Do NOT spit on the floor!

Sunday we went up the mountain to Yalijux on the truck with the district leaders, on the way back they picked up some people carrying their chickens and turkeys, so Elder Spradlin had a little extra company. They always make me sit up front with the driver and miss all the fun. I had prepared a small message to share for Primary, in case I got called on, during Sacrament meeting I changed my message. In Primary the President/Teacher had forgotten to bring her books and only had a very short lesson using a scripture from the Doctrine and Covenants, so I had the opportunity to teach. My new phrase in Q'eqchi' that I got to use in the lesson is “Mat ch'ub'ak chiru li tza'k sa' li Iglees” I taught about how the church is the house of Jesus and Heavenly Father so that we need to take care of it. Then we learned my new phrase. It means “don't spit on the floor in the church.” Now you might think, “why on earth would they???” but they all live in houses with dirt floors, so spitting on the floor doesn't mean anything. They do keep their floors very neat though with brooms, but the chickens walk through also... We also learned together how to sing Called to Serve in Q'eqchi'. They all sang with such enthusiasm and joy it was amazing!

We met with President Curtiss in Coban for the first time on Monday afternoon, along with the Kirks who are the new missionary couple, so we could plan and divide responsibilities in order to be more effective throughout the mission. We still will be doing the Polochic, Senahu, Chulac and Poptun, they will be doing Coban, Vera Paz and Peten. We did a couple of apartment inspections and worked on English on the way in, got some shopping down while we were there, then did more inspections and dropped off stuff for missionaries on the way back home. No peanut butter in Coban, but a little store in Teleman on the way back home had some so Elder Spradlin is very happy, he ran out last week. One little one, almost 2 years old here in Seamay had been in the hospital with severe diarrhea and wasn't eating again, so he had given them the last of his peanut butter mixed with honey for them to try. She liked it a lot, and was willing to eat it. Hopefully she will start eating other things also now!

We stopped to do the inspections in Sacsuha, and just so happened to pass through at the same time as one of our Future Missionaries was catching a transport to leave for his Mission. We had two white shirts for him, and found out he only had two of his own. We were so happy to know he would be leaving with at least four white shirts!

I should also add that for the fourth of July I made an amazing lattice work Apple Pie with the daughters from our next door neighbor. It was beautiful and delicious!

Running Water, and the bigger challenges

We now have what is called a Tinako, a large water tank out beside our house. That means that we get showers and running water not a lot, but sufficient – anytime we want! It was a little difficult before, since the water only comes and goes for the community connection at random times, sometimes every night, sometimes one evening in the week. Terrible thing to plan a shower in the morning and get stuck with a sponge bath. The good part though was if you heated water on the stove for a sponge bath, at least it was going to be warm – and you knew how much you had, so you wouldn't just have it stop in the middle of showering! Elder Spradlin also created us a new toilet paper holder to celebrate and it is quite impressive!

Our wonderful neighbors have now had the first discussion with the elders and we are so excited for them. They have a pastry cookbook and so we are going to make an apple pie together from it, funny when that was what they chose, and that we are doing it on the 4^th of July!

When we worked with the missionaries last week on English we noticed there was a problem with some of them making it to their meetings on time, so this week I took a dessert with me and anyone that was there on time got some. Inspiration! I challenged them to memorize a verse in English and be there on time for next week, and told them I would again have treats. We will see if our Elders who were late today decide to get there earlier next week. We stopped on the way back home for a haircut for Elder Spradlin, about 75 cents, the barber asked about English lessons and we invited him to attend the class next week for the missionaries. He says he will be there, so maybe it will not be just English, but introducing this great guy to our missionaries.

We went out and spent one afternoon playing with the children from Seamay, stopped in a couple of homes that had a lot of children outside, and then on the streets, stringing beads and making necklaces, singing and playing games. Probably one of the funnest parts of serving a mission here is playing with children and families! The hardest part is when we feel totally incapable of helping make a change or a difference for their future. Ideas are needed here for how to rise above the poverty, how to improve living standards for the people in a permanent way. There is too much acceptance by people of things, just being the way they are, no vision of a different tomorrow, so no idea on how to create a better life. Once they have the ideas they need to watch them in action and we need people who make a long-term commitment to progress. We have met some people here who have that vision, I just hope many others will join them and they will find success and a willingness to open their minds to new ideas and progress.

My friend who works at the Centro de Salud, kind of like a small hospital for the community here, is now working in the kitchen. For the last two days she told me she has had nothing to do, they ran out of gas for cooking because the municipality did not pay for the gas, so they have been telling all of the patients they would have to get their food elsewhere. So she goes to work and sits there. The laundry there has a washing machine, but their dryer burned out. Since it is very rainy and cloudy now it is hard for them to do patients bedding, but then they do not have enough to start with. I can't imagine a small clinic in the US with some of these problems. Our heart has broken for the 5 year old little boy in one of the outlying communities that was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma by the American Doctors who were here. It is a treatable form of cancer but he will most likely die from it, due to the runaround given by the doctors and administrators here. The treatment in the capitol would be free, but he and someone from his family would have to get to the capitol, and then have a place to stay and food. Issues that are insurmountable here in the Polochic Too many children die here from lack of proper medical care.

Lots of rain and cloudy skies this season, makes the internet connections very slow – so if you don't hear from us, we are still alive and doing well. There is a much brighter future, it is just playing peek-a-boo still!

puzzles and fun

Elder Spradlin has been working jigsaw puzzles, or as said in Spanish, rompe cabezas. We were doing little ones with children, then we got a large one and he started it. The fun is that now we have a couple of young girls and their families who have showed up at the house to help him work on it, they have also each taken home larger puzzles and are working on them in their homes. It has become such a fun activity and something they can't get here. We are spending more and more time with our neighbor family behind us, they came over for dinner along with the Elders the night before last and I made everyone biscuits and gravy. We are going to meet with them with the Elders on Saturday morning so they can learn more about the church. The mom and I have gone walking a couple of times and she has shown me new trails, introduced me to new families, showed me a cinnamon tree and keeps pointing out the edible plants around us as we walk. She also has shown me a couple to steer clear of!

Yesterday morning we visited a clinic here for undernourished children sponsored by Charity Anywhere. They teach the moms, weigh the children and help with formula and a drink called Incaparina. One of the worker's daughters was there, a lovely girl aged 13 and we visited with her, she was working on her English and wanted us to help her remember the song “Row, Row, Row your Boat” that the Kekchi Choir had taught at her school when they were here. We went back up later in the day and took her one of the 100 piece puzzles to try!

This morning we get to help some of the missionaries in the area with their English, I started doing a short class with them before their District meetings once a week. It gives us a chance to check in with them and make sure everyone is doing alright. One of our Elders had an eye infection yesterday, luckily I had drops already here at the house I could give him, from when I had one a couple of weeks ago.

Rainy season is in full swing, hard rains most nights causing some landslides on the roads. Usually they are able to clear them out pretty quickly, but does make us a little nervous. The internet is also running a little slow because of the cloud cover, but will try and see how many pictures I can get to load! Finishing up a few missionary file submissions this week, before the mission divides this Sunday. Making sure they are all the way through the Mission level and up to the Area Office. Kind of fun, these missionaries who submit from one mission and by the time they go out will be leaving from a different one because of the division.