Guatemalan Foundation: PHOTO/ESSAY of HISTORICAL REVIEW Part 1: 1967-68

THE QUIXOTIC ADVENTURE BEGINS

August 19, 1967 to 2017

Episode 1: 1967-68...with 88 photographs

By Cordell M Andersen
NOTE: Some important events from this period are not mentioned in this photo/essay since I don't have photographs to represent them, but they are mentioned briefly in the Historical Review in the Newsletter #1 JAN 2016, and will be expanded upon in the detailed version when I get it finished and online...within a few days. You'll be advised, and it will appear on the Home Page.

1967

July 19 to 29
FIRST LEAVING & PREDICTION OF FAILURE WITHIN SIX MONTHS

MIRACLES AT SAN CARLOS BAY

WITH JULIE, DAVID and CRISTINA.

THE NEXT DAY IT REALLY GOT TOUGH

WITH JULIE & DAVID,

FOLLOWED BY REAL RISK WITH

JUST MARIA.....ALL GREAT

PREPARATION FOR THE NEXT 50

FAITH BUILDING YEARS.

The "ANCHOR" in those

experiences was an important element, but the key was FAITH.

The "Risky, foolhardy" experience

at San Carlos Bay & the miraculous

survival from sure death is

SYMBOLIZED by the key element in those experiences, the "ANCHOR," which reminds us of what was really important, FAITH, followed by ACTION.

This becomes the symbol of our whole risky effort to go south to the mysterious jungles & mountains of the Maya, and the numerous times we were saved as we year after year

"NEVER GAVE UP, NOR GAVE IN!

The details will be in the long version of the history.

August 1-8

RETURN TO PROVO
"....with our tail between our legs!"
A CRUCIAL MEETING WITH MY PARENTS

August 9
THE SECOND "TEARFUL" LEAVING WITH A FATHER'S BLESSING

August 19

PROVO, UTAH, THROUGH MEXICO & TO THE GUATEMALAN BORDER and PAYBACK FOR THE COVENANT TO NOT GIVE IN TO THE BRIBE SYSTEM

August 20-27, Sunday
--ON TO GUATEMALA CITY, MEETING A GREAT GUATEMALAN:
Brother Enrique Rittscher, seen below with his wife..... first help offer & RED TAPE: Residency, Duties, Agreements to Borrow & Rent Movies, setting up Bank account, etc.

August 28

FIRST TRIPS TO COBAN -- September 6-25 GETTING ESTABLISHED

September 4-5

FIRST EXPLORATORY TRIP FOR TRAVELING MOVIE

"THE ANDERSEN FAMILY PRIVATE PEACE CORP" BEGINS

September 26-29

THE INAUGURAL FIRST TOUR OF CINE CHAPINLANDIA

Four isolated towns, two with no electricity:

Chicaman, Uspantan, Cunen, & Sacapulas

CINE CHAPINLANDIA A GREAT IDEA…AS AN ALTRUISTIC PROJECT….EXPANDING TO MAKE IT PROFITABLE....BUT MORE WORK!

Adding two more towns with great potential...but even more remote:

AGUACATAN and NEBAJ

December 4:

BOUGHT THE "GRANJA LA CABANA" & ESTABLISHMENT OF FIRST POULTRY FARM IN NORTHERN GUATEMALA

December 24:

LOSSES & MANNA FROM HEAVEN…A SAVING CHRISTMAS GIFT LOST!

This was a $500 check from a Christmas project at the Highland High School LDS Seminary led by my old friend, Weston Killpack, who was the principal. We have said that this was the first help we received in our Guatemalan adventure, but there were others that maybe got to us sooner, like, from the LDS Utah Stake, from my father, and others.

Cristina wanted to try her new scissors...David found a piece of paper!

LOST CHECK FOUND IN A HUNDRED PIECES!

