Missionary Conference with Elder Cook and Elder Gong

We were able to attend a missionary conference for the missionaries in Guatemala City area of Guatemala with 500+ missionaries in the huge building attached to the Montufar chapel on Wednesday, March 7th.  Elder Cook, Elder Gong, and Elder Ochoa were in attendance.  Here are a few notes-  all of the speeches were great.

Elder Quinton Cook

"I believe this is a very special place where you are and a very special time where the people here have not succumb.  The 'great and spacious building' is not as powerful here right now. "

Your calls were given to you at this time so that you can be with these people and these Presidents. This is an urgent time.  He said that last June in preparing for the new Mission President's seminar and again in preparing for this conference he felt some of the urgency that was heard when the church first sent out missionaries.  People would have to hear in their own tongue and languages.   

The Prophet Joseph said that the primary gift of the tongue will be missionaries speaking in the language of the people that they serve.  The language of the heart is the language that you pray in. 

He told about 1837 when the First Presidency sent  missionaries to England and they didn't have a song book.  President Brigham Young asked Parley P Pratt to put together a hymn book.  PPP wrote the hymn of the restoration "The Morning Breaks" which is #1 and has been in hymn books.

Elder Cook prays that we will feel a real sense of urgency.  Remember that the harvest is the Lord's.    When the people are as ready as these people are, if you don't feel gratitude for being with these special people…..then change and recommit.  Love the Lord and love the families. 

Have a sense of who you are among these people of central America. Feel the sense of the people you are among.  Feel urgent about what you are doing.   You will be rejected.   D & C 31:7 The Lord will open the hearts of the people and the Savior will establish a church by your hand. 

Remember-

1. Don't underestimate might prayer   Alma 6:6

2. Be warm and gracious and carry a spirit and your impact will be increased.  The newest missionary can help to bring the Spirit.

Elder Cook had a significant experience in joining in ordaining President Nelson as the prophet.  It left no doubt that he was to be the president and prophet.

President Nelson was foreordained to be the Prophet in this era.  He really feels an urgency of getting the message from the Lord that he must be doing. 

Elder Cook says that as an apostle he has a special responsibility to be a special witness.  "I feel a great urgency about being a special witness and I want you to write it in your hearts and on your paper.  I testify to you that I know the Savior's voice and face.  I am a sure witness of the Savior Jesus Christ. "

Most of what we receive is through the Holy Ghost but on temples and missionary work we receive direct guidance.  He feels particular urgency in temple and missionary work.  Guidance is given from the Savior for operation of the work. 

He left us with an apostolic blessing.  He said that the Savior overcame everything that appears to be unfair in life.  He blessed us that the time will come that you will have a sense to understand what it means to be an emissary of the Savior.  You may have family problems, parents divorcing, other problems.  The time will come that this mission you are serving blesses not only you but everyone near and dear to you.  Everyone will be blessed because of this mission you are serving. 

 Sister Gong

She said that when we pray for the good of others we get spiritual promptings.  The Spirit will guide you in small and important things.  She told of being in Taiwan on her mission and one day two of the Sisters, after praying that they would be open to spiritual promptings,  got a call from the Elders who said that both of their bikes were broken and needed to be fixed and wondered if they could borrow the Sisters bikes.  They let them borrow them and walked downstairs from their apartment and stood wondering where they should walk when a woman came to them and told them that she had been watching them and wanting to know what they were teaching but they always hopped on their bikes and she couldn't talk with them.  She was later baptized.

She also told of being a RS President in Washington, DC and that she prayed every day for the sisters in her ward and their needs.  One day a certain sister's name kept coming to her so she felt impressed to call her.  The Sister said something like, "Oh, I knew you wouldn't forget my birthday."  She told the truth and admitted that she hadn't remembered but asked what she would like for her birthday and she was told that the sister would love a chocolate cake. 

She said that we need to know that it is the Spirit that is influencing us.  Moroni 7:13.  She said that it is a partnership.  You have to prepare and the Lord will inspire.

Before the meetings started Elder Cook, Elder Gong and Elder Ochoa each shook the hands of the 500+ missionaries that met in the Montufar chapel annex.  I went before Mike and as I got to Elder Gong I said, "My brothers Todd and Lanny Britsch love you."  He responded with a huge smile, "You come from a great family."  At the same time Elder Cook was shaking Mike's hand, asked where we were from and thanked him for our service. 

Steph said that she went to a special fireside for Family History Missionaries and President Oaks and his wife shook the hands of those in attendance there.  The brethren are really so gracious in giving thanks.

