Sunny, Hot and Humid, Love it!

We have had an eventful week in the life of our Temple President, President Petersen. On his 78th birthday, he was having cake with a few of the workers in the break room of the temple when he stepped back and his leg gave out and he went down hard, hitting his head on the tile floor. He admitted later that his back had been bothering him and he was afraid that an old basketball injury was giving him trouble. His son, also a doctor, convinced him to get an MRI. Before we got the results of the MRI, he fell 3 more times and was using a walker by Thursday as his leg wouldn't hold him up. He has a bulging disk in his back that is pinching a nerve. The neurosurgen here said that he has a 1-2 week window for surgery before the nerve is dead and cannot be fixed. That would leave him using a walker from now on. The Temple Department got them on a plane on Friday morning, the 27th with an appointment with a Dr. Rich in SLC today, Monday at 9:00am. He is on blood thinning medicine for his heart so he cannot have surgery until all the Coumadin gets out of his blood. Please include him in your prayers. We miss them both so much and want them to be able to return and finish their mission here. We are praying for the micro-surgery and that they will be home in a month. Luckily Brother Carbajal was here at the time. They have called Elder and Sister Gibbons to be assistants to the Presidents. They will take President and Sister Petersen's shift at the temple. It was fun to work with them on Saturday as they took their first turn. You could just see the mantel that has been given them to accomplish this new assignment. The shift coordinators will miss them as workers on the shifts but at least if they have time they can help when needed. Free enterprise is alive and well here. On Monday Lon walked over to the housing project to check out their progress and on Tuesday we walked by and there was a new restaurant opened up, over night. The restaurant Bambo picture #1 is now open serving pupusas and rice and beans daily. As the big construction trucks fly by and the dust and bugs fly by, we don't think we will be trying it out soon. Our temple gardeners have been busy trimming trees and planting new flowers in all the beds. The tree trimmers were fun to watch. Picture #2 shows Herman with his machete. He cuts the branches with the machete, using it as an ax. Then the rest of them bundle up the branches and carry them off of the temple grounds into the forest. Picture #3 and #4. It sure would be faster to pile them into a pick-up and haul them off, but then someone wouldn't have a job. We are on the AM shift this week. Tuesday is Labor Day here so we are expecting a huge crowd at the temple. It is hard to believe that it will be May 1st. We pray that each of you are healthy and happy. We are enjoying the sunshine and the work that we are doing here. Life is wonderful. Please keep President Petersen in your prayers and thank you for your prayers in our behalf. Love to all, Lon and Nancy, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma.

Good Weeks

     I will write this letter as it will be short. We had a very busy week and are very tired. It's amazing how tired we get just doing fun things. We had buses from Honduras, Nicaragua and a lot of local
patrons that filled the the temple and made it such a spiritual week.  Sunday night we performed our Easter concert and it went over really good and we had a good turn out and it was a very spiritual
time.  Nancy performed "Oh Divine Redeemer" and did so well. We have a violin player and a pianist that are outstanding and I can say there may be better and I know there are but I haven't heard them. I am very prejudiced but I put Nancy in with that selected group. We now have a three month break and will start up in August. This week we have Elder Carbajal from the seventy over all the Central and South American Temples to train and teach. It should be a special time. We are well and happy and love where we are at and what we are doing. We miss you all but will see you before to
long as the time just flies.   Nancy will take over now.

     Today we decided to walk to the " Mercado" as President Petersen is busy with meetings and could not take us. The Kitley's and us walked to buy fresh veggies and fruits. We have never walked
there before, thinking it was too far. But it was only a half hour walk and we took back packs for the Elders to carry home our purchases. Now we really feel independent and only have Price Smart
that we need a ride to. It still takes all three stores to find the groceries that we need. But going to the Mercado really saves money as the prices are so much cheaper there. We got a dozen bananas,
radishes, potatoes, carrots, lettuce, cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, and a quart of flax seed for $7.50. In the stores we would have spent that much on potatoes only. They have anything and everything you can imagine there, lots of items that we could not name or know what to do with. We tried making our own Pupuses for dinner on Saturday. They turned out looking right, but I didn't get enough filling inside so it was just like eating a tortilla. Need more practice!!! We send our love to all and hope you have a great week. We are looking forward to ours. Love the Thompsons, Lon and Nancy, Mom and Dad, Grandpa and Grandma.