1968

January 2:
FIRST GUATEMALAN BABY BORN his first picture in mother's arms: On January 2, Joseph Albert Andersen was born at the Coban National Hospital, with the help of a midwife. He weighed 8 lbs. 10 oz. I recall the charge for Joey was $6.00!

January 1968:
THE "CABAÑA" FARM EMPLOYEE, MANUEL AJANEL…NEEDING MIRACLE PILL to overcome his alcoholism....where might this lead him over the years?
The teaching began in my calling as a "local missionary" with the authority from Mission President Clark to act as though I was a district president...for a district that didn't exist until 1976.

January:
"CINE CHAPINLANDIA" SUSPENDED BY END OF JANUARY, BUT MOVIE TOOL CONTINUES ON INTO THE FUTURE…TENS OF THOUSANDS OF VIEWERS...Coban Hospital, Women's & Men's jail in Coban, Alcoholics Anonymous San Cristobal, Wall of the Catholic Church in San Cristobal with 600, 800, & 1,000 viewers, Public parks in San Pedro Carcha, Coban, San Juan Chamelco, Tatic, Patzicia, Patzun, Comalapa, etc.

For Example: The TEN COMMANDMENTS movie tour

Above & below, 2 pictures: The Federal Penitentiary EL PAVON

Below: LDS Guatemala City Stake

Above: The Church of the Prince of Peace--Saxsuja, El Polochic where eventually I would preach & make presentations every two weeks.

Below: Open air at the Chulac Cooperative Plantation in the mountains above the Polochic Valley

....and later in the temporary Mormon chapel the Foundation helped construct at Chulac seen below

Above: Literally in hundreds of homes in rural Guatemala & chapels of all kinds of churches

Below: With Mother Teresa's Nuns & project in Guatemala City

....and of course, in THE CENTRAL HOUSE CULTURAL HALL that was used as the first formal Mormon chapel ...

Then later in the FIRST MORMON CHAPEL CONSTRUCTED BY THE CHURCH AT VALPARAISO.....with Cindy Marie Andersen, yet to be born seen on a grown-up Joe's lap, at the Valparaiso Plantation, Santa Cruz Verapaz that on February 2, 1968 became the main location of what became known as
"THE EXPERIMENT"

February 2:
THE VALPARAISO PLANTATION…A SWEETHEART DEAL…ONE SAID A "MIRACLE!"

These aerial photograph were taken a few years after acquiring the property when we had created the lake, and mowed what became known as "The Colony" area in the middle of the picture showing the numerous mounds discovered as part of what was determined had been an "ancient fortified city" of the Nephite civilization, complete with deep fortification trenches on the perimeter of the property & others leading down to the center "last line of defense."

February 1968 to July:
AT VALPARAISO SUPERSTITION, DISTRUST, DRUNKENNESS, THIEVERY REIGNED SUPREME...

....we had our work cut out for us. This was the challenge we came to Guatemala seeking as a testing ground for
"THE STRATEGY...of THE GOOD LIFE"

A KEY PART OF VALPARAISO WAS THE "HAUNTED CENTRAL HOUSE!

WE BEGAN VISITING THE 39 THATCH FAMILY HOMES
& WERE SHOCKED!

CENSUS OF VALPARAISO REVEALS ONGOING DAILY TRAGEDY!

First 6 families with 41 live births, with only 17 still living….24 died by 8 years old…of "coughs," & "diarrhea." Overall: 39 families with 40% of live children dead already, with sick and dying in every home.

The photos above:

To the left I'm visiting one of the thatch homes.."incubators for disease & death"--not one of them had an outhouse. Next: Carlos, then seen with his baby sister, and our Joey. We tried our best but were not able to save Carlos. The family then left Valparaiso saying their home had been cursed by a neighbor...the baby then died too. They then returned realizing we were their friends. Usually we would be asked to help too late...like in the last photo on the right.

INTENSIVE EFFORTS TO SAVE THE DYING BEGIN...JULIE WAS THE NURSE. Thousands of medical treatments were made each year but in the beginning frustrated as most would relapsed due to ignorance and their traditional life style.

