Hope You Have Had a Great Week!

     We send our love from El Salvador. We have had a quiet week here, no adventures to tell about. We were blessed to have two groups from Honduras visit us at the Temple so we had a couple of busy days and of course Saturday was bustling as usual. The rains in the early evenings stop a lot from coming to the Temple but we have not had any rain for two days now so we might be done  with the rainy season.

     We have been warned that this week the public buses will most likely go on strike so we could have a real quiet week. Many of our workers and patrons at the Temple do not own cars and ride the public buses, even on Sunday to get to church. As we were out and about today, we didn't see any buses so we think the strike is on. Let you know how it goes next week.

     Lon got to go golfing last Monday with a young man from our ward.  He got to play at the second course that is here in El Salvador. This one is just a couple of miles from us. They went on a Monday so there was no amenities offered so it was affordable. All he had to pay for was the caddie. Lon says that he set a record score for his life. His caddie won't bend on the score at all and he got a 62. The only problem was that it was for 9 holes!! The greens were soggy from the rain but extremely fast. It had very narrow fairways and the sandtraps were like brick because of the rains. He can't think of any other excuses and looks forward to playing it again to redeem himself. It is tough when you score a 10, 10, and a 9 on three holes. The only bright spot is that he won the match as his partner shot a 67. He had fun being on the course again.

     We are on the AM Shift this week so we will be trying to get to bed early and will look forward to a nap in the afternoon when we don't sleep well at night. We hope you all are well and enjoying life. We thank you for your prayers in our behalf and you are in our every day. We love you all, Lon and Nancy, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma

Christ in America

     When we arrived here and visited our El Salvadorian Temple for the first time last year, we were amazed at the picture that greeted us. Behind the recommend desk of our little temple was the most amazing life size painting of the Savior with two little Indian girls. We could not decipher the name of the artist and had never seen the painting before. A few months later, Apostle Russell Nelsen and his wife came to visit our temple and she fell in love with the painting. She said that she would find out all about it upon her return to Salt Lake City. Sure enough, she emailed Sister Petersen soon after her return with the name of the artist, Jeffrey Hein, and the name of the painting, Christ in America. She was told that the painting was commissioned by the church solely for the El Salvador Temple and would not be in print anywhere else. We were so disappointed that we could not share this painting with our friends and could not have a copy for our homes. Then, our October 2012 Ensign and the Liahona (church magazines) arrived and we opened the cover to find our painting there; Jesus Christ with a little Nephite girl on one side and a little Lamanite girl on the other. The only thing that you can't really tell in the picture are that the eyes of our Savior follow you no matter where you stand in the room. Of course our painting is life size. Isn't it beautiful. All of us missionaries are excited that we will be able to someday have a copy of this beautiful painting hanging in our homes. (We have a hunch that Sister Nelsen had something to do with this) Also in the Liahona we found an article featuring a young man that we know here in El Salvador. We think it may be in the Era because it is in the "Jovenes" section to the Liahona. The article is called "Strengthened by the Word". You will have to check out the article and the photo. If you don't have access to them, I will try to attach a copy of the photo.

     Sister Kitley had her surgery on her knee on Tuesday and is recovering without any problems. We have missed her in the Temple and look forward to her return this week. We had a great week of not getting up to an alarm and enjoyed our time in the Temple each afternoon and evening. We have had some real good thunder and lightning storms and rain almost daily as our rainy season is coming to an end. This will be the last month of the rains.

     As we watched Conference this weekend, they showed photos of the beautiful fall colors. Wow, that we do miss. Fall is our favorite time of year to go 4-wheeling in the mountains. Hope all of you are able to enjoy a beautiful fall before the cold sets in. We are thankful for your love and friendship, your prayers in our behalf. We send our love to all. Lon and Nancy, Grandpa and Grandma, Dad and Mom

Weak Things Become Strong

Months before the entrance exam for high school, I did not feel prepared. I was sure that it would be impossible to do well. So I turned to my Heavenly Father in prayer. While I was praying, these words came to my mind: “If men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them” (Ether 12:27).

