Revelation

This past week we had zone conferences. This is where the missionaries gather periodically in groups of about 50 to receive instruction from the mission leaders. We had a meeting each day, Monday through Thursday: one in the highlands, one on the coast, and two in the southern suburbs of the Capital. Each session is essentially the same, with presentations and training from the president, his wife, and the two assistants to the president (positions which rotate periodically among the best of the young missionaries). We had a small part at each meeting to talk to the native Spanish speakers about learning English during their missions. Each day was almost the same as each other, except for the last.

Sister and President Brough get ready to dive into the largest guacamole nacho plate I have ever seen (we helped them out).

The Patzicia Stake Center. Patzicia is a small city in the Guatemala Highlands.

Our President’s wife is a very sweet young (to us) lady. The missionaries are all fond of her. We learned a few days ago that she had been one of the young dancers in the original Footloose movie with Kevin Bacon. As she was finishing up her message, she stopped and teared up as the thought came to her to ask a question unrelated to her presentation. The mission has a directive that all the missionaries will unite in prayer at 8:00 AM, wherever they are, for the safety of one another. Sister Brough received revelation that this zone had several who were not in compliance. She asked them to raise their hands if they were not remembering to pray at 8:00 AM. Quite a few hands went up, giving her the opportunity to ask them to commit to the practice. We all felt the spirit as we realized that she had been chosen at that moment to receive important intelligence that no one, other than the delinquent missionaries knew.

Another Exciting Week

It has been another fun filled week for us, we are kept pretty busy most of the time. Which is important for me especially as I have a tendency to get home sick if I don't have anything to do. Last Saturday we drove down to San Jose to go to the beach. We never did find the hotel where we could rent a room for a few hours. It was SO crowded! Hundreds of people everywhere so we just walked on the beach for a little while then made our way back to the city. You would not believe that town! To start off the streets are very narrow with more motorcycles and scooters than I have ever seen in my life! And to top that off there were about 5-6 semi trucks full of gas mixed in the mess. We couldn't go very far that's why we couldn't get to the hotel. The beach front is lined with tons of small shacks mostly offering food, drink, beach clothing, etc. some houses. You could drive down little alleys where they had signs where you could park your cars. We went down one and this old beach bum started to direct us into a parking spot. He moved a motorcycle out of the way for us! It was at least a 5 point maneuver to get the car parked. He then introduced us to the proprietor of the establishment who showed us where we could change. That was interesting, they opened doors into these little rooms with a small bed. We both looked in and decided they were bug traps! No way was I going in one of them and never sit on the beds! Ohhh willies! 
We walked a few feet to the very wide and beautiful beach that was covered with people and trash... Apparently they don't ( ever) clean the beach nor did I see any trash cans. I thought of the video going around about the trash in the pacific ocean over 2 miles wide and I realized the trash isn't coming from the US as much as it is coming from these 3rd world countries. So sad because it was a huge wide black sand beach. We are going to ask our new friends that lives out there what is the best beaches to visit next time.
It was cool to drive in the country and see all the different areas. It's really beautiful in most areas, again the sad part is the trash on the sides of the road. In the city they clean it up but not in the country. We passed many sugar cane fields. It's cool, they let the fields grow to maturity then cut it before the rainy season. They fill up these huge trucks that takes it to the sugar factories. It is the countries biggest export. The canes will produce for five years then die off. They will then replant the fields for another round. 
The coconuts are also being harvested right now, they have tons of road side fruit stands filled with coconuts, mangos, watermelon. The watermelon is the best ever! Tastes like candy! Oh they also have lots of bananas! It's funny in the stores you will find local pineapples and then some from Hawaii, of course the local ones are to die for. Not sure why they bother to ship in from Hawaii??? It's a mystery.
We drove past a volcano but it hasn't been active for over 300 years, but neat to see.
We had a special experience this week, eith the sisters of our mission during the Sisters Conference. All the sister missionaries from our mission met and had meetings with a catered luncheon. I was asked to talk about living through the hard times of life and returning to out Heavenly Father with honor and enduring to the end. Dad translated for me but I gave my testimony in Spanish! It was hard because I had lots of new words I needed to learn :) several sister missionaries gave their testimonies expressing their love for the Lord and the gospel, and they all spoke about how hard it has been for them to adjust to their new lives here. They made me realize how blessed I am, I can write or call home anytime I want and I can even go home if I need to. One sister hasn't heard from her family in 6 months! Yes I am blessed to have all of you and your prayers, emails, and calls. Thank you we love you all every day!
I think of you all of you always and truly look forward to your emails.

The mission office staff at the president's apartment

A view from our roof. This zone is full of new high-rise apartments.

This coming week we will be involved in Zone Conferences which will take us to several new areas. Attached are some pic we’ve taken during some of our travels.

Our mission wheels - brand new Rav4. It's cruel to send a nice new car out on the roads here. After 18 months on the roads of Guatemala it will require a full chassis transplant. One of the favorite tricks is to put large speed bumps in an otherwise open road, with no warnings. And most of the time they are not even painted. But the local style of driving trains you to be constantly alert so you see them - most of the time. We have already passed two or three cases where someone's wheel just fell off while driving. 

