Saladin - Our visitor from Berlin

Saladin - Our Visitor from Berlin

Saladin was one of our Young Single Adults in Berlin when we served our mission there.  He really wanted to come to America and emailed and asked if he could come and stay with us - so, we did our best to help him to have a good time while he was here for 9 days. 

When he arrived, I was taking care of Allison and Jon kids while they, (along with Alex) went on "Trek".  Jon and Allison were "Ma and Pa" for a group of youth. 

 Hal picked Saladin up at the airport after midnight on June 2nd and they left early the next morning for Idaho, to go 4 wheeling with Hal's brothers.

Saladin had never done anything quite like driving a 4 wheeler and he absolutely loved it!  He did drive much too fast for safety, but he enjoyed the thrill of the ride.

Meanwhile, back in Utah, I took the kids to the park to play and we also enjoyed pizza for dinner one of the nights.

 They are good kids and Lillian is such a big help!

The next day, Hal took Saladin and Alex to Lagoon.  We thought Saladin would like to have someone to go on the rides with, but he had other plans.  He wanted to go on as many rides as possible during his time there even if that meant "jumping the queue" as he called it.  So, he left Alex and went on his own!  He also went to the water park - "Typhoon Lagoon", which he really enjoyed.  They arrived home that evening about 8:00 PM.  We attended church the next day and Saladin bore his testimony in Fast and Testimony meeting.  He really did a good job.  His English was quite good.  He enjoyed meeting some of the members of our ward and they were very complimentary about his testimony.

Monday morning after breakfast, we took off to see
Antelope Island State Park.

 We saw so may beautiful views of The Great Salt Lake.

 We saw buffalo but didn't spot any antelope.

 Saladin loved wading in the lake, running on the shore and skipping rocks on the water.

On the way home, we stopped at Scheels sporting goods store to see the "stuffed animals".

 A Day at Temple Square

The next day we drove to Salt Lake City and to the temple so Saladin could do baptisms for the dead.  This was on his "wish list" and he also wanted to see the Russells - another senior couple that served in Berlin.  They are temple workers in the baptistry on Wednesdays so it worked well to accomplish two wishes in one day.

We explored Temple Square, the Visitor's Center, took a tour of the Conference Center, the Church Office Building, the Joseph Smith Building, watched "Meet the Mormons" in the Legacy Theatre and ate lunch at the Lion House. 

 It was a busy day!

Saladin had enjoyed the water park at Lagoon so much that we bought him an unlimited pass to Provo's "Seven Peaks" where he spent time for the next 3 days of his visit.  He loved the slides and once again - "jumped the queue" and admired the "elegant lifeguards".

On the day before he left, he went 4 wheeling again; this time on the roads at the foot of the mountains near our home.  Once again, he drove too fast (despite warnings from Hal and Evan) and this time he rolled the 4 wheeler he was driving.  Fortunately, he wasn't seriously injured - he did however, scrape and bruise his inner thigh - I think he slowed down after the roll over.  He also showed all of my family his "injuries"!

Salidin wanted a "Farewell Party" so we invited our family to come for dinner on his last evening with us. 

 We served barbecued pork sandwiches, Allison's yummy potato salad, fresh veggies and dip, chips and ice cream treats for dessert.

Dex enjoying his dinner

The "gang" eating out on the deck

Some of my beautiful granddaughters

Salidin, Hailey, London and Conrad

Violet and London, (Londie Lu or Lulu as Dex named her) playing a game together

Lulu being cute!

James "connected" with Salidin because he knows some German that he learned during his high school years as a foreign exchange student in Germany.  Salidin wants to come back to Utah - James and Tricia, are you ready to host him?