June 5th through June 11th

Elder Renlund addressing the saints in Senahu.  I included this because you can see mom and I sitting on the stand on the left of the picture.

Clink link below
Go to article in Spanish about the cultural celebration in Senahu. I was mentioned in the article. 

June 5^th through June 11^th:  Monday we got up at 5:00am to try and see a Quetzal in the wild.  The Quetzal is the national bird of Guatemala and was prized by the Mayans for its long iridescent blue and green tail feathers.  It is difficult to see a Quetzal as they are an endangered species and they can’t survive in captivity.  We were staying at a private reserve that has planted many trees that bear a fruit that the Quetzal likes to eat.  We were successful at spotting a Quetzal high in the trees and then we had a guide tell us all about the Quetzal bird.  

This is the first Quetzal we saw.  It was just before dawn.

This is where we stayed.

Quetzal sightings. 

This was our guide and he explained a lot about the Quetzal bird.

He then took us on a hike into the forest.  I think it is more like a jungle, but they call it a cloud forest. The hike took us to some waterfalls and we were back shortly after 7:00am.  As we were sitting at breakfast, they called us out to see another Quetzal that was in the trees right next to the restaurant.  It was exciting to see him fly from tree to tree and finally he flew away.  We know it was a male by his long tail feathers.  Elder Reyna got a good picture, but forgot to send it to me by Monday for this blog.  I have sent him a reminder and you will see the picture next week.  After breakfast we packed up and got on the road by 9:00am.  

Our hiking buddies the Reyna's.

Every tree is covered with moss.

The trail was up and down.  Nothing in Guatemala is flat. 

In the jungle there were some interesting flowers.

There were a couple of small waterfalls along the trail.

A fern that fell on the trail.

The sun came up while we were hiking.

The trail was very well maintained.

This is a fern.

Mom liked this idea to keep the bridge from becoming slippery.  Bottle caps nailed to the board.

At the end of the trail was this waterfall.

It doesn't show up very well but this mushroom has a blueish color.

Tarzan has competition. 

We saw lot of mushrooms of our hike.

The forest or jungle, you choose, is beautiful.

Just coming out of the jungle.

Our orchid specialist.

This orchid is about a inch big.

Each of these orchids, you can see three at the top, are about a 1/4 of an inch.

Another one about an inch in size.

You can see this one is tiny.

This is the largest orchid found in this part of Guatemala.

This is an orchid that they have planted back into the wild.

Don't you think she looks good covered in mud?

I could not see out of the back window after our trip out of the Polochic.  Too many mud puddles.

There were two biologists from Florida staying at the reserve and they were collecting moths. 

This is the biggest moth they caught.

We got stopped in the construction on the mountain by El Rancho and we were between two semitrailer trucks.  One of the construction workers walked by and pointed out that we had a flat tire on the back of the car.  We pulled off and decided that it had enough air to try and make it to the next town to get it fixed. So I backed into line.  The truck driver behind us motioned Elder Reyna over and told him he had air, but not a hose.  Elder Reyna walked up to the truck drive in front of us and asked if he had an air hose.  Hurray, he did.  So I backed up on the side of the one of the trucks and the two truck drivers filled our flat tire.  We were stopped for about an hour.  As soon as we got the tire filled, the traffic began to move.  We stopped about 15 minutes later at a roadside repair and got the tire fixed.  

Elder Reyna helping get the air hose hooked up.

One of the truck drivers filling up our flat tire.  He was a very large man.

Getting the tire fixed.

The gals are taking a break while the tire gets fixed.

We had a family home evening with our temple missionaries and showed pictures of our weekend in Senahu and I shared Elder Renlund’s message to the saints there.  Then Elder and Sister Hurst shared some of the things they have learned here on their mission.  They will be going home in a week.  We will sure miss them.  Eldon has been a great trainer and Dawn has got the clothing rental in tip top shape.  Our Savior would be pleased with our clothing rental if He were to visit.  Tuesday we had presidency meeting and I crashed and soaked my feet to try and relieve the swelling and the itching from chigger bites I got on our hike in the jungle.  

This is what my foot looks like a week after getting bit by chiggers. 

I have between 40 and 50 bites on each foot.  They itch like crazy.

Wednesday we went to our last painting class for the summer.  Jill’s kids are out of school and they will be traveling.  We will try and get in a couple of private lessons when she has time, but there won’t be a formal class until school starts again in August.  We then did the afternoon shift in the temple.  

More work on flesh tones and starting the hair.

Mom's painting of lake Atitlan.

Mom's painting. Part of our class was we all had to paint the same picture.

My painting.

What we were supposed to be painting.

Sunday we went to the San Cristobal stake conference where Elder Camey was presiding.  We both spoke and I shared some of Elder Renlund’s message.  It was a very good conference and we both felt the Spirit testifying of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We had a great dinner at the Price’s to say good bye to the Hurst’s and to wish happy birthday to Elder Winkfield.  Then Elder Winkfield and Elder Hurst and mom and I went to the temple and trained 14 restricted workers from the Monte Maria ward in the Mariscal stake.  We got done just after 6:00pm.  We got to talk to a couple of our kids and go to bed early.  

The choir before conference.

Stake conference at San Cristobal stake.

Elder Camey in the middle and President Morales on the right.

Mom with two more of our workers, Sister Rodriquez on the left and sister Ibanez on the right.

Brother Agustin, one of our sealers, his wife, mom and Sister Insuasti.  They are both temple  workers.  

Sunday dinner to say good-bye to the Hurst's and happy birthday to Elder Winkfield.

Elder Winkfield, the birthday boy,  is at the end of the table.  

It was a good week and we got notice that we now have 3 couples that will be coming to serve with us.  The Jensens from Calgary, Canada and the Holmans from Sugar City, Idaho arrive in August.  Our good friends, Mike and Merlene Ellington from Mount Pleasant, Utah, who served with us in China, will be joining us in October.  So we now have missionaries that will be here when we finish.  We won’t be alone.  Truly this is the best calling in the church.  We get to go to the temple almost every day and on the weekends we get to go to stake conferences and be with wonderful, faithful saints.  How could it get any better?  Well, we get to rub shoulders with general authorities once in awhile also.  We are so blessed.  How do we deserve all of this?  We ask ourselves this all the time.