Monday, October 30

Since we really aren't going anywhere this P-day I decided to show you a bit more of our world.  We walk across the street and down possibly 1/2 block and we are at the Temple.  When we pass the Temple we go through a building used to keep children who will be sealed and a few other things that has a center staircase.  We walk down those stairs and out onto this view of the Chapel parking lot and the hilside full of nice houses and high rises across the street.

On to the left and down a walkway is the chapel.  There is a podium, a piano and a sacrament table at the far right and then a room full of benches on a tile floor that can be moved out of the way for activities.  There is a sliding door behind the benches where chairs are set up (and filled) each Sunday.  There is a stage at that end of the room.  The doors are closed after Sacrament meeting and SS classes are held in the two halves while Primary and the youth meet down a hall.  We have determined by the area around the chapel, the clothes people wear and the cars that they drive that we are probably in one of the more affluent Wards.  There are no regular missionaries assigned to the Ward but there are eight Temple missionary couples (3 from in the country and 5 from outside) which adds to their bulk.  I was told that we are probably the only Ward in the county where there are headsets and interpretation.

We stopped on the way home so I could snap some pictures of the flowers by the Temple.

These interesting trees and roots are just outside of our building.

These are the front doors of our building along with my cute companion.

This is the beautiful courtyard you see when you enter or when we look out of our kitchen window.

These are some of the high rises you see across the main street.

 I had Dad sketch the apartment for you.  We are very happy here and as we see the other three apartments that were created from this house we feel very blessed that this one fits our needs so well.  Some of the apartments have no windows or doors that aren't screened or on the side that get too much wind.  Our windows all face in internal cement courtyard that really serves no purpose except providing wonderful windows without winds or insects.

We noticed a dresser in the living room of one apartment but we have tons of space with shelves in our bedroom that serve the needs that a dresser would provide.  Our bedroom is big enough that we each have a computer desk in it.  The other apartments have their computers out in the living rooms.  We have so much kitchen storage that some of the shelves have nothing on them.  We have seem metal shelves out in the room and other interesting storage in the other kitchens.  We feel SO blessed.

Probably the most interesting thing that is really different here is the bathroom ventilation.  There are no fans but instead a skylight in the ceiling that has some open windows at all times.  There was a lot of wind the other day and I found a few leaves on the bathroom floor.  There is always dust of the sink counter, etc. but there are ALWAYS open windows.  They are set so no rain comes in but it truly is interesting.

Here is the view looking up in the bathroom.

We have a great family in the Ward who have a 27-year-old autistic girl.  She is very pretty and has a good memory for names, etc. but must be on about a third grade level.  Last night at 9:30 our doorbell rang and she was there with her parents.  She had made a Halloween card for every set of missionaries. 

Now we have a Halloween decoration on our fridge.  I told here that I would wait for something for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentines!

Monday Afternoon and Evening

We were invited to celebrate the birthday of Sister Silia Caner who attends the Ward that we do and works in the temple.  She had invited all of the Temple Missionaries at 4 PM and was celebrating with her friends in a second "shift".  She has spent time in the USA and has a child who lives somewhere in the East so speaks English well. 

 

Her cake was something else!  You can see the regular sized cake that she has cut in the center of the cake and then we each got a very larg piece from the outside.  It had chocolate dipper cherries and lots of whipped cream. 

While I was showering and getting ready Mike decided to run down the street and buy her some flowers.  He also bought these pretty roses for me.

Tonight for FHE we had a report from a couple named the Call's who are serving out in the poorer countryside of Guatemala.  He has been Branch President of one branch and they are moving them to an area where there has not been the Church for 20+ years to be the new Branch President.  Their story is very inspirational and they certainly made me appreciate the simple life and mission we have here.

One more fun memory which actually happened on Saturday.  The Temple workers from the morning shift on Saturday were invited to have refreshments in the dining area of the guest housing after our shift on Saturday.  We were served sandwiches which were made with ham and peanut butter (very different) and tortilla with chow mien on top.  Those were also very unique.  

