Our Trip Through Another Part of El Salvador

Dear Family and Friends, We have seen another part of this beautiful country. This time we went through the dairy country. We saw holstein and brauma cattle. The herds were usually 20 to 30 cattle. We were in the sugar cane area also. There are huge plantations of sugar cane and even John Deer tractors and plows. The plantations were guarded by guards in guard houses. The plantation owners homes were huge and very beautiful with the workers living in small homes with outside fires to cook on. There is a big difference between rich and poor. On our way to the beach, we went through a section that had real damage from the flooding earlier this year. The first picture is the railroad tracks. You can see the two lines of the tracks with nothing at all under them. It is amazing that the tracks stayed there as the rest of the earth was swept away. The coconut are being harvested now, picture two, and the sugar cane. It is a sugar cane field behind the truck. The workers use their machetes to cut the stocks, put them in bundles and load them on big trucks to go to the factory. The coconut harvesters climb up the trees barefoot, tie a rope around the bundle, cut the bundle from the tree and lower them to the ground. The house we went to was very nice, 5 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms. Picture 3 A member of our ward owns the house. We were celebrating the 25th wedding anniversary of Pres and sis Lopez, our stake president and the temple recorder. Picture 4 shows the ocean with Sister Lopez, Trent Kitley, Pres Lopez, Bishop Mendez (not our bishop but another recorder at the Temple) and me. We should be feeling guilty enjoying all this warm weather while so many of you are freezing at home, but that is one thing that we sure are not missing!! especially the cold wind!!! The temple was full to overflowing on Friday and Saturday. The saints from Honduras came in buses. They have about an 8 hour ride, depending on how long they are stuck at the boarder, this group had a 3 hour wait. Their Temple will be finished next year so they won't have to come so far anymore. We will be glad for them but will miss their sweet spirit here. We had 40 come to the temple for the first time Which really kept our little temple hopping. We hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season with all its sounds, smells, and excitement. We can't believe it is almost here, time sure goes fast for us. We send our love to all Lon and Nancy

Christmas Decorations and Performances

We Have Three Days in our Week, Sunday, Monday and Temple

     Especially on the AM shift, that is how we feel. And we play so hard on Sunday and Monday that we start the week out tired. I guess My Heavenly Father knew how hard this Christmas was going to be without our kids and grandkids. We have never not had at least one of the kids with us for the holidays and Jaikka has never had Christmas with out us. Anyway, our stake choir is putting on a Devotional on the 18th and Lon and I were asked to sing. Well, he was ok with it until they passed out the Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah. Lon decided to be our photographer instead. We have had two practices a week for 2 to 3 hours each time. On Sat night, we sang for 30 minutes in front of the Temple and on Sunday we left the Temple grounds in the big yellow school bus for the Salvador del Mundo park to sing

      It was the government's Christmas party to start the Christmas season. We were the only group to sing or say anything about our Savior. We sang only Christmas carols from the hymn book so Lon sang with us. It was fun. I have been asked to sing "O holy Night" with a violin and piano and two aires from the Messiah, O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings, and He Shall Feed His Flock. Boy. am I in over my head. Luckily, Hallelujah is the same in Spanish and English so I have very few words to learn in Spanish for that one. O Holy Night, I am singing one verse in Spanish and the next in English and the two aires from the Messiah are only in English. Lon is such a big support. He tags along for all the practices cause he is my companion. It makes for long Sat and Sundays for us.

