Monday, June 10, 2013

          Today, we took a leisurely trip to the Cascadas Mall which includes a Wal-Mart store.  The Mall is very large, three floors, and is quite “Americanized.” The food court is huge and had American choices like Wendy’s and Subway and then the usual choices we see such as, Chinese, Mexican, and of course, pizza.  Outside the food court is a large Friday’s Restaurant, and Glade really wanted to eat there since we were celebrating our anniversary which is this week.  However, it was full and the only seating was at the bar and we didn’t want to sit there.  Worried that it would take way too long to wait for a table, we opted for Wendy’s and it was really good.  They featured a new grilled chicken on flatbread and the bread was delicious.  We took one taxi to the mall, and hailed another to take us and our few purchases back home.  I tried to get pictures of interesting sites as we drove, but it rained again and the drive was not smooth enough.  Oh, well,  Maybe next time :)

Glade is in the bright blue shirt standing at the Wendy's counter.

I even had ice in my drink today--a first!

One small area of the food court.

          Pres. Ocampo, the Temple President, gave the Family Home Evening lesson tonight and it was on temples.  He asked each of us to tell about the temple we were sealed in, what we remembered about that day, and how the temple has blessed our lives.  He also asked us how we felt about being temple missionaries in the Tegucigalpa Temple.  We took turns with each question going around the group. 

          It is so easy to take for granted the blessing we have had all of our lives to live so close to a temple—now two—and within easy driving distance of several others.  Pres. Ocampo and his wife were married in San Pedro Sula in North Honduras.  They did not have enough money to travel to the temple but had it as a goal and starting saving their lempiras.  The exchange rate then was two lempiras to one dollar.  All they had saved was 99 lempiras.  This was about 1973.  They made a whole in a milk carton to use as their “piggy bank.” 

          They prayed and prayed for help from the Lord to find the money to make the trip the Los Angeles Temple.  The President’s brother had been saving money to buy a lot to build on.  When he approached the seller, he told him he was not ready to sell at that time.  So, this brother to Pres. Ocampo offered the money he had saved to him and his wife so they could get to the temple. 

There are other details to the story that I couldn’t quite get since they were in translated Spanish, but the bottom line is that they took a van with two other couples and drove for six days all the way up to Los Angeles.  Sister Ocampo had a baby and was expecting another and it was a very difficult trip.  They told about starting out not knowing if they had enough funds to make the trip, but praying to Heavenly Father to bless them that they would somehow find the money to get to the temple.

The Lord blessed them and they were able to reach their destination.  They needed a place to stay and thought about finding a hotel, but it was too expensive.  They looked in the yellow pages and found the name of a bishop whom they called.  He found a family in his ward that opened their home to them so they would have a place to stay.  This was such a blessing to them and it made me think about how I would respond to such query.  Would I be ready and willing?  Well, I certainly would be now after knowing them and hearing about their experiences, their goal, and their sacrifices. 

It was so easy for Glade and I to drive the 15 minutes it took to go from my house in Milo to the temple in Idaho Falls to be married.  We were blessed to have many family members who came to share the experience with us.  The people who have to make such great sacrifices to reach their goals often have no one with them.  But it means everything to them to be able to get to the temple and receive the saving ordinances.

Pondering our personal temple experiences can help us see the blessings we have in our lives because of the covenants and commitments we have made.  As an extension to our Home Evening, may I invite each of you to give it some thought.