BEAUTIFUL TREE

Just had to add this picture of my favorite tree in Central America. These are absolutely the brightest and most vibrant orange color. I loved seeing them in Honduras and was so excited to see one a couple of weeks ago when we were driving around.......the picture does not do the color justice!!!

EATING OUT

The first six months of our mission we NEVER ate dinner out. When the Blaisdells visited in January of '09 we ventured out to Chilis. Hopefully this was because of our lack of Spanish....but we have definitely made up for it since our move to Guatemala. Just this last week we have been able to go out two times.

After a temple session we went out with Dic and Jennifer Johnson to an Italian restaurant that is owned by their next door neighbor. He treated us to appetizers and insisted that we get the chocolate mousse. It was a fun evening....and Dic and Wayne looked great in their bibs.


This last week we went out with Dr Luis Contreras and his wife. He is the LDS dentist that has been so helpful in getting the clinic started. We have enjoyed getting to know him and appreciated all that he does.

With the Contreras and the Fillmores

ISMAEL.....FOUR ROOT CANALS

Meet Ismael Tecu. Ismael is one of our Tio Juan boys. Wayne has done four root canals on him these past few months. We finished up his work this last week. What a blessing this will be in his life. We have enjoyed getting to know him and doing this service for him. One of the fruits of our labors.......

LIVING THROUGH IT ALL!!

Here is an American Airlines plane on the runway at the airport
You can see the ash on the runway as well as on the top of the plane

We have decided that in order to experience life you need to go on a mission.....the past couple of days we have dealt with the volcano eruption as well as Tropical Storm Agatha. The rain was literally coming down in sheets yesterday and there was terrible flooding throughout the country. They have declared Guatemala (as well as parts of Salvador and Honduras) disaster areas. Church was cancelled throughout the entire country (for all denominations) today. We have been spending the day in our apartment. It reminds us of our shut down in Honduras at the first part of the mission. We watched "Music and the Spoken Word" this morning as well as the movie "Emma Smith...my story". It was an uplifting morning. We also had a great soup lunch with the people on our floor.

Some of the muck from the rains and volcano activity
They are reporting 73 confirmed dead as of today
The rivers are swelling and causing massive flooding
As of now we have had no reports of problems involving
members or missionaries

We realize that our last week here will be busy...and that we are a small part of what is happening here. We are praying and hoping to be able to go home on schedule. The airport is planning on being closed for 72 more hours. The rain has actually helped to wash off the volcanic ash on the roads (and runways). We actually have people visiting us here from Provo. They are scheduled to leave Tuesday morning. We will see.

Staci Elizabeth Gietz May 27th
6 lbs. 7 oz. 20 1/2 inches long
Parents: Kris and Amy Gietz

Staci Elizabeth Gietz is here. We are glad that all is safe with her and her mom. Alissa is less than two weeks from being married. We are in the twilight zone between mission and home....it is coming fast!! Love to you all!!

RIO DULCE/LIVINGSTON

Me and my new best croc friend

Last weekend we went with Dic and Jennifer Johnson to Rio Dulce. It is by the Caribbean and about a 4-5 hour drive from Guatemala City. We left Friday about noon and drove the Atlantico Highway as if we were going to Copan, Honduras. Jennifer had packed a lunch which we ate at the Saritas (ice cream place) along the way. We were happy to arrive in Rio Dulce about 4pm....so it was still light and we were able to look around the town a bit.

Jennifer and Dic Johnson....cousins and great friends

We ate dinner at a great restaurant right on the river. We had shrimp and fish which I am sure were freshly caught. The wind was blowing but we enjoyed our food and friendship. It has been so good to get to know the Johnsons. Wayne and Jennifer are second cousins and it has been wonderful to have this family tie.

Shrimp for dinner

The resort (not a hotel) that we stayed in was right on the lake and was beautiful. There was hardly anyone there...but you could see how they would be really busy with families and tourists during the main seasons. We got up early to get a boat for our morning on the river. Our guide was great. We first went "up" the river to see the castle. This looks like a military installation that would guard the entry into the country. What a fun place for kids to explore.