 

     Lon and I are singing a duet on Sunday, the 11th, then the choir is singing for the Temple Worker's Devotional at 4:00 then practicing again. The weeks just fly by for us. We do look forward to sleeping in tomorrow morning. If I don't have to set an alarm I feel much more rested to get up naturally. It is school break here, no school til the middle of January, like our summer break at home, and the people are on vacation with their kids so the Temple has been very slow. We read that the temperature in Jerome was 4, burrrr, and we still are in shirt sleeves, in fact today we spent the day at the beach. I'll fill you in on that trip next week. We hope you are enjoying the music, the lights, the smells of the Christmas season without all the hustle and bustle. We send our love to all Lon and Nancy

Happy Thanksgiving

     First of all we want to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving. We celebrated ours on Monday with the Temple missionaries and the Temple Presidency and even had two of Pres Majano's grandchildren. We had a feast of a king. I opted to eat very little potatoes and turkey so I could concentrate on the desserts. Unfortunately, my stomach didn't feel too good at the end of the day. I was fed my turkey dinner Tuesday after the Temple with leftovers which was very good. Next time I will eat dinner then the dessert two hours later. Sister Petersen wanted to make this Thanksgiving very special for us, from the table setting to the name tags, even had Indian head dresses for the men with Pilgram hats for the women. It was a very special day that we will cherish always.

     Now for the more important (interesting) news happening, I went GOLFING. It was a very enjoyable day even though we were only able to play nine holes. It is a very beautiful golf course. I did not score well, but there was a reason why I didn't other than my ability. Down here you have to hire a caddie. And the caddie carries the score card and marks your ball, and knows all the rules. Therefore, there was no foot wedges and no mulligans because all caddies look out for their players. Therefore I had 4 double boogies, 4 boogies, and one par. But I did not go out of bounds. We had to rent clubs. I went with Trent Kitley and Eric Behner. Eric is the club member and without him you will not golf down here. Luckily we found him. He is married to a member in our ward, even though he is not a member. He is like Jim J. a super great guy, but doesn't golf as good as Jim. It is not a poor mans game down here. It costs $22.00 just to go through the gate, $12.00 for club rental, $15.00 for the caddie, $50.00 to golf one hole or 18, and then you are expected to buy the caddies a sandwich and a drink. If you were in Vegas or Sun Valley or Hawaii that would be cheap. Therefore we will probably only golf once a month. The grass down here is quack grass and so the ball doesn't go into thick grass and it is easy to hit off the fairways. The greens are very nice and the fairways are about like the Muni in Twin Falls. The view is gorgeous as you will see in the pictures I am sending. I wish now that I would have brought my clubs but Eric has the same driver that I have and I put some clubs together at the club house which worked well. They even have hybrids. One good thing is while you are in snow Dec, Jan and Feb and part of March, we will be golfing early to get away from the heat. The golf course is by Lake Ilopango, where we went last month on our trip to San Sebastian. It is about 45 minutes away. It is interesting to watch them mow the course with hand lawn mowers, not even self propelled ones and trim with machetes. And the course is very well kept. You will notice the big canal down the middle of the course, in some rainy seasons the course is flooded and so they put in the canal to keep the course from flooding and it runs into the lake. I promise next time I go golfing my score will be better as I am taking a pencil with an eraser. And it may cost an extra $20.00 to my caddie but my score will improve. I miss golfing with Gene, Kurt, Ken, Jim, Al, Deloy and especially Larry in Buhl. Again we want to wish each of you a Happy Thanksgiving. We are truely blessed to live in America and we all need to count our blessings and give thanks to our Heavenly Father for all we have, even our trials, for they will make us better people. We send our love to all. Lon and Nancy

PS Go Broncos

Textiles Barahona

Last Monday we headed for the Craft Route of El Salvador. The internet told us of Ilobasco, the Ceramic center of the country, the producer of the famous miniature ceramics. It was a quaint town with shops all up and down the street selling ceramics of all kinds. We went to the factory and saw the kelms and wheels and ect of the production of the ceramics.  This picture is of the drying room.

 This is the the pottery we came home with. The little Christmas tree top comes up and the nativity is inside.

