I was blocked from my Xanga site and informed that I have to renew my subscription at the tune of $45 per year to continue, I’ve made the decision to part company with them.  My new blog can be found here:  https://sweaters4u2.wordpress.com/

Thanks for your patience as I adjust to this move.

Note:  My sister had this post on Facebook today.  I thought it was excellent so I asked her if I could share it.  It says a lot of what I would’ve said.  Just wish I had thought of it first.   Martha has been one of those friends of whom I feel I owe so much.  I have wondered if I would be where I am today if it hadn’t been for her.  She literally walked me through those turbulent teen years when troubles seemed to overwhelm me.  ~Kim

                                                 A Tribute to Martha

(Peter and Martha—I snitched this photo from her facebook page.  )

Yesterday was Mother’s Day. Seems like most of you moms out there had a good day. So did I, thanks to my neat family.

Too bad there isn’t a Big Sister’s Day.

My sister and I have a friend named Martha Schwartz. Martha never got to hold and cherish a child of her own. She wanted to. Oh, how she wanted to. I once sat in her Sunday School class when she shared how she had struggled to accept childlessness; how it had been hard to enjoy holding other people’s babies when she herself wanted one so badly.

I believe God gave her the grace to finally cheerfully accept His plan for her life, even if that didn’t include children. ….Only, it did. It certainly did include children!

My sister and I were two children who looked up to Martha. She always had a way of making us feel like we were important to her. She always took the time to listen to our “stuff” whenever we’d see her. She radiated the love and the joy of Jesus.

Once, when Kim and I were in our teens, Martha and her husband called and asked if they could come for supper. (SURE!) Martha had gotten a letter from Kim. Kim had been sharing some hard personal feelings she was dealing with. Those two dear people got into their car and drove an hour or so to our house, just so Martha could help walk Kim through her struggle in a redemptive manner.

Through the years, I’ve always trusted Martha’s heart, because it’s obvious that she plans to live her life for God as much as possible. You can trust people who truly love God!

Martha, we love you! Happy Big Sister’s Day! -Pam

Yesterday this question came to me again, (Yes, it resurfaces occasionally.  ) so I spent my time trying to think of the answer to that.    I found it hard to answer as I really couldn’t pinpoint any one outstanding thing.

Oh yes, people have done a lot of nice things for me in my lifetime of 50+ years.  I remember with fondness the all-day sucker that Nancy (Wray) Brunk gave me for my 6th birthday.   When an older girl on our school bus comforted me after I’d endured yet another harassment from some bully.  My brother Nat and his brother-in-law giving me the unfinished hope chest that Vernon Hertzler had started to make for my wedding gift and never finished.   The time when our girls surprised us with a money shower for our 25th wedding anniversary for a trip to Guatemala.   Ted and Rose Miller dropping everything and came up to the ER to be with us after we rolled our van.  There were many nice deeds over the years and I am hard put to know what I consider the nicest.

But I believe of one of the nicest things that happened at my Dad’s viewing.  I was standing in the entrance of the sanctuary at Hocking Hills Mennonite Church greeting different people who had come to pay their last respects to Dad.  Suddenly I came face to face with this woman.  I knew that I knew her but tried in vain to give her a name.  Finally I cast aside my pride and asked for her identity.

In that instant I felt that this was one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for me.

I know I’ve written about them in an earlier post (http://sweaters4u2.xanga.com/2012/12/21/tires-to-good-year-to-morgans/) if you want a recap or if you haven’t read it, but over and over again, the idea that Ellen Stewart came to show her love and support to our family was one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me.  I find it hard to explain it but here it is.  Thanks so much Ellen, you mean so much to me.  Love you and I ask God’s blessing on you and yours. ~Kim

In August 2011 Vernon saw an ad in the Ladysmith News for bids on cleaning the Rusk County Community Library.  He showed it to me and asked if I thought we should bid on it.

I read the ad.   It listed the job description such as vacuuming the carpet, mopping the floors, cleaning the restrooms, disinfecting the door handles, washing the windows as needed in warm weather……the list went on and on.   I knew that I wouldn’t want the job if I had to be the one responsible to see that it got done three times a week.

Vernon thought it would be a good job for our children to learn responsibility and to learn to work together.  Besides  we had some  extra medical expenses  so thought the added income would be nice to pay on those bills.   I agreed but told him that I had enough to do without the extra work but if he was willing to help us with the job, I thought it would be a good plan.

I went to the library with the intentions of finding out a little more about it so we could be somewhat knowledgeable of how much to bid.  Unfortunately, the librarians had been instructed not to disclose any information and would not talk about it.  Even the questions like whether we would be required to buy our own cleaning supplies or if the library had a vacuum cleaner.  If we had to buy the supplies and bring our own vacuum cleaner would definitely make a difference in how much we bid.

I did a little bit of scouting on my own…..the lower level was open that day so I went down and looked around.  There wasn’t anyone in sight  so I took the liberty to open a couple of doors.  About the second door revealed a janitor’s room complete with a cart with cleaning supplies on it.  There also was a rack with a broom, dust mop and some wet mops besides 2 mop buckets AND a vacuum cleaner.

OK.  There, I had most of my questions answered.  I returned upstairs and walked around a bit to get an idea how large the place was.  Of course, I underestimated how long it would take a person to vacuum that huge area because I was looking at the amount carpet rather than how the place is laid out.  I thought that it shouldn’t take that long for someone to vacuum it.  After all, surely it didn’t get very dirty. 

We talked about how much it was worth.  I thought it would be good to put an hourly wage because it would probably take more time on some days  like when we washed windows.  Vernon argued that a flat rate would be better…that way they will know exactly how much to allocate each month for the cleaning.  We compromised in our bid.  I put $?? anhour and Vernon put “Or ?? a month.”  He thought we should ask for more than we did but I was afraid they wouldn’t want to pay that much so he dropped it a couple of hundred from what he had thought we should ask.  Later I wish I had not interfered because he  right, of course.  Also, I found out that our bid was nearly $2,000 less than what the current cleaners were wanting to get!

We submitted our bid but didn’t hear back right away so figured we hadn’t gotten it.  When Hollis Helmeci called later to tell me that we had indeed won the bid I was surprised.  What we hadn’t known was that the board only meets once a month so we had to wait until that meeting before they decided who they chose.  Hollis did tell me that they had gotten some “dillies” of bids.  I never did find out just exactly what she meant by that but I have been curious, let me assure you.  I did hear of the $3,000+ figure so reckoned that had to be one of them. 

We received a formal letter acknowledging our contract and we signed it soon after.  When that was signed I went in and Hollis had Jane Shimka give me a tour of the place and Jane explained more of what was required of us.  That was my first contact with Jane who later became my favorite of the staff.

Instead of getting bonding insurance we made out to come a couple of hours before the library opened to the public and work until 10:00 when they unlocked the doors.   That worked out well for most of the time and by doing it that way we became very close to the librarians and have formed a bond that we never would’ve enjoyed otherwise.   To this day, the library seems almost like a second home and its like a reunion every time we go there. 

We showed up at 8 AM that first day and were waiting when Hollis arrived to open up for us.  Although we ended up not going quite that early it set the pattern for the next 2 years.

We weren’t there long until we realized that we definitely underestimated the job.   The vacuuming alone took 2 people 2 hours to do!  The place had a LOT of hidden dirt that had built up over the years so it took us awhile to get it into to shape.  One of the librarians told us that the former company who had been cleaning had been sending 1 woman to do the job alone.  Whoa.  No wonder it was dirty.  There was no way 1 person could manage that job unless she worked  full time at it.  It wasn’t that there was so much carpet, but it was a big job going around all the aisles and desks and stuff.

We felt a little lost and disorganized at first but eventually we hit a rhythm that worked for us.   Vernon vacuumed the lunch room, the back office where Betty Cowin and Jane works, then out into the main part of the library.  Jonny took the other sweeper and did the two wings.  Usually he started on the West side where the children’s books are first and then to the east side  which is the adult section .  Later, just before we left, he would take the trash out to the dumpster.

I went around emptying all the trash cans and did the disinfecting job.  That included computer keyboards and mice besides the drinking fountains, railings, door handles, and such like.

I also did the dusting and made sure the window panes in the front entry were free of finger prints. 

I often swept and helped mop the foyer and restrooms besides.  Another job I had once a week was pouring a pitcher of water down the drains in the furnace rooms and restrooms.  This was supposed to help keep the smell at bay but I have to wonder if it really was necessary.  It seems that once the cleaning was done right the smell wasn’t all that bad.   The men’s restroom was the worst but their hygiene left a lot to be desired at times.    It took all the the time we had to finish before the door was unlocked for the public.  Many times we were still working on the lower level way past 10.

Kaity would follow us around or played the children’s nook.  She would “help” the Children’s Librarian, Kris Farley set up for the reading time on Thursday mornings.

She loved riding the elevator too.   She helped some but mostly loved to sneak up on Kaylene and Mary Jane Minks  and say “Boo!”

One of the first things we learned to hate was all the salt and sand drug during the winter.  Since we started in January, we got introduced to that right away.  This was a trial to put it mildly.  Also another trial to our patience was that, although there are floor mats in the foyer so that a person could walk from the front door to the main part of the library without walking on the tiles, it seemed as if a number of persons were afraid they’d dirty the rugs so had to walk around them, leaving muddy tracks all the way in.

Another biggie was the live plants we had to vacuum around.   They were constantly shedding their leaves and the one stand especially we tried very hard not to bump.  If we did, whoops, there would be a shower of dead leaves to vacuum up.  Occasionally I would take the sweeper hose and vacuum the plant itself to get rid of the excess.  We were glad when at least one of those plants left the premises.  Not sure who has to deal with it now, but for us it was Good Riddance!

And why, oh why, would someone put a cup  in the trash before dumping the liquid out in the sink first?  Especially in the restrooms?

The librarians claim the building has never been so clean since it was new.  When we asked for pointers on what we could do to improve, Hollis said, “We are still reeling from shock on the good job you are doing!”

