April 24th through April 30th

Words of Wisdom for the week!

He is bigger therefore he has the right of way. Get out of the way!

April 24^th through April 30^th: We have had a very busy week and some days are blurring together.  At some point, Brother Carranza went with us to show us where we could buy unfinished wood furniture. We have seen some really cute painted furniture online and we thought, perhaps naively, that we could paint some furniture in that style. It is harder than it looks.  

I bought a chair.

Mom bought a folding table.

Mom is more ambitious than I am.

We are experimenting.

We each also bought a carved piece of furniture. 

Ready for some color.

Mom's next project is a corner cabinet.

Wednesday we went to our painting class and I worked on trying to make Kimball look less “elfish”.  We forgot mom’s photo of some flowers and so she had to paint from memory.  This turned out to be too difficult, so it was not her most enjoyable  class. After paint class, mom went to lunch with Brother Abadillo, the recorder, and all the secretaries to celebrate Secretary Day.  Elder and Sister Price also were invited.   He serves as an assistant volunteer recorder and his wife is a secretary in the evenings when everyone else has gone home.  Brother Carranza and I staffed the temple while they had lunch.  We worked all the afternoon shifts this week so that President Funes and his wife could have the week off.  We had our week off while Ginny was here.  

During our morning walk, we noticed that you can have produced delivered.  Selling produce out of the bed of a pickup.

I hope Kimball is beginning to not look like an elf.

Mom went to lunch with the secretaries for secretaries day. L to R, Sister Price, Marta and Evelyn.

Mom went to lunch with the secretaries for secretaries day. L to R, Brenda, Maggie and Brother Price.

Friday morning, mom, Sister Price and Sister Winkfield went and volunteered at the children’s cancer hospital with other senior missionary sisters.  We came home Friday night and went straight to bed because we had to get up at 3:00am to get to the temple by 4:00am.  

Brother Carranza's wife and girls.  His three boys are missing.  They just had twin girls 4 months ago.

Saturday we switched shifts so that we could get away early to drive 7 hours to the district conference in Senahu and arrive in time for the adult session.  At 7:00am I went and talked to a group of about 40 adults, who had come with their ward to the temple.  They either did not have a current recommend or had never been to the temple. I got done about 7:45am and went home to get the car ready.  We had been given a 4X4 to drive into the Polochic valley from the area office.  We took the Hurst’s with us.  They will be finishing up in 6 weeks and this will be the last opportunity to have them accompany us.  We left at 8:30am and arrived at 3:30pm and had time to check into our hotel and get changed.  

We drove through Teleman on our way to Senahu to check out a hotel and they were getting ready for a festival.

Click below to see Teleman                     "Teleman"

One hour and 45 minutes on a bumpy dirt road is no fun. It is kind of narrow in some places with no room to pass.  I only had to back up once to let someone pass.

Our hotel rooms right behind the church, so convenient. 

The adult session started at 5:00pm.  Mom and I both had the opportunity to talk and we love this district.  Some of the members can understand a little Spanish, but only about 40% of the men and even less of the women can speak Spanish, so all the meetings are in Kekchi.  Our talks have to be translated and sometimes we just have to sit and listen to speakers and prayers with only an idea as to what is being said. But even with the difference in language and culture, we love the Spirit that we feel with these Saints.  They have just gotten the good news that next month, on the 4^th of June, a new stake will be created from their district.  After the adult session, we went to a special dinner with all of the branch presidents and the district presidency, their wives, the mission presidency, Sister Faundez, a couple of Elders, and the Hurst’s.  This was a dinner to thank everyone that had worked so hard to get them to the place where they could be a stake.  We had bought two birthday cakes and after dinner we sang to mom and had birthday cake.  We finally were able to fall into bed about 9:00pm.  

The Choir before the adult session Saturday afternoon.

Part of the choir for Saturday night.

They had a good turnout for the adult session.

Dinner with the leadership of the District and Mission.

Mom's birthday cake.

Happy Birthday to Chris.

Click below to see Mom's celebration.                 Mom's birthday celebration in Senahu.

Sunday we got up early and Elder Hurst and I went to the priesthood session.  I had the opportunity to speak and I had the branch president, Alberto Coc, and two new temple workers from his branch come up and share their feelings about being in the temple for 3 days this past week and helping us with the ordinances in Kekchi.  It was a very Spiritual experience for me to stand there with these men.  Next, we had the Sunday general session and it was a packed house.  Many of these saints have to walk for hours to get down off the mountains.  Hundreds came yesterday and slept at the church last night.  Before the meeting started, the choir was practicing and I asked the choir director to sing a song in Kekchi so I could record it.  They sang “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”, I started to cry and my shoulders shook as the Spirit just flowed into my heart.  It was really a remarkable experience.  I hope you will listen to them sing.  After the meeting, the choir sang happy birthday to mom.  It was really sweet. A 17 year old girl came up to mom and said it was also her birthday and so we had to have a picture of the two birthday girls. 

Priesthood session Sunday morning 8:00am.

General session Sunday morning.

Sunday's choir.

Click below to hear the choir sing "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty"                         Choir singing in Kekchi

I was surprised that they have a hymn book of over 200 hymns in Keqchi.

Sister Faundez, mission mom, and the birthday girl.

L to R, President Faundez, mission president, me, and President Cuz, district president.

This 17 year old gal came up and said that it was her birthday also.  Had to have a picture of the birthday girls.

This is the choir director.

When we got to our car, President Poou, 1^st counselor in the mission presidency and the seminary and institute director in this area, was handing out the new seminary manuals to all the youth.  It was a lot of happy teenagers.  

The line up of the boys waiting to get their new seminary manuals.  I got there late and the girls already had their books. President Poou is the 1st counselor in the mission presidency and director of seminaries and institutes. 

All of the seminary kids with their new manuals. 

We headed home.  We got through the patch of bumpy dirt road just as it started to rain.  It cleared up for a while and then let loose with a thunder and lightning storm like I have never seen.  We had torrents of rain and for the last hour of our trip, I felt like I was driving a boat.   The road was covered in water with up to a foot of water in the low spots.  We made it home in time for some of the kids to sing and wish mom a happy birthday.  We again fell into bed absolutely beat, but what a great week.  Sunday we completed 18 months, so we are officially half way through our assignment.  The time has flown by and we are enjoying our experiences so much.  We are so honored and blessed to be serving here in the House of the Lord.