As we were exiting we met John and Chris who were headed to another part of town to have Chinese food in a place that had been recommended to them.  The four of us (The Winkfields from Layton were with us at the time) hopped into their car and we went down and had an excellent meal  

A Bit of Fun

It is Monday morning and we talked this morning about needing to clean our apartment.  We have been here a month tomorrow.  When we were in Oregon the President gave every set of missionaries a list of things that should be cleaned in their apartments. We divided them up and Mike did a great job with the jobs he agreed to. 

This morning I had cooked breakfast, ironed white shirts, done the dishes and had just put the third load in the washer when Mike came out of the bathroom dressed and plopped down in a lounge chair, pulled up the legs and put his head back.  I came out of the laundry room, stopped and just smiled at him.  He looked at me and said, "What?  Am I in your way?"  All I could do was laugh.  Perhaps he IS a bit too spoiled.  I reminded him that he had agreed to do the floors today and he got right to it.  It was just so funny with me scurrying around for a few hours by that point and him asking if he was in my way. 

More of our last week trip

I did get a snapshot from the bus of the volcano after all.  The pictures from my phone just downloaded tonight. 

This was the bus that we rented and the group gathering to start the visit.

This is blurry because the bus was moving but we saw several women walking with huge loads on their heads and nothing in their hands. 

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We had lunch at a Swiss Restaurant.  This little home was beside it.  The breakfast menu had crepes but we were there mid-afternoon and Dad had ribs and I had ham. 

This little girl was making tortillas.  That pan of dough was about the size of my big bread pan and was heaped about double on top.  They were thick and very tasty.  

Across the parking lot from the restaurant was this little shop.  Behind the front items was a little shed full of lots of sweaters and tops.  Two of the sisters bought items. I'm going to wait a while to see if I really want things.

Friday was an amazing exception as far as temple work went. It was a holiday called "The Day of the Dead" which is a holiday where people remember their dead loved ones and celebrate their association. Apparently almost everything is closed for the day.  A Stake from about 2 hours away set the day as a temple day.  They started picking people up at 1 AM and we were over to the temple at 4:30 AM for the first shift.  I spent most of my time in the clothing rental (no charge) where almost all patrons get clothing.  It is packed with very short to tall and thin to wide dresses, slippers from size 5 to size 10 with socks and packets of three sizes.  By about 10 AM I was totally out of many sizes and was giving slips of mismatched sizes.  There are yardsticks attached to the sides of the counter window so I can measure the shoulder height for the size.  I have to ask them in Spanish the slipper size.  I finally wrote the numbers on a card and had them point.  Over 300 endowments had been completed by 11:30 and there were sisters standing in the hall waiting for initiatory.  Youth were in the baptismal font all day.  Over 1000 ordinances were completed during the day.  It was simply amazing.   

Week Two - Visit to Iximche

On Friday the Norman's took us shopping in the morning before our Temple shift and we got a few more things on our list.  It seems that as soon as we get home and put things away we think of things to add to a new list.  Thankfully the list is getting smaller each time.  We won't be eating much beef other than hamburger but that is okay.  It will make us appreciate the half-beef we will be getting soon after we get home.  We have lots of chicken, hamburger and cheese and we got some fish.

On Saturday before our shift we decided to walk over to the MTC (CCM in Guatemala) where there is an ATM to get some cash. On our walk over I saw a beauty supply and wanted a hair pick so went in.  Once I showed the one in my purse to the girl she took me right to it and it cost about $1.10.  When I noticed the sack when we got home I saw that the name of the place was Sally not Sally's but seemed to carry the same products or similar.  It is about 1 block from our apartment. The CCM was just around the corner from the little strip mall. The landscaping at all of the church sites is simply beautiful.

 Sacrament meeting on Sunday was a bit frustrating because I had on a headset but could hear nothing.  Apparently the brother that was doing the translation forgot to plug the mic back in after the prayer but there was an English Sunday School class and a great translator for Relief Society.  She just moved here from the states about a month ago but was born in Mexico and is so naturally fluent in both languages.

On Monday John had rented a bus for 22 of us that cost us each around $15 for the day and we went out to visit a Anthropological Mayan Ruins about two hours west of the city.  We left at 7 AM and it took us about 1 1/2 hours driving time to get out of the city.  It is truly an amazing big city.  Some of the places that we saw along the way were Dunkin Donut, Sears, Burger King, Wendy's, McDonalds, Walmart, Pizza Hut, Papa John's, Appleby's just for a few.  It is wall-to-wall buildings and heavy, heavy traffic.

