April 25-April 30

 Sister Norman wanted to have a Marimba Band on Monday for Family Home Evening to celebrate her birthday and a temple counselor's birthday.  They went all out with decorations and pine needles on the floor (as is tradition) along with the band.  The pine needles made it a little difficult to dance, but they are supposed to make it easy to slide your feet while dancing.

 We are standing behind the marimba before the fiesta began.  This is in the courtyard of the president's home and we used the open garage as the dance floor.

 The marimba band played all kinds of music.  They were awesome and typical of the Guatemalans.  They use a special kind of wood for the marimba that they grown in Guatemala.

There was a dance instructor that taught us how to do the basic steps and then we sometimes reverted back to our teenage years and did the twist, pony, swim, and even the bunny hop.  It was a lot of fun.  There were about 30 people that came, so we got better aquainted and enjoyed a fun "birthday party."

We went shopping on Monday before preparing for the party and then went to a new Dollar City on Tuesday morning for some things that we really didn't need.  

The temple was so busy Tuesday night.  We had the 2:00 session and then they started the last session at 8:20.  So it made a long day.  The last session is supposed to start at 7:00.  Anyway, there was some thunder and lightning and it was difficult for this ward, that comes every Tuesday, to get there on time, so when they arrived, President Rosado started a session for them.  

Every day this week was busy and it was a joy to see new brides, missionaries, and older people receive the blessings of the temple.  There was a mother and daughter who stayed the whole week and did ordinances every day.  We had one session where there was a whole room full of sweet Guatemalans from the country.  They were short and had tiny hands - but giants spirits.  What a joy to serve here.  

Dale woke up Thursday morning with some concerns for his heart skipping beats.  He said that it had been getting worse this last week.  So we are checking it out to make sure all is well.

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.