Ned & Mary in Guatemala

Friday Night Group Date Night, Aug. 25, 2023 Here we are with most of the couples who live in the same high-rise apartment building as we do. Together we walked to this excellent burger restaurant and enjoyed visiting. These couples come from Alaska (Adams), Arizona (Bishops), Idaho (Poteets), Texas (Oleas) and Utah (Carpenters & Lunts). (The brother from Texas is originally from Chile.)

Our 45th Wedding Anniversary Trip to Antigua - August 23, 2023  Our 45th wedding anniversary is August 31st. We decided to take another trip to the historic town of Antigua. The primary purpose of the trip was to get Mary's wedding ring repaired by a jeweler member there. He did a nice job.  We have been looking for one of these little wood statues for some time.  It is not uncommon while driving on rural highways to see men walking with a load of wood they have just cut on their backs. As you can see, he has a stabilizing strap on his head. As part of our self-guided walking tour, we went to one of many large cathedrals in town. It is hard to get a picture to give the proper perspective of how huge this cathedral is. It was built in the 1600s and has had to be rebuilt/repaired more than once. The big earthquake in 1773 that destroyed much of Antigua, resulted in Guatamala City becoming the national capital.  Bruce and Lise Carpenter who live in the apartment next to ours went with

A sink-hole on our way to church. Saturday, we learned that the road we normally take on Sundays to the branch where we serve had developed a sink hole. The repair time estimate is 40 days. Bummer. Yesterday, we said goodbye to Elder Bogden, a delightful Elder from Las Vegas. He will be missed. The district president joined us for the photo.