Payback

I truly wish that I had pictures......

Two or three Saturday's ago I was basically told to go to the child care center in an adjoining building by an assistant matron who speaks no English.  She handed some keys to another worker, who speaks less English than I do Spanish, and off we went.  I was basically dumbfounded.  I didn't know what to do, I couldn't talk to either her or the children and we were there for many hours.  The parents went through initiatory, and then a session (which always start late) but things were really behind this day before they were sealed and ready to have the children join them.

The children were delightful and the other sister was able to get them dressed in white.  We got down toys and things to do for them, took them to the restroom over and over (they loved the paper towel which comes out when you put your hand under it) and gave them some water and crackers.  By the end of the day the littlest of the four was coming up and hugging me.

An input here on March 21st - The Guatemalan sister that I was assigned with was my new neighbor.  Soon after we got there we saw some children outside the door of the center and she realized that it was her grandchildren who were being watched by a friend while the parents went through a session.  We invited them in and let them play with the children that we were watching.  Yesterday as I entered the women's locker area Sister Fahardo (our neighbor) got excited and someone interpreted, "Grandchildren".  She came in to her locker which is near mine and got out this little packet of earrings.  She said that they were from her grandchildren as a thank you for that day.  The picture isn't good and the total size of the box is 1 1/2 inches.  They are glass "diamonds" of two sizes (not yellow as the picture shows) and blue and pink hearts. The excitement on the grandmother's face as she handed them to me was as pleasing as the thoughtfulness of the children.

 

Finally we got a telephone call to bring the children over.  We had to tap on an exterior door and the person who called was waiting there to let us in.  After a minute waiting in the hall we all went in and the children were sealed to their parents.  The temple workers are not included in Manti so it was a special treat for me to watch that special occasion.

We took the children back and had them dress in their own clothes and waited for the parents to finish, change and come to get them.

Today was Stake Conference.  The building was one of if not the first in Guatemala and the conference was held in the huge multi-purpose room/ sports event center, parking garage attached to it. The original mission home for the country of Guatemala was on this piece of property. 

  As I stood close to a door waiting for our ride home a little girl came running to me and put out her arms to hug me.  Soon two others were hugging and kissing me and then they ran to get their older brother (probably about 10) who came running and hugged me.  The mother hugged me and in Spanish said that her daughter had spotted me and said something like, "Momma, the Hermana from the Templo".  I don't have the words to tell you how totally immersed in love I felt at that moment.  It makes that day a treasure forever.

Several of the talks really left me thinking, too.  I wrote those notes down and will probably include some thoughts here, too.

Mike Sees to it That Ours Medical Insurance Isn't a Waste

We were required by the Church to purchase medical insurance at $517.18 a month for the two of us.  That is quite a hefty price considering that they advised us not to put our regular insurance on hold for a six-month mission because it can sometimes take a while to get everything reinstated.  So the insurance for our six months here will be $3103.08 plus the PEHP we are paying in Utah.  I joked with another couple that had to have an emergency eye surgery this week that we would donate our money to his cause.  Little did I know that we would have a cause of our own and we still have 6 1/2 weeks to go.

Mike went for a walk this morning and was going to pick up a few things.  When he was almost to his second destination he tripped and landed on some cement with rusty wires sticking up that tore his shirt and deeply into his arm.

One of the tender mercies of the event was that he was right next to a taxi pick-up for the grocery store.  He got a driver who knew where the temple was and brought him directly to our place.  He walked in to the door and said something like, " I need a rag to catch some of this blood.  I tripped and tore my arm open and it is bleeding a lot."  I quickly wrapped it and told him to go to the CCM (MTC) where there is a nurse.  I called her to tell her that he was coming and she told me that they don't do stitches there but they would see what the could do to help.

Next I called Elder Larry Jenson from upstairs and asked if he would go over and see what was happening.  I wasn't dressed to go and don't speak Spanish (besides hating blood and stitches) and said I would stay by the phone.

A few minutes later I got a call from the nurse saying that they were calling an ambulance that has a doctor on board that they use when they need to at the CCM.  She told me that they would need Mike's passport number so I was glad that I had stayed here and could give it to them.

In just a minute I heard an ambulance pull up across the street at the temple.  The counselor at the CCM had called Pres. Norman to tell him what was going on so when John saw the ambulance he hopped in and rode with the ambulance across the street to the CCM.

Another tender mercy is that the church has an arrangement with this ambulance company so with Mike's insurance card and passport number everything is automatically covered-- no paperwork, claims to make, etc.

The doctor stitched him up, Larry walked him home and he and another missionary gave him a blessing and in a few minutes John showed up with the prescription that the doctor had ordered.  It was so cheap that I don't think we will even bother to turn it in.

Mike is sleeping and I am home to try to care for him.

John took some shots so that I could share them with you.

I'm so glad that he had a doctor take care of it.  Five stitches deserve an expert.

John told him that next time he wants a day off he should just ask for it rather than try something like this!

This is a picure of the arm 30 hours later.

 

And this one is Monday morning.

                                                                                  And this one is Monday morning

The stitches were removed this morning by a female doctor.  She has him on another five days of antibiotic because it is a bit red and swollen around the stitches.

One week later. 

Thanks to Elder Larry Jenson we now have a picture of the healed arm and the weapon that was guilty of causing the wound in the first place.   (March 21)

 He tripped on an uneven sidewalk and fell with his right arm landing directly on these spikes.

Larry is really gifted with his computer work and sends out a very professional looking blog.  He allowed me to steal these pictures from him. 

