S A T U R D A Y ,  A U G U S T  1 0 ,  2 0 1 3
Daniel's here...we are so happy to have our oldest grandson come for a visit.  The rest of the Fishers are coming August 28 for a week.

He took the red-eye 1:00 a.m flight out of Salt Lake City Saturday, with a 2-hour layover in Atlanta, GA, arriving here at Noon on Saturday, August 10.    We stopped at one of the many coconut stands that line the highway to/from the airport.

Got to the temple grounds in time to have a tipica lunch at the cafeteria.  Splurged on lunch at $2 a plate.

"Tipica" being rice, beef asado, chincita, fried bananas, tortillas, and flan.   We're taking him for pupusas on Monday morning.

He got his first view of the San Salvador El Salvador Temple from our 2nd floor terrace patio.  It was clouding up, which makes for easier picture taking of people.
Daniel said he'd gotten a little sleep on the flight, but when we told him to try to rest for a while he slept for 4 1/2 hours.  He was more tired than he realized.

        

 "Beautiful," he said.

While Daniel was sleeping, we got the apple pies baked.  Walt always peels the apples...14 of them and has them cut and ready while I'm making the crust.

We also cooked some hamburger soup...Walt peeling all the potatoes, carrots, chopping cabbage, celery, and onions.  And I mixed a small batch of bread to make scones, cinnamon rolls, and two loaves of bread.

When Walt went in to wake Daniel up at 7:30 for supper, he asked: "What time is it?"
I thought I'd fried way too many scones....but only had three left on the plate after supper.  And they still had room for the hot apple pie with ice cream.

After supper I put together the Lasagna for Sunday dinner.

S U N D A Y ,  A U G U S T  1 1 ,  2 0 1 3
After the 9:00-Noon Sacrament Meeting, Sunday School, Priesthood, and Relief Society, we served dinner to 9 in our apartment.
Haroldsen's brought broccoli salad, Clark's the garlic bread, and Utt's did the dessert of strawberry short cake. 

We couldn't have it as leisurely as usual because we had to leave at 1:30 for a fireside we were asked to speak at in Sonsonate - an hour away. Left to right: Elder y Hna. Clark, Elder y Hna. Haroldsen, President Petersen (trying to stand on tip toe to be taller than his grandson), Daniel Fisher (still taller than his grandfather without standing on his toes), and Elder y Hna. Utt--the Perpetual Education Fund missionaries.

President Majano drove us in the temple president's van to Sonsonate, and then he and Hna. Majano drove over to Sonzacate to give a fireside there (a close sister city).
  Here are Walt and Daniel with the Sonsonate Stake Presidency after the hour-and-a-half fireside.  President Enriquez spoke after Walt and I did.

  The Majanos rendezvoused with us after our and their fireside speeches, and we headed back to San Salvador.

We drove by the stake center again after President Majano got lost trying to get back onto the main road.
    Hna. Majano said: "See, even the local Salvadorians get lost." (Referring to the day before when Walt got lost on the way to the airport--his first time driving alone without a local person.  But we were only "lost" for 30 seconds, and just had to turn back onto the road we'd been on.)

I glanced at the car clock as we were leaving: 5:15p.m.
I couldn't believe that as we were waiting at the security guard house for the gate to open into the temple grounds it was 6:15!
They told us it was an hour drive....but I didn't know it would be that exact.
    The Majanos, Walt, and Daniel.

Did we mention we're very happy to have our oldest grandson, Daniel, with us?

Snatches of our fireside messages...
    I shared about my Mother's passing away but that I am so happy for her to be young again in her prime of life, being able to see, hear, remember, run, and laugh.   And that because of her receiving her temple endowment and being sealed to my father, she was able to be reunited with her eternal sweetheart after being a widow for 31 years.   (Julie has some great photos on her blog as a "Tribute to Grama" ... you can go to it from our blog.)
     I shared these two quotes:

"The temple endowment relates the story of man's eternal journey;

            sets the conditions upon which progress in the eternal worlds depends;

            requires covenants or agreements of those participating to accept and use

            the laws of progress; gives tests by which our willingness and fitness for

            righteousness may be known, and finally points out the ultimate destiny of

            those who love truth and live by it."                  -- Elder John A. Widstoe

                                                                       

            President Harold B. Lee adds this dimension to our understanding of the endowment:  "The temple ceremonies are designed by a wise Heavenly Father who has revealed them to us in these last days as a guide and protection throughout our lives that you and I might not fail of an exaltation in the Celestial kingdom where God and Christ dwell."  --Through Temple Doors, John K. Edmunds, p. 141--Harold B. Lee, Decisions for Successful Living

                                                             (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1978), p. 141. I
I also shared that each time I go to the temple, I learn something new, and assured them that they could too.

