August 29th through September 4th

 August 29^th through September 4^th: Monday after our shopping trip, we went to Applebee’s to celebrate my 30 lbs. weight loss.  I have been dieting for 3 months and it is paying off.  We went to see the movie, Ben Hur, in the afternoon. 

Lunch at Applebee's

Lunch L to R Sister and Brother Reyna, Sister and Brother Madrid, Sister Rosales, Sister and Elder May,  Elder Price, Elder and Sister Winkfield, and Mom.

Tuesday as we returned from our walk and exercise, we were informed that there was a problem at the temple and I needed to get over there right away.   One of the fluorescent lights had overheated and started a small fire.  After talking to the Temple Department in Salt Lake, we decided to close the temple so we could repair the damage.  I got all the missionaries over to the temple and we started cleaning up the soot that the smoke had carried into other parts of the temple. We spent a few hours cleaning and then I took them all to Pollo Campero for lunch.  

Lunch at Pollo Campero.  Sister May and Sister Hurst enjoying forbidden drink.  It was really just Coke in a Lipton Tea cup.

L to R Sister Price, Sister and Elder Hurst, Elder and Sister Winkfield and Mom.

The temple engineers and maintenance workers were in the temple around the clock, cleaning and making repairs, and by Wednesday afternoon I could see we would be ready to open back up on Thursday.  Wednesday we had presidency meeting and then we took all the North American missionaries downtown to visit the National Palace.  It was finished in 1943 and built primarily by prison labor.  It is currently used for receptions of dignitaries and by some government departments.  After our visit, we walked through the central market to give the Winkfields a taste of that unique market.  

In front of the National Palace.

This is a peace monument, placed in the National Palace after the 36 year old civil war which ended in 1996.

Mom and Sally in one of the two large courtyards.

Mural depicting some of the history of Guatemala.

Beautiful coffered ceilings.

The reception hall.

Amazing woodwork.

Hundreds of stain glass windows.

One of the two courtyards looking down from the second floor.

One of the 4 pools. 

Great wood doors.

Looking from the hallway around the courtyard.

Miniature of the building.

Doesn't she look great?

Just outside the main entrance.

The cathedral just to the right of the palace.

Thursday we had the afternoon shift. Friday we went to our painting class.  It has been a few months since we had a class.  The teacher took July and August off to travel with family.  

My painting

Mom's painting.

In the afternoon we went to the temple to speak to a group of Relief Society sisters.  Mom talked to some recent converts and I spoke to about 50 endowed sisters and then they all went on a session.  Saturday we had the morning shift.  In the afternoon we went to the adult session of the Florida stake conference.  I got to bear my testimony.  

Saturday afternoon adult session.

Mom found a friend.

I stayed up late, past midnight, to watch the BYU game.  With the last minute field goal, it was worth staying up for!  Sunday we both spoke in the general session of the Florida stake conference.  We were with Elder Chaverri.  He is an area seventy from Costa Rica.  It was a very nice meeting and they gave me 20 minutes to speak because the night before I only had a few minutes to talk.  I really felt good about my talk and mom did another great job.  She brings the Spirit and gets things warmed up.  

Sunday session Florida stake conference.

The choir.

This girl was sitting right behind me during conference.

We hurried home and I got an hour nap.  We then went to the temple to train the restricted workers of another stake.  

Mom received this at the end of stake conference.

We got done at 5:00pm and headed to “Break the Fast” at the area office.  We were hungry from fasting all day and we were a little late, but there was still plenty of food left.  With all the temple missionaries, there must be about 30 North American senior missionaries serving here in different capacities (Humanitarian, Public Relations, Legal Department, IT, Auditing) and it is nice to get together once a month.  

Break-the-Fast dinner.

It's pot luck and always delicious. 

They need a separate table for desert.

This was an interesting week with a few adventures we don’t want to repeat, but all in all, it was a great week.  We were extremely blessed with getting the temple back open in such a short time and the meetings we had really gave us a spiritual lift.  We feel so blessed and thankful for our many blessings.  Our kids are being blessed and doing great.  We love them and miss them, but know, on occasion, we are making a difference here and we are growing so much.  I will close with the following sentiment, “True gratitude turns what you have into enough.”   I have found this to be very true.