They have all kinds of things inside just about anything you can imagine. We spent a few hours there then headed to the Textile Factory in San Sebastian . "The craftsmanship of San Sebastian is only in El Salvador, you cannot find anything like it elsewhere and that is why loom work has become a way of life for many who live in this beautiful town. It is believed that it was the Spanish who introduced the treadle loom in this area, but certainly the people of San Sebastian has his own touch to the clothing they make."The internet had us real excited to see this factory. We drove up and down narrow streets looking for the factory. The picture below is of the front door of the "factory". We went into the front room, which is the sales room lined with shelves filled with beautiful table clothes, shawls, towels, hammocks. We went through the kitchen and out into the factory.

 Under the loofing sheds, with chickens and dogs running around, were the treadle looms.

It was so amazing and such a shock. These men work for two years with no pay to learn the art then work from 6 am to 6 pm for $4.00 a day. The foot pedals were like watching someone play the organ pedals. Each pedal was hooked to a different color of yarn. I can't even imagine how exhausting it would be to sit on the boards for 12 hours a day.

We each came away with a few treasures, We probably helped with a few months of wages. They made bedspreads with birds, tigers, even winnie the pooh! It was a great day, we didn't get home till after 7:00 and we saw the city for the first time in the dark. The driving was even more scarry in the dark. I don't think there is a tree anywhere that doesn't have a house behind it, There were lights all over the mountains. We are celebrating Thanksgiving next Monday here. The temple will be open as usual on Thursday. With all the warm temperatures and sunshine it is hard to believe that it is November. We send our love to all. We wish you a great Thanksgiving with lots of family around and plenty to eat. Remember to give thanks for all you have, because you really are blessed with so much more than others have.The Temple continues to be busy and the weeks just fly by for us. We are on the PM shift for a week and are looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow. We are happy to be here and enjoy the friendship of so many wonderful people here. May God Bless you in all you do. Love Lon and Nancy 

Sorry to be Late, but I Have Been Fighting With my Computer Again!

Dear Family and Friends, We went on a Mission Sightseeing trip on Monday and didn't get home till after 7:00. By the time we had supper and got lunches ready for Tuesday the day was gone and it was time to get to bed cause we are on the AM shift this week. Tuesday after our shift, I had another fight with my computer. I was trying to download pictures of our trip so I could send you some, but all I succeeded in doing was changing my screen saver to a picture that I was trying to discard. Oh such fun!!!! Lon wants to share with you some photos he took of our grounds keepers here at the Temple. These men work 6 days a week, 7 hours a day, and make $25.00 a week. They are working on the flower beds. They go outside the Temple grounds and fill up their wheel borrows with dirt haul them up the driveway to the flower beds. After the men with the red buckets sprinkle the fertilizer on the beds they put more dirt around the flowers. If we had the technology that we have at home, this would be no trouble at all, but these men would have no way to feed their families.

We went from too much rain, to sprinkling the grounds. We left our apartments at 9:00 on Monday and drove through the downtown area of San Salvador. I can see why they don't want us to go there to shop. I'm just a country girl and this city just boggles my mind. There are soooo many people here. The downtown was filled with shops and people so thick you couldn't even walk. We didn't get out of the car, just drove through and saw the Presidential Palace. And I have to admit the streets were very dirty. Here in the Temple compound, it is easy to forget that we are living in a third world country, but go a few blocks from home and it is apparent real quick. We went north east of the city to Lago de Ilopango. It was a volcano that erupted and is filled with water then the volcano erupted several more times to create the islands in the lake. The picture just doesn't do it justice. It was beautiful.  