Now that’s reward for a job well-done.

We really did like our job. The librarians  were all so easy and fun to work for and with.  It became a social thing too.  There was man who would show up at 9:50 everyday, rain, snow or shine.  We called him “Ten til ten” until we finally learned his real name was Joe.  He was one of those people that you don’t judge by outward appearance.  I thought he seemed creepy…he had *gasp*  a ponytail and some tattoos!  But we soon found that he was a very nice guy and before long Kaity didn’t think the job was finished until she went and told him good-bye before we left.  (One example of not judging the book by it’s cover.  )

Then Tiana left in Oct. 2012 and ended up in Guatemala indefinitely.  That really cramped our style as we had to pick up her load too.

We talked to Hollis about feeling we needed a raise in pay too.  She was very understanding and agreed that we deserved more….the librarians had been telling us that they hadn’t seen the library so clean since it was new.  Hollis didn’t want us to quit as she liked our work and also we were trustworthy too.  So, we compromised.  She said just to come in 2x a week instead of 3.  This would’ve worked better if Tiana had still been with us but doing the job twice a week just didn’t leave us enough time to really do the job as well as we wanted to.  We renewed the contract for the year 2013.

Toward the end of the year 2013, Vernon got a lot busier with his mechanic shop so wasn’t able to help as often.  By that time I was tired of trying to do it with the help of only 1 or 2 of the children.  When Lavina went to PA for a week and a half and ended up being there a whole month I was so grateful for Liz Miller’s help.  We finally made the decision to let the job go and we were glad that Ted Miller’s ended up getting it.  Liz knew the ropes by the time we turned it over to them so that was a plus.

There were the weekly Reading sessions with children’s librarian Kris Farley.  Kaity really enjoyed those.

Someone asked me what perks we had by doing this job.  Not much really, other than the monthly paycheck and maybe getting an edge on the withdrawn books that they send down to the lower level  where these books are for sale for $.25 and up to $2.00.  But I’d say our biggest perk is getting to know the librarians.  Before we started, I thought the head librarian was somewhat intimidating but it didn’t take me long to realize how funny and nice she is.  The more we know these ladies the more I like them.

One morning as I was sweeping the walk outside I something mentioned to Kris about the nasty Canadian goose residue on the walk.  She nodded and wrinkled up her nose and made some comment about how bad it was.  When I went back into the library, I noticed a hoe propped up inside the door.  That was a new edition to the collection of 3 snow shovels and the special shovel that they have parked there getting in my way.  (The special shovel is the one they used 15 years ago to break the ground for the new library.)  Anyway, I noticed a note taped to the hoe handle.

Reading it, I got my laugh for the day:   

I just love Hollis’ sense of humor.  We had a lot of fun times with her and her crew:

  Hollis Helmeci—Can’t you just see the fun in this woman?

  Kayleen   Kris Farley Kris took Nancy Reidner’s place as Children’s Librarian.

Betty and Lavina are great friends.

  Betty  (Notice Vernon servicing the vacuum cleaner and Lavina getting ready to leave.)

Last but not least is Jane Shimka, a favorite of mine.  She is such a gentle, sweet woman.

Sometimes there were staff meetings we had to clean around but they were so gracious.

Since the budget was tight, one of the ways to help cut corners, we didn’t change the trash bags every time.  Just when they were too dirty to reuse, so, I had to empty them into one bag each time.  In doing so, we found some really strange things in the trash.  We started taking pictures of the odd and weird items and I decided to make a photo blog with what we found.  So here goes:

It seemed that people used the library trash for their lunches.  Besides the regular McDonald’s, Dairy Queen and Kwik Trip meals we found other food:

 

Ok, so much for the food department.  What about this stuff?

 

A bag they were using to recycle plastic bags that were too far gone to use. Witmer’s Clothing???? I used to sell sweaters to them when we lived in Guatemala.   Small world indeed.  How did they come by that particular bag?

An applause to a librarian that can recognize trash for what it is and take steps to get rid of it.

As you can see, we found some odd things but a couple of the oddest I didn’t get pictures of.  One was  a package of fishnet pantyhose in the men’s lower level restroom no less.  Another was a bunch of toenail clippings on the floor in the foyer.   But perhaps the weirdest of all was when I was dusting one of the computer cubicles and thought I was cleaning up a bunch (a couple of dozen) of cookie crumbs.  Since the vacuuming hadn’t been done yet, I just raked them off onto the floor and was knocking the last off the desk when I did a double take.  Not cookie crumbs at all but a bunch of dead wood ticks!  Double yuck.   By then they were on the carpet and I wasn’t about to try to scrape them up for a picture.  Made me curious whether someone was actively taking them off of themselves and killing them on the spot or did they have a collection and brought them in to gross out the cleaning personel?  I’ll never know I guess but…..shivers…….

A few months have gone by since we turned the job over to the Millers and although I love having my extra hours back here at home most of us are honest and admit that we do miss it.  So, if any time you are in the Library and happen to see us milling around back in the staff room you’ll know that we are keeping up our friendship with those wonderful ladies that work there.

~Kim~

 

 

 

I am going to do a little post this time and it’s going to be a bit of an advertisement. 

Way back in 1998 we visited in Spanish Lookout, Belize for the Central American Minister’s Meetings.  We had a lovely time,  reconnecting with friends from all over Central America and learning to know new friends and soaking in a lot of good Bible teaching.

However, I brought something home with me than I hadn’t planned on and wasn’t one bit happy about.

Athlete’s Foot. 

I went to the Dr. and he prescribed a cream called Trosyd which knocked it flat.  Wow!  I was glad to get rid of that itchy parasite that afflicted my left foot, mainly the smallest toe.

But, 1 and 1/2 years later, we were in Belize for a wedding and went to spend the night with some of our friends we had gotten to know during the meetings.   Had a wonderful visit, but…..you guessed it.   I got it again!

So Trosyd to the rescue once more.  Was I ever thankful for that.  This time, I think Vernon had a touch of it too.

Then in 2002, we returned to Spanish Lookout for another Minister’s Meeting, staying with another family, enjoying the time to the fullest.

However, Mr. A. F. attached himself to my left foot for the 3rd time!  He must’ve thought I was pretty special to latch on me after all the dirty work I did to him.

This time Trosyd didn’t work.  I think I developed an immunity to it.  I was very disappointed about that.  Later that year we moved to Wisconsin and I tried everything anyone recommended.  Tinactin,  white vinegar, Peroxide, and different creams from Walmart but nothing, absolutely NOTHING worked.  After years of scratching and watching my toenail deteriorate I didn’t know what else to try.

My toenail looked so horrible that I was embarrassed even to wash feet with anyone at communion and each time I did, I hoped the other sister wouldn’t notice it.  (I didn’t think they could miss it though, it was so ugly.)

When I’d trim it, it would sort of come off in flakes and powder….totally gross.

Finally, I just asked my doctor if he could remove the entire toenail.  He took a look at it and said he thought I should try some medicine for 3 months first.  Ok, I’d try it but I doubted anything would work.  He gave me 3 bottles of pills, and I took pictures at the end of each month to see if I could see any improvement.   I know my toes aren’t pretty, so please forgive that.  I took 1 pill each day and this is the results.

I wasn’t exactly satisfied with the final results but didn’t continue with any more treatment as I had other issues to face so this got pushed aside.  Today I took some final pictures and this is what it looks like now.

I know it may seem gross to write about my toe but I am doing this just in case there may be someone out there that has a bad toenail damaged by fungus.  I am letting you know that there is hope.

~have a nice day~

 

 

 

My itinerary said that the plane was to leave at 1:36 PM so I was earlier than I really needed to be when Tim and Rhoda dropped me off at the Aurora Airport the morning of Feb. 21st.  I had printed my boarding pass the night before so I was supposed to avoid the long line and the $10 fee for having the Airline personnel print one for me.  The line was long so I asked the lady standing at a kiosk what I was supposed to and she took me around the line and to another lady on the right of the check-in counter.  The second woman looked at my boarding pass and passport and said it wasn’t the right one so printed off a new one, then took my suitcase that I was checking in.   She kept the old one so I didn’t get a chance to compare the two….so much for printing out beforehand.  They encourage you to do that to save time but if they have the wrong stuff printed out, it really doesn’t save anyone time.

They directed me downstairs to the security area.  I took off my fanny pack, sweater and shoes and placed them in a tub and put my backpack into another.  Then I went through the little archway that screeched because of my hairpins.  I had to stand spread-eagle as a young woman patted me down.  Piece of cake, nothing to it…..so I went to reclaim my paraphernalia but lo and behold they had seen something in my backpack.  They sent it back through and decided to search it.

Oh no, my little folding scissors that according to the website are perfectly ok since they were under 4″ in length.  I protested but to no avail.  There were 2 or 3 of the agents checking them out and commenting on how they were folding….trying them out.  I wonder if they had ever seen anything like that before.  They told me that if I didn’t want to part with them that I could take them back upstairs and have them put them into my suitcase.  I opted to do that because they were very nice and handy little scissors.

When I got upstairs I was informed that my suitcase had already gone.  Rats.  A fellow at the counter offered to put them into his suitcase but he was going to Las Vegas so we didn’t do that.  Later, I wish had as we met up later on in Ft. Lauderdale.  Now what to do with them?  I put them back into my backpack.   (I didn’t think of putting them into my hair to go off with the hairpins.  )  Anyway, back through security.  This time they not only took the scissors out but took my seam ripper and the little  knitpicker  and took them from me.  I didn’t have a choice in the matter so had to swallow my disappointment.  It did make me feel somewhat better to think that the Guatemalans are resourceful people and I could almost guarantee that none of those items really got thrown away.    In fact, I’ll bet that one of those agents is the proud owner of a nice pair of folding scissors.   If not, and they did get pitched, there are a lot of dump scavengers who would found them. 

