To Nauvoo as Elder and Sister Spradlin

Again we put our nametags on as Elder and Sister Spradlin.  This time we will be serving in Historic Nauvoo.  So excited to be in a place of such history and testimony.  I feel we have much to learn while there, and look forward to the opportunities to share.  Because it is a new mission, and so very different from our lives in Guatemala I have again started a new blog...  You are invited to join us in our Journey to Nauvoo.  Much more than a place on the map.

New Blog

For those of you who have followed our blog I have started a new chapter with a new Blog.
http://choicesanchange.blogspot.com/

Hopefully one that will be fun and uplifting for all who wish to follow our adventures here in "the real world"
Susan

Heading Home

The last of the bread was toasted up and eaten with honey. Licuado's made with the last of the bananas and pineapple we had kept frozen. We shared our last meal in Senau with two of our favorite young girls and Bro. Benjamin, one of our amazing brothers who showed up to invite us to a farewell in his home. He did not realize we were leaving in just a couple of hours, for our journey stateside. It was difficult leaving our beloved Polochic and our many friends and family here.

Last week we had a surprise birthday party for Elder Spradlin on Monday with all of the Elders and a few young people. He was so surprised when he came in from going up to the pueblo and they all came out from their hiding places. I had gotten up early and made a cake while he slept, before I fixed him a Birthday Breakfast. It was great having our Elders in the home.

On our way to one of our family's homes on Friday evening the children from another family across the path came out and were singing “I am like a Star Shining Brightly” in Kekchi that we had taught them a few weeks ago. It made our day! Later we sang with them from the Children's songbook and felt supremely blessed.

We were able to spend our last weekend listening to General Conference over satellite and visiting with members. Saturday noon Caldo and farewells, then Sunday we had all of the missionaries over for lunch, ate up the last of ingredients in the house! Starting with one package of tomato paste and 3 packages of spaghetti and turning it all into a feast for 20. Spaghetti sauce had all sorts of crazy ingredie thrown into it, first the normal stuff like spices, a few tomatoes and an onion we had left, then came the remains of a little cheese sauce, ground pumpkin seeds, Incaparina, chicken boullion, ketchup, vinegar. The final shock is that it tasted great and there was exactly enough for all!, but I prayed a lot while making it, then while serving it because it definitely did not look like enough! One Elder brought cucumbers, one brought apples, all were sliced and shared. One of the Elders was supposed to bring rolls, but hadn't had a chance to get them on Saturday, so I got brave. The garlic butter was already all made up waiting, we got to the house before the elders and mixed up rolls, used yeast and 2 teaspoons of baking powder, made up the dough and rolled them in the melted butter. Stuck them in to bake and they turned out wonderful which was also a small miracle, since my rolls take a few hours to rise normally.

Monday when we left the Polochic we stopped in Coban to spend the evening and have dinner with our Mission President and Sister Curtiss and the Kirks- our other Senior Couple in Coban. Tonight we will be able to be with President and Sister Watts here in the capitol after we turn in our car. Not every couple has the opportunity to come to know and work with two great mission presidents and their wives during their mission. We have been blessed to learn from great leaders during our time here in Guatemala. We are also extremely excited that a new couple will be coming to take our place in the Polochic the end of the month. The last senior missionaries to serve in the Polochic before us was 25 years ago!

We have grown and gained so much from the privilege we have had serving a mission. We had no idea when we started this journey the places it would take us, nor the people we would come to love. A little nervous about going back to the real world and wondering how we will apply the lessons we have learned here. Not knowing where we will live, what job I will be able to get, what ways we will continue to serve makes this another great adventure, one that we will continue to walk in faith and With the Lord's Help.

filled to the brim

Wow what an amazing weekend! The views off of the mountain as we went up and down working with the Missionaries and Members were unforgettable as so was the work. Friday we participated in a multiple wedding at the church, 3 couples were married, followed by a Caldo (traditional dinner of a soup that is spicy broth and chicken) then a baptism for four of those who were married. Friday evening I got to give a short message at the Missionary night and share 3 more plant starts with the Branch. That means that I have given house plant starts to members in each of the four Branches here in the Senahu/Seamay area, along with the challenge to nurture testimonies and then share them with others.