All along the road was forest, I thought. As we were looking at the lake, I heard children. After a closer look, We could see the metal roofs of houses all along the trees. When we read that there was 850 people per square mile here, they were wrong. There is no way to count these people. There are houses everywhere, outside of the city they are all dirt floors with walls of corrugated metal. The smell of open fires is all over also cause that is how they cook. Once you leave the city, these missionaries say that nothing has changed since they were here 50 years ago. We traveled about 45 minutes from the city to the town of Ilobasco. It is famous for its miniature ceramics. We went to the ceramic workshop where they make the ceramics and walked the streets shopping in the little shops that line the main street. Then we went to San Sebastian where the Spanish introduced the treadle loom. We went right to the factory to see how the famous textiles are made. You won't believe this. But you will have to wait for a week. I'll get this computer to cough up my pictures, they are in there someplace. We had 25 young stripling worriers in the Temple today. The mission president is sending 25 young missionaries to the temple each day this week. What an inspiring sight. Lon and I sang with the Stake Choir on Sunday for Stake Conference. It was such fun. They are very good with excellent pianist and director. The music was fast, "Behold the Royal Army" so I really had to work on the words all week. They are starting to work on Christmas music for a fireside and invited us to sing with them again. This time they are practicing in our stake building right here in the Temple compound so we will be able to practice. I don't know if Lon is as excited as I am about it, but he is my companion so he will go with me. Thank you for your continued prayers in our behalf. We are healthy and able to keep up with the demands of our schedules because of you. We are so thrilled to be here and get to know these special children of our Heavenly Father, to be able to help them learn of Him in His Temple. We hope each of you will truly count your many blessings this Thanksgiving. We are a blessed nation and people. We have so much more than these people, we should be the happiest people on the earth. A quick question for all the cooks out there. There are some things that just are not found in the stores here. I would like to make the Chicken Pockets for a Sunday Dinner but there are no refrigerator Crescent rolls here. Can I use any roll recipe, pizza crust recipe, or bread recipe for them? I do not have a crescent roll recipe. Let me know what you think, and if you have a good crescent roll recipe please it. Lon thinks that this is a lot of work and we should just have hot dogs. Yuk. We love you Lon and Nancy

Wheat must be like gold!

This past week we had our sisters brunch with the embassy girls. They had hygiene kits for us to put together for the rain victums. we did 50 kits. The girls said that they had found out where to buy whole wheat, it is not in the stores. We decided to go after 50 pounds to split up and share. I didn't know wheat was such a big item that it is under strict rules and heavy guards. We drove to an old volcano crater. As we saw it from the top it was filled with warehouses and silo's. We went down into it and as we came to the warehouse, we parked and only one person was to go to the window to order the wheat. We sent two. No camera's were allowed and no children even in the car. We got the order form, paid for the wheat then drove through an armed gate to get the 50 pound bag. We were not allowed out of the car so we popped the trunk, drove back to the armed gate where they checked the bag then left the crater. I have never seen so many guards with guns in one place. We were a little nervous and were glad to get out of there. We came back to the apartments to split up the wheat, only to discover that the girls got regular flour instead of wheat. The girls were so disappointed that they actually went back the next day for the wheat. I have just baked 5 loaves of wheat bread and Lon thinks that he has died and gone to heaven. It was quite an adventure for a bunch of grandma's. I can't believe how big the area was and there is no wheat flour in any of the stores. I wonder what they do with it? Anyway, there will be no pictures of the place but the bread is wonderful. Saturday was a very busy day at the Temple. We had six buses here at one time, I only got 5 of them in the picture though. There were people everywhere. It was a great day. Families come together on the buses (I think I probably road on some of these buses when I was a kid, they are so old) They bring the whole family and take turns watching the little ones. I have been asked to play the keyboard for Stake Conference the Saturday night session and play for the Stake choir. One of our embassy girls will be leading the music, the director and pianist have a concert then so they can't do the music. Lon and I are singing with the choir on Sunday morning. We haven't been able to practice with them till last night cause they have been practicing in another building and we have no transportation. The music isn't too hard, it is getting the words out that will be a challenge. It is good for me though, the more I speak or sing the Spanish the better I will be with it. Next Monday we are planning our monthly outing. We are going to a little town about an hour away and see the sights. It will be another adventure, but this time the men will be with us. It might be Tuesday before I get a chance to write and tell you about it, depending on what time we get home. We hope you enjoy a beautiful fall, we do miss the fall colors and the crisp mornings this time of year. We are doing great, walking 6 days a week, watching any of the college football games that we can get, and enjoying our time in the Temple with these loving, humble people. Thank you for your prayers. You are in our thoughts and prayers always. Love to all Lon and Nancy

The Best Medical Advice... ;-)

Lon received this email and had to share it with you. He is considering some of the advice, like not having to exercise, and diet foods, and pills. We thought you would enjoy it. The rain has finally stopped and the sun is out. It is so nice to see the sun again. It got kind of depressing so I had to buy an evergreen tree (Lon thinks it looks like a Christmas tree) and I put lights on it. No decorations (yet) but it brightened up our apartment. The people do not have washers and dryers so the sun was a welcome friend so they can get their laundry done. We were pretty much stuck in the apartment the past ten days as well. No one wanted to walk to the mall in the downpour. It rained for 10 days and nights. Our primary program was Sunday. We have about 30 children in our priimary, about 10 english and the rest San Salvadoran. They sang one song in English and the rest was all in Spanish, the English kids did their parts all in Spanish, even the 4 and 5 year olds can speak real good Spanish. The primary pianist is 10 years old. He plays for primary every week, his mother is the chorister. One or two songs were only one hand but the rest of the songs were the whole accompaniement. It was amazing to watch him. We are on the PM shift this week and we look forward to sleeping in to at least 7:00 or later. We send our love and hope each of you are well and enjoying a beautiful fall. We do miss the fall colors. Everything is so green still here. The schools today told the kids that they didn't have to wear their uniforms because it was an "artic" day. They felt it was too cold for the uniforms, it was probably down to 70 today with a slight breeze blowing. We really enjoyed it and walked to the mall to do some grocery shopping . Have a great week. We will. Love Lon and nancy
Love this Doctor!

Q : Doctor, I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true?
A: Heart only good for so many beats, and that it... Don't waste on exercise. Everything wear out eventually. Speeding up heart not make you live longer; it like saying you extend life of car by driving faster. Want to live longer? Take nap.

Q : Should I reduce my alcohol intake?
A: Oh no. Wine made from fruit. Brandy distilled wine, that mean they take water out of fruity bit so you get even more of goodness that way. Beer also made of grain. Bottom up!

Q : How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?
A: Well, if you have body and you have fat, your ratio one to one. If you have two body, your ratio two to one.

Q : What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program?
A: Can't think of single one, sorry. My philosophy: No pain...good!

Q : Aren't fried foods bad for you?
A: YOU NOT LISTENING! Food fried in vegetable oil. How getting more vegetable be bad?

Q : Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?
A: Oh no! When you exercise muscle, it get bigger. You should only be doing sit-up if you want bigger stomach.

Q : Is chocolate bad for me?
A: You crazy?!? HEL-LO-O!! Cocoa bean! Another vegetable! It best feel-good food around!

Q : Is swimming good for your figure?
A: If swimming good for figure, explain whale to me.

Q : Is getting in shape important for my lifestyle?
A: Hey! 'Round' is shape!

 Well... I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.

