Guatemala- volcanos- the gate to hell some say -communist try a take over-

     After we left Honduras we went to Guatemala city.   This city in Central America is 4,000 feet in the mountains of the country of Guatemala.  It has a perfect climate of 65 to 75 degrees almost year round.  We loved living in Guatemala.   We were able to rent a house that had 10 bedrooms and 5 bath rooms for only  $ 300 a month .  It is the only time we had a house big enough for all my books,  gospel magic, and our 3 kids etc.  The city of Guatemala is surrounded by volcanos.   They have the water volcano, the smoking volcano, and the fire volcano.  You can actually see the fire coming out of the fire volcano as you drive around  the city on the freeway.   The local people say that Guatemala is , " the gate to hell" that is why they have all these volcanos.  

     While we were there a lot of strange things happened.   First the communist tried to take over the country by force.   They communist had  small groups  agitating everywhere in the country. 

      We had a friend named Larry Boggs who was a missionary working with some people way out in the mountains.  I told him one time that he had better move into the city where it was safer.  But he said that everybody knew him, and that he wasn't involved in any of the political stuff.  Boy, was he wrong.   He had some friends visiting from the U.S.A.   One night he saw somebody in the bushes in  his front yard .  It looked like kids playing hide and seek.  So he went outside and got down in the bushes and asked them what they were doing.  All of the sudden the man in the bushes put a machine gun in his face and trold him to get back in theb house.  Now he knew he had a real problem. 

     Larry had a ham radio and a big antenna on his roof.  He looked like a spy station to say the least.  The communist put a bomb on his roof right where the antenna was.  And about 12:00 p.m. they blew up his house with his family and friends inside.  Miraculously,  no one was seriously hurt.  The police station only 2 blocks away did not investigate until 10:00 a.m.  the next day.  They were too afraid.  At that point Larry realized that he should move into the capitol were it was safer.  He is still in Guatemala city today.

     The communist shot and killed a mennonite missionary right in front of his wife and kids in another town not far away from the bombing.  This mennonite said that he was going to move when they told him to, but he waited too long and they shot him.  It was such a sad situation. 

     While we were in the U.S.A. in some special meeting,  friends who were staying in our house told us that the communist shot our neighbor across the  street.  And that 3 men with machine guns showed next door looking for a friend of ours.   While a friend was visiting our house they shot a man in the street right in front of our house.   They  girl  who answered the door  grabbed him by the hand and pulled him inside,  and told him to told to be very quite because he was a witness.    Another time he was driving on the freeway in the city , when the van back doors opened to the car in front of him , and the communist dumped a dead body out on the street right in front of him.  He almost hit the dead man.  

     By the time we returned 6 months later , the government  had declared martial law so we moved to Puerto Rico  and spent the next 10 years there.   Guatemala was indeed a weird and strange place.