If ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work

Two of our new missionaries arrived at the airport from the MTC on Tuesday November 25th to join the other missionaries from the CCM here in Guatemala. They are Elders Hansen and Zepeda, joining Elders Winn, Karr, Fincher, Ireland, Empey, Dunkley, Briggs, España, Peterson, Solano and Sister Velasquez. Welcome Elderes y Hermana to the Greatest mission in the world!

Beautiful Senahu

Many have described Senahú as “Paradise,” we learned for ourselves why this was. On Nov 22 and 23rd we attended the District Conference in Senahú accompanied by a member of our Area Presidency Elder Christensen of the quorum of the Seventy. What a blessing to have him as well as our Mission Doctor and his wife, Elder and Sister Taylor with us. They took the opportunity to serve the members of Senahú by having a brief eye clinic where they gave out reading glasses to the members who needed them. Some of the children got a trill just trying glasses on for the first time. The conference on Sunday had such a large group of members attending that the municipal hall was contracted for the meeting, which meant that the members had to carry the chairs to the building on Sunday morning. Luckily the building was not more than one block away. The choir and the flowers were beautiful. Faithful Saints in “Paradise.”

Said Good bye to our 4th Group of Missionaries

We know that in the Savior’s church, we are called knowing that the day will come when we will be released. This day came for a group of fine missionaries who served the Lord well and with all their hearts. Sent home on November 24th were Elders Ludwig, Eidam, Garvin, Wolford, Anderson, Madsen, Walker, Randy Christensen, Ashcraft, Martin, Vasquez, and Elder Portillo.

Historical First in Polochic

We held our very first Zone Conference in Polochic. This was done in order to best serve the missionaries in the area, as well as give the local membership more opportunities to see their District Leadership and have temple recommends and prospective missionaries’ interviews. The logistics were a challenge given the remoteness of the area, but we all know that for the Lord, “nothing is impossible.” The luncheon for Zone conference consisted of Hoggie sandwiches, guacamole, chips, watermelon and fruit drinks. All of which were brought-in from Guatemala City. The beautiful Polochic Valley was a wonderful backdrop for this historical event in the North Mission.

"Cool" Coban

“Chipy chipy” is what the locals here call a constant drizzle of fine rain and we had plenty of this during our visit to Cobán to visit our missionaries for Interviews and Zone conference. The chapel was cold by Central America standards, but the spirit was warm and we enjoyed seeing our missionaries ready and willing to confront both the heat and the cold for the sake of fulfilling their callings. Our topic for Zone conference was Chapter one of “Preach My Gospel” Our Purpose. Another opportunity for chocolate came with the “polished Shoes” inspection where the missionaries were given a “Treat” for each shined shoe at the conference, which was a challenge given all the rain.

Zone Conference in Peten

To our amazement, Petén was not hot and humid as usual. It had been raining and the climate was tepid and very nice. Our conference was wonderful and we were able to hear from missionaries who soon will be leaving for home. One added feature to this conference was a “Trick or Treat” activity where the missionaries were asked to recite a scripture from memory from the Bible on the restoration or apostasy and they would get a “treat.” I am glad to report that all of our missionaries came away with a treat.

New Zone Leaders

With the exit of so many of our mission's leadership, this gave way to giving other fine Elders the opportunity to serve. On October 21 we had our monthly Zone Council in the capital City of Guatemala and welcomed Elders Wade and Vasques as our new Assistants accompanying Elder Hatch as a threesome. We also have Elders Argumedo, Robbins, Ferman, Nelson, Mulhlestein, Bleggi, Kirkham, Miles and Wright as newly called Zone leaders.