Happy Easter!!

     We had no idea what to expect for Easter week as it was our first since the Temple opened. WOW What a week it ended up being. School is out the entire week for "Semana Santa" (Holy Week) and a lot of businesses close also. Friday almost everyone is off and most of the town is shut down and the people all go to the beach. Well, on Tuesday and Wednesday we ended up with 2 buses from Honduras and 1 bus from Nicaragua so the temple was pretty full those two days. Thursday we had another bus from Honduras and one from El Salvador. Not quite as busy so we were getting worried that Friday would be real quiet. Well, we ended up with 12 buses on Friday. People were everywhere. The Temple was overfull. The baptistry was in use every minute of the day. But all the buses left by 5:00 to get home and we ended up canceling the 7:00 Session cause no one was left. Saturday we only had 6 buses, all from San Miguel, El Salvador. It was so great to have so many people remember the Savior and come to the temple instead of going to the beach for Easter.

     Today I sang in Sacrament Meeting. Sharon, I have never sang O Divine Redeemer before. That was your song and I played it for you. Remember singing in the Prespyterian Church? They had a great pipe organ and the sound was awesome. Well, Rene, the violin player wanted me to sing this and ordered in the music. It was the lower arrangement, and went clear up to an F#. There is no way I can hit an F#, Sharon can but not me. Luckily we don't have a piano in our chapel, only a keyboard. We were able to lower the music three half steps so I could hit the high notes. It really went great and I think it added to the meeting. We had a great Easter lunch with the other missionaries.
 

     In the temple this week, Lon ran into Elder Rodriguez, who served in Jerome in 2010. He remembered Lon right away. Lon recognized his face but didn't connect him with Idaho till he introduced himself. It is so amazing how small this world really is now. Picture #1 shows us with Elder Rodriguez and his wife. He now lives in Ogden and they are expecting their first baby. He remembers the people in the Branch well and still has a twinkle in his eye when he talks about them. Maria and Ysidro and Cierra, he said to say hello to you. He was there for Cierra's baptism. It was fun to see one of our missionaries from Jerome and know that he is still grounded in the gospel.

Picture #2 is of Elder Johnathan Alas. He is headed to the Boise Idaho Mission. His grandparents are the second counsellors in the Temple Presidency. He flies to Provo and will be in the MTC on Tuesday. Be looking for him. He will be a great missionary. He has a sweet testimony. One comes home and another leaves. Elder Rodriguez's English has improved greatly and Johnathan speaks very little English. By the time we get home, we are sure Elder Alas will be speaking English very well.

We are still using our electric showers as we still have no hot water. They think they have found the problem and have ordered a part from the states. If it takes as long to get here as our last package, we will not have hot water for another month!
 

     We went down to a section of town called Antiguo Cuscatlan. It is the cleanest section of town we have been in. Picture #3 shows you the town cemetery. Yes, those are houses inside the cemetery walls. The kids play soccer around the headstones. This country just has more people living here than there is room for. There are over 6 million people here, Idaho only has around 1 and a half million. They say there are about 800 people per square mile.
 

     We had a rain storm on Friday. The first since November. The dry season is coming to an end. The humidity is higher now than ever. Our temperatures average about 90 but with the humidity it really feels hotter. The winds have stopped also. As we watched Conference last weekend, we really started to miss the spring flowers and smells, then saw the morning temperatures in Jerome and decided we didn't miss it all that much. The sunshine is nice.Well, dear friends and family, we miss you all but are happy and very content to be here, serving in this temple. The El Salvadorians are so friendly and watch out for us. We are protected and loved. We pray that you are happy and healthy and enjoying life. Recognize your blessings and remember to thank your Heavenly Father for them. We have been so blessed to live in the United States. We send our love, Elder and Sister Thompson, Lon and Nancy, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma, Papa and Mama Smurf!