Ned & Mary in Guatemala

Building Top View I have posted some pictures of our surrounding area before but today I had a special opportunity. I climb the stairs in our building for exercise and noted that the area through which you can access the very top of the building was open. I went up there and took my version of 360 degree photos. Just wanted to share more photos of the beautiful city where we have lived for more than 9 months.

Communications Department Annual Seminar, May 11-12, 2023 Once a year the Communications Department brings the six Country Directors from Central America and the seven Regional Directors from Guatemala together for a seminar. It is a big event and takes a lot of planning, particularly by Jeniffer. Most the participants are flown in and some bring their assistants, or spouses with them. This year the event was in Guatemala City at the Area Offices. That was nice for us since we only had to drive a short distance to everything. The first day was mostly trainings by various people. They did a good job. We are blessed to have many talented people in these callings who taught on important topics. The meals at the office were catered by a local brother and his company and were delicious.  That evening, we walked to a restaurant not that far from our apartment where we met the rest of the group for dinner. We enjoyed typical Guatemalan food and visiting. I inlcude this picture to show most of

  Huehuetenango and Quetzaltenango - May 5 & 6 While in Huehuetenango visiting with government officials, we had our second breakfast  of the day at McDonald's. I was happy to catch up with an old friend there. That evening in Quetzaltenango, we had dinner at the former home of the Catholic Cardinal in the area and decided to take a couple of pictures of the furniture and decor. I found the floor tile to be quite interesting, particularly for the home of a religious leader. The hand painting on a number of the corners was beautiful. On at least two walls, the decor involved implements that presumably had bee retired from the kitchen. I say "presumably" becausse at least one item looked like it had been removed from the wall for use. Earlier in the day, we had meetings with a couple of stake presidents in a very large stake center. Across the street from this stake center, is the lot where a new temple will be built in Huehuetenango. Here is a shot from the step of the

  Rodney and Teresa from Taxisco Here is a couple from the Taxisco Branch in which we serve, Rodney and Teresa. They attend faithfully in spite of significant challenges. One of those challenges is finding enough work and another is an alcoholic son whose marriage just broke up. Health challenges also figure in. Yes, they are old enough that they should be retired but that does't happen for self-employed people here.