We will never again think of Friday the 13th as a bad day. It was the day that we finally got HOT WATER!!!. Yes, one month to the day we now have hot water. It is so nice to turn on the faucet and have hot water to wash hands, faces, and dishes. And I have to admit, our showers are a little longer than needed. We are enjoying the luxury of hot water again.
This week. on Monday the 9th, the five missionary couples, the Lopez's, the Mendez's and the Pena's took a trip to La Palma. We also took "Flat Stanley's cousin Bronco Plano". Our Grandson, Chandler and his class sent Flat Stanley all over the world with the instructions that we were to take pictures with him and send them back so the class could learn about different parts of the world. Well, Flat Stanley has never arrived so his cousin had to be found so we could get the pictures taken and returned. He is in the mail now so we hope he will returned without any delay. We were told that it was in the mountains so bring a sweater because the air is very fresh there. La Palma is about 2 hours away from San Salvador, on the Honduras border. It is amazing that this small country can have so many different looks to it. Picture #1 shows a little of this landscape. There were a lot of evergreens here. It is a lot higher than San Salvador, but no, we did not need even a long sleeved shirt again.
La Palma is known for its paintings. The walls of the city were painted. Picture #2 shows one of them. The streets were cobblestone and very narrow. The factory was interesting. They had one room where all sorts of items were cut out of wood. They did have electric jig saws for the cutting. Then in the paint room, women, picture #3 painted free hand on the items. There were no stensils. They just painted all day. They had hammocks strung across the room where their children could take naps during the day as they bring their little ones to work with them. They export all over the world. Picture #4 is the sales floor where you can buy the items made here. Picture #5 is of a truck full of beans heading to market. Instead of picking the beans they pulled the whole plant up and took it to the market.
This town had no real poor houses in it, the ones made of cardboard and corregated metal. They were all made of concrete and block. It is a very quiet, simple town away from the hustle and bustle of the big city. We really enjoyed our day here, then headed home. We got into San Salvador right at rush hour and they have closed one of the main roads of the city for construction. It was bumper to bumper for an hour. Our bus driver decided that we should get gas so he cuts across two lanes of traffic to the station. The station doesn't have his bus registered so he is going to have to pay $1.30 in taxes to fill up, so he won't do it. We continue on, getting about a mile from the Temple and run out of gas. Luckily we had pulled off the main street onto a small one that was not busy. The men walked to the Temple and brought back cars to get all of us home. Another adventure.
This week San Miguel came to the Temple. This is a poorer section of El Salvador. One little lady comes every time San Miguel comes. She can't be more than 4 feet tall, has greasy hair and dirt under her nails and smells of smoke from cooking on an open fire. I know she has no running water in her home (and I complain about no hot water) She walks with crutches because she has only one leg. But when you meet her, all you really see is the twinkle in her eye and the smile on her face. She is always so happy. She is such a good example of being at peace with your self and not always wishing for more. Having the right attitude about life will help us all be more at peace and happy. I hope I can become more like her, always finding the bright side of life and not complaining about the little things, like no hot water. We have so much to learn from these special people and we are so thankful to be here serving with them. We just got word that we have a new Bishop at home. Mom and Connie, our new bishop is Norm Kump. He got sustained today. His counselors are a Brother Brown and Brother Van Tassel. We don't know them but we are thrilled for the ward to have Norm and Bev. They will be great. We send our love to all, Have a great week. Lon and Nancy, Mom and Dad, Grandpa and Grandma
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