I Love to See The Temple

Our family is forever

El Salvador

We drove from Guatemala City down to San Salvador. It was a beautiful drive. It is so green here. It took us about 3 1/2 hours.

There was road construction and we had to stop for a bit so we got a couple of good photos.

This is our apartment building. We are on the second floor. The parking garage is under the building and there is a guard that lets you in and out.

The Mission President and his wife, President and Sister Perez, found this place for us to live. It is really such a nice, comfortable place. They even stocked the shelves and refrigerator before we came so we had food to eat and laundry and hand soap. They were so kind.

This is our living room. We have two bedrooms and three bathrooms.

Our kitchen

Family room and dining area

This is our view out the living room window, it is San Salvador Volcan

Our view out over the city of San Salvador. I love it at night. A couple of evenings so far we have been able to watch fireworks

This is our view out the kitchen window. It is the World Trade Center

This is President and Sister Perez and their children. The two older girls speak English quite well. They came in for lunch on Sunday afternoon just after we got here and we had toasted cheese sandwiches and after we finished those girls had the table cleared, dishes done and floor swept. We were sorry that we only got here 5 days before they finished their mission but we are so grateful for the opportunity to have met them.

Training in Guatemala

This is where we were trained. This building holds the institute, the employment center, the PEF center and the bishop's storehouse. It is a very nice building.

This is the bishop's storehouse. In the back was a room where people would measure and fill the bags of rice and beans. It looks quite a bit different then what we usually see.

These are the filled orders

We got to go and see the Guatemala Temple. It is hard to take a picture of the whole thing because the spire is so tall. The grounds were also very lovely.

These are the people we got to work with while we were in Guatemala. On the left is Reynoldo Nunez who is the director of PEF in the Central American area, Elder and Sister Arnold and they are from Utah and then Claudia Galvez who has been the head of the service centers.

And They Are Off

We left the MTC Saturday morning the 18th of June at 5:00 am and were driven to the SL airport. We left about 8 and arrived in Dallas/Fort Worth and had about a 4 hour layover. It is such a huge airport. You had to take a tram to go from one terminal to the next. We were headed for Guatemala for more training before heading off for El Salvador.

Here is our last look at the United States coast line. When we got to Guatemala there was a terrible storm so the plane could not land so they flew to El Salvador. There we waited in the plane until the storm over Guatemala stopped and then we flew back to Guatemala. Glad it was only about a 45 minute flight. Here we waited for our bags, got through customs and we were met by two senior elders who took us to a beautiful hotel, the Barcelona, where we stayed while we were in Guatemala.

Here is a view of Guatemala out the window of our room at the Barcelona. They had a complementary buffet breakfast. One of the things I tried was fried platano which is similar to a banana. It is really good. They had all sorts of breads, eggs, fruits, meats. Lots to choose from. A senior couple, Elder and Sister Arnold, picked us up for church and we attended the branch they are assigned to. The people are so friendly and welcomed us very warmly.

This is another view out of our window and these volcanos are called the Tres Hermanas

At the MTC

This is the building where we stayed. We started classes at 8:00 am and had classes all day long. The first week we worked on sharing the Gospel, the second week was learning about Seminaries and Institutes and spending the last couple of days in Salt Lake City learning about the Perpetual Education Fund. we had great teachers and were with a wonderful group of senior missionaries going all over.

This is in front of the famous map. We are with Elder and Sister Nielsen and they were going to Malaysia.

This is our tutor, Sister Flores, that worked with us both when we were in Yuba City and then I had class with her and Dad had another tutor from 6-8 in the evening. By then it had been a really long day but she was very patient and we really appreciated all she did to get us working on the language. After classes Dad and I would walk up to Rock Creek Park and then run down the hill. I just loved that time of day. We kept thinking we would take pictures but usually forgot the camera or we got away to late and it was too dark.

The rules for senior missionaries and young missionaries are a little different. We were free to go do what we wanted to after classes and just had to check in and out. So on Saturday, Nathan and Emily picked us up in the morning and we were planning to go to the temple, but the Timpanogos Temple was closed as was the Jordan River so we ended up at the Oquirrah Hills Temple. It was very beautiful.

We did some shopping to get a few last minute things. And then we got to go to the shower for Nathan and Emily at Don and Jana's. That was just alot of fun.

The happy newly wed couple. It was really fun to see all who were there.

The kids had a great time out in the back. The weather was just perfect. Thanks to all for such a fun time and thanks for all the help while we were in the MTC.