Mansion del Rio.....our resort

Getting ready for the river ride

The Castle

We then went down the river to the Caribbean and Livingston. It took about an hour total. I loved watching the shoreline...you could see where people lived (both the big homes and the tiny ones)....and the wildlife was fascinating. There were birds everywhere. We traveled through some bog areas that looked like the Louisiana bayou. There is one area where there are children waiting for you to come by and they paddle up to you in their log canoes and sell you seashells that they have. It was so fun. We had a beautiful little girl paddle soooo fast and beat the boys to get to our boat. We bought a shell from her.

Wash day under the bridge

Homes in the "bayou"

My little girl beating her brother to sell me a shell

She was so excited to see us

Right before you hit the Caribbean you go through a beautiful canyon. There are trees and growth all the way up the canyon walls. It is absolutely unbelievable. So green...and so lush. I just couldn't get over how beautiful it was.

You don't see canyons this green in Arizona

Livingston was a typical Caribbean town...reminded me a lot of Kingston, Jamaica. It was touristy....we got a drink and sat and watched people go by for a little while. The trip back to Guatemala City was uneventful and we enjoyed it. What a wonderful trip that we have been hoping to do for the entire time we have been here in Guatemala. I am sure glad that we had the time to finally DO IT!!

Where we docked in Livingston

Taken from the bridge at Rio Dulce on the way home

VOLCANO UPDATE

This little bit of ash is what we started with

This morning we woke up to 2-3 inches of volcanic ash EVERYWHERE!!! Pacaya blew and spewed forth ash and lava. We can now say that we have lived through a volcanic eruption. This morning was our day to go to the CCM and check new missionaries for any dental problems. While we were on the way they called and told us that they were going to put it off for a day and that they were going to give a day of service. We decided to go and see what was going on and take pictures...

New CCM missionaries that have been here for two days

Even the hermanas got into the act

Missionaries cleaning the roof at the CCM

Always love the waves.....

President Steimle in his work clothes giving orders

The door of the temple....first thing cleaned up

When we got to the temple grounds there were about 25 missionaries cleaning up the outside grounds. The first thing that they cleaned was the entrance. These missionaries have been here for about 2 days and could not believe that they had already experienced a volcanic eruption. The roads were covered in the sandy stuff. It looked like you were driving on the beach. People were shoveling and hosing off their business fronts as well as entire parking lots.

The streets of Guatemala City early this morning
Just like going through sand

What a beautiful act of service these missionaries were giving. It was so gratifying to see them with SMILES on their faces doing this work. The CCM grounds and the temple were clean in no time.

The beautiful flowers of the temple covered with ash

Getting them back with tender loving care

As we drove around today we realized that the disaster could have been so much worse. We are now just waiting for the airport to open and things to get back to normal here.

Our apartment crew acting like teenagers
while cleaning up

Before and
after outside our apartment door

When we got home we watched the crew at our apartment with the clean up. They got a fire hose and got things under way. Wayne told that they were just like teenage boys with that thing. They worked hard all day and have got it back into shape.

PACAYA BLOWS

Gathering our sandwich bags filled with ash
You can see it on the floor of our parking basement

Tonight we were sitting in our living room talking to our good friends the Andersons. They used to live in Victoria Suites and are visiting here for a few days. It has been raining all day long (I love this). There was a huge clap of thunder and I made the comment that I just loved to listen to the thunder. Someone else said that it was only an airplane.

Pretty soon we heard the rain coming down in the trees outside of our patio. Wayne went out to look at it and quickly realized that it was not raining....but that volcanic ash was falling from the sky. It was covering everything very quickly. All the cars that were not covered had ash all over them. We went and collected ash to bring home....and were able to scrape it off of the cars.

Fillmore's care covered in ash....

....and as they were washing it off

Pacaya is an active volcano that is about 30-45 minutes from here. Many tourists climb to the top and are able to see the lava flow. They have had to evacuate about 600 families so far that live in the area. The airport is closed and the schools are closed for tomorrow. They are trying to account for the people that are missing.

We will keep you posted....

100 DOWN....TWO to GO!!!!

When you realize that you are going to spend 23 months on a mission....that is just at 100 weeks. We started to calculate yesterday and we have TWO WEEKS LEFT!!!

Can we just say that the time has gone so fast and that it is amazing and sobering to realize that we will be returning home so soon. It is one of those mixed blessings in life.