Friday the 13th!!! Yea!!

     We will never again think of Friday the 13th as a bad day. It was the day that we finally got HOT WATER!!!. Yes, one month to the day we now have hot water. It is so nice to turn on the faucet and have hot water to wash hands, faces, and dishes. And I have to admit, our showers are a little longer than needed. We are enjoying the luxury of hot water again.

 

     This week. on Monday the 9th, the five missionary couples, the Lopez's, the Mendez's and the Pena's took a trip to La Palma. We also took "Flat Stanley's cousin Bronco Plano". Our Grandson, Chandler and his class sent Flat Stanley all over the world with the instructions that we were to take pictures with him and send them back so the class could learn about different parts of the world. Well, Flat Stanley has never arrived so his cousin had to be found so we could get the pictures taken and returned. He is in the mail now so we hope he will returned without any delay. We were told that it was in the mountains so bring a sweater because the air is very fresh there. La Palma is about 2 hours away from San Salvador, on the Honduras border. It is amazing that this small country can have so many different looks to it. Picture #1 shows a little of this landscape. There were a lot of evergreens here. It is a lot higher than San Salvador, but no, we did not need even a long sleeved shirt again.
 

     La Palma is known for its paintings. The walls of the city were painted.  Picture #2 shows one of them. The streets were cobblestone and very narrow. The factory was interesting. They had one room where all sorts of items were cut out of wood. They did have electric jig saws for the cutting. Then in the paint room, women, picture #3 painted free hand on the items. There were no stensils. They just painted all day. They had hammocks strung across the room where their children could take naps during the day as they bring their little ones to work with them. They export all over the world. Picture #4 is the sales floor where you can buy the items made here. Picture #5 is of a truck full of beans heading to market. Instead of picking the beans they pulled the whole plant up and took it to the market.

 

     This town had no real poor houses in it, the ones made of cardboard and corregated metal. They were all made of concrete and block. It is a very quiet, simple town away from the hustle and bustle of the big city. We really enjoyed our day here, then headed home. We got into San Salvador right at rush hour and they have closed one of the main roads of the city for construction. It was bumper to bumper for an hour. Our bus driver decided that we should get gas so he cuts across two lanes of traffic to the station. The station doesn't have his bus registered so he is going to have to pay $1.30 in taxes to fill up, so he won't do it. We continue on, getting about a mile from the Temple and run out of gas. Luckily we had pulled off the main street onto a small one that was not busy. The men walked to the Temple and brought back cars to get all of us home. Another adventure.

 

     This week San Miguel came to the Temple. This is a poorer section of El Salvador. One little lady comes every time San Miguel comes. She can't be more than 4 feet tall, has greasy hair and dirt under her nails and smells of smoke from cooking on an open fire. I know she has no running water in her home (and I complain about no hot water) She walks with crutches because she has only one leg. But when you meet her, all you really see is the twinkle in her eye and the smile on her face. She is always so happy. She is such a good example of being at peace with your self and not always wishing for more. Having the right attitude about life will help us all be more at peace and happy. I hope I can become more like her, always finding the bright side of life and not complaining about the little things, like no hot water. We have so much to learn from these special people and we are so thankful to be here serving with them. We just got word that we have a new Bishop at home. Mom and Connie, our new bishop is Norm Kump. He got sustained today. His counselors are a Brother Brown and Brother Van Tassel. We don't know them but we are thrilled for the ward to have Norm and Bev. They will be great. We send our love to all, Have a great week. Lon and Nancy, Mom and Dad, Grandpa and Grandma

   

Happy Easter!!

