The second week of November...

Today Walt left at 6:15 for a Regional Correlation Council which is held every three months.  So after Sacrament Meeting in our ward, everyone was asking me: "Is President Petersen okay?"  One member said: "It doesn't seem right for you to be here without President Petersen."
He got back about 1:30, just in time to have some of the delicious brocolli cheese soup that Hna. Kerr made for dinner, and the Texas chocolate sheet cake I made for dessert.  They had served a light lunch at the RCC so he was too full to have the Clark's fresh veggies, the Haroldsen's fruit salad, and the Caballero's rolls.

David Ogden is here from Virginia this week, so Hna. Clark invited him to come to dinner.  The Clarks had the dinner in their apartment because the Kerrs have no usable pans in their apartment which is about a half-mile from the temple. They walk to the temple in 12 minutes.  They are full-time temple workers called from the Los Heroes Stake. They are here for six months - October 1 to March 28.

Hna. Clark always sets a beautiful table for dinner.

Here are the guests from the other direction.  And as you can see, the Clarks have their Christmas tree up. There is no "Thanksgiving Day" in El Salvador so some people start putting up Christmas decorations in October--but mostly in November.

Then we got the group photo before everyone departed.
Left to right: Marilee Clark, Irma Caballero, Sharon Haroldsen, Kari Kerr. Back: Walt, Joseph Clark, Roberto Caballero, DeVar Haroldsen, John Kerr, and in the back, David Ogden.

Now we have had our Sunday nap and are relaxing and catching up on the blog plus e-mailing family.
     Elder Ricardo Valladares was the Area Seventy presiding at the Regional Correlation Council this morning with the six stake presidents in the El Salvador San Salvador East Mission, along with President David Glazier of that mission, and Sergio Oliva, the Executive Secretary for Elder Valladares. Sergio drove President Petersen the 45 minutes to this meeting at the Illopango Stake Center.
  Elder Valladares was the President of the Nicaragua Managua Mission when we served as Medical Advisor and Assistant of the Central America Area - Mar 2005 to Feb 2007, and we stayed in his mission home when we traveled to his zone conferences.
Since I wasn't at the RCC this morning, here is an earlier photo of this Area Seventy when we were with him at the El Salvador San Salvador Stake Conference June 2, 2013.  Daniella Hernández de Castillo and her husband Herberto Castillo had been our guides that day and they are pictured with Elder Valladares.

      Here are Sergio and his wife, Bestabe, last night where he also drove us to the Layco Stake Conference Saturday evening meeting.

Elder German Laboriel was the Area Seventy presiding at the Layco Stake Conference. He was called in April 2009 at age 55 to the Fourth Quorum. He lives in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Presidente Kai and Hna. Diane Hintze of the El Salvador San Salvador Oeste-Belice Mission also spoke at this Stake Conference session.  They are in their first year here and are doing a great job.

Friday and Saturday, November 15 and 16, Romel Castro, the assistant engineer for the temple came to get Walt's computer working after it crashed a few days before.

Some others had tried unsuccessfully to get his old laptop working. "I think Romel knows the most about computers of anyone here," Walt said.  We are so thankful for him!

 Friday morning before our shift at the temple, Alex and Ricky brought our Christmas tree and decorations up from the basement storage area.  We usually don't put the tree up until after Thanksgiving, but since we will only be here three weeks in December, Walt reluctantly said it's okay to put it up early this year.

So the tree is up, but not decorated yet.

Thursday morning, November 14 we had the morning/afternoon shift in the temple.  We love our temple workers and those who come as participants.

Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 13-14, Presidente y Hna. Hintze had all their 200-some missionaries come to the temple.  Other than when new missionaries arrive and when they are going home, the missionaries come every six months to the temple.  They always bring a great spirit with them.  We love missionaries--both the young ones and our older temple missionaries!!
As we were leaving our shift on Thursday, we came out just as the last few missionaries and the Hintze's were leaving the temple. It's rare that we can get a photo of those who come to the temple.

Monday, November 11, for P-day the temple presidency, their wives, our eight full-time temple missionaries and the set of full-time temple workers had the great blessing of doing a special session for the new presentation of the endowment.  So it is now in Spanish in our temple.
We also did a session on Wed, Nov. 13 on our day with no shift.

So that's how our week of November 11-17 has been.  
We hope you have had a good week and a peaceful and restful Sabbath Day.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true.
Joseph Smith is the Prophet of the Restoration of this true Church.
The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. If you read it, it will change your life for the better.
President Thomas S. Monson is the current Prophet for the whole world.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the World and the head of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Of these truths we testify. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President Walter R. Petersen and Sister Eileen A. Petersen