Cuadernos con Corazón continues......

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has been very pro-active in helping local public school children with supplies (uticiles) for their school work.  I help hand out the packets as I have before but this time I took the time to look right into their faces.  I wonder about their future and hope that they will continue to go to school and to become productive citizens in their country. With us that day was the radio station, Emisoras Unidas, an organization from Canada, the Stake President of the local Stake near the school and the Primary President of the ward that met nearby.  Many of the kids that attended Primary nearby attended this school.  There were moments that I was close to tears seeing these children.  Excited to be in school and wanting to learn.  We have seen about a dozen or so schools to hand out school kits in the last month. Honestly I have lost count how many schools. We did it often and I wrote several stories for the Guatemalan Newsroom for the church.  Al had a great video made that I put to newsroom.  This project really tugs heavily at your heart....my heart.

The words "Cuadernos con Corazón" means notebooks with heart.  It means that deep in the hearts of the people they want their children to excell in school and to make something of themselves.  Even though we saw many children in school, we saw just outside the doors, children walking about, not in school.  Reasons could be, lack of interest by their parents or perhaps by the kids themselves.  Its not mandatory like in the states.  Still there were alot of kids in school. Pictures as follows.

 Notice the dog in the hallway between the wings of classroom.

 local Stake President to the right.

 This gentelmen represents the other organization that helps with the campaign of Notebooks with Heart"

 Buddies

 Kids lined up to receive their kits

 These kids are amazing

Kids so happy to recieve their kits

Spent two days in Nicaragua

On Sunday February 22, we traveled to Managua, Nicaragua to do some more training for Public Affairs on a mulit stake level.  It went well but our travel was quite tiring.  We traveled Sunday early morning...6:45 am to El Salvador first then on to Managua where we were met by Nelson Cortez the Public Affairs director in Managua.

This is the group from the multi-stake training.  Very cabable people.  

Our director Julio Alvarado was able to catch a flight back the next morning, Monday but we had to wait around for our flight at 5:30 pm.  Which means that we had to get to the airport by 3:30 pm. and go through customs and immigration and have our baggage x-rayed and then for us to go through security and then wait an hour for the flight.  Once in El Salvador, same thing and wait another couple of hours for that flight which was only 30 minutes long.  Travel by plane is great, better than driving but the documentation of passport stamps and customs, immigration....ugh.  what a pain.

February 14th Valentine trip to Dos Mundos

I am doing some catch up on the last 10 days or so.  We took a couple day trip to the coast of Guatemala to a city called Monterrico.  It was a beautiful place to relax.

The hotel is right at the beach with the pool set up a little higher with water going right to the edge. Great restaurant and quiet surroundings.  The sand is black volcanic sand and the ocean breaks just at the beach. The sand does not stick to your feet like white sand does. No surfing that we could see. Family friendly and nice people.  We took Elder and Sister Done with us there.  We will probably go back in June when the turtles will come to nest in the sand. Should be quite a site.  We really enjoyed our stay there.

We also visited an Auto Safari which was really well done.  See the following pictures.  The Auto Safari was on the way to Dos Mundos so we visited that first.

 An Iguana

 A Very large Iguana

Hi there!!!!

LDS Charities donate 254 wheelchairs to the Ministry of Health in Guatemala City.

A ceremony was held with the Minister of Health of Guatemala to receive wheelchairs from LDS Charities February 5^th, 2015

On Thursday February 5^th a ceremony was held at Guatemala National Hospital Roosevelt Hospital with the Minister of Health, Luis Enrique Monterroso de Leon, Elder Adrian Ochoa of the Area Presidency and Elder and Hermana Bingham Humanitarian Missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints attending. The ceremony was to accept from the LDS Charities 254 wheelchairs to use for basic transport within the hospitals of Guatemala.

The Ministry of Health of Guatemala had been using it´s budget to buy medicines and lacked the funds to provide wheelchairs for their hospitals.  The Humanitarian Missionaries, Elder Michael and Hermana Arlene Bingham worked with the LDS Charities to acquire the donation of wheelchairs to the National Hospital Roosevelt Guatemala City.  The 254 wheelchairs were accepted by Mr.  Monterroso, Minister of Health of Guatemala and are to be distributed to 44 government hospitals in Guatemala based on need.

Elder Adrian Ochoa First Counselor of the Area Presidency spoke and compared the story of the Savior raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11) with having the wheelchairs to help those in need where there might not be any help at all.  Mr. Monterroso also acknowledged the scripture further from the Book of John in the New Testament that quotes the Savior saying, “Lazarus come forth” (John 11: 43) meaning that patients who are bound to a wheelchair can go forth with hope and recover from their infirmities using wheelchairs.  The Minister of Health expressed his gratitude over the much needed donation to the hospitals in the area.

Mr. Monterroso was impressed to know that the Humanitarian Services of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have helped people all over the world with donations of medicines, food, wheelchairs and countless hours of donated time to help all people regardless of race, religion or country.  Elder and Sister Bingham, Humanitarian Missionaries met with Mr. Monterroso to inform him of the other projects completed this past year in Guatemala and what other projects are planned for this year at which he responded with his “gratitude” to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Al and Kathy at the ceremony covering the story for Sala De Prensa Mormona Guatemala

 Wheelchairs donated by the church

 Elder Ochoa and Réne Olivas of the Humanitarian Department

 Flags of Guatemala and banner of the Instituto de Nutricion del Centro America y Panama

 Réne Oliva, Elder Ochoa, the Minister of Health of Guatemala,Elder and Hermana Bingham

 Elder Ochoa speaking on behalf of the LDS church

 Elder Ochoa of the Area Presidency and Mr. Luis Enrique Monterroso de León signing documents upon the donation and receiving of the donated wheelchairs

Dr. Luis Enrique Monterroso de Léon speaking at the ceremony of receiving the wheelchairs

Elder and Sister Bingham with the Minister of Health and his deputy

Three directors of hospitals whose hospitals were recognized for excellence and passed their accreditation 

Cuadernos con Corazon (Notebooks with Heart) continues to bless children with School Kits.

Cuadernos con Corazon (Notebooks with Heart) continues to bless children with School Kits.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints partners with other organization to help deliver school kits.

Over the past few weeks the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints partnered with organizations like Energuate, Fundación Castillo Cordova and Cargo Expresso  traveled with Emisoras Unidos to many different elementary schools in Guatemala City and outlying area schools in need of school supplies for the students. 

Some of the schools are Chimaltenango, Patzún and Escuela Abel Carillo Ramírez.  The kits include 4 notebooks, 2 pencils, an eraser and sharpener to elementary school children that have limited means to purchase their school supplies. Thousands of school kits have been given out and many more thousands will be delivered to children in the next few weeks.

All of these organization that are non-political recognize the great importance that education has on their greatest country’s resources….their children. 

In the next decade these children will lead the nation in progressing in modern day technology and continued knowledge to best develop their natural resources.  The country of Guatemala and other Central American countries are anxious to have this happen. Parents of these elementary students do all they can to make sure their student is present in school when the school kits are presented.  The children shout, “Gracias!!!”  Some children with big smiles will wait for an opportunity to personally thank the presenters for their kits.  Teachers, students, parents and the presenters are encouraged by the enthusiasm of this project and are willing to do all they can to further the education of school age children.

The following pictures are from two schools where we handed out the school kits along with the organizations named Energuate and Fundación Castillo Cordova.