Saturday we carried baptismal clothes up to Chulac on our way to do inspections and the Choir performances up there. Shared a few recipes with one of the sets of Elders, hopefully will give a little variety in taste to the food they are able to make. So far out, they don't have a lot of choice in ingredients – but a little soy sauce may help! We went to the baptisms for the branch of Corral Pek that they held down at Seacoc (means they don't have their own baptismal font and they all had to come down by truck to the District chapel) When I was taking pictures of those being baptized two young men asked me to take one of them. After I took the pictures I asked how old they were, both 20 years old, both can speak fairly good Spanish. I asked if they are single, and they both are. I then asked if they had thought about or wanted to serve a mission. They said yes, so I told them that the first step is to be reading the Book of Mormon every day in Spanish (helps with testimony and also language ability) and that I would talk to their Branch President about helping with the paperwork. After the baptism I was waiting to talk to the branch President, but he was very busy and I spoke instead with two other brethren who had been helping with the baptisms. They turned out to be brothers, and uncles to the two young men. I told them that the two young men wanted to go on missions, they asked what they needed to do – so I began explaining the process with interviews, passports and exams. They were listening intently, when one of them asked, “but sister, do they need to get baptized first?” Oh my! We have now given the information to the Elders that work in that area!

The Choir was amazing. They did the two concerts in Chulac district on Saturday, having gone over and back on the back of a truck. About a 2-3 hour ride each way for them. On the way back they got rained on, but when I talked to one of the youth Sunday, asking “how was the trip?” he told me everyone had really loved it and how great it had been! Before the first Concert on Sunday we got to go to La Tinta and deliver a mission call to our sister there, she will be going to Argentina in January! Her brother just left a couple of weeks ago to serve in Honduras. So exciting!! On Sunday afternoon the first concert in Teleman filled up completely with members coming from three branches. Over 100 in attendance filling every seat, sitting on the floor around the chapel, standing till it was full. Then the one in Sacsuha, with a bigger room filled all the chairs and were at least 200 in attendance. We left after the choir's truck took off and caught up with them coming up the mountain. Awesome feeling to hear them still singing the songs as they drove up the mountain. The Children's songbook in Q'eqchi' is now part of their world. One more concert to go here in Senahu this Friday evening in the Municipal Salon. I know that about 900 people can fit in the room, so we shall see how many come!

This morning was able to surprise Elder Spradlin with chocolate cake and an apartment filled with our amazing Elders all in for Pday! So blessed to be serving here!

What legacy do we leave?

Our Airline tickets have been confirmed and with only two weeks left to go we turn to reviewing the last two years, asking ourselves questions, like “what have we accomplished?” “have we fulfilled what the Lord sent us here to do?” “What legacy will we leave behind?”

As a youth and adult I have always practiced the tradition used among many women of our community, of sharing my plants. When a plant gets sufficiently large I break off small branches and root them, these I share with friends and neighbors. Here in Senahu where there is such an abundance of foliage outside you never see indoor plants, so I asked one of the Senior Missionaries in the capitol for some starts off of her houseplants. I then brought them home and rooted them and am using them to give away among the sisters in the Branches here. I explain to them that as they begin to grow they need to break off and root other pieces that they then give away to others who do not have one. I explain also that the plants are like our testimony, we have to ake great care and support it so it will grow, through prayer, scripture study, obedience and serving Heavenly Father, then as our testimonies grow we share them with others and slowly the Gospel will spread into all of the homes. Hopefully this love and testimony that we have shared here will continue to grow and enrich the lives of the people here in the areas we have worked.

Suggestions I would make to those coming to serve in the Polochic: PLEASE remember that this is mainly a Poverty economy, it affects people's outlook. You always have to think whether what you do will make people more independent or dependent on outside help. The lack of literacy is the root of many of the problems here, but is beginning to change with more schooling becoming available. There are still many though who do not value the importance of education, especially for young women.

