Pictures from Antigua 4/24/16

 Another picture of the "taxi".  Notice the guard with the gun.

 We are at the market in Antgua.  The lady with the basket on her head has a "bowl" of material to cushion the basket that she carries on her head.

More Guatemalans carrying loads on their heads.  MaKayla says it is so much easier to carry heavy loads that way.  

We had a great week at the temple.  We were busy most nights with sessions, sealings, and baptisms.  The youth are really faithful in coming and most times they have family names.  Friday, we had all the mission presidents in the Central American Area and the leaders of the area come to the temple.  We had 3 full sessions that started at 7:30 (past the regular schedule of 7:00).  So we were busy and tired when the night was over.  When Dale and I finished our session (some in English) I went into the Salon Celestial to see if the sister needed a replacement.  While I was in there, a sister was just getting ready to leave when she saw my name tag and greeted me with an abrazo.  I wondered who she was and then she told me that she was Sister Markham (MaKayla's mission president).  President Markham came over.  They said how happy they were to meet us and that McKayla was a great missionary.  They said that we would have "great, great grandkids through her."  They invited us to the testimony meeting at the mission home just before Kayla goes home in June.  So we will try to get Pres. Norman to let us off that Tues. afternoon and go with the Fillmore's to see Kayla before she heads for home.

We spent Saturday morning with the Fillmore's at an artisan market downtown. It was really a nice one and we enjoyed seeing all the fun things that they make in Guatemala.  We then had another busy day at the temple with some sessions starting on the half hour instead of waiting for the hour.  We had 31 in our session and some of the men were only half on the benches.  But it was awesome to see so many saints wanting to do the temple work.

Dale spoke in Sacrament meeting today and I played the piano for Sister Reed who has been gone for 2 weeks.  Dale did a great job talking about covenants and how keeping our covenants gives us power to withstand the evils of this world.  We just relaxed the rest of the afternoon and talked to several of our children and grandchildren.

Trip to Municipalidad De Pastores April 18, 2016

 A group of temple missionaries took a mini-trip on Monday to a few little towns near Antigua.  This church was quite intricate on the front and was well taken care of, but the back had been burned and was left looking as it had been when it was destroyed.

 We ate lunch at a greasy chicken restaurant.  I had a salad, that looked nothing like the picture on the menu.  But it was food and we had good company.

 A picture of part of the cemetery in the little town of Municipalidad De Pastores.  There were several of these, along with individual graves with stones and simple crosses in the church yard.

These young girls were making tortillas in a little room off the road.  The young girl behind tried to hide when we took a picture.

 A huge tree in the middle of the plaza.

 A little courtyard in the city.

 Down a little alley in the city.

 There was a plaza in front of the church.  This was the only plants there.  

 The street of the little city.  This was a place famous for making leather boots.  There were a ton of shoe shops along this main road.

 They use these little 3 wheeler cars as taxis.  Notice the cobblestone street.

When we were Antigua at the market, we ran into 4 sister missionaries.  They all know MaKayla and said that they "love that crazy Sister Dibb".  It was fun to talk to them.

Meeting in Santa Lucia and Catholic School fund raiser

 This sister and her husband work in the temple and made arrangements for President Norman and Sister Norman to come to s special meeting to talk to the district about the temple and the importance of families.  We were invited to go along.  Dale and two other Senior Elders were asked to bear their testimonies, then Pres. and Sister Norman spoke.  We got there a little early and the children's choir was practicing for their district conference.  These two girls were singing with the director when we walked into the chapel.

 The children's choir singing their songs.

 After the meeting, we enjoyed visiting with the members and their children.  It was sweet and one little girl came up to me and gave me a big hug.  I realized how much I miss the hugs of my grandkids.

 Just down the street from us is a Catholic School.  They were having a fund raiser, so we went down.  This is a coconut with a straw and some mangos all cut up for enjoying.

 These sisters are making tortillas and (we think) chicken.

 The Sisters at the school and the tents behind with games and food.

 They had a basketball game and volleyball to watch.

The little ones did a "real" fish pond.  They were little minnows.  We couldn't help but remember Alpine Days and the big trout they used to bring in and dump in the pool they made in front of the fire station.  The kids would climb in the pool and catch the fish with their hands.  This is quite a different scene.

