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