I Love To See The Temple

Our amazing temple trip to mainland Honduras was a 12 hour adventure that started out early in the morning of April 17th to catch the ferry.......

Once on board, we pass a cool rusted out ship on the left.

   

The Roatan branch rented a bus in La Ceiba, Honduras for the next leg of the trip......

Our first fast food sightings in 3 months!!!  
Many businesses need security (and they all wear bullet proof vests!)  I love that this guy is hangin with Colonel Sanders....

We counted 14 people in the back of this pickup.....

The long, dusty bus ride went

Over rivers........

And over hills.......

Through jungles........

Finally stopping for lunch!  Here's another security guy....no bullet proof vest though.

This might be a good time to mention that we saw a dead body in the street when the bus had to go around a taped off scene.  It was covered in a white sheet with a trail of blood coming from his head.  A few cops were investigating but otherwise nobody around seemed to take notice. 

The bus ride was 8 hours of.......

Had to get some pictures of all the hundreds of fruit stands.......

After passing acres and acres of pineapple farms we pass all these stands.

Look at the stacked piles of these pineapples!!!!....

This is a small pile of watermelon but some we passed were stacked by the hundreds!!

We finally make it to the huge city of Tegucigalpa!!

Our first view of the temple.......

After the 8 hour bus ride, the branch started singing a hymn (can't remember which one) and when we pull up to this scene I was teary eyed with goosebumps.  It felt so familiar, like home....

The view from our "hotel" room......








We never had to leave the temple premises the whole 3 days we were there.





Yummy dinner and games at the temple cafeteria.......

(Sorry, couldn't resist adding the Moroni star glow - having way too much fun with this photo editing.)




New friends!!














Our last dinner at the temple.  What an amazing experience that we won't soon forget!

The trip wouldn't have been complete without an ice cream man out the bus window......we cleaned him out!!

Ellie's Journal entry.....

Although it was a twelve hour trip, I had an amazing time at the Tegucigalpa, Honduras temple. The temple was breathtakingly beautiful.  It makes me grateful that we only have to hop in a car and drive about 20 minutes to our temple in Boise.  Being baptized in a foreign country's beautiful temple is an amazing experience. We had to stay at a hotel on the temple grounds for two days. I have to say, I was quite popular with the guys there.

But there is a bad thing to all of this. I had my Cinderella moment. The slipper fit, then poof it's all gone with nothing but memories.

It all started with a nod. We were in the temple waiting room waiting to be called in, and I catch him looking at me. He gives me the head bob that says "what's up?" and I return it. He then turns to his friend and whispers something. They both smile and I look away thinking "maybe I wasn't supposed to do that..." While we were waiting in the waiting room, I kept catching his eye, and he would smile at me. Of course I would smile back. We did this for a few minutes, then I mouthed "you're crazy" and did the coo-coo sign next to my ear. This got a funny reaction. He got this sarcastic look on his face and pointed to himself, and I nodded. He just smiled and shook his head. When I was done being baptized, I got changed and went out of the temple alone and thought I would take a little walk around the temple grounds. So as I was about to walk around the corner of the building, I hear a whistle. So I turn around and there he is standing across the yard with his friends and he gives me the "what's up" nod. Again. I laugh and walk off. So as I went into the lobby to read my book, he came in and sat down next to me. He said hi and we got into a small conversation because he doesn't speak English. After a short talk, we said our goodbyes and he walked off. Later, I wanted to talk to him and find out his name, so I went off to find him. I hear a bus so I turn around and see a school bus full of people dressed in suits and dresses. As it passes by, this nameless guy leans out the window and waves to me. My face drops. I lift my hand to wave, but couldn't find myself smiling. Apparently, neither could he. The guy looked pretty sad. I may or may not one day run into him again, but I hope so. I miss you all, and can't wait to see you again soon.

                                                           Adios Amigos!