     We had no idea what to expect for Easter week as it was our first since the Temple opened. WOW What a week it ended up being. School is out the entire week for "Semana Santa" (Holy Week) and a lot of businesses close also. Friday almost everyone is off and most of the town is shut down and the people all go to the beach. Well, on Tuesday and Wednesday we ended up with 2 buses from Honduras and 1 bus from Nicaragua so the temple was pretty full those two days. Thursday we had another bus from Honduras and one from El Salvador. Not quite as busy so we were getting worried that Friday would be real quiet. Well, we ended up with 12 buses on Friday. People were everywhere. The Temple was overfull. The baptistry was in use every minute of the day. But all the buses left by 5:00 to get home and we ended up canceling the 7:00 Session cause no one was left. Saturday we only had 6 buses, all from San Miguel, El Salvador. It was so great to have so many people remember the Savior and come to the temple instead of going to the beach for Easter.

     Today I sang in Sacrament Meeting. Sharon, I have never sang O Divine Redeemer before. That was your song and I played it for you. Remember singing in the Prespyterian Church? They had a great pipe organ and the sound was awesome. Well, Rene, the violin player wanted me to sing this and ordered in the music. It was the lower arrangement, and went clear up to an F#. There is no way I can hit an F#, Sharon can but not me. Luckily we don't have a piano in our chapel, only a keyboard. We were able to lower the music three half steps so I could hit the high notes. It really went great and I think it added to the meeting. We had a great Easter lunch with the other missionaries.
 

     In the temple this week, Lon ran into Elder Rodriguez, who served in Jerome in 2010. He remembered Lon right away. Lon recognized his face but didn't connect him with Idaho till he introduced himself. It is so amazing how small this world really is now. Picture #1 shows us with Elder Rodriguez and his wife. He now lives in Ogden and they are expecting their first baby. He remembers the people in the Branch well and still has a twinkle in his eye when he talks about them. Maria and Ysidro and Cierra, he said to say hello to you. He was there for Cierra's baptism. It was fun to see one of our missionaries from Jerome and know that he is still grounded in the gospel.

Picture #2 is of Elder Johnathan Alas. He is headed to the Boise Idaho Mission. His grandparents are the second counsellors in the Temple Presidency. He flies to Provo and will be in the MTC on Tuesday. Be looking for him. He will be a great missionary. He has a sweet testimony. One comes home and another leaves. Elder Rodriguez's English has improved greatly and Johnathan speaks very little English. By the time we get home, we are sure Elder Alas will be speaking English very well.

We are still using our electric showers as we still have no hot water. They think they have found the problem and have ordered a part from the states. If it takes as long to get here as our last package, we will not have hot water for another month!
 

     We went down to a section of town called Antiguo Cuscatlan. It is the cleanest section of town we have been in. Picture #3 shows you the town cemetery. Yes, those are houses inside the cemetery walls. The kids play soccer around the headstones. This country just has more people living here than there is room for. There are over 6 million people here, Idaho only has around 1 and a half million. They say there are about 800 people per square mile.
 

     We had a rain storm on Friday. The first since November. The dry season is coming to an end. The humidity is higher now than ever. Our temperatures average about 90 but with the humidity it really feels hotter. The winds have stopped also. As we watched Conference last weekend, we really started to miss the spring flowers and smells, then saw the morning temperatures in Jerome and decided we didn't miss it all that much. The sunshine is nice.Well, dear friends and family, we miss you all but are happy and very content to be here, serving in this temple. The El Salvadorians are so friendly and watch out for us. We are protected and loved. We pray that you are happy and healthy and enjoying life. Recognize your blessings and remember to thank your Heavenly Father for them. We have been so blessed to live in the United States. We send our love, Elder and Sister Thompson, Lon and Nancy, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma, Papa and Mama Smurf!