On a different mission

Passports

Ok, we finally got home.    There were a few bumps along the way.   The mission office in Guatemala City lost our passports.   We were worried so we decided to drive the very long way to Guatemala City to verify that our passports were okay and to pick them up.   A Really nice young man looked for our passports in the place where they were supposed to be. They were not there. So, he searched and searched and searched and finally after about 45 sweaty minutes he found them.  Yes, we were having night mares about not being able to leave the country, but, on the other hand, if we were forced to stay longer, we could improve our spanish and not face the downside of going home, like houses, bills, cars, politics, etc.

Going away parties

Our missionary friends and our wonderful president and his wife surprised us with humbling and amazing going away parties.  We were honored, feed, loved, got great gifts, and cried a lot.  We had hoped just to sneak out, but that didn't happen.  We had a royal send off which, to us, was very humbling.  We didn't feel that we deserved all the love and appreciation.  But, hey, it was wonderful!

Our two mountain missionaries.

We finished preparing Abner and rosa so that they could submit their mission applications.  The effort took us several months of hard work but we loved doing it.   With the help and effort of President Rohdas, we herd later that they both were on their missions, and, in the places they wanted to be.  They are going to be outstanding missionaries and we were so blessed to help them on their way.

Our last night in town

The day before our flight, we drove our car to mission headquarters to turn it in.   The man in charge of mission cars, kind of a grump, was giving us a hard time.  Just in the midst of what was going to be a heated exchange, a senior couple walked in and handled the problems for us, and, unbelievably, they were our good friends we had not seen for 50 years!!   Al and Kathy Burningham.  They are the senior couple in charge of starting up church public relations in Central America!!  It was a delight to be with them for the evening.  We had a great dinner at a local restaurant and lots of catching up.  What a blessing for us at a time when we were suffering with mixed feelings of leaving.

The flight home

We caught the shuttle to the airport at 4am.   We spent about 6 hours in our expensive hotel.  We got to the airport and checked in for the flight, and, Gary just about passed out!!  Delta was charging us $360 for each of our second bags, a total of more than 700 dollars!   Well, we had to put up with him complaing about this all the way to the Los Angeles airport.  We found out later that his near heart attack was not worth it, the baggage charge was in Guatemalan money and was only about $80.  He had to apologies to several family members and friends about his complaints about Delta airlines.

Our stay in LAX

Our plane to Salt Lake City ended up being delayed for 8 hours!  However, during that time, we made some wonderful friends, talked to returning missionaries for a long time, had some good food, and spread the gospel a little.   We consoled a young man that was returning early from his mission because of a health problem.  Before he left for his mission, he thought he had this problem handled, but, it came back.  And, Kathy had a very interesting conversion with some missionaries returning from Russia.  All in all, the delay was a blessing.

Our first impressions of USA

well, every one in the USA are giants!  Really tall!   For a year and a half we were taller that any one around us, and now, we felt like midgets.  Towering people all around us.  It was a bit disturbing.

The roads in the USA are like jet airplane landing strips.   We were overwhelmed with all the road we had to drive on.  We were used to tiny roads with other cars hitting our rear view mirrors.  Here, we can roam all over the road without being disturbed.

And, finally, the USA is clean.   Unfortunatly, the people we love so much in Guatemala, throw trash everywhere.  There are all kinds of paper and junk on the side of the roads including dead dogs.  While driving along here, we found our selves searching for at least one little chip bag or pop can.  But no.

Our big family trip

We travelled 6000 miles across the USA and experienced the most beautiful fall scenery ever!  What a gran blessing.  We visited each of our seven children and their families, and what a delight!  All the grand kids had grown a lot, and, all the families are doing well!

Our next mission

Four days ago, Kathy was diagnosed with breast cancer,   The doctor said that we caught it early, thanks to a 3D mammogram, but, the lump was malignant.  We had a downtime of feeling sorry for our selves, but, snapped out of that.  We put our thoughts in perspective:  this is a life threatening experience but life itself is a life threatening experience.  We were on the edge of death while driving or walking in Guatemala every day!  We have strived to be obedient to God's commandments, and, we firmly believe that what ever happens, we are in his hands!  We are focusing outside of our selves, upping our help for our family, friends, and anyone that we can be of service.

Our final thought on our mission

THERE ARE FEW THINGS MORE REWARDING OUR MORE LIFE CHANGING THEN WORKING FULL TIME FOR THE LORD!