Sunday, August 26, 2011 Another week in San Salvador...

Let's see what happened this week...Walt back from physical therapy on Wednesday, Aug 22. That's our temple apartment complex behind him. Our 2-bedroom, 2-bath grand and elegant apartment is on the second floor, far left.  That's our private terrace patio on the far left.

I'm looking for a photo of us together this week....then we're calling it a day....  This is us last Monday, Aug 20, on our P-day.  We went to the favorite Chinese Restaurante of Hna. Gladis López.  It's called the "Royal."

This shows the big glass Lazy Susan in the middle of the temple and the copious amount of food served for one order.
  This shows the Thompsons and the Walls.

Hna. Kitley loved the brocade table cloth and asked our waiter where she could find one like it to buy.
His answer was: "In China."
    If you go to Hna. Wall's blog "Joy in the Journey," you will see some more of our adventure at the Chinese Restaurant.  Go to our family and friends' blog addresses on the right-hand column and you'll see it.  She has a group photo of us all at the family home evening at their apartment Monday evening, Aug. 20.
   Have a nice week.

A quick update about Walt's knee.
By Monday morning the swelling was way down, which nearly eliminated the pain.  We were able to have lunch with the missionaries who were celebrating Elder Wall's 69th birthday.

The x-ray on Monday showed nothing was broken, just a worn-out knee, with encroachment of arthritis.  The orthopedist he went to
on Tuesday told him to keep icing it 3x a day and wait for the resurrection to have it healed.
       (I forgot to take my camera so I didn't get a photo of the
       charming little office of this very renowned specialist in
        San Salvador.)

Walt went to physical therapy this afternoon after we did a temple session.  We try to get at least a couple sessions done each month.

Above is Walt coming from the therapy area to the waiting area.
Below is Walt walking back to the apartment complex today from the temple.  He had called me (I'd come home about 30 minutes before he did) to meet him to have lunch in the commodore.  We were happy when the Gibbons came in from their shift and joined us.

He feels his quick knee recovery is a combination of the Priesthood blessing, the injection that Dr. Fuenes, our former Bishop, gave him when he made a house call (gratis) on Sunday, family and friends many prayers, plus his name on the temple prayer roll.
    We thank our family and friends for the love, concern and prayers for us while serving here in San Salvador, far away from home.
          Here's a photo of the temple I took at 5:30 this evening when we got back from his physical therapy.  The traffic on Fridays is more congested than any other day--it took us about double time to get back.  It's normally a 10-15 min drive.

We will be speaking at the San Miguel Stake Conference Sunday, August 19. It is about a 2 1/2 hour drive.  We're leaving Sunday morning at 6:30a.m.
Have a nice weekend everyone.

Sunday August 12, 2012 San Salvador

Our Sunday was different today...
    Walt's knee is hurting so much he could not walk on it today.
So his wonderful first counselor and wife, Presidente y Hermana Majano, went at the last minute to fill our speaking assignment for the San Vicente District Conference today. This is about 1 1/2 hours away from the city.
President y Hna. Alas were speaking at the Apopa Stake this afternoon.
   President Majano came to see Walt this morning.

Walt is getting x-rays tomorrow to see if it's an infusion or a chip of broken bone in the knee.

President and Sister Glazier came to see how Walt was doing tonight and brought banana bread.  They are the president and wife of the El Salvador San Salvador Mission and it was his District Conference in San Viciente that we were scheduled to speak at today.
     They have been here one year of their 3-hear calling and are doing a great job!  They are from Utah.

Last night, after the Saturday evening shift was over at 7:00, we had the four couples of missionaries come to our apartment and watch "Chariots of Fire" about the 1924 Olympics.  This movie came out in 1981 and we have watched it many times.  Some of our temple missionaries had not seen it.
   Everyone agreed that it's a great movie!

Walt's knee was hurting a little last night, but nothing like when he got up this morning.  He actually couldn't get up.  I wheeled him around the apartment in his walker, then after dinner--which they brought to us, Elder Gibbons went to the temple and brought one of the wheel chairs for him to use.

Elder Kitley gave Walt a hair cut Saturday morning before we went to our morning/afternoon/evening shift.  This shift on Saturday goes from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. We got out a little early because no one came for the 5:30 pm. session, which is the last one of the day on Saturday because we begin Saturday with a 5:30 a.m. shift.

We had a chance to take the Kitleys and Gibbons shopping on Thursday morning before their afternoon shifts.  At this bigger Super Selectos we thought these hot dogs were interesting.

That's about all the photos I took this week.
    Maybe we'll get more photos next week.

An Extra Day for the Temple to be Open...

Following up on how many came to the temple on Monday, August 6, their national holiday for the birth of the city of San Salvador in the 1500s.
    The La Libertad Stake had over 400 come.  They did sessions every 1 hour 10 min for 6 sessions to accommodate everyone.  The temple was open from 4:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
 A lot of ordinances were done, including a lot of youth, age 12 and up doing vicarious baptisms for the dead, as the Apostle Paul talks about in the Bible.
     Here's President Petersen greeting members as we were leaving the temple.

Another greeting photo....

Here we are on the north side of the temple...

And here's the nice brother who took our photo...

Here are some of buses....at one time there were 14 buses in the parking lot, which included the buses which brought 350 investigators to just be on the temple grounds and listen to the mission president and his wife speak with them in the stake center next to the temple.  (It's fuzzy because I took it out the second floor screened window at the end of our 7-apartment complex.)

And here's a side note about these photos of the temple president greeting these patrons...
    I had e-mailed this to some of Walt's nieces and nephews.  One darling niece, Andrea Degler from the Boise area, e-mailed back:
"I wanted to warn all those young people he's greeting that my Uncle Walt sometimes gives horse bites!"

I need to e-mail Andy back to tell her that her Uncle Walt is more dignified here that at family reunions...

August in San Salvador

Another Sabbath Day has come...

Today Elder & Sister Hall hosted the main dish for our Sunday pot-luck dinner.  They served delicious hot turkey sandwiches.

They are PEF (Perpetual Education Fund) missionaries for El Salvador and are from Sacramento, California.  When their calling doesn't take them out of the city on Sundays, they join us for dinner.

After dinner we gathered at Kitley's apartment to see some of the treasurers they found at the gigantic San Salvador Fair which is going on this week in conjunction with their "Fiesta of August," to celebrate the "birth" of the city of San Salvador in the 1500s, with the actual day being August 6.

Joanne Hall took this next photo of the group so I could be in it.

A couple of months ago, the president of the La Libertad Stake

asked if we would open the temple on Monday, August 6, when many of his stake members are off work because of the national holiday. They are hoping to bring at least 400 to do 5 different sessions.

Elder Trent Kitley took this beautiful photo of the

San Salvador El Salvador Temple.

We are turning in early tonight because we plan to be at the temple at 4:30 a.m in the morning.

The sessions will be in the morning at 5:30, 7:00, 8:30, 10:00, and 11:30. We'll post tomorrow how many come and how it goes.

Last year this stake took 11 busloads - 600 people to the temple in Guatemala.