Many times people here do not understand how to save for the future, we are working on it. They will ask you for money, we just say no. Luckily it is a rule that mission can't loan money or give it to them, but sometimes we can provide other solutions- like advice to help fix a problem. It helps us to realize that due to past “handouts” they can't help but ask for money, because they do not see another solution. The environment of dependence affects their growth in literacy and understanding of the Gospel. They need to learn to do their own study and research, not just wait for others to come in and give them answers. Many groups who have come in, have done "handouts" which really only make the people here more dependent on an outside rescue, instead of thinking what they can do to make a change to resolve their situations.

Anything done to help improve diversification of crops, and planning for future success will be a magnificent help. The importance of planting a garden and saving for the future need to be a priority. It is sometimes a slow repetitive process, with little steps to change, change does not always come rapidly. This community has been very hard hit in recent years because of dependence on their Cardamom crop exportation, and then that crop got a fungus and the value dropped drastically. There was no diversification nor savings, so the people have suffered not knowing a solution.

Many of our wonderful members who would love to stay here cannot because there is no employment. Hopefully with the road improvement across the valley it will begin to increase the development of the economy and job market here.

Loud and Offkey

Truly love our neighbors and the people from the church across the street, but their tradition of having loudspeakers loud enough that it is still loud inside our home makes it difficult to appreciate them sometimes – especially when the person with the mike is singing really badly offkey!

Our church let out early this morning because of all of the Independence Day festivities, so we are in the house having scripture study and eating a late breakfast. The church across the street is inspiring us to want to go out and do some visiting!

Saturday was a great day with different people visiting us in the morning, then making visits with one of the Branch Presidents, followed by a baptism in Senahu II, and one in Senahu I. True independence, the privilege of worshiping our Heavenly Father. After the baptisms we went back to Seamay to join with the branch there in their activities celebrating Independence Day. It was raining some and the activities were all outside, so we greeted everyone, then decided to return home. Great decision by Elder Spradlin because the rains continued to increase and pound on our tin roof!

Elder Spradlin says, “as we near the end of our mission and I think about the things we have done, being called as member, leadership support – I wonder sometimes if we have really helped the Leaders very much. However, the thing that touches my heart the most is our relationship with the children. We hope that we have touched their hearts. When they touch me with their little hands and look at me with their dear little eyes, I can feel their sweet spirits and I know that they have touched my heart.”

We are so grateful for the privilege we have had of serving here in Guatemala and with only three weeks to go, it is filled with sadness at leaving, and joy at the thoughts of holding our own grandchildren in our arms.

Yup! It's a rooster!

What an amazing week as we had our daughter Erica here with us. Fantastic sharing with her some of the friends and places we have grown to love here on our mission. The hard part was as heading back to Guatemala to drop her off and realizing all of the things we would have still liked to share, but we had run out of time! We played with children, worked with the choir, visited members, ate Caldo.

Funniest event of the week was visiting the family in La Tinta where I had promised to teach them how to make a meal using cardamom, especially since he deals, dries, and sells cardamom. No one here knows how to use it, only thing they do is grow and export it. We arrived at their home and visited, telling them we wanted to go see the swinging bridges and would then return, the wife was going to kill and clean the chicken while we were gone. Went to the swinging bridges and some of the family accompanied us on a lovely walk there as we crossed the huge swinging bridges and then walked on the other side. When we returned to their home, the chicken was ready to go- they had just started it on to boil, so after explaining it should not be boiled and taking it off the heat I helped with chopping the herbs and vegetables. Next step was outside to the waiting fire to put it all on to cook. First we sauteed the herbs and vegetables and were ready to add the chicken - they then held up the chicken head to put in, very evident still that it was a rooster. Oh My!!!! I was glad it had already been cleaned and cooked a little. They thought it was very funny when I reacted, because to them it was all quite normal. The food turned out great and so did the visit!

In the capitol they changed out our tires to more rugged ones, we thought it humorous, since we are now at the end of our mission! Hopefully our replacements get our car! They also put on new brakes and a new battery. This is starting on our 3^rd set of brake pads, and since we don't drive that much it seems crazy, but the roads and hills and turns and children and animals on the road put a lot of wear on the car! Very grateful for the new battery, since the car didn't want to start this last week once when we were in Teleman, not a good thought, luckily the Branch President had the number for a member who is a mechanic and he brought jumper cables (riding on his motorcycle) and a transport driver gave us a jump start. Neither one of them accepted any payment for their kindness and help. I love the goodness of the people here!

