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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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

RS Sisters being serenaded



These were the cute boys singing to all the RS sisters at the celebration of the RS's 170th Birthday celebration.

Stake Relief Society Presidency dancing to ABBA



What Stake RS Presidency in the states would do this for the RS Birthday?

Mom's adventures

At our FHE last Monday, President Dyer shared a very tender story about one of his missionaries. President Dyer had received word that the father of this elder had been killed in a car accident. They called the elder into the mission office and he was told the sad news. He was invited to stay overnight at the mission home where he could talk to his mother and other family members on Skype. His mother encouraged him to stay in the mission field and he wanted to stay and complete his mission. The President said the whole family demonstrated such faith and love, both for the elder and for the gospel. The elder asked for permission to go to the temple and at the end of the session, he and his companion stayed in the Celestial Room for some time. As they left the room, a temple worker stopped them and asked if they were the last to leave the Celestial Room. They said, “Yes”, but she opened the door anyway and looked around puzzled. She said, “Oh, I was sure that I saw another man sitting next to you.” The elder felt it was the spirit of his father and was so comforted. His only question was, “Why could she see him and I couldn’t.” There are so many tender mercies in the temple and it is one of the reasons we love serving here in Cochabamba.

Now I want to tell you about the amazing celebration that I attended for the 170th anniversary of the founding of the Relief Society. This was organized by our Stake and the meeting started at 4:00 in the afternoon on Saturday. I received permission to leave the temple early in order to attend and I had to go alone because I am the only missionary in this stake. When I arrived at the stake center they had about 200 chairs set up in the cultural hall facing the stage. The stage was decorated with yellow and blue balloons and the number “170”.

I recognized Sister Garcia, the one who taught us how to make empanadas and sat down by her. I kept looking for sisters from my ward. The meeting began about 20 minutes late, with only 30 people in the audience. There were some greetings, a talk by a high councilman, and 3 sisters were invited to bear their testimonies. More people had arrived by then and they announced that now we would have a presentation by each ward. Suddenly I heard my name called out. I turned to Sister Garcia and said, “What did they just say?” She smiled and said that they just made me a judge with three other women and led me to a table at the foot of the stage.

For the next two hours there were performances of every kind. . .


Bolivian dancers, girls in top hats, women dressed as wind-up dolls that danced, Spanish dancers, women dressed as characters from a TV series, and the sisters from my ward were dressed as Japanese geishas and did a fan dance. I was so surprised and impressed that I forgot to take a picture of them! I was so mad at myself. The finale of the program was the Stake Relief Society presidency dancing to ABBA songs (See Video) from “Mama Mia”. By now it was about 7:00pm, but there was a lot more to come. I found the sisters from my ward and told them they did a wonderful job. We sat at some tables that were in the hall and waited for dinner to be served. But soon we were called back into the cultural hall to be serenaded by some young college students who were dressed as Spanish balladeers, playing guitars and mandolins. They had the crowd, which by now numbered 200 or more, clapping and singing. At the end of their performance, we were handed tickets for dinner and they brought plates out to each person. Piled on the plate were two roasted red potatoes, a roasted sweet potato, a baked banana, a breaded pork cutlet, and everything was topped with shredded carrots, tomato, and onion. (See picture)


It was delicious. It was now about 8:30pm and several of the young mothers from my ward said, “Goodnight” and left with their babies. I went to look for Sister Garcia, to say goodbye, and she said, “Oh, don’t go, you will want to stay for the dancing.” Sure enough, they cranked up the music and almost instantly, women of all ages were on the dance floor. They formed two lines facing each other and everyone was clapping and laughing and “shaking their booties”. I was more than happy to jump in and they seemed very impressed with my “moves”. I finally said my goodbyes around 9:30pm, but they were still going strong. Now that’s what I call a Relief Society celebration!

Week 13


Week 13:

Mon. Mar. 12th: I spent a few hours writing this blog and then we went grocery shopping to IC Norte our favorite market just a few blocks from the temple grounds. A large group of youth arrived today from Puno, Peru, about 70 youth and 20 adults. Each week I am amazed at the number of people who travel many hours by bus to come to the temple. Some come for just a few days others for the whole week. We had Family Home Evening at the Crayk’s home. It so up much fun to get together and this group of missionaries is especially close and mom wants to tell you all a story that was told to us at the FHE by President Dyer, the mission president, about one of his missionaries that received the news this last week, that his father had been killed in a car accident. So look for mom’s first blog post. Tues. Mar. 13th: Guess where we went this morning? Yep you are right, back to immigration. We spent about 2 hours standing in lines. First we were told that our paper work from LaPaz was out of date by 2 days. You only have 30 days to apply for your resident visa after getting some paperwork from the capitol. But because we didn’t have our medical certificate when we went the first time we were delayed. Well Marcelo went and pleaded with some official and they oked our paperwork. Then we went to another office and they calculated how much of a fine we would have to pay because we come to the country with only a 30 day visa. We then went to another office and paid the fine. We then waited for more paperwork to be completed and then filled out another form. We submitted all of this, a stack of papers of about 25 pages, and were told to come back in 10 days and we would have our new visas in our passports. So we are without passports. They are in the hands of the bureaucracy. Wish us luck! The baptistery was full of all the youth from Puno. They come when the temple opens up and it takes about 3 to 4 hours for all of them to get confirmed and baptized. They wait patiently for their turn and then they go and have lunch and come back in the afternoon and do it all again. They are so cute and uplifting. There is about twice as many young men as young women. That’s a little unusual. Wed. Mar. 14th: We spent the morning in the temple doing our out of shift extra assignments. I got to be in charge of the baptistery this evening. What a joy to be with all the young people from Puno. We also had a group come after they were done from one of the local wards here in Cochabamba. So we ended the evening shift having completed 990 baptisms and confirmations. Sat. Mar. 17th: I went to the new 7:00am sessions as a patron. There was a group of women from our stake who came for the celebration of the 170th anniversary of the Relief Society. So there were 48 women and 9 men, remember the room only has 50 seats. So we had to set up folding chairs. They had to have another session at 7:20. That one also had 48 women and 6 men. Mom was one of the followers for the second session. She had known that the women from our stake were coming and she had gone up to the temple at 6:30am to greet all of them. What a great way to begin a day. We went grocery shopping for ingredients to make Kung Pao Chicken. Of course, we could not find rice vinegar or some of the other things that the recipe called for. Time to use substitutions. Mom got permission to go to the stake RS celebration that started at 4:00pm. So she left the shift early. She had a real cultural experience. That will be also included in her post. Sun. Mar. 18th: In Church today four members of one family were confirmed. It was a really sweet meeting. We have invited the Cardons to dinner this afternoon. I am going to make Kung Pao Chicken. After reading 4 different recipes, I decide the combination of what I have and what I think I can substitute. Like apple vinegar for rice vinegar and so forth, well the result was that Bob said it was the best meal he has had in Bolivia. It really did turn out good. It’s a keeper. We also made garlic broccoli. I guess, we miss China a little. But overall this was another great week. Mon. Mar. 19th. Mom made cupcakes for the activity this morning. Mom the activities chair woman has organized a trip by bus to Pairumani.

The ecological park and summer home of Simon Patino. We ate watermelon and cupcakes.







29 of us enjoyed the paseo. We left at noon and got back about 5. The house and gardens were amazing. Please view the videos after this post. No one commented on mom’s talk so I assume no one read it and if no one is interested I am not going to spend 3 hours or more translating mine. Does anyone read this blog???? A comment now and then would be nice.

Simon Patino's sumer home, Pairumani



This is the summer home of Simon Patino and the gardens surrounding the house.

Bus ride to Pairumani



Here we are on the bus on our way to Pairumani. Mom the choir director.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Chris' talk

I only got mom's talk translated. I will work on mine for next week.


A very good day to you all, I am Sister Norman and I am working with my husband as temple missionaries in Cochabamba. We arrived here in Dec. of 2011, very late at night. The city was dark and it was difficult to see much of the city. But when we came up the street Melchor Urquidi, the temple appeard before us out of nowhere. The building was larger than I was expecting and the Angle Moroni was shinning in contrast to the dark sky.

The next day was Sunday, and very early in the morning, President Crayk , invited us to walk through the temple. (He is the first person that I have known that has his own key to a temple.) For a half hour, we along with Pres. Crayk and his wife, walked from room to room in the house of the Lord. The temple was very quiet, no one else was inside. This was a very spiritual experience for me to reverently walk through this beautiful and sacred building. First was the baptistery, in this room there is a baptismal font resting on the backs of 12 oxen, symbolizing the 12 tribes of Israel. There is a similar font in every temple of the church of Jesus Christ, because in this font we do baptisms for our ancestors and other that have died. The font was full of water and ready for the faithful members who would come in the next few days. Later we went up to the second floor and saw the offices and the dressing rooms. We entered a selling room with mirrors on each side. In these sacred rooms, couples are sealed as husband and wife and when they stand in front of the temple mirrors they are reflected forward and backward and their images seemed to go on for eternity. Elder Gong of the Seventy has explained that, “Temple mirrors of eternity remind us that each human being has “divine nature and destiny”; that “sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally”

