October 3rd through October 9th

October 3^rd through October 9^th:  Monday we started the day with fire extinguisher training.  All the temple missionaries and the temple employees had to attend.  It was fun to learn how to put out fires.  

Getting our training before we get to test our skills.

And I had great skills.

Everyone took their turn putting out the fire.  They would pour gasoline in a pan of water and then light it.  We are now better prepared for an emergency.

Showing off my skills

Click above to see my skills

We then did our shopping trip to Wal-Mart and Price Smart.  In the afternoon we drove Elder and Sister Hurst to Mira Flores, across town, to try and buy replacement blades for his electric razor.  We ended up eating at TGIF Friday’s.  (Applebee’s still has the best hamburger, in my opinion.)  

View from the parking garage at the mall in Mira Flores.

Elder Hurst and I after lunch.

Tuesday we had the morning shift.  Wednesday we had presidency meeting and then the afternoon shift.  We switched with the Rosales and took their shift on Thursday morning so we would have Saturday off for our trip to the District Conference in Tiquisate.  President Markham, the president of the Guatemala Central mission invited us to come for both days of the conference.  

This is the volcano Fuego spouting off again.

Friday we had the morning shift again.  Saturday we left at 9:00am with the Elder and Sister May and drove south-west to Tiquisate.  It is only a 2 ½ hour drive, but a completely different climate down by the Pacific Ocean.  We found our hotel and the chapel and then went exploring.  We saw two missionaries at a bus stop and so we stopped to talk to them.  While we were talking, their bus went by and so we took them to where they needed to go.  We then drove to the beach.  It was only a 30 minute drive, but we drove for miles and miles with banana plantations on both sides of the road.  Sometimes we would have sugar cane on one side, other times we would have plantations of palm trees.  We think they were harvesting palm oil.  But we saw a lot of coconuts for sale too.  

It was hot and windy, but we saw the ocean.  The beaches have black sand.

Banana plantations as far as the eye can see.

This was a very good dirt road.

Click above to see the banana plantation.

Sugar cane on one side, bananas on the other.

And sometimes palm trees.

Driving the road back to Tiquisate

Click above to enjoy our ride.

The missionaries had told us that there was a Chinese restaurant in Tiquisate, so we went in search of lunch.  The Chinese food was quite bland, but we did not go hungry.  In fact, we had a lot of food left over so, we took it to the church for the missionaries.   

Lunch at the Chinese restaurant.

We then went to the adult session of the Tiquisate District conference where mom and I both spoke.  It was a nice meeting, but not very well attended.  We went back to the hotel and played 5 Crowns and the Mays taught us a new game called Up and Down.  It was a lot of fun.  Sunday we had breakfast at 7:00 am and Elder May and I headed over to the church for the Priesthood session of the conference.  President Markham gave me 20 minutes to speak and asked Elder May to bear his testimony.  We then had a meeting for new converts and mom and I both spoke about the temple.  We want them to understand that baptism is just the first step, but in the temple we are prepared to live with Heavenly Father once again.  We want them to get excited to come to the temple.  We then had the general session of conference where mom and I both spoke again.  The chapel was full.  We enjoyed being with the Markhams and feeling their enthusiasm for the work of the Lord.  It was a great conference and the Spirit was strong.  It was so fun to be with the saints and share with them our testimonies of our Savior and the work we do in His house.  

Sunday session of conference.

This is President Markham and President Aragon, the district president.

Some of the Elders.

Mom always is interested in new babies.  This one was 18 days old.

President Markham and me.

Mom and Sister Markham.

This gives you a good idea of the average height of people here in Guatemala.

These girls wanted a picture with us.

We drove straight home and arrived a little after 3:00pm.  We had a quick lunch and then drove to San Cristobal and spoke at a fireside with all the endowed members of the San Cristobal stake.  We got home at 8:00pm.  I was exhausted, but I made it to 8:30 pm and then went to bed. It was a great week.  We were busy every day and we ended the week with a great conference that filled out tanks.