I realized that when I pray to Heavenly Father for strength to face challenges and tests, He blesses me and helps me overcome my weaknesses. Presenting my concern to the Lord was the best decision I could make. He is the best teacher, and I know He helped me.

 

Irvin O. age 16, El Salvador

I Forgot to Hit "Send"!

    Well, I wrote a letter last week and as you all just got it, you can tell that I forgot to hit "send". Sorry, but the thought was there. I hope that counts.

     We had a busy week in the temple and were on the AM Shift. We are so excited for this week as we don't have to get up to the alarm. We did get to go to the "Sinfonica" again on Wednesday. The music was great. The pieces were composed by El Salvadorians. They were very relaxing and we were real disappointed when the concert ended.

     On Thursday, we went to the Figueroa's for dinner and to give the two girls a piano lesson. They had gone to a very typical restaurant and gotten take out for us. We had heard how wonderful this restaurant was and had wanted to try the food. We were not impressed. The pupusas were made with the wrong kind of cheese and the rest of the meal was not good. We are glad that we don't have to
waste money there.

     We got to Skype the BSU game with Tracy this week as it was on a local channel and Ginger didn't get it. She was the lucky one, not having to watch it. We are hoping that with each game we will see some improvement. It is definately a rebuilding year.

     We are looking forward to General Conference this weekend. We send our love and prayers your way. Thank you for your prayers in our behalf. We can feel the strength from them, especially on the AM Shift. Have a great week. Love Lon and Nancy, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma

The Temple is Open!!!

     It felt so good to be back in the Temple this week. We reallymissed the people and the work. We were expecting to have the temple filled because we had a great Devotional Sunday night. The chapel and cultural hall were filled and the choir and speakers did a great job encouraging people to flood the temple. Well, Tues and Wed we only had a trickle of people. We were so disappointed. But on Thursday we had 2 buses from Nicaragua and 1 from Honduras arrive and for two days the temple was overfull and bustling with activity. We sure hope the Salvadorians pick up their pace as the new Honduras Temple is to be completed next year and we won't have them here to pick up the slack.

     Saturday was amazing. The missionaries of El Salvador had a special day for their investigators. They had buses full of investigators come to the temple grounds for special meetings and tours of the temple grounds. We had 14 buses here at one time, plus several microbuses. The temple was full also and it turned out to be a great week after such a slow start. We had at least 30 sets of missionaries here and they looked so happy. They really had a great turnout. People want to know how to have Forever Families and our family history center here on the temple grounds attracts many.

     Sister Kitley is still having trouble with her knee and has decided to have surgery to try and clean up the problems and relieve her of some pain. She will have same day surgery, microscopic, on
Monday the 1st. Please keep her in your prayers for a speedy recovery and a successful surgery.

       We are on the AM Shift this week so we are going to head for bed early. We pray that you are all healthy and enjoying life. We are. We send our love to all, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma, Lon and Nancy

Copan, Honduras

     We now have even greater admiration for our Honduras Saints who spend 10 to 12 hours on a bus to come to the temple. What a grueling trip!! We left on Tuesday morning at 7:00AM, expecting to be in Copan, Honduras by noon. 8 hours later we were at our hotel in Copan. We had a driver who had never been out of El Salvador before, 4 boarder crossings (out of El Salvador into Guatemala, then out of Guatemala into Honduras), road construction, and windy narrow roads with potholes big enough to bury the bus. Our driver got lost once and we had to back track, loosing an hour. By the time we made it to our motel, all the museums and parks were closed so we went to town to see what Copan, Honduras looked like. Picture #1 is the cobble stone, rough roads. #2 We are returning to the van after walking the streets of Copan and shopping. It is a mountain town without any flat ground. Everything is up and down. I think it is probably one of the smallest towns we have been in.

     We did run into the full time Elders at the city park. One was from Utah and the other from El Salvador. There is no church building here, they just rent a house. The TukTuk's are everywhere here. The members live in the mountains, on this ridge or that, and have a very difficult time coming to church. It is a real challenge for these two missionaries.

