Conference and updates!

Conference Weekend was great! The members from up on the mountain came down to watch it on Sunday morning and they used every chair in the building. People watching in the classrooms, the chapel, the hallways, some in Spanish and some in Q'eqchi' We were very happy with the little 13 inch TV they were able to set up for all of us Gringo Missionaries in English! Loved being able to greet and talk to all of our members between the meetings.

Last week a 13 year old young man and his Dad came in from the states to do his Eagle Project. He chose to do a service project in Teleman. The Branch President there has come up with an amazing plan to help his members become more self-sufficient with raising chickens and putting in home gardens. One of the surprises here is how few people know how to do simple gardening and rotation, something that could be an extremely important tool for combating malnutrition. Elder Spradlin and I got to spend part of a day going out with them visiting homes and it was awesome. The thing that probably touched Elder Spradlin most was when we were visiting one of the families, the Branch President asked the 13 year old boy for permission to use some of the money to build walls around the area of the home that only had a roof - the family uses it for kitchen and dining room. The response was an immediate yes. This will double their enclosed living space. Then the Father/Husband turned to the young man and said “what you have done here has changed our lives, Thank-you so much.”

The little 2 month old (now almost 3 months!) from Santo Domingo is still gaining weight and is back home. She has gained up to 7 pounds now, averaging a pound a week. Rosie is getting stronger at sitting up and will reach and grab for toys when we play with her. I took her and her brother and sister to the market with me on Saturday to buy vegetables and had a lovely time with them. Today we went and I worked with Rosie while Elder Spradlin helped her siblings learn how to do a puzzle. We are hoping now that she is doing better with her vision she will begin to catch up developmentally.