Temple flowers--another project finished :-)

In August, while Gerhard was working with the men from Salt Lake and from here who were busy with laying new carpet, repainting inside and out, and fixing air conditioning systems, etc., one of the women's projects was put on hold. Sis. Dyer had told us that a woman was coming to put new flowers in the temple, too, but that didn't happen at that time. Finally schedules were worked out and on Monday, Nov. 3, Sis. Nina Johnston arrived. Sis. Oropeza and I were going to redo our shifts so Sis. Dyer could spend the three days learning about flower arrangements. Our plans really got changed!

Sis. Dyer called from the temple about 10:00 A.M. to ask if I could come over and be with Sis. Johnston. As we found out, that morning Pres. Dyer had picked up Sis. Johnston at the airport and driven her to the temple where Pres. Oropeza was in charge of the Monday cleaning. When he saw that Pres. Dyer's right eye was completely bloodshot, he called Sis. Oropeza who is a a registered nurse to bring her blood pressure kit. Pres. Dyer had a very high blood pressure reading, so they called Dr. Aguilar, a member of one of the stake presidencies, who put Pres. Dyer on immediate bed rest.

I became the translator/helper for the next three days, and the counselors divided up the responsibilities so Pres. Dyer could be at home that week. Sis. Johnston had been in the Cd. Juarez Temple, the Col. Juarez Temple, and the VeraCruz Temple earlier, so she brought greetings from friends, and expressed her love and appreciation for what she had learned about the history and the present-day lives of the people who have been such good influences in our lives. As she worked, she told stories of her life, and of answers to her prayers that led to her service for the past 5 1/2 years as a temple missionary. Learning the fascinating anecdotes of Divine guidance in her work and travels was a great privilege. Besides listening to her, I helped with little jobs like stuffing the vases with florist foam, washing the flowers that had become soiled in their two month wait in Mexico City, putting the metal tips on the stems so the flowers would stand straight, hand shaping flowers that had been squashed into their wrappings and using the heat from a blow dryer to open the calla lilies, and that was fun.

As mealtime approached, I was getting worried about what to fix for Sis. Johnston to eat, since we hadn't gone grocery shopping for ten days while Gerhard was working on the PowerPoint presentation that he gave in Ticul. About noontime, one of the temple workers came to the door with a plate of pibis (traditional Yucatan food for the Day of the Dead), that she had said she would bring for us to try. That reinforced for me that keeping a little promise is very important.
With that, we had enough dinner to stretch a couple of sloppy joes --Hannah Call's recipe of course-- and some cheese sauce on cooked cabbage, with peach yogurt and cookies for dessert.

Fortunately, Pres. Dyer's pressure reacted well to the medicine and rest, so Sis. Dyer was able to spend a couple of hours several times a day over the next two days with our "flower lady" who worked tirelessly and even took one arrangement for the Dyer's apartment to work on at the hotel the last night.

The last evening, Sis. Oropeza and I were invited to choose what we wanted from the old arrangements and the leftover flowers and greenery to decorate our apartments. The Oropezas chose calla lilies, so Sis. Johnston made a bouquet for their TV cabinet. She supervised while I practiced what I had watched her do, and unexpectedly, we have something beautiful to remember this time, and how cheerful service brings blessings, especially when life springs a surprise.


Gerhard was very helpful, especially by showing her how to adjust the machine that put the metal tips on, since she was missing a part of it. He helped us carry the garbage out when she was finished, and as usual watched for anything that might be useful. As we stood by the door waiting for the Oropezas to come with their car to take Sis. Johnston to her hotel, he brought out his arrangement -- SURPRISE!!