Elder Gong

His talk was basically directed to missionary service.  D&C Sec 90:11 was quoted and he asked if each of us were part of that prophecy.  He said that we need to touch both the heart and mind of a person and that the heart is the chistory, the culture and experience of the people that you teach.  One should frame the teaching to their own experience.  His challenge was to seek to know how to feel every language of the heart of the people you teach. 

He said that 3 Nephi 20:25 speaks to these people.  "And behold, ye are the children of the prophets; and ye are of the house of Israel; and ye are of the covenantwhich the Father made with your fathers, saying unto Abraham; And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. "

My Goodbye Page

Sister Norman buys a fabric coated little book and leaves out for a few weeks for the sisters to write goodbye messages to those who are leaving.  I wanted to leave something for them in return so I had a young sister who works as a graphic designer take some of my pictures and do this page for me to leave next to my book.  It basically says that I came to Guatemala to help my husband fulfill a dream, that I hadn't learned to speak Spanish but have learned something much more beautiful, "The Language of Love".

For some reason the Spanish didn't show up.  It said: Vine a Guatemala para apoyar el sueno de mi esposo.  Aun cuando no aprendi el idioma Espanol, aprendi y senti algo mucho mas hermoso,"El idiama del amor" Gracias   (Sorry Art but I don't have some of the keys.)

Zone Conference for Senior Missionaries

Today we had a Zone Conference at the Area Office.  Our Speaker was Elder Valeri V Cordon who is a General Authority Seventy and is in the Central America Area Presidency.  He is just a kid (49 years old) and is extremely impressive. He has a degree from Guatemala and then an MBA from MIT.

He told us about showing this picture to missionaries and asking them to tell him about the picture.

He said that they always say that it is an American with a family of four boys, that they look happy, etc.  then he asks them to tell him more. The  missionary and the youngest boy were branch presidents.  His father and the other two boys were Bishops.  All three boys were Stake Presidents, one was a mission president and one is a general authority. 

He is the boy in red.  His family drove from Guatemala through Mexico and to Mesa, Arizona to be seated at the suggestion of that Branch President. 

His cousin's family also joined the church and every one of those boys have served in church leadership.  (I didn't take notes and can't remember details.  I think he is about in the middle.)
He did say that there were only a few branches when he was growing up and there many stakes. 

He was helping us to realize that it is almost impossible to see the effects of what we might do as we serve.  He closed by telling a story of a leader asking a young man what the worth of a soul was.  After hesitating for a moment he said, " The worth of a soul is its capacity to become a God."  The leader was impressed and expressed the opinion that was a profound answer. 

He reminded us that no matter what we are doing as missionaries we are influencing people and helping them to become more like God. 
(Thanks to Sister Jeffers for letting me copy her pictures)

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.

  

Another Noah

While we were in Antigua on Monday John and Chris took some of the missionaries to a more upscale market near the airport.  While they were there they found this Noah's ark.

I loved it because it is different than anything else I have with the opening to the insides of the boat and because you can see by the hand that it is probably a good size for one of my shelves. 

The helper working in the shop that day told John that that was the only one they had.  John was kind enough to hurry me there on Wednesday so that it wouldn't be sold.  Actually that could have been sold but was the sales model and ALL of the animals available were glued in place.  They had empty arks that you could buy and you got 12 sets of animals, a few spares and a Mr & Mrs Noah.  That was really more what I wanted anyway.  John dealt with her financially and I got it for 325Q or about $46.
We probably need to stop traveling or we might need to add on to our house. :)

The owner packed up my animals in a little hand painted box and wrapped the ark for shipping.  The sample pictures is as close as we will get until it is home and unpacked BUT I do remember that the opening is on the other side of my ark. 

TICKETS

I've been checking airline tickets for about a week and was blessed on Tuesday to find business/1st class tickets on American airlines that give us two 70 lb bags each at no cost, a breakfast and a lunch and they ended up costing only about $107 more each once you added the $25 + $40 each (and those bags could only be 50 pounds each).  With the extra 80 pounds of shipping and 4 meals we are actually coming out ahead.  We leave Guatemala at six AM and we are in SLC at 2:43 PM.  We couldn't ask for anything much better.  We feel very blessed.

Antigua Trip with Silvana Mijangos and Brother Eric

One of the blessings that has come to us in Guatemala is the opportunity to mingle some with the Guatemalan saints here.  Sister Mijangos went with us on the trip to Xela last week and I asked her if she knew where I could find a Noah's ark.  She told me of a wood carver in Antigua that made them.  I bravely asked her if she could take us to find one.  She said that she would love to and after a few minutes said that her brother was coming from California the next week and that the four of us could make the trip. 

