SEMANA SANTA

The family working on the alfombra
as we arrived

We are loving being here in Central America for another Spring season and Easter. There are celebrations and family activities all during this holy week. The Wednesday before Easter we went out to Zona 1 and participated in an ALFOMBRA project. This is the tradition of putting carpets on the streets out of colored sand and sawdust and then having a procession march over them commemorating the traveling of Christ carrying the cross to Calgary.

Bags filled with colored sawdust and sand

We were able to see them last year in Tegucigalpa with Tom and Jane Adams. This year five Senior Couples from the Area went to watch (and help) a family with their carpet. One of the girls who works in the Area Office (Alma Cruz) and her boyfriend (Julio) invited us to come and help Julio's family. This family has been making a carpet in front of their family business for the last 35 years. They design it every year, and the whole family participates in the building process.

Julio showing his family design

The process takes quite a while to complete. They start in the morning and work for about 6 hours. Then the procession from the local Church comes in the afternoon/evening walking through the streets and destroying the carpets. It is quite something to watch. We were so excited to be able to visit with this family and to watch them work.

The design getting bigger.....with a little help from the newcomers

In fact, one of the things that Wayne and I have commented about this past week is the number of families that we have seen together. They ALL participate in the holy Easter services. Businesses close down and things stop so that families can be together. The young children this morning did not even whine or complain about helping with the alfombra. It was like an honor to be able to do this.

These family members worked hard without complaining

We walked around for a little while and talked to many people. There were all types of alfombras and all degrees of intricacy. One of the padres from the Catholic Church stopped us and invited us to stay for the procession ceremony that afternoon. He wanted to make sure that we knew all about it.

Getting the alfombra ready outside the church
This is where the procession will start

A typical home decorated

Wayne and I were fascinated with the Church and its decorations. They were fabulous....everything in purple. It took quite a bit of work and time to get everything ready. The people also decorate their homes in purple and flowers. Some of the displays that are carried throughout the street take 100 men to carry....they are so heavy and huge.

The inside of the local church

One of the religious scenes that they carry....
this one takes 100 men

Don't be surprised if you see colored sawdust in my cul-de-sac next Spring!!!

Thank you Julio and Alma
for sharing this family tradition with us

FINALLY REACHED THAT GOAL!!

"What have I done today for someone?"

One of the most frustrating things that I have dealt with here is my language barrier and my inability to teach. I love to teach and it is so hard for me to sit in a Relief Society meeting and not be able to express myself without stumbling over my tongue.

A couple of weeks ago the Relief Society Presidency asked me to teach the fourth Sunday lesson...a conference talk by President Thomas S Monson. It was so fun for me to do. I had lots of visual aids (with my quotes written out in Spanish). I told them a story about the second week we were here and we visited a Branch outside of Tegucigalpa. President Gomez asked Wayne to give a talk and he asked me to bear my testimony. Bearing testimony was one of the things that we learned to do before our mission in the MTC.

I got up, bore my testimony and was quite pleased with myself. When we went into Relief Society that day the Branch President came in with a manual and talked to the President for a couple of minutes. They then came over to me, handed me the manual and told me that I was going to give the lesson that day!!! They thought that I was fluent in Spanish. The lesson was on Family History and all I could say was that it was "muy importante". I think I said that about 30 times. So I told the sisters Sunday that if I said "muy importante" it was a sign that they needed to help me!! They got quite a kick out of that.

All in all it was a positive experience. I really do love to teach...and hopefully I will be able to do it in Spanish more often!!

TEMPLE DAY

Coming out of the temple
What a gorgeous bride

This morning we set out bright and early to go to the temple. One of the hermanas from our Honduras mission was going to come from Salvador to be sealed today. Most of the countries in Central America require that the couple be married in a civil ceremony and then travel to the temple for the sealing. Marleny Escobar was married yesterday, and they traveled to be here at 8am this morning at the temple.


When they arrived she was so excited to see us waiting for her. Her wedding party included her parents and one of her best friends that she has known since they were little girls. We were able to participate in a temple session with them, and then be present at her sealing. What a great blessing it was for us to be there. Hna Escobar had some hard trials throughout her mission, but she held strong and completed an honorable mission. It was with a tender heart that I hugged her and shed a few tears.

