Earthquakes, Volcanos and Tropical Storms!

Paul wondered if this bus had enough passengers Yet?


This has been an eventful week, so I thought I would write a little at a time so that I don't forget what I want to write.
Monday: We had a full day at the clinic and I was a little nervous about leaving early because we had family home evening at our place. We were able to get back to our apartment by 5:00 after stopping to buy some fresh fruit and nuts and a few things at the store. We usually had about 16 to 20 people but we kept hearing that more were coming so I was getting a little worried about enough seating and enough dessert. I made 4 different pies the day before, all variations of lemon pie; lemon with whip cream, lemon meringue, lemon cream cheese, and cheesecake. It turned out we ended up with 28 people. We had invited President and Sister Mask, President of the Guatemala Temple, and great friends of ours, to speak to us. I looked around our little apartment room and I realized that besides all the wonderful senior couples from our apartment building we had four current and former general authorities, 6 present and former mission presidents; and 3 present and former temple presidents. What a wonderful group of people, yet everyone interacted like they were your next-door neighbors. None of these great people that we usually admire from afar ever make anyone feel less-than. Maybe that is one of the marks of truly great people,their humilty and their inclusive love and kindness towards everyone around them. It was a great lesson for me.

Carol and Clate both shared some beautiful thoughts and experiences with us and their love for the Guatemalan people was so clear and sweet. Carol shared some of her thoughts from her journal about these faithful, humble people coming through the temple.
President Choc and his family at the missionary farewell of his son, Daniel Choc, the first missionary from their People

Clate shared with us the story of Pablo Choc. His story started way back over 45 years ago when he was a missionary in Guatamala and he served in the village of Patzicia where no one wanted to go because it was poor and in the middle of nowhere. When he arrived where he was supposed to stay with his companion there was a welcome sign written in fleas. He used to go on missionary splits with Brother Choc and learned to love him and his family and the people the village. Years later he went on a tour that Brother Dallin Oaks was on and they stopped in the village for Elder Oaks to make a presentation of a painting to President Choc by a lady who wanted to paint his portrait after hearing his story in general conference. Brother Mask had a wonderful reunion with him at that time. During the earthquake of the 1970's, Brother Choc was the branch president of the Patzicia Branch and when the beams of the church fell on a missionary, Elder Ellsworth, he dug in under the stage to rescue him. Then President Choc laid him in the back of his truck with his wife and two of his children who had been killed in the earthquake and took him to get medical help. Elder Ellsworth was paralyzed and not expected to make a good recovery, but later came back to serve the people of that village. A short time later Brother Choc's son, the first missionary from his people, was killed in an after shock. His story was told in general conference. But then Brother Mask told us the end of the story.

When they came back to serve in the Guatemala Temple, they went again to the village of Patzicia and visited Pablo Choc. He has a terrible lung disease and is dying. He asked him if there was anything they could do for him. He said he had been sealed in the Arizona Temple to his wife but he had never been able to get back and get sealed to his parents ad brothers and sisters. Brother Mask said he would help him and would perform the sealing when all was ready. When Brother Choc's son called him and told him they were ready and would be coming that week , Brother Mask said to be sure and let him know when and told the temple people to notify him. He kept asking if there was any word and no one had any information for him. On Tuesday of that week, the Mask's had a rare day off and were just relaxing at home when Brother Mask suddenly felt like he should be in the temple. He asked Sister Mask if she would just come right then and do a session with him. It started in about 45 minutes. Even though it was their one day off, she agreed and they quickly got ready to go. When they arrived at the temple, there was Pablo Choc's son and Brother Mask asked him what he was there for and He said:"We are all here to do the sealing for my father's family." If President Mask hadn't listened to the spirit and gone to the temple when he did, he would have missed the wonderful experience of uniting his friend with his family. Of course he told the story much better than I but it is a wonderful story.

Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday: We had three more busy days at the clinic and then Paul went home teaching after working on Tuesday. Wednesday it rained off and on all day and night and we took the Tomkinson's and Dr. Luis Contreras and his wife out to eat at a great seafood restaurant. He has been so helpful to Paul in dealing with the city bureaucracy and getting the clinic licensed. We all had shrimp fixed different ways and it was all delicious.
They are wonderful people.