Now, we have served as temple workers for 2 months. This has been a marvelous experience. For almost 5 years we were temple workers in the Salt Lake and Manti temples. It has been our privilege to help many patrons that have come to receive their endowments, be married and be sealed. It is always an occasion with many feelings of happiness and rejoicing. “Every temple is a house of the God, fulfills the same functions with the same blessings and ordinances.” President Monson has said. One Saturday afternoon I was with 2 young girls, 11 and 16 years old. They were dressed in white and were waiting to go upstairs to a sealing room and be sealed to their parents. There is a video about sealings that we show to all of the children that come to be sealed. As we started watching this video the older daughter could not stop her tears and after a few minutes the three of us had tears running down our cheeks. It was my privilege to be present for that sealing. There were members from their ward and other friends and relatives. After the ordinance was over, the 2 daughters received big hugs from their father and mother. The Spirit was present and it was very emotional and beautiful.

Every week members of the church have come to the temple in Cochabamba. They have come by bus and car. Sometimes there are 40, 80, 100 or more. They come from Argentina, Peru, Chile, and different parts of Bolivia, like La Paz, Tarija, Santa Cruz, Oruro, and Sucre. They make great sacrifices of time and money to come to the temple. The mother of a family from Chile, told my husband that every year they come with their children to the temple, coming to the temple is the only vacation that they have ever known. President Monson has asked, “Why are so many willing to give so much in order to receive the blessings of the temple? Those who understand the eternal blessings which come from the temple know that no sacrifice is too great, no price too heavy, no struggle too difficult in order to receive those blessings. There are never too many miles to travel, too many obstacles to overcome, or too much discomfort to endure. They understand that the saving ordinances received in the temple that permit us to someday return to our Heavenly Father in an eternal family relationship and to be endowed with blessings and power from on high are worth every sacrifice and every effort.”President Monson continues, “If you have been to the temple for yourselves and if you live within relatively close proximity to a temple, your sacrifice could be setting aside the time in your busy lives to visit the temple regularly. There is much to be done in our temples in behalf of those who wait beyond the veil.” “If you have not yet been to the temple or if you have been but currently do not qualify for a recommend, there is no more important goal for you to work toward than being worthy to go to the temple.”

Our Father in Heaven desires to bless us and in truth bless his sons and daughters in every generation. It is my testimony that God lives and temple work is evidence of His love for His children and that salvation is universal. I repeat the words of President Monson: “My beloved brothers and sisters, may we make whatever sacrifices are necessary to attend the temple and to have the spirit of the temple in our hearts and in our homes.” In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Week 12

Week 12:

Mon. Mar. 5th: The first Monday of every month there is a special 7:00am session for the employees of the temple (the gardeners, the cooks, the engineers, the laundry and cleaning workers). I went up and helped so they would have enough for the veil. We then went with the Crayks, Cardons, and the Jackmans to a big supermarket. Pres. Crayk drove his SUV. We loaded up on items that aren’t available in the small market close to the temple. We spent $100.00 US. We didn’t have enough cash but mom had our new debt card that Pres. Crayk had brought back from Utah at the end of the break. Halleluiah it worked. Thanks Charlotte for getting our new cards to Pres. Crayk and thanks Pres. Crayk for bringing them to us. We finally have access to our bank account. Mom had to air mail a document to England, the book on infant observation that she helped write is going to be translated into Spanish in Mexico and she had to give her permission. That makes about 4 languages that it has been translated into now. Well, on the way home from the supermarket we stopped at the post office in the building where the bookstore is, the owner has cashed 2 checks for us while we waited for our new cards. Mom didn’t have an airmail envelope so we went inside and bought one from the woman who had cashed our checks. Mom started a conversation with her about the fact that one of the US presidential candidates is a Mormon and then gave her a book of Mormon. Great job mom! That’s number three. It turns out the woman is Jewish. Her father left Germany on the last ship out in 1939. There are only about 70 Jews here in Cochabamba she told us. Most are older. We explained that the book of Mormon is a story of a Jewish family that left Jerusalem 600 BC and traveled to the Americas and it is the story of the House of Israel here in the Americas. She said she would read it. We ended the day with a combined (Americans and Latins) family home evening with all the temple missionaries. Tues. Mar. 6th: This morning we went with Marcelo, the young man in charge of getting all the temple missionaries their permanent visas, to the blood bank to have our blood drawn. Remember last week we had gone to immigration to finally apply for our permanent visas only to realize we did not have our medical certificate. On Thursday we can come back and pick up the results of the blood test. We then went and did our temple shift. We only had 6 men. We had to ask 3 of the men missionaries from the morning shift to come up and help us. Wed. Mar. 7th: We spent the morning in the temple getting a start on our assignment to do temple work outside of our daily temple shift. During our temple shift I was assigned to be the veil coordinator for the first time. Boy is that a lot of work. Thurs. Mar. 8th: So we went back to the doctors to pick up the results and found out that all of the women were given the day off because it was woman’s day a kind of holiday. So we will come back tomorrow.

