Preparing for Holy Week

In Preparation for Holy Week our town has been hard at work.  Many people painting the fronts of their houses, or sidewalks, or fronts of sidewalks.  A lot of white paint going up.  Since the beginning of Lent every Friday evening was the processional up the town.  Yesterday though they started repairing the roads.  Where they had caved in during the year they took out the stones and today filled up the road with concrete.  Glad we didnt have to go anywhere.  We have been told that on Good Friday they will put out a carpet of either Sand drawings or flowers on the street where the processional will pass that night.  It goes right in front of our house, so should be fun to watch.  No school next week for the kids and our landlord said a lot of people go to the rivers to picnic and swim.  We drove down to Telemann yesterday and gassed up the car there, found out it isn´t much cheeper than here on the mountain, plus neither one except our credit card.  At least the gas station up here said they will accept our Guatemalan check.  Gas is very high here in the Polochic, ´40 q (I think that figures out to be about $5. a gallon) yesterday!  so dont really want to carry enough cash with us for gassing up.  We are looking forward to General Conference this weekend.  I was on the sick side yesterday, so we have been in and got a lot of studying done.  Working on that Qéqchi´ and Spanish!!! 

Car! Electricity! and Waterfalls!

We feel so very blessed!  We got our vehicle last Thursday, a Toyota RAV4.  Sunday we were able to go visit a branch called Canlun which is down the mountain and across the river.  We had wanted to visit them previously, but there was no transport connections for Sunday.  On the way back we were able to stop and work in Telemann with the Branch Primary President there, and still make it back up the mountain by 3:30 in the afternoon.  To top off the miracles this morning our 220 Electricity was finally finished so now we can use our stove, and when the rain gets too bad, especially during rainy season, we will still be able to get our laundry done and get our work done also.  Now the important thing will be making sure that we organize and use our time and resources well so we can better serve here in the Polochic.  We did take a Pday break this morning and go with two Elders up the mountain, that way we could check the driving out better and also got to stop and picnic at a beautiful small waterfall.  Had plans to go up to a bigger one, but the road was just too bad for us to feel safe in passing.  Turning around was probably a very wise decision on Elder Spradlin´s part!  Honestly didn`t mind not getting to do our travels in Truckbed and micro! 
Saturday the Elders up here in Senahu and Seamay had 7 baptisms and one marriage.  It made for a very eventful day.  We are very excited looking forward to hearing General Conference this weekend.

amazing days! and Electric Skillet cake recipes!

Members from Gordon Hamms group left toy cars, necklaces and beads with us that they didnt get to give out, so yesterday we hiked back in to two homes in Seamay, not real far in distance, but in reality check -yes!  Gave the children cars and a doll and necklaces.  They were thrilled.  These two famlies appear so very happy, in their very small pole huts with tin roofs.  One family has 5 children in a two room hut - their washing area is outside.  The other family with 8 children live in about a 12x18 building with a washing area outside.  Happy, welcoming and loving.  Makes it very evident we get our priorities mixed up!  We stopped on the way back down and made necklaces with a family using the beads and ribbons we were left.  This morning we located more ribbons and visited a family to play after we taught at the school.  Love the people here andthe joy and love they share with us.  Tonight though I am very excited because I just found an electric skillet cake recipe!  Watch out next for the brownies!  Yesterday I had started filling the wash machine with water from the pila - by hand- because it is faster - had the clothes in, turned on the machine and the electricity was out!!!  By the time the electricty came on last night, the water was off!  Have to get the timing down a little bit better. 

WASPS and the polochic world view

We visited with a family in Chulak Sunday evening sitting in front of their home.  The tin roof/ceiling had two wasps nest hanging from it, grant it they were small.  The family showed them to us because all of the wasps were coming in.  We asked them if they were dangerous, because back home they sting and hurt.  They said, oh yes, if they sting you you will be up all night.  I asked  them why they had them there where the family sits and the children play...  the answer was,  they  come.  I said that in our home we have had them also, but that we kill them.  He asked me why.  I explained that they might sting the children.  He told me that yeah, one time they had a really big nest of them out there, the children were playing and they swarmed the kids and my you should have seen them run....and yet they have two wasp nests there because they come...
We went and saw a lovely family in Sepamac.  Took the bus to the end, then followed the trail down and down and down, not knowing where the family lived that we needed to find.  We would ask with my limited Q¨eqchi¨and their limited Spanish each time being told down the hill.  About 30 minutes of walking down to the bottom of the town at the end of the road outside the house was the family we had come to see.  Seemed like they were almost waiting on us by the time we got there.  We invited their 21 year old daughter to think about going on a mission.  What a beautiful day for a long hike, because when we left we found no transport back down till we had gone a very very long ways. 

turkey attack and running water

Wednesday while we were at one of the schools we teach at we walked out of the fence around the school to check a new building they are working on.  Some of the children followed us out, while outside the gate the children started provoking a huge tom turkey.  It began to try and attack the children so Elder Spradlin got between them and it and I tried to get the chldren back behind the fence.  The silly turkey was on the attack and followed us.  Elder Spradlin received a small wound on his leg before a man working on the new building made it to his rescue by grabbing the Turkey from behind by his wings and walking him back out and down the lane.  Okay, a little scary even - because this guy was huge.  Sure wish I had had pictures!  We finally got water again last night after about 4 days relying on our cystern.  Yey!  we rushed and did all of our laundry, dishes and even had hot showers.  It was great!

