This week in El Salvador...

Monday, August 11 to Sunday, August 17, 2014
August 11 - Monday
I forgot I had posted about last week up to arriving at the Salt Lake Airport Monday morning.  We took off a little late and landed in Houston just in time to get to our gate as our plane was boarding for San Salvador. After our 3-hour first leg, and 3-hour second leg, we landed at 7:45 and took about an hour to get through immigration and customs.  We got to our apartment about 9:45 that night.

Walt uses wheelchairs at the airport now, and I use my walker.  We cannot stand in those 45-minute lines to check in, nor the long lines going through immigration and customs. They whisk us right through those places and board us first...even before First Class.

President Rafael and Hna. Aida Majano picked us up.  He is a great first counselor, and she is a great assistant for me.  I didn't get a photo of her this time.

And as we walked in, Elder DeVar and Hna. Sharon Haroldsen brought us homemade hamburger soup and hot rolls. We hadn't had a meal all day and this just hit the spot.  
The Haroldsen's just extended their mission from 18 months to 21 months. So instead of going home the middle of December, they are here until March 17, 2015.

Daniel and Kelly came over to see us while we were unpacking. They were hungry and enjoyed the hot soup and rolls, as well.

August 12 - Tuesday
Our two counselors and their wives insisted that we keep Tuesday as a day with no shift, even though we wanted to make up some of the shifts they covered for us while we were gone.

    Instead of having breakfast with Daniel and Kelly, the four of us decided to go to an early lunch at "Rusticos," which is rated as the best hamburger place in El Salvador.

We told them the hamburgers were big, but they were extra hungry so each ordered one.

Daniel was able to eat all of his, but Kelly took half of hers home.

Walt and I always split one.
These hamburgers remind us of the great ones from the 1950's, except these are twice as big. (Remember when a hamburger with fries was 25 cents, and a milkshake was 25 cents?  We call those the good ol' days. But to know if that was really a bargain we would need to figure out what percentage that was of the average daily wage then, vs what the percentage would be now for these $9.50 hamburgers with fries.)

Daniel pointed out to us that they have a Star from the Michelin Star restaurant rating.  We'd just heard about this rating when we saw the movie 

 the previous Saturday with the Fishers in Rexburg. (Rated PG.  No "R" rated movies are played in any of the Rexburg theaters.  How great would that be if all movie theaters followed that rule.)
    The certificate with the * is to the right above Kelly's head.
Maybe it's not a Michelin Star, but a tripadvisor.com star. (Daniel did I get that right?)

 Daniel and Kelly have been seen dancing their way through El Salvador these past 3 months. When we went in to scope out the bakery, music was playing.....and yes, they danced.

Then I had them sit at this table by the mural on the inside wall.

We only had two more full days with them, so we got lots of photos.

Then....

(Taking a break at 8:42 p.m. to watch a section of our "Bible" video that we've watched on Sundays since receiving it from the Fishers last Christmas.)

   Adding a little more before calling it a night.

Tuesday when we were about to pull into our parking spot, Walt had me get out and take a photo. 

Last Friday when we were in Wendell, Idaho, for the funeral of Walt's sister, Phyllis, lightning struck the temple and our stake center beside the temple.  It zapped the two projectors and the entire computer system in the temple, plus the phones and Internet in our temple apartments.

     The experts came over Tuesday and Wednesday and finally got everything back to normal.

   Everyone who comes to repair something in our apartment gets a choice of chocolate: M&Ms or a Snickers candy bar.  All four of these men chose the M&Ms.

August 13 - Wednesday 

We had the morning shift, so opened the temple at 5:25 a.m.

Daniel and Kelly had their last day of volunteering at the San Rafael Hospital and received a nice plaque for the 72 hours donated.  This will go on his application for medical school.  (Actually on their first several days there they didn't understand how to clock in properly so they didn't get credit for the total time. They figured they had a touch over 100 hours.  )

They had asked if they could go eat at The Royal, our favorite Chinese restaurante here in the city.

We told them the servings were really huge.  Sure enough, we took about half of it home.

It was dark when we got back. 

We had a scary experience with a lot of runners in the road. We hardly ever drive after dark.

August 14 - Thursday

This was our shift for afternoon/evening 12:30 noon to 9:30 p.m.

Daniel and Kelly wanted to go have pupusas at Lili's for breakfast but Walt wasn't up to driving.  So the next best choice ws to have breakfast down in the comodore (the cafeteria on the main floor of the temple auxiliary building--below our apartment.)

It was a tipica breakfast with beans/rice combined, chorizos, fried bananas, and their hot chocolate drink made with water instead of milk.

Two or three zones of missionaries from the El Salvador San Salvador West/Belize Mission have been coming to the temple this week.  Here is part of one of the zones that came on Wednesday.

Then we chatted for a while before we went over for our temple shift.

August 15 - Friday

Our last breakfast together--they chose French toast and fried spuds.

We're going to miss their faces across the table from us, and their always jumping up to clear the dishes and load them in the dishwasher.  We've had a "magic" kitchen for these three months.

 They wrote us a very sweet farewell and thank-you note on a darling card made by some of the children at the hospital. 

One last photo in front of the temple before we headed to the airport.

President López drove us all to the airport.

Our last photo together in El Salvador.

Then it was time for  Daniel and Kelly to fly away in the friendly skys of Delta.  It's been such a choice experience having them here. They are a perfect match!  We love them to the moon and back, and beyond.  

August 16 - Saturday

Saturday the Majanos had asked us to trade our morning shift with them for the afternoon shift.  What's not to like about that?  We didn't have to get up at 3:00 a.m. because our shift began at 10:15 a.m. and we were finished at 6:45 that evening.  I didn't take any photos on Saturday.

August 17 - Sunday 

We didn't visit a different ward because we had training this afternoon with temple workers in the temple from 3:00-5:00.

I got many photos of them as they came out the front door of the temple.

The temple could not function without all our dedicated and faithful temple workers. We are grateful for each one!  We love them with all our hearts.

Many husbands and wives work in the temple.  Here are Hno. y Hna. Recinos.

Then we got a photo of the temple presidency together.  

Presidente Rafael y Hna. Aida Majano, us, and Presidente Eduardo y Hna. Consuelo Alas.  Walt had great inspiration when he chose them.  They have been wonderful in all ways!

We're going on a P-day outing with 14 others in the morning.

Watch for it in our next week's post.

We pray you have had a peaceful and restful Sabbath Day.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true.

Heavenly Father loves each one of us.

Jesus Christ is His Son, the Redeemer and Savior of all.

The Bible is the Word of God as far as it is translated correctly.

The Book of Mormon is Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

Joseph Smith is the Prophet of the Restoration of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

President Thomas S. Monson is the Living Prophet of God today for the entire world.

The Temple Priesthood Ordinances prepare us to live with Heavenly Father.

The Sealing Power makes it possible for families to be together forever.  This Sealing Power is the greatest power in the Universe.

Of all this we testify in the name of Jesus Christ.

Walter R. Petersen, President of the San Salvador El Salvador Temple and Eileen A. Petersen, Directora of the Obreras of the San Salvador El Salvador Temple.