Shushufindi

 We had some fun traveling to Shushufindi on Sunday and Monday. There is a little family group out there that the missionaries run.


What a beautiful entry into the city! The name of Shushufindi is pronounced 'shoe-shoe-FEEN-dee' and is a city of about 45,000 people.


Our meeting place is a little building that seats about 35 people and it has air conditioning! When it rains it is crazy fuerte.


Although it is only 31 miles away, it takes an hour to drive. We've seen some terrible accidents on the two-lane windy road. There is no shoulder and plenty of motorcycles drive at night without any lights. We are often stopped by police on road blocks. I think they are looking for drugs coming in and out.


We each got a backpack printed with our names on. I love the colors they chose. Each missionary has one of these with emergency supplies. Sometimes you can be stuck in a lockdown or a road blockade and you need emergency money and food.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

General Conference

Image
I love that Conference is broadcast in Quichua for the Otavalo saints. We were able to watch every session in the comfort of our apartment. My favorite message was given by Elder Robert M. Daines. His talk about being face-blind was so touching. The quote that I researched immediately was, "A few years ago, I got a calling I didn't feel up to. I awoke early, nervous--but with a phrase in mind I had not heard before: that to serve in this Church is to stand in the river of God's love for His children." A wonderful blog post from Faith Matters tells the story of Elder Daines becoming a stake president in Palo Alto. He was currently working as a law and finance professor at Stanford University. In his first address to his stake he said something similar: Think for a minute of your favorite story of Jesus. What is it? You show me your favorite store of Jesus and I'll show you a story of Jesus reaching out to and loving someone on the margins of society, someone who w...
Read more

A Week at the Temple

Image
 We returned to the Quito Temple for a week of worshiping and recharging. The temple has a split schedule (or a siesta schedule) so they open in the morning, close for the afternoon, and then reopen for the evening. This means we can attend an endowment session and then an extra ordinance before leaving for lunch.  On Monday we arrived about 4pm and went to the Scala Mall for dinner. They are adding a 4th floor, so in the 6 weeks we have been gone, they opened the new food court up there. It is an exact replica of the 3rd floor. As you look across the open area of the mall (with its tarp roof), you can see where the 3rd floor was open. We would eat KFC there by the windows. Today we are enjoying McDonalds for the first time in over 2 years. On Tuesday-Friday we walk up from the Scala Mall on this wonderful ciclovia. Some of its largest trees were blooming with huge yellow flowers. One of the most popular restaurants in Cumbaya, El Palacio de la Fritada, is always busy. I order...
Read more

Our new favorite place

Image
 Papo's is our new favorite spot to eat. They always give you lots of food and it's delicious. I was starting to feel a cold coming on, but it was still nice to go out and eat. We picked up some of these fried bananas on the way out of Quito and they were the most delicious snack I've had. I should have bought more. They were only $1. Crunchy, sweet, and delicious. In the middle of our trip, we hit a pothole and got a flat tire. Right in the middle of the Andes. Luckily, Paul found a bus stop to pull over into because there are no shoulders on the road. He put the spare on and we drove the 100 miles home on it. And it wasn't raining. What a blessing!
Read more