Mission in Guatemala: Mark's Visit

July 2 - 6, 2018

When Mark came to Guatemala, he didn't just come to play. He came to work. He used his vacation time and dental skills to serve patients in Clinica Tio Juan. We loved having him there. He helped us tremendously.

Mark doing a root canal on one the the young students.

Guess who gets to be Mark's assistant? Yes, his mom.

Mark with one of the orphan boys.

Mark is masterful at getting rid of those nasty wisdom teeth.

After working a full day at the office, we drove to Antigua to see and hear the unique sights and sounds.

Under the famous arch at Antigua.

A scary hand-painted mask.

On the hillside overlooking Antigua
with the dormant volcano Agua in the background.

Then the next day, back to work.

Mark with one of his young patients.

Relaxing in our apartment after work.

The following morning we traveled across town to do screenings on about 500 young male students at the local Catholic boy's school. We categorized them into three groups, those needing urgent care, those with visible decay, and those whose teeth looked pretty healthy.

Mark helps with the screenings.

One down,, hundreds more waiting in the background.

Mark with missionary patients.

Finally, the weekend arrived. Party time! Now it was time to explore the wonders of Guatemala.

Early in the morning we drive the typical
Guatemalan streets to the town of San Juan Sacatepeques.

Trudy and Mark explore a market.

Mark loves the tipica fabrics and arts.

San Juan Sacatepeques
is the home of the marketplace where all the locals
purchase their flowers for retail sales.

Mark in the early morning marketplace.

Tarps and plywood create shelter in the busy streets.

Then, we drive across the hand-manicured farmland
on the road to Tec Pan.

Stopping at our favorite Pupuceria.

In the afternoon, arriving a Panajachel
on the shore of Lake Atitlan.

We visit the pottery shop
in San Antonio before dark.

In the morning, we met our guide, Lui, and took a boat ride across Lake Atitlan.

Motor boating to the isolated town of San Juan.

The mountain called Sleeping Mayan.
Can you see why?

Tuk-tuk town-touring

Seeing the honey demo

Watching yarn being made and dyed

Seeing how natural medicines
are made from native plants.
Mark, don't eat them raw!

A view of San Pedro

Back to Panajachel

In 3 Nephi, the Book of Mormon tells of earthquakes, tempests, and great destruction that happened on the American continent at the time of Christ's crucifixion in Jerusalem. Verse 9 says, "And the city of Moroni did sink in the depths of the sea, and the inhabitants thereof were drowned."

A similar fate befell the people living in a city on the banks of Lake Atitlan at that same time period. In recent years, divers have discovered the underwater remains of this ancient sunken city. Archaeologists believe that this city was sunken so suddenly that people were not able to leave and take their possessions with them or even escape with their own lives.

With Mark, we visited a museum in Panajachel that displayed beautiful pottery, much of it unbroken, that had been found in these underwater ruins. We saw metal, stone and ceramic artifacts that were created by people who lived and died about 2000 years ago. Could this ancient sunken civilization be the remains of the city of Moroni?