Serving in Quito North

 Paul was asked to speak twice in September. Given that our Spanish is terrible, we were able to find General Conference talks that were already translated. I joined him on the second assignment in Orellana. Everyone was very attentive. The funniest part was that in Lago Agrio members of the congregation were trying to help Paul with his pronunciation. Occasionally, someone would yell up to the podium the correct word and Paul would thank them. They enjoyed that. I threw together some cinnamon rolls, which is probably because General Conference is coming up. Naturally, since I live in a proof box, they over-proofed. No big deal, I just push down the centers and frost the whole thing. Recently we found a picture of Elder Carlos A. Godoy's visit to Quito last month. The quality isn't very good, so we'll try to get an original. The front row L-R is President Galán of the mission presidency, Sister and President Román, Elder and Sister Godoy, Sister and Elder Becerra, me and Pa...

 I've seen some disturbing videos from the United States showing mass shoplifting and lotting. It is depressing to see society disintegrate from afar. Eventually, this leads to a low-trust society. Here is how Ecuador sets up its businesses. Most purchases are done through a hole in a gate. You tell the cashier what you would like and they serve you through the gate. I've purchased sodas through the opening on the right, but if you were to purchase a propane bottle, there is a locked gate on the left that swings open. Homes have walls/fences surrounding all sides. Some with high walls have shards of glass cemented into the top of prevent climbing. Construction workers add door gates and window bars even on second stories. This week we accidentally locked ourselves out and in. We left the keys on the table as we shut the door. But we couldn't get out of the gate around the building. So we were stuck. We had to call the landlord who came home from work to let us out.

 Due to some extreme heat, we decided to walk in Parque Turistica where there is a little shade. Three laps around the park is 5K, and with the temperature reaching 90, it was enough. I enjoyed this monkey stealing the macaw's lunch. They are sneaky little devils. You are looking at businesses trying to sell food to children in school. They have ladders to facilitate the exchange of food and money. Each school in the city has a fortress of carts at the entrances, selling watermelon, chicken, ceviche, pineapple, etc. This little bike cart is pretty typical of the kind of sales vehicle. Avena Polaca is a drink made of milk, sugar, and cereals. Avena is oatmeal, so my guess is it tasted like an oatmeal shake. Hmm. I wonder how much coffee is sold here in Lago Agrio.

 During the month of August most families enjoy a vacation in the country. Many of our English students are traveling to the coast or the Sierra. I've been making PowerPoints to teach English principles It's fun to add pictures of me as a young girl. I think this is the day of my baptism as an 8-year-old. How I loved Primary. This was 1977 so there were still three more years until Primary was on Sunday in the 3-hour block. We lived only a mile away from the chapel so mid-week activities were easy and fun. Here we are in Clairemont posing for a family picture. I'm sure Tami is trying to keep me still while the photographer works. I remember my mom working on my hair for a long time. I loved school as well. By the end of my senior year I was excited to move to Provo and start classes at Brigham Young University. It took me eight years to graduate with my English degree. I wasn't the only one with three children at the Marriott Center. Katie would follow with her own Engl...

 Family Home Evening is a unique and new activity for most families in El Oriente. The young missionaries planned an activity for the branch to introduce the concept to new members and friends investigating the Church of Jesus Christ. Here in our chapel in Lago Agrio we explain some fun options for activities. Luckily, missionaries were there to translate because our Spanish isn't good enough to describe much of anything. While studying Come Follow Me in 2 Corinthians, I came across I quote from President Eyring from April 2023 General Conference. "Yet there is reason for optimism: it is that the Light of Christ is placed in every newborn child. With that universal gift comes a sense of what is right, a desire to love and be loved. There is an inborn sense of justice and truth in every child of God as he or she comes into mortality." I thought of these two pictures of children. They do not see an artist's sculpture; they see a need. This little girl is trying to help ...

 We enjoyed traveling to Quito for a mission conference with Elders Godoy and Becerra. Elder and SIster Godoy grew up n Porto Alegre, Brazil, where Pam and Howard served their missions. Their English and Spanish seemed easy and carefree. Elder and Sister Becerra were mission leaders in Arcadia California and their Spanish was great. Currently, they are in the Area Presidency in South America Northwest, which is in Lima, Peru. We spent some time taking a picture, and then we spent several hours being trained and encouraged. I snuck a picture of Elder Godoy reading a scripture from Alma. Occasionally we'd catch a Portuguese word or two escape. I understood about half of what was said. We enjoyed a lunch together and then we all enjoyed chatting about La Paz, Lima, and Hong Kong. I learned a lot about other areas from the sisters. Sister Becerra was a joy to chat with and has visited many wonderful cities I want to see. Our hotel room had a beautiful view of the city. Although it was ...

 One of my favorite parts of living in the rural part of Ecuador is listening to the vender songs emanating from the street. This bread-seller song is so catchy, but the lyrics are so fast, I can't sing them. Here is the original for Tin Tan and another I caught from my local seller.