Merry Christmas From Guatemala!

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Christmas Eve!

Meddy Chreeesmas Bar-lows! That's how the Latins say it... So funny! Here are our Christmas stockings compliments of Breanne and the family, with goodies inside! Aren't they so cute?!

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Here are some of the sights and sounds of Guatemala around Christmas. There are little fireworks stands EVERYWHERE! This is a Main Street and they are all the way down... People just stop their cars or walk over and buy them. The other little stands have Christmas decorations made out of straw, hay, wood, etc. and they string little oranges to hang for decorations, too.

The temple has this little nativity scene and there are poinsettias everywhere on the grounds... They grow all over here, we see bushes of them when we walk. Someone goes outside and cleans the display off about every other day, because of the pollution here, to keep it clean and white.

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Here's picture of our sacrament Christmas Program that was on Sunday. The lady leading the singing and holding a baby is Elder Bruce R. McConkie's granddaughter! The little girl in the aisle is her other daughter! She was "singing along" and the six year old is shushing her! So funny. Our little ward is so nice. Elder Amado and Elder Ochoa are on the stand, but you can't see them.

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Here is our tiny tree with lights and Quetzel birds for decorations tied with bows. That is the national bird here and they are tiny key chains from the Central Marke... Which is like Tijuana on steroids! The little nativity scene is typical Guatemalan and came from the Central Market, also. The cloth is a present from one of my little friends at the temple.

These are the key chains I bought at the Central Market to decorate the little tree. They are hand beaded!

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These grow all over here and the temple grounds are loaded with them for Christmas. The engineers brought one to all the temple missionaries for Christmas and they put red ones and white ones all over the grounds at the temple in with the flowers that already grow there.

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Here's Dad sitting in the Santa chair at the super market... No Santa to be found! This was on our walk on Christmas Eve day!

Missionaries & Stockings

We had our Christmas potluck at President Burk's today/P-day. These are the temple missionaries, minus all the Latins who went home for Christmas, plus President and Sister Nicholayson who is President of the CCM. and the nurse for the CCM.

We put together 13 socks for the 13 missionaries who are at the CCM over Christmas. Everyone brought something to stuff in their socks. It was a fun project!

Here are the finished stockings that we stuffed for the missionaries at the CCM. They will be there over Christmas. We are giving them out on Christmas Eve when they come to our apartments for dinner and activities. We are also having a fireside at the CCM at 8:00 from Provo! We get a brand new batch of missionaries after Christmas and the CCM will be full again. The remodel is almost done and ready for the new influx... South Americans come this week and North Americans come next week!

 

 

 

Here is Elder Chapman and Elder Burnham, they are the missionaries we had for dinner tonight. We sent this to their parents! They were really nice. Both of them are from Tremonton, Utah. They got their calls the same day and they are going to the same mission... Starts with an "R," but I can't pronounce it!

 

 

Poinsettias

According to an old Central American Legend, the original poinsettia was a pure white. The natives gathered them on a Great Day of Prayer and offered them on the altars of their God. Then, one year, savage invaders began to ravage the land. Many natives gave their lives in the desperate struggle, which finally drove the invaders out. When the poinsettias bloomed the following year, they were not longer white... But blood red! The natives believed their beloved flower was stained by the blood  of those who died to save their country. They grow like this here in Guatemala!