I am developing a theory that the "wild west" (Libertarian?) style of driving here actually results in fewer accidents as we haven't seen many so far. Before I am done here I plan to write a book on the science of driving in Guatemala.

-- Ralph

Dental Clinic and Orphanage

Some of the senior missionaries here with us are dentists who staff a  a  modern, well-equiped clinic in Guatemala City that was built by but not owned by the Church. They work on any missionaries with problems and also help lots of others not only in Guatemala, but they travel throughout Central America as well going into communitites and provide free dental services to whomever needs it. I am including a picture of a mural in the clinic that was made by the builders. If you look closely you will see a pair of missionaries with their Book of Mormon although there is no overt identification of them as it is a public clinic.

The clinic is next to a girls orphanage. These are kids that would otherwise be fending for themselves on the street. You will see pictures of the older girls making bread and one of our own, Sister Murray, demonstrating the proper way to knead bread by hand.

We Survived the First Week!

You probably know how hard it is to change jobs, having to learn new duties and maybe a new boss.

Suppose that along with changing jobs

you are also changing companies with a new culture and vocabulary

and moving to a new house with strange furnishings,

in a foreign culture,

with a different language,

where you have to be on guard for people who want to rob you,

and everyone has hired guns in front of their home or business,

where you don’t know where to go for things you need

and you cant find what you need when you finally get there,

where the roads are confusing and seem to be designed to make it hard to get anywhere,

and helpful street signs are in short supply,

and rush hour lasts from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM,

and the drivers use a WHOLE different set of rules.

Then you see the faces of children and it makes it all worthwhile!

We Made It!

We made it ok, it took 17 hours to get here! Boy were we tired! We started our day at 3am in Prove, got to the airport only to find out we had to wait 2 1/2 hrs because our flight was delayed. Got to Dallas waited another 1 1/2 hrs then 3 hr 20 mins to Guatemala. The mission pres, his wife and 2 missionaries were at the airport to help us with our bags and stuff. At the apt there was a couple waiting for us to help get us settled. I got to bed at 10:45 pm. 
Today we got up at 7:15 am to get ready for church only to find out the time was different... It really was 6:15 am! Boy I lost a whole hour :( 
Church was fun we went to the ward the Call's go to and there were several people who spoke English to us. That was nice, I could only understand a little of the lesson and talks but it will come. The chapel is currently serving as our mission offices until they finish remodeling the building they usually use, so we know how to get there J.
The Call's have 4 guests here form the states that come to help in the dental clinic. They are really nice. They asked us over to have cheese and crackers for a snack. And the missionaries had a welcome BBQ to welcome us and another couple home. It was on the roof of our building where they have a patio with nice tables and chairs and a serving counter. It was fun to meet everyone and spend a little time getting to know each other. They also gave us safety ideas telling us when and how to get around the city. Apparently it is not safe to ride in the car with the windows down because you could get held up. So different from home…  

The mission Pres. Wife had our kitchen ready for us to have breakfast in the morning and later today Elder Smith will take us shopping. Then in the future we will be able to go on our own.
They have really made us feel welcome and at home. The weather is beautiful 75 but cloudy with a small breeze which we need to keep out apt comfortable.
This is a beautiful place and we will share our pictures with you, and yes Jon we took more than just out the car window…

Love you all, miss you. Look forward to you emails. J

Thoughts from the Missionary Training Center

This place is big! This became most evident at the Tuesday night devotional when all 2000+ were together in the same room. We had a great message from Elder David Evans of the Seventy but the best part was the singing.  All those voices united in power was impressive, even if just singing a simple hymn.   Also impressive is the amount of food the cafeteria puts out three times a day! Unfortunately, it is "all you can eat" and quite edible too. It's a good thing that we are only here five days or I would have to get my pants enlarged. It is great to feel the enthusiasm of the young elders and sisters. We all truly have the Spirit.  Today is the day that a new batch of young missionaries arrived and we tried to imagine all the tearful farewells that took place today, reminding us of our farewell just two days ago.  We have learned so much that it seems that we must have been here longer than that. I am surprised at how many young sister missionaries are here. It is thrilling that so many of our young women are able to serve. They are such effective ambassadors for the church. This week's batch of senior missionaries is almost 100, including us. A new group arrives every week and while our group is larger than average, larger ones will be arriving in the next few weeks. We have a large contingent that are going to Nauvoo to increase their staff for the tourist season. They have to provide their own period costumes and will be driving to Illinois. Others are going to Ecuador, DR Congo and India. We have been spending much of our time in practice teaching situations and for many of the exercises Jolene and I have been paired as companions much as we would be in the future. This kind of teaching isn't our main responsibility but we may have some opportunity to do it. I have been impressed with what a good teacher Jolene is. She is so skilled at really connecting with people and expresses herself so well! I think her training work of the last few years has really left a positive mark on her. I hope we will have many opportunities to teach together in the future. --- Ralph