We are hitting our one month mark this week which feels very strange. How much can we accomplish in one month? We are headed back out to Senahu today excited to fill our days with this wonderful work. Having to plan also for our return home makes it a little interesting, so it is definitely mixed feelings we are enjoying. We love the people here, but also very excited to be with our family back home.

A good week

Zone conference weeks are some of the best when serving as Senior Missionaries. This week we had two, one for the Polochic, which included the valley Elders and Chulac. Then the one for Senahu, which included the rest of the “mountain elders”. Love being around the missionaries! Working with and seeing their dedication and love of the Gospel is amazing. We try to make sure we visit as much as possible with each of them individually “checking in” making sure if they have a problem or need something we can help them with. Sometimes it may mean they are out of insecticide, or they are dealing with stress or strain and need some exercises, or they are sick and we need to find out how to help them. It becomes a lot

We were also able to spend time with President and Sister Curtiss and share with them some of our concerns for the members and missionaries in our areas. Refocused a little our direction for these last remaining weeks, so hopefully we will be of more service. We even got to have the Curtiss's and the Kirks for a pancake breakfast at our home! The Kirks are the other Senior Missionaries that are working with us in the mission now. They live in Coban and help with Alta Vera Paz, Coban, Peten and in the office. Still great hopes that a couple will come in to take our place when we leave in October.

After the conferences we headed down to the capitol, turned in the car to get some repairs done then got to spend the evening with other Sernior Missionaries. Every missionary working as a Senior has such a different type of experience in their mission, with what they are doing and the challenges they face. It is novel for us to hear.

Super excited to get to spend some time with the Watt's tonight! We have missed them a lot, but tonight we will go play together. Tomorrow morning we pick up our daughter Erica at the airport and she is going to spend a whirlwind week with us. So excited to introduce her to all our friends and share with her our mission!  I forgot the camera cable so will post Zone Pictures when we get back to Senahu.

Frustration

 Even though we live here I am sure we only see “the tip of the iceburg” So when we see the problems we do, it is truly heartbreaking.

Another young baby died this week, 2 months old. We took pictures of this healthy, beautiful baby boy when he was 3 days old.  When we went by to visit the family this week we found out he had died 2 weeks ago from "a fever" .

  Another family we work with has a 10year old daughter who has a deep cut on her foot,
her little Brother, about 6 years old, was playing with a dull machete hitting in the dirt -then
decided to hit her foot.  We helped the family clean it some and gave them antibiotic ointment.  Since it was late in the evening and starting to rain we told them they needed to get her to the Centro de Salud the next morning early to get shots, for tetanus for sure!  We went back yesterday afternoon, 2 days after the accident, and they told us they had not taken her to the clinic.  The child's foot is
starting to swell and is very painful.  When we asked why they had not gone, again explaining the danger of the infection they told us the little girl  didn't want to go!  I don't usually get strong with people in what I say, but told them they were the parents and it was their decision, not hers.  If they wanted her to live they needed to go.

We accompanied the family of the daughter who had seizures to the Medical Clinic on Monday and she was seen by the Doctor. They can't do all the testing here, but because of the explanation of symptoms have put her on anti-seizure medicine. I spoke with the Church Area Doctor about her and he told me what had caused the seizures and epilepsy is caused by a parasite in the brain from eating undercooked pork. Sure glad we were told not to eat any pork here!
 Hearing a baby cry in the daytime now stresses me, is it a baby that maybe won't survive, or just an angry child.  

The District choir tour is starting to shape up, the members are working to raise money to pay for the trip. We have the songs picked out and the program planned. Dates fixed for 5 concerts, one here, two down in the valley and two up in Chulac. We are also helping plan for a huge activity day on 14 of September which is Independence Day, so they can use it to help raise the rest of the funds.

