Serving in Quito North

 One afternoon we returned from shopping to see two men taking pictures in front of the temple. Since the temple closes after the morning sessions, the rest of the temple parking lot was empty. As we passed the men, I recognized one of them. I nearly jumped out of the moving car and ran over to him while Paul parked. "Hermano Pino!" He didn't recognize me. But I hugged him anyway. Then Paul got out of the car and headed our direction and his face lit up.  Brother Pino was Paul's Wednesday shift coordinator at the Guayaquil Temple in 2019. He was a joy to work with and enjoyed working with Paul. Since we were evacuated out without being able to say goodbye, we thought we would never see him again. He announced that he was on his way to the Quito airport to fly back to Guayaquil. What a wonderful tender mercy!

 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.

 The Lago Agrio Branch had a reservation for a bus to take them to the Quito Temple on the last two days before closure, so we decided to go with the members. Temples usually close every 6 months for 2 weeks of deep cleaning and repair work. On those last two days, everyone wants to attend. Seattle Temple President Wiser told me one time about 10 years ago that we should have a closure every month so more people would attend.  We boarded a bus in Lago Agrio at 9pm and we left about 10pm. The whole Latin America idea of timeliness is so difficult for me to adjust to. We were told to be there promptly at 8pm and we were still picking up people in the town after 10pm. I follow the phrase, "Early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable!" Hopefully, I can change my perspective while I live here. We arrived at 6am but it was still a bit dark. Thank goodness we had Dramamine for the 8-hour trip. But my neck was incredibly stiff. The entire busload emptied into the hosp...

 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...