May 22nd through May 28th

 May 22^nd through May 28^th:  Monday afternoon we had an activity with the temple missionaries and toured the ROC, Records Operation Center, here in the temple complex.  Elder Ocampo is the Director of Family Search for Central America and oversees the ROC. This is the only center outside of the one in Salt Lake City.  They are responsible for negotiating contracts with governments and churches to digitalize their birth, death, and marriage records. They oversee the taking of the pictures and the post processing of the images before they are published on the web for indexing.   After the records are indexed, they are available for anyone to see on Family Search. It was fascinating to see what goes into getting records ready for indexing.  All of the employees at this center are working for the church and gaining an education through the Perpetual Education Fund.  They have been so successful that the church has recently announced that they will be opening more centers in other parts of the world.  

Elder Ocampo welcomed us and arranged our tour of the ROC.

They made a video to help us understand everything that they do at the ROC.

Everyone was pretty interested.

An example of the camera they use to capture the images. 

These flags represent the different countries whose records that they have worked on.

We then had a pot luck dinner and Family Home Evening to welcome new temple missionaries from Belize, Silbert and Jennifer Gordon.  We also heard the testimonies of Nestor and Olga Madrid, from Guatemala, who will finish their mission the first of June.  It was a very enjoyable afternoon and evening.  

Our pot luck dinner.

We gave a picture of Christ to the Madrid's to thank them for their service.

Tuesday we had presidency meeting and then the afternoon shift.  Wednesday we went to painting class and then spent the afternoon with the Elder Allen and Sister Sonia Call who came to the temple from Rabinal, a small city four hours outside of Guatemala City.  We love to have them come and stay with us and to hear of their adventures in the small branch where they are serving.  We played some cards and went to an endowment session at the temple.  

Wednesday mom dropped off doughnuts to say thanks to the ROC employees.

I worked on Kimballs mouth and I am calling him done.

Mom's painting of lake Atitlan.

I got some flesh tones on Moose.

We had to stage this photo after we finished playing.  We forgot to get a picture of us leaving the temple.

Friday we went to a Senior Missionary zone conference.  Elder Duncan and his wife spoke to us.  This was the last zone conference before they leave for their new assignment in the Temple Department in Salt Lake.  The Hurst’s and the Price’s also bore their testimonies, because it was their last zone conference before they leave.  It was a nice meeting and we felt the Spirit as these servants expressed their love for Guatemala and their testimonies of this work.  

Zone Conference

The group photo at zone conference.

Saturday mom gave a talk to a group of young women who came to the temple to learn more about temple marriage.  We had some time in the afternoon to do some painting.  

Some of the young women that mom spoke to Saturday morning.

One of these girls does not look so happy.

The group photo.

While mom spoke to a group of young women, President Funes spoke to a primary group.

I got some underpainting done on Evan, Miles and Xela and Willa.

Does it look like Miles?

I could not help myself when I saw this on Instagram.

Mom worked on her table on Saturday.

Don't you think this is adorable?

In the evening we went to a ward to speak.  We drove for an hour in heavy rain.  We were unsure about the purpose of the meeting, but on seeing the big wedding cake with an angel Moroni on top, we figured it was on the temple and temple marriage.  After we spoke, they showed wedding pictures of some of the couples while we ate “panches”, potato tamales.  We got home late for us--it was almost 10:00 pm, way past our bedtime.  

Looks like a wedding.

One of the sisters in the ward made the cake.

Posing for the camera.  We do have fun together.

Dinner was a tamale made with potatoes and ponche, a local fruit drink..

Sunday we spoke at the Guatemala City Central stake conference.  This was the first stake that we visited when we arrived 18 months ago.  It was a nice meeting and we now recognize many faces. We are grateful for the growth we can see in our testimonies (and in our Spanish).  The Spirit bore witness of this great work that we are involved in and we felt blessed to attend this conference.  

The choir Sunday morning.

Guatemala City Central stake conference.

L to R Stake President Arreaga, Mission President Crapo, and me.

We spent the afternoon working on power point presentations for a speaking assignment at the Guatemala City North Institute for later that evening.  Our assignment was to speak on virtue.  We tried to make our talks very interactive and it was a lot of fun to be with so many young adults.  

With the Institute Director, Hermano Lopez and President Castellon on the right.

View from the window of the Insitute, Zone 6.

Looking the other way.

It was a wonderful week and we feel so grateful for all the experiences we are having.  A week does not go by that we don’t say to each other, “How did we get here?”  We are still amazed and honored to serve and preside in the House of the Lord here in Guatemala City.  Life is good and God is great.