Oranges in Sajunte

Sajunte!  The most beautiful place!  Sitting in front of a family´s home working with a future missionary while eating oranges the family just picked off the tree.  Then walking through the mandarin orchard on trails while visiting members of the Branch.   We stopped at one place later on the way back down the hill to Chulac and greeted a family who runs a tienda.  There was a young man there and so I asked his age, he said he had just turned 18,  I asked when did we need to start working on his paperwork so he could serve a mission.  Just to find out he isn´t a member.  Told him he needed to learn more so he could get ready.  He gave us his name, wrote it down and his parents names, his mom was there also - so we gave it to the missionaries.  Directions to home.  From the church up around two curves, blue tienda on left behind big sign.  What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon!  Saturday morning in Chulac taught 2 sisters how make rag dolls and chocolate no bake cookies, so we can do an activity there with the sisters.  On the way back up, we stopped outside a little tienda and had this following of children, I started making a rag doll and the crowd grew...I told them whoever could sing for me the best a Guatemalan song would get the doll.  The children are very very shy ussually, and none wanted to sing, So Elder Spradlin and I sang a children´s song and again I said öh what a pretty doll, I wonder if I shall have to keep it¨  A couple more times of repeating this comment and singing for them, one little girl barely whispered a few words, then I said, oh what was that...with quite a bit of coaxing all of them finally sang for me and taught me a song.  We then did a contest with them, 4 parents had now shown up, and I had the children stand against the store and sing to me, then I narrowed it down to about 4 girls and held the doll over each head and the one with the most appluase won.  At each fase of the contest they had to sing to us again.  It was soo much fun! We ended up riding down from Senahu and down from Chulac also both on what in the states you would call a cattle truck. We got to Panzos at 7am, Church building was opened at 8:55,  they had 32 members in attendance when it started and we were so grateful to be there with them. I never imagined how much fun it could be riding in cattle trucks with Elder Spradlin!  It was a blast!

mosquito bites!

We were able to serve in Panzos last weekend and the mosquitos must have heard I was coming!  Visiting homes in the afternoon they went on the attack!  I had 52 bites between my knees and ankles, Harold was surprised I counted them.  The awesome part is that they really didn´t bother me until I got back to Senahu, and I was really grateful.  Found out what happens here without telephone service, we needed to reach the Branch President in Panzos to meet with him and he wasn`t answering his phone, about 5 minutes further down the road a man rode up to us on his bicycle and started talking with us - it was the Branch President.  Love the small miracles! Panzos is currently a very small breanch that we are hoping to be able to help reactivate.  We are working with some amazing members there.  In Senahu this week we were able to do English training meetings at two of the schools for the teachers, and one in Seamay.  Seamay wants us to come back on a weekly basis and we said we would if we are in town.  Thanks to the two Keyboards the Alberts brought us we had five very excited young men taking piano and English in the chapel at Seamay last night.  It was exciting watching their intense desire to learn.  While waiting to start the training at the schools we also worked a little with the students in English, some of them are so sweet - then there are a few others who are very mischievous!  You could tell there was great interest though, when we started the classes with the teachers many children gathered and watched in through the windows.  We have classes again tonight at the church for Piano and English here in Senahu so pictures will have to be uploaded next week. Zone conference tomorrow, so another trip down the hill.   All I can say is Heavenly Father is great and we are so grateful to watch his program unfold here. 

