I love to see the Temple

Oh the beauty of the morning sky! But you have to get out there early, a little after 5:00 for these pictures. I am usually not out early, but I was up and saw a little pink cloud, so I hurried out with my camera and got these beautiful pictures. It just lifts me up and warms my heart to see the beauties that God has created for us to enjoy. It is a testimony to me of His Love.

One night there was a full moon and I tried to take a picture of it by the temple. These pictures are the best I could do. The third picture has the moon behind the angel Moroni.

The beauty of the San Salvador Temple. The red building you can see in the background is where we live. The top floor are the apartments, we are in 205.

Brunch with the girls

Let us be wise...and do that which will made for peace. Mosiah 29:10

This was Teresa Walkers last brunch with us. They are moving back to the states June 18th. She showed us her sampler quilt that she has made, with the different blocks. Sheralie Broadbent brought a chocolate fountain with fruit for our dessert. Melissa Ruble made cold carrot cumin soup. It was very good.

We enjoy visiting and eating at our brunch. First picture:Lisa Wegkamp, Marilyn Gibbons, Teresa Walker, Sephinie Dawson, Arlene Kitley in background. Second Picture: Freestone, Delena Markland, Arlene Kitley. We had family home evening at Kitleys and took this picture to send to Petersens. "Mom and Pop We Miss You"

Sunday

Live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which God doth bestow upon you. Alma 34:38

We sure do enjoy our meal on Sunday and being together. Gibbons fixed Salmon patties for the main dish. I got to make dessert and made a peach cobbler. Gibbons, Kitleys, Halls, Thompson and Frank. I wanted to post these pictures so Petersens would know how things are, but I am so late getting it on the blog and Petersens came home to El Salvador Thurs. June 7.

Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ. Moroni 10:32

The Lopezs' invited us to lunch today. Of course they served the best food. Here they are cooking the beef on their one little barbecue which is in their very small yard. Sister Gibbons is peeling and cutting hard boiled eggs that were mixed into the mashed avacado, so good. We had flavored mashed potatoes, red beans, sausages, and steak with homemade tomatoe salsa.

Sister Lopez is showing the creature that holds all her plastic bags, he is old but cute. Brother and Sister Lopez have been so kind to us. He has driven us around on Monday, which is his only day off also, because he works in the temple as a paid empolyee of the church. Frank is very quiet when we are in our group, but Brother Lopez got him talking so I thought I had better get a picture.

Brother Lopez was driving us home, he went right pass our street and we ended up at Windys for a frosty. Monday night, it was our time to give FHE. I took a picture at the very first so I would not forget. Thompsons, Us, Gibbons and Kitleys. We sure miss the Petersens and will be glad when they return. We gave a short history of Pres. Eyrings life and then reviewed last Oct. conference address. As members of the church, we promised to become charitable, to become witnesses of God, and to endure. The last picture is of a beautiful flower in the Lopez yard.

Sunday dessert

"For behold, this is my church; whosoever is baptized shall be baptized unto repentance, and shall believe in my name. . .

For it is I that taketh upon me the sins of the world; for it is I that hath created them; and it is I that granteth unto him that believeth unto the end a place at my right hand." Mosiah 26:23

I put my camera out so I would remember to take pictures, and then I for got until it was time for dessert. Brother and Sister Hall, with PEF, provided pecan pie for dessert. It was very good. The Kitleys, Gibbons, Frank and next Thompsons, and Halls made our dinner group for this sunday.

Learning about sushi

For this months Gringa sister get together, we met at Melissa Rubles. She wanted to eat sushi so she showed us how to make it. I have never eaten sushi so I wanted to try it. Inside her sushi roll she put cucumber and pre cooked carrot slices, cooked fish like imatation crabmeat, avocado and rice. I decided I did not like the sea weed that is used to wrap everything. It smells to much like fish and is tough to chew. They said you are to put the whole piece into your mouth at once. It was too much for me, so Delenia made some smaller ones. It is always fun to met with these young women and visit and enjoy each others company.

Mothers Day

Mothers Day in El Salvador is always May 10. We were receiving things starting May 9 through May 13. The first gift I received from a Temple worker was the duck made from a plastic bottle. A sister from Santa Ana gave me the brightly decorated bottle, a vase for flowers. I received candy, homemade carrot cake, and Sister Majano wrote a saying on a card for me and she wrote it in English. The temple had cake for all the women on the 10th and the 11th. Another sister provided flan for us on the 12th. It was a fun week.

On Saturday I told Frank that Sister Perez had invited us to the baptism of her twin daughters but no one knew if we would be going. That night she called Frank and asked him to talk at the baptism. Sunday morning Sister Kitley gave us the invitation and on the back was the program with Elder Frank Wall speaking about the Love of Jesus Christ. The baptism was at 3:00 and she sent a mini-bus to pick us up. Frank gave a very personal and special talk to both girls. A group picture of the senior missionaries, Pres. and Sister Alas and the two young girls.

This is Sister Perez, the mother, with her camera, and Brother Perez, the father with Frank. I found out yesterday that they have 7 children. I only noticed 4 children sitting by them. As we were leaving Sister Colina and Frank are shaking fingers. I had to get a picture of it.

While taking pictures, Frank covered Sister Santo's face. Sister Santo and the other lady sang Teach Me to Walk in the Light at the meeting. Then Sister Santo covered Frank's face while I was taking pictures. Frank is liked by everyone.

Around town

"And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another. . . but that they should look forward . . .having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another." Mosiah 18:21

We went to the American Embassy and Sheralie Broadbent got us into the small commissary. Her 2 young children came with us, Lucy and James. Sheralie is very good at piano and violin. Her 12 year old son plays the piano in primary and she is teaching 4 year old Lucy to play the violin. I am sitting on the steps that lead up to the restaurant. I like the flower display.

They brought us some chips and dips. Only 2 of 7 were hot spicy hot. Brother Lopez on the right drove us around town since Pres. Petersen is not here. His wife joined us at lunch time but after our trip to the fruit market she returned to work. On left at table are Thompsons, Gibbons, and Kitleys at the end. I ordered a pastel azteca. It had a hard taco on the bottom with chicken, beans, and cheese wrapped in a soft flour tortilla and onions and cheese on top. I put guacamole on top because the Thompsons do not like it and it came with their meal. It was surrounded by a tomatoe sauce. It was very good and I am glad I got it even through I did not know what I was ordering.

We had 10 in a 8 passenger van. Two couples sat in the back seat. Part of the time Sister Thompson was sitting on Brother Thompsons lap and the other time I was sitting on Franks lap. We went to the Merliot fruit market. Sister Lopez wanted us to shop at the stand of her two friends. I did get 10 tomatoes for one dollar, 3 red peppers for one dollar, 5 big carrots for $1.00, 2 cucumbers for .50, 6 bananas for .50, and 5 green bell peppers for one dollar. I want to make my homemade tomatoe salsa. We ended the day by getting a frosty at Wendy's.

President Petersen

On the 16th of April, Pres. Petersen had intense back pain. Then he just fell, his leg would give out on him. They flew to Utah on the 27th of April and had sugury on May 2nd. We miss them greatly but are glad they are getting things fixed. His nerve was pinched so he was loosing the support of his upper right leg. They hope that the nerve function will come back and be able to return by the lst of June. The Gibbons are taking over their shift duties. They have had more health concerns since they arrived in San Salvador then they had the 50 years of marriage. We pray for their quick return and know that God is watching over all of us.