March

June 2011

We moved into one of the apartments on the site in March. Since then I haven't been able to upload any photos to the blog.  Photos are way more interesting than just reading a paragraph!  We are going home in 3 weeks from today. The last three months have been crazy busy with finishes in the temple. But, it is almost done. The only things remaining are "punch list" items. But for all intents and purposes when you see the project, it's completed.
In March we took a Book of Mormon with 20 other missionary couples in Guatemala. We went all the way to Izapa, Mexico! That was awesome!
In April my sister, Karen, and I went to Peru with 7 other ladies. In April our carpets were sculpted, the oxen were set, and myself and Jim  trimmed the temple chandeliers with over 10,000 crystals with 15 others from the church.
During May the furniture and artwork was installed and delivered. That was an exciting week!  And Carmen and her room mate, Raven, flew down for a week. Us three girls took a tour bus to Antiqua, Guatemala for 3 days, we also with Jim hiked to the falls in Juayua and spent a day at the beach.
Now it's June. There are very few workers on the site. Jim is still busy with the final details for the Open House which begins the 28th of June. Our flights home are July 1!! I can't believe I'll be in Montana in 3 weeks!

The temple site.

We traveled to Belize Jan 15 for 4 days for District Conferences. It was non-stop meetings, speaking, meetings. Belize does not have any stakes yet. We have two American missionary couples serving there. The language is officially English but Spanish is very helpful.

Sweet little children on the front bench. They sat very quietly during our 2 hour meeting. Jim asked if we could take their picture.

On Monday before we flew back to El Sal we were able to visit some Mayan ruins. They were really cool. I love them.

South side of temple.

Jim on top of the tower measuring the granite stone steps for a modification.

Our West and East Mission Presidents. Presidente Lopez y Presidente Peres. Both are from Guatemala. They each have 4 children. President Lopez's oldest son just left on his mission to Provo, Utah!! They are amazing families. We have the highest admiration for them.

Our mural artist group. The falls at Juayua.

A torogoz, the El Salvador national bird. He flew through our yard and landed very near us on the branch of our neighbor's mango tree. He posed for at least 10-15 minutes for us.

This is his/her? front view. We even got a dead-on center shot!

Now this black beauty is not so rare to see. He's having a good bath. When he's around all the other little colorful birds fly away!

Backyard pool party! There are 4 species of birds here; blue grey tanager, yellow warblers, rose crested grosbeak and a baltimore oriole. One of the yellow warblers might be a young yellow oriole. Not sure.

Christmas in MONTANA!! All the kids were there but Jared, Laura, and Kamryn. Jim flew to AZ to see his parents and I drove with my sister to ID to see my aunties and uncles. We even attended our home ward twice!  We tried to eat at all the places we love, but we didn't have enough time. Just walking around Costco was such a treat. It was a good break. It was not hard to return to our mission as we were living out of suitcases and it felt like we were on vacation. 

Las Calderas de Juayua. The pools and walls were built in the 60's by an electric company to channel the water through canals down below. There are a total of 7 falls in this area. One large fall was painted for the temple by Leon Parsons. He used my photo. That is quite an honor.

We made two trips to Juayua in January. One trip with Dave and Kathy Horne's group of decorative painters. They were doing all the gold leafing, stenciling, and striping on the ceilings in the temple. Their group consisted of another painter and 6 young returned missionaries. Also, Alicyn Wright and her two helpers were with us. Their specialty was the faux painting and stenciling in the niches in the Celestial and sealing rooms. This truck was our transportation to the trail that we hiked to the falls.

Jim and I in front of the mural that was finished last week.

Pupusaria in Zona Rosa. Really big pupusas! Generally they are much smaller. They can be filled with refried beans, beans and cheese, or chichirron (pork made from pork rinds), or all three together called revuelta.