A BEAUTIFUL PHOTO ALBUM of the LAND OF ETERNAL SPRING & THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MAYA

A PHOTO ALBUM 
of 
THE LAND of ETERNAL SPRING 

Note:  I will gradually add captions, titles and many more photographs that might go on forever!

Remember, "EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY! What might this one be--and the next, the following?

Above and below we see the Cakchiquel town of Patzun before the Earthquake almost destroyed the entire town.

As explained in the MAYA BOOK, after the GREAT EARTHQUAKE of 1976 that killed 25,000 Guatemalans.....

.....in PATZUN, we see again after the earthquake, with the help of my representative there.....Miguel Ajpop.....

.....we found a hamlet—LAS MERCEDES—of the Patzun Village of Saquiya, whose people had not received any help and they were very needy and  so overwhelmingly friendly, welcoming and willing to work to help themselves and their neighbors that for several years I established myself there as my headquarters where I would spend every other week my first quite frantic activity was to treat the sick, malnourished  and wounded....

......while getting the men organized to put up the buildings we would need for community gatherings, adult literacy classes and the strawberry project.  We called the project 

THE CENTER FOR INDIAN DEVELOPMENT —EL CID #2

For my week in the Cakchiquel area I lived in the thatch Cultural Hall we all  built together you see in the picture above, and from there also established projects in a rural area of Patzicia among very needy LDS people, and in Comalapa with my representative, Rigoberto Misa mentioned prominently in my book.

Part of the project was to help them legally organize a CREDIT COOPERATIVE that included their store we see above.

With the help of my brother, Carl Jacob, we introduced the production of strawberries in Las Mercedes.

In the CULTURAL HALL during the day we had adult literacy classes for the women.

In the evenings we had community meetings, educational and commercial movies each with a specific purpose to awaken, enlighten and entertain, like the Cantiflas movie, EL ANALFABETO, THE RETURN of a  MAN CALLED HORSE, etc. 

We helped them  build a temporary school it being one of the first to be functioning in the country  and below we see an actual school we built in cooperation with the Canadian Embassy.   It was a simple school you see below that was the first in the entire earthquake area to actually begin functioning.  

Later we cooperated with the SAQUIYA VILLAGE to build them a new school for the entire village which is the huge thatch building seen here.  Forgive me for not having a good photograph.  Many of my slides over the years were fuined with fungus due to the high humidity where we lived.

Now, on to  beautiful LAKE ATITLAN

Below, the LDS COBAN Branch in 1967

Beautiful Kekchi sister CARLOTA de YALIBAT, one of the key original members of the LDS Church in Coban, Alta Verapaz.  She previously had taught two Baptist missionary sisters her dialect, and then helped them with the first translation of the NEW TESTAMENT into her native Mayan language.  Later she became the first among her people to be called as a local missionary and was the first to preach the gospel in Kekchi, her first teaching experience, told in my book, with her first investigator revealing a visionary experience that led to her conversion

Her lesson was surprisingly well-received, and Sister Yalibat asked Elvira what she thought about it?

She replied:

“The time Elder Andersen and his companion prayed for me when I was sick, the Lord appeared to me and told me that the time would come when I would be taught  what he was preaching and that I should believe because it is true.”

Here I am with the INFANT INDIAN QUEEN of Santa Cruz Verapaz, in their annual Indian Folklore Festival which we sponsored for 14 consequtive years.

Cecilia Jul, raised in the Central House as one of our "MOB" and  one of our candidates and winner as Indian Queen of Santa Cruz  Verapaz.

Below I am crowning one of our Indian Queens in Santa Cruz Verapaz, as I did most of the 14 years we sponsored the wonderful event.

After we returned to the U.S. in 2002 the Foundation's Regional Director, and my brother, Federico Veliz, one of the TWELVE STRONG and "VOLUNTEER of all VOLUNTEERS" in the MAYA BOOK, along with another of the beautiful Queens we sponsored in the event.

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EASTER SUNDAY -- DIA de la RESURRECCION and the Maya/Poqomchi Legend of the Holy Man -- La Leyenda de Nahual Gwinak--El Hombre Divino

Click para 

UN MENSAJE ESPECIAL para EL DIA DE LA RESURRECCION--LA LEYENDA de NAHUAL GWINAK--THE HOLY MAN 

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