Copan, Honduras

     We now have even greater admiration for our Honduras Saints who spend 10 to 12 hours on a bus to come to the temple. What a grueling trip!! We left on Tuesday morning at 7:00AM, expecting to be in Copan, Honduras by noon. 8 hours later we were at our hotel in Copan. We had a driver who had never been out of El Salvador before, 4 boarder crossings (out of El Salvador into Guatemala, then out of Guatemala into Honduras), road construction, and windy narrow roads with potholes big enough to bury the bus. Our driver got lost once and we had to back track, loosing an hour. By the time we made it to our motel, all the museums and parks were closed so we went to town to see what Copan, Honduras looked like. Picture #1 is the cobble stone, rough roads. #2 We are returning to the van after walking the streets of Copan and shopping. It is a mountain town without any flat ground. Everything is up and down. I think it is probably one of the smallest towns we have been in.

     We did run into the full time Elders at the city park. One was from Utah and the other from El Salvador. There is no church building here, they just rent a house. The TukTuk's are everywhere here. The members live in the mountains, on this ridge or that, and have a very difficult time coming to church. It is a real challenge for these two missionaries.

     After a good nights sleep, we were at the Copan Ruins at 8:00 AM Wednesday morning, hoping to beat some of the heat. The humidity is less here but it is very hot. Picture #3 is of one of the court yards of the pyramids. Looking at the picture, in the right hand corner of the courtyard, you can see a door. This is one of the doors of the tunnels that we were able to explore. When we were here last June with our tour, we were not allowed into the tunnels so this was a treat. You could see what the archaeologists have uncovered. They don't want to uncover them and let the air into them to deteriorate the pyramids. Picture #4 is of the Ceiba Tree. It is a sacred tree for the Mayan's. They are growing all over the pyramids and the roots are actually helping some of them stay standing but to get to the next level down, they need to be cut back but that is not a possibility. This one is right on top of a pyramid. They are huge and so majestic. Our guide was a Mayan Woman who did a great job.  Picture #5 is of Lon with the Sun God who is being swallowed by a monster which means that it is night and the sun is going down.

     We left Copan and headed home about 2:00. The ride home was not as long, only 5 hours, but the driver was like a horse heading to the barn. It really was a scary ride. We do not ever want to have that driver again.

      We enjoyed our travels, but are excited for the temple to open again. We miss it so much when it is closed. We will start on Monday, getting everything put back into place after the painters and cleaners. They are power washing the outside of the temple and are almost finished. Tonight our stake is having a devotional in honor of the one year anniversary of the temple opening and hopefully will inspire all to come to the temple more often.

     Fall football has begun and Lon is skyping Ginger this year to watch BSU. The games are fun when you can share them with family. We wish we could be to Chandler and Ashton's games (Tracy and Sarah's boys) but they tell us all about them on Sunday when we skype. We love skyping and getting emails so we can know what everyone is doing and be part of your lives that way. We thank you for your prayers in our behalf. We feel the power of them daily as we are able to keep up with our schedule. We love this work and these people. They teach us so much about faithfulness, sacrifice and enduring to the end happily and with peace. We hope you all have a great week. We love you Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma, Lon and Nancy

We're Home Safe and Sound

    We made it home from our Guatemalan adventure. We had everything planned out and left town with confidence that we could accomplish our desired trip, but life got in the way and we ended up with a great trip, only a bit different than planned. We left San Salvador on Tues. the 4th on a Tica Bus. It was the first time that something actually began early. We were to leave at 6:00AM but actually pulled out 5 minutes early. We were in shock. Tica Buses travel from capital cities to capital cities. It was the same kind of a bus that we used on our tour last summer. The bus was clean and we arrived in Guatemala City about 11:30 AM. We were met by our taxi driver, Pedro Jimenez, who will be with us the rest of the trip.

     Pedro took us to the Temple, where we had a room for the night. Picture #1 is of the CCM (the Mission training center). The temple missionaries for Guatemala live on the third floor and the young missionaries on the rest of the floors. We were on the second floor and had a room with two queen beds, a microwave and frig and access to washers and dryers. They charged us $20.00 a night. We spent the evening in the temple, a perfect start to our vacation. This temple is designed very similar to the Boise Temple, only much smaller.

