September 24th through September 30th

September 24th through September 30th: Monday we went grocery shopping early and then drove to Antigua.  We first visited the San Francisco church and ruins (From Wikipedia:  When Franciscan missionaries arrived in Guatemala from Spain in 1530 they were assigned 120 villages by the civil authorities.  They were the first to move to the Panchoy Valley in 1541 where they built a church at the site of today's School of Christ (Escuela de Cristo). This chapel was severely damaged in 1565 and during the next ten years donations were collected to build a new sanctuary located two blocks away in 1579. Parts of this construction, maybe the only ones in Antigua which date back to the 16th century, can be appreciated at one side of today's sanctuary. San Francisco el Grande became a significant religious and cultural center for the whole region. Theology, law, philosophy, physics and mathematics were taught at San Buenaventura College, located in today's monastery ruins. The college also favoured painters of the colonial era such as Cristóbal de Villalpando, Thomas de Merlo and Alonzo de la Paz.).  

Elder Jenson stayed home.  In front of the San Francisco church.  

One of the paintings in the church.

The ceiling.

The side door which is about 6 or 7 inches thick.

Some of the ruins of the monastery .

More of the ruins.

Part of the dome at the corner of what is left of the hall around the cloister.

This fresco dates back to the late 1500's.

We then went to the ruins of the convent and church Las Capuchinas.  (From Wikipedia: The Iglesia y Convento de las Capuchinas is a notable convent and church in Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala. It is one of the finest examples of an 18th-century convent in Guatemala.  It was consecrated in 1736 but like the rest of the city suffered damage during the 1751 and 1773 earthquakes respectively, and was abandoned by order of the Captain General at the time.) We then drove to the Cerro de la Cruz.  ( Hill of the Cross) 

View from the Cerro de la Cruz.  A cloud is covering the top of the volcano Agua.

Selfie time.

We then drove to San Felipe and picked up mom’s jade ring that was being repaired.  Next was lunch and then shopping at Nim Pot and the local artisans market by the bus station.  

Enjoying lunch.

It was a fun and exhausting day.  We finished it off with a pillow party.  We had all of our temple workers come over and pick out a pillow that we had made from all of the huipiles that we have purchased.  

Everyone got to choose a pillow.

Elder Jenson gave us these water color paintings that he painted.  We are so touched by this wonderful gift.  We want to be remembered as this young and good looking.

We worked every morning this last week.  Thursday we got the documents that certify we can take our paintings out of the country.  We think that was the last piece of the puzzle and we should be good to go for the 10^th when they will come and pack up everything we are going to ship home.  

Our paintings can now leave Guatemala.  They are not considered national treasures.

Sunday we left at 7:00am and drove to Amatitlan where we spoke in the sacrament meeting of the Mariposa ward.  

Sunday we gathered after church for a group picture. Left to Right, E. and S. Anderson, us, P. and S. Funes, B. and S. Reyna, E. and S. Holman, B. and S. Davila, B. and S. Solozano, B. and S. Fajardo, P. and S. Flohr and E. and S. Jenson.  It is a great group of people.

Our presidency.

We came straight home and got prepared for our last coordinators training meeting.  We then went to our last “Break the Fast” dinner with all the senior missionaries in the city.  

Sunday Dinner is served.

Break the Fast

We got home about 7:00 pm.  President and Sister Faundez from Coban arrived about 8:00 pm and will stay with us just one night.  We had a busy week and we continue to check things off the list of things we have to do before we leave, like sending in our enrollment in Medicare Part B and getting a visa stamp in mom’s passport so she can leave the country.  This next week we will concentrate on packing our suitcases.  We have to do this before the shippers come so that we know that we have room in our suitcases for what we want to take with us on the plane.  Anything that won’t fit will have to be packed up by the shipping company on the 10^th and then on the 12^th we move to an apartment so that this house can be fixed up for the new president and matron.  Just the other day we had a few months left, now it is only a few weeks.  We have such mixed emotions.  We are excited to go home and learn how to be grandparents and at the same time we know that we will miss this wonderful country and our special friends, missionaries and all the saints.  Can one really be sad and excited at the same time?  We look forward to General Conference next weekend.  We keep hearing rumors that it is going to be exciting.