Quito, Ecuador Temple

Quito, Ecuador Temple
Here is where we will be working until Feb. 2023

Welcome

Dear Readers,

We hope as you read this blog of our mission to the Quito, Ecuador temple you will feel the joy and happiness we are experiencing by being in the service of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We hope you can experience some of what we feel. Christine and I met in Quito, Ecuador 51 years ago while serving as missionaries. We are going home.


John and Christine

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Sunday, February 26, 2012

Week 10

Week 10

Sat. Feb. 18th: We decided to go with all the other missionaries to visit the Palacio Portales. You might remember we visited this house and museum once before with Pres. Crayk. But this time we took a tour in Spanish because most of the Latin temple missionaries were with us. Following this blog post is a couple of videos of the house and gardens. It was interesting even the second time. We then all walked to the open Saturday market. Maybe 15 minutes away. I have also included a video of the market and where I bought our chicken for the week. In the afternoon I went with mom to the ward house for a Relief Society function. They were learning how to make flowers out of ribbon. At the end of the function we stayed for a baptism of a young girl. I gave the opening prayer for the baptism. Sun. Feb. 19th: Today was uneventful. We taught the second part of the plan of salvation in our temple prep class. We had a choir practice in the evening. Next Sunday we will be singing in the Colon Ward. Tues. Feb. 20th: We had a barbecue at the Crayk’s even though they are in Utah. Everyone had to bring their own meat and a dish to share. We had everyone come and afterward we played charades, the Latin couples loved it. Chris and I were asked to speak in the sacrament meeting where we are going to sing next week. In the afternoon we played cards with the Kennedys and the Jackmans and then watched “War Horse”. I thought it was a pretty good movie. Wed. Feb. 22nd: Today we took a bus downtown and I found some acrylic paints, brushes and canvases. Mom also bought some water color paints. We came home and I started a new painting of the courtyard at the convent we visited a few weeks ago. We also worked for a few hours writing our talks for Sunday. Thurs. Feb. 23rd: Mom went this morning and learned how to make empanadas at the mission home. Sister Garcia who is the wife to one of the counselors to Pres. Dyer taught all of the North American sisters how to make cheese empanadas.







Sister Garcia and Sister Cardon making empanadas. Mom brought one home it was real tasty. We worked again on our talks. I got mine typed and Elder Delgado came to the apartment and went through it and fixed my Spanish. I retyped it and got a good copy. I can now start to practice forcing my mouth to make shapes and sounds it has not become accustomed to yet. Sat. Feb. 25th: We got up and went to the Sat. market and on the way home mom started a conversation with the taxi driver and by the time we got home we had given him a book of Mormon and he said he would read it. Mom has tried twice to get someone to listen to the importance of the book of Mormon today she had success. Then everyone decided we would go downtown and watch the carnival parade, corso de corsos, we got across the street at the bus stop and mom began again to talk to the attendant about the book of Mormon. By the time the bus came she had given away another one. Way to go mom. I have included a couple of videos of this parade. It lasted for more than 12 hours. We lasted for maybe 2.



This is a crazy parade where the people watching spray the other people in the parade or just walking by with water or something like shaving cream. (See the Videos) On the way home we saw some of the dancers for the parade. We had missed all of the folk dancers so mom was excited to ask these girls if we could take their picture. In the afternoon we went to Tiquipaya so mom could do her visiting teaching. I sat at the ward house and talked to the Young Men’s President for a couple of hours. Boy does that improve your Spanish. We came home in time for choir practice and then we played a few games with all the missionary couples. We practiced our talks a couple of times and went to bed tired. Sun. Feb. 26th: We survived our first real talks and mom did a great job. I felt good about our talks and felt like the Spirit was there. I home now blogging. We are so happy that the temple will open back up on Tues. We are ready to get back to work.

More Carnival Parade



This is a group of kids that came and sang to us. We can't figure out what they were saying but we will get one of the Latin couples to tell us what they are saying and we will let you know.

