Final week in El Salvador

      Our last week in the temple in El Salvador began on the 18th with tears and hugs and best wishes from both participants and obrero.  It was really overwhelming and many times I would try and hide so everyone wouldn't see the tears.  Wow, we love these humble, happy, loving people so much.  One of the toughest couples to say good-bye to were Brother and Sister Amaya.  They are both in their 80's and reality is that we may never see them again in this life.  We all just sobbed.  The morning shifts waited around to be able to say good-bye and give gifts and we cherished one last time of serving with the afternoon shifts.

      Doctor and Sister Navas took us to dinner on Thursday evening, after our shift. 

They promised that it would be a quick dinner as we had a breakfast engagement for the next day.  We went to a sushi café and the waiter prepared and cooked our meal at our table.  It was well after 11 before be got back to the apartment.  We had a great time, but boy were we tired when the alarm went off the next morning.

 

     The Petersen's, and Alas's took us to breakfast on the 21st.  We returned to Lilies but this time President Petersen drove us. 

We mentioned that we wanted to go the Artisinian to find a hat for Lon when President Alas said no, come with me.  They had bought Lon two hats and purses for me as going away gifts.  It is going to take another suitcase to get all of our gifts home.

 

     The 22nd, our 41st anniversary, was our last day in the temple in El Salvador.  We were thrilled to be able to spend our anniversary in the temple and got to attend a sealing for our friends Carmen Santos and Jared Moran.  After our shift, we went to dinner with our family, the Figueroa's. 
 

We went back to the Attic for pupusas.  This was the first place they had taken us.  They wanted to spend Sunday and Monday evenings with us too, but saying good-bye that many times was just not going to happen.  It is too hard.  We told them that we would see them at church the following morning and that we just couldn't say good-bye again.  We love this family so much.  They really have taken great care of us for these two years.

 

     Sunday morning and we knew that we would be asked to share our testimonies in Sacrament meeting.  We had never had the chance to do this on Fast and Testimony meetings because the lines were always long.  The only way we had been able to share our testimonies here was when we were asked to sing.  So we decided to again share our testimony in song.  We prepared with Elder Clark and sang "I know that My Redeemer Lives".  I told them that we wanted to share our testimony the way we had so many times before, through music, we sang, said amen and sat down.  I think it went over real well.  It was sure easier than trying to talk.  During Relief Society, Karina Artega, the president, made sure that everyone sat in the middle of the chapel.  At the end of class, she had me stand up and this is the sight before me. 

 The first two rows of women were waving their hands in applause, the next rows had signs like "Thank you, we love you" and the last rows had my name.  It was such a beautiful sight, I just melted.  I keep thinking that I have no tears left but they just keep flowing.  It is so much harder to leave here than it was to leave home.  I know it is because I knew that I would be home again and we really do not know if we will ever see these dear people again in this life. 

 

     We were in charge of Sunday dinner so we decided to eat on the patio for the last time.  We had stopped eating there because of all the dust and noise of the housing project, but today there was no wind and no workers.  We wanted to show the new missionaries how we did it for the first year and a half.  It was nice, but I don't think they appreciated it as much as we did.  It was a hot day.

 

     Our going away dinner, hosted by the Petersen's was the evening of the 24th.  We made sure that it was on the last Monday we would be in El Salvador so we didn't have to say good-bye to the Temple Presidency, recorders, and missionaries but once. 

We also welcomed in the new missionaries, the Winter's and the Haroldsen's.   Those in attendance were: Majano's, Alas's, Rivas's, Lopez's, Mendez's, Petersen's, Clark's, Haroldson's, and Winter's.  Sister Estrada prepared the pupusa's with Sister Majano's help. 

 

     The rest of the evening was spent trying to get the suitcases all within the 40 pounds. 

We have three suitcases that are within the 40 pounds and one that is just under 70 pounds.  We also have one other suitcase that the Wegkamps will bring home in a few weeks and we will pick it up in Logan.  We really did not think that we would be in such a bad place with our luggage, but we have been given so many going away gifts that we just ran out of poundage.

 

     We will leave the apartment at 5:30 tomorrow morning, the 25th.  We will arrive in Twin Falls that evening about 9:00.  It will be a very long day.  Our time here in El Salvador is over.  This has felt like home for us and we are a little nervous about the next chapter in our lives.  We look forward to being with all of our kids and grandkids this weekend and will put our trust in the Lord for what the future will bring.  We have never been retired again so this could be an interesting time. Hugs and kisses in person tomorrow.  Love Dad and Mom, Lon and Nancy, Grandpa and Grandma