 This is the Lord's work.
Sometimes we get frustrated because of the problems we see, the unnecessary pain that goes on and it takes us a minute to back up again and remember that this is His work and His time table and some things we just don't understand.

Always Be Prepared

I just realized that I needed to change our logo to the Guatemala, Coban Mission. Two missions in one for us!

We never can tell when we show up for a meeting if we will be called on to speak or not. We were asked to go to an activity in a family's home on Friday evening, we didn't realize from how they were describing it that it was the weekly Missionary night, but they did ask if I would play for it. We took the keyboard and the hymnbooks, so that was expected. I didn't know I was one of the speakers though till they made the announcement, Elder Spradlin didn't know either till after I spoke and they looked at him expecting him to speak. One of our English speaking missionaries was there though and translated from English to K'ekchi for him. After having that happen I was prepared on Sunday to speak, because we went to the new little group at Searanx – there were 44 of us in the meeting. Was grateful when the member who was presiding leaned over and asked one of the other Elders to speak. He said afterwards it was his first full talk in K'ekchi' and he was prepared. It was so much fun in Primary teaching the children “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” We did it first in English, and then we used the new Children's Songbook in K'ekchi. Laughing and playing they slowly lost their shyness and sang with us. Since all of these families have only been baptized for two weeks it was lovely working and teaching these children, We used the song “I am a Child of God” to talk about who we are and where we came from. Then we talked about prayer, and the importance of talking to our Heavenly Father, just as we talk with our earthly parents each day, we want to communicate with Him.

Saturday morning we met the other Senior missionary couple down in the valley and picked up mosquito nets and medical kits for our missionaries out here in the Polochic. They have now all been distributed and our missionaries are getting them up today. Trying to keep them protected from mosquitos, and any other creatures that are too friendly at night when we are trying to sleep! The only solution for Dengue fever is prevention, or lots of water to drink once you get it! From the descriptions we have had, not a fun thing to go through. The mosquito repellant sold here is only 15 level, and very expensive. We are trying to figure out how to get the repellent on a regular basis from the states, so hopefully there will be a solution for that soon!

They missionaries also brought out a mission call for Chulac that we were able to deliver on Sunday. Expecting one more in this week for a sister in La Tinta. Then we just have three others that we have worked with that are still waiting on their Call.

We met a man from La Tinta a couple of weeks ago who invited us to his home, he works with Cardamom, has trucks and a drying building for it. He wanted me to show his wife how to cook with the cardamom, since people here grow and export it, but don't know how to use it. We visited their home on Saturday afternoon and had so much fun! He is starting to run for Mayor, and his family was delightful. He showed us his home, then we sat outside in the shade where it was cooler and all of his family gathered round, children, children-in-law. I explained a recipe for rice, one for chicken, one for cookies all using Cardamom, so they can try them while Elder Spradlin showed them pictures of our family back home on the computer. We needed to leave then, and the family was saying, “but you must stay and we will kill a chicken together and cook and eat it.” We explained we couldn't but planned to go back and visit them in two weeks. We told them that then we will have the day to stay longer. The man is saying, “oh good, I will buy a bed and you can spend the night with us” I explained that we would have to go home to spend the night, but it felt amazing their friendliness. Elder Spradlin gave the dad a Book of Mormon in Spanish and we explained that it is a second witness of Jesus Christ, that it testifies of the truthfulness of the Bible and that Heavenly Father loves all of his children. The man was so thankful, then I pulled out the one I had brought in K'ekchi for his wife, she speaks only limited Spanish, and they were very happy. They asked how much for them, and when we said it was a gift their response was so sweet. She got up, came over and gave me a hug.

In two weeks, it looks like we may get to help kill a chicken!   