Dear Family and Friends

We just spent the day at the beach. It took about 30 minutes to drive to Luicito's Ranch. We thought we were going to a ranch that was on the ocean, but it was a house that is a vacation rental on the beach. It is the rainy season, so we had the beach to ourselves. In Feb, March, and April the tourists come. All along this section of ocean were these "ranches". Each one had a swimming pool. this one had three bedrooms, two baths, a pool and another bathroom and changing rooms by the pool. We had a man climb the coconut tree and cut down a bunch of coconuts for us to try. They were not ripe and did not taste good. The water is not cold, just luke warm. It was a real relaxing day. Conference was great. we had the three days off and it was much needed. We are ready to go back to work tomorrow. We are on the PM shift for this week, YEA!! I really don't like getting up early. We went to the fish market, smelly! Lots of fish that I could not name. Last monday we spent the morning at the Immigration office trying to get the paperwork done for our 1 year visa's. We are here on three month visa's now. We had to get fingerprinted and pictures taken but mostly I think they just wanted the money, $240.00 for the two of us. Sharon, I don't know how many wards are in Bosser City, but the Kitleys kids just moved there. He is a chiropractor and their name is the Ericksons. I was sitting on a chair at the temple and had my legs out in front of me when a sister walked by and bumped into my legs. She said that my legs were so long and I was really tall. I told her that that was the first time I had been called tall in my whole life. She couldn't believe it and wanted to know how tall my siblings and kids were. Aunt Alice, thank you so much for letting us know about Aunt Ann. We have had her name on the prayer roll and are so glad that she is feeling better. Ron, Lon wants to hear all about the big elk that you get. We really enjoy the rainy season. The thunder and lightning are amazing and the rain comes down in buckets for ten to 20 minutes then the sun comes out and it doesn't even look like it rained at all. I told the people that I didn't even own an umberella in Idaho and didn't need one. Lon and I have been asked to sing a duet in Sacrament meeting this month. I think we will sing "I am a Child of God" We are singing in the ward choir. I have attached a couple of pictures for you. I wish pictures could really show the deep greens and flowers that are here. Every thing is so pretty. We are getting over a sinus infection, I last week and Lon this week. We've had a few sick people at the temple. They shared with us. But we are feeling better and ready to go to work. Thank you all for your prayers and support. We feel the strength of your prayers in our behalf. You are all in our prayers also. We send all our love Lon and Nancy

You Have Been Found (hopefully)

Well last week my LDSMail email account decided to erase all my email addresses. For the first time since we arrived, I really felt alone and far from home. I never thought I would enjoy email so much. It has taken a week, but I think we have you back. We'll see how many addresses don't go through. Last week was San Salvador's independence day and instead of going to the mountains or the beach, the people came to the temple. We were so busy. It was exhausting and wonderful. We had a couple of rain storms that were unreal. The thunder and lightning were frightening and the rain wow. I left the temple, had about 30 yards to our apartment and arrived soaked. My hair was dry cause I had my umberella though. We are on the same time as Idaho right now. We will not change with day light savings though. We have found the sweetest bananas. They are about 6" long and green. If you wait for them to turn yellow, they are too ripe. The local oranges are green and the lemons are green. We took our first walk outside our gated community. A few of us walked to the Multi Plaza while the others rode in the Presidents van. We won't all fit in the van at one time. The Multi Plaza is three stories with parking below that. We have a huge Sears, Payless Shoes, Hallmark, Radio Shack and more shoe stores than I have ever seen in one place. There are some cute stores that carry only local items. We had lunch at Tony Ramas. We can walk from there, over the street on a walk way to the Walmart plaza. Now we don't have to rely on a member or a taxi to get us to the store. The President brings all the packages home in the van and we walk so we can all go shopping at the same time. It is amazing how long it takes to get a home stocked with food so you don't have to shop every week. We are finding almost everything we need, sometimes in a little different way. No cool whip-have to whip my own; no ranch dressing so we have given up on it; the milk in the gallon goes bad before we can drink all of it so we have found their milk in cartons that don't need refrigerated, like soy milk, only real milk. It is real good milk. We went to our first baptism in our ward. I learned how to make pupuses! Sister Majano, the first counseler's wife, taught us for home evening. They are not made like I had expected. They are good, only mine will be made with hamburger instead of sausage, and different cheeses. We still think Arapa's are better. The tortilla's here are not thin, they are about 4" round and 1/2" thick. And you have to be careful when you order quesadeas. They are a sweet bread that looks like corn bread and can have corn, nuts, raisins,and you don't know what else in them. Back to email addresses, I have a couple that I have wrong, If any of you can help me find the correct address please send them to me. Dennis and Diana Petersen, John Maybe you have this one? Gene Van Wagner, Charlotte could you try to call him?, Cecilia Worthington, Jerome people? Thank you. I have attached a couple of pictures, Mindi didn't believe that her dad can do laundry so the first is lon doing the laundry, then a picture of a pickup with school kids heading home from school, President Petersen with a woman who is 100 years old, notice where the door knob is, a pupusa, our front room and our trip out of our secure little world. I hope you all are well and happy. We sure are. We have the am shift this week so we have to be to the temple by 6:00. We send our love to all. Lon and Nancy