     We left Guatemala the following morning at 5:30 AM and headed for Quetzaltenango or Xela (Shayla) as the Mayans call it. We planned to attend the Xela temple and then go to Panajachel on Lake Atitlan for the night. At 7:30, the car stopped and would not start again. We were two hours out of Quatemala City and 3 hours out of Xela. Our driver called a friend to bring us a different car so we could continue our trip. He didn't come when we thought he should have and Pedro called him to see where he was. This is when we found out that life had changed our plans real fast. The government of Guatemala had decided that to be a school teacher you had to go to school for 7 years instead of the 5 that they do now. The students decided to let the government know how unhappy they are, so they protested with a blockade that closed this 4 lane highway on both sides of us. We were broke down right in front of this restaurant Picture #2 with no other cars around. We had bathrooms and good food and sat there for the next 6 hours waiting for the blockade to open so the other car could get to us. It really was a tender mercy from our Heavenly Father that we were not in either of the blockades with no bathrooms, hundreds of very unhappy people, and the military and police trying to get the students to leave. By the time our other car arrived, it was too late to make it to Xela, attend the temple and get to Panajachel before dark. It is the rainy season and you don't want to be on the narrow curvy roads leading to Panajachel after dark. So we headed straight for Panajachel. Panajachel is a quaint little town right on the shores of Lake Atitlan. This lake is surrounded by volcanos. Picture #3 shows our boat that we took to go across the lake and around the other side to visit three of the 12 villages. These 12 villages are named for the 12 apostales. We only visited 3 of them. San Juan is know for its tranquility and peace. San Pedro, Picture #4, is famous for its textiles. The women and children wear these colorful skirts and blouses. Santiago is know for its wood working. As we approached Santiago, we saw the Mayan women doing their laundry Picture #5. We had to let Lon get a ride in his "tuk tuk". Picture #6. The streets are so narrow and cobblestone. These little cars are all over in these towns. The driver saw our name tags and let us know that there was a Mormon chapel in town. He took us to see it. It was different than any we had seen. It was a two story red brick building.  It is the only one in the 12 villages but there are missionaries in two of the villages.

      It is about 1:30PM now and the clouds are rolling in fast and the calm clear water of the lake is beginning to look real ugly to me. We decided it was time to get back to the main land. We had white caps and rain before we made it back, a real rough ride for this gal. We had lunch in Panajachel and the rain began. Water was running everywhere. We had to walk to the car and we walked on the street but the water was clear up to my ankles. As we headed out of town, we passed this "water fall" Picture #7. It is just rain water washing down the hill. We had rivers of water flowing down the roads. We had fog, hail and rain the rest of the way back to Guatemala City.  We again stayed at the CCM and enjoyed the temple Friday morning. Then we went to the center of town to see the palace and cathedral and shop at the local craft market. We wished we had more time at the market to see all the things that were there, but our bus was to pull out at 2:00 PM so we had to leave. Guatemala streets are cleaner than El Salvador but according to the Temple President, Guatemala is not as safe as El Salvador. Most of the produce here in El Salvador comes from Guatemala. The fields and gardens were beautiful, going up and down the hills. The weather is at least 10 degrees cooler than El Salvador.
 
      We got home at 8:30, an hour and a half late because of the traffic here due to a big futball (soccer) game. We were tired and hungry. Our mission family had supper ready for us and it is good to be home. President and Sister Petersen are still in the states visiting their families so our family is not complete yet. It was a fast trip but we enjoyed seeing another part of Central America. We are home til Tuesday when the missionaries will take a trip to Copan, Honduras. We have been there, but will go with the others as it will be the last time we can all be together for an overnighter.

     We hope you are all well and happy. You are always in our prayers. We send our love and thank you for your support and prayers in our behalf. " Life" has a way of changing our plans but we just have to remember that our Heavenly Father is watching and He will send those tender mercies to help us through "life". Love Lon and Nancy, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma

Guatemala

    Just a quick note to let you know that we are leaving on Tuesday, tomorrow, for Guatemala. We are excited to finally be able to visit the Guatemala City Temple, the Quetzaltenango Temple and Lake Atitlan.  It will be a fast trip and we will be home on Friday night. We will send pictures and tell you all about it next week. Our temple is closed for the next two weeks for deep cleaning and repairs.

     This last week was amazing. The temple was filled and overflowing. It was exhausting and exciting at the same time. We just love being busy and able to serve so many. President and Sister Petersen have gone to Tennessee to visit their son. They are both doing very well. Sister Kitley is trying to decide whether to have surgery on her knee or just try a cortizone shot and delay the surgery till she gets home. But she is moving better and able to help in the office at the temple now. Elder Gibbons has overused his ankle and is in a lot of pain but with two weeks off he will be able to recoup and be ready to go when we reopen. We are just a bunch of old people with aches and pains who love being here and serving in this temple.

