May 29th through June 4th:

 May 29^th through June 4^th: Wow, what a week, topped off with an incredible Stake Conference with Elder Renlund and Elder Duncan.  Monday after shopping, we took the Hurst’s, Price’s and Winkfield’s to the city dump.  Right next to the entrance to the dump is Safe Passage, a NGO that helps women who make their living salvaging in the dump. They have taught some of them how to make jewelry from the pages of magazines.  So the trip to Safe Passage was another shopping trip.  Mom let me buy her a new necklace and everyone else stocked up for themselves and friends and family.  

View from Safe Passage of the dump.

Mom's new necklace.

The beads are made from the pages of magazines. 

Wednesday our painting class was canceled so we painted at home in the morning and then went to do the afternoon shift at the temple.  

I did this on Wednesday without Jill's help.  I hope I have not ruined it. 

Thursday morning we made a trip to Mega Paca to buy me a rain jacket and mom a new blouse for our trip to Senahu this coming weekend and then we worked the afternoon shift so we could have Friday off to leave for Senahu.  

My new jacket cost $1.10.

Friday morning we loaded up the 4 x 4 that we had borrowed from President Crapo.  Usually we get a 4 x 4 from the area office, but they are going to need all of theirs to transport the Renlund’s and the Duncan’s and all the other area support people that will be needed when an apostle travels.  We met Elder and Sister Reyna, area public affairs senior missionaries, at the temple parking lot at 6:00am and loaded their things in the car and the four of us were off.  We made good time and did not get stuck in the construction traffic outside of El Rancho.  We stopped for lunch by Teleman about noon before we headed up the mountain to Senahu.  

Lunch with the Reyna's by Teleman on our way to Senahu.

Upon arriving in Senahu, we found President Faundez and got our hotel assignments.  We were both going to be staying in the part of the hotel that is right next to the main plaza and a couple doors away from the church.  

President Faundez had the pictures of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles framed.

We had time to do some shopping and mom let me buy her two new huipiles, blouses.  

Mom and some new friends with her new huipil

It is a lot of work to collect fire wood to cook with.

We got ready for the cultural celebration and made our way over to one of the other chapels in Senahu. They had constructed a stage with the mission logo in back, professional lighting, a sound system and canopies for the marimba and dignitaries.  We were so impressed with their preparations.  Each branch had prepared a cultural presentation in dance or song.  During the first presentation it started to rain.  So we had to take about an hour break, in sports it is called a rain delay.  Everyone crowded under the canopies or into the chapel and we prayed that the rain would stop.  

President and Sister Faundez and us on the stage before the start of the celebration. 

Sister Faundez and I clowning around.

Before the start of the presentations, they sent three of these hot air balloons into the night sky.

Click below to see the hot air balloon        
Hot air balloon

One of the branches dressed in typical dress.

Mom with her new huipil and three new friends with matching huipiles.

They started again and the performances were wonderful and it was very apparent that they all are very proud of their culture and heritage, as they should be.   We could see the tremendous effort they had made and President Faundez asked me to bear my testimony at the end of the evening.  We finished up just after 11:00pm.  There was a lot of work that went in to this celebration and we felt privileged and honored to attend.  

And then the rain came.

Click below to see it raining on the presentation.
The rains started back up but they soldiered on.

The missionaries were enjoying the evening.

Click below to view the dancing.        
Dance celebrating the planting season.

Some of the crowd.

The missionaries also performed.

Click below to see the missionaries.
Missionaries singing in Kek Chi, Spanish and English

Some of the crowd watching the performances.

This branch performed the Deer Dance.

Click below to see the Deer Dance          
The Deer Dance

Some of the sisters from one of the other branches.

Another branch in typical dress.

Click below to see the dancing.
Another Dance

And yet another.

Click below to see another dance.      
Another branche's dance presentation.


Click below to see the band.
Marimba band

The army of Heleman.

The final number.

Click below to see the army enter.
We are as the armies of Heleman

Click below to here and see the finale.
The finale singing about Senahu

I had the opportunity to bear my testimony and thank everyone for the wonderful evening.

Saturday we had a free day.  It was market day in Senahu and people from the outlying areas started arriving and setting up to sell their vegetables of animals about 6:30am.  President Faundez suggested that we go and visit some waterfalls that are about an hour and a half farther into the mountains.   After breakfast and walking through the market, we headed into the mountains with the Reyna’s and a set of Elders as our guides.  

People arriving for market day.

The streets get pretty crowded.

Walking around the market.

Each person is selling something different.

Here we have fruit.

Here are beans and spices.

Pacaya

Chickens or as they say here in Guatemala, "dinner".

Limes, peppers, and pineapple.

From the balcony of our hotel.

The drive was incredible.  Around each bend in the road was another stunning vista.  The road however was another story.  We thought the road from San Julian to La Tinta was bad.  Well this road was much worse and we needed to put our SUV into 4 wheel drive to make it up some of the stretches.  We passed a couple of our chapels and were amazed that there are branches established in these mountain valleys.  We finally arrived and parked the car in front of someone’s house.  The Elders got out and asked if it was ok to leave the car in front of their house.  We took the Elders with us for two reasons; one so we did not get lost and two, so they could speak to anyone we came in contact with.  They only speak Kek Chi in these mountains.  We walked for about 5 minutes into the jungle and come across a corrugated metal building with a LDS church sign on it in Kek Chi.  It turns out that there is a group of about 60 saints that meet in this building each week for their worship services.  Ten minutes further into the jungle, we came to the waterfalls.  They were beautiful and well worth the effort to get to them.  We took the Elders to lunch when we got back to Senahu.  