Marleny's lifetime friend
She is wearing her YW medallion

We also had a great surprise while we were waiting in the temple foyer. President Mask's door opened and a young man getting ready to receive his endowments stepped out. It was one of the young men we worked on in the dental clinic in Honduras. He ran over to us when he saw us. Elder Flores was an exceptional missionary candidate. We were so impressed upon meeting him. After he left the dental clinic I told Wayne that it would be great if he were sent to the United States. Elder Flores leaves this Monday to enter the MTC in Provo and to serve in Florida. He says that it is a dream come true for him. He will be a fantastic missionary.

Elder Flores will enter the MTC in Provo Monday

We also saw Elder Lopez from the mission. He was there supporting Hermana Escobar. We spent over 5 hours at the temple this morning....but it was a time well spent. We have great memories of the day there.

Talking on the temple grounds with Elder Lopez

QUITIQUA

Our group looking at the stelas

Next to a REALLY BIG tree

Last Saturday five missionary couples went on an excursion to Quitiqua...an archealogical site about 4 hours outside of the city. It was a beautiful day...with a great overcast sky. We were happy later on in the morning when we realized that it would be hot and muggy without the clouds. We were really blessed with the weather that day.

Quitiqua is one of the smaller archealogical sites in Guatemala. They have restored some stelas and have started to excavate some of the buildings in the area. There are mounds everywhere which tells us that there are MANY more things to unearth here. We did enjoy looking at the site and did discover a couple of things that were interesting to us.

One of the mounds waiting to be discovered

...and a mound that has been uncovered

One of the kings had a Star of David under his face. This is the same symbol that was in Copan, Honduras which is about 50 miles away as the crow flies. The other symbol was of a hand with significant markings on the palm of the hand.

The Star of David
(or two x's depending on how you look at it!)

Outstretched hand

One of the fun things for us was that the road into the ruins runs through a Banana Plantation. We were able to see one of these for the first time. There was miles and miles of bananas.....not sure which company they were for. But it was interesting to see them growing, preparing them to be picked and the expanse of trees.

Miles and miles of banana trees

The other thing we were able to see were missionaries. Always and always we love seeing our missionaries. One of these Elders had just been transferred from the Graffs and Tilleys branch. It was fun to see their reunion. Elder Graff bought them a soda and they were on their way!! So much work to be done.

WE LOVE THE MISSIONARIES!!!

LUNA NUEVA

Waiting for dental work

I know that there has been lots of discussion on the Twilight series phenomenon. I myself have read the series as my daughters were reading it (although honestly I cannot remember the story line or the plot details). When Sara and Alissa were here they bought pirated copies of the latest movie on the streets of Guatemala City. And believe it or not, they were actually good copies of the movie.

Last week I noticed a couple of our dental patients in the waiting room reading. As I looked closer at the book.....I realized that he was reading NEW MOON. I asked him about it, and he said that it was a great book. He even turned off the movies that were on so that he could concentrate on the book.



Who knew?? Twilight is indeed a force in the entire world!!

ELDER PEREZ

Elder Perez with Los Tomkinsons

One of the great things about serving in the mission in Honduras is the association we had with all the missionaries while we were there. In fact, I really miss this association. It is a real treat when we are able to see them or hear from them when they have returned home. I am getting really good at checking my Facebook account to see who has returned.

Last week we had a visitor at the Dental Clinic: Dolver Alexander Perez Monroy or in other words Elder Perez. Elder Perez was one of the missionaries that we served with in the office in Comayaguela. He was ALWAYS HUNGRY (even more so than the other missionaries). When I realized that he was going to be at the clinic, I got a couple of treats for him. When he got there I asked him if he was hungry....and he just laughed. Then I gave him the treats.

We had a good visit with him. He had been home just a few days when we visited with him, but he was getting things ready for the rest of his life. He is getting a job, going to school....and the things that he had been taught. He is ready for the rest of his life!!!

FILLMORES ARE HERE!!

We are so excited to announce that we have another missionary couple here to serve with us in the Clinic. They are Paul and Joanne Fillmore from Mesa, AZ!!!! Paul served his mission here in Guatemala so he is fluent in Spanish. They have done MANY humanitarian service tours the last one being here in Guatemala last May. We are so thankful to have someone else help with the patients we are seeing at the Dental Clinic. We are ready to have the volunteers start coming.

HE CAN WAIT ME

I met this little lady at Stake Conference a couple of weeks ago. She was delightful and told me all about her family and their "history" in the church. Her family was one of the very first that were baptized in Central America. She is currently a worker at the temple. She and I had quite a conversation for a few minutes...she was very animated and wanted to explain everything to me.

