Final week in El Salvador

      Our last week in the temple in El Salvador began on the 18th with tears and hugs and best wishes from both participants and obrero.  It was really overwhelming and many times I would try and hide so everyone wouldn't see the tears.  Wow, we love these humble, happy, loving people so much.  One of the toughest couples to say good-bye to were Brother and Sister Amaya.  They are both in their 80's and reality is that we may never see them again in this life.  We all just sobbed.  The morning shifts waited around to be able to say good-bye and give gifts and we cherished one last time of serving with the afternoon shifts.

      Doctor and Sister Navas took us to dinner on Thursday evening, after our shift. 

They promised that it would be a quick dinner as we had a breakfast engagement for the next day.  We went to a sushi café and the waiter prepared and cooked our meal at our table.  It was well after 11 before be got back to the apartment.  We had a great time, but boy were we tired when the alarm went off the next morning.

 

     The Petersen's, and Alas's took us to breakfast on the 21st.  We returned to Lilies but this time President Petersen drove us. 

We mentioned that we wanted to go the Artisinian to find a hat for Lon when President Alas said no, come with me.  They had bought Lon two hats and purses for me as going away gifts.  It is going to take another suitcase to get all of our gifts home.

 

     The 22nd, our 41st anniversary, was our last day in the temple in El Salvador.  We were thrilled to be able to spend our anniversary in the temple and got to attend a sealing for our friends Carmen Santos and Jared Moran.  After our shift, we went to dinner with our family, the Figueroa's. 
 

We went back to the Attic for pupusas.  This was the first place they had taken us.  They wanted to spend Sunday and Monday evenings with us too, but saying good-bye that many times was just not going to happen.  It is too hard.  We told them that we would see them at church the following morning and that we just couldn't say good-bye again.  We love this family so much.  They really have taken great care of us for these two years.

 

     Sunday morning and we knew that we would be asked to share our testimonies in Sacrament meeting.  We had never had the chance to do this on Fast and Testimony meetings because the lines were always long.  The only way we had been able to share our testimonies here was when we were asked to sing.  So we decided to again share our testimony in song.  We prepared with Elder Clark and sang "I know that My Redeemer Lives".  I told them that we wanted to share our testimony the way we had so many times before, through music, we sang, said amen and sat down.  I think it went over real well.  It was sure easier than trying to talk.  During Relief Society, Karina Artega, the president, made sure that everyone sat in the middle of the chapel.  At the end of class, she had me stand up and this is the sight before me. 

 The first two rows of women were waving their hands in applause, the next rows had signs like "Thank you, we love you" and the last rows had my name.  It was such a beautiful sight, I just melted.  I keep thinking that I have no tears left but they just keep flowing.  It is so much harder to leave here than it was to leave home.  I know it is because I knew that I would be home again and we really do not know if we will ever see these dear people again in this life. 

 

     We were in charge of Sunday dinner so we decided to eat on the patio for the last time.  We had stopped eating there because of all the dust and noise of the housing project, but today there was no wind and no workers.  We wanted to show the new missionaries how we did it for the first year and a half.  It was nice, but I don't think they appreciated it as much as we did.  It was a hot day.

 

     Our going away dinner, hosted by the Petersen's was the evening of the 24th.  We made sure that it was on the last Monday we would be in El Salvador so we didn't have to say good-bye to the Temple Presidency, recorders, and missionaries but once. 

We also welcomed in the new missionaries, the Winter's and the Haroldsen's.   Those in attendance were: Majano's, Alas's, Rivas's, Lopez's, Mendez's, Petersen's, Clark's, Haroldson's, and Winter's.  Sister Estrada prepared the pupusa's with Sister Majano's help. 

 

     The rest of the evening was spent trying to get the suitcases all within the 40 pounds. 

We have three suitcases that are within the 40 pounds and one that is just under 70 pounds.  We also have one other suitcase that the Wegkamps will bring home in a few weeks and we will pick it up in Logan.  We really did not think that we would be in such a bad place with our luggage, but we have been given so many going away gifts that we just ran out of poundage.