Los Limones

Coming up from Telemann in a truck on Sunday we met a School teacher from a small community called Los Lemones.  He invited, asked us to come to visit his school and work with the children in English.  Said it wasnt very far out, only about 12 km.  That there is a truck that leaves from Seamay at 6am.  We decided to go, and took our new friend Debbie with us, she had come down with Gordon Ham to see this part of Guatemala and do service.  We left the house at 5am, got to Seamay about 5:45.  The Truck we needed had left at 5:30, but another passed and said they were going that way.  Up we climb, yes of course it was raining,  into the back of the truck.  About an hour later the truck comes to where we need to get off, and then wait for the next truck to go up further the next road.  One passed fairly quickly, yes it is still raining,  up we climb again and go about another 45 minutes.  Beautiful terrain, surround by coffee bean and bean fields.  Different types of hills than before, but yes still kind of misty.  We get off the next truck and begin walking, it feels like we are in the middle of a painting with brilliant colors and shapes and sounds.  Sorry, no pictures.  Enthralling, but still misty.  The teacher passes on his motorcycle about 30 minutes later up the road.  Says hello - asks if we are still coming.  Thought it an odd question since we had been traveling about 2 hours already.  So of course we say yes and climb the next hill, go down...  Then we of course see another big hill and think, oh my, now way.  Blessings appear in the form of another truck headed up and they give us a ride up.  Pretty much to the end of the world it felt like.  The school had 3 classrooms and amazing children.  Taught them, lost my voice.  Kept on teaching.  They were then saying afterwards that they needed help finishing one of the rooms on the school, the Municipality was supposed to do it, but when the new mayor changed offices the process stopped.  We went on to the next class and worked with them.  In the two younger classes the children sang for us in Qeqchi and Spanish.  Their teacher was so proud of them!  After we saw the last class and went to look at their ruins a person drove up in a truck and this unexpected meeting started right next to the school.  The mayor had shown up and they were discussing a road they are putting in.  We went over with the teachers to ask about the school - she said if they would turn the original project plans in to her office she would see what the commitments were and keep them.  Wow, next surprise - she gave us a ride back down.  We were able to visit with her on the way about education, projects in the area and our desires to help in the community.  We couldn{t have gotten in to see her if we had tried probably, but here we rode down with her for over an hour and a half.  Amazing miracles!  Found out her daughter is finishing up her teaching assistantship and is working in one of the classrooms where we are teaching English.  Such a small miraculoous world here sometimes.  Sorry no pictures of Los Limones, but we promised we would make it back up in April and I will get some amazing ones then!  By the way Los Limones was a lot lot farther than we thought when we started, and on the way I sure wondered why we were headed there.  In the end though it was amazing.

Dentists and lessons learned

We had a clinic of 4 dentists from the city here this week.  Wonderful volunteers from the community and hundreds of opeople who needed help to relieve pain.  The dentists helped 240 people.  It was amazing!  Lesson learned, if you never brush your teethe - they will fall out.  Some people only had the roots of their teethe still on many teethe and needed them pulled still.  One girl of 13 needed all 4 of her front teethe pulled,  One elderly gentleman had never used a toothebrush.  Hopefully we can help educate people and stop some of this pain in the future.  It was very hard for me to see the pain and suffering that goes on, and to know that this was just the tip of the iceburg for people who have the same sort of problems here.   The members made QaQiq (spelling)  a turkey soup that is served only at weddings, graudations and large celebrations, to serve to the Dentists on the last day as a wonderful surprise, and one sister brought them in a Tres Leches Cake to show the gratitude of the people.  Such a giving loving people we work with here.  The funny things though that happen - One young brother called me on Monday night wanting to know if he needed to bring in his 40 day old baby to see the dentist, because it has 2 teethes and that just isnt normal.  I told him it was fine, just make sure he keeps those two teethe clean.  
We hiked up on the mountain behind the house last Friday and stopped in a sweet home - shy little boy who completely came alive when he found out he was going to get his picture taken.  The mother asked if we could, she had seen the camera.  When I said yes, everyon e went running to get dressed up for the picture taking!   Afterwards they walked partway back down the hill to make sure we didnt get lost on the paths!  They also gave us bananas from the tree in their yard.  We felt so loved!  We are heading back up to deliver the picture to them, and really looking forward to it. 
The other lesson learned, again, this past week is one I have to make sure I always remember, We can never judge where someone else is, or what they are going through,   we are all here as servants and that, thankfully is the only job we have to fulfill.