September 10th
through September 16th: Monday we started off the day with mom going to the dentist and having
her bad tooth extracted. She will be on
antibiotics and pain pills for a week. I
then took the missionaries shopping.
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The broken tooth is gone and the bone graft is in place. |
Our friends, Elder and Sister Call, arrived
about noon from Frey Bartolome de las casas (don’t you just love that name), where
he had served as the branch president. They
are on their way home and will fly out on Wednesday morning. We went to the movies in the afternoon and
saw Mama Mia 2.
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Waiting for Mama Mia 2 to start. We had the theater to ourselves. |
Tuesday
we went to paint class. In the
evening, we invited the Jensons to play cards with the Calls, for the last time.
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Luke is coming along. |
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Mom's landscape is done. |
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Stan is underway. |
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One last card game with the Calls and the Jensons. Larry won. |
Wednesday
I got up early and drove the Calls to the airport. We worked the afternoon shift. Thursday we had a meeting in the morning
with the shipping company. They came to
get an idea of what we have to ship home.
It turns out that we have to have permission from the Ministry of
Culture to take paintings, even the ones we have painted ourselves, out of the
country. I didn’t know we were THAT
good. They will come back on the 10th
of October and pack everything up and take it away. We again worked the afternoon shift. Friday
we switched and worked the morning shift.
Friday evening we went to the airport and picked up our new missionary
couple, Anthon and Dianne Anderson, from Salt Lake. They are from our good friend, Wally Cooper’s
ward. Bishop Cooper encouraged them to
come and serve here. They also live in
the same building as my brother, Van, and his wife Maude. They are good friends and worked together in
the LDS hospital branch. We are blessed
to have them serve with us.
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Anthon and Dianne Anderson arriving in Guatemala. |
Saturday we got up before 3:00am and
worked the morning shift and then packed the car and drove to Coban. We always stay with the President and Sister
Faundez when we go to Coban. Sister
Faundez had a feast prepared for us and they had invited the other two members
of the mission presidency, the Poou’s and the Vela’s, and Elder Arredondo, the
area seventy, and their wives to have dinner with us. The Poous came and ate and then had to get
home to kids. The Velas and the
Arredondos were at a meeting and did not get there till 9:00pm. So we ate twice.
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Sister Faundez and her ribs. She is an amazing cook and prepared Chilean empanadas and humitas, as well as salmon, chicken and pork ribs. |
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L to R Elder and Sister Arredondo, Sister and President Faundez holding the flag of Chile, President and Sister Vela, and mom and I. |
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Mural on one of the streets in Coban. |
Sunday
President Faundez and I started at
7:00am with my last coordinating council meeting for this area. We took a break at 8:00 am for sacrament
meeting and then it was back to our meeting.
We ended about noon. This was a
very emotional meeting for me. I have come
to love these good men as we have worked side by side in their stakes and
districts. This area includes the
Polochic valley where we have visited many, many times. I shed some tears as I expressed my gratitude
for the opportunity it has been to serve with them. I expressed my love for them. I told them they were handsome, but that I
wanted them to be more handsome and then I gave them all new temple ties. After I finished speaking, Elder Arredondo
said some very nice things. He said that
he believed that I had been called to serve in the Guatemala City temple at
this time to help the Coban area prepare to someday have their own temple and
that I had made a difference. He then
asked if anyone else would like to say anything. Many of the stake and district presidents
expressed their thanks for our service.
They made me cry as they said explained how our service had impacted
their units and how individually they had been influenced for good by our
service. President Cuz, from Senahu,
said that mom and I had made the people of the Polochic feel valued and
welcomed in the temple. He said that
most of the time they feel abandoned and isolated, but our many trips to visit
them in their hard-to-get-to towns have made them feel accepted and
appreciated. He said the people of the
Polochic will never forget us. I was
overcome with a feeling gratitude that perhaps our service has made a small difference
here in this area. They served us lunch
and we drove home.
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L to R President Jub, second counselor Sacsuha District, President Maas, Chulac District, President Lopez, Salama District , President Hernandez, San Benito Stake, Elder Arredondo, area seventy, President Vela, counselor mission presidency, me, President Faundez, Coban Mission, President Coy, Coban Stake, President Cuz, Senahu Stake. |
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Los Faundez are some our dearest friends. We will miss serving with them. |
Our last trip to
Coban was very emotional as we said good-bye to so many close friends. Most of them said they would make one last
trip to the temple before we depart. We
hope they can, so that we can give them one last hug good-bye. It is hard to put into words what we are
feeling. But just know that “these are
days never to be forgotten”. Thanks
Oliver Cowdery