Saturday, July 30, 2011

Training in Guatemala

This is where we were trained. This building holds the institute, the employment center, the PEF center and the bishop's storehouse. It is a very nice building.

This is the bishop's storehouse. In the back was a room where people would measure and fill the bags of rice and beans. It looks quite a bit different then what we usually see.

These are the filled orders


We got to go and see the Guatemala Temple. It is hard to take a picture of the whole thing because the spire is so tall. The grounds were also very lovely.



These are the people we got to work with while we were in Guatemala. On the left is Reynoldo Nunez who is the director of PEF in the Central American area, Elder and Sister Arnold and they are from Utah and then Claudia Galvez who has been the head of the service centers.

And They Are Off

We left the MTC Saturday morning the 18th of June at 5:00 am and were driven to the SL airport. We left about 8 and arrived in Dallas/Fort Worth and had about a 4 hour layover. It is such a huge airport. You had to take a tram to go from one terminal to the next. We were headed for Guatemala for more training before heading off for El Salvador.

Here is our last look at the United States coast line. When we got to Guatemala there was a terrible storm so the plane could not land so they flew to El Salvador. There we waited in the plane until the storm over Guatemala stopped and then we flew back to Guatemala. Glad it was only about a 45 minute flight. Here we waited for our bags, got through customs and we were met by two senior elders who took us to a beautiful hotel, the Barcelona, where we stayed while we were in Guatemala.

Here is a view of Guatemala out the window of our room at the Barcelona. They had a complementary buffet breakfast. One of the things I tried was fried platano which is similar to a banana. It is really good. They had all sorts of breads, eggs, fruits, meats. Lots to choose from. A senior couple, Elder and Sister Arnold, picked us up for church and we attended the branch they are assigned to. The people are so friendly and welcomed us very warmly.

This is another view out of our window and these volcanos are called the Tres Hermanas