Once I was out of security, I headed down the long hallway to my gate.  I was met by 2 passengers that told me that it was really warm down at our gate so they were headed the other way to a cooler place to wait.  I went down to the gate and it wasn’t long until I realized the wisdom of those women.  It was not even 11 o’clock yet so that meant a suffocating wait if I was going to stay there.  I ended up going to the other end of the hallway too and bought a meal at McDonald’s for lunch.   I found one of those  large golf-cart type of conveyances that had an empty seat and sat on that for awhile before going up closer to the McDonald’s  where I found a draft that helped lower my body temperature a good deal.  The place was absolutely stifling.

The 3 hour wait got longer and longer as the time for departure came and went.  We didn’t know what was going on but finally we were told that the plane from Ft. Lauderdale was delayed.  Oh yeah, that was rather obvious.   As soon as it arrived and the passengers were off, we boarded.   I had been in that airport about 8 hours and was ready to get going.

There were a number of people that were sure they had missed their connecting flights but when we landed in FL.  we found out that the other planes were held back for them.  I sometimes have to wonder if that was wise because it seemed to have caused one big gigantic problem by making everyone delayed.  It seems like it would’ve been easier and cheaper to take care of a few passengers by putting them on another flight than to mess up their entire schedule.   As it was, there was some push to get certain passengers through customs as soon as possible so the planes that were waiting could fly.

I got through customs and claimed my luggage about the time my flight was scheduled to leave.  The time was 9:30 PM.  Those of us who were to leave for Minneapolis/ St. Paul were told to go to Gate 6.  We congregated there and then were directed to Gate 10.  So, we went down there.  We had plenty of time to wait as we were told (eventually) that the plane from MN was delayed because of the weather.

I called home to tell Vernon that I was delayed about 5 hours in Guatemala City and I wasn’t sure when our plane would actually leave for MSP.  He was getting ready to leave home for the airport but I was hearing that the roads were very treacherous and that some of the highways were actually shut down.  I didn’t feel good about him starting out in that stuff.  If Vernon says the roads are bad……they ARE!!!  I just had a bad feeling about it all.  I told him not to start out if the roads weren’t safe.  I’d rather wait in MN than to have him risk his life to pick me up.   Finally at about midnight, I told him to just go to bed.  We had no clue what time we’d leave.

I am not even sure what time the MSP flight did come but they scrambled to board us as fast as they could.  I think it was about 2AM.  We all got on the plane and were all situated when the flight attendants told us to gather our things together and de-board.  There was several upset persons muttering about the delay and the young girl sitting beside me said a few choice words as to what she thought of Spirit Airlines.

We all traipsed back into the terminal and wondered what to do now.  We were told that the pilot and co-pilot had timed out and it wasn’t legal for them to fly for so many hours.   We were assured that the airline was going to try to get another set of pilots.    About 45 minutes a cheer went up when two pilots walked in.  Yay!!  But our cheering died out when we were told that now the flight attendants were now timed out.  Yells of:  “We can go with out flight attendants.  Let’s just go!”   We were informed then that it would be illegal to fly without the flight attendants, but they were trying to round up another group for us.  So, we settled back to wait.  By then a lot of us were on first name basis with each other. 

At 4 Am Spirit Airlines announced that our flight had been cancelled and we were to go collect our luggage once more and then go to the ticket counter to find out what was going to happen next.

Before we did that however, another flight was cancelled after the plane had been boarded and the people brought back into the terminal.  What transpired was like watching a movie first hand.  There was some VERY irate persons on that flight, believe me!  Whereas our plane load wasn’t very happy, these guys were extremely vocal about their displeasure.  One man, who, by the way, had 2 young children with him, watching his every move, began to curse and yell at the personnel at the counter.  It was short of becoming a free-for-all and it wasn’t long until about 7 policemen showed up to keep order.  The man came close to being arrested and fortunately calmed down enough to avoid arrest….but I had to pity his children who has a hot-head for a father and will not learn from experience how to control their anger.   Someone from our flight told those angry people: “Hey, we’ve been there, done that 2 hour’s ago, but none of us went ballistic.” 

Anyway, we claimed our luggage and went back to the ticket counters.  I decided to wait for the line to thin out before I went through.  Finally I realized I’d never get through if I didn’t get in line.  We were told that Spirit was ordering a plane for us and it would probably leave at 7 o’clock.  Later we were told it was 7 PM not AM!

By that time, new passengers were coming in to catch their early morning flights.  I heard someone ask “Why are there so many people lying around sleeping?”   After I was through I found a place to lie down in the hallway that was sort of out of the way.   Most of the chairs were full.  Each chair had armrests so it made it difficult to just lie down on them.  Some people wormed their way under the armrest to take advantage of several seats at a time.  There were people sprawled out all over.  I don’t know how many were on our flight but with 2 plane loads there were a lot of people camping out.

I woke up a couple of hours later and found that my neighbors were a family from Nepal who live in Duluth.   They had a 6 year old daughter who was one of the politest, well-behaved children that I know of…..especially on this flight.  She should’ve had a pair of wings.    Anyway, after exchanging “Good Morning” I made the comment that a Mall would be a more interesting place to spend the day than in the airport.  I didn’t think much about it until later when the mother asked if I’d like to go along with them to a Mall for the day.   She said that her husband was renting a car and they planned to go to the beach and if I wanted to, they’d drop me off at a Mall.

By then, I was ready to see something besides that airport so I took them up on the offer.  So, off we went.  I was amazed at how well Puscar Kafle knew his way around Fort Lauderdale.   They drove to a high class mall, dropped me off and said we should meet there again about 5PM.

Most of the stores weren’t even opened as it wasn’t 10 o’clock yet.   I walked around and finally found to my delight on the 3rd floor, a rest area tucked back in out-of-the-way with several couches with nice big green plants for some privacy.  I laid my backpack on the floor and stretched out on one of the couches and fell asleep.  Since I was on the top floor and the place of business closest to me was a Children’s theater where kids come and do their own acting—obviously nothing was going on there that day.  Another was a dentist’s office so the traffic was almost nil.  A couple of women were doing their walking for exercise but the place was absolutely perfect for what I needed.  Later, I was able to charge my Nook there too.

I had a hard time getting back up…..after I was awake I lay there just doing nothing and enjoyed it so well that I made it last a long time.  I wish I would’ve soaked up another couple hours of that but I finally got up, shouldered my backpack and headed out to see what the Mall contained.   I ended up downstairs at the food court.  I thought I’d grab a McWrap or McBurger of some kind but this place was too ritzy for that so I went to a smorgasbord and got a salad which I paid for by weight.  It was delicious.

I made my rounds of the mall and decided to retire in my private spot until closer to 5 o’clock.  There was a young man sitting on the couch across from me who was sitting so still for so long that I wondered how he could do it.  The amusing thing was the poster on the wall behind him.  On it was a young man that looked very much like him.  I think he sat there for at least an hour.   I was so glad for my Nook.  I had downloaded all of Dave and Neta Jackson’s Trailblazer books onto it and so I had plenty to read and did get a couple of the books finished.  I also have the Bible on my Nook so was able to have my quiet time too.

I tried out the Internet option and did get on Facebook but I had trouble navigating that.

About 4:30 I went down to the area where I was supposed to meet the Kafle’s and wrote a letter to a friend.  Just as I was finished I looked up to see them coming.  They were looking for me and were about to ask someone to page me on the intercom.  They had tried to call me but my phone hadn’t rung.   What had happened was when we were on the plane the night before, I had been texting and it was going beep with every letter.  The young woman sitting beside me, (the one that had some choice words) had asked me in a very peeved voice to turn the sound off as it was irritating to her.  I told her I was sorry but I didn’t know how to turn it off and her boyfriend was kind enough to show me how.  What I thought I had done besides that was to put the ring on vibrate.  Apparently everything was turned off so when Dr. Kafle called me, I had no idea.  Well, we put that to rights pretty quickly.

I found out later that they hadn’t gone to the beach after all but had parked in the Mall’s parking garage and took naps in the car.  Then they went and got lunch at a restaurant nearby and had come back to the Mall.  They found a nice rest area like mine on another floor and did the same thing I did!

We checked in again at the airport and sort of stuck together after that.  The airline gave us food vouchers for 3 meals that day so we went “grocery shopping” before we got onto the plane.  I got an orange, water, chips, danish, etc so I didn’t need to buy any of the high priced stuff on the plane.  Btw—the 3 danishes I brought home for the children.  Mrs. Kafle said that we might as well take advantage of the food tickets, so I had $21 to spend.   They had $63 to use so she had a couple of big bags of food to take home. 

They also said we could have a $50 travel voucher as compensation for our troubles.   By then I had racked up $150 worth of vouchers.  The only trouble is I only have 60 days to claim them and when I do, I have to redeem them.  I don’t have to fly right away, but the tickets have to be bought then.  I have no idea when I will need them, so am not sure if I will be able to use them, if I decide that I would travel via Spirit Airlines again.

A number of us passengers were talking about whether we would travel with Spirit again.  Quite a few said, “No way.”  I am not sure.   It was definitely cheaper.  Was it worth it?  Maybe, I really don’t know.  In some ways I am glad for the experience…..now I know what its like to have my flight delayed and cancelled.  I know what it’s like to spend the night in the airport.   Broadens the horizons but I am glad I wasn’t traveling with young children.  I also believe that Spirit needs to inform their passengers as soon as they know there will be a delay and keep them informed not leaving them in the lurch.  On the other hand other people that I talked to said they never had trouble with Spirit before.

I told Puskar that you get what you pay for with Spirit.  He laughed and said, “This time we got MORE than what we paid for!”

It happened that the school where Pari goes had an unexpected week’s vacation so their family decided to go to Costa Rica for a week and a half.   They ran into a snag on their way down when they got to Ft. Lauderdale and were denied going on to Costa Rica because Puja’s passport only had a month of time left on it.  I am not sure why that caused a problem as they would’ve been back before it actually expired but they couldn’t go.  They decided to stay in Ft. Lauderdale for the week, and since their luggage got to take the vacation to CR without them, they had to find a mall to buy some clothes to wear.  Their luggage had just returned the day before our ill-fated non-flight so they had decided just to go home.  If they had known everything they would not have checked out of their hotel room that evening.