     After a good nights sleep, we were at the Copan Ruins at 8:00 AM Wednesday morning, hoping to beat some of the heat. The humidity is less here but it is very hot. Picture #3 is of one of the court yards of the pyramids. Looking at the picture, in the right hand corner of the courtyard, you can see a door. This is one of the doors of the tunnels that we were able to explore. When we were here last June with our tour, we were not allowed into the tunnels so this was a treat. You could see what the archaeologists have uncovered. They don't want to uncover them and let the air into them to deteriorate the pyramids. Picture #4 is of the Ceiba Tree. It is a sacred tree for the Mayan's. They are growing all over the pyramids and the roots are actually helping some of them stay standing but to get to the next level down, they need to be cut back but that is not a possibility. This one is right on top of a pyramid. They are huge and so majestic. Our guide was a Mayan Woman who did a great job.  Picture #5 is of Lon with the Sun God who is being swallowed by a monster which means that it is night and the sun is going down.

     We left Copan and headed home about 2:00. The ride home was not as long, only 5 hours, but the driver was like a horse heading to the barn. It really was a scary ride. We do not ever want to have that driver again.

      We enjoyed our travels, but are excited for the temple to open again. We miss it so much when it is closed. We will start on Monday, getting everything put back into place after the painters and cleaners. They are power washing the outside of the temple and are almost finished. Tonight our stake is having a devotional in honor of the one year anniversary of the temple opening and hopefully will inspire all to come to the temple more often.

     Fall football has begun and Lon is skyping Ginger this year to watch BSU. The games are fun when you can share them with family. We wish we could be to Chandler and Ashton's games (Tracy and Sarah's boys) but they tell us all about them on Sunday when we skype. We love skyping and getting emails so we can know what everyone is doing and be part of your lives that way. We thank you for your prayers in our behalf. We feel the power of them daily as we are able to keep up with our schedule. We love this work and these people. They teach us so much about faithfulness, sacrifice and enduring to the end happily and with peace. We hope you all have a great week. We love you Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma, Lon and Nancy

We're Home Safe and Sound

    We made it home from our Guatemalan adventure. We had everything planned out and left town with confidence that we could accomplish our desired trip, but life got in the way and we ended up with a great trip, only a bit different than planned. We left San Salvador on Tues. the 4th on a Tica Bus. It was the first time that something actually began early. We were to leave at 6:00AM but actually pulled out 5 minutes early. We were in shock. Tica Buses travel from capital cities to capital cities. It was the same kind of a bus that we used on our tour last summer. The bus was clean and we arrived in Guatemala City about 11:30 AM. We were met by our taxi driver, Pedro Jimenez, who will be with us the rest of the trip.

     Pedro took us to the Temple, where we had a room for the night. Picture #1 is of the CCM (the Mission training center). The temple missionaries for Guatemala live on the third floor and the young missionaries on the rest of the floors. We were on the second floor and had a room with two queen beds, a microwave and frig and access to washers and dryers. They charged us $20.00 a night. We spent the evening in the temple, a perfect start to our vacation. This temple is designed very similar to the Boise Temple, only much smaller.

