical missionaries (us), 6 of us, were crammed into a 4 X 4. On the way to Quetzeltenango we went to Lake Atitlan and villages and markets which sell the most amazing fruits and vegetables. Thousands of these tiny vendors and markets line the highways throughout these high mountain valleys. These are not for tourists, but for the people who live nearby. These people live on what they grow, and if there is anything left over they might buy a shirt or some shoes in a market in a bigger city. The markets are all sizes. There are little vendors that might have 4 two liter containers of root-beer, orange, pineapple juice and that is all they have to sell. Some little vendors or markets sell a few handbags or hats. Some markets have a clump of bananas, which grow everywhere here, and a few carrots. Some markets are huge with every kind of fruit arranged on tables set up right on the highway. These highlands are ringed by volcanic mountains and weathered hills. In the middle of two volcanoes, in a delta valley about 8,000 feet, lies a lake many people believe to be the 'waters of Mormon". I feel as though I am in a time warp and can see Alma fleeing from the priests of Noah. Suddenly the words "up" and "down" in the Book of Mormon are not puzzling to me. To me, up always meant North and down meant South. I suddenly understand. I don't think this is the meaning of these descriptions as this is a land of ups and downs. This lake is huge and very beautiful. To see a lake like this that is empty of boats and waterskiers is culture shock. We saw a few fishing boats, but this lake is so still that it reflects the mountains around it. The landscape is spectacular and our ears popped continually as we drove up and down, up and down through all elevations more than once. I am not sure how high we were in elevation, but when we finally got to Questzt. (about 4 hours away - toward the West) it was late, late afternoon. We got lost a few times before we found our Hotel situated right on the main Plaza of the old city. Our hotel was old, but beautiful.

This was pure pleasure, as we explored and drove, but now we had to get down to business. The Mission President invited us to come to breakfast at 7:30. The mission home is beautiful with landscaped gardens all around it. There was a "geranium tree"...yes, a very large bush, in the front yard. It was about 20 feet high and, perhaps, 20-30 feet in around, and it was covered in hundreds of red geranium blossoms. The young sister missionaries who were the nurses for the mission were also invited for breakfast we were able to discuss many medical issues as well as examining and discussing their "first aid kits". We were astonished at the kits they had developed. They had a member who made the little pouches and they had everythng a missionary might want except anti-biotic ointment. We have been trying to research sources of anti-biotic ointment but all the quantities we could find were way to pricey. The sisters told us where they bought the materials for the kits and after breakfast took me to the little "farmicia" who supplied the missionaries with medicines they need. We finally found a small tube, just exactly what we wanted, in the back of the shop.

If we had sent the materials to the missions yesterday as we had hoped we would have missed this opportunity to see these "botoquins", and this inventory is exactly what the some of the missions are lacking. We thought we had a lot of information, but this was a gold mine. Thank goodness, we had to wait. The miracle doesn't end here, however.

After breakfast we connected to the Bawdens and saw an incredible dental clinic set up in the Stake house. There were at least 20 chairs set up for surgery, wisdom teeth removal, dental fillings, etc. They saw about 450 pre-Latin missionaries in two days. Dentists and equipment had come from the US for just this purpose and everything will be whisked away tomorrow.

We went with the US group to visit two homes way out, many miles, in the middle of cornfields. The group had many supplies to deposit. The qualifications for the recipients of these supplies was that they had to be members in good standing, and they must have been members for many years. These people lived in tiny mud homes (and how these people got to church was never explained to me) without running water or any amenities at all. These were Indian people and they had nothing. We dropped off the supplies, sang a couple of Primary songs, and the Stake President gave the small house a Melchizedek Priesthood Blessing. The children and parents sang the songs along with us. Some of these people actually have temple recommends. We didn't know before, but the director of this project told us that most of the Latin missionaries in the CCM came from homes just like these. We had no idea! We will regard these young men and women with awe, as we see them tomorrow. We have a group of 80+, the largest group ever, who are just beginning their 3 weeks at the Mission Home. Many of these young men and women have never seen anything like the small allowance they get to pay for their food. Much of it is sent back to their parents leaving the companioship with little to eat.

We went back to the mission home for lunch which the Mission President and his wife had set up in the back yard. While there, the daughter put together 3 kits for all of us to put in our cars at home. She did this at her own initiative. She also suggested that we work on a project for all the senior missionaries in the mission and supply all the cars the senior missionaries drove with first aid kits. Then she told us that the man who made the pouches was a member and suggested that we hire him to make the pounches. These pouches, which were very well made, was his sole source of income. Suddenly, we saw a vision of how we could help this member and provide many kits. We will put together an initiative, and hopefully, we will figure out a way to accomplish a project like this. It was a 16 year old girl who brought this to our attention.

When we left we had to get through a labyrinthian maze of streets to get to the main highway. As we left Quatzeltenango, a car pulled up beside us. It was the mission president, his wife and two children. They laughed and honked and told us they had been following us to make sure we were on the correct road. President Loranzano and his family were approachable, funny, insightful and thoroughly spontaneous. We can see why the missionaries love them.

We drove home through the lowlands toward the coast and back to Guatemala City. As we approached the city we could see bright orange lava flowing out of a vent from one of the volcanoes. If we had to punctuate our trip...this was the exclamation mark.

An incredible 2 days -

2008-09-04T18:57:00.000-07:00

Another miracle!! We have been disappointed in the delay of medical material we have labored over, not being ready to go to the 12 missions. We have worked and worked and for some reason we have faced obstacles at every turn. Now we know why and we are so relieved that we hadn't sent the pouches. This has been such an amazing two days and it is difficult to believe that we have been able to compact so many experiences in 36 hours. We were able to go to the 2nd largest city in Guatemala, way up in the volcanic rim of mountain valleys. Quezteltango was never leveled by earthquakes and has a mix of Spanish and Indian style buildings that date from the 15th century. It is my favorite city so far. It is a very large city, but the streets are cobblestone and they are very narrow. The buildings, most of them small, are right on the street with a narrow sidewalk between the front door and the curb. Everyone wears their native dress and the colors, and especially the patterns in the cloth are absolutely riviting. This trip was made possible by Dean and Marilyn Bawden, humanitarian missionaries. They were going and invited us to go with them. We thought this a perfect chance to meet the Mission President and the nurses and review medical issues with them. We called before we left to see if an interview was possible. It was, and they were eager to meet with us. I will get to the "miracle" part in a minute, which by the way, is something the 16 year old daughter of the Mission President suggested.

Quetzaltenango (tenango means "village" and many towns end with "tenango")

Continuing..

2008-09-02T19:02:00.000-07:00

It seems as though there are obstacles every time we turn around, for example, we have all the information on various medical issues to go to each mission in Central America. We were all ready to send it and found that part of this package cannot be sent for various reasons. So now we are back on square one...maybe square two. We feel momentarily discouraged, but for some reason we soon feel comforted and ideas around the problem seem to occur to us. Again, these are not our ideas, we are sure.

On Saturday we went to Antigua, the first capitol of Guatemala. Some 50 years ago it was leveled by an earthquake. The larger buildings are still in ruins, but the smaller homes and buildings are intact. The streets are cobblestones and it is "the place" to visit in Guatemala. Each little house is now a shop where artisans or vendors show their wares. These items are generally the very best. Everywhere we went people would tell us they knew a Mormon. One man told us he had been baptized in Massachussets, but he hasn't been to church since. Everyone was very kind to the people who wore the black nametags. We went to a small jade factory and I bought a necklace and earrings. This city sits in an ancient caldera and is surrounded by lush green hills. If someone could tell Glen and Enid Cox our blog address they might enjoy reading about the textiles. The weavings are bright and colorful and are constructed in many shapes and sizes. Whatever you might want, for whatever size table you have, there is a tablecloth that will fit, and everything is reasonable priced. The clothes we see people wearing are patterned according to the town or lineage, and we see these clothes worn everywhere. Many of the textiles are woven in these same patterns, although they are not generally sold as clothing, rather they are table cloths, runners, etc.

We are going to Quatzeltenango tomorrow to meet the medical specialists. This is the 2nd biggest city in Guatemala and is located about 4 hours away. We will come back on Thursday evening. We are driving with the Bawdens so we will be passengers rather than the driver. Last night we had a Family Home Evening dinner to honor a couple who is leaving for medical reasons. I was assigned the flowers. I was able to purchase for about 14 dollars the most incredible flowers. I had a huge bouquet of birds of paradise, greenery, gerbera daisies, baby breath and some kind of lily and was able to have flowers on each table, the huge arrangment and flowers left over to give away. All the members of the Area Presidency were there as well as three mission presidents. As they spoke to the group there was such a feeling of confidence in the work conveyed by these men. It was sort of like listening to conference. Whenever we are in a group with the Area Presidency the men wear suits and the women wear their best. And it is something that feels "just right". These men have such an aura that seems to invite us to do our very best. There is no question in my mind that these are men like Nephi, Moroni, Helaman, and I realize now, that Paul Koelliker is doing just as these men are doing, and we feel very blessed to have Paul and Ann as a good friends. The same spirit must prevail all over the world and it gives us incredible comfort to know the earth is remains in its orbit and all will be well as long as there are leaders such as these to guide the church.

We are so grateful for the opportunities we have had the last two months. We wonder how we could be so blessed by the example of others. Some of the greatest people are the least in money, opportunity, experience; and yet they are the pillars of these small wards and branches. Zion is growing!

We were asked to come back to the Marroquin family's home on Tusday (today) so we could learn how to make tortillas. After work, the Bawdens and the Taylors drove to their home. Our Branch is 40 km away from the city and their home is even further than that. This little town of El Fiscal is down through a canyon and the street, the only street, wanders about 5 km. through the gully/canyon. Since I described the home I will just mention the tortilla lesson we had. Sister Marraquin grinds her corn (her husband grows all the corn) once ever week in a common mill. They soak it in lye to soften the hard coat on this field corn. With that meal they make everything they eat. She had made a soft dough that sort of felt like bisquik. She had a fire under a large flat pan. She and her daughter showed us how to make a flour ball, shape it and pat it from one hand to another until it was round and ready to put on the stove. There is no grease and it sizzles like a pancake (and browns just like a pancake). These tortillas have a little cavity in the middle where we put crema and pureed black beans. We made 40-50 of these torntillas and then we sat down with the family and ate them. The same mosca were still there, along with a wild rainstorm.