December 4th through December 10th

 December 4^th through December 10^th:  Monday we had breakfast at our hotel and got on the road at 8:00 am.  We drove about an hour and stopped at Quirigua so that the Ellington’s could see the ruins.  We then drove back to Guatemala arriving about 1:30 pm.  We were exhausted and happy to be home.  Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we worked our shifts in the temple.  We were thrilled to see more people come from the Senahu Stake in the Polochic and we are now setting apart restricted workers from this Stake who can help us translate in Kekchi. It is exciting to see the growth and confidence in these members as they come to the temple.   

Christmas treats for all the employees at the temple.

Friday morning we took a group of the missionaries shopping and then we all went to the senior missionary zone conference at the area office.  Elder Zeballos, the first counselor in the area presidency spoke to us about his conversion.  Saturday morning was very busy in the temple.  We had many members come for the first time and there are always lots of weddings/sealings in December.  After our shift we went and had lunch with the ordinances worker on the early morning shift.  We enjoyed being and eating with them.  

Christmas party for the Saturday morning shift.

Everybody is loading up their plates.

Cooking the tortillas on the grill.

Saturday morning shift.

Sunday morning we took the Jenson’s with us to the Escuintla stake conference about an hour south west of the city.  It was a nice conference.  Elder Ochoa, the area president presided.  Mom and I both gave talks.  He was very kind and thanked us for our talks and what we are doing here.

At the Escuintla stake conference.

  

Mom handing out pictures of the temple.

I am hiding behind the flowers.

The fresh flowers are to die for.

We enjoyed the choir.

Click below to hear the choir

Choir practicing before the conference

General session Sunday morning.

Click below to hear the choir.

More choir singing.

L to R Sister Cluff, Sister Ochoa, and mom.

L to R President Cluff, Guatemala City Central Mission, President Ochoa, Area President, and a tag along.

Fuego on the left was blowing smoke.

We came home and had Elder and Sister Winkfield over for dinner with Elder and Sister Hurst who had just arrived from the Dominican Republic.  Dawn had some dental work done when they were serving here in Guatemala and has a broken crown that the dentist promised to repair for free if they came back here.  They will be here for 6 days.  It was great to see them and hear all about the DR.  This week went by really fast and we were very busy.    

November 27th through December 3rd

November 27^th through December 3^rd:  Monday we cooked another turkey, even though we cooked two turkeys on Sunday.  The temple secretaries wanted to learn how to make a turkey dinner.  So I took pictures of the steps to prepare the turkey and then cooked another turkey.  Three of the secretaries came over and I taught them how to make creamed corn, dressing, mashed potatoes, and gravy.  We cut the turkey and had Thanksgiving dinner again.  They really enjoyed the cooking lesson and the meal.  

The turkey is ready for the oven.

While the turkey was cooking, I set up the Christmas tree and put the lights on it and then mom decorated not only the tree, but the rest of the house as well.  

This tree in not fun to set up. Each branch has to be inserted into it's proper location.

The decorations are part of the joy we feel at this time of year.

Mom got all the Christmas decorations up.

Black Clay from Oaxaca.

Painted clay from Guatemala.

Stamped metal from Oaxaca.

Another one from Guatemala.

Look at mom's angel collection on the left.

One more from Guate.

Tuesday we went to our paint class and then did the afternoon shift at the temple.  

I really like this one mom is painting.

I worked on Badger this week.

 Brother Sagastume and me 2017.  He works for the temple in security.

This is us in 2008.  He was working with our daughter, Ginny, and her husband Sam when they lived here in Guatemala as the country directors for the humanitarian organization,  HELP.

