temple

temple

Monday, January 2, 2012

Happy New Year!

     2012, it is so hard to believe that another year has come and gone. 2011 for us was a whirlwind of activity and new adventures. 2012 should be full of service in the Temple and new adventures as we get to know this country and people better each day. New Year's eve was spent with the missionaries at the Petersen's apartment. We ate finger foods and played games. We decided that 9:00pm would be our midnight but were in the middle of a heated game so 10:00 ended up being our New Years and we celebrated and headed for bed. At midnight the fireworks and firecrackers woke everyone up, except for Lon. He slept through it all. It sounded like WWIII. The whole mountain was lit up with the fireworks. It lasted for about a half hour.
     Our stake girl's camp was on the 27th-29th of December. The San Salvadorian schools have their "summer break" from the middle of Nov to the middle of Jan. The American, British, and all other Europian schools have their break in June and July so the only time all the girls in the stake were out of school is between Christmas and New Years so that is when Girls Camp is held. They went to the mountains and camped with tents. They all complained about how cold it was, we still haven't put on long sleeves. But the wind is blowing now so it looks like Idaho when you look out the window, but the temperature still hasn't varied more than 2 or 3 degrees.
 
     Cooking continues to be an adventure as we cannot always find the ingredients that the recipe calls for. I love to make "Sea Breeze Salad" so for Sunday dinner I attempted it. The only lemon jello here is green (lime) but the package says lemon. I didn't think lemon pie filling would look too good with green jello so I found pineapple jello and it turned out real good. I do miss cool whip. We can't always find whipping cream and have tried a product they call creme fresa. It whips but you have to add vanilla and sugar. They do have a McCormik spice factory here so we can usually find all the spices we need, we just have to figure out the name. This country is filled with coconut trees but you cannot buy flaked coconut here. One time we found some in a bulk bin at Walmart but never any packaged. So I made 5 cup salad that time cause we had coconut, but had to use fruit cocktail instead of manderine oranges cause that is not found here. You can buy fresh coconuts and the people love fresh coconut milk, YUK. Not impressed.
 
     We have enjoyed having three days off in a row but are looking forward to getting back to work. It just seems so natural to be in the Temple each day. We celebrated Lon's birthday with cake and balloons and ate pancakes and bacon. It was his first birthday that was celebrated outside on Christmas Day.
We send our love to all and hope you have set New Year's Resolutions that are attainable and will help you be all that your Father In Heaven has planned for you. Be safe, be happy and keep smiling. Life is wonderful. We are all so blessed. Lon and Nancy

No comments:

Post a Comment