WE THEN DOUBLED DOWN BEGINNING CLASSES TO TEACH THEM WHERE DISEASE COMES FROM & HOW TO PREVENT IT

WE BEGAN WITH EDUCATIONAL MOVIES...BY 1969 EXPANDING WITH CREATIVE STRATEGIES TO MAKE EFFECTIVE THE TEACHING.

February-June:
The WORK at VALPARAISO begins our GOOD LIFE Program:
LEARNING WITH A SHOVEL, A CHAIN SAW, SLEDGE HAMMER/WEDGE, FISH NET, A GARDEN CULTIVATOR, etc.

GOOD HARD WORK…
....WITHOUT KNOWING IT, WAS WINNING THE CONFIDENCE OF KEY PEOPLE THAT WOULD MAKE POSSIBLE SURVIVAL & SUCCESS.

MOM, DAD, BROTHER HOWARD & SISTER JOLENE
MAKE FIRST TRIP. DAD BECOMES CONVINCED HE HAD TO DO MORE TO HELP.

MOM IN FRONT OF THE FARM HOUSE.

August:
FINALLY AN HOUR OR TWO OF RELAXATION!

FISHING AT THE LAKE IN SAN CRISTOBAL…JUST MISSED WORLD RECORD BLACK BASS…27 lbs. SOMEONE GOT IT WITH A SPEAR-GUN!

NO PICTURE OF IT WAS EVER TAKEN.

The large mouthed black bass pictured above are all from our own lake over the years...up to 8+ lbs. The middle one with a 1-1/2 lbs. tilapia in its mouth that actually killed the glutton!

September:
SOLD FARM, MOVED EVERYTHING TO VALPARAISO & INVESTED IN NEW BUSINESS PROJECTS:
New coops for poultry, brooder rooms, also pens for hogs, created pastures for cattle, beginning to create lake, fish culture, mechanization with cultivator, chain saw, etc. to provide employment & work projects as teaching tools for vocational students, and for the family's support.

WHILE ALL THOSE THINGS WERE DEVELOPING...THE SUGAR CANE HARVEST CAME TO AN END...AND WE SUPPORTED OURSELVES & PROVIDED WORK BY CLEARING FOREST AREAS AND SELLING FIREWOOD.

September:
DAVID QUITE MIRACULOUSLY SAVED FOR THE SECOND TIME
David loved to be on the plantation, and was always exploring, and helping more and more at 5-1/2 years old. In the above photo he is sitting to the right of Brother Rodas on the projection box--he was already learning to run the 16mm. projector, rewind the films, and more.
Then somehow he made a sort of swan dive... falling headfirst into large rocks along the creek out of the window of what came to be called "the 2nd kitchen," in the Central House. I measured it at 12 ft. We thought his cheek bone and others would have been broken, but he somehow just suffered scratches and a bruise or two. It was what we considered a 2nd miraculous saving, the first at San Carlos Bay in Mexico.

He was already growing
into becoming my 2nd "right hand man," Julie being the first.
Cristina would later follow as my 3rd, "right hand man" with a special calling as the "1st District Welfare Service Missionary" in the history of the LDS Church in the country. Richard & Joey would follow as 4th & 5th "right hand men," working in the vegetable gardens, and eventually keeping the dairy records.

October 10:

WITH SCHOOL OUT FOR JULIE, THE FAMILY MOVED TO VALPARAISO......

.......TO LIVE IN THE CENTRAL HOUSE with Manuel & Julia, who had insisted on continuing with us when the Farm was sold, and Brother Alfredo Rodas. Three additional rooms were brooders for chicks. Soon, what eventually became the living room, was first used for feed production with a hammer mill there, the Honda cultivator--with power take-off, brought in to operate it. We began our day at 6:00 AM with Devotional, studying, singing & praying, and once there was a growing group of orphan children, and needy mothers with children, we would get together every evening, as seen in the above photo, to read, and sing with an occasional movie, then Family Prayer.

