Thanksgiving Day in Xela (that's the shortened version of Quetzaltenango, in case you didn't catch that before)

Since Monday is the only day of the week that all of us temple missionaries can get together, we had our Thanksgiving day feast yesterday.  And since we will all be working in the Temple on our real Thanksgiving Day, it just seemed real to us yesterday.  The temple president's wife, Hermana Galvaz, asked us north Americans to plan and bring our traditional dishes and they would fill in with some of theirs.   So I started a group e-mail and we got it all organized.  We really weren't missing anything.

This is dad whipping up the mashed potatoes which was part of our contribution.  I also made stuffing with cornbread which turned out a little strange because the only cornmeal we could find was corn masa for making tamales so it was a different texture than we are used to but tasted yummy!   It was so fun walk down the hall and smell all the traditional smells coming out of our different apartments.  There was lots of borrowing of spices and serving dishes as we all prepared for our feast.

These are the two Dutch Apple Pies with and oatmeal strusel topping that turned out really well.  Couldn't find any canned pumpkin or any squash that looked like pumpkin but we did find pumpkin pies in a nice bakery here so we bought two of them.  We ended up with 6 pies which was more than we needed but then, when do we ever really NEED pies?  

We used the dining room table in the president's house for our buffet table and then ate outside on the patio.  It was a gorgeous day to eat outside - probably about 70 degrees.  Just right! We really enjoyed our first Guatemalan Thanksgiving.

Here are all the 20 temple missionaries, including the temple presidency and President Galvez's  granddaughter, who is visiting for a week.  Before we were through, we had 26 people there for our Thanksgiving dinner.  For our activity, since we couldn't really all watch football, I shared the story of the pilgrims first year in the new world when they just about starved to death and some days they had only 5 kernels of corn for each person to eat and   I did it all in Spanish!  We passed around some bowls of blue corn and each couple took 5 kernels to drop on their plate as they shared their blessings.  It was a great activity and then on to the PIES!  

At 6:00 we all gathered in the common living room on our floor and decorated the Christmas tree.  Of course, the only one who could put the star on the top was Ken Meadows and he did it easily, (sort of like our tall son-in-law Ed and his tall boys).

There were several boxes of ornaments and decorations to use so we had to decide on a theme which turned out to be silver and blue.  While the men wrapped white lights on the tree, we fluffed up the bows to go on after the silver and blue ornaments.  I had Kenny G's Christmas album playing on my laptop which added a festive air also.

And here is our finished Christmas Tree!  There is another beautiful one downstairs in the entryway to the annex where we live which is green and is decorated with large ribbon wrapped around it.  All around the bottom of it are live poinsettias.  Beautiful!  These people really love Christmas!  We have been singing Christmas songs since October when we first got here.  The stores have had Christmas up since the middle of October.  I love it! 

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!  It is a good day to count our blessings and we have many! 

Interesting sights in the mercado

We buy all of our fresh produce in the open air market and there are always interesting sights to see so I thought I would share some of them with you since it is quite different from popping in to Safeway or Walmart.

Here is young man selling baby chicks at 1 quetal for each so you could buy 25 of them for about $3.00.  Could start a small egg or chicken farm real cheep!

This young businessman is letting his business partners take a little rest in the shade before he walks them through the market again.  Look below to see what he does.

He sells fresh warm milk squirted right into a cup for any customer who is thirsty.  Can't get much fresher than that.  

 

You can buy a fresh tortilla and egg sandwich hot off the grill for 10 quetz which is just a little over a dollar.  These are made with blue corn too.  We watched her pat out the masa and slap the tortillas on the grill.

At the corner butcher shop you can buy most any type of meat.  When I asked if I could take his picture, this butcher had me wait just a minute while he put on his white apron for the photo.  Cute!  But I don't think I'll buy any meat here!