     Hope you all enjoyed your Labor Day Weekend. Stay healthy and happy. We love you. Thank you for your love and support and prayers. Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma, Lon and Nancy

August 27, 2012

      Since it is Ladies day out you will have to read a letter from the man of the house. I just finished cleaning the house and in the middle of the laundry and will get this letter out. We are fine and felt nothing of the earthquake down here. We had some great thunder storms yesterday that woke us up from our nap, but read the news of the Dominican Republic. We saw the storms on the news. We didn't get any of that storm either.

     We are doing well and are finishing our last week before the 2 week break and then will head for Guatemala to visit the two temples there and go to Atitclan, which they think are the waters of Mormon depending on the author. Someday in the next life we will know for sure.We are looking forward to that visit. We will do that trip by ourselves and then come back and reload and go to
Honduras with the other missionaries. They said that they could only take one week of us not the two. It will be a rerun for us as we were there a year ago with the Book fo Mormon tour, but this will be the last time we can go as a group because they start going home in January. We want to go also while we have a visa and can. We renew in February and if it is like last time we will be home before the visa is renewed. In march the temple in Honduras will be open and we hope to get to it before coming home.

     We got to watch a little of the olympics and hope to get to see some of the BYU and BSU games this year. All depends on schedules. I have had the opportunity to do some good reading while I have been here and hope to read all those books that I should have read long ago. Now I think I have most of the answeres I needed to raise our family and myself but it would have been nice to have had that knowledge at age 24.

     We enjoy our challenges and the many miracles that we see each day. We have had challenges with the health of the missionaries and especially our dear President but all are on the mend and doing great. We see miracles every day that strengthens our testimonies. To know God lives and that his Son is our Savior is great piece of mind. To know that families are an eternal joy and that through the atonement and our works and his grace we can have great joy not only in this life but for the eternities.

     We love you all and really would enjoy hearing from a few more people to know if you are still alive. Have a great week and may you have joy in all that you do. Love Lon and Nancy Mom
and Dad Grandma and Grandpa

One Year Anniversar​y!

     We arrived here in El Salvador one year ago on August 17th, 2011.  We were reading some of our first impressions and a few things have changed. We were never going to be able to walk to the store because the traffic was so crazy and fast across the main intersection that we had to cross. We now not only cross that intersection with ease, we walk about 20 minutes further to the "mercado" for fresh fruits and veggies. Grocery shopping took hours because we had to read every label and really search for the items we needed. We now know all three stores and can run in and get whatever we need very fast. It does take all three stores because one won't have what you want but the other one will. And fruits and veggies are fresh on Tuesday, not on Monday when we usually shopped at first. We now walk over on Tuesday's to get the good fresh veggies and fruits. We don't have to struggle quite so hard now to understand. Somedays we actually feel like we understood everything that was said. Our first Sunday here was Ward Conference and a "young man" played a violin solo and the piano. Rene is now one of our dear friends whomakes sure we get to the symphony and choir
practices whenever our schedules at the temple allow. And today was Ward Conference and Rene and his brother played a violin duet for us.

      Tuesday will be the one year mark for the opening of the temple.  We think that we missionaries have done our job because we have a lot of well trained ordinance workers now and the work in the temple is going well. We have new workers almost daily and a lot of sickness and just plain difficulties with getting to the temple by a lot of the workers so we know that missionaries will be needed here for a long time to come. But we think it is that way in all of the temples in Central America. There is a big need for Spanish Senior Couples for Temple Missions now as more temples are opened in this part of the country.

     We had a 5.3 earthquake on the 14th. It moved the temple. Even the locals took notice of this one. It is a real weird feeling to have the walls move. The nickname of El Salvador is "the hammock" as
this ground moves a lot. But there was no damage and the work went on without any interruption.

     We are preparing for our two weeks when the temple will close for cleaning, the first two weeks in September. We are going to go to Guatemala to see the two temples there and visit Lake Atitlan. I will share our trip with you when we return. As for now, we have one week of the AM shift and one week of the PM shift left before the closure.

     We send our love to all with best wishes for a great school year for all the kids and the parents who have to help with the homework. We pray that you are well and happy. We are enjoying our mission and just wish the time would slow down a bit. Have a great week. Love Lon and Nancy, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma

"Elote Loco"

    We have been treated to a new culinary experience that we want to share with you. In fact, if you think it looks like something you would like to try, we do know how to make it and can make you some when we get home. However, you do have to start with corn that is picked when it is in the dent, not fresh and young and delicious. (George told us that he is picking corn and eating it out of his garden now and we are licking our lips remembering how good it tastes.)

