Sunday, April 27, 2014

This week in El Salvador...

This week April 21-27, 2014
We started our shifts at the temple after being gone 5 weeks and 4 days (but the temple was still closed for maintenance the first week we were gone).
Family Home Evening - Monday - April 21
Front: Los Alas, Udall. Back: Los Petersen, Majano, Haroldsen, Caballero.  
Elder Caballero gave a great lesson and Hna. Caballero served delicious Arroz con Leche (Rice Pudding). Can you tell we all loved it!
Now it's almost time for FHE tomorrow - April 28, which will be at our home.  That is why I haven't finished this post.  We're doing a Power Point Slide presentation of Walt's heart surgery.
    He hadn't even seen the photos of his post-op afternoon when he still had all the tubes in.
      Hope to catch our blog up later.

Hope you've all had a peaceful and restful Sabbath Day.
Walt is doing well.  
We are thankful for our many blessings, including our family, extended family, and friends.
     Have a wonderful week coming up.
        Heavenly Father loves each one of us.
          His son, Jesus Christ, atoned for each one of us so we could have second chances and keep going forward.
             He restored the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the Prophet Joseph Smith, and we are blessed to have a Prophet on earth now guiding His Kingdom--even President Thomas S. Monson.
      "Everything will work out" one of our Prophets taught us.
              Faith in every footstep.
    With love, Walt & Eileen Petersen

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Time out from "The Road to Heart Surgery" for Easter Sunday--1 month and 1 day post-op

Here we are after the Easter Dinner we hosted for 10 others today in our apartment in San Salvador.  Yes, we got back Friday evening, April 18, from our 1 week in Rochester, MN and our 4 weeks 4 days in Saratoga Springs, UT.
We went to Church for the first time since March 16 in Rochester.
It's always great to be among the saints wherever we are--Rochester, Saratoga Springs, Burley, or San Salvador.
    Many of our friends here are telling President Petersen he looks a lot better than when he left.
Yesterday when we left our apartment mid-morning to walk over to the temple, everyone we went by wanted to greet President Petersen.  Here are our coordinators for the Wednesday P.M. temple shift., Hno. y Hna. Ramos.
This whole group had just given him abrazos and hand shakes.
After many more temple workers and members greeting him on the way, when we rounded the corner of the front door, there was a precious group of primary children lined up to touch the temple, with two young missionaries teaching them about Jesus Christ and His Temple.
They wanted to greet President Petersen.
Here are our Easter Dinner guests--clockwise: Walt, Elder Mike Udall, Hna. Jeanne Udall, Hna. Sharon Haroldsen, Hna. Aida Majano, President Rafael Majano, Hna. Irma Caballero, Elder Roberto Caballero, and can barely see Elder DeVar Haroldsen's head.
President and Hna. Alas had to leave early this morning to speak at a far-a-way Stake.  We saved them a plate for later.
Counter Clockwise: Pte. Majano, Hna. Caballero, Elder Caballero (from Canada); Elder DeVar Haroldsen (from Idaho Falls), Walt, Elder Mike Udall, Hna. Jeanne Udall (from Eager, AZ), Hna. Haroldsen, Hna. Majano (from San Salvador).
Luckily, we had some delicious Virginia ham in our freezer.The others brought the side dishes.  You can get a glimpse of the colored eggs I made from our brown eggs.
I made a "bunny bread" copied from the Easter that Hna. Arlene Kitley made for our 2012 Easter.*  We missed the colored deviled eggs that Hna. Marilyn Gibbons made for that same Easter.
[Hna. Kitley, I cut a white jelly bean in half for the bunny's teeth.)
Hna. Udall brought baked potatoes, bread 'n butter pickles (rare here), and some of the frozen strawberry jam that Lisa Wegkamp had given her. (Hmmm, thanks for the going-away jam, Lisa.  We miss you and Dale a lot!)
Hna. Haroldsen brought some baked potatoes, fresh fruit, Jell-o with raspberries, and corn. Hna. Caballero brought a dessert of Leche Pollado (please let me know the correct name)--creamy like arroz con leche, but with no rice. It takes a long time to make stirring constantly, but it's worth it! [Hna. Udall offered to help stir the next time they want to make it and asked if I'd help too.  "Yes!" I quickly answered. You can see it in the middle right hand side of photo.]
It is amazing that we can come up with such a complete dinner on such short notice (as last night after the temple shift ended at 7:00 when they surprised Walt with a birthday cake and no chance to go to the store.)  Thanks everyone!
Majanos had to leave early to drive an hour to give a fireside about the temple in the Sonsanate Stake.
And now--time out for our Sunday nap.  Walt got a head-start on me.
    Back and refreshed.
These hermanas helped clean up everything. 
We tried a "selfie" with me with them above, but I couldn't get the right angle. So here I am with them.  [Julie, I was planning to wear the new red jacket and shell you got me for Easter, but I can't find the shell, and the jacket was too wrinkled from the suitcase as I forgot to iron it yesterday...and was out of time after our cocoa and homemade-bread toast.  I'll get it ready for next Sunday...if I find the shell.  [I just remember putting it in a side pocket of one of the suitcases.  We got the green light at customs so sailed right through and nothing was lost.]
 We were happy to have time talking with everyone. This is our first chance to sit down and talk with Elder Mike y Hna. Jeanne Udall whom we know from our Guatemala/Central America Mission 2005 to 2007. They were temple workers there. This is their fourth temple mission.
I had forgotten that Elder Udall is a pilot also. Walt had not forgotten. So when these two ended up sitting by each other...guess what they talked about?! Yes, some fun flying stories.  Elder Udall topped all pilot stories I've heard when he and Hna. Udall shared some of his shenanigans in his acrobatic plane.  Thank heavens, I only had to endure an occasional drop to zero gravity when the pen on the dash would be suspended in air. The only thing that held the pilot and passengers down was our seatbelts.
Elder Udall and Walt may have sold their airplanes but oh the memories of those flying days and the stories live on.
Aside from the fun side of this season...
...the Easter Bunny and candy...
Easter baskets and colored eggs...
We pay homage to Jesus Christ, the Son of God...
For his perfect life, His Atonement and Resurrection...
Yes, "To this end was [He] born. John 18:37
"...and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." John 18:37
As we conclude this Easter Sunday, we share our testimonies of the Savior and that we believe the words in the Bible:

“He is not here:
for he is risen, as he said.”
--Matthew 28:6
 And because He has risen, we too will rise in the resurrection to be reunited with our loved ones who have gone the way of all the earth and their spirits are now living in heaven.  
But on that future Glorious Resurrection Morning their spirits--and our spirits when our fleeting mortal time is finished--will be reunited with the miraculous bodies created for this probationary time in this world.
      And because of the restored priesthood temple ordinances, we
have the hope of being together forever as families.
      So it is written. So shall it be done.
We hope you have had a
Happy Easter

Sunday, April 20, 2014.
With much love,
Walt & Eileen Petersen
Also known as...
Mom & Dad / Mom & Dad Petersen / 
Grama 'n Grampa MissionTemple
brother / sister / cousins / Uncle Walt & Aunt Eileen / Presidente y Hna. Petersen / friends
     

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Continuing "The Road to Heart Surgery..."

Tuesday, March 18, 2014 concluded...
Our dear friends, Lorna & Carl Coombs came to see Walt.
Then Dr. Don Doty and Elder Kent F. Richards of the Seventy came to see Walt. Elder Richardson works with the Temple Department.
Our son, David, came by after a busy day at Rocky Mtn. Eye Care.
My sister, Janice, and Jeff came to give Walt their well wishes.  They live in Midvale--3 minutes from the Murray Intermountain Health Care Center.
Then, our daughter Janie, and her husband Shawn arrived from Rexburg.
Our youngest son, Brian, flew in that evening from Tennessee. He had rescheduled two days of his orthopedic surgery patients' appointments and driven from McMinnville to the airport in Nashville.
  Gary came, as did David and Julie to rendezvous with the others.
Brian, David, Gary, and Shawn gave Walt a priesthood blessing.
Brian anointed with the oil and David sealed the anointing with a great blessing for his Dad.
With all the prayers for him and this Priesthood Administration, we have much faith that his open heart surgery will be successful in restoring his health.
      They said their goodnights, then I called David and Julie back because I had a photo of everyone except for Julie, David's wife.
Our Julie Beth had spent most of the day with her Dad, and had gone home when her kids got out of school.
Next post...the Day of Surgery.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

The journey to open heart surgery...

Continuing on from Saturday, March 15, 2014:
Saturday evening we had a delicious dinner with Jen & Jerry at the historic Hubble House.  (Google it for more info.)
Sunday, March 16, 2014, we went to Church with the Brewers. Jerry is not in the photo because he was doing bishopric duties.

Then we enjoyed a delicious Sunday dinner.
Monday, March 17, 2014
Seth and Sarah remembered to wear green as they left very early for school.
Jen and Joshua also wore green as they had green pancakes, along with green scrambled eggs and green orange juice.
Jen and Jerry were so great in setting up and getting us to so many appointments at the Mayo Clinic during the week.
We gathered our medical records at the Mayo Clinic.
Mayo Clinic certainly lives up to its fame as a foremost renowned medical center in the world.
We then headed to the Minneapolis Airport to fly to Salt Lake City. 
Gary, Abbey, Jacob, and Isaac met us at the Airport and drove us to Saratoga Springs...about 35 minutes away.
At Julie's we shared the green, shamrock-shaped Rice Krispie treats that Jen had made.
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Bright and early, Julie drove Walt and me to the Intermountain Health Center in Murray. The first procedure Walt needed was a Coronary Angiogram to see if the coronary arteries were open.  They were.

In the afternoon Walt's cardiovascular surgeon, Dr. John Doty, came by to talk with Walt about the next day's surgery.
 We will continue on in the next post.