Monday, June 2, 2014

The Long Awaited Rededication

May 29, 2014 was the date of the Rededication.  I have never been involved in a rededication before,  but it was a wonderful experience for the members of the church here in Guatemala and those invited non-member guests who attended our Open House.  Tina, would have been proud of me.  I was the detail queen.  We met as a committee several weeks in advance making plans for this special event.  Originally, Hno Cajas wanted to keep it very simple, but once the Area Presidency got involved big things began to happen.  We ended up having an Open House Thursday morning for all the dignitaries of the city, state, government embassies, doctors, dentists, neighbors, law enforcement, visa and travel people..The weather turned out beautiful which was such a blessing. 
  Everything is in place and we are ready to begin the festivities.  This was an early morning picture of the chapel area prior to our first tour.  Our Hermana Teachers (Hnas Ayala, Garcia,Alvarado,Sion,Estrada,Bonila,Garrido,Cruz,Dardon and Bruno)

conducted tours during the Open House and everything was in tiptop order thanks to our Maintenance people.
Hno Cux and his wife
Christopher and his wife of 5 months, Jessica
Griselda .  Norma and Eddy are part of this team as well but I didn't get pictures of them.  For Bob and I part of the joy of the evening's program was being introduced to the spouses of our co-workers.  It was so much fun to meet Hno Arredondo's wife and visit with her.  Hno Arredondo is a supervisor for the teachers and is just such a special friend.  His wife's name is Melissa.  We also met Hna Bruno's husband. 
The food was all prepared by Carlos our Chef.  He met with us on several occasions and assured me all would be well, and I had heard so many great complements of his catering abilities, I pretty much just ask him to prepare a list of his refreshments and let him work his miracles...and that he did.  The food was beautifully presented and tasted unbelievably delicious. 
We were asked by the Area Presidency to prepare 2 choral numbers for the Rededication Program.  Wow.  That was a long order.  First of all, on Tuesday before the Thursday we were saying goodbye to all of our missionaries except the two groups of North Americans that still had time with us.  We would not receive new Latinos until Wednesday and then we were expected to have a musical number ready for a live broadcast that would be heard and seen throughout Central America.  Was that even possible?  Yes it was.  The North Americans that we had in our CCM were prepared to step up to the plate and perform.  Many of them had sung in choral groups ...Hna Sainsbury even had her own copy of the special musical number they ended up singing, Olive Tree.  There were 9 of them.  Elders Beecher, Carver, Newman, Hilton, Warner, Vallalid;,Hnas Sainsbury, Logan and Boully.  Hna Pitcher was at the piano and helped to coach this choir. 
 
The other number was performed by Elders Vallalid, Marte, Perez, and Hno Abadullo; Hnas Leal, Linares, Garcia and Estrada.  They sang an arrangement of "Tu Casa Amamos, Dios"
All in all, it was a wonderful to have these missionaries perform during this sacred occasion.    We were truly blessed with beautiful voices.
 None of this could have happened with out the hard work of these two women.  We love and admire them for their goodness and talents.  Hna Herrera and her husband work closely with Bob and I for our secretarial needs.  She is so patient and kind with us.
Hermana Ivon de Leon works directly with Hno Cajas and answers to the needs of all the missionaries and those who come to the front desk early in the morning til mid day.  Both these young women have their heads on straight.  They are worked in the CCM first as teachers and have graduated to excellent secretaries.  They know the ends and outs of our CCM.  We are so grateful to all their hard work. 
 These next five pictures are of special people that we love.  Hnas Alvarado and Molina helped us all morning at the guest table giving away Mormon Tabernacle Choir CDs and copies of the Book of Mormon.
 Hermana Burbidge prepared a special video of the remodel pictures that was shown in the comedor during the evening refreshments.  She was so beautifully color coordinated for the event.
 Hermana Sally with Dick and Jennifer Johnson, our Counselors.  We love these good people.  Dick is the Legal Counsel for the Church in Central America and is scheduled to return home sometime this summer.  We will really miss them.  The picture below is of the Nicolaysen's and Bob and I.

Elder Amado and Hermano Roberto Cajas our manager.

 Hermana Pitcher and Hermana Cragun, always smiling, always helping, serving in this great work of the Lord.  Elder Pitcher is serving as the Executive Secretary of the Area Presidency and Dr. Cragun is our Area Doctor. 

2 comments:

brenna said...

Everything looks great! It sounds like you guys did a wonderful job! Glad it all went smoothly

Diane and Allan said...

Wow what a big event this was. Everything looked so beautiful and well organized. Miracles with the choirs it seems. But that what happens with the Lord's work. Congrats on a masterful job.