Rough Roads

Some weeks are so varied that you look back at the end and have a hard time recalling all that went on! We did English interviews with our Elders from the Polochic, Senahu and Coban Zones last week. We were also able to finish up a couple of future missionary files and there were 15 future missionary interviews done with President Watts while he was here! He was one very busy man!

We are so excited at the changes taking place here. The mission will be divided in July and we are going to be working with the new Coban Mission, no change of living address for us... but we will miss working with President and Sister Watts, at the same time looking forward to working with Pres. And Sister Curtiss. The Districts here are looking forward to the growth, working to soon becoming Stakes and a Temple to someday be in Coban.

I love watching the Lord's hand working. Yesterday we had a meeting planned in Teleman to finish up a missionary file. When we got there we couldn't get into the church, so we asked a sister we know there if we could use her home. It just so happened that her 18 year old son was home and had also started his missionary file, so we were able to help him know and organize the things he needs to complete. While we were working on the other young man's paperwork, our sister mentioned his glasses. He needs to have another eye exam, and they knew the optometrist he needed to see!

We tried a different way back up to Senahu from Panzos (down in the valley) yesterday that one of the Elders said he knew the transports use. We now know to be more cautious when we listen to Elders! The way was truly beautiful, but the road was probably the worst we have been on. At one point we could tell we were only on 3 wheels. At another point, there was no seeing the road, because the car was taking up all of it next to a drop off into a huge ravine. The ruts were so huge at times that if we had gotten into them we would have bottomed out....And then we saw a huge transport truck full of people coming down toward us... No where to pass, so Elder Spradlin backed down to where he could just barely fit around us. Prayer and faith, because it was bad behind, bad in front, nothing to do but go forward. Sounds kind of like life feels sometimes!

Elder Spradlin says that life is sometimes like this road. We are told that it is going to be an easy road, then we find out somewhere along the way that it is very difficult. We get feelings of giving up or turning back, but if we move forward toward our ultimate goal we will reach our destination.

Saturday is a training meeting for the Auxilary presidencies of our three Polochic Districts. This is a bigger milestone than people back home can probably imagine. It means that our Districts have gotten Presidencies called for Relief Society, Young Women's, Primary, and Young men's and that plans are being made on training on the District and Branch levels. This is a very huge step.

Just got the word in that the Doctors want Rosie to have the surgery for putting in her lens implants in two weeks!

crazy quilt patterns

A quilt might be the best explanation of the way things work, especially a crazy quilt pattern! You take all of these random pieces and event, then when you start putting them together something beautiful and useful evolves. Maybe it being 57 degrees last night and still cold this morning makes me think of quilts. Even the best houses here have no insulation. I feel for our members with the pole or the tin houses.

We did missionary interviews, helping with English, last week up in Peten - while there we also bought a fan, a microwave and some pillows for different missionaries and apartments that needed them here in the Polochic. Coming back home we stopped and checked on one of our Sisters who is supposed to be starting her mission this coming week in Argentina. We found out as we talked to her that she was very disheartened because of problems with her Visa. We were able to reassure her that she will be going, but she may have to serve in another part of Guatemala until her Visa works out. She was afraid she wouldn't get to go and she has worked and waited so long to have this opportunity. Seeing her came from a random thought and phone call that was not random in the final pattern of things.

Saturday we were able to help with a youth activity at the church, they had it all planned but then their computer wouldn't hook up to the projector for the video they were showing. They called us and our laptop was able to do the job. Following that activity we went to the Missionary Farewell in the other Branch,so we were able to play the piano for them and wish our missionary great success in Peru. Right now there is a delay for our missionaries going into Argentina, Mexico and Peru because of holdups with their Visas. Our future missionaries get so anxious and frustrated because they don't understand when they are delayed in leaving, or changed entrance places due to the Visas. They are so anxious and ready to serve.

Sunday I was able to visit the two branch Primaries here in Senahu. I am looking forward to the District Trainings that will help the Sisters understand better how the organizations work. Two sisters running a huge primary, sometimes no books, whereas in the states we might have 10 sisters doing the program with all the resources possible available. It is very hard for  members here to realize how church programs should work, even though they are trying so diligently and faithfully.

We worked in Seamay yesterday evening, doing some visits, singing with different families, checking on a few families. It was neat as we would come up to a home and realize that they had a specific need or problem and if we hadn't been there – we would have never known, in order to be able to help.

One of the Branches there was having a Future Missionary training meeting.  We were able to stop in at that and share with them the steps for preparing for a mission. We always explain that the first step is a Testimony of Heavenly Father and the truthfulness of the Gospel. The second is a desire to serve. We then talk about the importance of building a personal testimony through prayer and scripture study. Those steps of righteous desire, prayer and study are the first steps for each of us, but they are the basics for this journey we make. Maybe they are what you can consider the thread that holds this whole quilt pattern together for us. We have to use a strong thread and mend it sometimes to make the final pieces all fit together into the masterpiece quilt that our life becomes.    

Prepared....oops

Sunday we went to Corral Pec for church. Getting there involves a two hour drive in our RAV 4, then switching to a truck to make it out the last 45 minutes. We switched vehicles in Chulac where Elder Spradlin also helped Doctor one of our missionary's toes.