When our plane finally took to the air…..a loud cheer went up.  We were all in a celebratory mood.  I called Vernon and told him that we were actually on our way.  The roads were somewhat better so he and Kaitlyn were there to meet me.  We arrived at home about 3AM.  It was good to be back.  I had had a good trip.

I titled my blogpost as a lesson in Faith and Trust.   There were several times during my trip that I struggled with trusting God…..like when we hit turbulence on the plane.  My first reaction was to be frightened and then God reminded me that I will die when He plans, not before and to rest in Him during the storms.  Same thing for the airconditioner over my head on the bus…..I had to trust God not to let it fall IF it wasn’t HIS will that I wouldn’t get hurt.  No sense losing my cool over it. (I did try to stay as far from under it as possible. )  So, when I did the zipline, I decided to have faith in the guides and enjoy it. And I did!  Also, through out that long 2 days of delays, I had to trust in God to get me home in His good time.

 

PS.  I had trouble staying awake in church that morning. 

 

~the end~

Benj put my luggage in the back of his pickup and everyone that wanted to go along piled in.  Judy and her girls got into her VW bug and off we went.

Saying good-bye to the world’s sweetest daughter-in-law and 3 wonderful grandchildren was hard,  it was one of the toughest times for me to say farewell.  I really did NOT want to leave.  I have to wonder when I will get to see them again.   But, on the other hand, I was missing my hubby and children at home.

We stopped at the clinic as Benj and KL had some business there, then Benj took the 3 fellows back to the “farm” as the main mission house is called.  I thought it was amusing that those 3 guys said, “Bye Grandma!”   I wasn’t offended as I knew why I was dubbed that….they had been hearing me called that by family and they were just part of the family.  I will hold a soft spot in my heart for those 3.

The rest of us stood beside the road and waited for the bus….laughing, talking and enjoying each other’s company.  I had never thought I’d like El Chal for a place to live but I think I could adapt quite well if I could handle the heat.  I have learned to love the people there a lot.

The bus was slow in coming so Benj was back before I had to leave.    He had just put a welder on his pickup so I asked him if I could take a couple of pictures to show Daddy and Marv.

He needed to do welding at different times and so this was the answer to his problem.

Well, the bus finally came and after the last minute good-byes were said, I ascended the steps.  This bus had a door in the side about 1/2 back and I realized that it was a double decker.  I had never been on one of those before so it was a new experience.  This time the seats were comfortable and I had no complaint about that.  The thing that I noticed was the swaying back and forth….it felt like we were top heavy.    I had the sensation that it wouldn’t take much to lay us over on our side.  Then I realized that I was getting a tad “sea-sick”…..so I tried to get my mind off of that.  I wasn’t really sleepy but I found that no matter how comfortable or uncomfortable the bus was, I probably will never be able to sleep well on one.   

I think I did sleep some because sometime in the middle of the night I woke up to find us stopped and the driver came up to inform us that we had so many minutes to use the restroom.  I stumbled off the bus after him and asked him how long he had said.  “Cinco minutos”.  5 minutes.  He pointed out the restrooms and I went over to where he indicated.

The restrooms were sparkling clean but there was a woman at a table with piles of neatly folded toilet paper for sale for Q1.00 each.  I lay my quetzal down on the table when suddenly I heard the bus leaving!  I grabbed my Q and headed for the door, my heart in my throat…..surely the driver wouldn’t go off and leave me, would he?  I didn’t want to imagine that happening.  I saw to my relief that he just pulled up to the adjoining restaurant.   I went back in and paid for my TP, did what needed to be done and went over to the restaurant and bought a bottle of water.  As fast as I could I headed back to the bus.  I noticed that the front door of the bus was open this time so I got in, and climbed the few steps and back the aisle.  I think my seat was about 11 but I started noticing something very strange.  There were no passengers on this bus….I stopped to ponder this, I was sure that I was one of the very few people that had gotten off.  Where were they?  Suddenly it dawned on me,  I was on the wrong bus!

As quickly as I could, I made my way off that bus, hoping that my bus was still there.   I went around it and sigh of relief, it was.  My heart was still pounding from the fright, I made my way to my seat and wondered if relieving myself was worth all that stress, but I did feel better and I was glad to have water again.  I had been feeling quite dehydrated and had not been too pleased with myself that I’d forgotten to take my water bottle from Benj’s.

The rest of the night passed uneventful, mostly with me taking turns looking out the window and trying to catch a few winks of shuteye.  I was glad to pull into the bus terminal and looked out the window to see Tim and Rhoda waiting for me.

That afternoon a couple of the hired girls wanted to go to Zone 1 to buy a piece of dress fabric for Rhoda for her birthday.  Tim and I went to the tourist market as I needed to buy a yard of corte fabric to make a purse for a friend.  I also bought a piece of fabric for Melisa for her birthday at another store.

As I mentioned before, Zone 1 is known for its sections….there’s a section for hardware,  7th Ave. is known for vehicle parts stores,  5th Ave.  fabric.  This section, a couple blocks from the tourist market has store after store of pinatas.

Later we took the girls back to the mission and the 3 of us headed down to Zone 10 to visit the doctors.  I was able to see Dr. Caceres again.  This time he gave us a little more of his background…..His grandfather was from Caceres, Spain and during WWII he went to Israel as he was a Jew and since he was from Caceres, he was surnamed that.   Later he came to Guatemala.   I asked him about the other doctors who we had that were German descent….Tornoe, Fahsen, Wyld.  I had no clue that they were of Jewish background although I had known they had fled Germany because of the war.  It makes sense now.

Dr. Fahsen wasn’t in so I missed him again.  Later I tried to call him and left a message and he did return my call.

Next we went to the Urologist Dr. Ricardo Tercero.

Another quick visit to Dr. Wyld who cautioned me very severely to watch diet and blood sugar, we headed back to MAM headquarters.  I was ready to get to bed early.  Unfortunately, by the time I got done checking emails, etc. it was later than I wished.

My flight was to leave at 12:15 the next day so after breakfast Tim and Rhoda took me to the airport and then is when my troubles began!

I think I had better wait until another time to start on that story.  Until then,  keep looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.

~to be continued~

I just barely got done with posting about our Oct. trip to Guatemala, I found myself packing my bags to return to the Land of Eternal Spring.  Here’s how that came about. As many of you know, our daughter Tiana accepted the Lord as her Saviour last February in El Chal, Guatemala.  She had been living with Benj and his family since the previous Nov.  This gave us great joy as we were beginning to wonder if she’d ever surrender to Christ.  It is like her Grandaddy said, “It certainly wasn’t a premature birth.”  She joined the Instruction class with several others and the baptism was planned for Feb. 16th.

Of course I really wanted to be there for that event but since God had answered my prayer to go to Guatemala in October, I was sure that it would not be possible to go so soon again.  I even felt guilty in asking God to provide a way to go again even for her baptism.  But some of my friends didn’t feel that it was wrong to ask God for this only that I should be willing to take No for an answer.  Well, that wasn’t so hard to do since I figured I couldn’t go anyway.  Oh me of little faith. Benj felt very strongly that one of her parents at least should be there.  He asked me if we would come if it were a wedding….that her commitment to Christ is much more important than a wedding.  When he put it that way, it made perfect sense. Unfortunately,  Vernon didn’t feel he could do it—with the cold weather, furnace, and his backed up work, but he did say I could go to represent our family.

So, I had a week to prepare.  We bought the ticket on Feb. 5th after we got home from prayer meeting. I did some last minute shopping like buying Mt. Dew, Mug rootbeer, pepperoni and Pringles to help celebrate Benj’s 29th birthday on Feb. 19th.  I decided I hadn’t celebrated with my oldest son for a number of birthdays and it was time to do it again since I had a chance.  Our family has a tradition of the 3 P’s:  Pizza, Pringles and Pop(namely Mt. Dew and Rootbeer).  When that started we were living in Guatemala and those 2 kinds of pop were not available there so I’d try to make sure we brought some back with us to serve on birthdays.  I also bought a big jar of Peanut Butter for his present. I spent considerable time packing and repacking my luggage. Also, this time I made sure my pair of knee-highs matched.  The last time I ended up with one Sheer Energy and one Hanes and it bugged me the entire trip. 

For one thing, I was going on Spirit Airlines and they charge for luggage:  $35 for a carry on, $30 for the first suitcase up to 40 #.  The suitcase I first tried was too big and the stuff sort of rattled around in it so I tried another…whoops, too little.  Let’s see about this one, “still too small”.  Etc and etc.  I was allowed a “personal” bag such as a purse or a small backpack measuring up to 12″ x 14″ x 16″ that I didn’t have to pay for. I wanted to take advantage of the free luggage so I found a backpack that was within the size guidelines and also a suitcase close to the proper dimensions and studied the guidelines what I could take and what I could not.  After juggling for awhile, I finally decided to pay an extra $25 at the check-in counter for an extra 10# in my suitcase.

I had quilted Lanet’s quilt on the machine and wanted to finish taking care of the extra threads while traveling.  I read that you can now take small scissors if the blades are less than 4″ so I took a folding pair, a seam ripper and knitpicker (a teeny latch hook thing I had left over from our Qiana knit days).  These were in my little emergency  travel kit along with some buttons and a needle and thread and other odds and ends such as tweezers, band-aids, and Tylenol.  I put my purse inside the backpack.  Then, I put my camera, cellphone and passport in a fannypack around my waist.  I know, they went out of style a number of years ago but I need the extra space.  I used the quilt to keep warm on the flight.