We were told yesterday of a family with an 18 year old daughter who is very sick, so we went to visit the family. When we got there the daughter was in the middle of a convulsive seizure, arching her back, arm going stiff, then slumping, then going back into arched position and thrashing. The family was all around holding onto her and praying/screaming, and trying to put scriptures on her chest. She mainly appeared unconscious during the episode, which continued several minutes after we got there. The room was hot with all the people surrounding her, I asked for a small bowl of cool water and began bathing her face and arms, that helped them back up a little and quit grabbing at her. The convulsion passed, she came to and then after speaking laid down to sleep. They told us she had started having the convulsions earlier in the week and when they took her to the Medical Clinic after the first one the Doctor said there was nothing wrong with her. I think that may be because of how they explained it, and she appears perfectly normal in between the seizures. They decided that since the Doctor didn't find anything wrong with her, that an evil spirit is trying to possess her. I can see after having been there why they might tag it that way, looked kind of like an epileptic seizure, and scary to watch.

We came straight home and I got on the computer to do some research on what some of the causes are for seizures and what you need to do to diagnose. There is no diagnostic equipment here, like MRI or EEG, but Coban has it about 4 hours away. We called their Branch President and told him what we had found and he went over to meet us there to talk to them. We wanted to make sure they understand because some of the family don't understand Spanish very well and we were fighting against tradition, to try and help them realize she needed medical attention. She was fine as we were sitting there and we discussed it, with her sweet little one year old girl laughing and playing. They said they will think about it and decide by Monday, but you could tell they were doubtful. We left and went to visit another family, when we passed down the trail close to their home about an hour later we heard them all yelling again and I guess praying, it sounded like someone had died- or something. I was pretty sure she was in the middle of another seizure, but with nothing more we could do we walked on by, and I felt horrid. Hoping strongly that today they get her some help and that they can find a solution, it is hard to feel so helpless.

On the other hand we had an amazing caldo with one family yesterday and another family we visited just found out the wife is pregnant. We went to Poptun District earlier in the week and were able to do a training with the District Leadership there focused on missionary work, and the importance of the members doing missionary work, with the full-time missionaries helping them. We also got to work with a lot of the missionaries on a variety of issues like housing and English. Very grateful that none of them called this week due to sickness, and those that had been ill are all doing better.   

Highlights

When you wake up at three in the morning and can't sleep there is always something that needs to be done.  Luckily with this happening this morning I also found that the Internet was working, we had difficulty all week long to get signal for using it to communicate.  

Some Days are highlights of your lifetime and this week we participated in the Highlights of many people's lives. We helped set up, play for, then helped serve the food after the wedding of one of our young returned missionaries on Wednesday.  We took the youth from the group of Americans to sing and play with children, then one day to learn how to make tortillas.  Saturday though is one of those days that needs a special star. We delivered a Mission Call to a future missionary on our way to a baptismal service in Sajonte. This baptism was unique in many ways, but mainly because it was the beginning baptisms for a community and 32 people were baptized. To accommodate so many people Baptisms were held inside the church and outside in a portable font on the Basketball/Soccer court. The new members are from Saranch, a community about two hours by foot trail, or 45 minutes in truck - away from the nearest LDS chapel in Sajonte. where a Pastor and his congregation in a community about 2 hours from the church in Sajonte became unhappy with the doctrines and workings of the church there, a member of his congregation is LDS, but because of distance was only able to get to the church in Sajonte about once a month, the rest of the time attending this other group. He suggested they learn more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and then passed on a referral to the Elders and they began teaching the families, walking over to the community with other members three times a week. There are several other families in the community waiting to hear the discussions, but Saturday there were 32 prepared for baptism which is definitely a momentous occasion.

Earlier in the week, in order to level out perhaps the joys and difficulties of the week I had the opportunity to scream like a girl. The slug on the couch I easily dealt with, but then I saw a snake rapidly leaving the kitchen in front of me, I actually let out what Harold called a real "Girl Scream" The snake was bigger than the last one we found and wasn't poisonous, but we waited until it was dead to try and find that out.  

The joy of little things

There is a humanitarian group in this week that we are helping out with some and that is always a lot of fun. Took a group of their youth out to visit in the neighborhoods to sing and play with the children. It is so much fun watching them interact with all of our “kids”! There is such a special feeling as we walk down the streets or trails here and people call out to us, or those passing greet and hug us. They have all become such a part of our lives as we talk, joke, laugh and share together. We stopped by one home to visit last week and the kids were in front rolling down the lawn and playing like we did as kids, we got them doing wheelbarrow races together and then they tried doing 3-legged races while we all applauded their amazing feats. Another member told us they had some beans for us from their harvest and so we went and sat together in front of their home shelling beans together and visiting. Sometimes being Senior Missionaries is a completely different type of mission as the younger missionaries as we work supporting and loving our members.

