Larry DID do something sort of fun today...  at Family Home Evening in the evening. Details ahead.... Babette DID do something kind of fun today...    at Family Home Evening in the evening. Check THIS out .... Family Home Evening

How many times have Babette and Larry  been to the hour-away tourist town  of Antigua Guatemala? This was the fourth time for Babette; third for Larry. We  went there again because it was the  first time  for our friends, the Kirkhams of Calgary, Canada.  This time  we had a  tour guide, Miguel, to show  us around. He’s  with Guatemala Adventures Tours (an affiliate  of Viator).  He knew  English well  but a lot of it we  couldn’t understand,  because  of his  heavy accent.  Al Kirkham, right, is Babette’s and Larry’s ward bishop in  Calgary, Canada, and is Larry’s audiologist, in addition to being a close  friend.  The volcano Fuego began spouting clouds of steam and smoke  alternatively (from internal lava).  There also w ere many sightings of inactive volcano  Agua too, of course.  We visited two of Antigua’s 500-year-old church-convents.  We also vis...

Temple closed for another week,  so we visited places where there were ... Macadamia nuts  It takes 7-9 months for a nut to be ready to harvest. Trees  produce year round. Temple closed for another week,  so we visited places where there were ... Hobbits We were “underwhelmed” by the hobbit houses and grounds.  Nice start, though. Maybe in a few years  it will rate three stars  as a hotel.  From the parking lot to the village, the climb is so steep, you need a 4-wheel drive vehicle. We walked down the hill after our stay. It was so steep, it was hard to keep your footing.  Larry discovered new muscles, his “verticals.” 2 interesting sights Left: Active volcano Fuego puffed out a white cloud of steam on our  way to the macadamia farm (photo courtesy of fellow missionary Nancy Fisher). Right: I wondered why I never saw children using  the slide in the local park. Answer: the surface is concrete! Wha’? We saw another movie; Jumanji: We...

Vacation Time  (Temple closed for 2 weeks  for maintenance.)   We went to one of the most beautiful lakes in the world... Atitlán. It took 4 hours for our driver to go the 170 km (105 mi.) to our hotel. That’s  42 km (26 mi.) per hour. Blame it on roads in poor condition, some in a  mountainous area.  Our hotel for 3 days Our home for 3 days ...         Early January but there were flowers  everywhere around the hotel cabins.  But the walk to our cabin was steep,  on cobblestones... Also in Panajachel ... At a nature preserve, we visited a butterfly shelter and laboratory. We also did a lot of hiking to see monkeys and coatis, on dirt paths and many suspension bridges. There was only one place to see these animals, at their feeding trough. If you passed by when dinner was not being served, you didn’t see any animals.  We traveled in small “Tuk Tuk” taxis to get from the boat dock to the reserve.  Four of the eig...