September 12th through September 18th

 September 12^th through September 18^th: Monday did the usual stuff, shopping and family history.  In the evening, we had Mark and Paula Wood and President and Sister Morris from the Missionary Training Center to dinner before Family Home Evening.  The Wood’s gave a presentation about religious freedom.  Mark is the area legal counsel and has been working with Costa Rica to help them draft new religious freedom legislation.  It was very interesting.  Tuesday we had the morning shift and Wednesday we had presidency meeting in the morning and then we had the afternoon shift. 

Wednesday the day before Independence Day all the schools have a parade with a torch that must be lit from a central flame.  It makes for a very bad traffic day.

Thursday the temple was only open in the morning.  It was Guatemala’s Independence Day.  After the morning shift, we had lunch for all the people who live here at the temple.  We went and purchased rotisserie chicken and then we just had pot luck for everything else.  We ended up having an impromptu talent show.  We all had a good laugh.  

Thursday President Ziga and his wife and his mother and his son arrived to pick up their daughter who was finishing her mission.  I got to know President Ziga while we served in Oaxaca.

We bought 6 chickens and it was delicious.

Lunch and our Independence Day celebration.  The Guatemalans all sang their national anthem for us.  It was very moving. 

We had a great celebration.

The Guatemalans singing their national athem
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Then it turned into impromptu singing which was a lot of fun and provided some good laughs.

More singing
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The 15th was Ken and Eve Winkfield's wedding anniversary.

Friday we had the evening shift.  Saturday we got up early and drove with Sally and John Price, two of our temple missionaries to Senahu for their district conference.  I needed to be there by 2:00m so we left at 6:00am.   It was just over 6 hours of driving, almost 2 hours of it on dirt roads, very bumpy and washed out in places. The Area Office let us take a large Mitsubishi 4X4 and it really made the drive a lot easier.  The pictures I think will give you a good idea of the trip.  

They are widening the road on the way to El Rancho.  They are really moving a lot of dirt.

Once we hit the dirt road we encountered rocks that have been washed down the mountain and mud puddles.  The 4X4 really liked the puddles.

Enjoying the puddles.
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Along the dirt road we had lots of small waterfalls.

And in a number of places where we had to cross small streams.

Some of the falling rocks were as large as the car.

When we got to Tucuru we encountered a parade and had to be detoured down a side street.

They were crowning a Mayan princess for Tucuru.

Here is the princess.

Her crown was quite elaborate.

One of the traditional ways to wrap their hair.

The chapel in Tucuru.

Some of the dirt road was pretty good.

Around every corner there were beautiful vistas. 

It is the rainy season and there are also a lot of waterfalls.

Looking back on the Polochic valley climbing the mountain to Senahu.

I went to a meeting with all the branch presidents and had the opportunity to talk to them about the temple.  The Price's and mom went to the market.  

This is a local taxi for going between towns.

The Saturday market in Senahu.

The Saturday market in Senahu.

More of the Saturday market.

Everyday stuff, fans to keep the coals hot, kindling wood and bananas.

Some of the street food for sale on market day.

The Saturday Market.

Here are two shoe shine boys having a contest to see who can do the best shoe shine.

We then had the adult session at 5:00 and after which we went to dinner at the hotel.   There are not a lot of options in Senahu.  

The choir Saturday night.

Sitting in the park after dinner.

Sunday I had priesthood meeting at 8:00am and spoke and then at 11:00am in the general session both mom and I had the opportunity to speak. 

Priesthood session.

The choir for Sunday.

The choir singing in Kekchi.

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Sunday session.  Over 1000 in attendance. 

We took a drive in the afternoon to the top of a hill overlooking Senahu where they have their cemetery.  It was a beautiful view and the valley is enchanting.  

View from the tower on top of the cemetery hill.   You can see the lds church on the left edge.

The tower they built for a better view of Senahu.

Three girls who were enjoying the view with us.

Mom and part the cemetery.

Part of the Senahu valley and our 4X4.