Well, I had a few more pictures to post but the blog is being stubborn tonight and I am tired from traveling all day on another adventure with the Meadows.  We went down to the tropics to see some very ancient ruins but I will save them for another day and another post when I am not so exhausted.

Thanks for checking in to see what adventures we are having.  This week we are on the morning shift at the temple and the Meadows (with a car) are on the evening shift so probably no more adventures this week.

Friends

As I was working in the baptistery today, two young teenage boys came in.  One was kind of leading the other in and sat him down on the bench to wait.  He was baptized first and then waited for his friend.  When he came over to go down into the font, it was obvious that he was mentally slow.  But the baptizer lovingly encouraged him down into the font and guided him through the baptisms while his friend waited, towel around his shoulders shivering from the cold.

When the young man finished doing the baptisms and was being helped back to the stairs he figured out this was fun and started swimming back to the stairs where his friend was waiting.  His friend helped him with the towel and took him back into the locker room to get dried off and change his clothes.

What an example!  I want to be a friend like that.

Trip to Totonicapan

Our adventurous friends, the Meadows, took us on a trip up to a little town in the mountains named Totonicapan on October 31, which for the people here it is the day before 'Dia de los Muertos'.  We saw flower sellers everywhere as their custom for this holiday is to decorate the graves of their ancestors.

There was one whole alley devoted to all kinds of flowers.  We couldn't resist and bought huge bunches of chrysanthemums, pulled up by the roots for only $1.50.

This cute little lady was selling this whole bunch of leaves right outside her door and wouldn't cut the bunch to give us just one leaf so she went inside the house and got one more to give us.  She matches her colorful leaves, don't you think?

More colorful flowers.  We learned that this holiday is more of a family day where the extended family gets together and enjoys traditional foods, sharing memories and decorating the graves.  Our temple attendance was not so high on Saturday which was the first day of this celebration.

The women are so practical to find a way to carry huge loads on their heads making their hands free to hold more things.  Usually they have a child tied on their backs too.

This is the local laundry mat in Totonipacan where the women stand in the water and rub their clothes on the washboard type blocks on the sides of the pool.  Notice the clean laundry spread out on the grass to dry.  No wonder their hands are so calloused working in that cold water!

Every day is an adventure and we have just had a taste of the 'Quetzaltenango Quick-step' which sent us to our bed and kept us close to the bathroom.  We hope our systems are adjusted now and we won't have a repeat of this.  Not fun!!!  But we do love it here.  

Well, I can't seem to get this program to upload any more photos so I guess I have reached my limit.  Hasta Luego!

Humble temple experiences

Brannick

When I was in preparation meeting this morning a kind of wild looking brother came in dressed in his whites clothing, of course. walking with a limp.  After the meeting I introduced myself and shook his hand.  He gave me a big Guatemalan abrazo (hug).  Later when I was talking with Elder Brown, he told me this brother has a prosthetic leg but still rides his bike almost 15 miles to work in the temple every Wednesday and then rides back after 9:00 at night!

We thought we were sacrificing a little to come down here away from family and friends.  I am humbled by this man's dedication and sacrifice.  From his appearance I would guess that he comes from very poor surroundings.  But in the temple we're all alike.  Except he's way more dedicated than I.

We have people coming in rubber sandals and in their colorful native dress.  Their feet appear that they have not worn shoes very much.  Their hands are hard and calloused.  But here they are serving the Lord by doing ordinances for their ancestors.

Tonight we had two older brothers come into the baptistry to do baptisms for their grandfathers.  They were both new members of the church and neither one were very steady on their feet. One of them wore thick glasses and had a hard time seeing when we had him take them off to be baptized. They looked kind of lost because this was their first time in the temple but I'm sure it won't be their last.

For those of you who are wondering what this baptism ordinance is all about, check out 1 Corinthians 15:29.

What a day!  We have so much and they have so little.  That's not true of all, many of them own their own business and some are very successful.  But it's humbling to be close to these people and feel of their sweet spirit.