January 23

January 23

Pushing right along here lets go to January 23 week.  We started off as usual and went shopping at Walmart and Price Smart.  This afternoon we went to Kaminaljuju, Mountain of the Dead, that is located in the middle of Guatemala City and was flourishing from about 800 BC to about 900 AD.  The site extended over 5 square kilometers with more than 200 mounds.  Only 33 remain today and city is built over much of the area.  It was discovered in 1936.  It was abandoned in about 400 AD and then the Toltec came down from Mexico and rebuilt it.  

Levels of excavation

City as it used to be

Statue found in one of the burial mounds

Burial urn

Excavation picture of the 1900's

Current active excavation site.

What original city looked like panoramic view.

Excavated doorways

More Excavation of the city

 Second excavation in another area of the site

Madrids gave a lovely home evening on service. Service is how we improve our talents.  Friday was zone conference and Elder Fillmore, who leaves for home next month said, "God can't steer a parked car."
February 21
All the missionaries, Spanish and English went to Las Colinas (the church campsite) today.  We took three vans.  The place is huge and really beautiful.  Apparently it was a colina (hill) and the church bulldozed the top off to make a great campsite.  They can accomodate 5,000 people camping at a time.  The area use to be a coffee bean farm and bushes still grow all over.  We learned to eat the bean pod and it was very tasty.  Not a lot of meat around the actual bean itself but tasty none the less.

Land of Desolation

Bridge to get to Desolation

Low Copes course.  More further down the trail

The area use to be a coffee bean farm.
Beans grow all around the area.

March 10

We went to Safe Passage this morning with all the area missionaries.  It is located at the city dump and was started by a lady who was appalled by the way people, including small children were working and living at the dump.  She began with a small building but now employs about 200 teachers and volunteers to teach the women and children to read and write, giving them a chance in life and feeds them three simple meals a day so they don't have to eat the garbage. Besides being educated they are taught some basic skills to be able to get jobs.  

The dump is located right behind the big city cemetery.  Apparently if the family quits paying the annual fee for the crypt they throw the body into the dump and sell the space to the next person. 

The more wealthy have nice mausoleums.

More of the wealthier side of the cemetery. 

Crypts of the lower class.

The city dump.  Note the cemetery on the hill top right.

Children in the school.

Click link below to see the video of the children. 
You scouters will recognize this song.

Click Here

Happy children after lunch.

The ladies learn how to make beautiful jewelry from discarded magazines.  

Necklaces from magazines.  

Beads made from magazines

Smaller children learning English.

School play yard.  Homes as shown center above are
tin and built haphazardly.

Playground

Homes on the other side of the wall.  Second story is just a bit tipsy.

Buildings were built by volunteers.
This location is mostly older kids and adults.

Ball court

They are built on the edge of the dump to give access to the people.
The dump smell is very prominent as you would suspect.

Mothers learning basic schooling.

The dump from the back side of the school.

We had lunch with them.  This was what they ate plus a corn tortilla.

These people work totally on donation and are doing a great work.  The lady who started this, Hanley Denning, sold all she had and began Safe Passage in December of 1999.  She was killed in a car accident in 2007 but the work she began by herself has blossomed.  You can read more about them at safepassage.org if you are interested.

Have a great day.  Easter will be the next big thing we have.