And then we had some unusual events.
Thursday: It had been raining off and on all day and that evening after we returned home from eating out with our neighbors at a Chinese restaurant, we were in the hall with them talking about the sound of rain and how much we loved the rain. Our native neighbor came out and remarked that it probably wasn't the sound of rain. We didn't quite understand but a little later someone came up to tell us that there had been an earthquake and then a few hours later the volcano erupted and what we heard and thought was more rain was actually volcanic material falling. It fell for hours. We went outside and our car was covered thickly in volcanic material (heavier and more gritty than ash). We are the only ones without covered parking. After writing our name in the window, Brother Graph took a hose and washed it for us.
They haven't had anything like this for a very long time and there is a lot of clean-up going on all over the city. The volcano is about 20 miles from us.
Along with the earthquake and the volcano eruption, we have had a tropical storm and non stop rain. We have a volunteer coming with his son to work in the clinic next week and we are not sure if he will be able to make it in. The airport is closed until Sunday and he changed his flight to come then but now we hear there is another big storm coming in. The streets are flooded and we are fearful that there will be some terrible mudslides that will destroy homes and cause all kinds of problems. We are praying that doesn't happen but there are many poor people that have built their humble homes up and down the sides of the hills and mountains because it is the only land available to them. There are piles of volanic grit all over the place, Everyone is sweeping and cleaning and gathering.
Friday: Today we went to check the teeth of the new group of missionaries like we always do every three weeks but they were all out cleaning up volcano ash at the MTC and at the Temple, so Paul went out to work at the clinic and I did data entry all day long. That evening Sister Clark, Myself, Sister Tomkinson, and SisterMartino
That evening we had a pot luck barbecue. The food!
The People: Elder Martino and President and Sister Torres and Brother and Sister Hatch

President Clark was there and he shared a few thoughts with us. He just came back from a mission conference and repeated a story he heard. There was a young man watching one Sunday when a 12 year old member with his white shirt and tie on walked by. He asked him where he was going and the boy told him he was going to church. That week the young man went and bought a white shirt and tie. When the boy came by the next week, he had on his white shirt and tie and asked the boy if he could go to church with him. He did and he has been coming ever since. Brother Clark reminded us that this is the manner of people we are with, humble and faithful and many of them just waiting to have a chance to hear and accept the gospel. He told of another young man who was a little boy when thieves broke into his family's home and for two hours ransacked the house and took everything they had and then before they left, they shot his mother. He has grown up and is now in his second year of medical school on the PEF (Perpetual Education Fund) Program but has married and has two children and is having a hard time continuing to go to school and feed his family. These people struggle in ways we never would imagine. They have to make the choice many times of whether to feed their family or pay their debt. They are incredibly faithful.
Saturday we went to the MTC and checked the teeth of the missionaries and then came home for some lunch and more data entry and in the afternoon we went to a movie with some of the other senior missionaries and saw Robin Hood, which we all enjoyed. When we arrived home, I tried to work on my part for Sunday School. They asked me to talk (in Spanish of course) about how I raised 4 daughters to love the gospel and stay active in the church. Now I am going to do more data entry while Paul translates it into spanish.
Later: After I practiced several times with Paul correcting my pronunciation, etc. Brother and Sister Cazier came by to tell us that church had been canceled because it was dangerous to be traveling in the streets. It was still raining and it continued to rain all night. So no Spanish debut yet!
Sunday: Today, it has been dry all day and going to church probably would have been fine. We went out to the clinic to enter the MTC missionaries in the computer that we are seeing next week. Our volunteer isn't coming because they said they airport will be closed for 5 days. So that means we have a lot of work to do next week because we already scheduled in extra patients because we would have 3 dentists. The Tomkinson's will probably only work in the mornings because they are trying to pack up and leave for home. Their farewell dinner is tomorrow night. I made a Texas sheet cake today since I am on the dessert list. We will probably have to cancel some of the patients and move things around a bit. There is another tropical storm expected so we will just have to plan day to day since the kids might not be able to make it if the storm is bad. It is difficult to plan around earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tropical storms!
My first grandson is graduating from High School this week and I am very proud of him: Not so much because he is graduating, because that is a given. I am proud of him because he is an incredible young man who has not only done well in school but has devolped his wonderful artistic and musical talents and remained strong in his church responsibilities all of his life in a community where that has not been an easy task. He has set the bar high for his younger brothers and sister. Well done Jameson. Kudos to his wonderful parents. We can't wait to see what you will do next!