We started out at 8:15 PM from home to get to Minneapolis/St. Paul to be there a couple hours before the flight went out.  I thought the flight went out at 12:15AM but I saw later it was 1:15.  That was ok because the weather wasn’t all that great and it began to snow on our way over.  I am not sure what time we got there but I was delayed  in security when they found something forbidden  in my backpack. No, it wasn’t the scissors or the fingernail clippers but the peanut butter!    I was sure that was ok but he said “nothing creamy”.  Fortunately, Vernon was still there on the other side of the glass watching as I was frisked and the pb removed from my pack.  Oh rats.  There went Benj’s birthday present.  They did take the pb back and gave it to Vernon after they tested the outside of the jar to prove it wasn’t anything explosive, so at least it wasn’t wasted money on my part.  Oh well, I’ll know better next time.

Once on the plane we had to wait for awhile until the plane was de-iced. That reminded me of a scene in a Sci-Fi movie.  This huge unidentifiable creature blowing hot air on the wings.    Finally, we were off.   Now, I don’t know how many of you have ever flown Spirit but they are a bare-bones airline that only charges 1/2 the price and give you 1/2 the luxury of their competitors.  My ticket with the $30 for luggage came to $442.00 plus the extra $25 was still way below the next cheapest ticket I could find which was over $800.  I figured I could put up with a bit of uncomfort at that savings. Well, I am glad I wasn’t any larger than I am, as my knees came close to rubbing the seat back in front of me when it was reclined.  Yes, it reclined.  Some of the seats on the other planes did not.  I noticed that there are bigger seats toward the front of the plane and they got smaller and closer together as you went back.  I think the biggest seats were $50 extra and the middle ones $20 or $30.  And if I ever fly Spirit again, yes, I would very definitely consider paying for a bigger seat.  As it was, these in the back were the freebies and I had a lot of trouble trying to sleep.

They have a menu card that gives the options of what you can buy.  Most of it was pop, pringles, candy or some kind of stronger drink.  All sweets and carbs.  Not so great for a diabetic to say the least.  I was glad for the little bag of jerky in my pack.  I did ask for water and was brought 2 bottles of room temp. water.  I thought it was interesting that those who bought pop or juice got a cup of ice to go with it.  I suppose I should’ve asked.  The least they could’ve done was said “no”.  I am not sure but I think the second bottle was a slip-up on their part but who was I to complain?  I had to use my credit card to get that at the tune of $3.  I ended up buying a Cup of noodles on the second leg of my trip.

We arrived in Fort Lauderdale, FL just as the sun was coming up.  I was glad to get off the plane and stretch my legs.  I was to have a 4 hour lay-over there so I settled down and began to work on Lanet’s quilt.  It was coming right along.  They had several places to buy food there so I got a sandwich and ate my lunch there.  We were to take off at 10:48 EST AM and get to Guatemala City a little after noon (CST), 3 hours later.  It was a little hard to keep up with leaving a Central time zone going to Eastern time then back to Central again so I had to keep adjusting the time in my head.

The plane was delayed due to inspection, they said.  One of the unfortunate things about Spirit Airlines is they forget to communicate with their passengers.  I forgot how late the flight was delayed before they ever made the announcement that we were going to be delayed.  The sign board, of course, just said:  ON TIME.   Hummpf    Finally at 2PMEST (1:00 CST) we boarded the plane and took off for Guatemala. I did think that it was better to be late and have the plane inspected on the ground than to be in the air and wished they had.

We arrived there about 4 PM CST 4 hours late.  After going through customs and claiming my suitcase and more customs, I was out and was met by Tim and Rhoda Korver. Now my arrival was kept under hats so that I could surprise Tiana, so Tim hadn’t even told Rhoda who they were picking up.  Rhoda, thinking of her birthday the next day, thought perhaps it was one of her family coming to surprise her.  Tim told her not to get her hopes up so when she saw me she asked, “Is that who I think it is?”  Of course, she wasn’t a shocked as the last time we went to visit but we were happy to see each other anyway.  She has been a dear friend of mine for 12 years now. 

We arrived at Mennonite Headquarters in time for me to lie down and rest a bit before supper.  Since the plane was late, my scheduled bus ride that afternoon was no longer valid so we rescheduled one on the night bus at 10PM.   Harold Kauffman loaned me his extra cell phone (the same one we’d used in Oct.) so that I would be able to communicate with Benj on my way up to the Peten.

A group of 4 young people from Chambersburg, and Bellville, PA had come that day too.  Tristan Funk had been a VSer a couple of years ago so he brought some cousins down to visit. Tristan and Tim took me to the bus terminal to get the night bus.

I hadn’t thought I needed to change my dollars into Quetzales so was taken aback when they wouldn’t take my dollars.  I asked what the fare was.  Q180.  Gulp.  I was sure that 4 of us took that same bus line for Q600 which came out to Q150 each.  I asked Tim if he had any Q’s.  He had Q156…Tristan hadn’t changed any money yet either.  Tim showed the lady what he had and she adamantly said it was Q180.  Well, the fare must’ve gone up since Oct.  Now what?  Tim went outside the station to talk to Tristan.  Next thing I knew Tristan came in and asked the lady how much my ticket was and she said, without batting an eye: “Q150″! I teased him that they thought he was nicer looking than Tim.  LOL  what I didn’t see and what the ladies apparently had that was Tim went out and asked Tristan if he had any Q’s and saw that Tristan didn’t have any and saw Tim give Tristan the money and must’ve figured they’d give me a ticket for Q150. They also remembered Tristan.

Anyway, I was relieved….I gave Tim my $20 bill and we were all squared. The bus left shortly after that.   This bus had 2 seats on one side of the isle and 1 on the opposite side.  I was seated by the window beside a nice enough fellow.  The seats were reclining but alas, mine was missing its foot and leg rest so that it left my legs dangling and cut off the circulation to my feet.  I am sure that poor guy thought he had the wiggliest seatmate ever.  So, not much sleep and rest for me that trip either.  At least the seat wasn’t worn out.  This was the ADN bus, one of the few bus lines that will stop in El Chal.  I was kind of bothered by the air conditioner over my head.  It looked like it could be sort of dangerous if it jarred loose.  I prayed that it would stay up where it was supposed to.

I arrived about 5:30 or 6 in the morning.  The bus driver asked me, “Primero tumulo?”  Which means first speed bump.  Sure enough there was Benj waiting for me.  I could’ve walked in to their house which was only 1 block from the highway but that suitcase was heavy with exactly 50# in it so I was relieved that he had come.

I walked into their house as most of them were eating breakfast.

Sue was still sleeping on the couch but the other two grandchildren were surprised to see Grandma walk in.    I went to the girls’ bedroom and pulled on Tiana’s toes to wake her up.  She just groaned and mumbled something but when the sound of my voice penetrated her brain, she was up in a flash giving me a bear hug.  “MOMMY!”  It made all the discomfort worth it. Sue too didn’t want to wake up but once she saw me she was up like a jack-in-the-box, happy to see her Grandma.  Sleep was forgotten.

There were 3 young men at the table that I’d never met before.  These 3 had contacted the mission and had wanted to come and do some work project, they referred them to Benj.  Benj is building a house and so this was a very welcome work team.  Matt King is Amish and Leroy Brubaker and Darrel Horst are “Joe Wenger” Mennonites, I believe.  They added to the good times we had the week I was there.  I really enjoyed getting to know them.

I did take a long nap that day.  I can’t remember if it was before or after lunch.   What I did mostly that week was wash dishes it seemed so I am not sure if I can recount each day as they were a lot alike.

One of the first things Sue asked me was if we could have a Slumber Party.  I looked kind of doubtful but she assured me that her Mommy let her have Slumber Parties.

So I agreed and was pleasantly relieved that their slumber parties was when the adult slept on the couch and the kiddos on the floor!  Now, I can handle that kind, thank you very much.

Lanet, 2, hardly gave Vernon and I the time of day when we were there in Oct. but this time, she knew me and I found I had my built in “puppy” following me about.  She’d take my hand and say, “Grandma, come.  Come Grandma, sit down.  Read.  Or Chicle?  Sometimes she’d take me into the bedroom and point to my purse and ask sweetly, “Chicle?” (gum).

Tiana and I took the little girls up town a little ways and bought fruit,veggies and meat.

On Valentine’s day Benj took the fellows to Ixpanpajul and on up to Santa Elena.  He came back with a bunch of flowers for his Valentines.

Holly made donuts for her Valentine. 

I did get Lanet’s quilt done:

 

Another day, Tiana and I went alone as I wanted to buy a little broom for Kaity that I’d seen in one of the stores.  We also went to a Paca.  This is a used clothing store with clothes brought down from the USA.

On Sat. Tiana and I took a Tuk tuk up to Judy Lehman’s house to make 4 flat sheet cakes for the refreshments after the baptismal service. That evening Ruben and Sandra Benito planned to make supper for us.  Those two are Jose Benito’s children….he was our bishop when we lived in El Novillero.  Jose lives in San Bartolome,  Ruben came up for this occasion.  Sandra lives in El Chal and is the pharmacist at the mission clinic.  Ruben  had lived with Benj’s for a year a couple of years ago.  He was baptized 2 years ago on Benj’s birthday and wanted to do this meal to thank Benj for all his support, etc and to celebrated Benj’s birthday and his baptism.  So, they lit a fire in the yard and Sandra made her famous Carne Asado.  Unfortunately, Benj didn’t get home until kind of late so by the time we actually ate, the meat was cool and tough…I should’ve put mine in the microwave to heat it up…but the flavor was still scrumptious.  Stephan’s came over that night too to help us eat it.

Sunday, the church was packed with all the visitors.

The church from El Naranjo/Santa Rosita came down to be there for this special event besides a work team from Ontario, Canada who was there working on the school Isaias Munoz and his family were up from the south….Oratorio as he has bishop oversight for the churches in El Chal and Sta Rosita since Mark Gingerich’s have been in Peru.  Isaias’ daughter, Priscila, lives with Benj’s family too and goes to school with Kendra Lily.  I teased Isaias that Jose Benito baptized our oldest 3 children, Harold Kauffman baptized the next 3 and if he, Isaias, baptized Tiana, he would need to do the last 2.  He said he’d be glad if we’d move back to Guatemala so that he could. 