 

     We will leave the apartment at 5:30 tomorrow morning, the 25th.  We will arrive in Twin Falls that evening about 9:00.  It will be a very long day.  Our time here in El Salvador is over.  This has felt like home for us and we are a little nervous about the next chapter in our lives.  We look forward to being with all of our kids and grandkids this weekend and will put our trust in the Lord for what the future will bring.  We have never been retired again so this could be an interesting time. Hugs and kisses in person tomorrow.  Love Dad and Mom, Lon and Nancy, Grandpa and Grandma

DON'T CRY BECAUSE IT IS OVER, SMILE BECAUSE IT HAPPENED!

    Let me share with you a tender mercy from our Heavenly Father.  We have both been so torn with the idea of having to leave this beautiful country, this temple, our friends and this life style.  It has been real hard, harder than we could have imagined.  As with the end of any calling, you always wonder if you accomplished all that you had been called to do and if your Father in Heaven is pleased with your service.

    One evening, I was especially worried that my Father was not very happy with me because I had been in El Salvador almost 21 months and I did not speak Spanish well.  I had not taken an hour a day to study and learn to speak right.  I had been too exhausted after 8 to 10 hours in the temple and had let the duties of "life" keep me from the hours of study.  But I felt like this was just an excuse and I was really down and discouraged.  This evening, I was assigned to go on a session as a patron and watch the obrera to see if she was totally trained or not.  I had trained this sister and she did an excellent job.  During the session, the spirit whispered into my mind:  You were not called to study and learn Spanish.  Your calling here was to teach, guide, train, love and help the obrera's in this temple.  Look at her, you have done this calling with all your heart, mind, and strength.  I immediately knew that my Father was indeed pleased with my service.  As the tears rolled down my cheeks, I thanked my Father in Heaven for this tender mercy.  I know that this mission has been a success, a testimony builder, and a precious blessing in my life.

 

     A couple of days later, I was feeling very sad about leaving these wonderful people.  As I was helping a new obrera, the thoughts came to my mind, the Gibbons, the Kitleys, and the Walls are gone.  Now we are leaving, who will be here to help the new obreras?  Then I saw dear Sister Clark visiting with and helping one of these dear new workers and again the spirit whispered to my mind.  "Your time is complete.  Your work is done.  The Clarks are here and more missionaries are on their way.  They will love and help and even more than this, the workers you have trained will now be able to train their brothers and sisters."  The peace that came into my soul was overwhelming and again the tears ran down my cheeks. 

 

     As hard as it is to say good-bye, I know without a doubt that it is time to leave.  Our work here is done and we must go forward with faith, knowing that our Father in Heaven is pleased with our service here and hopefully will have need of us again somewhere else in the near future.    

More Farewell Dinners!

Wow, what a week.  We have so many great friends here that all want to take us out for dinner before we leave.  We had a whirl wind of a week.  It began on Monday with the missionaries taking a trip out to the "Puerta del Diablo" devils gate.  We had visited here the first year we were here in the dry season but none of the other missionaries had seen it.  They were in Guatemala when we didn't have visa's.  This picture is of the rock cafe with the Lopez's and Lon and President Petersen. 

    It was a real hot day but the rains have made everything so beautiful.  We climbed to the cave to see the view of the valley. 

   We also drove through Parque Balboa.  The flowers are all in bloom.  We had dinner with the Lopez's for the last time.  We had chinese at a place that they love, but the food really wasn't that good.

     Tuesday morning President and Sister Alas asked us to walk over to Lilies again for a breakfast of pupusas.  They have never owned a car and walk or take the buses everywhere.  Lilies is in the area of town called Antique Cuscatlan.  It is the cleanest part of the city we have seen.  In the town square is this tree.

It is so big and majestic.  I sent pictures of it at Christmas time all decorated but with us in front  of it you can really see just how big it is. 

 

      The Thursday evening shift decided to give us a good-bye treat on Thursday.  At 2:00 pm, I was taken down to the break room to see the cake they had brought in.  It was at least 2 feet in diameter and a beautifully decorated cake.  Lon and I were assigned the session at 2:30 and when we went to the break room after the session at 4:30, the cake was gone!  I couldn't believe it.  Another cake, a chicken quiche, watermelon with bananas, and brownies all arrived and were gone by the time we left the temple at 9:00. 

 

     Saturday morning at 8:00 AM the Saturday PM shift had a breakfast in our honor and it actually started on time! These two pictures are the shift workers who were there and the missionaries and the Petersen's and Majano's. 

