We had plans to celebrate my birthday this week with two different lunches with missionaries but President Burk got sick on Monday after Family Home Evening and President Thompson and I served all week on the AM shift at the temple while the Roberts served on the PM shift all week. We didn't do anything but serve in the temple each morning and prepare for the next morning. By Saturday, we were tired and ready for a rest. We only had a half day on Saturday because of All Saints Day, but I will tell you about that later in this blog. President Burk has a very tough urinary tract infection that normal antibiotics did not touch. He had to start taking an antibiotic with shots for 5 days to try and get rid of it. He was so discouraged, but today is feeling much better. We doubt that he will be in the temple this week again, but this week we are doing the PM shifts and the Roberts have the AM shifts. We miss both President Burk and Hermana Burk when they are not with us in the temple. They bring such a wonderful spirit with them. We pray for his speedy recovery.
Saturday, Nov.1st was All Saints Day here in Guatemala. It is very similar to our Memorial day. It depends on where you live as to how you celebrate. In some towns, everyone writes notes to their loved ones who have passed on, ties these notes to kites, and fly the kites to deliver the messages.
In other towns, the people cook big meals and take this food to the cemeteries and leave the food on the graves of their families. They believe that this day the dead come back and eat. Hermana Funes says that the dogs really love this tradition! And yet in another town, the people decorate the graves with flowers like we do. Most of the people fix a traditional meal of a salad called Fiambre. It has every vegetable you can name in it, and some that we can't name, chicken, pork, beef, and a dressing made with vinegar. Hermana Funes told us that it does not taste good. We were glad that we didn't have to try any of it.
The temple opened as usual on Saturday at 4am with our first session beginning a 5am. We were very busy and the time really went by fast. We only had to serve until 9am because we closed after the 12:00 session for the holiday so the other half of the missionaries and the Roberts came at 9. It felt good to have a nap. It is not easy to get up at 3am after a week of early morning shifts but we made it.
Sunday we had the assignment to attend the Patzicia Stake Conference and speak. As usual, our driver showed up a half hour early because they forget that on Sundays there is not much traffic. Patzicia is about 60 miles from the city. It is a rural area with lots of farming. They grow every type of vegetable you can name and export these all over Central America. Most of the fruits and vegetables in El Salvador came from here.
The landscape is like a patchwork quilt with all the crops planted in squares all up and down the hills. It is a very beautiful area but it is in the
mountains so it is much colder than in Guatemala City. This morning it was only 50 degrees with no sun and the chapel was very cold. We were glad that the people came to fill up the chapel because it got warmer as more came. There are no furnaces in any of the buildings or homes here. As usual, we turned a corner and drove up a street that was very typical and there in the middle of the poverty was a beautiful chapel.
Looking up the street
The chapel right in the middle of the block
The people in Patzicia are from a Mayan group that speak Kacchiquel. Most everyone now speaks Spanish also. The young people don't know their native language well but the schools are now teaching Kacchiquel so that it will not be a lost language. The women and girls dress in their traditional dress and they are just beautiful. The choir all had on these dresses and most in the congregation also. It was a very colorful group.
Pictures just don't do the colors justice. They are a very small people, true Mayan descent. Their homes have no hot water or furnaces, and they cook on open fires. The temple really smells like a campfire when they come. This little girl would not give us any smiles, until I showed her the picture that I took of her.
Our driver and the Stake President's nephew who came to get us. We were returned to our apartment by the Stake President after we delivered the Area Seventy Elder Billares to the airport to catch his flight back to Honduras. As you can see, President Thompson is very tall here as the Mayan people are about 5'2" to 5'6" for the men and the women are about 4'6 to 5'. I too am very tall next to them.
We just got home from FHE and I just have to share this photo. After the lesson, these men couldn't resist watching some highlights from a high school football game in Utah. Don't know what they will talk about when the football season ends.
We are looking forward to a new week filled with new people and new experiences. Every day is a blessing and we love serving here in this Temple. We send our love to all. You are in our prayers and we thank you for your prayers in our behalf. Our Father in Heaven loves us and is watching over us just as He is watching over you also. Life is a blessing. Enjoy every minute. Love Lon and Nancy, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma.
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