This morning we get to work with the missionaries on their English, plus one of the Branch Presidents called us last night and asked us to help with a wedding at the church today. The Gringos are still here, so we may work with them some also this afternoon in between helping prepare for the wedding and the real wedding time this evening.

Father blesses us in so many many ways, it is hard to imagine or even explain sometimes.  We went to a branch Sunday that, when we first came to our mission, the mission President didn’t realize there was still a group there, even though they had a lovely Church Building.  We found out there were about 5 members still somewhat active and that it had once been a very strong branch.  There are missionaries working there now, and Sunday when we visited them they hit a new high for the year of 58 members in the Sacrament Meeting!

 I love days that are full, I love having this privilege of serving here in Guatemala.

CHOCOLATE

Brownie mix, Cocoa Powder and Hot Chocolate mix all in the cabinet. New batch of Chocolate No Bake Cookies in the jar, so why this feeling of trepidation knowing we just ate the last piece of American chocolate in the house? Made whole wheat chocolate chip pancakes trying to kick it, but knowing the next planned trip out of the valley is 34 days away, when our daughter Erica comes to visit, makes the silly chocoholic in me cringe.  This morning we are still in a cloud and it is almost 8am, but it is dissipating and we are about to head to the market for fresh veggies and fruits, we missed it on Tuesday because we were busy working with all of our missionaries.  Love market days and seeing all of our members!  When we get back we are having a little birthday get together here in the house for one of our young sisters who is living with her brother, her Mom is deceased and her Father lives elsewhere. This afternoon we are going out into some of the communities to play with the children and a baptism this evening.  Yes, there are many things even better than Chocolate!

Nap Time Please

We earned a nap time today, getting up at 5am to take full advantage before the water quit again. Celebrated having running water this morning by washing clothes, scrubbing down the bathroom, taking showers and washing all the dishes! Yes we had been washing dishes, but the sponge baths and bucket baths were happily replaced by a real shower, after a week of no running water! It inspired us to get up early, at 5am to make sure we got the showers before the water all quit. Some of the laundry had to be filled by hand, but the majority we had water for, it was even strong enough to refill the storage tank, which means we can probably each have another shower. The neighbors told us that either the lines themselves had probably been damaged, or clogged by the heavy rains we have been having and so they finally got them repaired.

Finished all of our inspections this week and were so grateful to work with all of the missionaries. Quite a few flu/virus/sicknesses going around, so keeping things clean and drinking lots of water become very important.

Monday morning we surprised one of the Elders in the Zone up here with a birthday cake, made it a nice Pday for everyone.

Our whole mission has been hit a little hard this week with the death of one of our Elders in Coban. He was injured last Saturday when the truck they were riding on rolled off of an embankment. Several crushed vertebrae and head injuries. He did well in the surgeries, but then died Monday night from the trauma. He left an example of dedication, work and commitment for all of us in the mission.

The children, five this time, came over on Monday to make flour tortillas with me but the 6 year old was running a high fever. Checked her at 103.5, started hydrating her and sponging her off trying to get it down a little bit before I sent them home! Sent some ibuprofen with them for her mom to use, I didn't think I should give her any myself, and told them no one could come back till they were all well. They all came back on Wednesday afternoon and told me the Vitamin C drink I had given her had made her well. Sure glad to see all of them happy and well!  

