Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013...

For this week, I'll start with today and go backwards.
Last week I started with Monday Jan 21 and went to Sun Jan 27.
Then we'll see which we like better.
Today, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013
It's our granddaughter, Katie's 19th birthday.
H A P P Y   B I R T H D A Y,  
K A T I E !

Here's our week in reverse, Sunday, Feb. 3 back to Monday, Jan. 28

San Miguel Stake Conference - with President Santos Alfredo Rubio Villata, who is pictured below with Walt and me.

They had a wonderful choir of 40. They sang for 15 minutes before the Stake Conference began, and then they sang a special hymn before my talk.  It was surprising when I saw my name on the agenda as the first speaker.  That was unnerving (is that a word?) for me.
I started my talk with: "Buenos Días.  The spirit is very strong here today. I see the countenance of Christ in your faces.  Thank you for your worthiness and for your service. And thank you for your coming to your beautiful San Salvador El Salvador Temple."

Then I spoke about the experience when Hna. Wendy Nelson, wife of the Apostle Russel M. Nelson, visited El Salvador. She plus the other wives of the General Authorities who were here came to the temple.
After the session, I showed them a sealing room. She had already told me how strong the spirit of the Lord was in the temple. In the sealing room she said that the spirit was even stronger.
After they had come out of the sealing room, Hna. Nelson re-entered the room, and said that Yes, the spirit is felt even stronger here in the sealing room.
Then I continued: "Why is the spirit so strong in the Sealing Room?"
"Because that's where the culmination of temple work is done--sealing families together forever!"
"I would hope each person here today has had or will have the blessing of being a family sealed together forever. And I pray that President Petersen and I, our 7 children and 33 grandchildren will be worthy to become a family for all eternity by keeping our covenants and the commandments."
 I shared two quotes, the first one by Brigham Young about temple work: 
"ENDOWMENT: "a gift.” “A Celestial Course of Instruction.” Brigham Young said:

                        “Your endowment is, to receive all those ordinances in the House of  the Lord which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels being enabled to give them the key words, the signs and tokens, pertaining to the Holy Priesthood, and gain your eternal exaltation…”    

(I know I have quoted this before....but it is my favorite quote about the Endowment.)

Then I quoted Gordon B. Hinckley: "I know your lives are busy. I know that you have much to do. But I make you a promise that if you will go to the House of the Lord, you will be blessed; life will be better for you."

In preparing my talk I had a quote by President Thomas S. Monson that I wanted to use but Walt said it didn't translate with the same meaning into Spanish: (I write my talks out in English, then Walt translates them in to Spanish for me. I'm so thankful for him for many different reasons!)

"As a result of the sacred ordinances performed in the holy house of God, no light need be permanently extinguished, no voice permanently stilled, no place in our heart permanently left vacant."--President Thomas S. Monson

(I was thinking a lot about our Wendell, Idaho mentor, President Murk R. Lancaster, whose funeral was Saturday, Feb. 2.)

I ended with my simple testimony:

"This Church is true and Joseph Smith is the Prophet of the Restoration. I love the Book of Mormon which is another testament of Jesus Christ. I am thankful for Jesus Christ and His Atonement for each of us.  I am grateful for our Prophet today, Thomas S. Monson.  Also, I love my sweetheart who is my husband for all eternity. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen."

I hope to have Walt translate some of his talk into English so I can share...

At the end of each stake conference, it is always so touching to see the members--young and old--rush up to greet their temple president.

We know it is "our calling" and not "us" that they are honoring.

This darling little girl wanted a photo with me.

Whenever we ask these young children: "Are you a future missionary?" they respond enthusiastically with: "Yes!"

This 80-year old hermana wanted a hug from each of us, and the young girl proudly told us: "This is my grandmother."

Hermana Nancy Thompson, one of our full-time temple missionaries from Jerome, Idaho, greeted and was greeted warmly by the members. She and Elder Lon Thompson, her husband, had come over with Elder y Hna. Hall, the Perpetual Education Fund missionaries.

Elder y Hna. Hall from Sacramento, California are serving an 18-month Perpetual Education Fund mission.  Many big changes are happening right now in the PEF procedures. I think they finish their mission in May.

The stake presidency served lunch to the guests, which we are always thankful for...especially today since we had a 2 1/2 hour drive back to San Salvador.

We left at 1:05p.m. and arrived back at the temple complex at 3:35p.m..  Roberto Torres and Aida Palacios were our great guides to direct us on each turn to take to get to the right roads leading to San Miguel.  And then to find the stake center when we arrive.  They have also guided us to Santa Ana and to the two sessions of the San Salvador Stake Conference--one session an hour and a half drive from their stake center.  We really appreciate their help.