One of the things Walt shared at the fireside was that when we were first married we lived in St. Louis, then Minneapolis, then Oklahoma far from any temple.  When we moved to Burley, Idaho, there were 4 temples within 2 1/2 hours and we thought we'd be going to the temple often.  One month, two months....up to five months passed and we hadn't been to the temple.  Some friends (The Edlefsens) invited us to go to the temple with them.  They said they found if they set a goal of a specific day each month to go to the temple, that worked best for them.
     So we set a goal to go the 3rd Thursday of every month.  From then on we went to the temple each month.
     President Gordon B. Hinckley said: "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."
      We leave our testimony that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been restored to the earth by Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ through the Prophet Joseph Smith. The Book of Mormon is Another Testament of Jesus Christ.  Thomas S. Monson is the Prophet of God now. Priesthood temple ordinances have been returned to the earth.  Families are forever!
       Walter Ray Petersen and Eileen Albertson Petersen
          Hope you have had a restful and peaceful Sabbath Day.
   

 

Two-year Anniversary of being in El Salvador...
    Saturday, July 20, 2013

Yes, we arrived July 20, 2011...

Presidente Jaime y Hna. Gladis López met us at the El Salvador Airport and Hna. López handed me a bouquet of flowers...it was raining...  I just now checked my planner page for that day.  I have we got to the Salt Lake City Airport that morning at 6:30.  I think we landed about 6:30 that evening and it was an hour drive into the temple grounds.  I also have written on that page: 
"Day 1 of 1,198 days or 170 weeks, or 39.5 months."
    ...and now we're down to 15 months.

They took us and our luggage to our new, beautiful temple president's apartment on the second floor of the temple complex building...

Then we wanted to go see  the temple even though we were tired from our full day of travel.  I didn't get a photo that night of the temple but here is the one we took our first Sunday night in this beautiful Central America country.

Our view of the new San Salvador El Salvador Temple the next morning from our terrace patio...

We got in on the last three days of the Temple Open House...

I'll have to ask Walt how many visitors came to the 3-week Open House. (Later) He told me they published that 160,000 came to the Open House.

We have had wonderful temple missionaries to work with...
The Walls, Kitleys, Thompsons, and Gibbons arrived Aug 17, 2011.
Kitleys y Gibbons finished their 18-months on Jan. 25, 2013. The Walls finished their 22 months on May 18, 2013. The Thompsons finished their 23 months on June 25, 2013.
   We miss them but know they are on to other callings in their lives now.

Elder Gibbons must have been taking the photo above...
Here are Gibbons at the first breakfast they cooked of homemade biscuits topped with strawberries 'n whipped cream for all of us in the seven apartments in the temple complex building.

We've also had great counselors in the temple presidency and their wives to work with during these two years...
Presidente y Hna. Majano and Presidente y Hna. Alas... (They are standing on the right--The Alas together in the middle, and The Majanos on each end.)

And now we have new temple missionaries who have come to help carry on in the temple here...
The Clarks...arrived Feb. 28, 2013

The Winters and the Haroldsens...arrived June 13, 2013
The Caballeros are scheduled to come from Canada on Aug. 15, 2013. They are originally from El Salvador.

Hope you have had a peaceful Sabbath Day.
We are thankful for this beautiful earth that Heavenly Father has created for us to live on.
We pray that we may be good stewards of places we live at on our planet.
      We are thankful for life and for being together in this calling in the San Salvador El Salvador Temple.

This week in San Salvador...

Today Walt had a Regional Correlation Council in Santa Ana and I got to go to our ward.
   Walt was up at 4:45 a.m. and left the apartment at 5:30 for the hour's drive to Santa Ana.  President Majano drove, and Sergio Oliva, the executive secretary to the Area Seventy rode with them.

The temple looks wonderful any time of the day...here they are driving past it just after sunrise.

We did not have a combined dinner today. As I was leaving Church, Elder y Hna. Haroldsen invited us to dinner for when Walt got back.  Luckily he arrived about 1:30.

It was a delicious "Mormon Sunday Dinner," with roast, potatoes and gravy, green beans, jello, and for dessert chocolate cake and ice cream.  Elder y Hna. Haroldsen are from Idaho Falls and arrived here June 13 for their 18-month temple mission.  They have served two previous missions in Chile--I think about 2005 and 2010.

We had the Saturday morning shift, opening the temple at 4:00 a.m.  We walked over in a heavy rain storm.  We got back to our apartment at 12:00 noon, and were asked to speak with a group of primary children from the Mossaret Ward that afternoon.  

What precious children in this generation of El Salvadorians.
   After we spoke with them, they lined up to walk over and touch the temple.

Walt took several photos of them lined up by the temple.