October 30:
PROPANE EXPLOSION IN BROODER ROOM, Manuel was shot out of the brooder room like a canon ball…. barely escaped death, but in for many months of treatment. I do not have a photo of Manuel after the explosion, but do have this one of him and Julia about 45 years later when he became the Patriarch of the Coban LDS Stake. Years before he was the District President of the Coban District. Back to 1968, he and Julia had been scheduled to be baptized the next day....but...the EXPLOSION set that back 6 months or so.

CONFERENCE IN COBAN BRANCH, BAPTISM CANCELLED DUE TO MANUEL'S ACCIDENT.

November 1-10:
MIGUEL ISHMAEL CHAVEZ--16 YEAR OLD MOVIE ANNOUNCER FROM AGUACATAN APPEARS & BECOMES PART OF OUR GROWING FAMILY.

Here Miguel is working with the "colonos" removing water weeds in

preparation to fill the lake behind the new dam that Alfrido Rodas had frantically put together when he heard important visitors were coming....doing so with rocky, porous materials....

December:
FLURRY OF ACTIVITY CONTINUES; LAKE FULL THEN DAM BREAKS….HAVE TO DO IT MY WAY THIS TIME RENTING A BULLDOZER and doing it with solid red clay packed down with no rocks that would permit seepage.

December 29, Sunday:

MEETING WITH FATHERS COMPARING TWO LIVES:

Poor, unhealthy home, no outhouse, no full time employment, family always sick, no money for medicines or doctors, children not in school, depressing, drinks a lot.

vs.

Father with good job, clean healthy home & home site with outhouse, healthy children with good food, all going to school, & happy.

SOME FATHERS BEGINNING TO AGREE...THEN A NEARLY VIOLENT

CONFRONTATION WITH MACHETES & DEBATE WITH WITCH DOCTOR!

DIDN'T SLEEP WELL THAT NIGHT IMAGINING REVENGE....BUT JUST THE OPPOSITE ON THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL IN JANUARY!

December:
WORKER IMPORTED FROM SAN CRISTOBAL TO CARE FOR HOGS…, AS "COLONOS" STILL RESISTED ACCEPTING FULL-TIME WORK, & THE CENTRAL HOUSE FAMILY GROWS:
Abundio Yat Gonzalez, wife, Carmelina, sons Carlos (14), Rueben (5), & Victor Ramon "Moncho" (2) invited to Valparaiso, living in an abandoned home near the lake. Soon Abundio was fired for drinking, and family abuse.

Mother & 3 boys moved to Central House, the boys calling me "Papa,"
along with 300 others over the years.

OUR BELIEF WAS THAT "TO HELP THEM WE SHOULD LIVE WITH THEM, & LOVE THEM AS BROTHERS and SISTERS" AS HAD BEEN DONE ANCIENTLY BY AMMON. WE SEE THE BELIEF IN ACTION WITH RICHARD, and DAVID STROLLING DOWN THE ROAD, ARM IN ARM AS BROTHERS WITH BAREFOOT RUEBEN.

December:
THE GROWING FAMILY SEEMS TO BE THE BEGINNING OF FULFILLMENT OF PART OF MY PATRIARCHAL BLESSING.

"….there are chosen spirits who will love to come to your home and call you their father…"

BY THE END OF 1968 THERE WERE 15 OF US AS THE "CENTRAL HOUSE FAMILY." 1969 WOULD SEE OUR NUMBERS DOUBLE, THEN TRIPLE.

December 1968:

THE YEAR--1968--ENDED WITH US MAKING PLANS TO OPEN A SCHOOL MID-JANUARY 1968. WE HAD ALREADY STARTED, ME TEACHING AN AFTER WORK CLASS WITH THOSE WORKERS INTERESTED...using the feed warehouse.