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.

February 1, 2015 Valentine Season and Senior Missionary Break the Fast

As Senior Missionaries we have a few traditions to get together.  One is Family Home Evening and where each Senior Missionary couple has a chance to give a lesson and provide refreshments.  And another is organizing the Break The Fast Meal on Fast Sunday evening.  A couple is requested to organize it for 6 months.....and we got asked.  Last night February 1, was our first time and we did a little reorganizing.  Instead of a long line for a Buffet Table for 65 people (or more at times), we made food assignments to assign Crock Pot Meal and salads and vegetables and desserts with the desserts on a Valentine theme.

Each table had a crock pot meal, salad and vegetables and then there was a dessert table.  The tables are all set with plates, bowls, utencils, cups and a special plate for a Valentine sugar cookie which I made.  This is the first time this has been done and it seemed to be well accepted.  It is of course still pot luck so others could come to another table to see if there was something they would like to sample.  It worked out well.

Also another Senior Missionary, Elder Done put together a slide presentation of some of us in our younger years.  And that was interesting with wedding pictures, college pictures and family pictures to the theme music, "The way we were".  The group seemed to like it.

The following pictures shows what the table looked like.