Sister Mijangos is in the Ward that we attend here.  She went to BYU and speaks English beautifully. She has been a math teacher at the American school here. She and her husband were Mission Presidents in Mexico in the 90's.  He died from diabetes about a year ago, I think.   Her brother, Eric (need to get his last name), has been in the states most of his life and is a US citizen. He is a Stake Patriarch in Whitter California and had come down to visit their 96 year old mother who has been ill. He also bought a Noah for one of his daughters.

 

They were delightful to spend the day with.  

Antigua was the capital of Guatemala until a huge earthquake destroyed much of the city in 1776 and they decided to move the capital city to a less earthquake prone location.  We passed a few of the destroyed areas that are still there but didn't visit any.  Here are some pictures from the internet. 

 

The entire town is designed with Spanish Baroque influenced architecture the is generally well preserved.  When the LDS Church built it's building there they were required to match the local architecture and  I barely identified it by noticing the sign on the building.  

The streets are very narrow. One car parks along one side and it is dangerous to be a pedestrian anywhere else on the road if a vehicle comes along.  Of course some of those vehicles are delivery trucks and buses.  All of the streets are cobblestone.  (It was interesting to see some men doing road repair.  I hadn't thought about what a task that would be.)

Silvana knew right were this little shop was. 

We actually went into the doorway that is light blue and the room was perhaps 12 feet across. It was full of wood carvings and other trinkets.  She pulled out the ark at Silvana's request and then a box full of animals.  Noah and his wife and four sets of animals came with the ark and you could buy other sets.  I had to stop myself and chose somewhat for color variety rather than my favorite animals.

This is my ark and the animals that we selected.  Erik is kindly flying it back to the USA in his suitcase and I gave him $20 US to mail it to Mt Pleasant. 

After we left the woodcarvers we found a favorite spot for Erik to get some candy.  Then we went to an area across from this beautiful church so that they could get some things.  

Here is another beautiful church we drove past. 

Next we went into a coffee plantation for lunch.  There were MANY gringo's there (there are many all over this town.)  It was a beautiful location and we had a lovely lunch.  I took this picture standing near our table.  I'm not wild about the trash bag in the photo but I wanted the flowering bush. 

The view was spectacular. 

We drove home from there.  That evening we hosted all of the English speaking missionaries and we watched a documentary about two boys from their childhood until missions.  It was extremely well done and gave some interesting perspective.  What a great day we had!

Trip to Chichi and the Temple in Xela

I'm afraid that our wonderful, information packed two weeks are about to end but what a wonderful ending it was.  There is a Guatemalan couple who work in the temple who basically have no money.  I was told that they sold their car so that they could come and serve.  I had heard that she had served a mission as a single sister a long time ago in Xela and I thought it would be wonderful to let her and her husband join us for the trip.  I was trying to invite her one morning and she doesn't understand me any better than I understand her.  As a blessing from on high a sister from the ward that we attend walked in at that moment.  She is a graduate of BYU, the wife of a past mission president in Mexico and speaks English fluently.  Little did I know that she had also invited the sister of this couple to live at her home years ago when the family that she was living with moved away.  

I asked Sister Mijangos if she would please tell Sister Reyna that I wanted to treat her and her husband on a trip to Xela.  Sister Mijangos said that she wanted to come, too, and I thought that was great. She knows the Reynas and can interpret.  I invited her to invite another sister to join her for a companion in the travel.  Sister Mijangos ended up being a life saver with the Reyna's.  I had no way of contacting them and neither did President Norman.  They had not returned from their home town to the temple housing.  I only had a email address for Sister Mijangos but thankfully she saw my message of concern and called me.  She was able to contact them and they caught a bus at 4:30 AM and were ready to leave with us at 6 AM.  

The other missionary couple who were traveling with us also split the cost and Sister Mijangos paid the expenses for the sister she invited so the five of us each paid about $92 for the nine (we included the LDS bus driver in everything) for two full days travel and a night in the temple housing.  What a wonderful deal that was.  

There were three more spots that I wanted to see if I didn't get any more travel in Guatemala. The first was Chichicastenango.  I'll quote here what Lonely Planet says about it:

"Surrounded by valleys with mountains serrating the horizons, Chichicastenango can seem isolated in time and space from the rest of Guatemala. When its narrow cobbled streets and red-tiled roofs are enveloped in mist, it's downright magical. The crowds of crafts vendors and tour groups who flock in for the huge Thursday and Sunday markets lend it a much worldlier, more commercial atmosphere, but Chichi retains its mystery. Masheños (citizens of Chichicastenango) are famous for their adherence to pre-Christian beliefs and ceremonies, and the town's various cofradías (religious brotherhoods) hold processions in observance of their saints around the church of Santo Tomás."

I was warned to take Dramamine because of the winding road, which I did and it helped.  We stopped for breakfast about two hours out of town and then began the winding and climbing road to Chichi.  

