SIX MORE MONTHS!!

Six more months doesn't seem too far away, right?! :) Hopefully time will start to speed up and before we know it, you guys will be home! We love and miss you lots! (Well at least the grandkids do ;)) Enjoy the last haul of the mission!

Meet Our Friends

We can buy all kinds of fresh fruit and vegetables from the little street vendors here. Lately, a little old truck has been coming on our street each Wednesday. It is a little mom and her two sons, and we see them as we leave our morning shift at the temple around 1:00-2:00 pm. One boy drives the truck and the other is the PR guy. He smiles and waves us over, and the mom oversees the whole business. We told the other missionaries about them and others have been buying them, too. Here are the tings we got this week. They cut them open so you can taste the samples. This whole thing was about Q50, or about $6.00 in American money!

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I have neglected the blog lately, so I thought it might be fun to tell you a little about the people we work with here. We had these two single sisters over for lunch today and it was really fun. Sister Guzman, on the left, came on her mission in January, during the break. Julie got to meet her and she is a lovely, gracious person! She is originally from Chile, but moved to Australia where she lived for many years with her husband. She has no children, but has raised a niece and nephew... They were her sister's children, who died in a sad drowning accident in Australia. She also cared for her husband who died from a rare distrophy disease a few years ago at 62. She worked in the temple there and speaks fluent English and Spanish, so she has adapted beautifully! Sister Paniagua, on the right, was born in Quetzeltenango, so she is a native Guatemalan... It's a homecoming for her and she is very proud of her heritage. She raised four sons on her own, after her husband left when she was pregnant with the forth! She lived in California and worked in L.A. Temple, but has lived in Woods Cross, Utah for the last 25 years and worked at Dick's Market in Centerville for that long. Her boys all live in Centerville, Bountiful, and Woods Cross. She has been here for two weeks and in enjoying seeing people she knew from Guatemala before the temple. She is going great and has a funny personality.

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I want to tell a little bit about the couples we worked with the first eight months of our mission. These couples are called as ordinance workers for two years, but it is not an official mission. A rich benefactor created a fund to help them be able to serve a "mission" in the temple here. The fund helps them with housing, but the requirement is they have to share their living quarters with another couple. They are responsible for food and other expenses themselves, so they have tight budgets! These are the Lopez' from Honduras and they were so kind, loving, and helpful to us. They speak no English, but we were able to communicate with each other and consider them good friends.  They finished in November and went back to Honduras to be with their family... We miss them!

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These are the Zamora's, who are from Chimaltenango (sp?) which is about three hours away by bus. They are such humble and wonderfully calm people. They finished in December and went back to their family home. (One of their sons lives in Spanish Fork). They have been coming back to volunteer on the Saturday morning shift since their release... Which means a standing room only bus ride early Saturday mornings. We were able to communicate with them and she helped me so much with the correct pronunciation of Spanish words!  Last week they told us that they have accepted a call to work in the Quetzaltenango temple, beginning April 1st, so we won't see them again and we will miss them!

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These are the Cuellar's, who lived in the same apartment building as us when we first came, with the Velasquez's. They are from Honduras, but in October, they had to take emergency leave and go to Nicaragua so he could get an operation because he had social security there. He was pretty sick and didn't know if he could return, but he recovered, and in February, they came back ready to go! He was a widower with children and thought he would be alone for the rest of his life, but he met her (she was divorced with children) and they married. She is about 15 years younger, but they are so sweet together and such good workers. They are glad to be back and we are glad to have them back. They don't speak English, but we communicate fine and we love them! They live in the apartment where the Lopez' lived with the Padilla's.

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They lived downstairs in our apartment building when we first came. They got released in December, and we haven't seen them, because I think they needed a little rest. On Saturday, they were back to volunteer again and it is so good to have them back! They live in Guatemala City, but she is from Honduras, and we thought they might go back and work in the Honduras temple because she wanted "equal time!" He is a sealer and they are both such wonderful people. She calls me, "Mi Barlow," like I am her own personal one. She is about Samantha's size and he is a little taller!

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These are the Galvez', who were here on a mission when we first came. They are native Guatemalans, and in June he was called to be a counselor in the temple presidency here. They went home (they lived In Kentucky working for UPS) for a short time for training and came back to replace President Southwick, who was released. He has been bishop, Stake President, Mission President, counselor in temple presidency and now... It was just announced in the church news that he will be the new president of the Quetzaltenango Temple! So they will be leaving us soon. ): They are very easy going, kind people who will be missed tremendously, but of course the Zamora's are excited because they will be going there!

