THE SOCK SPIDER

Some time ago, we were getting into bed and on Gary's side, there was a big black spider by Gary's shoes.  He thought for sure that it came out of his shoe.  After smashing the spider, Gary apologized to what was left of the spider, reminding it of our arrangement, if they are in the house, they die!  Well, Gary had some nasty bites on his foot, so, he fully believed that the spider was in his socks.  Then, we began to see lots of sock spiders.  Black spiders ranging from small to large.  Keep in mind that neither of us see to great.   And, after closer examination, since we wondered why these spiders we so slow, we found that we have been killing little pieces of black sock that came from Gary's really cheap walmart socks!  We had killed hundreds of pieceses of sock!

We have named our little Toyota carolla "Schroder" after sister Schroder who has now returned home.  When we first came to Guatemalla we had no car and the only transportation were these little three wheeled Tuk Tuk's.  We were afraid to get into the Tuk Tuk's.   Sister Schroder is a very pretty girl that is tall and very strong.  We mean very strong!   She literally threw us in a Tuk Tuk and since then we pretty much ride in every thing.  Since our car is a girl and since she has handled any road we give her, she is strong, we named her Schroder.  Well, Schroder was very dirty, and, were were just leaving church.  The young men's president approached and asked if we would have our car washed satuday by the young men so that they could raise money for an activity.   We said ok and he took our phone number?  Well, we have been to many youth car washes in the states.  They cost about $5 and take about 15 minutes.  So, we went our way and forgot about it.  Come Saturday and we get a call reminding us of the car wash.  So, we go to the church and there was the young men leaders and about seven young men.  We got out of the car and begin our 15 minute wait.  Well, two hours later, the car had been detailed inside and out, wheel wells and all!  In the state it would have cost us $250.   This wash cost us about $3.  (And, you never tip down here, if you attempt to pay more, they look at you like you are crazy)

We were called by the Rio Blanco district president.   President Ochoa.   He presides over three branches way up in the mountains, only accessible by dirt roads.  He wanted me to met him and his son in front of a church, which is on a busy road, to release his son from his mission.  His son had just finished his mission in San Salvador, and, his family was picking him up this day at the airport in Guatemala City.  Guatemala City is a long way from us.   So, we drove, in the dark, to this chapel, parked along the side of this very busy road, and waited.  About 30 minutes later this old beat up car pulled in front of us.  President Ochoa had a friend drive he and his wife to pick up his son.  We chated a bit, and this young man is the forth missionary to fulfill a mission in their family.   I interviewed the missionary in our car while Kathy talked to the parents.  There I was with a wonderful young man interviewing him while gigantic trucks drove by us just a few feet a way,  for both Kathy and I it was one of our most spiritual experiences we have had.  This little family, obviously poor, but, just radiating with the spirit.  Dedicated members of the church, willing to sacrifice whatever The Lord asked of them. It was an honor and a blessing to be amongst them.

  This is Schroder 

And this is Kathy painting on our P day

THE MISSIONARY THAT WOULD NOT QUIT

A few things first.   For P day here the missionaries play a lot of soccer.  Almost every chapel has a combo soccer/basket ball court.  We were with a zone when they were getting a soccer game going.  They asked Gary to play goaly.  He felt all impressed until he found out the reason they wanted him because he is so big!  He could just lay down and fill the entire goal.

We travelled to a liittle mountain town called Leguna Seca to do temple recommends.  For branches that are not part of a stake, but, in a district, Gary has to do a temple recommend interview after the branch presidents interview.  We had a really hard time finding this chapel.   Finally, we saw a little sign that said, La iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los últimos días, on a tiny obscure building.  It is about a large as an American Front room.   The toilets are the kind you find in camp grounds.  We waited a while, then a man approached us.  A nice looking man, but in very dirty clothes.  He is a counselor in the district presidency.   He was with his mom.  She is what they call here, a "tipico".  Which means, they dress in the original Indian style.  Both were very nice.  The mom had 12 children, but several had died.  Then, the branch president showed up in dirty work clothes and his "Tipico" wife.  As usual here, the had very few teeth.  However, we have a hard time describing the fine spirit of these people.  They are knowledgable, solid, Mormons.  They told us that this is the smallest church building in all of Guatemala, and, with the largest membership.  They cram 48 members in this little building.

