What goes around comes around.  Dale has been teasing the elder that wrecked the truck.  We decided to try and find the way to our Branch before Sunday so we would know how to get there on our own.  We did pretty well-only having to back track once- until we got to the Church and the gate was closed.  There was no place to turn around and Dale, thinking like an American, said to himself "There must be someplace to turn around up there."
     The road was at a 45 degree incline and like a squeeze chute.  I could picture in my mind several men having to lift the truck up and turn it around physically.  I asked Dale if he was prepared to back up the hill, knowing that there really was no other choice.  When I volunteered to get out (safest place) there was a young man out there just watching with an interesting look on his face.
     As Dale was making his 10 point turn on someone's porch, he happened to catch the left fender flare on the fence and it POPPED off.  All of this took place after he had put the truck in 4 wheel drive to back it up the hill.  Very interesting experience!  We will see what the Branch members have to say on Sunday since the President lives across the street from the church.  I can't help but think we might have been the topic of conversation over their dinner table that night.
     We attended a very nice luncheon with one of the members who has a very nice house here.  They entertain quite often and are loved by all. We met some of the sisters who are called to the CCM as missionaries and also to the temple here.  One was from Kanosh, Utah. We had a great time and the food was most excellent.
     The temple is beautiful here and the distrubution center is next to it.  There is no visitor center but the whole campus is beautiful.  We will try to go to the temple soon.
      We are still trying to figure out how to download pictures to the blog so be patient with us.  We would love to show you some of the things that we are seeing.
   

     Today was our second Sunday in Guatemala.  We have been assigned along with another couple to a small branch close to the temple area.  The people there are quite poor.  The speakers were 2 high councilmen and they did a great job.  One talked about using the Book of Mormon more in our lives and the other one talked about how our testimonies fluctuate.  He used a candle as a prop and lit it to show how our testimonies can fluctuate with the different things that we do such as reading or not choosing to read the BOM, pray, gossip etc.  I guess they have a problem with people talking poorly of one another and being offended.  The people participated very well in the classes.  There is an Elder Walker there from Utah and his companion is Elder Garcia from Nicaragua.  They usually pair a North American missionary with a Latino.  The Johnsons who are there with us will be gone next Sunday so we may have to drive ourselves there.  HOPE WE CAN REMEMBER HOW TO GET THERE.
     A couple of days ago, Dale let the office elder take the truck to the area office for an errand.  It is only a couple of blocks away.  They returned after a long time and somehow had run into the side of the building on the way up and out of the parking lot.  We had just had the lecture from the Pres. about how it was dangerous for the elders to drive such a targeted truck.  The Hilux is the most stolen truck in the mission.  Now we have a truck with a large scrape all down the passenger side.  It is a 2011 with not very many miles.  Oh well, I guess it's broken in now.
      We spent part of the day Thursday and Friday visiting and inspecting the apartments of the missionaries.  I must say that I was impressed with most of the apartments and how organized and orderly they were.  Here and there we ran across something that needed to be addressed but overall they are doing a good job.  We surely would like to help them have the very best conditions they can to make it easier for them to do their job of teaching the gospel.  Dale is very conscious of safety and has done a great job.  We have many more apartments to visit and we hope to be on top of getting them the things they need.  A great concern to him is the calentadors in the showers which are hooked to electricity to heat the shower water.  If they are installed wrong, the person showering could be shocked.  We hope to make some improvements there.  We would also like to improve the White House where the AP's take the new missionaries for their first night.  They didn't have water for part of the day and they are a storage area for some of the mission things.  We hope to help them get their area cleaned up and organized. Elder Shippley and Elder Castro have been with us for inspections and are doing a great job.
     My Spanish seems to get better every day but I find myself making mistakes quite often.  At least I am starting to recognize them now.  Dale and I need to do our language study but it seems that is the time when the sick missionaries call.  We have had about 20 calls so far.  Some are serious and some are not so serious.  An elder called tonight to say that his companion had what they thought was the chicken pox.  The American missionaries get a vaccination but the Latinos don't.  He was exposed at an investigators home.  He had an itchy red rash all over with weakness and headache.  That means that they will get to stay in their apartment until this elder's scabs are not crusty for 2 days.  I think the hardest part was when I told the elder that he would not be able to go the hour and a half on the bus to e-mail.  He was very conscientious about caring for his compaion and was willing to stay with him for the duration.  I will call daily to see how they are doing.  The first thing they are told that they should do is have a blessing and they do have district leaders  and ward members who can be of help to them.
     Most of the missionaries eat at a comedor which is a person, sometimes a member who charges them a set amount and feeds them usually 2 meals a day.  They get cleaner, more healthy food and they don't have to spend time making it.  The sisters usually do their own cooking.  They have a hotplate, a small fridge, and a microwave in most of the places.  Because they are eating with someone else, the food they have on hand is minimal.  I think the most food any of them had was one shelf full and most of them just have frosted flakes.  We are encouraging them to have a weeks worth of food on hand.  I think it might be easier to teach that principle since we have the elders with chicken pox as an example.
     We had a fun P-day on Saturday.  First of all we went for a walk in the morning around the embassy homes.  There is an area very close where many of the embassies are located.  They are beautiful and have flags of their countries in the yards.  This is a safe place for us to walk and it is very close. We then headed to a place called Megapaca which is like Savers in the US.  We found a fun rug for our living room area that just matches for not too much.  We went with the Murrays and the Bowers.  There is a relief map of Guatemala next to the dental clinic where some of our missionaries do dental repair work.  The map was interesting and was surveyed in the 1800s and is supposed to be 99.99% correct.
     The dental clinic was very nice.  It is next to an orphanage.  The girls there were very cute and hungry for attention.  The older girls were making bread for dinner.  The younger ones had painted the dog green for St. Patricks Day.  We took lots of pictures and laughed a lot with the girls.  There are about 80 or so girls and over 300 boys in another area.  They are supported by donations and most have some family member here but they are unable to care for the children so they put them in an orphanage.  Most do go home for a short while at Christmas.  The dental clinic does all their dental work, the dental work for future missionaries and work for the Seniors with no compensation.  They used Church provided funds for the building and they work off a large donation by individuals.
       We spent some time at the Mercado Central and that was fun, also. It is like most Latin American markets.  There is a great variety of crafts and the flowers are gorgeous and not much.  There are so many new fruits and veggies you would never imagine.I got a new purse that can hold the phone and my reference materials for helping the sick missionaries since I carry that all the time.  Enough for now.  It's just that there is so much new and I don't want to miss recording it.
   