Thursday President Cuz from the Senahu stake brought 7 couples to receive their endowment and be sealed.  These 7 couples included 22 children.  I sealed 4 of the couples.  I did the ordinance in Spanish and then I had President Cuz, who is an ordinance worker, read the ordinance in Kekchi. Three of the families came from a place called San Francisco, which is a group of saints who live up in the mountains.  If you remember our blog from about 1 year ago, we visited some waterfalls up in the mountains above Senahu. On our hike to the waterfalls, we passed a metal building where some of the saints meet on Sunday.  This is where the group from San Francisco meets.  Needless to say, it was a very busy day in the temple.  Friday President Faundez and President Maas, from the Chulac District, brought 3 families to receive their endowments and be sealed. These were the first members from the Coralpec branch to be endowed.  All the ordinances have to be performed in Kekchi for these saints.  We have to scramble a bit to find enough Kekchi speaking workers, but we are amazed that it always seems to work out.  I was assigned to take the photos after the sealings.   

Family #1 from Coralpec.

Family #2 from Coralpec.

Family #3 from Coralpec.

The group from Coralpec.

As I was taking pictures of the families from Chulac and I liked this view of the temple.

Friday I was also asked to seal two of our young temple workers.  They met at a young adult activity.  They are both returned missionaries and look like they are very much in love.  It was a real joy to officiate for their sealing.   

Our two workers.

President and Sister Faundez stayed with us for 2 nights and I found the Pappy’s BBQ that had opened up in Guatemala City and we went to dinner with them there.  They really liked Texas BBQ.  Saturday morning we got up early and headed to the stake conference in Senahu with the Ellingtons.  This was the first stake conference since they were organized as a stake back in May by Elder Renlund.  We were excited to go and be with them, since so many had been to the temple the last few weeks.  But the trip into the Polochic was not fun.  First, it took us two hours to get out of the city.  We encountered an accident on the highway and the resulting traffic jam was stop and go for 2 hours.  Then as we started on the dirt road between San Julian and La Tinta, we found the road had sustained a lot of damage from landslides and rainfall, making the road nearly impassable.  The area office checked us out a 4 X 4 and we would not have made it had we not been in a high clearance vehicle.  Needless to say, the more than 2 hours of four-wheeling was brutal.  Sister Ellington got car sick and threw up.  I kept asking if she wanted me to stop and let her walk around and every time she would say, “No keep going, you need to be on time.”  

We had to wait for them to get this electrical pole in place.  All by hand.

Our car liked the mud.

It did take us 8 hours to get to Senahu and we did make it in time to get a bite to eat and then attend the adult session of the conference.  We were the only guests on the program.  When I had spoken to President Faundez about the conference, he told me that for the first year of his mission he had spent a lot of time helping Senahu prepare to be a stake and that he now needed to be in Chulac helping them prepare to make the transition from district to stake.  So we were on our own.  

Alfredo shining my shoes.

The choir getting ready Saturday afternoon.

Click below to hear the choir.                         Choir singing in Kekchi Saturday night

Some of the missionaries in Senahu.

We had between 30 and 45 minutes to speak in each of the three sessions.  That might sound like a lot of time, but remember they have to translate our talks from Spanish into Kekchi so that the saints understand what we are saying.  Sunday we had the priesthood session from 8:00 am to 10:00 am and the general session from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm.  The meetings were some of the most spiritual I have ever attended.  Sunday it was announced that the group from San Francisco had received approval from Salt Lake to become a branch.  Another tender mercy for the week.

Priesthood Session.

The choir Sunday.

Click below to hear the choir.                        Choir singing Sunday morning

The floral arrangements are alway impressive.

During the general session, President Cuz leaned over as the choir started to sing in Kekchi and said to me, “This is for you.”  They were singing this song in Kekchi for me and as I listened, I began to cry.  The Spirit was so powerful, just as it is now as I type this post.  We truly were richly blessed by our attendance at their conference.  There is something very special about these sons and daughters of father Lehi.  We love them and love being with them.  

General Session.

L to R 1st Counselor, Pres. Bol, me, President Cuz, and 2nd Counselor, Pres. Coy.

The Choir after the end on the last session.