     Last Monday, the 6th of August, President Majano's daughter and her husband Alex decided we missionaries needed to experience "Elote Loco",crazy corn. They picked corn from their neighbors garden. It has to be white corn as the yellow has too sweet a flavor for this dish. They boiled the corn, put skewers in it and picture #1 spread a mixture of mayo and mustard all over the corn. Picture #2 shows drizzling first the brown or barbecue sauce then the red or plain ketchup. Picture #3 You then roll the corn in shredded cheese, never cheddar, always white. This is the finished product. We were all a little afraid to take the first bite. Picture #4. It definitely was interesting and not like anything we have ever eaten before. All of us finished one ear because we do not want to offend or hurt anyone's feelings, but we hope we never have to eat "Elote Loco" again. It was not good. The mayo and mustard were so strong and the corn so tough that it really was hard to get it down. The Majano's and the Rivas's ate at least two ears, loving every bite. We will stick with "pupusas".

     We started our week on Monday by being at the temple at 4:30 AM for the special day for the La Libertad Stake. It was a great day, well organized, and well attended. But it really made our week long, serving 6 days instead of 5. We haven't gone anywhere, not even to the grocery store. We are getting our rest back and look forward to another week on the PM Shift with no alarm clocks!!!!
Because of our schedules, we didn't get to see much of the Olympics. Elder Thompson was able to read about it on the internet. Who would have ever thought that the Thompson's would be thankful for the internet? We would be lost without it here. Felicitaciones a Mexico por haber ganar el medalla de oro en los lympicos en futbol.

     We send our love to all. We hope you have a great week and are well and happy. We continue to love our mission, the friends we are making here, and the opportunity to serve in this temple. We have been so blessed. May God bless each of you with those righteous desires of your hearts is our prayer. Love Dad and Mom, Lon and Nancy, Grandpa and Grandma

Happy Fiestas Agostinos!​!

     We found out that we had a national holiday starting the first of August and lasting through the 6th. We asked people what we were celebrating. We were told that it was the birthday of San Salvador, that the government was lazy and wanted a holiday in August since they didn't have one, and that it was the day that "El Salvador" (the Savior) came to San Salvador. We were not sure which explanation to believe  so we checked the internet.  This festival dates back to 1525, the year that the city of San Salvador was founded. They celebrate with the fair coming to town and parades. On Thursday, the police put on the parade. On Friday, the business put on a parade. On Saturday, the Military put on the parade and on Sunday, the religious ceremony and parade takes place in front
of the national cathedral. It includes a spectacle known as "la bajada" or the descent. An old wooden image of Christ is paraded through the streets and then lowered inside a wooden shell. There the
sculpture's purple garments are removed, and Jesus emerges from the shell dressed in gleaming white robes, a symbolic representation of Christ's transfiguration. We were driven past one of the fairs on Thursday evening. We were not allowed out of the car to see this one up close. It is free to get in and not a safe place. It was huge, with big roller coasters and all kinds of fair rides, food venders of every kind and shops selling anything and everything. It was raining but still had people every where.

     On Saturday afternoon, Carlos Figueroa and his mother-in-law took us to the other fair. This one is within walking distance of the temple. It is safe and smaller they said. We have never seen so many
people in one place in our lives. We saw a band with dancers performing the national song and dance, picture #1. We tried to get a picture to show how many people were there, but pictures just can't
show it all. Picture #2. This fair took up a whole city block. People were standing in line for 2 to 3 hours just to take a ride on one roller coaster. We now know how sardines feel in a can. There was music and clowns and food and food and food. Grandma insisted that we try some chorros, fried dough covered in cinnamon and sugar. We really enjoyed that. It was in the low 90's with about 80%
humidity and no air in any of the buildings. We can say that we experienced the "feria" but were glad to get out of the heat, the crowds, and the noise.

     There is one great thing about the holiday, the people throng to the temple. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were wonderful in the temple with bus loads of people each day. Monday is the last day of
the holiday and we have one stake who have scheduled the morning at the temple. We have to be there by 4:30AM to help whereever needed and they are supposed to be gone by 1:00PM. With 8 to 13 buses coming.  It will be very surprising if they are gone by then. It will make a very long week with out a P-Day.

     We want to send a belated Birthday wish to my little brother, Dick, and to Robert Otteson. Sorry we missed your days and hope you had a great birthday. We send our love to all. We are doing great.
We do get tired by Saturday but with your prayers in our behalf we are keeping up with the schedule and enjoying every day. Primary music went well today and only one more week til Sister Broadbent returns. We pray that you are happy, healthy, and enjoying every day of your lives. We are saddened to have lost two friends, Chuck Jensen and Dr Harold Lloyd. Have a great week. Love Lon and Nancy, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma.