Good bye Guatemala1

   For our last week-end in Guatemala, we were invited to go through the temple with Johana and Rodrigo and their 2 little girls to be sealed.  They had set several dates but had never met them.  This time we told them when we were leaving to go home and they said,  "Okay, we'll be ready then".   And they were.
   Johana wore her original wedding dress to the temple with a shawl over the shoulders.  Their 2 girls were beautiful in white.   The whole experience was very special and very spiritual.  Johana later said that she had felt the Spirit especially in certain rooms in the temple.  It was beautiful to see their family kneel together and make sacred covenants to the Lord.
   In our branch, we had a get together with their family members that night.  They were able to bear their testimonies.  He said that it was the most special day of his whole life.  She expressed how special it was for her also to see her daughters kneel with them together.
   We couldn't have asked for a better way to spend our last Saturday in Guatemala.  The time has gone by sometimes quickly and sometimes slowly, but it has passed and now we are looking forward to going home to spend time with our family again.
    The Lord has surely blessed each one of our children and their families.  He has also blessed our parents and siblings.  We thank Him for that.  Our testimonies have been strengthened and we have come away with a greater appreciation for the youth of the church and their desire to serve the Lord.
   Many of the missionaries here in Guatemala come from split homes where they may be the only member, or they live with their grandparents.  They have come to serve because they know it is the right thing to do and many have seen miracles in other family members showing interest or taking the lessons, as well as receiving scholarships after serving which they thought they had lost, etc. They are still 18, and 19 year olds, but they are here with a purpose and they know what that purpose is.
   We have been blessed to be a part of that for the last year and a half and we thank Our Father in Heaven for that.  It has been hard, but it has been worth it to minister to the missionaries so that they can minister to others. We have seen miracles and we have been blessed every day.
   The friends we have made will be eternal.  We are grateful for that also.  We have so many wonderful memories especially of the people here at Victoria Suites.  We will love these older missionaries always and forever and hope to have other times with them as they finish and return home also.  
    This may be the last blog as we finish up this adventure.  We are not sure what the Lord has in store for us in the near future but we love Him and we are grateful to Him for the blessings that He gives to us continually.  This is our testimony, that we know that He lives, and that He loves us and cares for us.  We are blessed because of His great atoning sacrifice and we thank Him for that.
   The Book of Mormon is true and Joseph Smith was strengthened to be able to accomplish all he did in bringing forth the restoration of the gospel in these the later days.  We have a living prophet who leads and guides us.  If we follow his guidance we will be blessed and we will feel peace in our lives.  We would hope that our example in serving will help our grandchildren to have a desire to serve also.   In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Barbara, DeDee,Joe, Barbara M. and LInda on a shopping spree.

Apartment inspections with Elder Banks & Huayta

Replacing a clentador (shower heater)

We spent a week with our children and had a great time, seeing the sights and just being with them.

Notebooks for kids

Art of Copan

Typical dress

truck us as a taxi

Future monster film

White tiger

Ixcimce 

Tree of Life

Chip and Nicole in Copan Museo

Copan group

La Mersed

Main alter

Balconey La Merced Chinanes

Built 1546

Apartment complex

Roses

New trainer meeting lunch Barbara is in far corner.

Lock is on every church & apt. door most are welded steel and only open with a key.

The corner bakery shop looks more like a jail but that's to keep the bad guys out. Pan = Bread

Change meeting

Rock slide after a rain storm

flower on the church yard

Ball court at Xcimchi years ago it was covered with plaster.

