Quetzaltenango Temple

Temple #94

Quetzaltenango, Guatemala Temple

May 5, 2018

     Guatemala; a country full of color, mountains, volcanoes, tradition and breathtaking scenery. We had left Guatemala City and headed straight to Quetzaltenango through a winding mountain road. 

      Quetzaltenango is in a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains and a volcano. As we entered the valley we could see the temple on the other side of the city sitting on a hill. It looks over the entire city as it sits on a hill higher than any other building or part of the city. 

     We drove up to the temple and admired its beauty from afar. The temple grounds had large terraces that were covered in greenery and flowers. We parked and admired the city from above and then turned and admired the temple. It has one single spire in the center and is square in shape. We took our photos and went inside. 

      The inside of the temple was more beautiful than the outside. It had lots of pretty wood molding and stone marble throughout it. Right when we walked in the first thing we saw was the baptismal font on the other side of detailed stained glass. In the baptismal room were murals of baptisms from the scriptures behind and next to the font. 

     We got our clothes downstairs and then went a did a session. The first room had a gorgeous mural with mountains and volcanoes in it and even lake Atitlan in the background. It also had a panther, deer and birds in it. The Celestial room had pretty stained glass windows and a big chandelier in the center. 

     I sat for a moment by myself in the Celestial room and felt the spirit strongly. I truly felt the love of the Lord. That is why we go to the temple. It's so peaceful and we always feel the spirit. 

     The temple was amazing and afterwards we drove to Lake Atitlan, a gorgeous, massive lake with volcanoes surrounding it and little towns. We spent a day there and then went to Antigua the next day. We then flew to Flores and did the Tikal ruins which were amazing. 

     After the ruins we went to go visit the family of Patti's friend which she taught English to in St. George. Patti's friend had moved to Utah with her husband to work and make money for her family back in Guatemala. They left their children behind with their family ten years earlier and hadn't seen them since. So we went and visited them for Patti. It was a two hour drive away through pretty country. We arrived at the house and were shocked at the poverty of the people. They had no running water and barely had a home and only one lightbulb. We then went to their brothers house which was supposedly a ranch that was an hour away on a dirt road, over a wooden ferry across a river, and passed orchards of palm trees. The ranch was actually nothing more than a bit of land with a shack on it, less of a home than the last place we had seen. 

     The people had nothing but were happy to see us. They were excited to hear about their family in Utah and happy to see us. We then left and went back to our small hostel in Flores. We were humbled from the experience and realized our tiny hostel was luxurious compared to what the family had that we had visited. 

     We then took a bus to Belize and then a water taxi to San Pedro. While there we swam with sharks, manta rays and fish. We then departed ways from Darcy, Vera and Patti as they flew home and we headed towards El Salvador. We had had a wonderful trip with them and were sad to say goodbye, but we were excited to continue on and see more of Central America. 

     Even through all the fun things we saw the best memories are of the people there in Guatemala. It was neat to see how they lived and it was humbling. We are so glad that there are temples everywhere around the world so even the poorest of people have the opportunity to enjoy the beauty and the peacefulness of the temple.