It Only Took Three Months!

Just had to let you know that we are finally legal!! We have our new visa's, only they are really residency cards. So we don't have to pay to get into the national parks and museums now. But since we have already seen them----. It does feel good though. The only draw back is that they are only good til February 7th, 2013 so we will have to do this again for the last 6 months of our mission.  Picture #1  We have not had hot water for a week today. It has been real fun heating water to do dishes and the showers are really hard to do. The water just gets colder and colder the longer you run it. I was afraid we were being wimps about the hot water, but Sister Alas complained one day to me. She and her husband are natives and the second counsellors in the temple presidency. She said that President Alas usually spends 40 minutes in the showers, but is ready in ten minutes now. I told her that I thought most of the El Salvadorians didn't have hot water in their homes. She said that was right. But their water comes out of the tap luke warm and doesn't get colder the longer it runs. So we are not the wimps that I thought we were. But if they don't get it fixed soon, you can just call us Papa and Mama Smurf!!! A nice shade of cold blue!!  I had a lesson on how to make Pupusas. I need a lot more practice as the cheese and beans in mine seem to escape instead of staying in the Pupusa. I will keep practicing so you can all try one when we get home.  Picture #2.   It really feels good to have the Temple open again. It is great to be with the people from all over El Salvador, not just our ward family. We are looking forward to General Conference Weekend and being taught by our Prophet. We send our love to all and hope you are enjoying your hot showers. With Love, Papa and Mama Smurf.

 

Museums and Ruins

     Today is the 4 year anniversary of Lon's heart attack! When I think that we almost lost him, Wow have we been blessed!!! His heart is doing great as we had to have cold showers today and he handled it fine. We have not had hot water since yesterday and will not have any until at least Monday. Washing your hair with ice cold water is horrible. We are having to live like 95% of the El Salvadorians who do this every day. They make better pioneers than us. It was a very fast shower.

Lon is at Stake Priesthood Meeting so I thought I would write while he is gone. Our preparation day (P-Day) is on Monday and all the museums and National Parks are closed on Mondays. So we decided to try and get in as many as we could this week before the Temple opens again and we don't have a chance until September when we close again.
 

     We spent Tuesday getting the laundry done and groceries bought since the President was home and we could take the car. The missionaries and President and Sis Petersen came home exausted but thrilled with their week.

     On Wednesday, the Carlos Ortiz family invited us to go with them to "Amapulapa" in San Vicente. We had never been there so we were excited to see more of this beautiful land. We stopped in San Vicente at the home/photo shop of a temple worker, Brother Valdez Cruz for a pottie break. He sent his grand daughter out for cold drinks for us. We found out that he was the first member in San Vicente, moving here from Honduras. The first church meetings were held in the very house we were in. When Bro. Ortiz was to be baptized, his father died three months earlier and Bro Valdez Cruz baptized him in the very springs that we were headed to, Amapulapa. You can look on the internet for all the places that we visited this week if you want to see more photo's of them. Amapulapa is a big water park but we only got into the first pond that is fed directly from the springs and sat under the waterfall and swam with the little fish that liked to bite at your feet if you didn't keep them moving. Bro Ortiz, his wife, and two daughters, 8 and 10 were excellent guides and we learned a lot about this part of El Salvador. Bro Ortiz was raised here and Sis Ortiz served her mission here.  Pictures # 1 and 2. 

     On Thursday we walked to the Anthropology Museum, photo #3, that is about 15 minutes from here. It is a very nice museum. In the religion section, showing all the religions from the Mayan to present, they have a big picture of the Temple and the church pamphlets that the missionaries use. Of course the Mayan was the first religion for centuries, then the Spanish conquered this land and forced them all to be baptized into the Catholic religion. In the mid 1900's the government let other religions into the country. We learned a lot here.

     We had to hustle home so the Figueroa's could pick Lon and I up and take us downtown to their favorite restaurant for "dulces" in Santa Anita. It was one of those street cafe's that we have been warned NOT to eat at. But we had to try the dulce's The first Torreja,, was made with bread, soaked in egg yolks, and fried. Sounds like french toast huh? But then it is soaked in the sweetest syrup I have ever tasted and when they serve it to you, they pour even more of the syrup over the top. It is in every home during Holy Week (Easter). You only need about 2 bites and you have a sugar high! The next was made from Yuca,Nuegados. I can't believe what all they use yuca for. They deep fat fry pieces of yuca then soak them in a different tasting syrup. They weren't quite as sweet but still you only need a little bit to get all the sugar you can handle. Lon and I shared a piece of each while the others each had a plate for themselves. They then ordered what I think of as their version of nachos. Fried yuca on the bottom, radishes and cucumbers next with cubed pork in a gravy poured over the top. We didn't try that. We used the excuse that we had a dinner engagement at 6:00, which we did have. It really didn't look good and we were afraid of the flies and germs from the kitchen. Picture #4.

