We have initiated health councils to coordinate the care of the missionaries. There is frequent communication, but once a month, the mission president and wife, mission nurse, the mental health counselor and the area medical advisor meet, usually by video conference, to discuss the problems missionaries in that mission are having. We have an electronic medical record where we keep track of what is happening. By clicking a box on a missionary's medical record, we can put him on the list to be discussed at the health council. It's been a little interesting keeping track of my 9 missions, but this is a positive step in the never ending struggle to keep everyone healthy.
Since the family thought we would be leaving in June, we had three family groups visit us recently. The Wolfley's visit was described in the last post. Our son Dave and Jamie and their four children came down next. We rode horses up to the active volcano Pacaya and roasted marshmallows in a fumarole left over from the 2010 eruption.
John Wayne joined us a few minutes later
I've hiked it and I've ridden it, and riding is easier.
Cooking marshmallows in a fumarole
Lucy enjoying a marshmallow
The side of Pacaya is completely covered with lava fields from big 2010 and 2014 eruptions and continues to have small flows on the side of the mountain. Smoke was pouring from the top.
On Sunday we attended our branch at El Cerinal. Lucy and Oscar went to YW and YM classes and met a lot of new friends.
Jamie Rex and Ginger joined us in primary, where the kids greeted them with the Hola [Hello] song and they sang I am a Child of God to each other. Rex and Ginger stayed in the older primary while Jamie helped us in the junior primary.
After church we visited the house of the Rabbanales family that we minister to.
Also visited Hermana and Hermano Petrie, she arranges our baby kit deliveries at the
hospital in Cuilapa
After that, a humanitarian visit to the people who live on a coffee plantation. It isn't even a village. We gave away stuffed toys, books and some treats to the kids. When a family came late and all the gifts had been distributed, Ginger felt bad. She gave the girls some of her gifts that had been personally given to her by Hermana Petrie.
Then on to the beach. The sand on the Pacific beaches is a coarse gray breakdown of lava flows which gets really hot in the sun. The hotel had a nice swimming pool.
We followed up with a ferry ride on a boat that looked like a 9th grade wood shop creation that ended up getting a C- grade. It was powered by a mighty 15 horsepower outboard engine!
After the soothing ferry ride, we went to the Chapin Auto Safari Park (see pictures later)
On to Lake Atitlán. We've shown several photos of the lake in prior blogs. We went to the nature park and visited the butterfly pavillion.
Then on the to the zip lines. A ski lift to take us up would have been nice!
The next day, across the lake to San Juan de la Laguna for the bee, weaving and chocolate exhibits. They have a large variety of hand spun and had woven clothes and textiles as well as other souvenirs.
While Dave, Jamie, Lucy and Oscar went to Tikal, we took Ginger and Rex to the zoo, to a highly rated children's museum which unfortunately was closed and finally to Chuck E Cheese.
Saturday they flew back to be at home for Easter.
We had an Easter pot luck dinner with the temple missionaries Sunday afternoon. We washed all the sheets and towels, and a few days later the Porritts came to visit. We took them to the relief map, a two acre map of Guatemala, a great way to appreciate the varied geology and geography of the country. Then to the central market where they bought a lot of souvenirs. We assembled baby kits from things donated by the folks at Robert's work, then distributed them in El Salvador.
Tara was born in El Salvador. We were able to visit the town her mother was born in.
Check out the cute blouse she bought at the central market in Guatemala City.
Tara and her twin sister
The area presidency graciously invited us to two dinners at the mission presidents training conference. We email and call the presidents on a regular basis to discuss how to help missionaries, but it was great to meet them in person and create a level of familiarity and trust that will help us deal with the problems the missionaries are facing.
We all visited Tikal with Porritts and another missionary couple, the Kinghorns. Besides the ruins, we saw howler and spider monkeys, toucans and a lot of coatimundis, a strange looking creature that reminds me of a cross between a racoon and an anteater, and has a tail about twice as long as I think it should be.
Howler Monkey - listen to them in Youtube videos.
coatimundi, seriously does he need all that tail?
Spider monkey, they use their tail like another hand
Sign probably should face the other direction
We attended our branch and visited some members afterward, delivered more baby kits and stuffed animals and other toys at the hospital at Cuilapa with Hermana Petrie. We went to Lake Atitlán, where the zip lines were closed for maintenance, visited San Juan again, then went to the beach. We got a 5 person suite with a view of the pool and ocean.
Rob and I went fishing and caught 28 sail fish, a marlin [both catch and release] and 3 mahi maji [kill'em and grill'em]. The marlin didn't jump out of the water, but all the mahi mahi and most of the sail fish jumped clear out of the water, some several times. The bad part, how do we go back to catching trout in Utah that are the size of the bait we were using for the 80 - 90 pound sail fish?
Blue Marlin estimated by capitan to be about 350 pounds. And of course a fisherman
would never exagerate.
The girls hung out at the beach and hotel and explored the town. Later we went on the ferry and to the wild animal park again.
Janet learning to spin thread by hand
We took Porritts to the airport and started washing the sheets and towels again, happy to have had so many family visitors.
Community laundry facility in Chimaltenango. The sinks have a corrugated bottom,
the clothes are soaped up and rubbed across the bottom vigorously. It's also a good chance to
catch up with friends and neighbors.
And finally, the latest in a series of prodigious pickup packing pictures:
I am still looking for the safety straps holding all that together.