 

To Kyleigh, Mason, Riley, Aydan, Dillon, Ryanne, Gideon, Jaikka, Nathan, Hannah, Issac, Chandler, Ashton and Eisley

Yesterday I met a woman who was about my age, and she couldn't read anything. She couldn't even find her locker to get her purse because she couldn't read the numbers. I want to remind you all that school is a priviledge. You are blessed to live in a time and place where you can learn and become anything you want to be. Please work hard and don't take school for granted. Some people do not have that priviledge. Her parents didn't have the money to send her to school and she lived out too far to walk to school. She had to work to be able to eat. If you are able to be in sports, or music, or dance, or drama, be sure to work hard at it too and be thankful that your parents are willing to sacrifice so you can do that. You each have great parents who love you so much. Grandpa and I are so proud of you all. We miss you but are very happy working here in San Salvador and trying to help these special people. We love working in the Temple. Our email in the LDSmail decided to erase all our email adddresses. Brother Kitley is trying to retreave them, but they are in computer language so it is taking time. I will wait to send pictures when we get all the emails back, hopefully by Saturday or Sunday. Grandma just doesn't have any luck with computers!! I know each of you could do a better job then I can. We love you Hugs and Kisses from Grandpa and Grandma Thompson

My Hero From San Salvador

This week I have a hero. Her name is Sister Vazquez. She works at the temple each week day afternoon. She hits about by shoulder and is at least 5 or 10 years older than I am. She has a bad knee and walks with a limp but on Friday she was limping on both legs. When I asked her about it, through an interperater she told me that on Thursday night she was hit by a car on her way home. The driver stopped and helped her up but she was fine, only bruised. I couldn't believe that she was back to the temple on Friday, and she walkes to and from the temple. She never complains and works so hard. What a faithful, dedicated woman. She loves her Heavenly Father and the temple. I don't think I would have walked to the temple the next day after being hit by a car. I hope I can grow up to be like her, a woman of faith. We spent all day on Sunday in meetings, first our three hour block of church, then 4 hours of training in the temple. We were so tired that we didn't write any letters. Then yesterday, our P-day, we played. We hired a driver and guides, a Stake president and his wife and the driver of a microbus (meecreboos). It an seat 15 and the 10 missionaries went to see the Boqueron volcano. It erupted in 1917 and blew off the top of the mountain. Inside the crater is what is called the little giant, another volcano that has blown at least once but it is inside the old volcano. There are people living inside the crater also. It was a beautiful walk to the top.

Our group of missionaries climbing to the crater and the little giant volcano inside the crater.

Lon is sitting on a bench that is on the path.

We then went to the Planes of Renderos for pupuses. Supposed to the the best in San Salvador.  We liked them very much.  We met a couple of young missionaries who were out tracting and had them join us for dinner, the one elder was from Draper Utah and had only been in the country for 5 days. I think we made their day. Hopefully you can open these and see part of this beautiful country. We are doing great, didn't even get sick from eating out. It was fun to get out of our temple compound and see the country. We are so blessed to live in the USA and have so much to be thankful for, like a good roof over our heads, transportation, carpet, stoves, dishwashers, all the luxeries of life. But we are also blessed to have such great friends and family. Thank you all for your love and support and especially your prayers in our behalf. Love to all Lon and Nancy