Afterward, we were driven through the downtown of San Salvador. It was just like trying to herd cattle. Between the people and the shops in the street, there is not much room for a car. But the wheel barrels full of fruits and vegetables were amazing. There are so many that I can't name. I've never seen them before. We got home about 5:30 and headed for dinner with all the missionaries at 6:00 to the home of the Wegkamps. He works here with the Embassy. It was a full day and we didn't get home til after 10:00.

      Friday the 16th we headed to the 3 museums and 3 ruins that are open to the public. El Salvador has a lot of Mayan ruins but no money to excavate them. We went back to the Ruins of Tazumal where we had gone last week but it was fun cause this time we had a guide that was a Mayan.  Picture #5.  The Petersen's didn't go with us. Sister Petersen twisted her knee while in Utah and is using a walker to get around.Then we went to the Ruins of San Andreas. We met a Mayan who was making jewelry Picture #6 and had a great visit with him. He allowed us to take his picture but would not look at the camera because he didn't want his spirit to leave him and go into the camera. Both of these Mayan men were familiar with the Book of Mormon and it was fun to learn about their religion and compare it to ours. Notice his ear ring, two sticks going through his ear lobe.  Our last ruin and museum were our favorite because they are so different than the others. After visiting Tikal and the other ruins on our tour in June, we have seen how the rich and rulers lived. The Ruins of Joya de Ceren is a small Mayan village that was buried in Volcanic Ash around 640 BC. The people seem to have gotten out but the ash fell so fast that everything else was found just as it was left. The layers of ash and lava rock are 4 to 8 yards deep. The museums at each of the ruins were amazing and really told the story well. The things found at Joya were so preserved it was fun to see how these people lived their everyday lives.

     It has been a great week of exploring and learning more about the land and people of El Salvador. We are excited to get back to the temple though. Monday we get to go to the temple and help make sure all is ready for Tuesday morning. We are on the AM shift for the first week and then will be on the PM for two weeks. We are trying a new schedule, trying to fill in the gaps where there are less workers. Won't break my heart to only have to do one AM shift at a time. I probably won't write for two weeks as we don't do anything exciting that we can talk much about outside the temple now. We will settle into our routine and look forward to Saturday when the buses will again fill our parking lot. We send our love to you all. Thank you for your prayers in our behalf and you are in our prayers daily. Love Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma, Lon and Nancy

Home Alone and Having Lots of Fun

As the other missionaries drove off Monday morning, the 5th, we felt at peace with not going with them. We had tried all we could to get our Visa's and for some reason we were not to go. So we made our own vacation. These two weeks the temple is closed for deep cleaning. Each temple is closed for two weeks twice a year. What we didn't know was that our apartments had to be cleaned also. We were asked when we would be gone for a day so they could come in and clean. We set up a trip for Thursday with a taxi driver that the church office here uses a lot and they recommended him. We left at 8:00 AM and returned around 5:30 PM. He took us to Santa Ana to the town square where we visited the 100 year old Catholic Cathedral, picture #1. It was huge with pigeons all over and around it. We were able to go inside and see the work they are doing to restore it. Beautiful. We visited one the the Mayan Pyramids here, the Ruins of Tazumal. These were in Chalchuapa and our driver had lived there as a boy. He was a great guide. He didn't drive too fast either so you could really enjoy the country side. I'm not sure the car would go too fast. It was an "Uncle Buck" car with the black smoke, wabbly tires, no air conditioning ( it is only 94 here now). We visited the Lago de Coatepeque, picture #2. The water was crystal clear but no boats. The lake is in a volcanic crater and has houses all around the edges but no boats. He drove us down town through the center with the open market. What a mess of people and stores. It is not safe for us to go there alone and he would only drive us through it with the instructions that we would not stop. I would hate to have to shop with all those people pushing and shoving. It was a jungle. We ended up at the Puerto del Diablo, the Devils Gate. It is in the mountains with rock climbing and a zip line and of course pupusas. Picture #3 shows the pupusas being cooked over an open fire. The restaurant was made of rock picture #4, and all the tables and chairs were rock. We were invited to a family's home for supper on Friday. We had a typical San Salvadorian meal, Tamales (only corn meal) platanos (fried bananas) carne asada (fried beef) refried beans (red beans here) and tortilla's. Saturday night another family took us out for pupusas. That was an experience. The town, Planes de Renderos, during the day is very quiet with hardly any one there but at night it was a different story. People everywhere with shops set up all up and down the street selling souvenirs. The view of the town was amazing from here. I just can't get over how big this town is. The Figueroa's wanted us to try different pupusas so they ordered a bunch of kinds. We had Jalopeno and cheese, garlic and cheese, carrot and cheese, mushroom and cheese, bean and cheese, bean and sausage and cheese. picture #5. It is a very inexpensive meal, usually one pupusa will cost less than $1.00 and two will fill you up. The locals eat them with a pickled cabbage salad on top or tomato sause, and with their hands, forks are not provided. It has been a week full of new and different experiences. It is fun to see how the people live. They are all so protective of us. It is fun to be with them. We do miss the temple though. It has been good to get some needed rest but we will be ready to get back to the temple on the 20th. The other missoinaries arrived home about 6:00 tonight, the 12th. They are tired but had a great time on the trip. Elder Wall had served his mission in Quetzaltenango (Shayla) 50 years ago but he was able to visit with quite a few of the families that he baptized 50 years ago. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity for him. President Petersen and Sister Petersen should be here around 10:00 tonight so we will all be home safe and sound. Our little mission family is very dear to our hearts. It is good to be together again. We have one more week before the temple opens and the members have plans for us so we will let you know about the rest of our break next week. We pray that you are all healthy and happy. Please know that you are in our thoughts and prayers. We do miss you but are so thankful for the new friends and family that we have here. May God Bless you with all that you need. Love to all, Elder and Sister Thompson, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma, Lon and Nancy. We love you.