   Dale tries very hard not to be found on the blog but I just wanted to say how proud I was of him and how touched I was on fast Sunday when he got up to bear his testimony by himself.  He stood up and said "Testimonio, himnario and proceeded to read the words to I Believe in Christ.  His pronunciation wasn't perfect but we all understood and the Spirit was so strong in the meeting.  It has been so hard for him to no be able to communicate with people. He has been a sport and has tried to learn the language, but it has definitely been a difficult thing.  There are several people in the branch that speak some English but every lesson, every zone conference, every meeting is in Spanish.  He has had to learn patience along the way.
   We divided the mission on July 1st and received 2 zones from the Central Mission while we sent 5 zones to the old/new East mission. We sent many wonderful missionaries their way.  They are great missionaries and we had the opportunity to meet the new ones last week in zone conference.  These were our last zone conferences, bitter sweet.  We love the opportunity to see and talk to each missionary at these.  What wonderful young servants of God they are.
   We will be doing apartment inspections and finishing up the "pass the baton" information that we will leave for the next medical missionaries.  We have heard that there is a couple who will be entering the MTC on the 16th of Aug to work at the MTC here as well as help with the health in the mission.  The  Area Medical Health Advisor lives in our building and also works at the MTC.
    We received a new couple about 2 weeks ago who are in their 70s.  They put in their papers to help with the mental health screenings for mission calls in SLC and were asked if they would like to go to Guatemala to be the Area Mental Health Advisors.  They will be covering all of Central America.  We found out yesterday that she is the sister of the wife of Dale's cousin.  The Church truly makes the world a small place.
     We were blessed with a new little grandson recently.  We can hardly wait to get home and hold him!  Our family has been so blessed since we have been serving here in Guatemala.  Dale's brother's wife passed away recently.  We were so sad to lose her but because of e-mail and Skype, we were able to be a part of the funeral and visit with their children who all came home.  What a true blessing the knowledge of the gospel is in the eternal scheme of things.  How could you stand to lose a loved one if there was no hope of ever seeing them again?  For this the Saviour gave his life, that we might all be resurrected and have the opportunity to make covenants in the temple as a family for eternity.
   We are definitely trying not to be baggy (Guatemalan words for trunky) but are looking forward to being able to spend time with our children, grandchildren, parents and grandparents, as well as siblings and their families as well.  We love them so much and are here to hopefully bear testimony through words and actions of our love of the Savior, testimony of the truth of the restored gospel and knowledge of the blessings of having the Book of Mormon and a living prophet to guide us in these uncertain times.
   Lately, reading in the Book of Mormon, it has been more apparent to me that there is much in the BOM for the Jews, Isaiah, in the foreword and in many of the chapters that explain that it is for the convincing of the Jew and the gentile.  One day they will know of the truthfulness of this book as well as the gospel of Jesus Christ.
   Thanks to all of those people who have served with us here in Guatemala, who live with us here in Victoria Suites and who we have come to love and cherish so dearly.  One of the blessings of the mission is just that.  To make new friends, eternal friends.  We love you all and look forward to seeing many of you soon.

Change meeting

Leaders

Missionarys that are changing and going home.

Guy in the mirror.

Last conf. in Zacapa.

On the roof after a perfect house inspection. Score was 0 for the two smallest Elders.

Girls and dolls, made by Sister Wilcox.

One of my best flower pictures.

Buggy ride with the Sparks

Kaminaljuyu group

Picking up Elders at the "white house"

Iximche group having lunch at the Swiss Restaurant

Vigilantes patrol this area at night.

Shoe shine boys.

Ubini showing off

Sack of ants $4.00 a pound

biggest ants I've ever seen

So we were on our way to Church after a good rain storm the night before and we saw all these people in the streets with sacks in their hands, picking something up and putting it in the sack.  It was happening all over the city.  When we pulled into the parking lot at the Church, we saw these ginormous ants.  They told us that about 3 x during the month of May, these ants appear.  You pull off the wings and the legs and toast them in butter and "they are delicious".  They said that in the market there were barrels of them and they were about 60 quetzales a pound.  Everyone who had tried them said they were really good.  They must be, to have so many people in the street gathering them up.  

But we will never know!  

Pink flower

White flower

Barbara buying food. 

 This is our favorite little fruit stand just a few blocks from our apartment.  We will surely miss all the fresh fruits and vegetables from here.

Song Practice

The youth from our stake are practicing to sing 4 songs for a youth conference.  The elder on the right is teaching them parts and they are doing a descent job of it.  

Elder Gonzalez and us

"Woody's"

Reminded us of Dad's store except that this is a beer joint

Red Bus most dangerous

Chicken Bus