We had a carry-in lunch at church and then had a little time to relax before evening services.   Holly is supposed to be on bedrest so she missed out on church in the morning.  ‘She did make it to church that evening where we had a beautiful service. We video-taped the service for the most part.  I was bummed out that we ran out of room on the camera chip for that last song:  “I want us to be together in Heaven”.  It was beautiful.  Everyone held hands and sang with gusto.  Tears flowing down cheeks unashamed.  I thought that was a little foretaste of Heaven!  I would like to post the videos on You-tube if I can.  I haven’t had any success posting videos on Xanga since they redid their site.  I hope you don’t mind but I think I will make a separate post for this occasion.  Here are a couple of pictures though to whet your interest.

We came back to Benj’s to find that someone had come in and helped themselves to Benj’s Ipad (which, by the way, he had offered to let me use for a Bible…..I could’ve kicked myself for not doing that.) and their laptop besides some money.  I was relieved that I had my Q’s on me and that they hadn’t touched my dollars nor my passport.  The thief didn’t take any of Benj’s $$ either.  I guess its easier to track a thief when they try to change $$ into Q’s.  Also Kendra Lily and Priscila’s laptops were not stolen either so they feel the thief was in a hurry.  I felt bad as Holly had just downloaded all her pictures from her camera onto the laptop so we could use her camera chip for the baptism.  She said that she had just backed up everything on the computer about 6 weeks earlier so at least they didn’t lose everything.  That kind of put a damper on everyone’s spirits at any rate.

Monday, I think, I went with Kendra Lily to the clinic for the afternoon.  The staff on duty that day was Julia King, Sandra Benito, KL and Priscila Munoz.

I also went over to the school to take a peek of what the work team from Canada was accomplishing.  Had a good visit with Waneta Erb the school secretary.  Unfortunately, my battery failed on the camera so no pictures. 

On Tuesday I was sewing a dress for Holly when Leroy asked me how much fabric it would take for Sue and Lanet.  I told him I thought I could do it with 2 and 1/2 yards.  He brought over a big bag of fabric that he had bought in the City and asked me to chose a piece for the girls.  Holly picked out a couple from the pile and then had Sue choose of those.  She chose a lite green piece that measure 1 and 3/4 yard.  Yikes.  Could I get 2 little dresses out of that piece without it being too skimpy?  What made it worse was big gold letters stamped along the bottom edge saying the name of the fabric and where it was made.  Holly and I found they could be scraped off and we managed to get it off!  When I got done cutting them both out, I think I had a left over piece about the size of my hand besides a couple of odds and end scraps.  Now that’s what I call doing it right.  Nothing left over that can’t be used.  A great feeling of accomplishment.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get to sew them up but hopefully Holly will be able to soon.

I am not sure when I got to go up to the Hill to see the progress on Benj’s house.  I was glad to get to see what has been accomplished since we were there in Oct.  Benj has barbed wire all around the porch and side of the house for protection of falling off I suppose.  Guess who got it in the face, not just once but twice?  Fortunately, it didn’t hurt too bad and didn’t leave a mark.  Darrel’s scratch was a lot more obvious. 

I told the girls that I wanted to go to Ixpanpajul for the Tarzan Tour.  I don’t think they they took me seriously at first.  Here’s Mom, the person that is SOOO afraid of heights wanting to do the cable rides?????  No way!   They made plans to take me on Wed. afternoon. So, about 2PM the 3 of us left the house for the 1/2 ride up to Ixpanpajul.  We had just gotten off the microbus and was walking in when the heavens opened up and gave us an impromptu shower!  Oh help…just what we needed.  I wasn’t sure if we could do this Tarzan tour in pouring  rain.  When we got to the pavilion where we were to pay, went to the restroom and dried off as much as we could with paper towels.  By that time the rain had passed so we paid and got into the back of a truck to take us to the first part of the tour.

All the while Tiana kept telling me, “You’ll freak out.  You’ll scream.  You won’t be able to do it.”  And all the while I kept assuring her that I could, that I wouldn’t freak out, I won’t scream and that they were underestimating their Mama. The road up the hill and down into the jungle was as steep as I have ever seen.  I honestly believe that it must’ve been at least a 75 degree angle up that hill and back down.  I didn’t freak out but it was hard not to, especially, wondering what kept us from flipping over onto our top as we scaled that hill.  No, it didn’t take us up on switch backs.   And then going down the other side.  Whoa!  I tried to take pictures of it but you have to have it in 3D to get the real thing.

The pictures all look flat. Finally we stopped at the base of a TALL tree with a ladder going up.   We geared up and started up the ladder.

The rungs were slippery and treacherous but I finally made it to the top.

The guides clipped us onto the rails to keep us from falling off, then the first guide went off into space.  Then KL.  After her was me , then Tiana and the last guide.  The order was so that KL could video me coming and Tiana videoing me from behind.  They had to document this well.    Tiana was still sure I would freak out. They have made some changes on this cable tour since Jonny went almost 2 years ago.  It used to be that the person on the cable would brake himself by hanging onto the cable itself.  Jonny’s glove got caught in the pulley and he was stranded over the jungle until a guide came and untangled his glove.  Now the first guide goes it that way but when he reached the landing he hooked up the braking system which is something on the cable that stops the person from slamming into the tree. So, when it was my turn to go, I had some trepidation and forced myself into space.   I went flying over the jungle too fast to really enjoy the scenery but talk about exhilarating.  Wow wee!!

What a ride.  Yahoo!  and all that stuff but no freaking out or screaming.    But suddenly the tree loomed ahead of me and I was going 90 mile an hour it seemed.  I was sure I was going to hit that tree and be knocked into Mexico or worse!  Still I didn’t scream.  I probably would have if  I hadn’t told the girls that I wouldn’t.  But that’s our secret, ok?    I had to put my trust into the guide’s ability to stop me on time. There were 6 of those cable rides on the tour and by the time we finished I was no longer afraid I’d slam into the tree.  I did get afraid that the first guide wouldn’t get me off the cable in time before Tiana came sailing into the back of me.

All in all I loved it and would do it again in a heart beat. By the way, the girls had to hand it to me, they didn’t think I could do it without losing my cool.  I think I rather impressed them.

That evening was Benj’s birthday party.  I had told Judy Lehman about the party so she and her household….Vicky Hershberger, Sandra Benito, and another girl who is staying there temporarily joined us.

Of course, Matt, Leroy and Daryl was there too, besides Lucio Lopez, a boy that Benj is mentoring who was also baptized with Tiana. After the pizza, pop and Pringles, and the 2 ? meter firecrackers to celebrate,

I told Benj that this time I wanted some fresh coconut.  His yard is full of coconut trees and piles of coconuts so there are plenty to chose from. 

He got Lucio to climb a tree and pick some coconuts.

 

Then we opened some.  They scraped out the meat of one for me to bring home. Then the party was ove, but what a party!  At 9:45 I said good-bye to my 3 dear little grandchildren and the world’s sweetest daughter-in-law, gathered my bags and got into Benj’s pickup to go await the Maya de Oro bus. I admit, I had mixed feelings.  I wanted so badly to stay and yet my family in WI was pulling me home.  Oh well, all good things must come to an end. to be continued. I think this post is long enough….I’ll save the bus ride and the rest of the trip for the next post.  Or so. 

Ok folks, when I started this story I hadn’t meant it to be a book.   I didn’t even mean for it to be more than about 2 posts, but it has evolved into that.  I regret not keeping a diary while we were there as the longer it goes the harder it is for me to keep it all straight in my mind.  Good thing my memory has always been sharp.  LOL

Anyway, to conclude the story, here goes:

After we returned to MAM headquarters Sunday afternoon, Oct. 13, 2013 we had to say good-bye to our beautiful, sweet, graceful, talented, and beloved daughter, Kendra Lily.  (I could go on and on about her but I’ll spare you all.  )  Anyway, she needed to head back to El Chal so she could be at the clinic the next day.   Vernon and Tim Korver took her to the bus terminal so she could take the night bus back up.  She said she got a really good bus.

Tiana didn’t go along with her as Benj’s family was headed down to the mission that same night.  Holly’s parents were due to fly into the City from PA on Monday the 14th.  I am sure they met the bus KL was on somewhere in the middle of the night.

I woke up early that morning thinking I heard the voice of little people.  I was up in a flash.  I told Vernon that our grandchildren were here.  We got up and went outside our room and there was no one stirring.  ?????  I must have been dreaming!  Looked at the clock and it was about 5 AM.  So, disappointed,  I went back to bed.

Later on, we found out that Benj’s had gotten to the mission about 4:30 AM and apparently had come in to use the bathroom and then finished the night out in their pickup.  So, I wasn’t imagining things after all.  If I’d gotten out there sooner maybe I could’ve brought one of the little ones in to sleep or cuddle in our bed. 

Anyway, they were there for breakfast and it was a sweet reunion again.  We had only been gone for 4 days so it was fun for them too as they remembered us well.

After breakfast, Holly and I walked down the street to Walmart for her to pick up a few needed items.  Later on, Vernon went with them to the airport to pick up James and Cheryl Long.  We hadn’t all been together since Benj and Holly’s wedding 7 years earlier so this was special.  Of course, we had to take some pictures of our shared grandchildren.

They had planned to head north soon after lunch but Tiana and her Daddy finally had their much-needed father/daughter talk……so they patiently waited until they were done talking.

Of course, I used this time to fill up my Grandma Love Tank with the little ones and having a good time with Cheryl and Holly too.  Cheryl and I share a lot of the same interests.

Even so, the painful good-byes came at last.