The chapel. Our hotel is the yellow building with the red roof    just behind the chapel.

Senahu from the tower.

Senahu in the background.

They grow corn on very steep hills.

There was a soccer game and either these people did not want to pay or there was no more room.

More spectators for the game.

We stayed the night and head back on Monday.  We had a great district conference with more than 1,000 in attendance and really felt the spirit of the people.  All the meetings were in Kekchi and had to be translated into Spanish for us and our talks had to be translated into Kekchi because many of the older members do not speak Spanish.  What a blessing to be able to visit and be with the saints all over Guatemala.

This was the yard of our hotel.

Selling firewood door to door.

September 5th through September 11th

September 5^th through September 11^th: Monday on our morning walk we took a couple of pictures of flowers and the city that we can see from an overlook.  I had my phone with me because last week when we had the problem in the temple, I was out walking and they couldn’t find me for about an hour.  So now I wear a fanny pack with my keys and phone and have more opportunities to take fun pictures.  

This hedge was so colorful I had to take a picture.

Mom by two large Bird of Paradise plants.

Guatemala city is in a valley but there are many deep ravines that cut through the hills that surround the city.

Tuesday we had the evening shift.  Wednesday is always presidency meeting.  Mom went over early and did a session and I did some initiatory.  Thursday we had the morning shift.  Friday we went to our painting class and enjoyed the change of pace.  

Mom's painting is really coming along nicely.

Changed the sky and worked on the cobble stones.

In the afternoon we had did our shift.  The temple was very busy Friday evening and we didn’t get home until after 10:00pm.  We had four full sessions in the same amount of time that we usually have two.  Saturday after our morning walk, we packed our things and drove to Coban.  We took Sister Rosales and her son and daughter with us so they could visit their family.  They are from a town about 10 minutes past Coban.  She has been living in the patron housing for a few months while receiving cancer treatments.  She and her daughter are temple workers.  Since I had a Coordinating Council Meeting Sunday morning and we had to drive on Saturday, I called President Coy, the Coban Stake president, and asked him if he would like to have a fireside with all of the temple workers from his stake.  He thought that would be a great idea and so Saturday evening we met with about 45 of our temple workers.  We had a wonderful meeting with them and the Spirit was powerful.  They come to the temple as a stake every two months and these restricted workers help us a lot.  Many of them speak Kekqui and this is a big help.  

We stayed at the cutest hotel in Coban.

We did not need a fire, but at times they do.

We wanted to put this in the back of the car.

Sunday mom went to church in the stake center and I went to the Coban Coordinating Council Meeting.  Elder Lopez who is our temple engineer thought it would be great if I could come to this meeting.  I am so glad I didn’t have a stake conference.  I had 20 minutes to talk about the temple and I felt like I really connected to the 2 stake presidents and the 4 district presidents that were in attendance.  The stake president from Flores attended by Skype.  Flores is about 6 hours away.  The bus he was on broke down and returned to Flores and he got home at 2:00am.  We met the new mission president, President Foundez from Chile.  He is very dynamic and I am sure he will do a great job.  We got an invitation to the Senahu District conference for next weekend.  I think I will be able to change my schedule and attend.  Senahu is about 20 minutes further up the Polochic valley from La Tinta where we went to the Sacsuha district conference a few months ago.  After our meetings, we were invited to lunch with all the leaders and their wives.  

This was the selfie we posted at breakfast Sunday morning.

Looking out over Coban from the restaurant at breakfast.

You can just barely see mom at our table on the right.

This hotel is very charming.

Headed into my meeting.  I took this same picture last March to see if I could tell that I had lost 30 pounds.  I decided I couldn't tell much difference and so I still need to loose some more weight.

Our CCM.  See the computer with President Moroni from Flores.

We then went and picked up Christian Rosales and drove home.  We got home about 5:30pm.  It was such a nice weekend and well worth the trip.  We got to talk to a couple of our kids and went to bed tired, but feeling very blessed and grateful we decided to make the trip to Coban.

  

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.