Called to Serve

Four future missionaries received their mission calls this week! Six have had their interviews with the Mission President here and are finishing up or just waiting now on their Mission call, and there are a few more who are waiting on paperwork or interviews, while several others have recently received their calls and are just waiting to leave. Calls have come in for Bolivia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Southern Guatemala, Argentina, Mexico and more in the last few months. It is so exciting to watch these young people as they start the process, and the changes we see in their lives as they become committed to serving Heavenly Father

The Children's Songbook has been printed now in Q'eqchi', although we don't have copies of it here yet for everyone and are waiting with great hope for them. We have one copy and have been sharing it with the members. The Senahu District Choir, with about 120 members, is learning two of the new songs to use in District Conference. As we have gone to different Districts, Branches, and homes, members that see it only want to know how to get a copy. There is one small area in Seamay where we walk through and play with the children of about seven homes – all of them related in some way we think, anyway we sing and play with the children and go from house to house with them. We promised them that this coming week we will be teaching them one of the new songs in Q'eqchi' and they were all very excited!

We went to Chijolom on Sunday, it is one of our furthest areas, about an hour and a half by transport, then a 20 minute hike in to the church. The members there struggle, they do not currently have any of the “extra” programs like Primary, Youth, Relief Society, because the members supposedly won't accept the callings. One of the problems is illiteracy among the adults, a lack of understanding of how the Church works, a lack of understanding about what being a member of the church means and the need to serve as members. During the Sunday School meeting, that everyone sat through I tore out paper from my agenda and made little books for each of the kids, by folding and tearing – then I wrote little messages in each one for them. Telling them they are a loved child of Heavenly Father and the importance of living his commandments. I also tore out the little strings of paper dolls for some of the girls. I was so impressed with their reverence and patience as they sat quietly through two hours of meetings and wanted to leave them with some sort of personal message. We are working with the District, hoping that soon they will have all of the blessings on the Church. I was also called on during the meeting there to give a talk, I had focused at the house on doing the inspections so had not remembered the possibility, had not prepared for Primary because supposedly the District was only staying for Sacrament meeting, (should have known better, since all things here are subject to change) anyway I  had no prepared message. I borrowed the Q'eqchi Book of Mormon from the girl sitting next to me and spoke on the importance of parents teaching in the home, by example, by using the scriptures and teaching children to pray and trust in the Lord. I gave the talk in Q'eqchi, because very few of the members in Chijolom understand Spanish, hoping the members understood, but not sure. When I talked to the Elders later this week and asked them they said they had and I was so grateful!

We have been doing interviews with President and Sister Curtiss, this week and also throwing in some housing inspections along the way as we passed through the Polochic and Chulac. Plan on finishing up the inspections this coming week. Sister Curtiss is concerned with the nutrition level of our missionaries that live up in the mountains and have limited access to foods to purchase, mainly just the basics except on Pday when they come down to shop. Since whatever they buy they have to take it back out on Transport they are  also limited in their purchases.I'm going to try and develop some ideas this weekend for them and get it down on paper for how to improve their nutrition, things they can buy locally that they may not be thinking of, like pumpkin seed. Incaparina, is a corn drink that has protein and vitamins added to it that I am going to try and find more uses for. It is a lot like a corn flour and I have used it added tosoup to thicken it. I am going to try making crepes using it this weekend and thinking it may work in pancakes!

We have been asking each of our missionaries what their favorite verse is in The Book of Mormon and having them either read or quote it to us in English. Many had one memorized, the others are now working on memorizing their favorite. As they read their verse or verses to us it is a huge blessing to listen and feel the power of the Spirit in the Scriptures teaching us to pray, to be diligent to trust in the Lord and hearing the promises he gives us.

Snakes and wet humor

Our young girl who helps in the house once a week came this morning and was sweeping when she called me into the room. She had encountered a small snake on the floor and informed us it was poisonous. Sure glad she saw it, because we would have not known! We tried killing it and finally Elder Spradlin ended up getting the hammer to finish the job – this guy did not want to die!
We have now moved every piece of furniture in that room and swept behind everything, of course killing a few more bugs on the way.  It is not that I like killing bugs, but don't like having them visit us.  

If we talk about how humid it is, I had a box of salt some Americans left here last month up on the shelf, it is so humid that the box kind of started to just collapse and the salt inside was getting wet. I took the whole thing and put it in a large zip-lock bag with rice. We shall see.

It was just raining nights, but in the last couple of days the weather has started changing and we are having rainy cloudy during the day and continued rain storms at night. No lack of water this week!

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.