Saturday, Feb. 2 -- We did the morning/afternoon/evening temple shift 10:00a.m.-7:45p.m.  A busload came from Nicaragua...arrived at 12:15 noon, then drove back to Nicaragua at 7:45 in a school bus. We saw the bus pulling away as we were walking back to our apartment at the end of our shift. Walt said they would probably be 7-9 hours traveling back.  It was dark or I would have taken a photo.

Friday, Feb. 1 -- We had the morning/afternoon shift -- opened the temple at 5:30a.m. - then got back to our apartment at 2:40p.m. It was my bi-monthly meeting with my wonderful assistants, Hna. Aida Majano y Hna. Consuelo Alas. Walt presides and translates for me.  Then we three will have our monthly meeting with the Temple Presidency on Wed, 10:00 a.m.  I meet weekly with the Temple Presidency for the first part of their 3-hour meeting.

Thursday, Jan. 31 -- Was our day with no shift.  Our apartment was cleaned and I had Alberto and another service center man who cleans our patio, help switch the black leather couch from our living room with the smaller one from our bedroom.

This is a beautiful couch but it is so slippery that people have a hard time sitting on it.  And the beautiful pillows that go with it won't stay on -- just keep sliding off.

Here is the love seat from our bedroom moved to the living room. It is much more comfortable and makes more room for the recliner that we moved from the guest room to the living room a couple of weeks ago.

We tried calling our children, but only got through to Janie, and Brian.  Sometimes we just need to talk with each of them.  It's always great to hear their voices and learn about what's happening with them and our precious grandchildren.

Then we decided to get one more session in for January, so we went to do the 4:00 session.  A young mother needed some medical attention, so we helped her go out and after she was okay, we were able to do the 5:30 session instead.

Wednesday, Jan. 30 -- We had the afternoon/evening shift which goes from 12:30 noon to 9:30 p.m.  Sometimes we have lots of patrons come to the temple, and sometimes not very many.  It's always a joy to be with our temple workers and to greet the patrons.

Tuesday, Jan. 29 -- We had the morning/afternoon shift. We get up at 4:00 a.m. to be ready to open the temple at 5:30.  Tuesday is usually our lightest day, but it seems to be the day we have the most temple workers.  Several of our couples, who are here with the U.S. Embassy, come to the 7:00 p.m. session on Tuesday evenings. Most of them are in our Campestre Ward that meets at the stake center here on the temple grounds.

Monday, Jan. 28 -- P-Day is always a busy time with cleaning, washing clothes, grocery shopping and other errands, plus most of the time lunch together.  The Thompsons and Walls don't know what to do with a seat for each couple in the temple van.  

First we went to Price Smart (like Costco).  We go there about once a month to get the U.S. and Kirkland brands, plus they are the only place we have gotten delicious fresh pineapples.  We also have our photos printed there.  Hna. Thompson had about 100 photos of the temple workers that Elder y Hna. Gibbons took the last two weeks of their mission here.  They took them as each temple worker came to or left from their shifts.  

So I had her order 2 of each so Walt and I could also have photos of our faithful temple workers.  Elder Gibbons took over 200.  Hna. Thompson had already ordered some of their earlier.

We drove back to our apartments to unload our groceries. It's only about a 7-10-minute drive.

Elder Lon y Hna. Nancy Thompson at Shaw's for lunch on Monday.

Elder Frank and Hna. Diane Wall at lunch on Monday at Shaw's.

President Walter y Hna. Eileen Petersen at lunch on Monday at Shaw's.

The three couples at Shaw's on Monday - P-Day - for lunch.
Then we went to lunch at Shaw's--a great little chocolate shop that makes their own chocolates, and also has a bakery.  They also have delicious sandwiches, with great homemade soups and potato salad, and other menu choices. 

From there we went to the Multi-Plaza--the huge mall which is only a 10-minute or less walk from the temple grounds.  They have a medium-sized grocery store called "Super Selectos."

Hna. Thompson was looking for some temple shoes and walking shoes. The pairs she's had for many years have worn out.  She had looked at the Payless Shoe Store by Price Smart, then they walked to the Wal-Mart Las Cascades mall, finding nothing in the half-size she needed.  When they walked back to the Multi-Plaza, there in a tiny shop at the entrance, she found not only temple shoes, but also tennis shoes for their hour walk they do each day.  From our kitchen window we can see them walking around the huge temple parking lot at a very fast clip.

Family Home Evening was at the Walls where Elder Wall gave a lesson from the Ensign about personal inspiration stories shared by several different people.  It helped remind us to follow our "inspirations" more completely.

Hna. Wall served yummy home-made banana cream pie.

(Now it will be our turn, Monday, Feb. 4.  We're scrambling for ideas.  And it just hit me that I need to come up with refreshments.)

And there's our week of Jan. 28 to Feb. 3, 
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