PRECIO DE GRINGO

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So, there is a thing down here about buying.  If you are from the USA and white the price goes up a lot.   Well, we have been shopping enough that when we ask for the price, we also say "no precio de gringo" .  We do a lot of bargaining, and, we get the price down but it probably is still higher than a local would get.  Anyway, we needed to buy a hat for Gary to sleep in.  Yes, to sleep in. There is a picture included.  Well, Kathy is getting very "vicious" at bargaining.  She found a hat for Gary in a little shop.  The clerk was a young man.  Kathy asked the price.   The young man told her Q3.  Kathy got very upset at the price and countered with Q2.   She miss understood the price.  He said "tres quetzales" but she heard "treinta quetzales".  A difference of 3 to 30.   Kathy was "hard barganing" over About 30 cents.  We all got a great laugh out of it!

We visited a liittle town Evan further in the mountains.  We usually have lolly-pops with us in case we meet missionaries or little kids.  So, in this little town, we parked by a house and several kids and a mom were looking at us (after all, we are white and twice their size)  we talked to them for a few minutes and Gary brought out of his bag some lolly pops for the kids.  We handed them around and the mom said "santa clause"  and she pointed to Gary's white hair and round tummy!! We gave lolly-pops to the mother and grand mother.

We drive and walk around looking for missionaries.  It is important that they know we are here for their support and to let them know that someone cares about what they are doing.  We were walking along and we met a pair of elders.  They said that they were looking to buy a kit, they had an appointment later in the day.  (They really should be talking and helping every one they meet)   So, here comes a man loaded with kits.  The four of us begin talking to him.  Kathy asked the man if he belonged to a church.  He said no.  She said, pointing to her plack, this is a really good church and these elders will tell you all about it and the we left, leaving the elders to do their job.

Believe it or not besides our work to watch after and take care of the missionaries, we are doing missionary work our selves.  We have failed miserably through out our life with missionary work.  One of our friends didn't talk to us for a few years after we talked to him about the church.  We watched a relative throw the Book of Mormon in the garbage can while leaving their house.   And on and on.  So here we are on a full time mission!  We usually have a few hours in the afternoon to ourselves.  We walk around the marketplace, buy a few things, and say hello but that was about it.  We decided to implement what we learned in conference:  pray for a missionary experience, prepare yourself such that you are able to have the Holy Ghost with you, and go around doing good.  And, The Lord will bring people to you, or lead you to the people, that will listen to your message.   We have tried to prepare ourselves by praying really a lot, studying the scriptures, and being obedient (this one is difficult).  And, we walk around being nice, saying hello, helping when we can.   And, we have four people that we have made friends with and, one may actually be taught by the missionaries.  ( our Spanish is doing ok but not quit ready for us to solo in a teaching meeting).  We can't believe that we actually had a missionary experience!

Here is Gary modeling his sleeping hat

Here we are in our Halloween costumes

OUR FRIENDS

We had our day all planned out.  We finally had a little time to catch up on a few things.   We planned on visiting a missionary house and give them a little message and some goodies and check on their needs.  (We visit missionary house two or three time a week.)   Then, we planned on using the extra time to walk around taking to people and do a little shopping.  Fat chance.   We made these plans the night before, we went to bed looking forward to an easier day.   So, we were awakened by a call. It was two elders with a bed bug problem.  They asked if tomorrow we could wash their sheets and bring them some bug spray.  We finished this call and got another.  It was sister missionaries.  They had seen the same man several times today, he was old  had grey hair and long side burns.  They were scared he was following them.   Well, we drive around every day and we see the same people every day.  It's a small town.  But, never second guess a sister, so we said we would take them to their first appointment and we would search around for the guy.  Now we were awake, and the thought came to mind that we received four new missionaries and they were probably freezing, so, tomorrow we would buy some blankets for them.  That was the end of our plans for a "free" day.  This kind of thing is typical every day, but, we love it.