Saying good-bye to another beautiful, talented and lovely daughter was maybe more difficult than it was with KL.  Tiana had planned to fly home for a visit in November but had just learned that she had missed her chance to use her ticket.  We thought that she had a year from the time she flew down.  Unfortunately it was a year from when it was booked in Oct.   She was so disappointed and was really trying to work through this so it was hard part but we felt it best that she stay in Guatemala for the time being.  (She is in instruction class and she has been blessing Benj’s family by helping with housework.)

After seeing them off, we and Tim Korver’s went downtown to  Dr. Tercero (the Urologist) and Dr. Manuel Caceres’ office.  Rhoda had been having some issues with her stomach so I had made an appointment with one of my doctors who specializes in her problem.  We got there and were in the waiting room when the receptionist called us to go in.

Dr. Manuel, didn’t know we were there and I wished so much that I’d had a camera ready.  He started to usher us into his office when his eyes lit up and a grin as big as it could go when he suddenly recognized us.  He stuttered a little as he got over his surprise.  “Yes. Yes. Yes, of course.”    That’s one of his favorite quotes.

This man has been a very close friend over the years.  We met him when Tiana was just 5 days old.  I had had a gallbladder attack then and Vernon had brought me to the hospital.  Dr.  Fahsen called his brother, Julio, who examined me and turned me over to his older brother Manuel.  We clicked with him….(we hadn’t with Julio) and a couple years later he eventually operated on me and removed the offending organ.  He also saw me through a few other problems, such as sinus infections, kidney stones, etc.  He also did surgery on Vernon’s left middle finger that he had pinched off in the hammermill accident.

The one thing I remember was how supportive he was in Joy Coates’ ordeal.  He had taken care of Melissa when she had an asthma attack.  He even had gone to the airport when the authorities took Joy and were going to fly her to the US.  (You can read about that in “A Song For Your Honor”….by Kay Evans published by CLP).  Even now, he will answer my questions via email if I happen to want to know something.    He works with the German embassy as he is fluent in that language.  He also works with insurance companies for the tourists.  If a tourist gets sick or has an accident, he will fly out to the tourist in a plane or helicopter and transport that person to a hospital in the City.  He also will fly with that person to his or her country for medical help.

After we visited a little we left his office so that Rhoda could have her appointment.   When that was over we stopped on another floor to say hello to our Ob/Gyn Dr. Derik Fahsen.  He was not there as he was doing a C-section.  We were disappointed but it couldn’t be helped so we headed back to the mission.

We finally got back to the mission and we packed up ready to leave the next morning.  Had a nice visit with Harold Kauffman.   Harold had been our bishop here at Sheldon Mennonite for a number of years but had returned to Guatemala in July to help out there.  He is amazing…88 years old and still going strong.  When he is here, he lives at Conrath Villa, only a block away.

Next day came too soon as we had to get up early.  I don’t remember who took us to the airport.  Either Craig or Tim. 

We were there early so we took advantage of that by looking for a “Recuerdo” for Jonny.  I had gotten everybody else something.  Dress fabric for the girls, coffee for Marvin, an umbrella for Kaity but nothing for Jonny.  I knew what I wanted but it took us awhile to find the right one.  So here it is:

 

We flew to San Salvador then on to Chicago.  The flights and lay over went well and once we were in Chicago we got a bus to Beloit, WI.

Vernon called Arthur Kauffman, Harold’s son, who had come to the airport and took our car, a RED MUSTANG, back to Beloit so that we wouldn’t have to pay $17 a day to be parked at the airport.  (Vernon had warned him that he MIGHT want to park it behind his house. )

Arthur and Evelyn met us at a McDonald’s with the car and instead of eating there we decided to go awhile before stopping.   So away we went, headed north and home!

I am not exactly sure where we stopped.  There were a choice of  2 restaurants….McDonald’s or A&W.  When Vernon asked my opinion, I said we hadn’t been to an A&W since 1986 so that sealed our fate.   When we got inside, there was a group of 15 or 20 youngsters with a couple of adults.  Looked like a kindergarten class.  They were a noisy group but when we were joined by a busload of middle school students we wondered if we had made a mistake in our choice of restaurants.  The din was awful!

We gave our order:  I ordered a Coney Dog  and a rootbeer float.  He got a hamburger and a rootbeer float.   Then we got an order of onion rings to share.  We found a corner that we thought we could eat in peace but were soon surrounded by these preteens or young teens who were having the time of their lives, hollering, joking, laughing and of course, eating.  We didn’t stick around any longer than we had to.  We were anxious to get home anyway so the desire to linger wasn’t even a temptation.

We were motoring up the highway for about a half hour when I casually mentioned to Vernon that my belly was feeling a bit gassy.  He asked me if I needed to stop.   I told him that it wasn’t desperate but I could probably use the restroom before too long.   Not long late,r I saw an exit ahead so I told him that I changed my mind, that I did need to use a restroom and it was getting urgent.  We pulled up to the gas station and I was out the door as soon as it was safe to get out of the car.

I spent so much time  in the ladies’ room that I was afraid that Vernon would be worried about me….. ;(  When I finally felt well enough to return to the car I was surprised that Vernon wasn’t there.  I went back in the convenience store and was browsing when the urge hit me again so back I went to the restroom.   Finally, back on the road, Vernon confessed that he almost didn’t make it to the restroom in time.    Oh, did we ever laugh!  I think howling may be more like it.  Every time I thought about it I started to giggle and then Vernon would join in.  He told me that he was glad he had a wife that could laugh about things such as this.   We have wondered what caused the scoots but figured it had to be the onion rings.  Whatever it was, neither of us are too anxious to patronize an A&W again for awhile.  If it had been about 30 years since the last time, well maybe waiting another 30 years won’t hurt.   And Culver’s is a very good substitute in our opinion.

Finally arrived home about 11 PM……and our bed and our own pillows felt as good as we had remembered them.  It was so good to be home.

What a vacation!  What a trip!  All because of a 4.5mm kidney stone.

~concluded~

One thing I forgot to mention:  Before we left Jonny had asked me to tell Lee Burkholder hi for him.  When I met Lee I told him I had a message from Jonathan Martin.  “Oh, do you live in the same area as Jonny?”  “Do you go to the same church?”  Imagine his chagrin when he realized that I was Jonathan’s mother. 

 

 

 

After spending a little time with Lencho and Rosa’s family….they gave us some hard panes (kind of like sugar cookies and coffee for a snack.  I was getting rather hungry by then so had to consider this breakfast.  Lencho offered the use of their car to drive to church up the road about 10 or 12 miles so we took him up on that.

We, of course, had not been there since they had put in the new 4 lane highway and had built some bridges over some of the barrancos and eliminated some of the excess curves.  It is amazing how much a place can change in a very short time.  We used to marvel at the changes we saw when we would return from a 2 or 3 month furlough so you can imagine what changes has come in the 7 years since we’d been there.   We would see something that we remembered and it was almost  like a long-time friend among strangers.

We arrived at Chirijox before anyone else had arrived for the services.  We parked and got out of the car—had to park it on the street as they have the church yard fenced in now.   We used to always park up next to the church.  Jacinto, Ana Tzoc’s, husband,  who is now a member came to greet us.  Soon, his father-in-law, Miquel Tzoc came out.   They all live in a single compound right next to the church house.   Miguel shook my hand and asked me who I was.  “Soy Kim.” (I am Kim.)   His eyes lit up and he indicated to Vernon.  “Then that must be Hermano Vernon!”

Yeah, it must be, I thought with amusement.  Miguel couldn’t tell who it was but he knew my name and of course knew that strange man must be Vernon.  I think his eyesight isn’t as good as it used to be but then it has been 11 years since we left there and Vernon now sports hair on his Chinny chin chin.     Too bad Miguel’s hand glasses don’t help him any.  (I said that for my children’s benefit…..Miguel used to entertain them during church by putting his hands up to his face and pretend they were glasses….I guess he was bored and figured they were too.  )  Oh well, he’s a nice old man and we like him.  His wife passed away sometime after we moved to WI.   His children are all grown and only Maria, one of the twins is living at home now.    I am guessing she is around 30….not sure if she is older or younger than Susana but around her age.   Maria is a Christian but has never been baptized.  I am not sure what’s holding her back.

Then Diego Tzquin and his family came walking up the street.  They walk a number of kilometers to come to church.  They live in an aldea called Pachipac up the mountain above Nahuala.

Diego is the deacon and was Vernon’s helper in the church work the 13 years we lived there.  His family has been an inspiration to us from the time we met in 1989 and we are still very good friends.  Diego’s had 8 children but only 3 daughters lived.  None of the girls are married although they have had offers. Catarina said it something like this:  “We won’t give up Jesus just to get a husband.”    I am not sure why they didn’t find husbands in the church but I suppose it is partially they are more isolated than some of the other church in MAM (Mennonite Air Missions) and another they are Mayan Indians and a lot of the other churches are more Latin people.  The cross culture may have a part in it….I am sure it does, but it is the men’s loss because in our humble opinion, these girls are the cream of the crop.

Catarina, Cata, as we call her is now in her 40′s but she was my right arm the last several years we lived in Guatemala.  We could TOTALLY trust her to care for our family when I couldn’t.  In fact, I did at times.  We knew that our children were always in good hands and that she would care for them as well as she would her own children.  I think our leaving was hardest on her as she had been living with us the last few months over the time Jonny was born.  I was on bedrest so she became our girls’ second mother.  Susana was over in Belize the summer of  ’02 cooking at Cayo Deaf Institute so Cata came to help.  She and 3 year-old Lavina were particularly close.  Cata and her sister Magda knit sweaters for us too.

Anyway, we were glad to see them all…except Magdalena who had to stay home to watch the house in case of burglars.   They take turns so we missed seeing her.

It had been Jose Benito’s turn to come to Nahuala that Sunday but he knew we were planning to go so he had called Diego to tell him that Vernon was going to preach and he wouldn’t be coming.  (Spoil sport.  )  So, the element of surprise was gone but they told us they would bring our lunch for the day.  Usually we packed a lunch because the afternoon service starts about 1:00.