Mom making flowers



This is the Saturday Relief Society activity that mom went to to make flowers with ribbon.

Carnival Parade



This is where you can see everyone getting sprayed with stuff. They were singing to us but we don't know what they were saying. We will have to get one of the Latin couples to listen and tell us.

Saturday Market



This is the open air market we go to every Saturday morning to get fresh vegetables and fruits. I also usually buy chicken from this guy. 4 chicken breast that I watch him cut from a whole chicken costs 3 dollars.

More Palacio Portales

Palacio Protales



This is the mansion we visited with all the temple missionaries on Saturday the 18th.

Friday, February 17, 2012

River running high from all the rain.

Bus ride to la cancha

More of la cancha

La Cancha



Friday 17th at la cancha. Huge market miles and miles of booths.

Plaza Colon



This is one of the Plazas we walked through on our exploring of Cochabamba.

Week 9

Week 9

Sun. Feb. 12th: President Dyer and his wife went with us to church. This is nice because they picked us up and we didn’t have to take the trufis. After church we went exploring above Tiquipaya.









We found a road that went up the mountain. We then had lunch at the mission home with the Dyers.








We had a huge thunder and hail storm in the evening. Mon. Feb. 13th: All the North Americans left this morning for Sucre. The temple will be closed for renovations till Feb. 28th. We are holding down the fort here with the 4 Latin couples and 2 single sisters. It rained most of the day so we just stayed in.





Tues. Feb. 14th: We went exploring Cochabamba today and tried to take a double-decker bus. It never showed up so we just walked around.








Wed. Feb. 15th: Mom organized lunch for everyone that was left in the guest house. Everyone was to bring whatever they had in their fridge (left-overs) to the lunch room and we would have a buffet. Well the Delgados and the Vallenases and sister Castilla all went to a lot of work and made delicious food. We had a feast and sat around and talked for a couple of hours. Mom got her hair cut and we went to the grocery store. Thurs. Feb. 16th: I have been trying to get my blood checked for 3 or 4 days. We finally got the right directions to the Lab and we went and had blood drawn. We went back in the late afternoon and picked up the results. My blood is too thin. I called the Pharmacist in Mt. Peasant and he gave me new instructions. I will go back in 3 weeks and get it checked again.





After getting the Lab work done we visited a church that was open. It was the first time we had seen this church open. We have started to watch a mini series from the BBC call Larkrise to Candelford.










Fri. Feb. 17th: We went to la cancha this morning with the Vallaneses, they said they would help mom buy some fabric that she needs for a Relief Society activity tomorrow. The videos I took are really interesting.











Monday, February 13, 2012

Thunderstorm in Cochabamba



We had an amazing thunderstorm yesterday. Hail and lots of rain. This is some of the run off.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Our Apartment

Sister Diaz explains our morning walks

Brother Rojas

Steps to the temple

Inside the gate at the temple.

Around the temple

Elder Guttierrez



I can hardly believe that for over a year this temple missionary has been getting up and leaving the temple at 5:00 am so he can travel to his ward and teach seminary to the youth. Sometimes he doesn't finish at the temple until 10:00 pm. What a inspiration.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Week 8

Week 8

Sun. Feb. 5th: Well I got my Sundays mixed up. Last week we did teach a lesson the second lesson overall the first lesson on the Plan of Salvation. Today we had different students and taught the first part of the Plan of Salvation over again. I love my IPad. I have the scriptures, all the manuals and the ensigns all in English and Spanish. I can go between English and Spanish so easily and it makes me seem so smart. Mon. Feb. 6th: Today about 1:00pm we all (the temple missionaries) headed up to Elder Cabrera’s house for a BBQ.


He is the area seventy and the temple recorder. He lives in a nice house above the Temple. We had a great time but I ate too much.






The views from their house are magnificent.








This the view of the temple from their patio.


































Left to right: Elder Cabrera, Sister Vallentine, Sister Cabrera, Sister Diaz, Sister Cotez, Brother Cotez, and Sister Ramirez.











