April 23rd through April 29th

April 23^rd through April 29^th:  Monday we got up and had breakfast and then drove to the Coralpec branch for a meeting with them.  

We are on a ridge and we are taking a picture in both directions, but I lost the other picture.  Do you like mom's matching outfit.  Her shoes match perfectly.

The road is the worst road we have been on here in Guatemala and that is saying a lot.  The road was mostly rocks with a little dirt thrown in now and then.  It was very steep in places and had some very long drop-offs.  I took some video but it does not do it justice.  We drove up and over and then down another mountain.  Arriving at the chapel was like arriving in paradise.  The setting is so amazing.  The chapel sits at the end of the road in a small valley surrounded by huge mountains.  Everything is so green and lush.  

Heading down into the valley where the chapel is.

Click below to see the road.

On the road 1

On the road 2

On the road 3

On the road 4

On the road 5

The road ends at the chapel.

There was a parking space for two cars. Mine is the clean one on the left.

The saints had to carry the building supplies quite a long way to get this chapel built.

This is the little house where the missionaries live.  No water.

We were a little early so we just waited for everyone to arrive.

Inside the chapel.

The whole group at Coralpec.

Notice the sign is in Kekchi.

We had a nice meeting with the saints and then had to leave to get to our next meeting with the Buena Vista branch.  When we got back to the main road, we went with President Maas back up the mountain to the Sanjute chapel to pick up Elder Ico.  We are giving him a ride to Guatemala City.  He leaves for his mission to the Dominican Republic on Wednesday.  He will stay at the patron housing till then.  

Picking up Elder Ico.  He is a third generation member.  His mom and dad are on either side of him.  They have another son who is a returned missionary and a younger son waiting to leave.

We got to the Buena Vista branch and all the sisters were busy cooking lunch in two huge metal caldrons.  I went to get my brief case out of the car and realized I had left it back at the Coralpec branch.  President Faundez, President Maas and I went back and got it.  Needless to say we got the meeting in Buena Vista started about an hour late.  We had another nice meeting with the saints.  Two of the seven families that were endowed and sealed last week were from this branch.  That makes seven talks in three days.  But wow what great memories.  After our meeting, we were fed chicken soup.  It was kind of like Kak’ic, but with chicken instead of turkey.  

The Buena Vista chapel.

This is lunch.

Click below for a video of lunch.

Lunch 1

lunch 2

Dividing up the chicken.

Waiting for our food.  Sister Faundez got the head.

You really can't see, but he still has his comb.  Yum, yum, boy is she lucky.

Mom had three pieces of chicken.

I ate mine all gone.

We then headed home.   We arrive home at 7:30 pm.  We were exhausted from a very long weekend of lots of driving on bad roads and meetings with the saints.  But this is a conference for the record books.  We feel so blessed to be able to support the saints and be with them.  Tuesday we went to paint class and then did the afternoon shift.  

Mom started a new watercolor.

I worked on Jake.  I know his face looks dirty.  I will wash his face next time.

Wednesday was presidency meeting and then the afternoon shift.  Thursday I had a meeting with the new auditor, President Hernandez.  He is currently the stake president of the Don Justo stake and he is taking the place of Brother Hamblin who has been here for three years.    We then went to lunch with the four secretaries from the office.  It was Secretary’s Day and we wanted to thank them for their hard work.  It was fun to be with them.  

L to R. Mom, Brenda, Brother Abadillo, Brother Carranza, Evelyn, Maggie, and Marta.

Here we are after lunch.

Friday we got up and got packed and then Brother Abadillo drove us to the airport to visit the Cayo District in Belize.  Because of ongoing border disputes between Belize and Guatemala, we had to fly from Guatemala City to San Salvador in El Salvador and then from there to Belize City—there are no direct flights.  

Our first flight we both had a middle seat.

The second flight was on a much smaller plane, but we got to sit together.

Brother Woods met us and the area office lent us a car.  We then had to drive for 2 hours to get to San Ignacio, which is only about 15 minutes from the border with Guatemala.  It is about due east from Tikal.  We drove through a heavy rain storm and found the hotel just after dark.  

Click below to see the rain storm

Rain Storm in Belize

We went to dinner and made contact with Elder and Sister Flake, the senior missionaries serving in the Cayo District.  Elder Flake also serves as the second counselor to President Adams, the mission president, who is 600 miles away in El Salvador.  They offered to pick us up in the morning and show us around.  

We had a very nice room at the San Ignacio Resort and Hotel.

Mom even got in the pool on Saturday.

Saturday we had breakfast in the hotel and the Flakes picked us up.  We first went to the local market and bought a stone Mayan calendar from a member family who carves them and sells souvenirs at the weekly market.  I bought a wood bowl that I thought was unusual.   

Mom buying a Mayan calendar.

The Saturday market.

Papusas anyone?

This is Sister and Elder Flake our kind and gracious hosts.

We then drove to the border, just to see it and then to a little ferry that took us across the river.  We then drove to the Xunantunich ruins.  The crickets were so load we could hardly hear each other talk.  The ruins are small, but interesting.  The plaster freeze on the one side of the main temple is interesting also.  

Here we got across the river.

The ferry is powered by this man.

Only the driver can be in the car.  We had to walk on and off the ferry.

Click below to listen to the crickets.Listen to the crickets

The tallest temple is the one in the distance and is called El Castillo.

Just enjoying the day together.

Here are the plaster freezes on El Castillo.

In front of El Castillo.

Click below to hear the crickets.The ball court and the crickets

The jungle was very dense once you got away from the cleared area.

We then went to lunch at Benny’s Kitchen.  I had Pibil (a pulled pork dish) and mom had BBQ chicken.  We went back to the hotel and got ready for the priesthood session that started at 4:00pm.  They also had a meeting for the Relief Society sisters at the same time.  They had a pot luck dinner after the meeting and before the adult meeting.

They had a pot-luck dinner after the adult meeting on Saturday.

  

This is the chapel in San Ignacio, Belize

Mom and some of the Relief Society sisters after the Saturday meeting.

We got back to the hotel about 8:00pm.  They were nice meetings, with about 50 members in attendance.  Some members speak Spanish and some speak English.  We spoke in Spanish and our talks were translated into English, then people would trade the earpieces and Elder Flake’s talk in English would be translated into Spanish.  Mom helped translate for the sisters.  Sunday there were two sessions at our hotel in a very nice conference room.  There was an English session at 9:00am.  It was strange giving a talk in English.  It was the first time in two and a half years that I had given a real talk in English.  We then had another session in Spanish at noon.  We felt really good about our talks because we felt the Spirit that was so strong.  

The English speaking session of the Cayo District conference.

The Spanish speaking session of the Cayo District conference.

Mom and Sister Kay Bonner.  Her daughter is serving in the Zimbabwe Mission.

La Familia Chi, This is the family who carves the stone calendars.

We got to take a nap.  We got the sad news that our missionary couple from Belize, Silbert and Jennifer Gordon’s home was broken into Saturday night and they are going to go back to Belize on Monday.  We will not make it back in time to say good-bye.  They have been great missionaries and we will miss them.  We hope to come back to Belize in August for the district conference in Belize City.  We got to talk to all the kids, but James and Kirstin.  It was a busy week, but very fulfilling and enjoyable.  A week ago, we met in a bamboo chapel with a tin roof  with Kekchi members and this week we were in Belize in a beautiful conference room with saints that spoke English and Spanish.  We are grateful for so many different experiences.  

Click below to see a drone shot of the Guatemala temple.

Temple in Guatemala