September 3rd through September 9th

September 3^rd through September 9^th:  Monday we took the missionaries, minus Elder Jenson, to San Antonio, Aguas Calientes and Antigua.  We had heard that there was a market in San Antonio on Mondays, but there wasn’t, so we just went to Antigua to do some shopping.  Even though we say we don’t need anything, we always find something to buy.  We enjoyed a nice lunch and then headed home.  

The Holmans, Sister Jenson and mom in front of the church in San Antonio, Aguas Calientes.

Close up.

Sometimes they don't even bother to paint the school buses they bring down from the states.

Click below to ride with us.Tuk Tuk ride to lunch

Tuesday we had our paint class and then spent the afternoon printing and ironing the last of the labels into the pillow cases we had made.  We are off all this week and we are trying to stay busy.  

I know it looks like Luke has a dirty face.  I am going to fix that.

Mom started a new landscape.

She put the finishing touches on this one.

Wednesday we had another paint class.  We need to add a few extra classes if I am going to get Luke and Stan finished before we go home.  

We saw these trees with their roots exposed on our walk through the park this last week.

I got Stanford drawn Tuesday at home so that I could start painting on Wednesday.

Wednesday's work.

We then took Brother Abadillo, our recorder, and his wife, Cynthia to lunch for his birthday.  In the afternoon we started to box up things we are going to ship home.  It is amazing how much stuff you accumulate in three years.  

Birthday lunch at PF Changs for our good friend, Oscar Abadillo.

I won't tell you how old he is, but he is more than 1 years old.

Thursday we took the missionaries to zone conference.  Elder Uceda, the new Area President, was our speaker.  They also asked mom and I to bear our testimonies since this is our last zone conference.  

Lunch after zone conference.

Zone Conference.

Friday we went to the temple for a session and then we went downtown and found some fabric for mom to make a vest she has wanted to sew.  The front of it will be a huipil from San Lucas Toliman.  We then went to see Neils Rosales, the dentist and son of our ex-counselor.  Mom has had a tooth that has been bothering her.  It was not good news.  One of her roots has a vertical crack in it and he sent us to a specialist.  Each day we have been packing up at least one box to ship home.  Saturday we went to the specialist.  He trained at NYU and spoke perfect English.  He indicated that the tooth needed to come out and that mom would need a bone graft to make it so there was enough bone to do an implant and then a crown.  We scheduled to do this next Monday.  

She is not smiling.

This tooth has three roots.  The problem is it is only suppose to have two.

View from the office of the dentist.  He is right across the street from the temple.

We got serious and packed 5 boxes.  We now have 10 boxes ready to ship.  The shipping company contacted us and is coming to review what we need to send home next Thursday.  Sunday we went to the stake conference in the Florida stake.  Elder Uceda was the visiting general authority.  It was a nice meeting and they gave mom one of the flower arrangements to take home.    Mom loves fresh flowers.  

It was packed a 1/2 hour before the meeting started.

All the sisters in the choir had on huipils from all over Guatemala.

Click below to hear the choir.Choir singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic in Spanish.

Pretty amazing flowers.

We spent the afternoon in the temple training a group of restricted workers from the Antigua stake.  We were able to talk to some of our kids in the evening.  Everything we do now is the last time we will do it, last zone conference, last stake conference in the Florida stake, last Sunday training and so on and so forth.   We try and not think about this assignment coming to an end, because when we do we realize how much we are going to miss everything and we can’t quite visualize what it will be like when we return.  We give thanks everyday for this wonderful opportunity to serve here in Guatemala.