At times the road was very narrow and steep.  Certainly not enough room to pass anyone coming in the opposite direction. 

Each turn in the road produced another stunning view.

We stopped a number of times to take pictures.

Chapel at Seritquiché

Stunning vistas at every turn.

The patchwork of fields going up the mountain side are very impressive. 

The road was quite steep in places.

Click below to see the road.
Enjoy the ride.

This is a members home by Seritquiché

That is the road we came up.

This car has never seen a mud puddle it did not like.

Click below to see more of the road.
More of the road

It is just one mountain after another.

You can get an idea of how steep this hill is by the trees that vertical.

I have hundreds of these vistas.

The chapel in Semarac.  Notice the parking structure for 3 cars built out over the hill to the left of the chapel by the road.

Looking down on the chapel from the road.  There are hundreds of steps to get down to the chapel.

More mud holes to enjoy.

Click below to see more rough road.
More rough road.

Walking into the jungle.

Friends on the trail that keep their distance.

Our guides took us to this corrugated building where about 60 saints meet each week. It is not a branch yet, just a group.

The lower falls.

The upper falls.

Mom hiking up the trail.

We had friends that shared the trail with us.

These are local children that followed us to the waterfalls.

The car looked happy, speckled with mud. I know the driver was.

We were told that we were invited to eat dinner that night with Elder Renlund, Elder Duncan and their wives.  While we were waiting to go to dinner, it began to rain in torrents with lightning and thunder.  It lasted for several hours and when it was time to go over to the other part of the hotel two blocks away, it was still pouring rain.  We borrowed umbrellas and when we got downstairs to the street we realized that the street was a river.  We hailed a mototaxi and had him drive us the two blocks.  But just getting in and out of the taxi drenched us.  

Check out the videos, they are really impressive.

Click below to see the storm.
The rain storm

Click below to see the flood.
The river of water

Click below to see the rain and wind.
More of the rain with wind.

During the rain storm Saturday we had to stop the water that was coming in under the door.

All of the brethren were still out making the callings and they finally called and told us to go ahead with dinner without them.  So I sat down at the table with Sister Renlund, Sister Duncan, Sister Faundez, and Chris.  I felt outnumbered and expressed that feeling to the which, Sister Renlund said, “Well you are outnumbered.”  We enjoyed the wonderful dinner and the conversation.  About the time we finished, the three spouses arrived, but Elder Duncan and President Faundez headed directly over to the church.  Elder Renlund sat down and got to eat his dinner.  We enjoyed listening to him and he commented that they had a lot of business to take care of tomorrow in the meeting and that there would be a lot of men bearing their testimonies and so if there was time for one of us to speak, he was going to have Chris bear her testimony.  We excused ourselves and walked home.  Sunday we got up and went over to have breakfast at 7:30am.  Elder Renlund came and we waited for Elder and Sister Duncan and Sister Renlund.  We sat and talked to Elder Renlund while we waited.  Finally, Elder Duncan came out and everyone stood up and he said, “Well, let’s go” and they all went over to the church without eating anything.  So we had breakfast with some of the support staff and Sister Faundez.  

View of the church Sunday morning from our hotel room.

I just love the clouds that cover and hug the mountains.

We were invited to sit on the stand and so we got to the chapel about an hour early and Mom passed out cards with a picture of the temple and I just walked around and shook everybody’s hand.  The meeting was wonderful and the Spirit testified to me that the new stake president had been called of God.  I know President Cuz very well because he was the District President.  Mom got to bear her testimony and she did a great job.  Our kids should be very proud of their mother.  I am.  Elder Renlund’s talk was fantastic.  He talked about 4 things.  First, that Christ likes to fix things. He likes to heal people and make things right.  Second, when answering questions about the church, we should always return to Joseph Smith and the first vision.  Sister Renlund told of a couple of experiences where people had asked questions about the church, like “why don’t you drink coffee?”.  And, she answered, “Well, the short answer is that in 1820, Joseph Smith, a young farm boy, went into the woods and prayed to know which church to join.  He was visited by God the Father and His son, Jesus Christ and they told him to join none of the churches.  We know that by revelation we should not drink things that are harmful to our bodies and now my husband will explain why we don’t drink coffee.” They told of three different questions about the church where they said, “Well, the short answer is that in 1820, Joseph Smith, a young farm boy went into the woods and prayed to know which church to join” and so on.  Thus, we should always return to Joseph Smith, the first vision, and latter-day revelation.  Third, that hope and joy come to us through Jesus Christ. And fourth, that we all have a role in this great plan.  He then blessed the people with an apostolic blessing.  It was an edifying experience and one I will not soon forget.  

This is a truckload of saints arriving for the meeting after a 3 hour ride standing up in the back of this truck.

The Choir.

Click below to hear the choir practice.
The choir practicing. 

Missionaries after the conference.

We then drove to Los Ranchitos del Quetzal, which was about half way back to Guatemala City, where we stayed the night.   We did not want to drive all the way to Guatemala and arrive late at night and in the dark.   We are so grateful for the opportunity to serve in this calling and to try to do our part in preparing the world for the second coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.