In Corral Pec we had a young man that we had to finish one form for, and get a signature, to complete his application. We also prepared a Primary class, because many times when we go into a branch, we try to show them how to do it, or to help them. A lot of branches don't have Primary, or they don't know which book to use when they do, or they just sing with the children the whole time, or they just read the first verse of the lesson and don't know how to use the manual. Anyway, we go online to the right lesson and prepare it in advance - if nothing else to help support the teachers. One part for the lesson this time was a matching game I made up with pictures of blessings we receive from Heavenly Father and on the other cards the words written out, like food, friends, family. When Primary started we realized that it was one where the teacher just had a hymnbook and no manual. We offered to help with the lesson, I then asked how many could read or speak Spanish – in most branches at least two or three of the children can – the response this time was none of them could. That included the teacher! I speak some Q'eqchi, but am definitely not fluent and my well planned game, of course, was in Spanish. I turned around and looked out the door and there was a middle aged sister there. I asked her if she spoke Spanish. She said “no” but then I re-asked and said,”but do you understand a little Spanish?” She said yes, so between my broken Q'eqchi, her understanding, and lots of pictures – we had a great class! At the end of the class we gave each of the children a smelly pencil that my brother had sent, a piece of paper and a small ruler that had stencils on it. We then showed them how to use it and everyone was thrilled.

After class finished we took the children outside and to the delight of their families taught them Head Shoulders Knees and Toes in English. After the meetings the Branch Presiden'ts family fed us amazing Caldo and tortillas.

The church is translating the First Vision into K'ekchi and so during all of our travels and meetings in the last couple of weeks we have been doing a voice test with 7 different voice recordings they sent us from Salt Lake. The Q'eqchi members listen, then choose the voice they like best for Joseph Smith, and for the Narrator. This has been so wonderful for us. The reaction of the members to listen to it in Q'eqchi is very strong. Some bore their testimony of the Gospel, but when asked which voice they could not choose. Because “each was speaking the Word of God”

Elder Spradlin's Sunday Reflections

There we were on the back of a pickup truck which looked like it was made to haul cattle, a light mist falling, and we were only about an hour behind schedule. Sister Spradlin was in the cab with the driver and I was on the back with the District President and some members of the High Counsel on our way to Yalijux for Sunday meetings. Some of the counsel and the President were dressed in white shirts, some in other colors - along with their caps and boots. A couple of times each month these men go up to various branches, by riding on the back of a truck, to support the branches higher up in the mountains.

As we traveled I could not help but let my mind wander. I first thought of the dedication of these men and their willingness to serve the Lord in these conditions. I took in the beauty of the mountains with their green background spotted with flowers from red, blue, yellow, purple, and many other colors. I thought of how the Lord had blessed this promised land to the children of Lehi. We post pictures, but a camera can't capture the beauty that is seen by the natural eye, nor the feeling of the spirit as we realize that we are in the middle of the fulfilling of prophesy.

At the meetings we were able to work with the primary. The kids here are what makes it worth all the effort. Sister Spradlin has such a great talent working with children. She has them up doing “head, shoulders, knees, and toes”. Then she tells stories by getting the children to act as charioteers in the story. They are shy at first, but then they become excited and are anxious to participate.

What a thrill to serve here with the dedicated children of Lehi.  

Little things count!

There are some days when we think we haven't accomplished much and it makes us wonder what we are doing here. At the end of one day like that last week we sat down and made a list of things that had happened, or that we had done. It filled us with such gratitude to see the list was much longer than we had realized.

There is an older sister in the branch here who has been very sick. One of our other sisters took us to visit her last week and we have been able to go back a few times to see her. She is so very sweet! We talked about flowers one day, so I took her a couple the next day from our yard. She had said her favorite ones are white, but I didn't have any of them. Coming back into our yard in the car from meetings down in the valley the following day, I saw two women walking down the street towards the market with arms full of white flowers. I got out of the car as soon as we parked and headed after them, I was too late though and couldn't catch them. Coming back up towards the house I looked to the side and there was a neighbor with his fence open, and a yard surrounded in beautiful white lily-type flowers. He probably thought me very strange when I walked in to ask for a flower, but he so kindly got his machete and cut me one to take to our sweet sister.

The grandmother of our little seven year old that just started school last week, came to see us because the teacher said he is having problems. We went to the school with her to see the teacher – found out there are 52 first graders in the classroom! The other first grade has the same amount. My hat is off to the teachers here that try to work in such conditions! The teacher said they will be getting one more teacher this week and dividing the classes, that should help some. Our little one though is behind his classmates because he never went to the preschool, his family speaks Kekchi with very little Spanish, and with illiterate parents he has never learned any of the basics. We spoke with our landlady who has her grandchildren in the school.  She and her husband are raising them, and she used to be a teacher. She and her young granddaughter will be tutoring him after school. We are hoping and praying that he is just behind and that it is not a learning disability.

We helped check and doctor one dog bite for one of our Latino Elders and baked cookies for two Elders who had received ingredients from home in packages. Yum, Brownies and Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. We got a few from each, but more fun was watching the Elders enjoy their treats.

We are very excited by the District training meetings we attended last Saturday with three of the Districts and a member of the Mission Presidency. We are now planning a training for the Presidencies of all the auxiliaries on the District level for the end of February. That means that the Districts that don't have Presidencies will hopefully get them called! The next step then is to have the District leaders help us train the leaders at the Branch Level in March. That will be followed up by visits by the District Auxiliary Presidencies to the Branches to help support and assist. We plan to go with each District at least once to help with the training.

The problems here for leaders are overwhelming. Some branches do not have enough people who know how to read. Some Branches don't have all of the materials, like the right books, but the leaders don't even realize they don't have them. The biggest problem though is probably that they have never seen how things like Primary, Young Women's and Relief Society should function. They are amazing in their dedication, their love, their testimony of the Savior and their desire to serve, now if we can just help them get the tools they need to be successful in their efforts.