From there we dashed over to the Mall for Walt to get a haircut barely getting back in time to leave with President y Hna. López to a dinner we had been invited to as a welcome to the new mission president, Kai Hintze and his wife Diane. Their daughter Kimberly is also with them for the summer, having just returned from her mission in Hong Kong.

The five stake presidents and wives were there who are in the area of this new El Salvador San Salvador West Mission. (The mission also includes Belize.)
  Pictured below are Presidente y Hna. Alfaro of the La Libertad Stake, and Elder Angel Durate, the Area Seventy and his wife. The dinner was at the new LaPampa Restaurante on the mountainside going to the El Bocquerón Volcano.

Presidente y Hna. Calderón were also there from the El Salvador Santa Ana Mission.  And seated to their left are Hno. y Hna. Oliva, the executive secretary to the Area Seventy.

Across from us were the Presidente y Hna. Henriquez from the Sonsonate Stake and Presidente y Hna. Soto from the Sonsacate Stake.  They are both an hour or more away from the capital.

Presidente y Hna. López, of the Los Heroes Stake, who drove us are on the top right.  He is also our full-time temple recorder.

And the Cuscatlan Stake, represented by Presidente y Hna. Menijivar are here with their backs to us across from Presidente y Hna. Hintze.

Walt and I are sitting by Sergio y Betsabe Oliva.

Most got some kind of steak with seafood, but since we do not like most seafood, we just ordered steak...I had a 6 oz tenderloin, and Walt said his filet mignon was one of the best he's ever had...very tender and cooked all the way through without being burned on the outside.  Reminded him of the ones at Burley's Ponderosa Inn back in the day.  (Sorry I didn't get a photo of his filet mignon). My tenderloin was well done and tender.  Most of the beef here is very tough.

I tried to get a photo of the night view of the city below that would show the temple.  Even tho we could pick out the temple very easily, it doesn't show up on the photo.
   Oh, now I can see it....almost in the very center right to left...and just above the dark of the trees.

Here it is from LaPampa when we went to lunch there the last Monday the Thompsons were here--June 24. I had to make it large size to see it, so I don't know if it will show on the space the blog allows for the photos.

Friday was the Gringa Brunch...L-R: Lisa Wegkamp, the hostess; Kristin Freestone, her last week here, she and her family fly out July 17 via Montana for a family reunion then over to the San Francisco Bay area; Marilee Clark, me--Eileen Petersen, Dora Winter, Sharon Haroldsen, Delena Markland, whose twins were born June 8, and her Mom, Jodi Lewis, here from Ogden for 6 weeks, helping with her new twins grandbabies.

This is Dixie...the youngest twin by 1 minute.

And this is Mateo. They are 1 month and 4 days old in this photo.

Friday afternoon as we went to dash out the door by our elevator to get to the 4:00 session (it was our day with no shift), this little family was sitting right in front of that door.  So as they all got up to let us out, we took a photo of them.

Thursday, July 11, before our afternoon/evening shift at the temple, I saw the National Bird out our south window.  Torogos--it has a long, double tail and is very colorful.

Wednesday, July 10, was a fun baby shower for Delena and her twins, hosted by our Relief Society Presidency...

She received many delightful gifts.

Mateo didn't wake up to get a photo of him by the "blue" table.

Here's Margarita, a ward single sister, holding Mateo by Delena who is holding Dixie Delena, and the happy maternal grandmother, Jodi Lewis, who arrived from Utah the day before the twins were born on June 8.

Many friends took turns holding these precious babies whom the whole ward helped Delena through many days of being in the hospital and being put on bed rest during her pregnancy.

Here are Lisa, Kristin with her daughter Kira behind her, and Shaulee.

This is the only photo I got of Karina, our wonderful Relief Society President who makes all these fun events happen for our Sisters.
Everyone had a great time.

Tuesday, July 9...these two service center men came to clean our terrace patio and our apartment.  We are very thankful for all the help.

Edwin comes to fix anything that needs to be repaired in our apartment.

Monday, July 8, we had lunch at Shaws...after grocery shopping.

It's a wonder I could eat after Walt put this in our shopping cart.

We had family home evening at Elder y Hna. Winter's. They had us share miracles we've had in our lives.

And that's our 103rd week here in San Salvador.  Next Saturday, July 20 will mark two full years that we have been here.

We are thankful for this call to help in this beautiful 

San Salvador El Salvador Temple.

Here it is at sunrise this morning.

Because of the restored Priesthood Temple Ordinances, we have the hope of being sealed as families for time and for all eternity.

We are thankful to the Lord for restoring these truths through the Prophet Joseph Smith.

And we are daily grateful for the Atonement of the Savior which makes it possible for each one of us to look forward to being resurrected.

We look forward to His Glorious Second Coming!

We hope you have had a good Sabbath Day and have a great week coming up.