Week of February 18 to 24, 2013 in El Salvador...

Most of our time is in the Temple . . .
Tuesday we had the morning shift - 5:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Wednesday we had the afternoon shift which is 12:30 noon to 9:30 p.m. - However, Walt has his weekly Presidency Meetings on Wednesdays, so he was there 9:a.m. to 9:30 p.m.  So every 3rd Wednesday he is there over 12 hours because he doesn't take a break between this 3-hour meeting to when our afternoon shift begins.

Thursday we had a day with no shift. 
Two of the members of the San Salvador National Symphony are in our ward: René Adán Hernández and Bishop Figueroa.  René drove Elder y Hna. Thompson and us to Santa Ana to a Symphony that they do throughout El Salvador for elementary and high school students.
Here is the photo of their National Monument Symphony Hall which was started in 1902 and finished in 1910.

The conductor explained what each instrument did and then that section played a few measures...very interesting. René is second chair in the violin section. (So he is the second best violin player in this 70-piece symphony orchestra.) Bishop Figueroa plays  viola, and I think, he, too, is second chair in that section.

You can see the white border around the dome ceiling that has portraits of famous musicians, including Beethoven, Wagner, Verdi, Bellini, Gounud and others. (We'd heard of all except the last one.)
René had arranged for us to sit in the first balcony Presidental box.
The symphony was superb!

Below are students standing in line.  We liked their plaid skirt uniforms. The boys had white shirts and navy pants.

Below are Elder y Hna. Thompson sitting by us in the balcony box seats.

 Here we are. We were following the rules, turning off the flash. So the photos are dark.

Here we are in front after the hour-symphony. René Hernández is at the top right.

Now I'm taking time out to warm up the pulled pork that Hna. Thompson had for the main dish for Sunday dinner.  We four guest speakers were invited to join the stake presidency and all their bishops and wives at a dinner after the stake conference today.

     I'll finish the rest of our week later....
I'll put in birthdays of our grandchildren for this past week.    And then it's Goodnight for now.
Happy Birthday this past week to:
McKell "16"

Aimee "25"    Aimee with husband Michael

Ben "8"  Ben with airplane

Will have photos next week of these:
Taylor "10"
Sam "7"
and Walt's sister Phyllis "81"