It was a totally different feeling once we got out of the city and into the countryside.  It reminded me some of the towns in China with businesses attached to each other and with garage doors that were pulled up to display their wares.  There were an amazing number of car parts, car repairs and cars for sale along the road that we took.  I couldn't get good pictures from the bus window but wanted to save a memory of the farms and the use of space.  We saw miles of corn and cabbage.

We did see one of the 34 Guatemalan volcanos in the distance but I couldn't get a good picture from the moving bus.  I did get a picture of a terraced roadside.  It appears that they cement surfaces, too.

Here is a lousy shot of us with the Norman's just after we got off the bus.

One of the couples had hired an English speaking tour guide and invited us to join their group.  We were so glad that we did because it taught us so much about what we were seeing.  I will print up an article that is on the internet about the place and add some of the notes that I took from him with a few pictures here and there.

We did see one of the 34 Guatemalan volcanos in the distance but I couldn't get a good picture from the moving bus.  I did get a picture of a terraced roadside.  It appears that they cement surfaces, too.

 Iximch (means corn)

Iximche, is a pre-Columbian Mayan site in the Western Highlands of Guatemala, is not as well-known as the major archaeological sites of the Classic Period (250 to 900 AD), but remains a popular site to visit because of its easy accessibility and pleasant setting.  It is 7,000 feet above sea level. 

It was the capital of the Kaqchikel Maya from only 1470 to 1524.

The buildings were build with adobe walls covered with cement and the roofs were made of palm leaves.  Only four families lived in the five plazas and there were about 40,000 commoners on the outside.  

 Iximche was founded by the Kaqchikel Maya in 1470 after a prolonged conflict with the Kiche Maya forced them to abandon their previous capital Chaviar (present-day Chichicastenango). The new capital did well in its first decades, but was severely damaged by a fire in 1514. In 1519-20 a major epidemic struck Iximche, killing many inhabitants and prompting many others to flee to the countryside.

Thus weakened, the Kaqchikel welcomed the Spanish conquers under Pedro de Alvarado with open arms when they arrived in April of 1524 and allowed them to found their own capital nearby. However, the relationship with the Spanish, who at first promised to be a valuable ally against their long-time enemies, the Kiche, soon deteriorated.

The conquers' incessant demands for gold and the inability of the Kaqchikel to provide it in sufficient quantity quickly led to hostilities that culminated in several Spanish attacks on Iximche.

In September of the same year the Kaqchikel abandoned their capital and took to the surrounding mountains, from where they waged a guerrilla war against the Spanish. The conquers burned Iximche to the ground in 1526 and were able to defend their own capital for a while, but the raids took their toll. In 1527 the Spanish abandoned their first capital and founded a new one in the Almolonga valley (present-day Ciudad Vieja near Antigua Guatemala).

Our guide told us that this was one of the last cities to be populated by the Mayans.  The resources became exhausted, temperatures changed and the people abandoned the area.  

Undisturbed for several centuries and largely buried under lush vegetation, the ruins of Iximche were finally explored and partially excavated by Guatemalan archaeologist Jorge Guillemin from 1960 to 1972.  Part of the ruins are still buried under lush vegetation.

You will see from the pictures that only the first two were totally excavated.  When they found it it looked just like the rest of the area with heavy landscape. 

Iximche's core is bounded on three sides by ravine walls and separated from the main residential area by an artificial creek. The center consists of four large and two small plazas surrounded by temples, palaces and ceremonial platforms. There were only 4 families that lived in these 5 plazas.  

                        This is an excavated ball court for the Mayan game Chaaj.

After the last plaza there were a group of Mayans holding a ceremony.  The leader blessed an infant in some way and they were smoking tobacco, burning incense as well as had the fire going.  There were buzzards flying above which made us wonder if there was also some kind of animal sacrifice that they were interested in. The Mayans believe that God lives in the wind and smoke. Each group has their own spiritual guide.

Our guide walked us around the side of the ceremony to a 300 foot drop-off .  He said that the area was like a peninsula which kept the enemy out.

The very favorite part of my journey here is meeting and seeing the people.  Mike and I each took a shot of this family enjoying a visit to Iximche.

