Ned & Mary in Guatemala

Obtaining Our Visas We completed the first of three steps needed to obtain a visa that allows you to remain in the country more than 6 months. The ladies who help the senior couples with this are very efficient. We were there about an hour. Others, without appointments, were there much longer. In Chile, we did this for the young Elders and Sisters. It wasn't unusual that we had longer waits there.

Taxisco Branch Visits We made a couple of visits after the branch meetings yesterday. All of the children of the woman sitting on the porch are grown and out of the home. When I asked her how long she had lived in this home, she said she moved in when she got married. As you can see, there is no glass in the windows. It seems that this may be one of few climates where you could get away with that. They have two very productive coconut trees on their property and they pay a man who goes around harvesting the coconuts to harvest theirs. The elder in the middle is from Guatemala and he was way excited to be offered to enjoy some of the coconuts. He cut several open, drank the juice and used part of the shell to scoop out and eat the white meat. I tasted both and was much less enthusiastic than he. He got into it enough that he had to wash up a bit when done.

Move to the New Area Offices The building that housed the Guatemala MTC has been converted to an office building for the Central America Area. We went into the new office building on Thursday to get a tour and to see where we are assigned to sit when we are there. Here are pictures from the old (Mary) and the new (Ned). The nice thing about the new desks is that you can push a button to adjust the height. Maybe I can make it a standing desk when I am sleepy.

We were recently asked to help with the translation of a document into English. Included in the document was a graph of Church membership growth by region and by percentage. Here is the graph. Obviously, the US, Canada and Europe have the largest number of members so their percentages will be low. However, we were pleased to see the growth in other places, particularly Central America where we are serving. Every day, we get to associate with many of the descendants of Lehi and find them to be delightful people.

Children's Reunion in Texas I can't adequately express the joy we feel knowing that our children (who are busy with work, family, school, etc.) would make the effort to get together for a long weekend. The reports have all been great! Buccee's (a gas station with an amazing store) was one of the stops they made during their time together. I'm not sure why, but it looks like they had fun there.                                They had a brownie bake-off and Kevin was pronounced the winner.

Humanitarian Service in Central America A blessing that comes from our service in Central America is the opportunity to be aware of, and on occasion, support charitable work done by the Church for a number of organizations. These are examples from September. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made a delivery of medical equipment to the Ministry of Health of Nicaragua consisting of aluminum thermoses for storage of liquid nitrogen in which some 12,984 samples of infectious agents (viruses, bacteria, or any type of pathogen) can be stored. This was done with the aim of joining forces with the National Health System of Nicaragua in the fight against COVID-19 and other diseases. In solidarity with the people affected by the landslides in Colonia Guillen in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from different areas of the city, joined in a labor of love by collecting food, clothing, personal hygiene kits, water and toys. Here is a ph