Tuesday, March 10, 2015

    Tonight we are starting to wonder if we will be able to get everything packed and all the details taken care of in the one remaining afternoon we have here tomorrow.  It is not that we haven’t been working on getting ready—we have actually taken care of lots and lots of details—but there just seems to be a lot of last minute “stuff” that we have to wait on until tomorrow afternoon. 

    We are actually starting to feel like we dare be excited about coming home.  It is hard to believe that we only have one more day to serve in this temple.  No future temple service will ever be like this experience and we feel reluctant to leave it all behind even though we are ready to be home.  Meeting great people and making so many wonderful friends has made it extra special.

    Brother and Sister Duarte and their daughter and her husband, the Villalobos, took us way across the city tonight for dinner to an Argentine restaurant in a beautiful new mall and high-rise business complex.  We drove for 30 minutes to get there and I realized after we left that here we were going out at night in this terribly dangerous city on our second to last night.  But these awesome people who live here weren’t worried, so I decided not to worry either.  J

We can’t remember the name of the restaurant, but it was a great place with really yummy food and we had a wonderful evening.  There was good conversation with plenty of English even though Sister Duarte deals with English like I deal with Spanish—we listen a lot and understand much more than we can speak. 

In the middle of the room was a large soup tureen filled with tomato soup and a myriad of things that made up a salad bar.  While we were dining on the soup and salad, the “meat buffet” was brought to the table still sizzling in a hot container (photo below) holding chicken, steak, and sausages.  Glade, of course, loved the steak and I was so happy with more chicken! 

These are just the nicest people and we will really miss them.  Their kind words and expressions of thanks were very tender to us and we will count them as forever friends. 

Good Night!  Take care everyone and hug the children and tell them how much you love them! 

Take your pick!! 

From the left;  the Villalobos couple (who are expecting a baby)
the Petersons, and the Duartes