Rosie's eye surgery was successful yesterday! Not sure yet what vision problems she may still have, but they removed the cataracts and she will be able to see!
Last week we invited our boy's family from up the mountain to eat lunch with us. It was a special occasion all around, but we were overwhelmed when the mother presented me with a tortilla cloth/dishtowel that she had embroidered herself when she was in the first grade. It is a great treasure!
District conference in Chulac last weekend and one young man had everything all finished so we were able to complete his Mission file. One other young lady from Sacsuha district was also completed on Monday.
We helped members here in Senahu Sunday evening learn the new Kekchi Christmas Hymns, with the new Hymnbooks there have been some changes, our members here don't know how to read music, so we are learning together.
We were able to participate in the Polochic Christmas Project and Zone activities last weekend. Played with children from the Chulac school and then helped hand out school kits to each of them. Then a yummy dinner and meetings with a lot of our Elders. One of the parents handed me a bag of oranges as the activity was beginning, they are marvelous - fresh grown on the trees of Chulac!
Tuesday we went down to La Tinta and helped the Elders there with the Youth Choir they are working with on the Christmas music.
Today we went to a wedding here, and then afterwards to the Wedding Dinner, it was a traditional Turkey Kakik - Turkey in a spicy broth soup - with tamales. The family also had a wedding cake, which is not a normal practice here. The meal fed probably a couple of hundred people, and took many hours of work for the families and neighbors involved.
Traveling up and down the mountain to get to all of the Conference meetings, Zone activities, then the La Tinta choir - we were able to enjoy multiple sunrises and sunsets going up and down the mountains! In the valley the Sugar Cane fields are in bloom with their large tassels In the morning they do not look that impressive, but in the afternoon sun it is like a sea of white fluff swaying. The nights have been loud, over the weekend with parades and fireworks most of the night to celebrate the Christmas Season. Last night though the dogs from most of the town barked and fought, quite often right outside our house. We had four days of sun in a row, after it having been rainy and cold for several weeks so we really enjoyed it. Today it rained in the morning, then it stopped just long enough for the wedding and the activities afterwards. We were glad to be back in our home again before the rain returned.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Missions!
Greatest news yesterday! Our daughter Amber received her Mission Call to serve in the Montevideo Uruguay West Mission. She will be entering the Argentina Mission Training Center on April 25. We are so thrilled for her! She wasn't sure what she would do, or where she would stay until she was able to leave, but now with the date she will be leaving it means she will be able to do one more semester at the University - and report the day after her finals!
Here I have been baking cookies to give out to families for Christmas. We also have the video Joy to the World that we hope to show many of the members between now and Christmas. We will be able to use our computer, we have extra speakers for it, taking it into their homes to show it. Grateful for batteries!
We had District Conference last weekend, President Amado of the 70 and member of the Area Presidency presided. We felt very blessed when Sunday afternoon we were able to have him, our Mission President and his counselor plus their wives in our home for lunch. Our leaders our such amazing people, to be able to work closely with them, is an unexpected blessing that has come from serving here.
We are studying hard in the mornings and doing paperwork, afternoons we are out visiting and working with our members here. It is so much fun, we will have one appointment or visit arranged and then on the way to or from we will run into other people who may need help, or have a question. Yesterday was no different, on the way home from an appointment in Seamay a sister we greeted wanted to know about when the Christmas Hymn practice will be. Then we ran into a member of the District Presidency who was trying to reach some Elders, we helped him reach them through our phone. After he talked to them, we asked if there was anything else we could do for him and he asked us if we could go up to another village and help visit members there, definitely a big yes! The little things and events that run together sometimes amaze us.
Tonight we are having a meeting of sorts at the church. We have invited any and all members from the Seamay/Senahu area to join us in practicing the new Christmas Hymns from the new Kekchi hymnbook. Since most members don't read music they are not sure how they go, so we are meeting on Thursdays for the next three weeks - getting ready for Christmas! Hopefully some will want to go caroling with us even.
Funnest question from yesterday: We were walking up a path from Seamay when some young girls greeted us, one about 10 years old had a ton of questions. The best question: Why doesn't Elder Spradlin have any hair? His answer was even cuter - He left it in the United States.
Here I have been baking cookies to give out to families for Christmas. We also have the video Joy to the World that we hope to show many of the members between now and Christmas. We will be able to use our computer, we have extra speakers for it, taking it into their homes to show it. Grateful for batteries!