One day a few days ago, we started our day and every thing was going bad:  we heard water running and when we came out into the main room, the other bathroom was flooded and the water was running through the house like a river.   We shut water off to the toilet and cleaned up.  Kathy got into the shower and the power went out in part of the house including the little heater at the end off the shower head.   Freezing cold water came out and that was the end of Kathy's shower.   Also, we were both still sick.  We pulled ourselves together and went to a zone meeting.  A few days before we attended a zone meeting and understood the Spanish quite well.  Not this day, we could not understand a thing.  We were severely depressed.  Kathy wanted to catch a plane home.  Gary said that we should not get on a plan today the way things were going.  Well, we had made friends with a lady and her three children.  We would talk to here several times a week.  We would bring her lunch now and then.  (she is poor).  One time she was not in her little shop and was not there for many days.  We were worried.   The lady in the shop next to hers said that her daughter was ill.   So, this "hard" day, we were walking along in town and Kathy got a tap on the shoulder. We turned around, and there was our friend.  She broke into tears.  Her six year old daughter had died.  Kathy and her hugged and cried for along time.  Kathy was whispering to her and told her we were sent here to share with her the message of eternal life. She said this in good Spanish. We said we would meet her tomorrow and bring the missionaries ( yes we are missionaries, but, we needed missionaries that can speak good Spanish).  We did meet with her and found out where her area is.  And, today, we got a call from a pair of excellent elders.  This lady lives in their area.  So, things are moving along for missionary lessons for our friend.   We don't know if she will get baptized, but, we know that The Lord wanted us to get the missionaries for her,  and, someone else was really trying hard to keep us from doing this.

Here is a picture of a friend of ours.  He is placed by his mom around town to get donations and has a little bag around his neck for the money.  He is severely CP.  He cannot hold the bag or talk or walk, but he has a great spirit and he feels ours.   When we approach him he gets a gigantic grin.   He starts grinning when we are some distance away.  He feels our spirit and we feel his.  We have a special place in our heart for people with CP.

THE RESULTS OF DISOBEDIENCE

We have mentioned before that we have a mission rule not to drink Coca-Cola.   Several years ago missionaries were drinking nothing but Coca-Cola  and getting dehydrated.  So the mission president made this rule.  Well we heard that the new president might drink a coke now and then.  The rule however has not been repealed.  Against Kathy's advice Gary decided to have a Pepsi or Coke now and then.  Kathy told him he shouldn't be disobedient or he would pay the consequences.  Gary repented but was too late.   His punishment came as a really bad case of the flue.  The flu here is called Gripe.   Up to now we have avoided catching this bad flue.  During Gary's sickness a friend called.  Kathy told her that Gary was sick with the flu.  The friend said well it must be a punishment for him drinking Coke!  Gary will never again be disobedient.

We got a call from a missionary about a week or so ago.  The missionary said that one of the elders had passed out and they can't wake him.  We asked if he was breathing.  They said maybe!   We rushed over to pick him up.  He is a big boy and it took four of us to get him in the car.  He was breathing, but out cold with his eyes open!  We were terrified, we pleaded with heavenly that he would be ok.  The elders had already given him a blessing.  We got him to the hospital and after about two hours he woke up.  He said he was having a bad head ache.  (His main concern was that he would miss general conference).  His blood test and other basic test came out normal.  The doctor wrote a prescription for a tomography of his head.  This procedure costs quit a bit and needed approval from the president.   We kept close watch over him for two days and we finally got approval.  We got the tomography and took the pictures to the doc.  It turns out he had a very bad sinus infection.  We got him on strong meds and he has been ok.   Another direct answer to prayers.

Several times a week we walk through the town park.   Here, each town has a "parque".  There is a large Catholic church with a large patio in front.  The patio is surrounded with markets and vendors.  We walk through saying hello and talking to people when we can.  We saw a young man in a wheel chair.  As we approached him he gave a gigantic grin.  He has CP and can't talk and barely move.  He has a bag on his lap for donations.  He reminded us of our grandson, who has since passed away.  He had extreme PC.  Every time we visited him, he would great us with excitement and a gigantic grin.  So now, every time we visit the park, we find our friend, we can feel his spirit and we know he can feel ours.  We found and older lady with the same problem.  It is the highlight of our week to visit our friends and give them a little money.  It is comforting to us that we know that our friends, and our grandson, will some day be  renewed with wonderful bodies!

Here is a picture of our little English speaking group watching general conference.

And here is Kathy having received "goodies" from home