Monday, July 28, 2014

   First of all, Happy Birthday to Kit. She is two years old today. When we left she was 10 months old and was just crawling. Now she talks and thinks she is a big girl. We have gotten the most kisses from her while we've been gone. She loves to kiss the Ipad when we talk to the family.
   If you have noticed we are a day late writing this blog. We have a very good reason for being late. Last week the president of the CCM discovered a blood clot in his arm. The General Authorities in Salt Lake decided he should go to the US for treatment. That meant someone needed to cover for him while he was gone. Somehow Elder and Hermana Pitcher were nominated for the job. We received a call last Thursday officially asking us to fill in.
   We packed our bags (again) and basically moved to the CCM. (If you remember we began our mission living in the CCM, but this time we are living in the President's apartment.) This apartment is so much larger than the one at Victoria Suites, we are feeling a little lost. One very nice feature is this apartment has carpet. We haven't felt that under our toes for about a year. We arrived here Sunday morning early and hopefully we will be here only a week or less. It is kind of fun to walk around and visit with the missionaries. We are really getting to know them a lot better. The good news is that Hermana Pitcher won't need to cook for the week, we just show up for meals when the missionaries do. And even better news is that President Cox had his procedure this morning and we hear that all went very well. They have scheduled some additional tests to make sure things are OK. We sort of feel that they are still trying to find a place where we can serve that we are qualified to do. We may be home sooner than you think. 
   Plans are underway to do more remodeling on our floor in the Area office. This will disrupt things a bit for us once we return there. Elder Pitcher is the self appointed inspector and straw boss.

 

  This PIC is a great example of Guatemalan resourcefulness. When you don't have a frame for your hacksaw blade, you make your own with whatever you have on hand. Necessity truly is the Mother of invention. Would we even consider doing this? No, off we would go to Smith and Edwards to buy a

new one.

    Just when we thought things would be sort of stable and somewhat calm, someone yanks our chain again just to remind us that we are not in charge of much at all. Seriously, it is very intimidating but at the same time a wonderful blessing to be with the incredibility strong and powerful missionaries. In this group of missionaries we have made connections with some that have ties to Logan, Ogden and other locations close to home. They seem to cling to anyone who knows where they live.

   So, that is what is new here in Guatemala. We are just going with the flow and doing what we can to help wherever we are needed.

    We are pleased that you had a family reunion in our absence. Thank you for keeping the family ties secure. Next time we will be there in person. Love you all