Left to right, Sister Jackman, Sister and Brother Vallanes, Sister and Brother Alhstrom.











Left to right: Pres. Crayk, Sister Crayk, mom, Sister Castilla, and Sister Delgado.











Left to right, Sister Dyer, Sister and Brother Flores, and Pres. Dyer.











Left to right, Sister Bradshaw, Sister and Brother Winkfield, Brother Cardon, Brother Kennedy











Same as above plus Sister Kennedy, and Brother Bradshaw.












Brother and Sister Cabrera and mom and me.





















Pres. Crayk standing in the pond and being excited about his calling. No Elder Kennedy splashed water on his shorts and made it look like he couldn't wait to get inside.

This activity took the place of family home evening. I took a long nap in the afternoon so I couldn’t sleep and was sitting in the entry of the guest house about 11 pm, mom was doing her supervision with her group in China, when a big group of patrons arrived from Cusco, Peru. They were so happy to finally arrive at the temple. Even though they had been on the road for 16 hours, they were all smiles and truly happy. Tues. Feb. 7th: We went up to the temple to do some of our extra assignments and there were so many people there that we had to leave after about a half an hour. Besides the group from Cusco, about 70 people, there is also a group from Arica Chile, about 90 people. It is so heartwarming to see the sacrifices that these saints make to come to the temple. For many of them it is their only vacation and they do it every year. I met a woman from Chile and she told me they have been coming to the temple for 9 years. She said that it is the only vacation that her children know. I asked her how they felt about that, her response was they love to come to the temple. Wed. Feb. 8th: Because yesterday I had to leave the temple and didn’t get my assignment done, I decided at the last minute to put my Sunday clothes on and run up to the temple to finish my assignment. As I got close to the temple, a man on the front steps of the temple yelled at me, “Brother Norman what are you doing here” To my surprise standing there was Brother and Sister Seville. You are asking yourselves who is Brother and Sister Seville? Well 2 years ago mom and I were riding our bikes across the campus in China and someone yells at us are you Americans? We stop and talk to these three Americans, Brother and Sister Seville and a BYU student, they were there in China helping set up an internship for BYU students who would be traveling with the BYU Chamber Orchestra the next spring. Well when I found out that they were from BYU, I said well I am the Branch Pres. here, in Tianjin. They said great we have been praying that we would find someone who could help us find the church. We took them to lunch and church the next day and then had them to dinner following church. The next year they came back to Tianjin following the tour of the Chamber Orchestra with 7 BYU students who had signed up to study at the conservatory of music in Tianjin. Many of you remember that 3 of these students spoke Chinese and taught Crystal the gospel in Mandarin. We both could not believe that we once again had met in a faraway place by chance. Well I don’t believe in chance or coincidences. They are here in Cochabamba with Aaron Rose from the Kennedy Center at BYU setting up an internship for BYU students to come here and teach music at a music foundation. We had them to lunch along with Bob and Tammy Cardon. Tammy use to teach violin at BYU and of course Brother Seville and Tammy had many mutual friends and associates. This was such a tender mercy. Mom and I were having a difficult day, finding these dear friends really cheered us up.








I finished off our shift at the temple officiating for the final session. We had 54 patrons on the session. The room only has 50 seats but we put up some folding chairs. It makes us feel so wonderful to see the temple full of father Lehi’s children. Their commitment and dedication are very inspirational. Tears are rolling down my cheeks as I write about how blessed we feel to be able to serve as missionaries. Thurs. Feb. 9th: This morning I took the video camera on our morning walk. Then I spent 4 hours blogging week 7 and 8. If anything interesting happens for the rest of this week I will add it to week 9. I hope you find these posts interesting and I hope you can feel some of the Spirit of what we are doing here.