After about five minutes I noticed this car moving right by us....it would move and then edge forward a few more inches. She told me it was her husband and he was ready to go. I told her that she had better get moving...and it was nice to meet her, etc. She looked right at me and said:

HE CAN WAIT ME......

It was so adorable. I loved that she tried to speak English to me. And I caught a glimpse of how the people feel here with my broken Spanish.

CHICHICASTENANGO

Rex Tilley and I in the market with our find for the day
I am collecting the Christmas ornaments that are displayed
on the top of his booth

With only a little over three months left on the mission we are realizing that we will probably not get to do everything here in Guatemala that we had wanted to. So....we have started to take some day trips to see this beautiful country.

Chichicastenango is a beautiful indigenous city about 2 hours outside of Guatemala City. They have their local market day on Thursdays and Sundays. A couple of weeks ago we (9 of us) left the city early and drove to Chichi for their market day. It was one of the most colorful things that I have seen. We had a great time at the market.....and were even able to see one of the native religious celebrations at the church.

We didn't take the picture any closer because it is a
religious ceremony

One of the things that is hard for all of us is the constant hounding to buy something. We have so much and these people so little. Especially hard is the young children that "work" the market. The three amigos....Wayne, Elder Tilley and Elder Graff......finally consented to have their shoes shined. One of the boys followed me around the entire day, and I finally also consented to have him shine my shoes. ( I must admit that they haven't looked this good in months).

These young boys worked hard to get these shoes shined

Another thing that I have realized is that it is fun to bargain with the people, but the amount that I "get them down to" really isn't that significant in the long run. I normally just ask them what their best price is and we both usually get a fair deal.

After our hour or so in the market we went to one of the local hotels that had a fantastic buffet. We found out that we had to have a ticket to use the bano.....so the 5 women needed to get tickets. When the owners realized that we were "Mormon missionaries" they gave us the tickets for free. The buffet at the hotel was wonderful. We always watch what we eat when we are out....avoiding lettuce, uncooked food, etc.....but we were pretty lucky this time. Only one person got sick that evening. They also had a marimba band and makaws in their garden area.

We even paused to take a picture of our tickets before
running into the bathroom!!

The hotel buffet....Wayne had just "clicked" at me
which is why my head is up

In the gardens at the hotel with one of the birds behind us

One funny thing was that while we were at the hotel (which had gazillions of tourists there for the lunch and their atmosphere)....a man asked Wayne and a couple of other missionaries to pose for a picture for him. I guess that he wanted to have a picture of Mormon Missionaries to take home!!! We were laughing soooo hard.....we are officially a tourist attraction.

Watch out for the "Mormon Missionaries"
If you are lucky you can catch a picture of them!!!

THE ROCK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIELD

We love Guatemala and Central America in general. The more that we are here, the more we are convinced that this area is the heart of the Book of Mormon. There are evidences of this everywhere throughout the region.

One of the things that we have heard about is a huge black rock that is a glyph. These things are all over, but this one has some links to the birth of the Mayan nation, and shows some connections to the Book of Mormon.

The first step in the story of the glyph is actually finding it. It is literally out in the middle of a sugar cane field. We left on a Saturday morning with the Tilleys to go find it. Tilleys have actually been there several times (thank goodness)....so they had some idea of where to look. Elder Neil Anderson was here a couple of weeks ago and the leaders had taken him out to see the glyph....so the local people had blazed a trail to make it easier for the Andersons to travel in the field. That made it easier for us to find the rock.

The trail that the locals made to help
Elder Anderson find the glyph

Elder Tilley looking for the rock

WE FOUND IT!!!

I know it is hard to see in the photos, but the main figure is said to be Lehi. There is an umblicial cord from him showing the seven tribes that are mentioned in the Book of Mormon. (Laman, Lemuel, Ishmael, Nephi, Jacob, Zoram and Joseph). These tribes are also listed in the Doctrine and Covenants. The Mayan people say that they are descended from 7 tribes as well. Thus the connection of the Book of Mormon to the birth of the Mayan people.


The Mayans still come to this rock for ceremonies. You can see that there is some kind of burnt offering in front of the rock. Everyone in the local town and area knows where the rock is. When they see the gringos coming through the field they just point to let them know where it is.