The presentation is in English and is pretty rapid fire. After I have done the other part of my presentation, I present the video with my Spanish translation. The jokes just don't translate, so I left some lines out, but the rest is 17 minutes of rapid fire dialog as fast as I can talk. We have been promised a version with Spanish subtitles, but for now, I am Spencer, Vivane and Jaron all rolled up in one. A little gender confusion there, but don't worry, I still identify myself as Elder Matthews. Every three weeks I think "I'm glad that's over, I hope the new version comes before the next cycle."
During the winter, about 90% of our new missionaries are from Latin America. One cycle we had two gringa misionaries and one had an accident and had to go home. Her ex companion got pretty lonely. Starting in April and May the number of US and Canadian missionaries increases to about half of the new missionaries thru the summer, then declines again when the US and Canadian colleges start. So the size of my audience changes from 60 - 110 depending on what time of the year it is.
After thought, prayer and consultation with the area presidency and missionary department, we have asked to be released September 7, which will be 21 months since we hit the Provo MTC. We hope that will give Salt Lake enough time to find someone to replace us. We have mixed feelings. We will miss the branch we're assigned to and the spirituality that comes from full time service, but we also miss family. Our lives and attitudes have definitely been changed by our service here. Right now millions of people are praying for us, when we go home we'll be on our own again.
For Mother's Day we went with President and Sister Hill and a number of the other senior missionaries to an Italian restaurant in Cayalá, a way upscale outdoor mall. They have wonderful food and great strawberry lemonade. Patsy and the ladies in the area office also were treated to a Mother's Day lunch complete with entertainment during the week.
We delivered some baby kits with some of the temple missionaries. Their service is vital, but much the same day after day, so they enjoyed getting out and seeing some of the country and performing different service.
A few days later, we got the temple workers to come over to our apartment and we assembled 120 more baby kits.
From our window we can see different flowering trees and vines blooming almost all the time.
The Oylers, who previously served here, returned for a visit with some of their family. They helped convert a family in a small city called Barberena and came back down to see them sealed in the temple. We were getting ready to go over and they called and told us the session was full. Enough people had come from the branch to fill the whole session. We didn't want any of those who had come up from their village to miss the session. So I didn't get to use my recently renewed recommend until the next week when we did an English sealing session.
We went with Oylers to distribute clothes and toys at a coffee plantation on a dirt road between Pueblo Nuevo Viñas and Chiquimulia. They found by accident and have returned a number of times to distribute things. School was in session when we got there, sadly only about half the kids were going to school. They need to have a white shirt and dark slacks or skirt to attend. The parents of the kids not in school said they didn't have the money to buy the uniforms, the teacher said that some of the kids had gotten the uniforms, but stopped coming after a few weeks. I'm not sure which story was right, but either way it was sad.
The interior of the school
The entrance to the school
While on a run for books for our after church lending library, we stopped to listen to some marimba music outside a quaint local restaurant called Wendy's. Notice the double mallet technique of the left player and the New York Yankees hat on the right player. The extensions seen below amplify the sound of the keys.
After church we gave a ride to a family that lives a 45 minute walk from the church. Three generations live together in a ramshackle compound by a lake. Their 18 year old boy just left on a mission to Mexico. I don't anticipate he will have trouble with the walking required in his mission.
Being a senior missionary isn't all drudgery. We went to the archeological site Kaminaljuyú in Guatemala City and continued on to Lake Atitlán where we relaxed and had a fireside featuring Elder Clate Mask's insights on Book of Mormon geography. Ok, for me it was a little work. A gringo missionary slipped and broke his thumb and the Guatemalan mission president asked if I would call and talk to his family and stake president to get permission for the necessary surgery. I dealt with the stress afterward by enjoying some hot tub time.
Sunday a family invited us over for lunch. They asked when we would be leaving and we told them September. They asked their 10 year old boy what he would do when we left and he said he'd go home with us. I think when we do pack up, I better check the suitcases, Patsy will probably be trying to take two or three cute little kids home with us.
It is taking awhile to get this blog done. We had a well attended district conference this week. We went early so we could get seats in the main chapel instead of watching it on closed circuit TV in one of the class rooms. As of July 1 there will be 7 missions in Guatemala. President Shumway remarked that only about a dozen countries in the world have 7 or more missions. Chile and Guatemala have about 18 million people, the next smallest country I could find with 7 or more missions was Peru with 33 million people. Considering that the first missionaries in Guatemala came in 1947, I think the growth is a tribute to hard working missionaries and faithful, dedicated members.
Since we have been attending the branch at El Cerinal, about 17 months, there have been two sister missionares serving there. The mission president additionally assigned two elders there. We got them to come to primary and tell the kids how they prepared for their missions.
Since Patsy fixes lunch for the missionaries each Sunday, we now have to prepare a lot more food. We trained a new mission nurse and took him and two other missionaries to lunch afterward. They each ate 4 pieces of pizza.
