Sunday - September 30

I just lost 30 minutes of posting....
    I went out of the blog to load a photo of my Mom and Dad and
     lost the post of our Sunday....
         So I'm going to make my husband his Sunday milkshake,
         which he hasn't had for a long time, and try again tomorrow.
Here's one photo of us at the LDS businesses fair held at the big
city fair complex Friday and Saturday.

Goodbye to September...
    ...Welcome October

Sunday, September 30, 2012 .... goodbye September

Happy First Day of Autumn...

We're following the BYU-Boise State Game on Walt's computer "Gamecast" where it's like a computer screen play-by-play with computer x's for the team.  About as personal as fuss ball.

Yesterday we had the afternoon-evening shift: 12:30 noon to 9:30 p.m., except Walt went at 8:30 a.m. for his weekly Temple Presidency meeting, so he was there 13 hours straight.
    I was at the Presidency meeting for the first hour, and on my way back to our apartment saw one of the gardeners working in the flowers and shrubbery on the right front of the temple.
     They work daily at keeping the temple grounds beautiful.

Here's one side of the temple complex where our apartment is on the second floor.

Here's the other side of the complex.

Monday, September 17 the Walls gave a great Family Home Evening lesson on the Power of the Scriptures.

Hermana Wall shared one of her favorite scriptures:
Doctrine and Covenants 68:6 "Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come."

We love serving here in the San Salvador El Salvador Temple with the San Salvadorans and our four Sr. couple temple missionaries: Elder y Hna. Thompson--on the left in the photo above.
Elder y Hna. Kitley are on the right in the photo above.
Elder y Hna. Gibbons are in the photo below:

Elder y Hna. Wall are in the photo below:

And here we are:

Walt shared one of his favorite scriptures:

Doctrine and Covenants 128:22-23

"Brethern, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren, and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad.  Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to this King Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free.

"Let the mountains shout for joy, and all ye valleys cry aloud; and all ye seas and dry lands tell the wonders of your Eternal King! And ye rivers, and brooks, and rills, flow down with gladness.  Let the woods and all the trees of the field praise the Lord; and ye solid rocks weep for joy! And let the sun, moon, and the morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy! And let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever! And again I say, how glorious is the voice we hear from heaven, proclaiming in our ears, glory, and salvation, and honor, and immortality, and eternal life; kingdoms, principalities, and powers!"

Sunday evening - September 16, 2012

Can't believe I haven't posted since September 2...

We had a great time with Brian & Michelle and their four darling daughters - August 31 to September 7...

Another exciting week...this time from El Salvador to Tennesee

This week...on Monday, August 27 we...
   ...Gringa Sisters had our monthly brunch at the home of Stephanie Dawson whose husband works at the U.S. Embassy.  Eleven of us gathered and enjoyed getting to know each other better:
Stephanie, Diane, Nancy, Arlene, Joanne, Marilyn, Eileen, Delena with Dallin, Celeste with Sofia.

Two friends who came after this first group photo was taken...Janice and Melissa.  The ones there whose husbands work at the U.S. Embassy are Janice, Melissa, Stephanie, and Celeste. Delena's husband is running a Call Center here, Joanne is a PEF missionary with her husband, and the rest of us serve at the San Salvador El Salvador Temple.

I related with this saying that Stephanie had on the wall above her computer...

Here's one of the many beautiful flowers in their back yard...none of us knew the name of it.

Monday evening we...
  ...had family home evening at the Gibbons apartment. Dave taught us a great lesson from Doctrine and Covenants Section 76.  We got to verse 42 of 119.  He promised he'd continue it when it's their turn again on the fourth Monday of September.

On Tuesday, August 28 we...
   ...opened the temple at 5:30 a.m.  A very sweet experience was helping a 92-year-old sister receive her endowment.  Her home teacher and wife drove her to the temple with her great-niece caregiver.  They told us the doctors said she has only 2 more weeks to live because of the stage of her cancer.  She has no children.  That is true home teaching!  She was all smiles when we were waiting for her when they wheeled her wheelchair into the Celestial Room.

