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