The first vendor that I passed was selling chickens.  I had already taken a picture before she waved me off. 

I put my camera away and the rest of the pictures that you see here were taken from the internet.  Mike bought a very expensive wool hooded cape which he claims that he will wear outside when it is cold and wet.  I hope he will use it.  It is very classy looking.  I teased him that he has spent far more on his items that I have even dreamed of spending and many of mine are to give away.  

 They had by far the best collection of nativities I have seen at any of the markets but I have purchased many and don't know for sure how many I want to replace from the others that I have bought.  Because they are clay and have weight I will only bring the ones I need.

There were wonderful painted animals, masks and I almost bought a beautifully made jacket with their traditional weave and lined but the colors didn't "sing" to me. 

 

We had agreed to meet in one hour and that helped me to keep from spending more.   When I talked to Chris Norman this morning she said that Chichi made her claustrophobic.  I felt that it was more open that many places that we have visited and then it dawned on me that we went straight there after breakfast and were part way there when we stopped for breakfast.  I had read about the horrible crowds, now that I think about it but we got there just as most shops were opening, thus no crowds.  

If I were to get to go shopping at only one place in Guatemala this would be the spot.  I would start early on a Thursday morning (the market is open on Thursday and Saturday) and beat the crowds but enjoy the unbelievable amount of lovely items.Quetzaltenango led Xela after a Mayan chief who had saved the town. It is the second largest city in the country.  It has a totally different feeling than the capital city.  It is cooler, less crowded and the temple was built in 2011 and is much larger and more spacious than the Guatemala City temple.  We stopped at a mall near the temple and had okay food court food. It was amazing to drive out of that parking lot and start up a hill that overlooked the whole city and there sat the temple.

 

I had started getting a cold, no doubt from the changing temperatures and no regular sleep and so we decided to attend a later session and I took a nap.  The four Guatemalans got into the afternoon session and we got in the 7 PM session with our bus driver.  I took this picture of the temple as we left the temple housing to walk over. 

The next morning we had breakfast at the temple housing, took some pictures and left to see the town. 

It was Friday, the day of President Monson's funeral, thus the flag at half mast. 

 We had lovely rooms.  Ours had two sets of bunks and a twin, a nice bathroom with separate shower, toilet and double sink areas.  I guess that there are some temple missionaries who live in one part of the building and the distribution center is under this end of the building.  They cost us about $7 per person for the night. 

This is Elder Holman chatting with a temple gardener.  He was a returned missionary and spoke a bit of English. 

  This is one of many shots that we took of the whole group with the temple in the background. 

 Hector Gutierrez our driver, Elder Holman, Sister Silvana de Mijangos,  Sister Gloria Garcia, Sister Holman, Elder Renya, Mike, Sister Renya and me. Sylvia is the one who went to BYU and her husband was a mission president in Mexico.  He passed away from diabetes.  Sister Garcia is 79 and spends Friday morning from 9 until 9 PM working at the temple.  No one puts in longer shifts.  Sister Mijangos paid her way and the Holman's and we paid the rest.  It worked out great.  

 Downtown by the square.

 

We drove across the city and wound up and and up a mountain until we reached this park and monument.  This group was obviously studying about the leader that the monument was made in honor of.  There were many pick-up trucks that were obviously the means of transportation for all of them and there was one speaker or leader.

We stopped part way down and took some pictures of the valley and the city. 

You can see the temple across the valley.

 We asked Sister Renya if things were like they were when she served there on her mission.  She said, "not at all" it has been 35 years and all of this is new."

When we got back downtown we stopped at a bakery.  Each person got a basket with a pair of tongs and put what they wanted in their basket and then took it up to the counter to pay.  Here are just a few pictures of the treats. 

From Xela we headed to Solola'.  It is supposed to have a famous Friday morning market. It is famous not so much for tourist shopping but for the Mayans and others shopping from and with each other.  Mike and I mentioned even before we were told that the shops along the street seemed to be filled with native shoppers rather than with tourists. We stopped at the town square and got some of the pictures that we wanted but really didn't go to a market. This area is famous for people wearing the more traditional clothing yet you will also see a mix. 

The one girl is totally traditional while the other is half and half. 

This is probably one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip.

We headed home after visiting Solola' and we stopped for dinner at the Swiss place that we ate at on our first trip.  

I may be a slow learner but I do learn.  Before my meal I had a nutella, cream, strawberry crepe'.  I shared it with my table and then sent tastes to the remainder when I realized I hadn't shared.  It was SO worth it.  

It is Saturday and I am still in my PJ's at 7 PM.  I finally called the doctor to get some help with my hands.  More Benedril and Cortozone cream.  Cold is appreciating the rest.

I may add more pictures at some point but you have a pretty good summary.