Matthews Mission in Guatemala: Fuego throws a tantrum......thoughts of an AMA

February 4, 2018

Another week without being run over in traffic. I used to make fun of the way kids in Sunday School would pray that they would get home safely, but now I’ve adopted that as a daily custom. Guatemala City is located in the mountains at an elevation of 5,000 feet. The volcanic soil is easily eroded, and there are large gullies or small canyons running through the city in various directions. This results in some neighborhoods with only a few roads connecting them to the rest of the city. The city is made up of a lot of clusters, rather than one big open space. As a result, there are a number of big boulevards connecting the different parts of town, but there aren’t a lot of alternate routes if those get busy. So at 5 pm when everyone gets off work, the main boulevards are jam packed and traffic moves at 5 or 10 miles an hour. We were coming home the other day during the rush hour and a chicken bus in the right lane decided to switch to the center lane where I was. People were in the lane to the left of me, so I couldn’t move. I started honking for dear life and he paused long enough to let me get by.

The senior missionaries threw a farewell party and dinner for a couple who has been serving as humanitarian missionaries. A lot of projects get done in Guatemala City, but these two were generally out at the end of dirt roads supervising projects. Their dedication and your humanitarian fund donations have literally made the lives of thousands of people better. Humanitarian projects are done where there is a need, regardless of whether the recipients are LDS or not. One of their most touching stories was visiting the national school for the blind and helping them get a Braille printer and software so that they could print their own books for the students to read. Prior to their project, the school only had one book in Braille.

There are several active volcanoes in Guatemala, two near the city. Pacaya and Fuego commonly spit out plumes of smoke and ash, but this week Fuego was really active, blasting out smoke and lava. See the photo at the bottom. See the video at this link to see pictures of the eruption. Volcano photos or Google: Fuego volcano eruptions for a lot of past and recent photos and videos.

One of our senior missionaries wrote this limerick to celebrate:
Fuego is really blowing its top
it acts like it may never stop
it makes quite a splash
as it bellows gray ash
its an incredible photo backdrop.

On Fridays there is a movie night that the senior couples do. Last week we got caught in traffic on our way to the apartment where it was being held, and after going about 3 miles in an hour, turned around. This week we stayed late at the office, then went over. They showed 7 Brides for 7 Brothers. I had seen it as a play a couple of times, but this was the first time I’d seen the movie.

Patsy has been crocheting hats for children at the cancer hospital. When they lose their hair from chemotherapy, they are very self conscious and they love to get a cap. She’s also making some tiny ones for the newborn baby kits that we’ll be taking out to remote rural hospitals. She’s been publicizing the project by email and social media and has been getting a lot of responses.