We had District Conference last weekend, President Amado of the 70 and member of the Area Presidency presided. We felt very blessed when Sunday afternoon we were able to have him, our Mission President and his counselor plus their wives in our home for lunch. Our leaders our such amazing people, to be able to work closely with them, is an unexpected blessing that has come from serving here.
We are studying hard in the mornings and doing paperwork, afternoons we are out visiting and working with our members here. It is so much fun, we will have one appointment or visit arranged and then on the way to or from we will run into other people who may need help, or have a question. Yesterday was no different, on the way home from an appointment in Seamay a sister we greeted wanted to know about when the Christmas Hymn practice will be. Then we ran into a member of the District Presidency who was trying to reach some Elders, we helped him reach them through our phone. After he talked to them, we asked if there was anything else we could do for him and he asked us if we could go up to another village and help visit members there, definitely a big yes! The little things and events that run together sometimes amaze us.
Tonight we are having a meeting of sorts at the church. We have invited any and all members from the Seamay/Senahu area to join us in practicing the new Christmas Hymns from the new Kekchi hymnbook. Since most members don't read music they are not sure how they go, so we are meeting on Thursdays for the next three weeks - getting ready for Christmas! Hopefully some will want to go caroling with us even.
Funnest question from yesterday: We were walking up a path from Seamay when some young girls greeted us, one about 10 years old had a ton of questions. The best question: Why doesn't Elder Spradlin have any hair? His answer was even cuter - He left it in the United States.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Fast and Furious
Some weeks seem like you are flying at full speed...This week was one of them! We went down to Guatemala City to have the Dentists check on Elder Spradlin's tooth, he had lost part of a filling. We were able to have them fix it on our way into the Capitol. They then told us about the Central Market and we went there and played for about two hours. It was so much fun! Three stories tall, you park on top, and inside each level has different things, handcrafts, ceramics, food, traditional clothing. We were able to buy some Christmas presents for some of our Elders, and a Christmas Nativity for the house, now we know where to go for cute souvenirs if we decide to get some before we go back stateside!
The neat thing while in the capitol was all of the things we were able to accomplish that weren't planned. A refrigerator for one set of Elders up here in the Polochic had gone out and Sister Watts called us while we were there, and we were able to pick it up for them and bring it back up (amazing that the little fridges fit in the back of our vehicle). We went early in the morning to the Temple and the Temple President was minding the Desk. We spoke with him and found out they need some Temple workers who speak Kekchi and Spanish from our Districts up here. We were able to get the specifics and the paperwork so we can give them to our three Districts that speak Kekchi. On the way home we stopped in Coban and had a meeting with our missionaries from the Zone there on the importance of learning English. Challenged them, so hopefully it will help them with setting and reaching new goals.
This morning we met with two different sets of Spanish Elders in Seamay and worked with them on their English. Then this afternoon we met with 9 of the Young Women from one of our Branches here in Senahu and started the Personal Progress program with them. I am so excited! We had picked up the materials for it when we were in the capitol. I think we will probably have between 16-20 doing it with us eventually. One of the Branches here had never started it, so I am working with their Branch President to help them get it going. Working with the Future Missionaries also and have an appointment down in the Valley tomorrow to work with one Sister's file. Tomorrow afternoon District Conference starts here in Senahu - it is going to be a busy weekend and we are grateful! .
The neat thing while in the capitol was all of the things we were able to accomplish that weren't planned. A refrigerator for one set of Elders up here in the Polochic had gone out and Sister Watts called us while we were there, and we were able to pick it up for them and bring it back up (amazing that the little fridges fit in the back of our vehicle). We went early in the morning to the Temple and the Temple President was minding the Desk. We spoke with him and found out they need some Temple workers who speak Kekchi and Spanish from our Districts up here. We were able to get the specifics and the paperwork so we can give them to our three Districts that speak Kekchi. On the way home we stopped in Coban and had a meeting with our missionaries from the Zone there on the importance of learning English. Challenged them, so hopefully it will help them with setting and reaching new goals.
This morning we met with two different sets of Spanish Elders in Seamay and worked with them on their English. Then this afternoon we met with 9 of the Young Women from one of our Branches here in Senahu and started the Personal Progress program with them. I am so excited! We had picked up the materials for it when we were in the capitol. I think we will probably have between 16-20 doing it with us eventually. One of the Branches here had never started it, so I am working with their Branch President to help them get it going. Working with the Future Missionaries also and have an appointment down in the Valley tomorrow to work with one Sister's file. Tomorrow afternoon District Conference starts here in Senahu - it is going to be a busy weekend and we are grateful! .
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