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 

Hope you enjoyed Memorial Day

Another week has come and gone so fast.  We have had rain almost every day now and everything is even more lush and green than before.  We are so glad that we were here long enough to enjoy this season once more.  Compared to Idaho, even the dry season is green but with a few rains it is so beautiful here. 

     We had a great week in the temple, especially Friday and Saturday.  We had full sessions and lots of activity.  We just love to be busy and see the people come. 

 

     Sunday we were asked by Bishop Ortiz to come to his ward and speak and sing.  Lon was very happy to speak and I was thrilled to be able to sing.  Bishop Ortiz wanted me to sing one of the songs that I had sung at the Temple Devotional but I didn't know how good his piano player would be, so I suggested that we just do a hymn.  He asked for " Did you think to Pray" and "All Creatures of our God and King".  Those who play will understand how difficult the second one is.  I was very worried about this one.  I had never sang it in Spanish before so I really worked on it.  The pianist was trying to play out of the hymn book, but really needed the simplified one.  We did "Did you Think to Pray" as a prelude piece just before the meeting began.  In the middle of the song, she hit the organ key by mistake and we had organ accompaniment about three different times in the song.  She was so embarrassed.  I just kept singing and we finished on the right notes together so it was successful.  I smiled and encouraged her and the meeting began. 

 

     Lon was told to speak about 20 minutes, but only had 10.  He did a great job of cutting and still getting his message in.  He got to talk about temples and the importance of attending often.

 

     The second song, "All Creatures" was worse than the first for the little piano player.  My prayer was that we could end on the same notes again, the right ones.  But that didn't happen.  Bless her heart.  She did her best.  At least it was in her ward where they are used to her playing so I don't even think most of them even noticed.  I am so glad that I wasn't relying on the piano for any of the notes.  This ward, the Merilot Ward, is a very small ward in a very small building, but we recognized many of our faithful temple workers and patrons.  It was fun to visit them. 

 

       After Church we went to the Ortiz's for dinner.  Bishop Ortiz and his wife Miriam are temple workers.  Their daughters are Laura, 12, and Andrea, 9. 

Their home is on a street where you have to park a car, if you have one and they don't, on the street then walk up a sidewalk to your home.  There are houses on both sides of the sidewalk with only about 2 feet of yard.

It is very typical of the houses in the city.  There are so many people here.  The houses are just rows and rows of buildings touching each other.  You know your neighbor real well cause you can hear everything from next door.  It began to rain during dinner and the skylight just above the table began to leak.  They had no running water in the kitchen.  We had a very good dinner of chicken, beans, rice, apples, and potato salad.  The potato salad was made with potatoes, beets, celery, and mayo.  They even went out and bought rolls and "butter" for us.  None of the locals use butter on their bread. Of course the best part of the meal for Lon was the ice cream for dessert.   We felt very pampered and loved.

     We really miss the Wall's and have come to really love the Clarks.  They are not afraid of work and are fun to be with.  Our next two couples will both arrive on the 14th of June.  It will be fun to get to know them a bit before we leave.   The Winters are from the Boise valley and the Haroldsons are from the Idaho Falls area. 

 

     We send our love to all and keep you in our prayers.  Thank you for your prayers in our behalf.  You have helped to keep us healthy and safe.  We love you Lon and Nancy, Grandpa and Grandma, Dad and Mom

We Have our Flight Plans!

   Well, I guess it is really going to happen.  We got our flight schedule today and we really are heading for home in just 5 short weeks, June 25th.  We leave El Salvador at 8:10 AM.  We will have to leave our apartment around 5:00 AM.  We will arrive in Dallas at 12:40 PM.  We will go through customs there and leave for SLC at 3:25 PM.  We are flying on American Airlines to SLC.  We will arrive in SLC at 5:05 and leave for Twin Falls on Delta at 8:04 PM arriving at 9:03 PM.  Only a 16 hour day of travel, unless between now and then they reschedule something. It feels like we just got here and already it is time to go home. 

