Late October

We finally have some pictures so we can blog this week!  On Tuesday Hermana Tanner turned 80.  The single sisters had a pizza lunch with her on Monday, and we sang to her at home evening that night, but Hermana Barney and Hermana Eberhard wanted to do something more since it is such a special birthday and she is away from her family.  We took her to breakfast at San Martin.  She was so thrilled!  We told the waitresses it was her birthday, so they brought her a muffin with a sign stuck in it that said Feliz Cumpleanos.  It was on a plate, and they had written in frosting Happy Birthday  80.  They also gave her  a San Martin hat which is like a chef's hat and a balloon.  She was so tickled!  Unfortunately, we forgot to bring a camera, so we went back to her apartment and took pictures there. 

The pictures are small because we took them on her I-Pad and she e-mailed them to us, but this is Hermana Tanner.

We took this one in the mirror of the three of us.

Note our bright, autumn colors.  We don't get autumn here, so we have to dress for it!

We got our two new missionary couples this week, the Brubakers and Allreds.  It was our assignment to collect food donations for them so they would have have something to eat until they could go shopping and also have a start.  This is how much we gathered, and this is for just one couple.  The other couple got the same things.  The one thing not pictured is the homemade bread President Thompson made because he delivered it fresh after we took the rest of the food in.  These couples are our neighbors, and it is so good to have people near us again.  They are delightful people, and we are very excited to have them here.  We will get pictures at their Bienvenido tomorrow night.

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Dorine also finished the donations from the first 8 yards of flannel for the humanitarian service project.  We're waiting for the opportunity to go to a different fabric store where the flannel is less expensive and nicer quality.  These things will be donated next week at our break the fast.

 

General Conference Week

This week we finally got to pick and eat our first ripe tomato.  It took longer than we thought it would, but it was fun to finally realize the fruits of our efforts!

The peppers are growing well too but are still too small to pick.  Sadly, the cantaloupe plants are blooming, but no fruit has set on yet.  The plants are looking pretty droopy and ragged, so it's likely they won't survive to bear fruit.  At least the fruit lady comes regularly and sells us her cantaloupes!

We have been enjoying conference very much this weekend.  On Saturday we walked to MacDonalds for a Big Mac between sessions.  Gary brought along the camera and got some good pictures of and from the pedestrian overpass we cross to get to the other side of Vista Hermosa, the busy street that runs past the temple.

 This is the temple from part way up the stairs to the overpass.  This is the back of the temple.  In the left background you can  see across the street where a Shell station sits  on the corner.  Above it you can see a large building.  That is the CCM (MTC).

 This is a shot of the overpass bridge from the first landing of the stairs.  Dorine is standing on the bridge.  You can see the cars going under the bridge.  The street is really busy, so the Church built the overpass for the safety of the people coming to the temple.

 Gary got this shot of Moroni framed by the trees from the bridge.

 He took another shot on our way back home.  It is a really inspiring view from up there!