Guatemala

We spent our last week in the MTC in health meetings.  Everyday was full of information about how to do our jobs, how to use the computer, how to treat each illness, how to chart what we did.  We loved hearing each devotional speaker on Tues and Sunday nights. We met many new friends there and will be excited to hear how they each are doing in their different missions. Our last day was spent with Dr. Marsden Blanch learning how to use our computers and getting them set up with the different programs we would need.

     Sister Cummings and Sister Visker were both headed off to their missions and we wish them the best of luck!  They both are amazing people to do what they are doing.

      We had a chance to stay with Kim and Cody the night before we left for Guatemala and had dinner with them as well as with Jason and Kayli.  It was extra fun to see the grandkids and how they are growing and learning so many new things.  We will miss them but know that the time will fly by.

     March 9th- the big day.  We headed out bright and early.  Kim dropped us off at the airport.  Every one was extra nice and many people asked where we were going to.We arrived without incident and guess who was here to greet us?

     Pres. Stay and his wife were at the airport to greet us. They are great!  So friendly and caring. When they took us to our apartment, we were amazed!  We had expected a very small place with a hot plate and a lavadora.  Instead, they had purchased new furniture (a new bed, dressers, night stands, desk, table and chairs, and couch with chairs). The apartment is one bedroom but it is huge with beautiful wood floors and large windows.  It was late at night so they had brought breakfast for the morning, towels, sheets, utinsels, dishes and pans.  We were some of the lucky new missionaries who get what the church purchases for a small monthly rental fee with the new senior program.

     Right off, we met our neighbors, the Smiths, and were impressed with how willing to share they are and how excited they are to have new people.  They are over the security at the CCM (Guatemalan MTC) and will leave soon. There are about ten couples in our building.  They call it the Mormon Dorm because most of the people there are Mormon.  Dr. Drake and his wife, the Wallaces who are accounting, the Arnolds over PEF, Calls and Johnsons who are dentists, The Murrays- welfare missionaries and the Bower couple arrived a day after us.

       We were escorted to the local Paiz store for groceries and then the Price Smart which is like Costco.  Sister Stay was glad to turn the phone over to me and the missionaries didn't waste any time in starting to call. Some things are pretty straight forwward and others are more questionable. Dr. Drake is great.  He has about 3 or 4 new nurses under him and he is a great teacher. He covers several countries and is also in the CCM presidency.

       Saturday night and Sunday we went to Stake Conference where the Stays were speaking.  The talks were great!  Elder Fallabela from the 70 was the visiting general authority and he was super.  I translated for Dale and he could really feel the spirit even though he couldn't understand a lot.  The members of the ward are very friendly and Dale did find that there are several that speak English and are very happy to talk to him.

       They have assigned a Toyota truck to us for a short time.  Dale was more than happy to drive it since they haven't been able to get us a car yet.  The driving here is something else.  At first it seems like there is no rhyme or reason to how they drive, but the Wallaces explained to us that they really are very good to let you in.  You definitely have to be quick on the draw and because there are many one way streets we will spend a lot of time driving around the block.  So far we have only been lost once.

       Monday we had our first day in the mission office and the Stay's came to escort us.  We followed them to and from the office and only lost them once. They took us to dinner at a great steak house, the Estancia.  Their apartment is quite close to ours. Really, we are learning to venture out a little farther each day. We have made it on our own for 2 days now and done great. 

     The people from the apartment building threw us a party and we attended a family home evening with the neatest people.  How can we ask for better.