Dinner With the Pitchers

These are our friends, the Pitchers, from Pleasant View, Utah. I have mentioned them before, but I wanted to tell you a little about them and their new calling here! This is us eating Hawaiian Haystacks for Sunday dinner a couple of weeks ago in our apartment. We usually pool our resources and invite each other on Sundays, so that has been a fun respite for the week. We used to walk every day with them until the changed us to all the Spanish speakers shift... One of these things is not like the other! He has been a bishop, a stake president's counselor, and a stake president in Utah. They have five children, four of whom came down during the January break and we traveled with them... It was so fun, especially their red-headed, 15 year old grandson, Jace, who was so funny! She was a teacher in the Weber County School District and Sally O. did her student teaching with Elaine after WSC. Paul served a mission 4 something years ago in Guatemala, so he was so excited to come back. Elaine didn't speak Spanish, so like us... It was challenging for her. About two months ago, Paul was called to be the Executive Secretary to the area presidency: Elder Amado, Elder Ochoa, and Elder Duncan, so they work in the area offices now and will probably have to move from temple housing to a place called Victoria Suites, where all the area office people live. (We call it Victoria's Secret haha!) It is downtown, and pretty far from us. Elaine is still able to work a Tuesday morning shift at the temple. Paul is also a counselor in one of the two branches at the CCM, so they attend church there. That will probably not change, so they will be nearby on Sunday's. We thing they were sent here exclusively for us haha! They have been wonderful friends, they get our sense of humor, and have been a great blessing in our lives here since they came in June. They have given us a sense of family when we are so far from ours. They are wonderful, kind, funny, caring people, and we love them a lot!

Look at this little beauty I scored today for 20. "Bad Venison!" ;) We're living on a prayer! Bahahaha. I am going to wear it to Family Home Evening tonight. Boo yeah!

New Beginnings & Walk of Faith

Here is our program for New Beginnings February 12th. The girls planned and carried it out themselves and did a great job. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera that night but it was good. I made pink Rice Krispie cookies with colored sprinkles for Valentines Day for refreshments.

Here's the inside of the invitation with the Young Women pledge in Spanish and English. We do both English and Spanish in our class... Even the singing is done in both!  We had a translator on this night because the talks were by the North Americans. We have a really good bunch of girls who help each other and are kind to the younger ones. We have had an investigator in my Beehive class for several weeks, and she just got baptized on Sunday. All the Young Women were there to support her and her sister (who is in primary).

 

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This is the walk, with leaders coaching kids to stay on the right path! There were many obstacles along the way and we had to talk them through obstacles like... Water, ice, loud music, narrow pathways, balloons in the face, etc. you get the picture!

 

 

 

This is our "Walk of Faith" activity that Julie helped with while she was here. It was a big success and the bishop had some of the Young Women talk in sacrament meeting about it... They did such a good job. Sorry it's darker, but the walk was done blindfolded in the dark. This was the end where they discussed the activity. Kudos to the Young Men who organized and did a great job.

 

This is another pic of the culminating discussion at the end with the life sized picture of the Savior lighted at the end. We did this in the middle of January and it was well attended.

 

A Familiar Face

Picking Julie up from the airport! This is the best day of our vacation... JULIE ARRIVED IN GUATEMALA! They won't let you inside, so we waited outside until we saw her. Great day!

This is us at the Relief Map in Downtown... We are up above looking down on it. It was built in the early 1900's by three engineers and it covers 1/2 an acre. It is a 3-D map and it shows all of Guatemala with it's neighboring countries.

Here is the Relief Map... Like a giant diorama. This picture doesn't do it justice to how big and detailed it really is! It shows cities, mountains, lakes, highways, etc. and it was all done by hand! You can walk around the outside of it or look from the platforms above. Look it up on the internet!

This is the view from a hill we hiked up in Antigua. Julie and I toured the ruins of two big earthquakes which destroyed the city and all the beautiful Spanish Cathedrals. This used to be the capital city until the earthquakes came. After that, everyone moved further into Guatemala City. Antigua is about an hour and a half from Guatemala City. It has since been built up again and is a charming little town with cobblestone streets.

This is one of the many little stores along Main Street selling handcrafted items.

This is us above Antigua with another volcano in the background and a religious statue. The Spanish influence is really apparent here. We saw a little puff on the volcano the day we were there.

Here we are taking a good look at the city and the volcano. There were bus loads of college students that day.

