El Amparro

This is El Amparro, Jared's last area of his mission. He opened this area and was here 7 months, so it was kind of like coming home for him. We met dozens of then "little kids" he had baptised when they were 8 and 10, who are all now in their 20's, married,have their own kids and are still active in the church. They all recognized Jared right off the bat and said he was the most remembered missionary in the area.

When we got into town the school soccer games were going on. So that meant everyone in town was in one place. Worked to our advantage so we could find everyone and catch up all at the same time. One big party, just like a HS Basketball game here at home.

Our friend that brought us here and put us up for the night is Anna. She's one of the few Jared is still in contact with from his mission. I didn't manage to get many shots of her, but somehow ended up with tons of her family.

Anna's Grandma and Grandpa, not members but still amazing. Grandma moves about a cm a minute, but she still made us breakfast and made sure we had everything we needed. Such hospitable people, it's amazing. She'd be in a Rest Home up here, but there she was serving us. AMAZING!

Here's Grandpa all on his own, 94 and going strong. He wouldn't get out of his bed this morning because he couldn't feel the heat in his bones. :) I was already sweating bullets at that point of the day.

Here's our sink, bathroom, shower, laundry room. It was so hot and sticky here I wished I'd taken a shower. But the shower was behind that black tarp, and you poured buckets of water on your head, so we passed for the day.

This is Holli Alandra, and her older cousin who they called Gordita (little fat one). Having a good time with their Little Pet Shop American toys.

Chicken on the front porch, not an abnormal thing.

This was the Branch President when Jared was here on his mission. His beautiful family were the sweetest people ever. The girl in the middle, bottom, just got home from her mission. They currently have 2 sons on missions too. 3 out at once. They were so proud of their missionaries. We spent the evening looking at mission photos and playing with the baby girls. They gave us some beautiful porcelain butterfly's. I felt so guilty taking them, when they have nothing, but you have to, they were a gift.

Once we got home we sent out a package of gifts for all our friend here. We sent them a Disney Princess book and Harry Potter #1, both in Spanish. I really hope they like them. Jared was concerned if they could even read.

Pres Lopez home. You hiked down that dirt path to get to it. I have never been in a poorer but happier home. They have about 13 people that live in this 2-3 room home. And I don't mean 2-3 bedrooms. I mean 1 kitchen, 1 bedroom/sitting room. There were probably 6 queen sized beds in that one room, and those were the couches too. But you've never seen a happier more loving family.

This is Pres. Lopez's son-in-law. I just liked the shirt. This shot's for my brother Evan. Apparently in Spanish they get the B and V mixed up a lot.

This is Anna's Auntie. She makes bread twice a week for money. We tried to buy some from her, but she wouldn't let us pay her. It was so tasty. I wish I could have made them some pizza, it would have been so good from her oven.

YUM YUM YUM!!

Jared baptised this Mama when she was 10 years old. Now she's married to a good member boy, Kenny, and they have this beautiful daughter. They were the sweetest little couple, and are working towards the Temple in the next few months.

She used to sit on Jared's lap when she was 10 and his splits companion got after him for allowing this. "She's 10, same age as my little sister," was all Jared said. Now I don't speak Spanish but the way she was looking at Jared, even today, it was obvious she'd had a HUGE crush on him back then. :)

Here's Kenny at work. They make bricks for a living then deliver them to whoever orders them. The machine that compacts the bricks is super loud, he'll be deaf before he's 40 for sure. Kenny actually caught me taking this picture. I was across the street and he looked up right after I snapped this shot. I smiled and waved, he waved too, but I felt like such a stupid tourist. So embarrassing.

Here's the local Church building. So nice and well kept, hence the barb wire fence. They even had a full out basketball court outside. Notice the corn field right next to the church. They have that there to help the members who don't have a lot of money for food.

This is some of Mama Nillas family. Jared is NOT standing on a stool if you're wondering. They are just rather short people. This family was so sweet, and after 4 days of no English I found someone that spoke English, the girl on the right. It was so nice to have a conversation with someone. Her family actually moved to California and has been there for 3 years, so her English was really good.

Mama Nilla had us over for dinner the night we stayed here. More tamales, but different than the others. White corn paste, Mole and a bit of chicken. They were really good. Everyone make them different I guess.

This is Flash (the big one) and Capitan (the pup). I wanted to take Captain home with me he was so cute. Flash scared our friend, Anna, when we got to their house. She literally hid behind me. :) He's a big tall dog so I didn't blame her.

While having dinner at their home their son fell asleep, he's about 9 or so, so I thought this was funny. They kept trying to get him to go to his bed, but I think he thought he might miss out on something.

This flower is called a Caterpillar, I think. For obvious reasons. They had another version that just grew straight out of the ground, funny little things.

They even have beautiful butterflies here. Everything in Guatemala is beautiful.

This is their water system. That big cement thing is just a huge "pool" of water. But it's used for everything besides swimming. Cooking, bathing (pour buckets of water over your head), washing clothes, brushing teeth, washing dishes. They have an amazing way of keeping the pool of water clean, there's little areas that are separate but connected where they can wash, then it drains out onto the street below.

This is Shrek, the laziest dog in the world, beats Charlie hands down. They also had a female named Fiona. These 2 dogs were a big version of a Chihuahua, HUGE bat like ears, very funny looking.