     We left Guatemala the following morning at 5:30 AM and headed for Quetzaltenango or Xela (Shayla) as the Mayans call it. We planned to attend the Xela temple and then go to Panajachel on Lake Atitlan for the night. At 7:30, the car stopped and would not start again. We were two hours out of Quatemala City and 3 hours out of Xela. Our driver called a friend to bring us a different car so we could continue our trip. He didn't come when we thought he should have and Pedro called him to see where he was. This is when we found out that life had changed our plans real fast. The government of Guatemala had decided that to be a school teacher you had to go to school for 7 years instead of the 5 that they do now. The students decided to let the government know how unhappy they are, so they protested with a blockade that closed this 4 lane highway on both sides of us. We were broke down right in front of this restaurant Picture #2 with no other cars around. We had bathrooms and good food and sat there for the next 6 hours waiting for the blockade to open so the other car could get to us. It really was a tender mercy from our Heavenly Father that we were not in either of the blockades with no bathrooms, hundreds of very unhappy people, and the military and police trying to get the students to leave. By the time our other car arrived, it was too late to make it to Xela, attend the temple and get to Panajachel before dark. It is the rainy season and you don't want to be on the narrow curvy roads leading to Panajachel after dark. So we headed straight for Panajachel. Panajachel is a quaint little town right on the shores of Lake Atitlan. This lake is surrounded by volcanos. Picture #3 shows our boat that we took to go across the lake and around the other side to visit three of the 12 villages. These 12 villages are named for the 12 apostales. We only visited 3 of them. San Juan is know for its tranquility and peace. San Pedro, Picture #4, is famous for its textiles. The women and children wear these colorful skirts and blouses. Santiago is know for its wood working. As we approached Santiago, we saw the Mayan women doing their laundry Picture #5. We had to let Lon get a ride in his "tuk tuk". Picture #6. The streets are so narrow and cobblestone. These little cars are all over in these towns. The driver saw our name tags and let us know that there was a Mormon chapel in town. He took us to see it. It was different than any we had seen. It was a two story red brick building.  It is the only one in the 12 villages but there are missionaries in two of the villages.

      It is about 1:30PM now and the clouds are rolling in fast and the calm clear water of the lake is beginning to look real ugly to me. We decided it was time to get back to the main land. We had white caps and rain before we made it back, a real rough ride for this gal. We had lunch in Panajachel and the rain began. Water was running everywhere. We had to walk to the car and we walked on the street but the water was clear up to my ankles. As we headed out of town, we passed this "water fall" Picture #7. It is just rain water washing down the hill. We had rivers of water flowing down the roads. We had fog, hail and rain the rest of the way back to Guatemala City.  We again stayed at the CCM and enjoyed the temple Friday morning. Then we went to the center of town to see the palace and cathedral and shop at the local craft market. We wished we had more time at the market to see all the things that were there, but our bus was to pull out at 2:00 PM so we had to leave. Guatemala streets are cleaner than El Salvador but according to the Temple President, Guatemala is not as safe as El Salvador. Most of the produce here in El Salvador comes from Guatemala. The fields and gardens were beautiful, going up and down the hills. The weather is at least 10 degrees cooler than El Salvador.
 
      We got home at 8:30, an hour and a half late because of the traffic here due to a big futball (soccer) game. We were tired and hungry. Our mission family had supper ready for us and it is good to be home. President and Sister Petersen are still in the states visiting their families so our family is not complete yet. It was a fast trip but we enjoyed seeing another part of Central America. We are home til Tuesday when the missionaries will take a trip to Copan, Honduras. We have been there, but will go with the others as it will be the last time we can all be together for an overnighter.

     We hope you are all well and happy. You are always in our prayers. We send our love and thank you for your support and prayers in our behalf. " Life" has a way of changing our plans but we just have to remember that our Heavenly Father is watching and He will send those tender mercies to help us through "life". Love Lon and Nancy, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma

Guatemala

    Just a quick note to let you know that we are leaving on Tuesday, tomorrow, for Guatemala. We are excited to finally be able to visit the Guatemala City Temple, the Quetzaltenango Temple and Lake Atitlan.  It will be a fast trip and we will be home on Friday night. We will send pictures and tell you all about it next week. Our temple is closed for the next two weeks for deep cleaning and repairs.

     This last week was amazing. The temple was filled and overflowing. It was exhausting and exciting at the same time. We just love being busy and able to serve so many. President and Sister Petersen have gone to Tennessee to visit their son. They are both doing very well. Sister Kitley is trying to decide whether to have surgery on her knee or just try a cortizone shot and delay the surgery till she gets home. But she is moving better and able to help in the office at the temple now. Elder Gibbons has overused his ankle and is in a lot of pain but with two weeks off he will be able to recoup and be ready to go when we reopen. We are just a bunch of old people with aches and pains who love being here and serving in this temple.

     Hope you all enjoyed your Labor Day Weekend. Stay healthy and happy. We love you. Thank you for your love and support and prayers. Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma, Lon and Nancy