Home Alone IV

     We have waited to send this email with the hopes that it would read "we are headed for Guatemala". But after spending Thursday morning at the immigration office again, we are staying home while the other missionaries go on the trip. We tried to get a 8 day visa on Thursday. This trip just wasn't meant to be for us. The others felt so bad that part of them were going to stay home so we wouldn't be here alone. But we convinced them all to go. We will be here next March and could go then and they will all be gone by then. So, we are going to get some much needed rest and we have at least 4 dinner invites so far. As people hear that we are not going, we keep getting invited. We will not be alone very often.

     Today I sang a duet with Miriam Roque, Picture #1 (she is wearing 3 inch heals) She came up to me one day after church when I was playing and asked for help with the timing on a hymn, she sang along as I played it and I asked her to sing with me. she had never sung in public before. She has an amazing soprano voice. She picked "Where Love Is" for us to sing. She can only come to church every other week because of work so we practiced the song twice two weeks ago and sang it today. She never wavered from her part as I sang the alto. It really sounded great. The ward was so suprised. They had no idea she could sing. The Relief Society has already asked her to sing at the Birthday Dinner so now she will be able to increase her talent and share it with us.

 

     Last Monday, the 27th of Feb. while we women were at the Gringa Brunch, the men went walking through the new subdivision that is being built just behind us. Picture #2 shows the work and above the trees you can see the Angel Moroni on the Temple. They are building 150 two story houses. Every day there is a line of people hoping that someone quits or doesn't show up so they can get a job. We are told that about 800 people a day try to leave San Salvador because there are no jobs. The laborers make $150.00 every two weeks and the block layers get paid by the hour. The block are all cement, very heavy. Picture #3 shows the rebar and the block layer is lifting the block up and over the rebar and Picture #4 he brings it down and puts it into place. Picture #5 is of the lunch woman. She carries the food on the tray on her head and comes to sell to the workers each day. It is a huge project and will be fun to see just how fast it gets done. I am not sure it will be done when we leave. The rainy season is just a couple of months away and it will slow things up a lot.

 

     We are having elections this week here, on Sunday, and we have been warned not to go out the day before or and day after so we will stay close to home those days. Lon hopes to go golfing once this week. Just waiting for Eric to set the time and day. Our last day for the temple to be open was Saturday. Boy did we get slammed. We had a record number of buses, 5 buses and 4 mini buses Saturday morning and mostly youth for the Baptistry. The poor laundry had to bring clothes and towels to our apartment to use our washers and dryers to try and keep up with the number of youth. It was a great day to close on.

 

     Today we got a new Bishop. Bishop Funes has been our bishop for over 8 years. About two months ago, the Stake Choir director, Edward Figueroa moved into the ward and Lon told him that he had moved in at a bad time and that he would be the next bishop. Well, sure enough, he is the new bishop so the stake choir is in trouble. He is the viola player that helped at the funeral. A very talented young man. He will be a great Bishop. Well, I guess that is about all the news from here. We are enjoying the sun and even have a nice breeze that reminds us of home, except it is a warm one and doesn't bite. With all the construction around we are getting the dirt blowing so we really do feel like we are in Idaho at times. We hope you are all well and happy and taking care of each other. We send our love. You are in our thoughts and prayers always Love Elder and Sister Thompson, Mom and Dad, Grandpa and Grandma, Lon and Nancy and any other titles you want to give us. Have a great week!!