Mud and Miracles

Last Sunday we got to go up to Chijolom, about a 2 hour drive up further into the mountains, with the District President.  It was then a 25 minute walk further up on a trail through a Cardamon field.  Beautiful - but as always a little bit slippery!  The primary teacher was a young 15 year old girl with great faith and about 8 children.  Beautiful land, people and great faith.  Coming back down one of the brethren cut me a pole to help me keep from slipping down the slope. It was exciting when climbing way up in the 4 wheel drive truck, coming around the corner on this one-lane road we met a logging truck coming down!  They backed up a few feet and we went over to within a few inches of the drop off so they could come around!
  We also went to the Chulak area this week to work for a couple of days, to get there and come back we went by bus, mini van, tuk-tuk, and part of the way on the back of a truck! While there we were able to cook and eat in the Elder´s apartment and we slept in one of the classrooms in the church. Chulak is way up in the mountains with people of amazing faith and a sky that seemed to hold every star available when darkness hit- especially since the people have no electricity to hide the beauty!  Elder Spradlin was asked by an older couple to bless the wife who had had, (we think) a heart attack and had just gotten home from the hospital.  The husband said he could tell Harold was a man of great faith and for that reason he wanted him to give the blessing.  Sweet people!  While there we also did a Primary and Young Women´s teacher training.  One problem here is that the manuals are in Spanish, but many of the people only speak Qéqchi´, hard to know what to do if you can´t read the book!
On Wednesday we hiked back to Sepamac, a village further up the mountain - hiked up and then down in our boots through some mud in a mist, for over 2  hours to get there so we could start going up and down again to reach the homes of the saints we needed to visit.  Before we had made it all the way I had figured out that I wasn´t going to be able to hike it back out, But the Lord blessed us and we were able to make all of the visits. Again the brethren used their knives and cut me a pole to get down one of the muddy slopes.  In order to visit the last sister the Brethren wanted us to see we missed the one ride back up and out...  Using my pole the other Elders from Chulac and us started the hike back out.  By this point I was going on great faith, and leaning strongly on my pole the Brother had cut me.  We had hiked for about 15 minutes when we saw a truck stopped, right at the beginning of the steep acent out.  They gave us a ride part way out, over the highest part of the summit, on the back of their truck!  Oh how grateful I was.  Over the top and part way down, the rest was possible.  With a break for supper we were able to go out again in the evening.  My miracle was that I was able each time to get up and walk again even though I knew it was not my own strength I was using.  The next day we had to walk a lot more and visit a town called Panzos.  Waking up in the morning I felt no pain whatsoever and again was grateful to a Very Loving Heavenly Father! 
Elder Spradlin noticed that in Sepamac, as we sat  in a home with an unlevel dirt floor, with large rocks in the middle of the room.  The house held up by sticks, large cracks in between holding up the roof.  As he watched the smoldering fire from the earlier breakfast built on the ground, we could still feel the spirit of the Lord and the strength of the Sister as she bore her testimony while sitting on the edge of the table so that we could use her benches to rest on.  The faith of these people here is overwhelming, awe-inspiring and leaves us in awe. 

Rocks and Baptism

Elder Spradlin used a new type of hammer, well at least for us.  He helped put in a raised garden for a family.  They put down the wood sides, then made stakes with their machetes to hold them up.  To hammer the stakes in they used a big rock for a hammer.  It worked!  The next day while out visiting families we were invited to take a seat, the seat was another huge rock.  Great recycling I would call it.  A lot ofthe places we go are uphill, or downhill and very muddy, keeps us praying that we won´t slip and fall.  So far we are very grateful for answers to that prayer!
On New Year`s Eve the Elder`s had a baptism in one of the branches for an 89 year old man.  It was supposed to be at 11am, but when we got there at 10:45 we found out they couldn´t run the water because the town was out of water, not an unusual event here, there were only a few inches in the fount.  Great predicament, till The Branch President stood up and explained to the people it would take a sacrifice from all for the baptism and he sent everyone out to their homes to carry back water.  Many of them lived over a half mile away, again up and down the hills.  The people got up and a lot of the adults and teens left.  Some adults stayed around with all of the children.  A little later a stream of people came back carrying water on their heads, over their shoulders and between them.  A huge demonstration of faith and love!

Later that afternoon I went to a family`s home who had just recently gotten  a propane gas stove with an oven, they had never had one, so didn`t know how to use it.   Both of the women spoke only Qèqchi`, so with my little amount and the children helping translate from Spanish we made a chocolate cake.  A little later one of the children brought out a flashlight and looked in.  Oh the surprise when they realized the cake was rising!   It turned out perfect and we were all very pleased.  The next day they tried helping me learn how to make tortillas.  Not as easy as I thought it would be!
New Years Eve we were invited to a sweet family`s home for caldo, a broth with Chicken which is considered a great delicacy for them.  The family uses candlelight and cooks over an open fire in their kitchen.  They brought out the soup for us to eat and I said -oh we will wait for you¨-  that is not the normal here, and so it caused a slight problem because they did not own enough dishes for everyone when we ate with them.  So the mother had her daughter keep making tortillas, which is the traditional way of women, to make tortillas while the family eats.  We have experienced such generosity and love here in Guatemala.