We have loved every minute of the mission.
We have had such great support from our family and friends.
We have learned to love the Latin people.
We love Central America.
We love missionary work.
We love missionaries.

Be prepared to have the "why aren't you on a mission?" talk when we get home. It has truly been one of the most rewarding things we have ever done.

A FILLING FOR THE ROAD

A few months ago when we were starting to use the xray system we found out that I have a little cavity. It just showed up on the xray. Last week Wayne and I had a few minutes while waiting for a driver to pick up missionaries at the Clinic.....so I got in the chair and Wayne filled my tooth.

It was fun knowing exactly what he was doing and the sounds that it makes in your mouth. I guess I am now officially a dental assistant......

MOTHER'S DAY/BIRTHDAY

Acting like Charlie's angels
Sandy MacArthur, Joanne Fillmore, me, Rexene Tilley
Adele Blackburn, Virginia Cazier, Myrna Graff

Mother's Day and my 57th birthday just happened to be the same day this year. But....Guatemala celebrates Mother's Day on the Monday....so we actually had two days this year. It was a great day. The "guys" had a BBQ for us that evening and Rexene made me a birthday cake. It was good to be with friends and enjoy the evening.

Blowing out birthday candles....Kayla you are next!!!

Can we fit in just one more????

The best vehicle to own in Central America is a small truck. You can use it to haul stuff...but the main thing that we have seen it used for is hauling people. This is a truck that we saw as we were leaving the Lake Atlitlan city of Solola. These people were going back home from market day. They probably could not get one more person into the bed of that truck. You cannot see it in the picture, but one of the ladies was actually holding eggs to take home with her. Wonder if they made it???

SHOWER EXPERIENCE

I guess that I can now officially leave Central America. I have been able to have the shower experience with the hot water heated shower. This is a tool unique to Central America (I think)....and we would get them for the missionaries while we were serving in Honduras. (Mostly for the hermanas).

The principle is that there is an ELECTRIC plug-in near the shower head. You plug in this shower device and it supplies hot water. I have not yet figured out why more people have not been shocked while using this device.

While we were staying at our hotel in Quetzaltenango we had one of these showers. It was a great experience.

SERVING THE PEOPLE WE LOVE

Hirshe Smiles group from Colorado
Rich and LeeAnn Call Lee and Peggy Olsen
JR and Wes (who helped soooo much)

One of the things that we have wanted to do since moving to Guatemala is to go into the country and service people with their dental needs. A couple of weeks ago we got this opportunity and loved every minute of it.

The Hirshe Smiles foundation out of Denver, Colorado sends a group down here every six months or so. Dr. Rich Call is a big part of the organization of these groups. Wayne was able to meet him right after we moved here and in fact they left all of their "extra" supplies with the clinic for our use. A big thanks to them for that donation......it has really helped to get us started the past few months. Rich and his wife LeeAnn and Lee and Peggy Olsen were scheduled to come to Guatemala and they really needed another dentist to go with them. So we got this great opportunity.

Setting up at the school in preparation for Monday morning

Just an aside.....I didn't realize that they were all from the Denver area. As we met them and exchanged life stories I quickly found out that LeeAnn Call was from the ward that my family moved to when they returned to Denver. Her parents and my mom and dad were in a dinner group for years.....small world yet again.

Waiting for the welcome program to begin
This little girl just came and sat on my lap and would not move

Hermana Garcia....the directora of the school

The week started out with our going to Mazatenango where we worked in a school on school children and their families. The directora of the school is LDS and she had a delightful family. We really enjoyed them. The children started out Monday morning with a program for us. We listened to the national songs and watched them act out their traditions. I always love when they wear the traditional dress. Then the time came for the dental work. We had told them to schedule between 25-30 children each day....it turned out that we did closer to 50-60. Everyone wanted their teeth looked at and would scramble for space at the front of the line.

Some of the students we worked on:



We got our first taste of HEAT that week. It is very humid in this area of Guatemala...it is closer to the coast and the beach area. It was so hot that I was literally dripping and sweat was running down my arms and legs. Have to say that the old visor came out!! We did get a couple of fans to move the air...but that quickly stopped because the compressors that we had couldn't work with the extra drain on the electricity.