 

Some Memories and Thoughts

On Monday Sister Mijangos was kind enough to take us again to Antigua.  We also took the Winkfields, another Temple Missionary couple, who are leaving next week and wanted to go there again.  They wanted to have breakfast at the macadamia nut farm and Sister Mijangos wanted to see where it was so we made the drive.  The breakfast was good but not something that I would return again for although the outdoor setting was delightful.

We dropped the Winfields off at the market and Sister M took us to another neighboring town to the woodcarver's shop where I had fallen in love with these two carvings.

At present the plan is to hang the fish above the door in the kitchen that goes to the garage.  It is such a good match of the colors I use in the room.  I am going to stain and lacquer the lilies in the basket to match some of the other wood in the living room and put it above the door to our bedroom that is shorter than the other doors in the room.

My goal as we have traveled through the years has been to bring home things that are more artistic rather than the traditional tourist collections.  I think that these two fit my goal.

I have had the opportunity to touch some lives and do some deep learning as we have served here.  Everyone knows that I am here because I wanted my husband to be given this opportunity.  I make little effort to learn Spanish and don't work in initiatory for that reason.  I have had some chances to make some difference in my own way, however, that have made me feel that there is a reason that I am also here.

Part of being in a different country for me is getting to know the people.  I have already shown a picture of Sister Flohr and have mentioned getting haircuts and going nativity shopping with her.  She was speaking to the English speaking sisters almost never and one would have guessed that she was clueless about English.  As I have pushed her to talk with me and have done things with her I have realized that she understands English quite well and can speak it some.  One day she said something like, "How is my friend, my best friend." to me at the temple.  I was honored that she would think so but at the same time felt concern that someone who has had so little contact would be her "best" friend.  I recognized a need for her to have more friends with the sisters that she works with and wanted to help, if possible.

A few days later a sister who came from Canada about six weeks before we came told me of leaving her temple shift early and coming home crying.  She wondered if there was something wrong with her that none of the Guatemalan sisters seemed to like her.  It made me so sad.  No one should feel that way even if it isn't real.  I decided that I would have these two couples over for dinner on Monday.  We had a good dinner and a fun visit.  During the meal Sister Flohr suggested that she could teach me Spanish and I could teach her English.  I countered with the idea that the Flohrs and Jensons should be the ones to teach each other since they would be together longer.  They took up the idea and they have each already been to each other's apartments to study together.  I hope that it will give them both a great friendship.

I feel such love at the temple.  I have been told that I am beautiful, in English no less, and "linda" which means beautiful or pretty in Spanish so often that I could almost believe it.  I sometimes have to hold myself back a little from having fun with the sisters and trying to make them have a happy time while they are serving.  I have been asked over and over why we are going home and if we can't come back.  As I leave my shift and throw kisses at the sisters they often call back, "I love you."

Another reason that I know that I am here happened this week as I worked in the clothing area with a lovely little sister.  She speaks English very well and we were having an interesting discussion which tied closely to another I had experience earlier in the week.  She made me promise that I would not tell anyone what she told me, even my husband or the Normans.  I don't know her name but I still do want to respect her desire.  We talked first about loosing children and she told me about losing twins that she so desperately wanted to have.  She said that it wasn't until later that she was able to have peace and know that the Lord knew more than she knew and that if He felt it was better for them not to come she could learn to trust him.  I told her of my two losses at five month pregnancy and how the Lord had blessed me with peace with both of them knowing that it was in His hand.  For some reason I told her next that I had been through a divorce and that I had prayed and prayed that Tim would change and want to be a husband to me and father to my children but then one day I realized that I was asking the Lord to take away his agency and that day when I went to the temple I asked that he would do the right thing for me and our family. That night he called and asked for a divorce.  She was overwhelmed and confided in me things that she has not shared with others.  I will say this much, her husband is not honest with Church leaders and currently holds a temple recommend, (which I guess he never uses.) What the Bishop has heard from him has not been the truth.  She thanked me over and over for talking with her and said that she had received answers to things she had come to the temple wanting to know.  I do not believe that it was by mistake that we worked alone together for an extended time that day.

She has been in so many thoughts and prayers this last few days and it is almost uncanny the articles that people have put on facebook or the questions about others that I have been asked also to share in the few days since that time that verify that there are truly many women whose stories are not believed either because leaders can't believe that those things of the men that they know, they chose to believe the lies that the men tell, or they don't carefully listen. Of course there is so often another side in arguments and disappointments in struggling marriages but men having affairs, abusing their wives or being dishonest can make a very one-sided marriage no matter what the partner tries or does.  So many women cannot leave because they cannot support themselves or they have been belittled so that they see themselves as worthless.

I have had a personal spiritual growth experience as I have tried to understand something that is operational in a temple that just doesn't seem right or fair to me.  I have struggled with it for years.  This week an answer came in a unique way.  I have tried it explain in discussions about gays and lesbians that I believe that it is their personal test and that possibly they even agreed to it before they came here.  My thinking is that it is hard and not "fair" from a worldly perspective but neither is it fair for girls to never have a chance to marry or people to be born with painful diseases or disfigurement.  This life is not fair.  BUT eternity is.  The answer to my question is: WAIT, it will be fair.  You are judging fairness  by this world but there is a much bigger picture.  Then you will understand. 

Tonight we had a welcome/goodbye for a new couple coming and two others leaving.  As we were leaving the President of the CCM's  (MTC) wife came up to me and said something like, " I just want you to know that you are a light at the temple."  It made me feel good that despite my not being able to speak my presence is positive.