We had tamales made with a leaf that when cooked looked like spinach but it wasn't.  I put the refried beans on top of it and it wasn't too bad.  Tamales are not our favorite food.  We had cheese, rolls, platinos, and sweet breads.  They had it down stairs on the patio of the comedor. 

 

     After our shift on Saturday, we went to dinner with Roberto Torrez and Aida Palacios.

   These two are so in love, but down here you have to be novias for at least a year before you get married, some wait for 2 or 3 years before they get married.  Both of their mothers are single and I think it may be a long engagement before these mothers are ready for their kids to leave the house.  They are 28 and 30.  We went to "La Pampa" a restaurant up the mountain with an incredible view of the city.  It was a clear night so we really enjoyed eating outside and enjoying the view. 

 

     Sunday evening, my visiting teacher invited us to dinner.  I forgot to take a picture, I am slipping as a missionary, you are always to have your camera ready!  Brother Funes was our Bishop when we first arrived here and the doctor who came to my rescue when I had my one and only Minears attack.  Sister Funes is my VT and teaches Relief Society once a month.  She is an amazing teacher and with her body movements, you can understand everything she is talking about.  We ate from 5:30 to 8:30.  We started with cheese and crackers, then asparagus soup, yum, a 5 layer sandwich, salad, and a fig dessert.  

 

     We are so tired of food.  It felt good to not eat breakfast today and actually get hungry for a change.  We are trying to eat all the food in our apartment, so some of our dinners have been a bit strange but every time we have gone out this week, the friends send food home with us. 

 

     We hope you are all well and enjoying life.  We look forward to seeing you all real soon.  We love you Lon and Nancy, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma. 

Farewell Dinners

Just thought we would let you know that we are alive and starting to pack in preparation of our flight home in just two short weeks.  Wow,  where did the time go?   It is very hard to think about leaving here and returning to the "real" world.  We have so enjoyed our time here, serving in the temple 5 days a week, enjoying sightseeing on Mondays and participating in the choirs and going to concerts.  We have been privileged to live in this protected world for the last 22 months.  We have made some very dear friends here and it gets harder every day to think about saying good-bye.

     Last Sunday, Lon broke a tooth and we were concerned about what we should do, as we didn't have much time here to get it fixed.  We knew that it is cheaper here to do dental work than at home.  President Petersen had the address of a dentist that he had used but no phone number so Monday morning he and Lon headed to the dentist to try and get an appointment.  The dentist took him right in and was able to fix the tooth, he said that the tooth was too healthy to do a crown and was able to fix it right then and there.  It looks great and we were thrilled with a bill of only $53.00.  The locals tell us that it was real expensive but we are happy with it.

 

     Saturday morning, we were asked to talk to a Stake Primary group from the Santa Anna area.  We had talked to a group before and had about 30 kids so we prepared for the same here.  We had 35 handouts to pass out, I planned on singing "I love to see the temple" and Lon had a talk prepared.  Well, we get to the chapel and find that there are about 80 primary kids.  No time for more handouts, but the Stake President said that he doesn't deal in problems, only in solutions.  He took a copy of the handout and before Lon was done with his talk, we had enough handouts for the entire group with 4 to spare.   

 

    The opening song ended up being the song I was to sing, so during Lon's talk I worked on the words to " Families are Forever" and sang that one instead.  The primary president pretty much gave the same talk that Lon had planned so he had to improvise also. ( You can quit looking for us in the picture now, we had to get to the temple for our shift and couldn't stay while they organized this group for a picture.)

 

      Saturday night we went to dinner with Mariela and Carlos Figueroa.  They are our family here.  They have done so much for us to make us feel welcome and loved.  We will miss them so much.  We are going to spend our last Saturday in El Salvador with them and the girls.

     Sunday night we had dinner with the Diaz family.  Brother Diaz is our shift coordinator on Wednesday nights.  When he invited us, we didn't think that we knew his wife and were a little nervous to go to dinner with strangers.  But we do know his wife.  She sang in the stake choir with us.  This is a dinner where I literally had to "sing for my supper".  Brother Diaz asked me to sing something for them when we came.  Brother Diaz, his sister and her husband, his nephew and wife all work in the temple so it was great to spend an evening with them. 

     We send our love to all.  Have a great week.  Lon and Nancy, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma