April 25th through May 1st

April 25^th through May 1^st: Monday I started a crock pot full of pork in order to have pulled pork ready for the Marimba Party we will be having this evening.  We took all the missionaries shopping, 4 stores and 3 hours later we got home and spent the rest of the day getting ready for the party.  We invited some friends from the ward and missionaries from the area office, besides the missionaries that live here at the temple apartments.  We had about 20 couples come.  Mom was talking to one of the coordinators who mentioned that her son, a returned missionary, was a musician and he played with a marimba band.  Mom thought that would be a wonderful way to celebrate two birthdays—President Rosales, my first counselor, on April 29^th and hers on the 30^th.  So for Family Home Evening we had an exciting night of music and dancing.  President Rosales invited one of the workers, who is a dance instructor, to come and teach us how to dance to marimba music.  The marimba is really a Guatemalan instrument.  The wood from the ant tree, which is used to build marimbas, only grows in Guatemala.  A marimba band is hired for all important celebrations.  Sister Rosado brought over a huge bag of pine needles that she spread over the dance/garage floor.  This is a traditional thing to do so that as you dance and step on the needles, it is very aromatic.  When mom hired the band, they asked her how long we wanted them to play and she said maybe an hour and a half to two hours.  The young man said, “We usually play for 4 hours or more.”  When everyone had gone home, they continued to play.  I called him into the house and paid him and he went back out and they played some more.  Finally, I said it was enough and he still asked if they could leave.  I said, “Yes, we want to go to bed.”  They got there at 6:00pm and we finally got them to leave about 9:00pm.  What a fun evening of marimba music and dancing.  It got pretty wild at the end with the twist and the bunny hop. 

We are ready to party.

The band was great.

 

Enjoy the Marimba music.

They spread pine needles all over the floor so that when you dance it smells good.

The dance instructor had all of us dancing up a storm.

 

More Marimba music. Mom's favorite song "Xelaju"

Eldon and Dawn cutting the rug.

Mom and the dance instructor, Brother Zuniga.

 

Enjoy.

Can you say twist?

And a little waltz.

Tuesday we, the recorders and mom and I, took all the secretaries to lunch for Secretary Day.  They are a great group of women who work hard at keeping the office running smoothly. 

Lunch with the secretaries, L to R Maggie, Mom, Evelyn, Sister Price, Marta, Brother Carranza, Brenda and Brother Abadillo.

Wednesday we had the morning shift and everything went well.  Thursday we switched with the Rosales so we could have the day off to prepare for a dinner that we had planned for 5 stake presidents and their wives at our home.  This is the second time we have done this.  The first time we had the dinner catered.  Brother Abadillo, the temple recorder, and I were both disappointed with the food so I offered to cook Chinese.  We had 15 for dinner and enough food leftover for lunch the next day with President Rosales and his wife who had to work the night of the dinner.  I had fun cooking most of the day and I believe everyone enjoyed the meal.  It was a joy to get to know them a little better and the evening was lovely and very successful.  

Table is set and the food is ready.

Dinner with the stake presidentes, L to R.  Sister and President Castellanos, Sister and President Rodriguez, President and Sister Rosado, Brother Abadillo, President and Sister Mejia, Mom, Sister and President Monteroso.

L to R President and Sister Mejia, Mom, Sister and President Monteroso, Sister and President Estrada, Sister and President Castellanos.

Friday we had the early shift but also zone conference for all the senior missionaries so we started the shift and President Rosales and his wife came to the temple and we left to take the missionaries to zone conference.  It was a nice meeting.  Four couples who will be leaving in the next 3 months and before the next zone conference bore their testimonies and shared some Spiritual experiences with us and then Elder Ochoa and his wife spoke to us.  He told us about the messages they received from the first presidency during their meetings at general conference.  It was a very nice meeting. 

Zone Conference.

In the afternoon we left at 5:00pm to go and talk to a youth group in the La Laguna stake.  With no traffic it takes about 15 to 20 minutes to get there.  We were told to leave early and allow between 1 ½ hours to 2 hours.  It took us 1 ½ hours to drive there.  Rush hour traffic is really bad here.  We had a nice meeting with about 60 youth and their parents and leaders. 

Some of the youth at the La Laguna stake.

We got home at 9:00pm and were in bed in 5 minutes because we had the early shift in the morning.  Saturday we were up at 3:00am.  We had a great day in the temple.  There was a nice Spirit there all day.  We were pretty busy most of the day.  We took naps in the afternoon.  Sunday we went to church at our home ward.  Then in the afternoon we went to a Coordinating Council meeting.  Mom waited for me to finish.  They put me first on the agenda because we had a speaking assignment at another stake.  What a blessing that was.  I didn’t have to sit through a 4 hour meeting to give my 15 minutes worth of stuff.  We left the CC meeting and hurried across town to the Florida stake.  We spoke to the adults about the temple.  It was a good meeting and the Spirit was strong and our message well received. 

Florida stake meeting with the adults.

Sister and Brother Rodriguez on Sunday afternoon at the Florida stake. He is a sealer and she is a coordinator. 

Brother and Sister Diaz.  He is a coordinator and she is a temple worker.

We got home at about 6:00pm and had been fasting all day.  We were hungry and tired.  Mom had put a meal in the crock pot before we left, so dinner was ready.  I only made it until 8:00pm and then crashed.  It was a very busy week filled with fun events and at the end of a week like this one, we feel so richly blessed.  I think, “How can it get any better?”, but it does and each week is so wonderful.