Guatemala 2017

We arrived on Tuesday afternoon, dropped off bags, went shopping, went to Applebee's for dinner and came home and crashed.  We tried to unpack and get most of the groceries put away before we were to be at the Temple at 1 PM to be set apart and have a little tour of the Temple. I was surprised that we were expected to stay and work a shift and was truly exhausted by the time we got home that night. 

Another challenge for me is the Spanish. When talking to John and Chris I somehow understood that there would be things for me to do without using Spanish but that is simply not the case.  Sadly, my heart is not even in the right place.  From time to time Mike has told me that I could learn Spanish and every time I have answered with, "But I don't want to learn Spanish.  I am 75 years old and will not need it in my future.  I got a BS rather than a BA because I didn't want to learn a language.

As I have thought about my situation I feel that there is really only one answer.   I need to pray to have a desire to understand and be useful while I am here.  I need to make my time useful to both me and the Lord. 

Mike, on the other hand, has almost driven me crazy for the last nine month studying Spanish.  He has been reading the Book of Mormon, D & C, and Pearl of Great Price in Spanish and English at the same time.  He finished one computer program and then started another.  He has been studying with two teachers at the MTC. Even now he is over doing a Spanish lesson on the computer.  I have heard good reports about how well he is doing both in memorizing and in accent.  He is the reason that I am here and I am happy for his success.

I love our apartment.  It is big and airy.  We keep the windows open both day and night.  It is the rainy season and humid but not unbearable.  We have gone shopping twice and were able to go to a dollar store, a Walmart and a store like Costco and so we have a very short list of things that we haven't found yet.  The doctor and wife upstairs are from Salem and will be leaving in December.  She just keeps bringing me little things that she has extra of.

I love the other Sisters that I will be working with.  They are mostly about 10 years younger than me.  I believe that they all have husbands that have been on Spanish speaking missions and although John told me that none of them speak Spanish I have learned that several have studied it.  They are all doing everything in the Temple and for most it has only been six weeks.

Church yesterday was good.  There was a sister who interpreted for those of us that had on headsets for Sacrament meeting and Relief Society and there was a separate English Sunday school lesson.  In the evening we were taken down to the area offices where we joined with the missionaries there for a great "Break the Fast" dinner.  It was fun to associate with that group and one of the delights was that the first person that I met was an Elder Whittier.  He is Brett's brother.  They are humanitarian missionaries and it was a delight listening to his cute wife tell us about the wonderful adventures that they have been enjoying. 


Today is P-Day and we went to visit two museums on the campus of the University Francisco Marroquim which is apparently like the Harvard of Guatemala.   The first was Popol Vu Museum that was a collection of Mayan art and ceramics and Hispanic religious art.

Across a patio area was the second museum where we saw two very interesting videos and then saw some wonderfully displayed Indigenous Dress.  The textiles were absolutely beautiful with rich color and wonderful weaving. At one spot there were hats that men could try tying on.  I asked Mike to model and he did. 

The last room was a display of the watercolor art of Carmen G de Petterson.  I have never seen such rich and intense watercolor.  She was born in Guatemala by British parents and spent much of her art and training in England but was afraid that much of the history of the Indigenous dress would be lost so she painted I think it was 70 paintings.   Here are a few I got off the internet.

On the way home we stopped at a place where they roast whole chickens with a wood fire.  The fire is in back of the rotisserie and the juices from the chickens drop down onto potatoes and onions.  It was fun to see and great to eat. 

 Next door two little ladies in traditional costume had a huge pile of tortilla dough on a table and were rolling out tortilla's and frying them on a grill.  They both turned their heads when I asked for a picture. I can't seem to get the picture to show correctly.

Tonight we are had FHE with about 22 people who work at the Temple as missionaries or workers.  The husband of one of the couples who has been here about six weeks served here on a mission 41 years ago.  They went to visit a family that were converted when he was here 41 years ago.  All of their children have married in the temple and all of the boys have gone on missions.  A copy of their wedding announcement still hangs on the couples wall.  It was a touching story and reunion.

Life is good.  I will overcome my challenge and try to be in tune with what the Lord wants of me here.  It is just a bit frustrating that it isn't what I was expecting but growth is good.

Love to all,  Mom, Merlene