Month: March 2014

  • My Toenail

    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.

    Before treatment

    Before treatment

    2nd month

    1st month

    After 2nd month

    After 2nd month

    Treatment over

    Treatment over

    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.

    Almost a year later.

    Almost a year later.

    The medicine that healed my toe.

    The medicine that healed my toe.

    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~

     

     

     

  • The Trip Home…..the Spirit Airlines Experience

    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.

    A regular camp out.  :-)

    A regular camp out. :-)

    IMG_0653

    This couple from northern MN taking advantage of the floor

    IMG_0654

    Making himself comfortable in a corner

    IMG_0649

    Welcome to Spirit Hotel.

    IMG_0651

    People, people everywhere!

    IMG_0652

    Trying to get a few winks of sleep

    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.

    Dr. Puskar, Puja and Pari Kefle, my Nepalese friends from Duluth, MN

    Dr. Puskar, Puja and Pari Kefle, my Nepalese friends from Duluth, MN

    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.

    Saying Good-bye.  She told me to look them up next time we go up to the North Shore.

    Saying Good-bye. She told me to look them up next time we go up to the North Shore.

    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~

  • Part 2: Leaving…..it’s sometime very hard

    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.

    IMG_0147

    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.

    Welder under the hood

    Welder under the hood

    Mobile welder

    Mobile welder        

    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.

    Pinata Block

    Pinata Block

    Pinatas for sale

    Pinatas for sale

    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.

    Dr. Tercero

    Dr. 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.

    Galen Miller, Wendall Diehm, and Lee Burkholder  VS boys

    Galen Miller, Wendall Diehm, and Lee Burkholder VS boys

    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~

  • To Guatemala Again—a lesson in Faith and Trust Part 1

    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.

    Her invitation

    Her invitation

    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.

    IMG_0081

    De-icing

    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.

    This was right above my seat.  It looked sort of dangerous to me.

    This was right above my seat. It looked sort of dangerous to me.

    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.

    Benj's house

    Benj’s house

    IMG_0155

    IMG_0152IMG_0156IMG_0160

    Neighboring property

    Neighboring property

    Benji's backyard

    Benji’s backyard

    IMG_0169IMG_0168

    Hammocks in backyard

    Hammocks in backyard

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

    Eating breakfast.

    Eating a meal at Benj’s

    A full table

    A full table

    IMG_0084

    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.

    Doing dishes with the granddaughters

    Doing dishes with the granddaughters

    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.

    Having our slumber party.

    Having our slumber party.

    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.

    Going marketing.

    Going marketing.

    IMG_0100IMG_0101

    Want to buy a Tuk tuk?  This one is for sale in a store up town.

    Want to buy a Tuk tuk? This one is for sale in a store up town.

    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.

    These two were mine.  Grandson begged one from me so I gave it to him

    These two were mine. Grandson begged one from me so I gave it to him

    Holly's bouquet.

    Holly’s bouquet.

    IMG_0141Holly made donuts for her Valentine.  :-)

    Yummy

    Yummy

    I did get Lanet’s quilt done:

    Lanet's quilt

    Lanet’s quilt

    Butterflies on the border.

    Butterflies on the border.

     

    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.

    getting the fire going

    getting the fire going

    IMG_0164

    Grilling with flashlight

    Grilling with flashlight

    Priscila Munoz

    Priscila Munoz

    Ruben and Sandra reading to youngsters

    Ruben and Sandra reading to youngsters

    IMG_0182

    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.

    Mommy and daughters....at least 1/3 of them

    Mommy and daughters….at least 1/3 of them

    A glowing girl

    A glowing girl

    Tiana's baptism

    Priscila praying a blessing for Tiana

    Stephan and Isaias greeting Tiana

    Stephan and Isaias greeting Tiana

    Tiana giving her testimony

    Tiana giving her testimony

    My and my girls

    Me and my girls

    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.

    MAM Clinic

    MAM Clinic

    Clinic lab

    Clinic lab

    Neb Center

    Neb Center

    KL's exam room

    KL’s exam room

    license

    license

    KL's corner

    KL’s corner

    From Luci Miller

    From Luci Miller

    KL's exam room

    KL’s exam room

    Pris' exam room

    Pris’ exam room

    Studying at counter

    Studying at counter

    nurses lounge.  :-)

    nurses lounge. :-)

    KL looking something up online

    KL looking something up online

    Counting pills and bagging them

    Counting pills and bagging them

    Clinic pharmacy

    Clinic pharmacy

    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.  :-(

    Walls are up

    Walls are up

    Darrel Horst laying block

    Darrel Horst laying block

    Ready for the roof

    Ready for the roof

    This is Tulio's truck aka IBA truck (Jim Kauffman or Erv Shirk's)

    This is Tulio’s truck aka IBA truck Jim Kauffman

    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. IMG_0621

    Entry to Ixpanpajul

    Entry to Ixpanpajul

    so pretty

    so pretty

    IMG_0618

    3 bees nest.  I think 2 are actually hornets

    3 bees nest. I think 2 are actually hornets

    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.

    A steep hill

    A steep hill

    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.

    Getting into my harness

    Getting into my harness

    Tiana's turn

    Tiana’s turn

    Kendra Lily

    Kendra Lily

    Ready to climb

    Ready to climb

    Climbing up

    Climbing up

    I am making progress.  This was exhausting.  The last step I literally crawled up.

    I am making progress. This was exhausting. The last step I literally crawled up.

    Its a long way to down

    Its a long way to down

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

    Looking down through the platform

    Looking down through the platform

    platform around tree

    platform around tree

    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!!

    Getting hooked on

    Getting hooked on

    Ready, set......

    Ready, set……

    GO!

    GO!

    Here I come!

    Here I come!

    Look out, get out of my way!

    Look out, get out of my way!

    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.

    Tiana's turn

    Tiana’s turn

    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.

    A soppy trio

    A soppy trio

    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.

    Making the pizza.  Vicky is having some help with the crust.

    Making the pizza. Vicky is having some help with the crust.

    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,

    Birthday party

    Birthday party

    The birthday boy

    The birthday boy

    The party makers

    The party makers

    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.  IMG_0157

    Coconuts

    Coconuts

    IMG_0150 He got Lucio to climb a tree and pick some coconuts.

    Climbing the tree

    Climbing the tree

    Up the tree

    Up the tree

    Coming back down

    Coming back down

    Drinking the milk

    Drinking the milk

    IMG_0629

    Matt

    IMG_0631

    Leroy and Darrel

     

    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.  :-)