The Other set of Sister missionaries, hermana nielson And hermana terry had their first baptisms:  a Grandma And her grandson.  A wonderful baptism.  Two elderly ladies were there.  They are recent converts.  They are really great, but, no teeth and they have a particular smell about them.  The insisted that we sit by them. (See pictures).

We were called by the Rio Blanco district president to travel to Rio Blanco, a harrowing experience, and do a missionary interview.  When we finally got there, we met two delightful sisters.  Both single, one is the primary president in the branch, the other wore a missionary plack.   They told us they lived two and a half hours away.  They travel back and forth on narrow and very hilly dirt roads to attend church.  And, travel four hours on a rickety old bus to get to the temple.   Their dedication was overwhelming.  They come from a family of seven children.  Four girls and three boys.  Three of the girls have served missions.  The parents do not support their membership in the church or their missions.  Gary interviewed the returning missionary.  She cried.  It is very hard for some missionaries to come home to parents that don't welcome them and are not happy with their service,  We finished the interview, and the branch president asked for her plack, she would not give it up!   For these missionaries that have no family support, the mission is so very dear to them.  On the mission they get all kinds of support and love.  It is very hard for us to think how they feel coming home.  These sisters are wonderful examples to us of full commitment to The Lord.   We have included a picture.

BFF

Gary has parasites again!!  His Best Friends Forever!!  Well, he is a bit miserable.  So he decided to try to make the relationship with his parasites a little more symbiotic and not so one sided.  He knows morse code, so he tapped this message on his tummy:   ....  .  .-..  .-..  ---    Which interpret means:  HELLO.   No response, just another burp.  So, back to the sample test.   He prepared a nice sample in a little plastic bag.   He put it on the table while we got ready to go to the lab.  We decided we had a real bad case of parasites when the bag begin to move across the table.

Every morning a small heard of goats come by our house.  In fact right in front of our house.  And, every morning we have droppings just in front of our door.  Well, at this same time we noticed that other people on our road sweep the trash up from in front of their houses every morning.  We don't.  So, we begin to sweep up the front of our house so that it was really clean.   One morning we noticed no goat droppings.  No one lives on either side of our house, and, the droppings were one one side and the other but in front of our house.  Do you really think the goats know about a clean sidewalk??

We might have mentioned the friends we have made.  Cisely and Miguel.   Cisely helps us with our Spanish several days a week.  They are really wonderful people.  They travel by bus every week, a three hour drive, to work in the temple, and, they are always helping somebody.  One day we came to our Spanish session and Cisely was a little out of breath.  We asked was she ok.  And, she told us that her end her two daughters we doing service.   There is a store not too far from her house.  And, the ladies, usually with little kids and a baby on their back, are carrying heavy bags of groceries to their homes.  (Not many people have cars).   Well, her and her daughters went out on the road and helped these moms carry their groceries to their homes.

We have made some friends in the market place.   Elena, a hair dresser that did our hair for us.  Jessica, a lady that runs a "used clothes" store, and Yuri, the lady we might have mentioned that lost her six year old daughter a few weeks ago.   Well, we have all three reading the Book of Mormon!

We have mentioned before that one of the reasons we came to the mountains was to make it possible to have sister missionaries here.  We have four.   There have not been sister missionaries here for some time because they got into trouble without someone looking after them.   Well our sister missionaries have been here for two months and one pair,  sister Lopez and sister Beckstrand, baptized two people this last Saturday, and, the other pair, sister Nielsen and sister Terry will baptize two people this coming Saturday!!   We have to say again, sister missionaries are amazing.

Here is a picture of sisters Lopez and Beckstrand