Saturday, February 28, 2015

    Another week and another month have become history and we are into our last days here.  This next week will find us saying our good-byes to friends and co-workers whom we most likely will never see again.  We have already had so many people express sadness at our leaving and they have left us feeling happy with “warm fuzzies.”  We will miss our friends.

    Well, it may be a good time for us to be leaving or our luck is just running out.  The water filter for our drinking water has quit working and there are no replacements—they have to be ordered and are way out there some place.  Hmmm—could this have been anticipated?

     After pestering the engineer (who acts as a trouble shooter, too) we found one of those five-gallon blue water bottles sitting on our counter when we came home from the temple yesterday.  He was so thoughtful!  Now we just need a siphon J

    The lazy-Susan in our lower corner cupboard has lost its balance and remains tipped and askew behind the doors.  We emptied it and have just left it as is and assume maintenance will take care of it before the Christensen’s get here in a couple of weeks.

    Tonight after our shift we came to the door of the Guesthouse and neither of our keys would work—so we were locked out of our building!  The keys we have are like hotel keys—a card with a magnetic strip on one side.  This happened two nights ago, too; but one of the guards saw Glade struggling with the key and walked over form his station and let us in.  He couldn’t let us into our living quarters, but at least we got into the building.  We woke up the couple who work at the desk and he re-programmed the keys and got them working.

    Well, tonight there was no one around.  The couple who works at the desk, goes home on the week-ends since they live in Tegucigalpa and we didn’t see the guard.  So we went around the corner and knocked on the Gomez’s window and she let us into the building.  Glade took the elevator down to the equipment room in the basement where the engineers have an office and luckily found our water-bottle helper doing Duolingo lessons in English on his computer!  Lucky for us he was able to re-program the keys and we were “home again.”

    We are thinking that the new couple at the desk may be re-programming all the keys each time a group of temple-goers leaves and they are doing the whole building including our wing.  Hope they get it figured out!!

    Enough of all that!  We are happy for our week-end.  It has been a stressful and busy week with all the extra activities and we hope to get rested up for our last week of temple work.

    Love to all.  Good Night!! 

Friday, February 27, 2015

    There were more buses today but activity in the temple was not buzzing like the active beehive it usually resembles when so many come.  There were groups for baptisms along with the people doing other ordinances though, so it was still fairly busy.

    Brother and Sister Webb from Spanish Fork were in the temple today and it was great to see them again.  Their son and his wife also came.  They are here visiting their parents and brought their children.  While mom and dad were in the temple, grandma and grandpa did the babysitting and then they switched.  We were able to take a little extra time and visit with them and it was so great to speak English!  Sister Webb came with no Spanish, too, although she had MTC training.  This is a couple that Jeff knows from Spanish Fork.  It was the highlight of the day.  We feel like old friends already!

    Here are the rest of the photos from last Monday’s outing.  There were other pictures I wanted to take on the way back to the city, but the battery in my phone died so there was not a good ending to the trip.  Oh, well; the point is that we had a wonderful day with great friends.

    Have a great week-end.  Good Night!! 

There is a cement bar along the fence posts and when we were close enough
for pictures, they suddenly noticed us and immediately dove right into the water.
(The first two posts are ringed by tires--not turtles,
but the rest of the line is made up of big turtles! 

Repetitive,  but I was just trying to capture those geese--or swans?--aah, geese I guess :) 

Another gorgeous peacock!

Let the golfing begin!

After the first hole, we quit keeping score :)

  

Thursday, February 26, 2015

    Wow!  I’m so glad it is tonight and not last night when I was so nervous about the recital.   It is always so sad to me that we can’t enjoy doing the things we love, to the max, because of adrenaline and shaky nerves.  The rehearsal this morning had too many mistakes and pitfalls, but the performance went much better; and although it wasn’t perfect, we both felt pretty good about it.  It took over twenty minutes to play and I was worried about the audience and their attention span.  Since they are all music students and well-trained in behavior, it was no problem and they were great.  Gina and I were first so we were able to enjoy the rest of the program.  There were only five other students who played plus a duet—all viola numbers—and they played beautifully.  I have loved practicing with Gina, but I’m so glad the recital is behind us.  We are both going to miss the music we have shared.

    Thanks for your prayers and kind thoughts.  I hope you all have a great week-end.

    Below are a few more photos from Monday’s outing.  Glade recorded our recital number on my phone, but didn’t take any still shots so use your imagination—and make it great J

    Love to you all and Good Night!  See you soon.

Uh--No.  We didn't try this out!

There are a few beautiful homes on the edge of the golf course.
The revenue from the sale of these homes paid
for the development of the golf course and country club.

We decided that this stripped grass must be where
they have harvested sod and relocated it.

This man is watering coffee plants.

We walked the entire scope of the golf course before returning to get clubs and carts.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

    The bread makers that own the bakery where we buy our bread and who are in our ward took me to their home this morning and she showed me how to make their whole wheat flax seed bread.  They have developed their own recipes for their shop for the most part.  At one time, he attended a cooking school.  She is from Columbia and uses many recipes from there.  They both study cooking tips and ideas on the Internet and then try them out in their kitchen making changes and adjustments until something works for them. She shared some baking tips with me, too; and it was a delightful morning and fun to be in their home. 

    Activity in the temple seems to have fallen off some since we first arrived.  The newness of the temple and its easier accessibility for people really brought the crowds.  Perhaps it is just this time of the year, but things just don’t seem to be bustling like they were in the beginning.

    Please pray for a successful recital for Gina and me in the morning.  Thank you.

    I’m going to post a few photos from the bread making lesson tonight and then add a few more tomorrow from our Monday excursion. 

    Love you all—Good Night!

The master baker and head of the house.

Two of their children

This sweet teacher created the bread recipe after moving to Tegucigalpa
and not being able to find any bread in the city that she liked.
 They eat a lot of bread in Columbia where she is from so she was very
particular about finding and creating just the right recipe.

Kneading by hand is best, but the mixer is so much faster.  They use their own yeast
starter at home all the time, but use the same dry yeast we do at home, in the bakery.

All of the ingredients, except the flax seed, 

go into the mixer at the same time--the yeast, too.

Kneading and loaf-shaping techniques.

An egg/milk wash is brushed on the loaves to keep them moist during rising
and to give shine to the finished loaves.

Ready for the oven.  It is just a little high, but that's okay.

All done!  Perfection!  

The younger children are home schooled and this young man is working
 on his lessons.  They learn in English, but also have a Spanish class.

This is the main living area in their home.
He will be eight years old on March 15 and will be baptized the same day.

This cute girl is doing her math lessons in English on the computer.

Youngest daughter!  They also have a teenage son who is studying
at the high school that concentrates on the arts like painting and sculpting.
He will soon be ready for a mission.  He is a great young man.

                          

The lady of the house, who is our Relief Society President, is learning to play
the piano and plays for Sacrament Meeting occasionally.  She is doing very well.
This is where she practices her music.

The bedrooms are upstairs

This is a yard and patio area just outside the kitchen door.
The laundry is outside to the right of this patio.
Everyone here hangs clothes outside to dry.  No one uses a dryer.

Kitchen view.