Note the visor and the dripping wet hair
and the portable dental unit behind us

We spent two days at the school. The children were for the most part calm....we did have a couple of children that were pretty hysterical.....and I don't mean funny....I mean crying hysterically. They just have not had the experience of being in the dental chair or anyone putting things into their mouth. Some of them waited for HOURS and I really think that the anticipation was way worse than the experience. I was able to watch Wayne and the other dentists bring this service to these wonderful people.

When we were finished with the school personel

While we were working in the school we were able to stay in the Irtra resort. It is a famous resort complete with a water park and great activities. Unfortunately, we were at the resort only to eat dinner and sleep.....but we were so tired that we would not have been able to do anything there. It was fun to get to know the other participants during our dinner times. The resort is known for their peacocks. These birds are fascinating. Just watching them for a week and you could do a whole discourse on family relationships and interactions.

Two cute peacocks

I did not realize that peacocks fly. I watched them get into this tree

On Wednesday morning we started to climb up the mountain to Quetzaltenango. We were amazed at how green it was. This is one of the agricultural hubs of Guatemala. It looked like you could just let a seed fall and it would grow. As we entered the towns I saw some of the largest vegetables I have ever seen. It was wonderful. We were so glad to be able to visit Quetzaltenango before we leave Guatemala.

Wayne and Antonio Salguero....our good friend and organizer of the trip

This experience was a little different. We set up the dental equipment in a local LDS building. The Stake President had prescreened members that needed dental work, and they would come to the building. We were so humbled with the privledge to be able to work on these beautiful people. The women came in the indigenous dress (which you know I LOVE). At times we could feel the Spirit so strongly and just knew that we were working on descendents of father Lehi.

The first group of women that we worked on were all dressed in their native clothing and had a baby with them that was one week old. The mother of the baby girl was 17 years old. The women walked about 4 miles to get to the building, and were planning on walking home after their treatments.

The second hermana from the left is the 17 year old mother of
the adorable baby below. They put her in one of our crates while
we were working on her mother

There were so many experiences here....but one stands out to us. One of the young girls who was about 13 years old came with three of her front teeth deeply decayed. There was really no hope for her but to extract them. Wayne had told the other doctors that he would do root canals if needed. Root canals have to be selective because of the time they take. Spending that much time on a patient will take away time from others. The three doctors quickly conferred and decided that if any life would benefit from a root canal, it was this young Beehive. She and her mom and sister came back the next morning first thing and Wayne did the root canals. It took about 1 1/2 hours. Then Lee did the restorations in front. She spent most of the morning in the dental chair.

As she was finishing her mother motioned to me. She had me come over to where she was sitting and told me through tears that she was so thankful for this blessing in her daughter's life. If we hadn't been there.....they would have had to pull these three front teeth. We hugged through both of our tears. What a tender moment.

Our dental miracle with her mom, sister and the crew

Another brother who was seventy years old sat in the chair and wanted Wayne to put fillings in two or three literal nubs of teeth that he had in front. Wayne explained to him that there weren't any teeth to put fillings in those....but he could extract them. The brother didn't want them extracted....they didn't hurt.....but Wayne found something to do. As we were working on him, Wayne asked him how long he had been a member of the Church. The man proudly said 17 years and then proceeded to open his wallet and show us his temple recommend. It was his proudest possession.

A father came in the last afternoon that we were there with his three daughters. He wanted his daughters to have dental work. After we finished, we found out that the mother had been killed in an automobile accident just a few months ago. We were able to give one of the donated quilts to this family.



These people are in the middle of getting a temple build right in their own area. It will be such a blessing for these faithful Saints. I can not complain any more about the hour that I have to travel to attend the temple at home. These people need it closer than I do!!!

Scene of Lake Atlitlan on our way down the mountain
we love the volcanoes there

Saturday we opened the clinic for this Stake from Quetzaltenango to bring some future missionaries to get their papers signed and their dental work completed for the mission. The Stake brought seven future missionaries down. They had to leave about 3:30 in the morning to make the trip and arrive at 8:00am. What a wonderful experience. We love working on the future missionaries. You just KNOW that you are maybe the difference in their being able to serve.

Back home at our dental clinic working on future missionaries

The futuros from Quetzaltenango

What a great week. We loved getting to know the Calls and the Olsens. Hopefully we will be able to return to Guatemala with them in the future and serve again.

Celebrating when it is all over.....Tacontento