On Wednesday, August 29 we...
...had lunch at the cafeteria after Walt met from 9:00 a.m to Noon with his counselors and the temple recorder for the weekly Temple Presidency Meeting. I met with them for the first 20 minutes or so.  And I had brought Hershey chocolate bars for them, which I had done once before a while back and which they have asked about ever since.

From there we went to the temple for our 12:30 Noon to 9:30 p.m. shift..

On Thursday, August 30, we...
...packed to get ready to fly to Atlanta, Georgia, on our way to Tennessee. The only photo I got was of Walt cutting a pineapple when he got back from the temple.  We didn't have a shift that day but he usually goes over on those days, too, to see how everything is going.

Friday, August 31, we...
...had Hno. López drive us to the airport for our flight to the U.S.A...

We only took one check-in suitcase each and our carry ons were our laptops...

Our 3 hour 42 min flight got in 30 minutes ahead of schedule, but being stuck in an elevator for 20 minutes made up for any time gained. (If I wasn't claustrophic before I am now! A scary time!!  Walt kept trying to calm me down.)   Brian met us in the Atlanta Airport at 6:50 p.m. and we were on the road by 7:00 Eastern Time...6:00 Central Time, which McMinnville is right on the border for.  We arrived at their home at 9:30 p.m. and were greeted by three of Brian & Michelle's darling daughters--Emma 12, Taylor 9, and Avery 7. Lizzy 2, had already gone to bed.

Saturday, September 1, we...
   ...had a great time just talking and being with Brian and Michelle and their family.   Looking at their 8-acre yard...Brian said it takes under 2 hours to mow it on his wide riding mower if he does it every two weeks. But if he lets it go longer, it can take 4 hours.

Emma drove Lizzy, and Taylor drove Avery on their 4-wheelers till it started to sprinkle.

Then they found refuge in their log-cabin playhouse...

The girls are standing in front of their 4 cute pairs of cowgirl boots that are lined up by the front door...

After lunch we headed to Nashville for a tour of the Grand Ole Opry...billed as "the place that made country music famous." We were allowed to have our pictures taken on the actual stage. It was all set up for the performance that evening, featuring Carrie Underwood.  
   We had told Michelle we weren't really interested in seeing an acutal performance but would like to do the tour.  Half-way through the tour I asked Walt if he was enjoying it. "I really am!" he replied.
"Would you like to see the show?" I then asked.  "Maybeee..." he answered, with the flexion meaning "Yes, I really would."
    However, the show for that night was sold out....all 4,400 seats!
     We learned that it started in 1925 as a radio show....just 5 years after radio was invented.  From 1939-1974 it performed in the Ryman Auditorium that just held 2000-some.  In 1974 this current huge auditorium was built.  The lighter wood on which we are standing is a part of the stage from that Ryman Auditorium.  It was saved when most of Nashville, including the Grand Ole Opry, was flooded in 2010.

We got to see the stars'-performers' entrance that goes by a fountain that Minnie Pearl's husband had made for their 25th wedding anniversary.  This year the Opry is celebrating the 100th year of Minnie Pearl's birth.  These are her actual size 10 shoes in front of her picture.  She died in 1996 at age 83.

On the way home we had dinner at the Cracker Barrel, which I didn't know has been one of the main sponsors of the Grand Ole Opry.    The girls had fun in some of the many wooden rocking chairs that line the entrance to this famous Restaurant.
Here's Avery and Lizzy...

Here's Emma and Taylor...

And there's our 20 photos highlighting this week...an extra-special week, indeed!~ We thank Brian and Michelle for furnishing our tickets to fly here and for being such a kind and caring host and hostess.
   I haven't downloaded our photo from this morning at Church.
     I think I'll join Walt now for a nap before Sunday dinner...