This is the other temple in Guatemala. It is in a city called Quetzaltenango. It is the second larges city in Guatemala. The temple in nicknamed the Xela (phonetic shay-la) in the local dialect and has been opened for two years. It is a lot bigger than our little temple, but it isn't very busy yet. It sits high on a hill above the city, which is very poor. Oddly enough, they have a Walmart there. We talked to some missionaries who serve there and they live on the temple compound in a two story housing. We did a session, stayed over night, and went back the next day for sealings. It took about five hours each way to drive there.

Here is the beautiful view from the temple at the top of the hill. Some of the streets are just barely wide enough for one vehicle to drive down.

Here we are in front of the temple before we left. No, I did not wear my flip flops inside, but I did wear them traveling in the van!

Here we are in the main square in Downtown Guatemala City. We were going to go to the government building, but there was a teacher strike, so the guards and police were all over and wouldn't let us in... So instead, we bought mandarin oranges from a street vendor. They were delicious. They Murri's are on the left.

The Last of Tikal

This was a little hot spring along the way... I soaked my feet and it is the best they have felt in nine months. It smelled like hard boiled eggs, or something similar!

These were some precious little kids who paddled out in their canoes to meet the tourists in the boats. They had little homemade items in their boats to sell and the driver of our boat stopped so we could look. There were two little girls and a boy. They live in the little villages in the background and you can only access their homes by boat. Of course, I bought something! I am a sucker for cute kids and they are all cute here!

This is how coconuts grow here, and there are tons of the. Also, we saw a banana plantation on the way, too.

This is one of the homes along Lake Isabel. This little family put out everything they had to sell in their little "store."

This is where we had lunch when we reached Livingston, which is a peninsula. You can go out to the Caribbean Sea from here, but we didn't go that far. This is the Pitcher family and us. And yes, I found a Diet Coke! Yay!

This is called an Ant Highway, and yes, they do make giant trails as they march along carrying their food. It is hard to see, but they are there!

This is a giant fort which way built by the Spaniards to keep out the pirates. This was located in Rio Dulce right next to the water so they could shoot the pirate ships as they came in. The cannons were all the way around the perimeter. We stayed here for the nights for January 14th and 15th, but not in the fort itself!

This is a view of the fort from our boat as we pulled in. They took us on a tour and it was interesting and very well built... All by hand! There is a moat around the outside, too.

Here is the moat and they guy whose job it is to clean it! Yuck!

This is the prison in the basement and two people were kept here in this little space. Yes, this is where they ate, slept, and everything else. I guess I don't want to be a pirate anymore! Arghhhh!

This is the entrance to the Castillo de San Felipe dated 1651. It has a drawbridge that is cranked up by hand and has all kinds of living quarters.

This is what the inside of the castle/fort looks like.

Here is the map detailing our zip line adventure in Panajachel. As you can see there are eight platforms and yes, we hike to the top! We did see monkeys in the trees on the way up.

On January 16th and 17th, we traveled to Lake Atitlan by van. Many here believed that this is the waters of Amoron. This is a colorful street which we strolled down.

This is an Asian (yes, the waitress spoke Spanish) at Lake Atitlan. Pitchers and their family, Sister Viveros, our guide, the Murris, and the Roberts. Dad was beginning to feel sick here from either bad food or water, and eventually, everyone go sick on the way home!

This is us in our boat on Lake Atitlan, with the volcano in the distance. We are headed to our hotel, which you can only get to by water.

Hotel room at Lake Atitlan... This is where Dad spent most of his time... en el baño! It was primitive, but charming. The hotel was 45 years old!

Here is Herman Viveros and Elaine buying the typical fabric in Livingston. Notice all the typical blouses across the top and the little sales lady helping them!

This is our little friend who followed us all day. He was proud to speak a little English, Kechi, and Spanish. He showed us on the map where he went to school on Lake Atitlan and told us that his father can't work and he does this to help his mom. He was really smart and very cute!

This is another little entrepreneur who followed up around. She even tied a scarf around my head like hers when I was sitting on the curb waiting for the shoppers. She was hoping I would  buy one! I didn't get one, but we gave her some money for taking a picture with us.

This is Lake Atitlan and volcanoes in the background. Sister Viveros, Pitcher family, and me... Minus Dad. He was still in the hotel room sick. :(

This is an active volcano erupting at Lake Atitlan. Those little puffs look small, but they are pretty big and hot when you are closer!

Here is the beautiful Cathedral downtown that we toured when Julie was here. She has a picture of a beautiful rug inside that wasn't a rug at all. It was colorful sawdust put together in a patter to look like a rug!

*If you would like to see more pictures from this trip, go to this URL!

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/825e8s9orldx1d2/jocU7-t9vW