 

     This week has started our "last" times for dinners and parties for us.  On Wednesday evening, all the missionaries got excused from the temple at 7:00PM so we could attend the final good-bye concert given by Rene Hernandez and Sherilee Broadbent.  Rene is the second chair violinist in the National Symphony here and Sherilee is a graduate from BYU in music.  This picture is the two talented kids with the old missionary that they allowed to sing with them. 

 

They are so good.  They played for over an hour and the music was amazing.  They both play with such passion and love for the music.  They will really miss playing together as Sherilee and her family are moving to Vancouver Canada for Brother Broadbent's new assignment with the American Embassy. 

 

     On Saturday, the Behnar's took us out for dinner.  Eric Behnar is the man who took Lon golfing the 6 times that he golfed here, either he or his son.  He is not a member but his wife and children are very active.  They took us to the country club.

It was beautiful and we had a very gourmet meal.  They have a flower here that they make juice out of, jamica.  We have tried the drink but this was the first time we ate the flower.  We had 3 taco's made out of the jamica flower, cooked with onions, served in a 3 inch taco shell with goat cheese for the appetizer.  The main course was shrimp covered in a tomato sauce with grilled asparagus and zucchini.  It really was very tasty but not something that we would ever order on our own. 

 

    Sunday, Luciana Figueroa and I sang in Sacrament meeting for the last time. 

  We sang " Song of Testimony" by Janice Kapp Perry.  The first time I sang with Lucy, I had to sing real soft as she sang so soft and mousey.  She now sings with conviction and she and I really blend well and I can sing full voice with her.  We are really going to miss the music that we have enjoyed so much here. 

 

     We just found out that Donna Bagley Herfel passed away.  We are so sad to be coming home to the void of friends who have passed away while we have been gone. 

 

      We miss the Wall's who are now in Utah with their family.  We are the last of the original "first" temple missionaries.  We are so happy and content here in this terrestrial world.  It really will be hard to say good-bye to our friends and family here.  Lon is working on a talk for next Sunday and I am working on two songs to sing in another ward.  I will tell you about it next week.  We love you and hope you are well and enjoying life.  We will see you soon.  Love Lon and Nancy, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma

One last trip, one last letter

We took our final trip to see this beautiful country with our Mission Family on the 6th of May.  We went to visit Suchitoto.  It is a quaint little town on the shore of a huge lake, Lake Suchitlan.  Our driver is a normal El Salvadoranian.  These people will never admit that they can't do something or don't know how to do something.  We asked him if he knew how to get to Suchitoto and of course the reply was "yes".  It is only a 45 minute drive from here but after he took us right through downtown trying to get out of the city, we knew we were in trouble.  Luckily we had invited Bishop Mendez and his wife to go with us.  It only took us an hour and a half and three turn arounds but we finally made it to the lake.

It is the rainy season here so we decided to tour the lake first incase an afternoon rain storm came in. I definitely did not want to be on the lake if it started to blow and rain.  This is our group.  The Mendez's have three nephews that they babysit with them.  The lake was huge. We spent about three hours visiting the islands around the lake.

Here is a picture of the birds.

They really are segregated.  The black ones on one tree and the white ones in another.  By the end of the rainy season, these islands are under water as the water will raise about 8 feet. 

 

This is an island that is almost completely covered after the rains.  The family that lives here have a little souvenir shop.  They move up the rock as the rains come.

It was so beautiful, peaceful, and hot!!  As long as the boat was moving it wasn't bad.  The heat and humidity really had the moss and algae growing in the water.  We had to share this photo of the color of the water.  It really reminded us of home.  You know, the lagoons at the dairys, soupy and green. 

But the smell wasn't there.

By the time we got back to shore, everyone was exhausted from the heat and we decided to head for home.  This time we put Bishop Mendez in the front seat and our trip home was a very short one. 

    

Our time here is going rapidly.  We only have a few weeks left.  Our Saturdays from now till we come home are filled with invites to homes of our friends for good-bye dinners.  Lon has to speak in one ward and I am singing in two wards.  We are going to start figuring out how to pack all our treasures and hopefully will have room for a few clothes too.  It is so hard to believe that we will be home next month.  Thank goodness it is warming up there!  We send our love to all.  Thank you for your prayers in our behalf.  We are so happy and love serving in the Temple with our dear friends here.  Love Lon and Nancy, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma