San Miguel

     Well, I had your letter all written, hit a wrong key, and erased the whole thing!! We want to share with you a little about our trip to San Miguel on Sunday. San Miguel is about 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours by car and 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours away by bus. It is right at sea level so it is at least 10 to 20 degrees hotter than here. The terrain is so different than here. The PEF missionaries, Elder and Sister Hall had to go there for Stake Conference so we went with them. We had never had the opportunity to see this part of the country. Elder Hall is from California and drives just like the natives, fast and faster. We wish he would have gone just a little bit slower so we could see more but it was a great trip.
Pictures of the chapel. This is the design of most of the chapels here in El Salvador. They have two buildings hooked together with a "patio" in between them.

    This is the basketball court, right in the middle of the parking lot. Since most don't have cars, that is usually not a problem with the games.

     The conference was great. They had a 40 voice choir and I couldn't keep my eyes off the piano player. He was a piano teachers nightmare. He played by ear and had taught himself to play. He never looked at the keyboard, they actually had a real piano here. His fingering was so weird. He even played with the side of his little finger. He did a good job with the melody and a few notes in the left hand. He played with the sustain petal held down during the whole song. I was amazed that the choir could stay on their parts when he didn't play any of them. It was fun to watch.

     In this area there are lots of sugar cane fields and the factory was here too. We saw quite a bit of corn also. When the farmers pick the corn, they take the kernals off the cob and bring it to the road. They spread the corn out along the side of the road, on the concrete to dry it. Then they grind it into flour. Not so sure about the cleanliness of that flour!!

     In San Miguel they have two special foods that we don't have here in San Salvador, thank goodness!!! We were real glad that it was Sunday so we didn't have to go to a restaurant to try it. We will definately come home without ever tasting it. The full time missionaries have eaten it and shared their pictures with us.

Iguana

Armadillo 

The young Elders claim that it tasted pretty good but I just can't eat something that is looking at me. I think we will stick to pupuses. We had a good week and are enjoying no alarm clocks. We do miss the people who always come to the temple in the mornings though. We hope you have all had a good week and are healthy and happy. We send our love Lon and Nancy, Grandpa and Grandma, Dad and Mom