The Last Day

 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 pretty incredible from the hill.



After wandering we went back on the shuttle bus and drove down to the Basilica. 


We had visited here 18 months ago with the Caldwells so we weren't interested in going inside again. This time we went with the Bradshaws and a few elders to a local restaurant for lunch. Then we spotted some ice cream and grabbed a few cones before heading back to the mission home. We packed our bags and threw everything in the shuttle van and headed for the Calderon Mission Office. We received lovely gifts and weighed all our luggage. The elders were getting very excited. We were glad to be there to be grandparents. When we arrived at the airport, I offered to text their parents to let them know they were on their way.


We flew to Atlanta, then divided up to our different gates. Elder Wallis was heading to Florida, so we lost him first. Then we separated with the rest in the huge airport. Our flight was to San Diego where we had arranged a shuttle to Temecula. We arrived at my parents just before noon on Tuesday. What a long day!

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