Serving in Quito North

 It was a miracle to witness the little family group become a branch today in Shushufindi. Their family group was formed in 2019 and in just 4 years (and most of them pandemic years) they have brown into a branch. We brought President Osorio and his family who all arrived to our apartment on the same bike. His sister and brother-in-law are our landlords. We also picked up Sister Cabeza, who was waiting on the corner. All of them fit in the back seat of our Chevy Cruze. We had 78 people attend, including visitors from the Nueva Loja Branch. I brought the keyboard from Lago Agrio so they could have some live music. President Galán was fantastic in speaking about this event. He talked about April 6, 1830 and that's what it felt like. After the meeting he ate some celebratory grubs. The gentleman on the right served a mission in Guayaquil seven years ago, and he and his wife are traveling for a year in Ecuador and Colombia. Here's to a District, then a Stake, and someday a temple w

 I love walking around the city and taking pictures of the culture. I caught sight of new sewing machine shops every time I walk down a different street. Men are hand making suits, just like in Hong Kong. Their shops are full of bolts of beautiful fabric. Although I saw lots of suit fabric, no cottons are available. I may have to wait to get to Otavalo for some fabric. Maybe I can find some wool. When I finally settle down, I'll buy a Juki just like this one. Although there are no fancy stitches, it sews straight 90 mph and look at the size of that throat. Some birds are for raising and some for quick eating. Snack wagon.

 On Saturday, we left Quito and made the 8-hour drive back to Lago Agrio. We decided it was a good time to find a parilladas (barbecue) restaurant and eat some meat. They brought a lot of different grilled meats, potato fries, and yucca fries. It was delicious and we brought back a box of leftovers for Sunday. Then I made some twisted cinnamon rolls. I would definitely recommend this recipe for you to try: Twisty Cinnamon Rolls . Happy Mother's Day!

 I've made quite the list of items I need for the kitchen and we were finally able to find some of them in a bakery supply section of Quito. Like most foreign countries, all similar products are located in the same block sections. My list includes: Molasses, Corn Syrup, Honey, Chocolate chips, Kikkoman Soy Sauce (so we can use the jar for a hummingbird feeder). In Lago people use cardboard to cover their windshields from the sun. No one in town sold the $5 reflective screens sold everywhere in Quito. We picked up an accordion-type screen to keep the car below 150 degrees. Brown sugar is not sold here, so I need to process molasses with granulated sugar. Plus, chocolate chips are incredibly difficult to find. Luckily, Picari was readily available in 2.5k bags downtown. After helping some young missionaries collect some goods at the bodega storage unit, we were able to stop by a hole-in-the-wall restaurant for lunch. Almuerzo is typically soup, juice, chicken and rice for $2.50. Alwa

 Since Lago Agrio is such a small city, we had a long list of things we needed to pick up, some for ourselves and some for our young missionaries. We hopped over to the Scala Mall for some things. Although not as nice as Hong Kong (that would be a trick), it is better than most in the States. Another thunderstorm arrived when we did and it was crazy loud and echo-y inside. There are two elevators with advertising wraps that promote the local indoor theater. We had to laugh that the local kid from Lake Stevens has made it big. He's in both of these blockbusters. This beautiful artwork was in our room in the hospidaje. We would love to have art in our home, whenever we get one.

 Since the temple has a siesta schedule, we had the afternoons to wander around the city. Our car was being worked on, so we were on foot. We decided to walk to a local park, a few miles away from the temple. It was a warm San Diego weather day and it smelled delicious. Lots of oleander made it smell like home. Although Quito is well-known for long-stemmed roses, I found a wild Dawn-type rose climbing over a fence. I don't know what these berries are, but I have a feeling I've eaten them before. At the bottom of the hill is a nice art installation. The whole neighborhood of Cumbayá is beautiful and these were lovely. As we walked back to the temple, the afternoon thundershower arrived. The skies opened up just after we were safely inside.

 We left Tuesday morning to spend the week at the Quito Temple. Unfortunately, we didn't realize it had been seriously raining in the Andes for the last 3 days. The mountain was falling apart. About 3 hours into our drive, we came to a complete stop. A woman was walking back up the hill after investigating and said it was blocked and would take 4-5 hours. Since our appointment was in 4 hours, I was a little nervous we would miss it. But we started moving after about 45 minutes. We did that three more times, for a total of two extra hours. The amount of water flowing off the mountain was impressive. The rivers were quite full and chocolatey. We arrived in Cumbaya at the temple 30 minutes before our appointment. Prayers answered!

 Elder Hansen from Hong Kong was doing his High 5's walk/run again and invited us to participate from South America. He was excited to add another continent to his event. With previous missionaries in the US, and a group in Kenya, he has really extended his influence. We waited for the really rainy weather to finish before we went out for our walk/job. After 48:03 we were done, which is not bad for us old folks, but we're trying to do better. The humidity was out of control. Someone was painting the bike land blue, which was fun to watch. It doesn't connect to the other side of the bridge because it has washed out. As satisfying as watching pressure washing.

 Since Mexican food doesn't exist here, I had to be creative. I made my own black beans in a crockpot and found some spicy peppers. Not bad! Paul needed to go to the Red Cross to get his blood typed for his Ecuadorian driver's license. They were quite quick, but long enough to make friends with this little cat.