Happy New Year!

     We hope you all had a great New Year's celebration. Ours was amazing and will never be duplicated in our lifetime. Let me set the stage. Here in El Salvador, as in all countries, we have the rich and the poor. The very poorest are like our dear Hermana Diaz who comes to the temple three days a week and to church carrying all that she owns in a big black bag because she has no home. The next class of people have a corregated metal sided home with no windows, only curtains and dirt floors. They cook outdoors on an open fire. You can smell them when you are around them. The third class have cement block homes with windows and floors, but none of these have hot running water and some of them only have running water a few days a week. These include our friends the Figueroa's, the Lopez's, and a lot of our ward family because we do live in a very well to do part of town. And then you have the Reyes.

     We were invited to spend New Year's Eve with the Reyes's. Brother Reyes is our Gospel Doctrine teacher, a commercial pilot, and the owner of a trucking business with 200 trucks that carry fuel and oil all over Central America. Sister Reyes is a temple worker and an architect. She spent 11 years designing their dream home and 5 years trying to get permission to build where they wanted to. They have a "palace" in the mountains. It is huge!! One wing of the house is for the 7 employees who live with them. Bro. Reyes was traveling to Guatemala just before we got to El Salvador and was pulled over by a "policeman" who shot him, robbed him, and left him for dead. He is a walking miracle. They now have armed guards with them at all times and servalance cameras all over the house and grounds. We need to think twice before we wish for wealth. The entrance to the home has two staircases, one on each side

It has 5 bedrooms upstairs, each with its own bathroom and two downstairs, not counting the employees wing. It has two kitchens, one that they actually cook in and the other that they serve buffets in. And the bathrooms took on a whole new meaning when you say that you are going to visit  the throne. 

 

All of the furniture was designed by Sister Reyes.
     We started the evening with a family home evening lesson by Bro. Reyes from a talk given by Jeffery Holland. Then we moved outside for a circus act. We have a circus visiting San Salvador and one of the acts happen to be members of the church who have been co
ming to our ward. The Reyes's invited them to the party and when they found out that the missionaries and temple presidency would be there, they asked if they could perform for us. This is the husband decked out in his costume.

He shoots compound and cross bows at balloons or oranges that his wife holds in her hands or on her head. After they performed for awhile, he asked for "volunteers" to come. Now who in their right mind would volunteer to be shot at? So they started pulling people up, President Petersen, Sister Gibbons, Elder Kitley, and me.

That was an weird feeling. I could feel the air as the arrow popped the balloon. We ate at 10:30, there were about 50 people at the party, and then the kareoke and dancing started. At ten minutes to midnight, the fireworks started. It sounded like world war 3 as the noise from the valley floated up the hills. Brother Reyes had a fireworks display that matched any we have seen in Jerome. As we came down the mountain into the city, the air was thick with smoke and the fireworks and firecrackers continued most of the night. We arrived home at 1:30 AM. What an evening, we were wined and dined, shot at, sang and sang to, danced and watched a fireworks display. You didn't have time to get tired or realize what time it was. And so, 2013 literally came in with a bang! We have lots more pictures of the house and grounds of the Reyes home that we can share when we return. The Kitley's and Gibbons have begun to try to pack. They only have 3 weeks left with us and then home to the cold. We still have no replacements for them so February could be very interesting.

     Well, this letter has gotten real long so I had better close for now. We send our love and prayers in your behalf. Thank you for yours. Elder Thompson and I served in the temple every day that it was open this year, without being sick. We know that this health and strength came as a gift from our Heavenly Father. Thank you for your prayers. We love you Lon and Nancy, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma