November 9th through November 15th

 November 9^th through November 15^th:  Monday we drove 

all the temple missionaries to Walmart and Pricesmart.  This is the P-day ritual, to go grocery shopping.  The senior missionaries either come and get the president’s car or the president drives everyone.  We needed to learn where Pricesmart was so we went along.  We then went and bought rotisserie chicken with the Provinces and the Allreds.  It was delicious.  We then drove Sister Province, Sister Price and Sister Wilson to the main tourist market downtown.  Mom and I just walked around and kind of got a feel for all the fun things there are to buy.  We walked around the main plaza a bit and headed home.  We had Family Home Evening at the Price’s home with the Spanish group.  

Mom, Sister Price, Sister Wilson, and Sister Province shopping in the central market downtown.

Mom in the doorway of one of the old buildings on the main plaza.

The door to the church on the main plaza.

Interior of the church on the main plaza.

Tuesday we had the afternoon shift.  This is the longest afternoon shift of the week because there is a stake that always comes about 7:30pm and usually wants a session.  We got their session started right about 7:30pm and so we got home at 10:00pm.  That is only 8 hours, nothing like the 11 or 12 hour days we did in Oaxaca.  There are quite a few workers on some of the shifts and things run pretty smoothly.  We are only seeing a few things that we need to really train on.  Wednesday we went on our walk again with the Provinces and I got cramps in my calves again.  Doctor Province is concerned I have some circulation problem.  I think it is that I haven’t been walking enough.  We didn’t have a shift, but went and had presidency meeting.  We are scheduling a lot of stake and district conferences.  All three of the presidency have assignments on some of the Sundays.  It will be fun to get out and be with the saints.  We are venturing out a bit and trying to learn how to get around this city.  Little by little we will get it.  We returned to the temple in the evening with some of our family cards to do sealings.  Thursday we had the morning shift that starts at 6:00am and ends about 1:30pm to 2:00pm.  We are starting to get the hang of how this temple operates.  Each temple is just a little different and it takes some time to figure out what we need to be doing next.  We are impressed with the organization of the shifts and the commitment of the workers.  President and Sister Burk left us a temple that runs very well.  Friday we went for a drive with President Rosales and his wife.  They offered to show us around the city a bit.  We spent 4 hours driving around and I feel like I won’t get lost now.  We stopped at a relief map of Guatemala.  It was very interesting to see the geography of Guatemala and where different cities are situated.  We ended up at Pricesmart for lunch.  It is really like a Costco, cheap hotdogs and pizza.  We then went to our afternoon shift.  

Me, President Rosales, and Sister Rosales.

This is to commemorate the man who went around Guatemala and surveyed the whole country.

This relief map of the country was made from his surveys.

Guatemala is quite mountainous and has lots of volcanoes.

They have a couple of towers you can climb up and get a better view of the different regions of Guatemala.

The four of us on top of one of the towers.

Saturday we again had the afternoon shift.  But before we went to the temple, we walked down to a little grocery store a few blocks away.   Mom needed another can of condensed milk.   I found a case of A and W root beer.  I bought the whole case.  I can’t wait to have a root beer float.  I never found root beer in either Bolivia or Mexico.  

One of the couples who were married on Saturday.

Mom in front of our house.

Across the street from our house looking toward the temple.  You can see 2 of the spires just to the left of the yellow pedestrian crossing sign.  It is about 4 houses away.

Sunday we drove all the temple missionaries to the country wide regional conference.  We went to a beautiful new stake center about 15 minutes from the temple.  The stake president spoke and then we had a satellite transmission from the Area Office and Salt Lake.  The Area Presidency spoke as a round table about the Sabbath day and then we heard from Bishop Davies who spoke in Spanish and then from Sister Marriott who spoke in Spanish for about 2 minutes and then switched to English.  Then Elder Martino, of the Seventy, who had served for many years here in Guatemala spoke. The last speaker was Elder Bednar who had been listening to the talks with a head set.  He spoke in English, so it was translated. He taught with power about the need for more faith in Jesus Christ, more sacrifice, and more consecration.  It was a great meeting and the Spirit was present and powerful.  Elder Martino told a story of a boy who joined the church at the age of 11 and after a few weeks of attending church got offended when someone commented on his clothes.  He was very poor and didn’t have better clothes. He never returned to church until a Bishop and a full time missionary looked him up and invited him not only back to church, but invited him to prepare for a mission.  He was 20 years old when they found him.  He accepted their invitation and it took about a year to prepare for his mission.  Today he is a stake president.  In fact, he is the stake president who spoke and presided at the meeting.  I went up and introduced myself to him after the meeting.  He is a wonderful leader.  You just never know who will respond to an invitation to return to the gospel.  

L to R Elder Allred, Elder and Sister Price, Me and Mom, Sister and Elder Wilson.

The regional conference.

Most of the regional conference was by satellite from Salt Lake and Area Office.

Mom made cheese cake for desert and we went over to the Wilson’s for dinner.  Sister Wilson had cooked a roast and we had mashed potatoes and gravy.  It was delicious. There are only 3 missionary couples here right now and they are quite close and do a lot together.  We so enjoy them and they are great examples of true disciples of the Lord.  Most of them are on their second or third mission.  I am still looking for a few senior couples to come and serve with us.  Please talk to your friends and neighbors and encourage them to get in touch with me.  We talked to our kids in Utah and they were all together for their monthly Sunday dinner.  It made us a little homesick to see them, but we are so glad that they like to get together—even with all the craziness of 14 grand-kids.  They have been so supportive of our missions.  We love and appreciate them so much.   I am feeling so much better.  The bruising is now turning all yellow and getting smaller and smaller each day.  I am not 100 percent, but I am getting there.  I feel so blessed.  I know that the blessing I received made all the difference in the world.  Thanks for all the prayers in my behalf.  The area president was in the temple this past week and said that they too had been praying for me.  He has invited us to go to lunch with the presidency this next week.  We look forward to that.  We at times are still pinching ourselves and wondering, “How did we get here?”  But be assured, we love the work of the temple and will do our best.  

Sunday night delight.