Sunday - APRIL 15, 2012

Here we are today on the second floor

patio terrace of the commons room.

+

...for the Sabbath has come again...♪º

    ...that man and woman may rest...

Because He has risen...you and I will, too.

Hey kids, we thank you again for the ipod,

each day we learn a tiny bit more how to use it.

I have even found our Lesson #14 for Sunday School: "For a Wise Purpose" and have found the

scriptures for it: Enos, Jarom, The Words of Mormon.

Dad and I spent an hour and a half last evening going through it. Actually I printed a hard copy off lds.org for us to go over. If you haven't had  your stake conference yet this first half of the year, we are probably one lesson behind you.

Our new teacher speaks so rapidly, even the 5 North American returned Spanish-speaking say they are only catching about every 3rd or 4th word.  And the 4 temple missionary wives who are just learning Spanish say they are totally lost.

     As for me, I'm usually lost anyway.  My most used phrase: "Mas despasio, por favor."

     In S.S. and R.S. I usually read through my English print out again.

    We're getting ready for  our 9-Noon block, so will finish this post later.

Everyone loves to shake the temple president's hand and talk with him on our way to and from our shifts.
Hope you all have a great week.
I've pinned some wonderful quotes to my Pinterest _______ whatever it's called.

To end this blog--I just read this from last Sunday's "Music and the Spoken Word"...

"The Lord’s promise “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” reaches into the eternities. New hope and new life can come to us all.

1. John 10:10."
P.S.
Just realized I didn't do "Day 2" with the Fishers....
   Hope to do it in a day or two.
              We love our family....

Continuing my Sunday, March 25 post...........

As I was saying...this is the Fisher Family we went to see during our time in Utah/Idaho from March 3-12.

As Julie Beck, the president of our General Relief Society, taught to share Gospel truths as we blog...I will add some of Walt and my core convictons:
We believe in the United States of America and in its Constitution laid down by the men raised up by God to do so.  

We believe that President Thomas S. Monson is the Lord's Prophet on the earth now for the whole world.

We believe in the prophecies of our Prophets, Seers, and Revelators.

We believe that the Bible is a Testament of Jesus Christ.

We believe that the Book of Mormon is Another Testament of Jesus Christ, 

We believe in the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through His Prophet, Joseph Smith, the Restorer of all.

We believe in the glorious Second Coming of the Savior, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Redeemer of all.

We also believe that families can be together forever because of the restored Priesthood ordinances that seal a husband and wife for eternity in the temple.  Thus, the children are born into this covenant and are sealed to these parents forever.

Now back to our Gem State...

It just happened that during our three days with our oldest daughter, her husband, and children, they had been asked to perform at seveal half-times of a basketball tourney being held to raise money for educational programs in Madison County.

On Thursday night we saw Michael, Ashley, Sam, and Heidi dance. (Janie and Shawn are directors of the Idaho Ballroom Academy so their children have been involved in ballroom dancing most of their lives.)

Here's Ashley and Michael's dance team...

Here's Ashley and Michael...

Here's Katie's ballroom team...

Here's Katie and her dance partner...

Aimee and Michael came by to see us... 

They were married for time and eternity in the Rexburg Idaho Temple on June 25, 2011.

Janie, Katie, and Heidi were ready for some of those yummy bar-b-qued spare ribs Janie had cooked for dinner...

Ashley and Sam liked to snuggle with Grampa...

And that's good for our first day with the Fishers, March 8, 2012. Will do Day 2 with them in the next post.

The Bicycle...

Saturday when we answered the knock on our front door...
Alex and Tony were standing there with an exercise bicycle.

From the get-go they told Walt that he could choose a tread mill or an exercise bike, so we knew sometime it was coming.  Since his knees are not good, stemming from being tripped in a basketball game back when he played for Boise Jr. College, he is better off biking than walking, so the choice was a bike.

It is a very nice one.  It takes his pulse and heart rate while biking, and even has a spot that an iPod can plug into.  Hmmmm, now I guess we need to get an iPod. 

Today Romel came to show Walt some of the technicalities of how to use it.

So Walt took a short spin on it...
Then Romel took a turn...
They concluded it's a great piece of exercise equipment for the temple president's apartment...

Saturday we were so excited we went down the hallway to have our neighbors come see it.  The Kitley's were the only temple missionaries home right then.

Walt said I can even use it, too.

Today I mixed bread while they were figuring out how to use the
bike...

While the bread was baking, I deep fried some scones for supper...

One loaf is shiny from putting a touch of Crisco on the top when it came out of the oven (like my Mom always did). We're trying an experiment to see which way we like the crust....with or without the Crisco.
        We had early morning shift today...open temple at 5:30 a.m., then are off at 2:00 p.m. Tomorrow we would normally have the afternoon/evening shift, but the first counselor is sick, so we're doing every other shift this week, so we'll have this morning shift the rest of the week, and the second counselor and wife are covering the afternoon/evening shifts.
     We're more than happy to do this since the two counselors covered a couple of our shifts last week because Walt was down a few days with an internal infection--cultured as E-coli.  He is doing much better now.
      And Saturday, March 3, we're flying to Utah for a quick visit with our four families there...
Gary & Kathy, McKell, Abbey, Jacob, Isaac

Steve & Natalie, Kelsey, Cortney, Kimble, Carter

David & Julie, Joshua, Anna, Sam, William Could you please e-mail us a current family photo that we can have in our computer?)

Julie & John, Jacee, Jackson, Maddie

Then we'll have a quick visit in Rexburg with our family there before we fly back March 12.
Janie & Shawn, Aimee, Daniel, Katie, Heidi, Sam, Ashley, Michael

Aimee & Michael

     We are looking forward to seeing some of our family.

The temple will be closed for its semi-annual cleaning/maintenance. 
     Then when the temple closes in September for the other two-week cleaning and maintenance, we will fly to see our
family in Tennessee and the other family in Minnesota.
Brian & Michelle, Emma, Taylor, Avery, and Elizabeth

Jen & Jerry, Seth, Sarah, Ben, Josh, and Elizabeth

Thursday, February 16...

Just another day in San Salvador...
       ...only 84º at 11:42 a.m. as we're
getting ready to go to our afternoon/evening temple shift.
Walt looking at the building going on in the ravine to the north and east of our temple. He's looking through the fence on the north side of the temple.

Here's what we saw...


They're digging through the hills on the west side of the temple complex to make a road for a new housing subdivision (high end), and dumping the dirt in this ravine to connect the highway to a main artery highway.

We were just back from Walt getting some routine blood tests at the lab, and his taking me out to breakfast at McDonald's -- our first time going to a McD's here during our 7 months since arriving in July.
Here we are as we are ready to take the 3-minute walk back to our apartment.

The fence is behind me that we were looking through. I am facing the temple where Walt is standing in the photo below.



Have a nice February 16th.

Love & Marriage...

We're just hangin' out today on our day with no shift.
As always, even on our days with no shift, Walt spent some time at the temple.

   "I am satisfied that happiness in marriage
is not so much a matter of romance as it is
an anxious concern for the comfort and
well-being of one's companion.
Any man who will make his wife's
comfort his first concern will stay in
love with her throughout their lives
and through the eternity yet to come."
                   ~ ~ Gordon B. Hinckley

      I saw this neat quote on Sayda's blog today from President Hinckley about love and marriage. I don't think Hermana Call would mind that I'm sharing it on our blog, also.

"Love and Marriage...
    ...love and marriage, go together like a horse and carriage.
"Dad was told by mother, 'You can't have one without the other.' "
     That's an old song from the 50's....when we were in high school.

My first Pinterest find...

Happy February 1st...

may we all have a sweet Valentine Month.

Our sweet g-niece, Becky Bunn Vipperman, invited me to join Pinterest today, which I did.
I don't think I ever got the "PinIt" button saved correctly to "My Favorites," but I did get something done on my new site because my cousin, Delma, whom I've not seen for years and years, sent me an invite to follow her. 

The first item I pulled up was her pin of funhandprintart.blogspot.com which had some precious poems about children growing up for a Father's Day gift.  I've copied/pasted it to my Gadget column.

There was a whole list of "Follow" people when I opened my Pinterest site, and now I don't know how to "unfollow" them.  Help.

Now I'm going to make our family February calendar page.  It's our day with no shift at the temple. However, from 1:00-3:00 the president is doing some walk through with the chief engineer, Hugo Martinez, for the annual report.  It's only a 165 page form with 20 items on each page that are to be checked.

One of our sweetheart sons - David Byrum Petersen - when he came up to be with his Dad for his cataract surgery on May 4, 2010.  We love David, his wife Julie, and their 4 precious children: Joshua, Anna, Samuel, and William.  I will be browsing for photos of our other kids/g-kids to post.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Our week in El Salvador. During our Hermana's monthly Brunch on Monday, Jan. 23, Melissa Ruble taught us about the local fruits and vegetables.  She is a "master chef" who has put that profession on hold while she raises her family of three boys, with her fourth son due Feb. 23.  Her husband, Aaron, is the first counselor in our Campestre Ward's bishopric.

Everyone was asked to bring a local fruit or vegetable and Melissa would tell us about it and how to prepare or cook it.

Time out.........Walt just got back from his 6-hour Regional Quarterly Coordinating Council...so I'm going to talk with him. (4:00 p.m. Be back soon to finish this post.)

I'm back...  Some of the veggies are: Yucca, which is what Melissa is holding in the photo...

Oh first I want to mention the new look for being pregnant now.

   When I arrived--Delena Markland picked up Arlene Kitley and me, and Lisa Wegkemp drove Marilyn Gibbons, Nancy Thompson, Diane Wall, and Joanne Hall.

     Hermana Kitley told Melissa as she greeted us at her front door how she loved the new look for being pregnant. "We used to try to hide that we were pregnant," to which Melissa replied: "Now it's embraced and displayed."

Back to the description of the Yucca plant. It has a neutral flavor that is very versatile with other veggies as a side dish. It's also ground into a powder and used for glue.

Melissa showed the fresh Spinach here and that it's leaf is thicker, but it can be used the same as in a fresh salad, or blended into a smoothie, or also cooked.

She showed us a stem with purple flowers that she couldn't remember the name of, but that is used as a sleep remedy or just to help relax us. 

The Taro looked a little like the yucca plant but is a thinner, longer, softer and more bendable.  Melissa does not like the taste of taro.

The veggie Hna. Kitley brought was in the squash family, little and yellow and is called Patty Pan.

On to fruits...

Gyjava (guajava??? or something like that) looks almost like a small green apple and has a flowerly, perfumy flavor. When they are in season here you can buy 20 for $1.00. (Did you all know the currency in El Salvador is the U.S. dollar?)

I'm not sure I got the name correct...it could be like gueeseal. In Brazil where Melissa's mother is from, it's called cheshu (so Jerry might be familiar with it).

I didn't get the Spanish name for the Passion Fruit... it has a sour, strong flavor but when sugar is added it has a wonderful flavor.

The bananas in the photo at the top were different varieties that have distinctly different flavors.

The Mispero, which is small and brown tastes rosy and banany.

There was also zapote, which has an orange meat (I think that was the one.) 

As you can tell my notes were not complete, so I'll end

with the fruit Teresa brought.

Teresa Walker brought a maymé (which when I had in México on our first mission together gave me hives for 24-hours....so I've stayed away from that for ever after).  Melissa said that is not native to here, so must have been imported in.

After Melissa had explained each fruit and veggie....we had a chance to taste them.   As you can see from the photos....other goodies were also brought for the 12 of us.

Left to right: Eileen, Marilyn, Sheralie, Delena, Melissa holding 2-y-o George, Carla, Teresa, Lisa, Nancy, Joanne, Diane, Arlene is taking the photo.

Well, that was Monday morning.

Hope go get some more of the week in later.

We're going to call our kids now....7:00pm Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012.

    Back....we called all seven....and no one was home nor answered

their cell phones.  But as the evening went on, we did get through to Julie, then Steve, then David, then Jen.