Serving in Quito North

 One of our friends, President Galán, referred us to this park to see more flora and fauna of the jungle. This 270-acre park was mostly empty due to morning rains so we experienced it in quiet reverence. It takes 25 people to encircle this favorite tree of the park. The diversity of nature here is just incredible. I'm used to being able to identify the plants and trees in my hometown. Not here. There is just too much growing. We walked down to the large lake and heard monkeys, but didn't see them. I thought of Pizarro and his men trying to march out of the jungle.

 We started early on Friday to drive the 7 hours east to Lago Agrio. It is a twisty, turning road out of 13,000' high elevation. There were many times I could not look over the edge of the road because it was so steep. The temperature went from 6 degrees C to 34 C when we arrived. We hugged the mountains and saw plenty of waterfalls. Trucks, bikes, cars, and cows. Plus, there were goats and chickens in the road. We had to move slowly due to water washing out bridge areas. Some were pretending to fix the road as you drove by and asked for money. We finally arrived in Lago Agrio and to this enormous bridge that crosses the Aguarico River. The apartment had been set up with the newly arrived furniture by our wonderful branch president, President Osorio, plus young elders who volunteered to help.

 It's time to get everything together to move. Our wonderful hosts, the Caldwells, are leaving to go home to Kaysville in a few weeks, so we are taking a lot of their furniture. President and Sister Román brought the assistants to help us load the truck. They helped load everything in a box truck to be taken to Lago Agrio, 7 hours away. (Pronounced LA-go AH-gree-oh) We also hit Top Ten Burgers near the mission office. I haven't tasted a better burger in years. And the fries and coke are bottomless. Yum! I've also been looking for chocolate. Ecuador used to be a main supplier of world cacao. It is difficult to find processed chocolate in the country, though. It's worth too much to keep it here. Pacari is an Ecuadorian producer and definitely the best.  I found a chirimoya at the local tienda to show the Caldwells. It's not as big as the one Sister Tai gave me in Hong Kong. I think that was from Taiwan. But it was just as delicious. Almost like candy.  We decided to v

 Although our mission assignment will be having us move 7 hours east, for a few weeks we get to enjoy Quito. The weather is in the 60s nearly everyday. And because the mission office is in Tenis, it is an upscale, safe community.  Two zone conferences happened right as soon as we arrived. This is Elder Yokum. When I asked where he was from he started to describe where Temecula was. Well, he's in my parents' ward, or was, until a few years ago. My mom reports they had his older brother as a Sunbeam years ago. Since we had served in Guayaquil, we knew to look for some great Ecuadorian food and here it is. Delicious roasted pork, corn, plantains, potatoes, and beef. So much going on in the same plate. We went out to lunch with Elders Steiner and Horn to a local lunch spot close to the office. There were 10 of us in this tiny place. The drink is called oatmeal, but it was delicious. Soup, chicken and rice, all for $2.75. Elder S. Mark Palmer came to speak to both the Quito Mission

 We accepted an assignment to clean out an empty missionary apartment in a tiny village outside Quinindé. In order to get out of the city with our license plate, we had to leave at 5:30am. The traffic is so bad in Quito that if your license plate ends in a certain number, you cannot drive on certain days during rush hour. We took the northern route which took about 3.5 hours. We climbed down the 9,000' elevation of Quito and back up to Quinindé. The roads were good but full of hairpin turns. We arrived and checked on the three apartments in the city and met the elders. Then we took a companionship of elders with us to Guayacana. Since it is so small, it doesn't exist on a map, but this red pin gives you an idea: It took 2 hours of driving on mostly unpaved roads to arrive at the village. Paul said he was afraid all his fillings were loose by the end. We arrived to very humble families. The members here wanted the missionaries so bad that they built them a house (in a week). We

 On our first Saturday in Quito, the Caldwells took us to the downtown plaza to see museums and churches. The basilica is quit an enormous building with towers you can see from everywhere in the city. The Church and Convent of San Ignacio de Loyala de la Compañia de Jesus de Quito is a Catholic clerical complex in the historic center of Quito. The facade is entirely carved in volcanic stone. The church and its rich ornamentation, completely covered with gold sheets, is one of the main tourist attractions in the city. It was visited by Pope John Paul II on January 30, 1985 and by Pope Francis on July 7, 2015. No pictures are allowed, so these are from Wikipedia. It is just this shocking, but the age doesn't really come through in these pictures. Things crumble over time and this church is no exception. On the way back home, we stopped at the República del Cacao shop in Quito. It had a shop with chocolate bars, a little museum to show the process of making chocolate, and an ice cream

 We began our 36-hour adventure at 3am when a van from the MTC picked us up from my sister's home. There were just a few minutes to wait until an airport shuttle came to collect us and our luggage for the Salt Lake Airport. It was still snowing from the night before, but not too bad for driving. Thanks to the amazing sisters in the travel office, our check-in was easy. Of course, we walked forever to get to our gate. We boarded a flight to Phoenix at 7am and arrived at 9am. Because the Ecuadorian Consulate didn't open until 10am, we had time to rent a car for the day and head over there. The appointment took about 90 minutes and we were out the door with our visas. We booked it over to a hatch chile restaurant for a delicious lunch. We wandered around Phoenix and stopped by for donuts in the afternoon. I know it isn't newsworthy, but Ecuador doesn't understand my idea of donuts. They are just dinner rolls with frosting. Since Paul had served his mission in Phoenix, he w

 We have had the opportunity to catch up with some friends we haven't seen in a long time. We enjoyed an afternoon with the Turners who just returned from their mission to Boston. They served as records preservation missionaries, which means taking images of genealogical records. Although it isn't an exciting assignment, I really could see us doing that someday. I love family history! How I love Mike and DeeAnne Brown! They were friends of my parents before I was even born. They were in the San Diego 12th Ward many eons ago when my mom was still a new convert. Soon they were fast and forever friends. DeeAnne was my temple escort in Provo when I received my endowment in 1989. What wonderful saints!  I didn't grab a photo of meeting up with Becky when we stopped by for dinner in Saratoga Springs. This photo is from the day when my sister married her brother. I think we were 11 years old, wearing GunneSax dresses our mothers had sewn out of brown broadcloth. There is a Harry P