When the new Guatemala Antigua mission is formed July 1, the missionaries in many districts will then be in the new mission. The boundaries of several missions have been tweaked. We heard that our newly trained Guatemala East nurse was going to go to a mission that the other AMA has, but were relieved after more inquiry that he will stay in the same mission.
We took Elder and Sister Jeffers to lunch Friday. They came into the mission a day after we did. He's worked in the legal office and has a great understated sense of humor. Sister Jeffers has often helped us with some of our tasks. Immigration hasn't issued her the proper visa to leave. Elder Jeffers suggested that perhaps she should join one of the caravans from Honduras that passes thru Guatemala on the way to the US and write a book about her experiences. She is agitating to pay a fine for not having the visa and leave with him.
We had a farewell lunch/party for the Jeffers and Elder and Sister Mask. The Masks both served missions in Central America when it was all one mission, then were called as president and matron of the Guatemala City temple. For the past year, they have been serving a mission interviewing pioneer members of the church in Central America and making audio recordings of their stories. The texperiences they have shared with us are inspiring, but they explained that many of the stories are so sacred that only family members are allowed to hear them. Of course, the Masks got to hear them all as they recorded them. What a priviledge.
Patsy, LeeAnn Kinghorn and Sharon Smith took Hermana Petrie, aka the Mother Teresa of Central America, to lunch for her birthday. They stopped at Megapaca, an importer of used clothing from the US. Some of your donations to the Deseret Industries end up here. They found some gently used items for the baby kits.
The Lan family is here for a week to work in the dental clinic. They are from the DC area. They went to the district conference in Cuilapa with us, then visited the Cuilapa Hospital to drop off some baby kits to the moms and stuffed bears to the kids in the pediatric unit.
And, the grand finale in the continuing saga of "you had to be there", perhaps never to be equaled! We were driving down the highway from Antigua to Guatemala City. The main highway is very busy, and features regular pedestrian overpasses. Some have stairs going up, some ramps. As we were going down the highway, I looked up and a man was driving a horse and three cows across the highway on the pedestrian overpass. In two seconds we had passed it, and couldn't get a photo. What a Facebook photo or Youtube video it would have made! Although not undocumented, it was witnessed by Patsy who is impeccably honest. I am a fisherman, so not a reliable source, but I tell you, it was the big picture that got away.
It is taking awhile to get this blog done. We had a well attended district conference this week. We went early so we could get seats in the main chapel instead of watching it on closed circuit TV in one of the class rooms. As of July 1 there will be 7 missions in Guatemala. President Shumway remarked that only about a dozen countries in the world have 7 or more missions. Chile and Guatemala have about 18 million people, the next smallest country I could find with 7 or more missions was Peru with 33 million people. Considering that the first missionaries in Guatemala came in 1947, I think the growth is a tribute to hard working missionaries and faithful, dedicated members.
Since we have been attending the branch at El Cerinal, about 17 months, there have been two sister missionares serving there. The mission president additionally assigned two elders there. We got them to come to primary and tell the kids how they prepared for their missions.
Since Patsy fixes lunch for the missionaries each Sunday, we now have to prepare a lot more food. We trained a new mission nurse and took him and two other missionaries to lunch afterward. They each ate 4 pieces of pizza.
When the new Guatemala Antigua mission is formed July 1, the missionaries in many districts will then be in the new mission. The boundaries of several missions have been tweaked. We heard that our newly trained Guatemala East nurse was going to go to a mission that the other AMA has, but were relieved after more inquiry that he will stay in the same mission.
We took Elder and Sister Jeffers to lunch Friday. They came into the mission a day after we did. He's worked in the legal office and has a great understated sense of humor. Sister Jeffers has often helped us with some of our tasks. Immigration hasn't issued her the proper visa to leave. Elder Jeffers suggested that perhaps she should join one of the caravans from Honduras that passes thru Guatemala on the way to the US and write a book about her experiences. She is agitating to pay a fine for not having the visa and leave with him.
We had a farewell lunch/party for the Jeffers and Elder and Sister Mask. The Masks both served missions in Central America when it was all one mission, then were called as president and matron of the Guatemala City temple. For the past year, they have been serving a mission interviewing pioneer members of the church in Central America and making audio recordings of their stories. The texperiences they have shared with us are inspiring, but they explained that many of the stories are so sacred that only family members are allowed to hear them. Of course, the Masks got to hear them all as they recorded them. What a priviledge.
Patsy, LeeAnn Kinghorn and Sharon Smith took Hermana Petrie, aka the Mother Teresa of Central America, to lunch for her birthday. They stopped at Megapaca, an importer of used clothing from the US. Some of your donations to the Deseret Industries end up here. They found some gently used items for the baby kits.
The Lan family is here for a week to work in the dental clinic. They are from the DC area. They went to the district conference in Cuilapa with us, then visited the Cuilapa Hospital to drop off some baby kits to the moms and stuffed bears to the kids in the pediatric unit.
The Lans and hermana Petrie
When you are in the hospital, there's nothing like having something to cuddle with.
