My cousins came down to Utah from Florida for my cousins wedding which was way fun to see all of my family. For the First time ever my whole family traveled to Elsalvador where my mom is from. No kids came it was my whole family Steph, Emily, Elizabeth, Stevie and my mom and dad also my aunt Ivonne, Ena, Uncle Rolando, abuelita, and cousin Roland went. It was so much cauos just preparing for the trip. I started pumping breast milk and putting it in the freezer a month in advance, then I had to find babysitters for all of my kids. Paul took a few day off from work and my friends came through for me and took care of the kids. Most of the day I split up the kids so It would'nt be to hectic for my friends so I had bags ready for paul for each of the kids with clothing diapers, food and bottles. Also my niece tasha came up from st. george to watch the kids for a couple days. In Elsalvador We had adventure after adventure our flight left at midight and we got into the country around 11:00 am My grandma brought 3 suitcases and then everyone elses stuff we barely made it home we were so cramed in this tinny minni van that fit 11 passengers. The vans had no seat belts. So you the more people you can fit in a car the better. People rode in the back of trucks, or half way in vans sitting out of the window seal. And the driving was crazy no one followed the traffic lights and cars and buses would try to squeeze through the smallest spaces. We were scared for our lives every time we drove anywhere. We were able to see where my mom grew up and meet relatives we have never met before. We saw the first church built in elsalvador. The first night we got there my uncle who is in charge of getting the temple ready for the dedication gave us a tour of the temple. when you walk in to the temple there is a huge picture of Christ standing with two little girls about 8 years old. One of the girls is a nephite with white skin and the other is a lamanite girl it is the most beautiful picture. The temple had the country flower everywhere inprinted into the carpet and on the walls. My mom says they eat that flower cut up with eggs and it is really good. We were sopose to have tickets to the celestial room for the temple dedication with Henry B Erying but we told my uncle to late that we were coming so he said to get the temple two hours early and he would try to get us in. We got there before a ton of people they checked our tickets and we ended up going to the end of another line of people who had just got there I was so bugged we had gotten there before them and now they were in front of us. When they let us in to the temple we ended up very close to the front of in a cieling room right next to the celestial room we were so close. My uncle then started to squeeze in chairs and tried to get us in to the celestial room he couldnt be obvious that we were family so he said the first two rows then I need one person. He got all of us in except for my dad and my little brother. It was such a neat spirit to be in the same room as pres. erying. The whole room was in tears with spirit we felt. In one of the dedications Pres. Eyring stopped in the middle of the dedicatory prayer and said he felt he needed to say something and said that Elsalvador is named after the savior and is one of the most unsafe places in the world but from this country there will be many missionaries sent to Asia so spread the gospel. When I looked around me and saw the faces of these faithful lamanite people who are my roots and saw the look in my moms face and to know that these people have been waiting so long for a temple in their country and finally have one brought me to tears. At the end of the dedication they sang the spirit of god in Spanish and it felt as if we were in a different place and that we were so close to heaven. What an experience! I hope I will never forget the way I felt and how the spirit burned with in all of us that this was the true church.
My cousins came down to Utah from Florida for my cousins wedding which was way fun to see all of my family. For the First time ever my whole family traveled to Elsalvador where my mom is from. No kids came it was my whole family Steph, Emily, Elizabeth, Stevie and my mom and dad also my aunt Ivonne, Ena, Uncle Rolando, abuelita, and cousin Roland went. It was so much cauos just preparing for the trip. I started pumping breast milk and putting it in the freezer a month in advance, then I had to find babysitters for all of my kids. Paul took a few day off from work and my friends came through for me and took care of the kids. Most of the day I split up the kids so It would'nt be to hectic for my friends so I had bags ready for paul for each of the kids with clothing diapers, food and bottles. Also my niece tasha came up from st. george to watch the kids for a couple days. In Elsalvador We had adventure after adventure our flight left at midight and we got into the country around 11:00 am My grandma brought 3 suitcases and then everyone elses stuff we barely made it home we were so cramed in this tinny minni van that fit 11 passengers. The vans had no seat belts. So you the more people you can fit in a car the better. People rode in the back of trucks, or half way in vans sitting out of the window seal. And the driving was crazy no one followed the traffic lights and cars and buses would try to squeeze through the smallest spaces. We were scared for our lives every time we drove anywhere. We were able to see where my mom grew up and meet relatives we have never met before. We saw the first church built in elsalvador. The first night we got there my uncle who is in charge of getting the temple ready for the dedication gave us a tour of the temple. when you walk in to the temple there is a huge picture of Christ standing with two little girls about 8 years old. One of the girls is a nephite with white skin and the other is a lamanite girl it is the most beautiful picture. The temple had the country flower everywhere inprinted into the carpet and on the walls. My mom says they eat that flower cut up with eggs and it is really good. We were sopose to have tickets to the celestial room for the temple dedication with Henry B Erying but we told my uncle to late that we were coming so he said to get the temple two hours early and he would try to get us in. We got there before a ton of people they checked our tickets and we ended up going to the end of another line of people who had just got there I was so bugged we had gotten there before them and now they were in front of us. When they let us in to the temple we ended up very close to the front of in a cieling room right next to the celestial room we were so close. My uncle then started to squeeze in chairs and tried to get us in to the celestial room he couldnt be obvious that we were family so he said the first two rows then I need one person. He got all of us in except for my dad and my little brother. It was such a neat spirit to be in the same room as pres. erying. The whole room was in tears with spirit we felt. In one of the dedications Pres. Eyring stopped in the middle of the dedicatory prayer and said he felt he needed to say something and said that Elsalvador is named after the savior and is one of the most unsafe places in the world but from this country there will be many missionaries sent to Asia so spread the gospel. When I looked around me and saw the faces of these faithful lamanite people who are my roots and saw the look in my moms face and to know that these people have been waiting so long for a temple in their country and finally have one brought me to tears. At the end of the dedication they sang the spirit of god in Spanish and it felt as if we were in a different place and that we were so close to heaven. What an experience! I hope I will never forget the way I felt and how the spirit burned with in all of us that this was the true church.