It was interesting to sit through another service of Quiche…..of course, we didn’t get much out of it either but we are experts of pretending we know what is being said.  I guess I am not as expert as some of our family.  Its ok, though, if Vernon can encourage them in Quiche, I am glad he can do that.   We enjoyed singing in the tiny little church building and recalling the many memories of years gone by.

After the service we had lunch with Diego’s family in the church’s new kitchen/Sunday school room.  When we lived there, we didn’t have any building there.  The children’s SS class was in the little school room in the back room of the church which sometimes caused a disturbance depending on what songs they sang and how loud they happened to be reciting their verses.   Seven years ago when we last visited there, they had a wooden structure that had been hastly put up for some special meetings they were having.  This new building was built to replace the shack and is a very nice improvement to the church.  We always picnicked inside the church or in our van on cold and rainy days or out in the front lawn on nice days.  If we needed anything heated we had to go to Miguel’s kitchen next door to use their plancha.

Ana brought us some lunch too.

 

Just for the record….When Marvin outgrew his shirts when he was 13, he gave them to Diego….they fit him perfectly.

The kitchen was not the only improvement made on this property.  If we wanted to use the restroom, when we moved to El Novillero twenty-four years ago, we had to use one that was very primitive.   Sometime along the way the government had a project going to build “sanitary” facilities to everyone that needed one.  Now, this project, helped to upgrade the one at church.  Wow.  We thought this one was nice.    When I saw the new ones this time, I could hardly believe it.  They even have separate ones for the men and the women.   I told the girls that I took pictures of the new ones to show the family.   Cata told me I should take a picture of the old one that we had thought was so wonderful for a comparison.  I did just that.   But I was amused that the new door still had a couple of holes.  (Knotholes)

Least anyone thinks I am poking fun, please know that I am really impressed with these changes and I am not making fun in the least.  We would have loved having it this nice when we lived there.  Of course, we did in our house but a lot of people had corn stalk walls to their outhouses with a piece of plastic that served as a door.  Hey, at least they had an outhouse.  Some didn’t until the government program came and built them.

After the afternoon service we headed back to Novillero.   Craig Martin, (a 2nd cousin) had gone out to San Marcos for the service there and offered to pick us up at 3 in Novillero.  I was so glad we didn’t have to get on another bus.  In case you may have wondered, some people love riding those buses but it never was my favorite activity.

We had lived close to some Catholic nuns while we lived there and became very close friends in our later years.  Immaculata Burke was born in Ireland and Marie Tolley is a native of New York.  Immaculata immigrated from Ireland to New York when she was young and these two women have been in Novillero since the late 60′s or early 70′s.  When Mary Beth (Bentz) Hogan was our children’s school teacher in ’97-’99 she started having our youngsters go sing for these two wonderful women.  Our family continued that until we left in 2002.  The nuns were not happy that our family left and often had told us that we were their quietest neighbors.  They, of course, were referring to the loudspeakers that most of the churches around have mounted on their rooftops to broadcast their services.   Only those that have lived in or visited Guatemala can visualize the noise we were subjected to.  One Sunday afternoon I had to stay home with a sick child and I went out onto our porch and counted 9 different services being broadcast within a 1/2 mile radius of our house!  Big time racket to put it mildly.  I remind the nuns, whenever they say something about us being quiet,  that we don’t need any loudspeaker…..our family is loud enough.

Anyway, the 2 times I have been back to Guatemala since we moved away….6 and 7 years respectively, I had wanted to visit with the nuns.  The first time, we got to see Marie but Immaculata was sleeping and they didn’t want to awaken her.  The last time another nun answered the door and said my friends weren’t home.  Talk about disappointment.   This time I prayed that God would allow them to be home.  They are both elderly and Immaculata hasn’t been in the best of health.  At 90+ years, and we only getting a chance to visit every 6 or 7 years doesn’t leave us a lot of possibility that she’ll live to the next time we visit.   We pulled into their driveway and were hopeful because there was a couple of vehicles parked there.

A knock on the door brought Immaculata herself to answer it.  Her delight was evident when she called “Marie, we have very special visitors to see us!”  Marie didn’t guess who it was and began dancing in her excitement when she saw us.  They confessed that they thought they’d never see us again.  We had a delightful little visit which we terminated by singing “Jesus Christ the Son of God” and “All Things Work Together For Good” for them before we left.  I almost cried thinking how good God was to answer my heartfelt prayer to get to see them again.  I said that it made my day.  They assured us that we made their day.  Marie couldn’t get done hugging the girls and exclaiming how happy she was to see us….”And one more hug for the road, girls, just one more hug.”   (We just received a Christmas card from them in which they wrote: “We wish your family could Christmas carol for us this year.”  How we would have loved to do so.

They run a medical and dental clinic there, right across the street from our old church house in Novillero, and they wouldn’t let us pay to do our dentistry.  Every dentist and doctor that graduates from college in Guatemala has to give a year in service (internship) somewhere in Guatemala.  Since Immaculata was a friend to the dean of dentistry she got first dibs on any of the students….so she would pick someone who got the highest grades to serve in her clinic.  So we had free dental work there.   Also, it was Immaculata who got the job of bandaging Vernon’s finger that got smashed off when the hammermill fell on it in 1997.

Oh yes, every time we’d go to visit them, they’d give the children candy that was sent from the New York church for the heathen children.  They would joke: “Yours are heathens aren’t they?”  More than I cared to admit.    When our oldest son took his family to see them a year or so ago, the question was; “May we give the Heathen’s children some candy too?”    I suppose there might be a reason our children were partial to Immaculata and Marie. 

I had a bit of a hard time seeing how frail and fragile Immaculata was.  She is such a sweetheart.

Reluctantly we left them and drove back to Lencho’s.  We had just parked the car in the carport when Rosa came running over and asked Kendra Lily to come quickly.  They have a big swimming pool in their yard and there was a group of students from the Escuela Normal (Normal School for teachers) just down the road and one of the girls fell about 7 feet onto the concrete.  Actually, I think there is a pulley or something rigged up from up there that they could ride down across the water and drop in.  I wish I would’ve thought to take pictures.  Anyway, 3 girls were up there and the one who fell said she had been pushed.   The other two denied that but it really scared everyone.  They had laid the girl out and Kendra Lily checked her.  Rosa called Lencho who was at their restaurant and told him about the accident.  Lencho came home and he and Rosa took the girl to Solola to the hospital  for Xrays.   We found out later that she was ok.  I do hope that Lencho moves the tower closer to the pool’s edge so that in case it happens again they will just fall into the pool.

We didn’t stay long as 3 o’clock was coming up fast and we needed to see some other people.   Juanita Ovalle in particular. As we got out to the main street, Kendra Lily said that we should see if Domingo Chavez was home as he always asks about Vernon whenever he sees them.   She knocked on his door and he let us in, very happy to see Vernon.  He took us through his house to his son’s house at the back of their courtyard.  His daughter-in-law Celestina and I had been very close friends when we lived there.  We sat down in her living room when her husband Max came in.  He had heard us talking and had come to investigate.   Unfortunately, we had to go as it was nearly 3 o’clock.  We had to try to see Juanita yet.  She’d never forgive us….oh, she would but some of her family wouldn’t. 

We went out the back door at Max and Celes’ and up the alley past our old house.   It was kind of hard to see it sitting there abandoned as is also the church house in Novillero.  The mission has given up the work in Novillero, which, we think is what needed to be done, but it doesn’t make it easier to think about.  Many years and little fruit but we did have roots there and that is where most of our children grew up.  Susana was 7 when we moved there and 20 when we left….13 years is a long time…..the longest time we ever lived in one place.   We didn’t have time to even explore for a tiny bit because just as we reached the bridge in front of our house, Craig came driving up.

We asked him if he’d wait a bit for us to go see if Juanita was home.   He consented and Vernon and I went to Jorge Ovalle’s compound.  No one there except for Kevin, Juanita’s nephew.  We left a little gift there for Juanita and the family.  (She told me later he hadn’t given it to her….I guess Hershey chocolate bars were too tempting to keep. )  We left a message for her and she called me the next day at the mission.  Juanita had worked for us the 13 years we lived there.  At first she was our maid, then when Amalia came I taught her to knit sweaters…..She was by far my best knitter and could spot a mistake in a pattern and fix it without having to tell me.   Many times I would give her a pattern to try for a sample and fixed an error I had made.  No one else ever was that good at making sweaters.  In the sweater business she was my right arm.  She was totally trustworthy too.   She is a calm natured person which we really appreciated.

We left and headed back into the mission.   Oh, in case you wondered….Craig made the trip from Los Encuentros to Tecpan in the same amount of time the bus had done it so maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.  At least in the Mitsubishi van I didn’t feel like we were going to fly off one of the cliffs into the barranco!

We saw a rainbow as we were  coming into Chimaltenango so KL had fun taking more pictures.

She also had taken  a bunch of photos of the different colors of soil where you can see the levels of dirt between Nahuala and Novillero where the road construction cut into the mountains.

We made it back to the mission too late and too tired to attend church in the City that night.  Sorry we missed seeing a bunch of our other friends by doing that.

Well,  I think one more blog will finish up this story.   Until next time……

Here is the Pan Am Highway.  We lived north of Santa Lucia, Utatlan,  at the edge of the highway.  You can see where the highway comes southeast with very few curves and then a sharp curve going northeast for a very little bit before going east.  We lived in the pocket of land at the curve.  I think 25 or so vehicle ran off the highway during that 13 years as it was a very dangerous curve and drop off, almost into Jorge Ovalle’s patio.  It got so I could recognize the sound of a vehicle running off the road and tumbling down the side of the hill. 

Chirijox is somewhere between Nahuala and Ixtahuacan…..about where the curves start to straighten out.  But you can see how the road is like a snake having contortions.  Not built for carsick prone people.  This terrain is about 9,000 ft above sea level.