Thurs, May 13

We slept in today!!! Went to Ciber y Mas and then had a nice, cold shower. We headed off to the LDS Employment center to work with Brother Carlos Hernandez and make ID cards for the English students (so the University will allow them to enter). We then met with the University staff to see and secure the classrooms we will be using. It was a bit of a pain because they told us we could only have 2 rooms at first. We ended up being able to secure 2 rooms for the Basic classes and then a way cool connecting room for the Advanced class that is kind of like an atrium and has a balcony overlooking the city. (They hold art classes there). My class (intermediate) will actually be held at the LDS employment center since one room there holds 50 people. I don’t have a cool, old looking classroom BUT I have air conditioning J Also, we don’t have any chairs for students to use haha. It’s crazy that here if you want something, you have to do everything basically—so we need to call a Stake President and secure some chairs for us to use since classes start Tuesday, Wed, Thurs next week (this week now).

We were then about to leave when Bro. Hernandez asked if we had time to learn about how he and his wife met. We sat there as he told us his whole story—it was SO cool to just sit and hear the amazing story of he and his wife and to just get closer to him—he’s awesome. He was baptized when he was 18 years old. He then got called to serve a mission in El Salvador but the war became so horrible that he actually ended up serving 14 months in Guatemala (under Pres. Amado actually!—so many people I’ve met here served when he was mission president, like my dad). He had seen his wife at a YSA conference before his mission and couldn’t find her the rest of the time but he remember how impressed and stricken by her he was. About a year or two after he got back from his mish, he was at a Stake Center and a lady was just standing outside and turns out, she was waiting for her daughter to get out of her final interview (she had just come home from a mission to Guatemala as well). It was her but he didn’t recognize her! He spent a ton of time trying to figure out where she lived, etc. One of his mission buddies came to El Sal from Guatemala to actually visit this sister and so Bro. Hernandez went with him (and was able to see where she lived!) He visited her every day from then on and it wasn’t until way later (and they were actually dating) that he figured out it was the same girl who had impressed him way back when. He says that he had the same overwhelming feeling about this sister, though, even though he had no idea it was the same girl. She actually denied him at first but like 4 church leaders randomly told her she should give Bro. Hernandez a chance. She did but with a few stipulations: they would date but only if they were thinking about marriage. They would only be married if they got married in a temple (at the time, there were NO temples in Central America—not even in Mexico. The closest one was in Mesa, AZ). Thirdly, he could not kiss her. He could only kiss her on the cheek. He accepted and they began dating! It was so hard for them to get visas for the states to be married in the temple and people didn’t understand why they wouldn’t just get married and then sealed later but she was determined. Miracles happened and one of Bro. Hernandez’s mission leaders helped them get Visas. They were married civilly (where he kissed her for the first time!) They then immediately traveled to Guatemala, got the visas, and traveled by bus to Mesa. They arrived in Mesa, unsure where the temple was, how they would get sealed, etc. His wife had GREAT faith and she told him not to worry—everything would work out. They said a prayer and literally as they were raising their heads, a taxi came and stopped by them and was able to drive them to the temple, where they met a couple that gave them their house to stay in until they could get sealed. For a total of 15 days from the civil marriage, they had traveled, gotten sealed, and traveled back. His wife is absolutely incredibly faithful and determined. He said they traveled together with absolutely nothing but love and a desire to fulfill that which was important to them.

He then gave us advice and told us that women are naturally more decided, righteous and spiritually sensitive. He told us that sometimes we need to give boys opportunities. Juliann commented that she is more than willing to give people chances but they just don’t take them. Haha. I can kind of relate to that but at the same time, I know that I am just super duper picky and although I am glad I know what I want, I probably could stand to give more chances.

America and I were not excited to go to Habitat again and just joked that we would take it one day at a time. That day turned into saying we could take it one hour at a time and finally, one minute at a time haha.