Goats and flowers

 We were on our walk the other day and heard a loud "snap".  When we turned around there were these goals with mussels walking down the street - their "master" walking behind them with a whip. 

He herded them across the feeder road and proceeded to milk the one.  There was a car stopped on that side of the road.  He gave them the milk and the people paid him.  It was interesting to see in the big city of Guatemala.

 These are pictures of flowers around the temple.  The blossoms are about 5 or 6 inches across.

This was an interesting tree.  It looks like a cactus is growing right out of it.

 There are flowering trees all over.  We see many of them on our walks.

April 11 - 17

 

We had a great FHE with the temple missionaries, temple presidency, and other senior couples serving in Guatemala.  We get together twice a month.  Monday two couples were there for the last time.  They both finished their missions this week and took off for home.  Elder and Sister Plaskett are from California.  They served as mental health missionaries for the young missionaries.  They lived in our apartment complex and we got to be good friends.

 Elder and Sister Allred are from Santaquin and this is their 4th mission.  He is quite a "walker" and we have gone with him on long walks early in the morning. 

We went to an archaeological museum and saw a lot of artifacts, including these arrowheads.

One of the statues in the museum.

Intricate carvings in the stone face.

 They used to write books on this "paper" and fold it together like a fan.  It was easy to read and folded into a nice "book".

More artifacts.

 We also went to the textile museum.  It was amazing to see the beautiful needlework and how they are able to make such intricate designs.

 This showed how they work to make the designs on the blouses .

 Beautiful pillow covers - all done by hand.

A loom that they use to weave the cloth.

 There are several of us that walk in the morning.  Each Mon., Wed., and Fri., we stop at the CCM (MTC) gym on the way back to our homes.  We have permission to use the gym while the missionaries are eating from 7:30 to 8:00.  So we use the equipment.  We should be really "fit" by the time we get home. 

April 4 - April 10

 It is hard to get any pictures from the temple, so most of the pictures are on our "adventures" outside the temple.  I got my hair done for the first time since coming to Guatemala.  Angelina did a good job and actually massaged my head during the shampoo.  It felt great.  She is just down the road and really handy.

 We went for our morning walk with the missionaries and went a different way.  We came upon this playground.  The slide is cement and the teeter totter has old tires to cushion you when you come down.

You see a lot of young and older ladies carrying baskets on their heads.  Kayla says it is a lot easier to carry heavy things that way.  I think I'd like to try.

 We visited the relief map of Guatemala.  It was huge.  This monument depicts the man who surveyed everything.

 In front of the monument.  Sister Norman, Sister May, Sister Price, Elder May, Dale, Linda, Sister Hurst, Elder Hurst and Elder Price.  President Norman took the picture.

 Dale looking over the map.  It was interesting to see the large range of volcanoes on the south side where Guatemala City is.

 This is a part of the volcano range with the coast (where MaKayla is) off to the right and the ocean beyond.

There are so many signs that tell where things are, but they are hard to see.  We saw some places where Nicholas served as well and many of the missionaries with us traveled to Tical and went through the Coban area.  It was nice to finally get a perspective of the country - very mountainous in the south and quite flat up north.

We were very busy at the temple this week.  We didn't get home most nights until around 10:00.  Saturday, there were over 1200 ordinances done in our small temple.  There were 4 buses that came and brought a lot of people.  Some of the sessions were packed and there were about 15 own endowments.  When we came in, there were hardly any dresses left in the roperia for the patrons.  So those who work in the laundry were very busy washing and drying clothes.  

This week I met a sister whose face lighted up when she saw my name.  She was excited to tell me that she knew Hermana Dibb (Kayla).  She was in her ward in San Lucas.  Also, I visited with a young temple worker who did splits with Kayla while she was on her mission.  We had the opportunity to meet Nicholas' mission president as well.  So we have been lucky to meet some people who know and love our grandchildren who have been here.

At church today, we met Elder Kevin Duncan and his wife and girls.  He spoke in General Conference about forgiveness and is the Central American Area President.  We found out that he is in our ward -  so we may see him again.  It was a beautiful, sunny, day today and we feel blessed to be able to serve here.