Serving in Quito North

 On Monday, July 29th we woke up to the last day in the mission field. At about 7am we all piled out of the apartment and walked down the street to find President DelCarpio's apartment which had some pickleball courts. It was a glorious morning with perfect temperatures. Most of the elders had completely worn-out shoes and clothes. Paul and I continued walking around the conjunto, which was enormous, and found some hungry German Shepherds. We talked nicely to them to no avail.  Some played spikeball and some of us played pickleball. I'd never played before and I had a terrible time judging the ball speed. But when I joined President Bradshaw for a second game, we beat the young elders.  We returned and cleaned ourselves up for a trip into downtown Quito. We went to the Virgin de Panecillo where President Kimball had dedicated the work of the gospel for Ecuador. This was before the huge statue was erected. Here is a view from below. And here it is up close: The views are p...

 For our exit from the mission, we were invited to go to the mission home on Saturday evening and stay until our departure on Monday evening. We drove to our favorite Korean restaurant, Tasty, did our best to say "thank you" in Korean and found our way to the new mission home. The apartment in Tenis was sold and this place inside a conjunto was found. It was incredible large with room for plenty of missionaries to sleep on the floor. On Sunday we attended the El Inca Ward with President and Sister Bradshaw. Elder Wallis wanted to see a confirmation of a young sister he had helped find the gospel. President and Sister DelCarpio were there as well as this was outside our mission. I was thrilled to see Elder Hall and a few of the other missionaries who were coming home with us. It was a surprise to see President Galán who is now in the new presidency. I even saw President and Sister Osorio from the Lago Agrio Branch who were visiting family 6 hours from home. What a surprise! Th...

 We drove the last time through the Andes to Cumbayá to stay at the temple. It was such a relief knowing that we wouldn't have to drive that again. The car was starting to have suspension problems, too. We arrived to find some missionaries from the neighboring Quito Mission. One of them was from Whidbey Island! He was headed home just a month after us. We enjoyed talking about home and our favorite places to visit. Of course, I explained our regular summer jaunt out to Whidbey, usually when a tourist came to see our island. We would drive off Camano up to I-20, then west to Fidalgo Island, cross Deception Pass, drive to Fort Casey to play on the battlements, then on to the Clinton/Mukilteo ferry and drive north I-5 home. If it was a good season, we would bring kites. We enjoyed lots of temple work, our regular daily hikes, and our favorite places for lunch. I almost cried saying goodbye to Manolo's because they were so nice to us. A group from Pasto, Columbia were there for 3 d...

 It's time to say goodbye. My last English class in Shushufindi was fun. We stopped by a local home and bought 4 loaves of banana bread and shared it with the class. Adriana came late and brought us some going away gifts. On Sunday, we visited Lago Agrio to say goodbye to our friends there. It was so great to see some members who we met 18 months ago. Meeting with a family in their home with the missionaries and then seeing them baptized and attending church together warms my heart. It's time to take down my picture of my great-great grandmother. She didn't get to leave Wales and sail to America like her children, so she gets to come with me.

 Walking to the ciclovía everyday gives us an opportunity to see changes. One of my favorite restaurants "Foodie" is now closed and is being reworked. I'm sad we won't be around to see the reopening. I spotted this little girl getting a drink outside her home. One day last week I was teaching piano lessons and saw this in her home. How I loved this game when I was young! On a walk I spotted this wonderful heart. I love the juxtaposition with the barbed wire. I love all these chicks sleeping in their food. Chicks are available at all times during the year. These won't last very long at the store. I love this contraption. "What would an Ecuadorian do?"

 Our last zone conference and first with the Bradshaws was in Lago Agrio. We enjoyed a tigrillo lunch, which is a dish of mashed green plantains, eggs, and cheese. If you look at this typical banana stand, the green plantains (also called maduro) are large with hard edges. The plantains that are turning black are good for roasting and are sweeter. The small bananas are oritos and are sold in the US. Regular sized bananas that you might be used to are called guineos. They cost 10 cents each and are found everywhere. The missionaries painted some rocks after the conference. Here is Sister Jensen showing off her great creative skills. Sister Tuck is such a great missionary. Sister Bradshaw was horrified that this tradition of eating mayónes in Ecuador. These palm weevils cause major damage to palm trees, so it's helpful to eat them to keep the palm kernel oil flowing. I love that Elder Rodriguez smile. We have 3 Elder Rodriguez's and 1 Hermana Rodriguez. He is the only one from th...

 Our landlord asked if we could hold discussions with him on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to improve his English. We just sit around and chat about local news and international events. He brought us a box full of fruit from his farm. On the top are some small chirimoyas. The rest are variations of limes. The tiniest ones are used most often here. I took many of them and made lemon bars. They were fantastic. I delivered them to my piano lesson families and back to the landlord. It was like I was a food processor. Healthy limes turned into a sugary sweet dessert. Here is the chirimoya opened up. It's so sweet and delicious.

 While many in the US are feeling the effects of inflation, we are slipping by with a few dollars here and there. Young coconuts are $1 a few streets away. It's fun to watch the vendor with his machete hacking up a coconut. When I poured out the coconut water it measured 32 ounces! If we want a fresh pineapple and some strawberries, we walk a few blocks north to a cute little lady who has a stand full of fruits and vegetables. We spent $2 on this haul. Since everything grows every day here, all fruits and vegetables are always available. This cantaloupe was $2 and was so ripe that I could eat all the way to the rind. If we want to head out for lunch, we stop by Papo's and have lunch for $3. We took our local missionaries out for July 4th lunch.  Since it was Independence Day, I knew they would be missing home, thinking about their family barbecues, fireworks, and homemade ice cream. I made some strawberry cupcakes with lime and coconut frosting. There were lots leftover so I t...