November 13th
through November 19th: Tuesday we went to our painting class. Now that our teacher is only giving lessons
twice a month, it feels like it is taking forever to finish Miles. But he is close to being done and then I have
Badger to finish. I will then be caught
up with the first 6 grandchildren who have been baptized, just in time to start
Jake and Xela who turn 8 in December.
Jake and Xela should keep me busy for about 6 months.
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| Mom's landscape is really coming together. |
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| Miles--what do you think Charlotte? |
Wednesday
after our shift, we took the Ellington’s downtown to the central market. We
walked around and found the Pan American Hotel, named after the airline, which
started flying here in the 30’s. We had
a piece of pie in the restaurant and wondered what it would have been like to
visit Guatemala 70 or 80 years ago. We
then went to the central market. Merlene
and Mike had not visited the market yet.
Merlene found a white blouse and mom found another nativity set.
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| Central market shoppers. |
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| Merlene is buying a new white blouse. |
Thursday
we had many members from the Polochic valley in at the temple. Brother Caal is one of the new bishops in the
newly formed Senahu stake and his parents, who are in their 70’s, came to receive
their own endowment and be sealed. He
was then sealed to his parents along with a sister who had died as a
child. His wife represented his deceased
sister. I did the sealing in Spanish and
then I had Brother Caal read the ordinance in Kekchi so that his mother could
understand. She cried through the entire
ceremony and I did also. It was a very tender experience and it was
such an honor to be able to officiate and extend to this sweet family the
blessings of becoming an eternal family.
This morning as I have been writing about this family, my heart is full
and the spirit is powerful and I am wiping the tears off my cheeks. These are experiences that are hard to put
into words. The spiritual impressions
are so powerful and profound; words just can’t explain the overwhelming
feelings of love that engulf everyone involved in these sacred ordinances. The love our Father in Heaven has for each
and every one of his children, the love these sweet people feel for each other and
the love they have for the temple were all a part this sealing experience. The people from the Polochic sacrifice so
much to be able to come to the temple.
They are poor in worldly terms, but they are not poor in Spirit. They are full of testimony and gratitude for their
many blessings. Father in Heaven loves
them and pours out his Spirit upon them.
I am so lucky to be able to be part of these sacred experiences.
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| These are some of the young girls who came to do baptisms for the dead from Senahu. |
Friday morning
we went to the temple to attend the 7:00 endowment session. There was a big group from Senahu and another
one from Chulac (both from the Polochic), so they had to have two sessions at
7:00am, both of them in Kekchi. We had
to use headphones and listen in English.
Mom has been practicing helping women in Kekchi. Most of the women don’t understand enough
Spanish, so we have a great need for people who can help these faithful people
with the ordinances in Kekchi. After the morning shift, we took the Fisher’s
and the Ellington’s to Cayala, a huge open air mall. We had lunch and walked around.
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| Walking around Cayala. |
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| More of Cayala. |
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| Christmas has come to Cayala. |
Sunday I got up early and worked on a talk
for our annual devotional for temple workers.
I have been thinking a lot about the scripture that Elder Bednar
referenced in his last conference talk.
2 Peter 1:4 “Whereby are given
unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might
be partakers of the divine nature.” My talk was about how
the temple helps ordinances workers develop Christ like qualities. I spoke about how the Spirit in the temple
changes us little by little and smoothes out our rough edges. As we love the patrons that come to the
temple and treat them with kindness, we become more and more like our Savior,
in whose house we serve. Through this process, we become worthy of the “exceeding
great and precious promises” and partakers of the divine nature. As we were leaving for the devotional, I got
a phone call informing me that Elder Cordon, from the Area presidency, who was
to be our main speaker, was not going to make it to our meeting. He was stuck in Costa Rica and his flight
would not get him back here in time for our meeting. I called President and Sister Rosales, who
were going to bear their testimonies because this is their last devotional, and
asked them to take their time and turn their testimonies into talks. I began thinking how I could add to my
talk. We arrived and had our last choir
practice.
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| Our choir practice before the devotional. |
It took 3 vehicles to get all
our missionaries and presidency to the meeting.
The meeting was very well attended and all in all it turned out to be a
great meeting. Mom and I both got lots
of compliments on our talks and we got home feeling very blessed that the
Spirit once again had picked up the pieces and put them together in such a way
that no one was left wanting.
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| Our Devotional |
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| L to R President Rosales, me, and President Funes |
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| L to R Sister Funes, mom, and Sister Rosales |
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| Brother Abadillo and some of our temple employees who served the refreshments. |
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| Mom with some of her workers and Sister Fisher and Sister Winkfield. |
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| Mom got lots of compliments on her huipil. |
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| Mom with Maggie and Marta, two of the secretaries in the temple. |
We got
home and Facetimed with our kids in Utah.
They were all together for the Norman family Thanksgiving dinner. They had it at James’ new home right by the
Mt. Timpanogos temple. We are so grateful that they will get together, even
though we are not with them. Family is
so important and we feel so blessed that they love each other and will make the
effort to do things together.
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| It was quite the fancy affair. Wish we could have been there. |
