Christmas!

We had our first Christmas in a tropical climate! It was definately quiet in our little casita but not so outside! Fireworks had been going off since the week before Christmas. There is one area where booths are set up selling fireworks and this is a serious business! Christmas Eve is big day here to celebrate the holiday with fireworks, presents, church for some and then dinner around midnight or after. We had fireworks going until after midnight. Serious bomb things than shook the windows!
We attended a potluck dinner at an American's home. There were 4 families. They have between them 7 kids under age 13. So it was really fun. We had a great ham from Costco in the states! One of the guys had brought it home in a carry-0n from his last business trip!
On Christmas day Jim and I drove to the beach. It's about 30 miles from here. We didn't get "on" the beach. We were more or less sight-seeing. We weren't sure where to go or where to park sooooo next time. Besides, by noon the whole country was coming to the beach-so we went home!

We have some veggies coming up in some boxes of dirt in the yard. We are so excited to have nice weather all the time! It's endless summer down here to us! Even though we are North of the equator they call this summer right now and it's their "cool" season. Winter starts in May.

We've had several missionary activites keeping us busy and several ward activities for the holidays. We had a Christmas dinner at church. For la cena we had turkey, tamalies, rice (always), potatoe salad (always), rolls and cake. It started at 6:30 but didn't get going until around 8:00 and we didn't eat until around 9 pm. This is dinner time. Jim and I are ready for bed by 9:00 so we're going to have to change our schedule!
Last weekend Jim and I made cookies for the Christmas goodie bags for the missionaries. We made about 900. 14 batches. We made them over two days and put them in the freezer. It was fun! We made Grandma Fenn's Ranger cookies. They are Jim's specialty.
On the 23rd we had a Christmas dinner with all the missionaries in the El Salvador West Mission. There are about 154. There's 20 more in Belize.
It was amazing to have that many young people in one group. They are so great. We just love them!

There is progress on the temple project! Yeah! They've been moving dirt and trees for a week now. There's a gate and new security guards (with uniforms) and several pieces of very large equipment, surveyors and lots of activity. It's exciting to see something finally happening. Jim attended 3 meetings last week (all in Spanish) at the architect's office. I have been working on photos of the site.
And so it begins!!

Other than that, we've been making trips around the city to learn the roads and how to get places. It's crazy to drive here. The roads are crazy. There seems to be no order. At least there's none to me now. Maybe in a few months.....

This is a nativity given to us by a friend.

154 goodie bags for missionaries.
Part of which was a baggie of 4 cookies Jim and I made over last weekend!

A group photo of everyone in the San Salvador West Mission. There are 20 missionaries in our mission serving in Belize.

Santa Ana

We got a car this week and moved into our casita! Yeah progress!! Poco a poco. It is quite an experience to drive in San Salvador. Really confusing if you miss an exit. It's a small compact city with millions of people and absolutely no grid. A mass of tangled roads.
There are driving laws, but no one obeys them!! You certainly don't wait for any pedestrians! And the buses rule. Don't get in their way. They'll run right into you and keep on going! It's survival of the most daring!

On the 4th we attended meetings for the signing of the contract with the architects, contractors and the manager of the Central de Servicio for the church.
On the weekend we attended conferences in Santa Ana. It's about 45 miles away. It's a beautiful area with a colonial look. This stake is the strongest in Central America. (According to the Area Prez, Elder Clark) We had two conferences back to back in which we spoke in both.....scary. The hardest is trying to stay awake when I understand so little of what's being said!
But everyone is so warm and friendly. They love us because we are here to help build their temple!

We noticed today driving by the site that an excavator had been moved in. We were there early this morning visiting with the "guards" and the landscape expert. They have preserved many of the trees and bushes to preplant later when the buildings are completed. They have many baby trees growing to plant later too. People were trying to steal the baby trees! Coffee trees grow wild and are plentiful. We picked some coffee beans this morning. Jim was given a hunk of wood from a Balsamo tree; a very dense hard wood, so he can have James turn a bowl.

Juayua

We have had some amazing experience this past week! Last Sunday we went to Juayua Stake Conferences. Juayua is in the mountains and is a favorite spot for locals and tourists to vacation. We were told to bring sweaters and jackets because it was muy frio! (Not) The drive up there has beautiful vistas of forests, volcanoes and plantations. There are many flowering trees and bushes. We ate lunch at a popular resturant.