Click below to hear the choir.                     Christmas song in Kekchi

After the meetings, we headed home.  We decided to try driving east and continue down the Polochic valley to El Estor and Rio Dulce.  Even though it would be a longer drive, we would not have to drive the dirt road we came in on.  

On our way down from Senahu.

After about 1 ½ hours, we came to a bridge over the Cahabonito river.  It was blocked with a water truck and they told us the bridge was closed for repairs until next Thursday.  I asked if there was anyone I could talk to and they told me that the engineer was on the other side of the bridge.  So I walked over and talked to him.  I was still dressed in my Sunday clothes and I asked him if there was any way we could cross the bridge.  We talked for a minute and he finally agreed to move the truck and let us cross.  By now there were a couple of other cars behind us.  We were the last cars to cross the bridge.  What a tender mercy.  

The bridge we almost did not get across. 

The Cahabonito River

We drove another hour and found rooms in our favorite hotel in Rio Dulce, Vinas del Lago.  This was a great week, filled with many wonderful and testimony building experiences.  We feel so blessed by this assignment. 

November 20th through November 26th

 

November 20^th through November 26^th:  We had a great week.  Wednesday and Thursday we had another group from the Polochic come to the temple.  One family with 5 beautiful children came to be sealed.  I went out and took a picture of them to have a remembrance of their special day.  The grandparents are also in the picture.

This is the Coc Ich family from Senahu. 

Saturday we went to two different stake conferences.  We went first to the Atlantico stake where we spoke and then had to hurry across town to the Utatlan stake.  We made good time so we stopped at a mall for an ice cream.  We soon realized this was not a good idea.  The mall was so crowded that we had to drive up 7 levels to find a parking space.  This was “Black Friday” weekend.  The mall was the most crowded that I have ever seen it.  

There were a lot of people at the mall.

View from the top of the mall.  7 stories up.

The traffic was really heavy and we got to the stake just in time.  Then they announced that because the traffic was so bad we would start at 15 minutes past the hour.  President Shumway and his wife got there just in time for the meeting to start.  It was a nice meeting and we felt good about our talks.  We got home by 9:00pm.  

Saturday adult session. Utatlan stake.

Sunday we got up early and got two turkeys in the oven and the tables set for our Thanksgiving dinner.  We then went back to the Utatlan stake conference.  They had a couple of great choirs.  First a primary choir sang before the meeting began and then a stake choir provided a prelude number and 2 hymns during the session.  

The Primary Choir sang before the
Sunday session.

Click below to hear the Primary Choir
Primary Choir before the Sunday Session

Click below for more Primary Singing
More Primary Choir

  Sunday morning, the first 3 rows of seats
were taken by the choir.

Click below to hear the choir
Choir for the Sunday Session

There was a wonderful spirit during the conference and we came home very happy about our talks and feeling energized by the conference.  

Sunday session at Utatlan stake conference.

L to R, President Shumway, Mission President Guatemala City South Mission, President Avila, Stake President Utatlan Stake,  and me.

Brother Maldonado and his family.  He and his wife are temple workers. 

We got home and I made gravy for our feast.  Everyone brought something and we fed 25.  Everyone in the picture, except the Framptons, is either in the presidency or temple missionaries.  

Mom putting the finishing touches on the tables.

The turkeys are ready.

Everyone loading up their plates.

I got a new apron for the occasion. 

Table # 1

Table # 2

L to R, Elder and Sister Frampton, Area Medical Advisor, Elder and Sister Winkfield, Brother and Sister Gordon, Elder and Sister Holman, Elder and Sister Jensen, Brother and Sister Flohr, President and Sister Funes, Elder and Sister Ellington, Elder and Sister Fisher, Brother and Sister Reyna, President and Sister Rosales, mom and me,

We have a great group and we expressed our gratitude for each of them.  Everyone took a turn saying what they were grateful for.  We had a few tears shed and a few laughs, but we all felt the Spirit and were grateful to be working together and serving in the House of the Lord here in Guatemala.