Week 7

Week 7

Sat. Jan. 28th: I posted last week early Saturday morning and said if anything interesting happened I would add it on this week’s post. Last Sunday the 20th during Relief Society the RS Pres. announced that next Saturday at 4:00pm there would be a special meeting at the church where Sister Norman would be teaching a lesson on how to conduct music. Well let’s just say that that was the first time Sister Norman had heard anything about this. She was hoping that she understood correctly. So we bought a manual on conducting and mom prepared the lesson. I went with her to give moral support. We arrived on time and the church was open. The RS Pres. and one other sister were there. I set up the electric keyboard, because mom is getting to be a so so piano player. I also set up the laptop so mom could play a CD that came with the manual. Mom started about 4:30 with about 5 from the ward and the Stake RS Pres. and one of her counselors. By the time she finished at 5:30 there were about 5 others. The sisters really seemed to enjoy it and they laughed and had a good time practicing leading music. Mom spent an hour teaching the basics and how to get back on the beat, but in the end mom’s best advice was, smile and wave your arm very few will know if you are doing it right. They all laughed. The Stake RS Pres. saw mom in the temple and said she had been leading the music on Sundays and that she just smiles and then she asked isn’t that the secret. Mom said yes that’s the secret. They really did learn the basics and appreciated so much the instruction. The Stake RS Pres. wants mom to come and teach the same class in her ward. Sun. Jan. 29th: We taught our second temple preparation lesson except that we had a completely new set of students. So we gave the same lesson we gave last week. Mon. Jan. 30th: Mom is in charge of temple missionary outings that we are supposed to have once a month, so we convinced Pres. Crayk to drive us to Vinto to check out the Tin Baron’s (see earlier post on museum in Cochabamba) summer home and a park and waterfall that the Bradshaws (only senior couple in the regular Cochabamba mission) had visited with their Zone. The Cardons and the Winkfields went with us and the Crayks. It was about a 45 min. drive to Vinto. Pres. Crayk had gone to church with the Bradshaws the day before and they had showed him the turn off to the park. So we decided to find the park first. It turns out the park is connected in some way to the land around the Tin Barons summer home. So we drove right by the home. (Mansion) It was closed until 3 during the week so we didn’t go in but it is diffidently on the list for an outing. The park was a couple of miles about the house going up into the foothills. We parked and Pres. Crayk paid for us to go in 1 and ½ Bolivanios each (22 cents). We hiked up to the top and found the water fall and it only took us about an hour to hike up and back. We decided we could make an outing of the park and the house all in an afternoon.


Mom on the way up





The Cardons, the Winkfields, and the Crayks on the way up.





The valley below.






Pres. Crayk and the Cardons (Bob and Tammie)






Mom and Connie Crayk with the water fall in the back ground.






On the way down.



We ended the day with Family Home Evening at Pres. Dyers home. The Bradshaws showed pictures of his mission 42 years ago in southern Bolivia. He told many inspiring stories. He rode a horse most of his mission. He had some great pictures of his horse and the people they had taught. He helped build the first adobe church in Bolivia. It is still there and being used today. Tues. Jan. 31: Today is our last day on the morning shift. I had the recommend desk from 1:30 to 3:30 today. After I got done mom came back to the temple and we some of the iniciatory work that we have been asked to do in addition to our regular assignments. Got home at about 5:30 beat. Wed. Feb. 1st: Today we started working the afternoon evening shift. It starts at 3:30pm with a preparation meeting and ends about 9:30pm. Today I was assigned to be in charge of the Baptistery. It was full all night and we ended up doing about 750 baptisms. It is quite hot and humid their but the time sure went fast. Thurs. Feb. 2nd: I officiated the first session at 4:30 today and then was sent to the Baptistery again. It was even more crowded than last night. At 8:00 I changed from having each person do 10 names to 5 names and then at 8:30 I cut everyone to 3 names. We still did not get everyone finished until about 9:15 and after I was told that I should be finishing by 10 minutes to 9. Sat. Feb. 4th: We went with the Jackmans and the Cardons to the Saturday morning market. We haven’t been able to go to this market because we have been on the morning shift till this week. We had a good time bought a new pot to make soup in and mom got fresh flowers. They are very fragrant and this makes mom happy so I am happy.