September

Maybe if I get started I can have this done before the end of September. 
August 29th we went to Applebee's to celebrate Presidents weight loss of 30 pounds.  We go there every time he loses 10 pounds.  It is his reward.  Afterwards we went to see Ben Hur, the new version.  Pretty good movie.

Yup.  Eating again!

Last Tuesday we had a little excitement when we had an electrical fire at the temple early in the morning.  The temple was closed for 3 days while repairs were made and all of us missionaries went to help clean up the soot that had managed to spread surprisingly far and wide for such a small fire.  Lunch at Pollo Campero as a reward for us for cleaning.

And again!

August 31st we went to the National Palace on the Plaza Principal. It was finished in 1943 and built mostly by prison labor.  It was the residence of the president but is now used for receptions of dignitaries and by some government departments.

The front of the Palace

Ornate cement columns 

Five was the original owners favorite number.  Arches etc were all in fives.

One of the courtyards

Peace monument

One of 4 pools

Huge paintings depicting history

Another mural

Mosaic floor tiles.

Reception Hall

Wood floor of the reception hall

Stained Glass Window

One of hundreds of chandeliers

Door handles have the thumb print of the man who was President when the palace was built

Miniature of the Palace took longer to build than the palace itself

The cathedral on another side of the Main square.

Monday the 12th we enjoyed a Family Home evening with Mark Wood who gave a presentation on religious freedom and the work the area legal counsel is doing with Costa Rica to help them draft a new religious freedom legislation..  It is hoped it will be the example for several other countries.
Wednesday, the day before Guatemala's Independence day, all the schools have a parade carrying a torch that must be lit from a central flame.  Bad traffic day!

Catholic School across the street from us.

On Independence Day the temple was only open half a day.  It may as well have been closed for all the people that didn't come including workers.  It was rather expected to be that way though.  After our shift, President bought rotisserie chicken for us all and we had pot luck for everything else.  Eating again!  We ended up with some impromptu talent as the Guatemaltecans sang their national anthem.  It is hugely long.

Great food and good company!

Monday the 19th Eldon was our driver to go shopping as President was in Senahu for a conference.  He is a very good and careful driver and does not make anyone nervous like President does.

Our walk this week was good as the sky was mostly clear.  I like the cool breeze and some clouds though as it keeps it cooler for walking.  We got to see Agua and Fuego (close volcanoes) today and a couple of pictures of a building we have been watching from ground up for the last 10 months.  Fuego spews smoke and ash into the air about every 15 minutes.

Almost finished

Agua with Fuego just visible to the left of the light post.

Volcano Agua.

And last but not least is this cool picture of a crew cleaning the roof of the temple totally by hand.

There is a slippery slope for you.

August

Once again I am a little behind.  Just too much to do I guess or maybe I'm just lazy.  At any rate August has not been too exciting.  We usually go shopping every Monday morning at 9 am and have Home Evening at night.  Washing and cleaning occupy the rest of the day usually unless we can talk President into a paseo (trip).  We work out at the CCM (MTC) gym next door at 6 am or go for a 4 or 5 mile walk around the neighborhood and have the afternoon shift generally from 2-9 or 10ish.  We also are available to be on call as needed at the temple in the mornings.  Once about every 5 weeks we have a week of morning shift 6-1pm.
Thursday, August 4th, we all piled in the car and headed for Cerrito del Carmen.  It is an old church atop a hill in the middle of the city and gives a beautiful view.  As we were headed there a large truck tried going around us on the right and side-swiped the car.  It bounced all of us in the back seat to where we thought there was probably a great deal of damage to the car.  President called Bro. Rodriguez who is the Area Security Specialist and told us to keep driving until we found a cop and then pull over.  President got in front of the truck and kept him there until we found the police a few blocks later.  We pulled out onto a side road to look at the damaged and discovered very little.  Apparently the trucks tire had hit the back panel by our tire and rubbed across the tire and tire fender.  Brother Rodriquez is apparently the right guy to call.  After an hour of waiting for insurance guys etc. (apparently the American insurances believe you when you say you had an accident) we shook hands and were on our way again.

Standing around waiting for the insurance man. 

Discussing the weather I guess.

Truck the hit us up front.

We finally got to the church.  It was originally built in 1620 but was destroyed by earthquakes and rebuilt several times.

Cerrito del Carmen

Chapel inside

The Alter with silver overlaid.

Heavy Carved door only 5 feet high.

Another short ornate door

It was a little foggy but the views were spectacular of the city.

As always we stopped for lunch afterwards at Applebee's this time, for a hamburger.  Eldon and I got one between us.  They are big.

Apparently we are always eating!

We had zone conference Friday and President Norman talked for a few minutes on the temple of course.

Zone Conference

Sunday we enjoyed a "Break the Fast" with all the area missionaries.  We do this potluck every fast Sunday.

August 15th Eldon and I were asked to go on a paseo with Bishop De Leon.  He took us to breakfast and then to Iximche where we have been before but it is a cool ruins site anyway.

Pure gold head bands and necklace

One of the buildings partially uncovered

Foundation of buildings

More partially uncovered buildings

The under part of the building was rocks laid like bricks and the overcoat was a plaster as can be seen in the lower corner of the wall.

We were scheduled to be back in time for Home Evening but as luck would have it, the normally 1 1/2 hour drive back to the temple ended up taking us 4 1/2 hours so we missed the tour of the CCM and root beer floats.  Rats!!

Saturday Ken and Eve Winkfield, friends we knew in Cochabamba, arrived as our newest missionaries.  Great to have them on board.