Mar. 19, 2019
Elder Matthews' Thoughts ......Adventures in paradise, well ok, Paraguay. Elder Quentin L. Cook recently came to Guatemala and while he was in our area, we were invited to two talks, one to the area office workers [where we work], and another to the missionaries from four missions (approximately 500 missionaries). Unfortunately, the day of Elder Cook's first talk, I was asked to escort a missionary home to Paraguay. The travel office explained that I would arrive there at midnight their time, 9 pm our time, and the flight out left at 7 am. They asked if I wanted to stay a night and a day and fly back, or just come straight back. There was a hotel a little ways from the airport that I could go to. Thinking I didn't want to be without adult supervision for too long, I said to put me on the plane the next morning. The elder was doing well and our flight down to Panama and from there to Paraguay was uneventful. They fed us on both of the flights. By the time we got to immigration it was about 1 am. I noticed a sign saying that US citizens needed to pay $160 US to get a visa. I explained to the immigration officer that I was just escorting an elder and wanted to make sure his family was there to pick him up, but that I wasn't leaving the airport and would fly out in 6 hours. In the true fashion of bureaucrats, he told me it would be fine, but to pay the $160 first before I left with the missionary. I told the elder about this problem and he told me he was ok and could meet his parents by himself, so I went back to the gate. At this point I didn't know if I would be able to get out past security to the check in desk. My airline had a flight out at 2:30, so I waited until the gate agent came and asked if she could print my boarding passes there. After a little checking, she did so. So now I just had to kill 4 hours. The airport benches didn't have armrests, so it was possible to lie down, but I had a suit coat on and didn't want to wrinkle it. I tried to sleep sitting up, but between being really tired and the air conditioning blasting, I started to shiver and couldn't go to sleep. So I walked around trying to get warm, and felt pain in my leg. I thought it might be my wool pants chafing me, but on investigation in the rest room, discovered that I had bug bites. They looked suspiciously like flea bites. Fun! I found a place where the air conditioning wasn't too cold and logged in to the airport wireless and started answering my medical emails. One mission had 6 people with knee problems and the orthopedic surgeon wanted to put some of them on a habit forming medicine for 30 days. That's my job, to make sure dumb things don't happen. My flight finally came and I slept for four hours on the plane and got home in the mid afternoon. Again, they fed me two meals on the long flight and a sandwich on the short one. Then, the next day, I started getting stomach cramps and got a case of Montezuma's revenge for about three days. So between the flea bites and the food, I can't recommend that particular airline.
Hermana Matthews' thoughts... Because Morris was headed off to Paraguay and had taken our car to the airport (not that I was brave enough to drive anyway), I didn't have a way to get to the area office and attend the meeting with Elder Cook for the office workers. No one from the area where we live was going, and I didn't really want to take a taxi, so I missed it. However, I was able to go to the meeting with Elder Cook and all the missionaries the next day. Sister George (the mental health adviser) and I rode the bus with all the CCM missionaries to the meeting. We had to be at the bus by 6:30 am. Area President Ochoa and his wife spoke, and Elder Gong and his wife, who were accompanying Elder Cook, spoke. Sister Cook also spoke and got all the missionaries involved in singing a hymn with a few groups chanting a couple of the words in the hymn. She loves the hymns and talked about finding hymns which fit certain Christlike attributes. Elder Cook's talk was wonderful and inspiring. He expressed at least 5 times the urgency he felt for missionary work in our area. He said that Guatemala is a special place where the people are humble, haven't succumbed to the wiles of the world, and are willing to talk about sacred things. He said they are family-oriented, believing people and that we all should feel an urgency to do missionary work here. He also talked about President Nelson and said that he truly was a prophet and was receiving a lot of inspiration from above in the middle of the night which was keeping him awake! Elder Cook gave a blessing to the missionaries and told them that he knew some of them were struggling because of being away from home, and he knew they were worried about their loved ones for many different reasons. He said that the atonement overcomes everything that seems unfair in life. He promised us that everyone we love will be blessed by our service, not just those we love now but for generations to come. Finally, he bore his testimony and said that he knew the Savior's voice and he knew the Savior's face. The meeting was held in a big building that was not fancy. Jets flew over a couple of times and it was so loud that the speakers had to pause briefly. However, the spirit was very strong!
I've been working really hard to build up my newborn baby kit supply! I recently received 50 kits from a wonderful lady in Highland who is dedicated to keeping this service going. I've had a lot of interest back home and have many kits and supplies waiting to be brought here from Utah. However, last week I was a little discouraged about the project. I've had several people ask for kits, and I don't have enough right now to give to everyone. In the past, hundreds of kits have been given out at each delivery. Morris suggested we just go to Walmart and buy some kit items to help out until we can get the kits and items that are waiting in Utah. We, of course, want to personally donate to the project but feel our money may need to go to supplies like ziplock bags or for luggage fees on flights for bags filled with kits. We also may need to buy items to complete those kits that don't have everything in them. The same day we bought kit items, we attended the weekly movie night at the home of one of the senior couples. One of the wives asked us to stop by her apartment after the movie. Her son's family was here visiting and they had brought suitcases full of clothes, books, toys, blankets, stuffed animals, and also one whole suitcase of baby kit items. The daughter-in-law had also raised some money to give me for baby supplies. This was unexpected! The money we received paid for what we had spent with some left over! I was humbled and reminded once again that Heavenly Father is aware of our efforts to serve and will provide!
Elder Matthews' thoughts......We have been assigned to a branch in El Cerinal, about 45 minutes drive south of Guatemala City. Last week two brothers about 4 and 7 sitting in front of us were bugging each other with considerable determination. The chapel doesn't have pews, we're all on chairs, so I slid up between the two of them. The younger one pouted that he couldn't keep fighting with his brother. Boys are boys pretty much everywhere. The mission president asked the other senior couple to go out with a member and try to find part member and inactive families who are on the rolls, but haven't come for a long time. This is made more interesting because, while the streets are named, there are no house numbers. So an address on the church records will say "Antigua Calle cerca de la Tienda La Esperanza. So you go to the street and start asking. About 20% of the names on the list were either dead or had moved. After church we visited a couple of families the Oylers had found. One lady was 80, had had 16 children, 14 of whom were alive. She was a staunch Catholic, but welcomed us warmly, telling the Oylers that she loved them. Several of her kids had joined the LDS Church as teenagers, so we were trying to activate them. The other family's house and business had burned down and some family members of the Oylers had raised a lot of money to help them rebuild. So now they have about 15 people living in a couple of rooms during the construction. Kind of like Joseph Smith's family living in a two room log cabin. Tomorrow we head to Zacapa to train a nurse.
Hermana George and Hermana Matthews at meeting with Elder Cook
Missionary meeting with Elder Quentin L. Cook
A little boy being entertained by his mom's phone during the gospel doctrine
lesson in El Cerinal Branch
The twin sister to the little boy with the phone
An 80 year old lady we met who has 16 children,
14 are still living
Elders in the Santa Ana Mission in El Salvador.
They are making baby hats while they are waiting
to be interviewed by the mission president
An hermana in Santa Ana Mission.
The mission president's wife came up with the idea to have the
missionaries make baby hats while they're waiting for their
interviews with the president.
