District Conference in Chulac

Chulac is a District located in the Polochic Valley. It is very remote requiring a trip of several hours on dirt roads. Yet the members are numerous, beautiful, humble and faithful. The church has provided them with stunning buildings which are spiritual beacons out in the natural beauty of the green lush forested terrain. The missionaries there speak Kekchi, so they were our interpreters as we visited with the Church leadership and members. We visited one member’s humble home who proudly placed a picture of Joseph Smith on the door as a symbol of his faith in prophet of the restoration.

Tour of the Mission with Elder Clarke

It was such a blessing for our mission to have our Area President Elder Don R. Clarke and his wife spend six days with us, as we traveled throughout the mission. They had just returned from the Temple dedication in Panamá where they were with President Monson. We were very fortunate indeed with his hectic schedule to have him spend two additional days with us as we attended the District conference for Poptún which is in the Petén Zone. Elder Clarke gave instructions to each one of our Zones and made sure to meet each missionary and thank them for their service. The advice he gave our missionaries and the fervent testimony that he bore yielded spiritual fruit in that our mission reported an increase in converts for this week. The numbers are only figures that do not take into account the spiritual essence of change in the lives which included those of our missionaries, our converts, the membership which whom we serve and our less active brothers and sisters. We were strengthened and recommitted to perform our commission with more valor, dedication and exactness. The kingdom of God or nothing!

New missionaries bring joy, hope and enthusiasim

This great work to bring souls unto Christ is enhanced by the joy and enthusiasim that is felt by our new missionaries entering the field. Posted is the photo taken when President Torres and his assistants picked up the newest missionaries to join....the greatest mission in the world!

Unos Van, Otros vienen

The period to serve a full time mission came and went so quickly, as the missionaries whom we sent home attested to in their final testimonies. We sent home, Elders Fonseca, Higgins, Behumin, Doyle, Allen Martinez, Angel Martinez, and Sisters Zepeda, Contreras, Castillo, Madrid, and Mendoza. Our consolation is that we were able to pick up at the CCM (MTC here in Guatemala) a new group of the Lord’s youth, ready, well prepared and anxious to do the work to which they are called. Our new missionaries are Elders Valdez, Brady, Grant, King, Richardson, Gelinas, Fabian, and Flores. Also Sisters Hall, Milburn, Kaufana
Hernandez, Lopez, and Chinchilla
We also went to The Polochic valley to attend a priesthood meeting and a special meeting of the youth from that district. They are so faithful in spite of the fact that some must travel for hours standing on the back of truck to reach the meeting house.
The school buses you see on the pictures posted are buses the stakes here in Guatemala contract with to help the members attend stake conference. Some of them were ready at 7:30am waiting with their children in tow at the designated stops to attend their stake conference. Some come in bicycles, motorcycles, tok toks, and of course…on foot.