El Salvador Temple Dedication

We picked up Kent and Eli at 7 a.m. and drove to Chalchuapa for the temple dedication broadcast.  We enjoyed it tremendously. The chapel was full and reverent. The talks were mostly in Spanish, except for President Eyring’s.  Ed was able to understand at least one of them!  It was nice having translators for him, but I have to admit sometimes I was focusing so much on how things were translated that I forgot to listen to the talk! It was great, because the translators were native, and were very adept at expressing difficult constructions into Spanish. Elder Christofferson spoke in Spanish, and was quite fluent! We felt the spirit and gratitude to be able to celebrate with the Salvadoran people, that they finally have a temple in their own country. It was nice to feel that we, especially through Crystal and Eli, have actually been a part of it all.

After the dedication we stayed and visited with the members for a very long time. Crystal was swamped with people that wanted to talk with her. Once again, she enjoyed her popularity.  It was like being queen for a day! Eli was excited to see the woman that cooked for him every day for 9 months. He was also excited to know he’s still her favorite missionary ever!

We drove by the homes Crystal and Eli lived in in Chalchuapa, and stopped in at Pan Rey for some sweet bread.  Crystal got to live right across the street from the bakery, and smell their bread cooking every day!

Jorge chose a great restaurant for us this afternoon. It was a beautiful location on the beach in La Libertad. We all had sea food, which was delicious! We enjoyed the view of the ocean just as much as the dinner.

We got to our private villa in a gated community by 4 p.m., and took a dip in the private pool to cool off. It has eco-air conditioning, which is open doors and the ocean breeze.   It is a beautiful home, with a great view of the ocean. We’re visiting with Eli, and now that we’ve talked ourselves out on the topic of family dynamics, we might start looking around for a deck of cards. Nothing like a few hands of Mormon Bridge to make you feel like you’re on vacation! We’ve decided to rest a little here. We’re going to sleep in till 10 a.m. before we go out with Jorge for our trip tomorrow!