These are 2 children staying in the guest house. Can you see the boy has a tag on his coat pocket that says, "Futuro Misionero"



Fri. Mar. 9th: Hurray we got our medical certificates. We are now ready to go back to immigration next Tuesday. We are now on our 8th visit to one place or another. Sat. Mar. 10th: We went early to the 7:00am session, then to the open Sat. market, then to the supermarket close to the temple. The temple is closed this afternoon for a kind of regional conference. Every stake in Bolivia, I think 24 stakes and 10 districts are having stake or district conferences today and tomorrow. Pres. Jackman and I went to the priesthood leadership meeting together this afternoon. Our wives then came in the evening for the adult session. There were some great talks. I got about 95% of everything that was said. I missed some of the jokes. Sun. Mar. 11th: On the way to conference our taxi driver was Maricio, the same driver who had taken us to the airport to get our bags. I was sitting in the front seat and mom and the Jackmans were in the back. I told him mom had a present for him. She couldn’t figure out what I was talking about. I finally turned around and mouthed the words “Book of Mormon”. Mom got it and began explaining that she thought he should be a Mormon and wanted to give him a book of Mormon. Number 4. The general session of conference was amazing. We started the meeting with the stake president conducting and handling all of the stake business then the meeting was shifted to a satellite transmission from Salt Lake City. Every stake center was watching the same transmission. It was being broadcast in 4 different languages. Spanish, Quichua, Amayra, and English. Two of the talks were from native speakers in the Seventy. They both made salutations in Quichua and Amayra, but gave their talks in Spanish. They gave great talks. Sister Wixom, the general primary president spoke and finally Elder Holland. He bore his testimony in Spanish and even though his Spanish wasn’t polished the power of his testimony was evident. I marvel at the technology being used by the church to bless the lives of the members all over the world.


Stake conference: Can you see mom she is the only one with white hair.


We are amazed at the growth of the church and to think that when we were missionaries 40 years ago there were only a handful of members and to see stake centers full is awesome. On the way home we started talking to the driver and asked him if he knew where the Mormon Temple was? He said yes and then mom asked him what he knew about the Mormons. He said nothing. So I said, “ well you have a car full of Mormons, you can ask us any question you would like.” He asked if the angel on top of the temple was solid gold. We explained that it was fiberglass and had a thin layer of gold over it. We then explained why we are called Mormons and about the book of Mormon. He said he wanted one so when we got the guest house mom and the Jackmans stayed with him and I went in got him a book of Mormon. Number 5. We visited the Kennedys and the Delgados in the evening. Sister Kennedy has some high blood pressure problems and Sister Delgado is having some back pain. Mom had made cupcakes this afternoon and we then took cupcakes to everyone here in the guest house. Great week we love this work. PS: The recession has been hard on many small companies these last few years. Krosswoods, the company that I sold part of my ownership in, has not been immune. They are going through a reorganization and are not able to continue paying us the monies that we had been receiving. We have listed our home in Mt. Pleasant and are going to sell it. Even though we will miss having a great gathering place, we will still have the wonderful memories we have made there.

Monday, March 5, 2012

John's 60th Birthday Party



These are some of the missionaries that came to wish me happy birthday. I can't say as I only feel like I have had 14 birthdays. I feel like I have had a few more than that.

Week 11


Week 11:

Mon. Feb. 27th: I spent most of the day preparing for FHE tonight. It is our turn to present something and provide the refreshments. So mom made 2 trays of Grandma Cornwall’s apple crisp and I made a power point presentation on our 2 years in China. It was fun to look at all the pictures and select examples of what we taught, our experiences in the branch, and our travels. It was especially fun to tell the story of Crystal and how members of the BYU Chamber Orchestra were able to teach her the gospel in Mandarin and her baptism two days before we left China. She is now at BYU-Provo. We missed seeing her by only a couple of weeks. We did see on Facebook that she had received her temple recommend (limited use) and that she thought the temple was great. Tues. Feb. 28th: This morning I gave Sister Vallanes a blessing. Her husband wanted to anoint and wanted me to do the blessing. She is going to the hospital for some surgery. He said he was too emotional and thought it would be better if I gave the blessing. It was a sweet experience. I cannot tell you how good it was to be back in the temple. A big group arrived last night from Chile and another group arrived today from Peru. So we were very busy. I had not realized how much we enjoy being in the temple and even though many nights we get home between 9:30 and 10:00pm, tired and ready for bed, we love the work. I’m not sure work is the right word, because it is an honor and a privilege to be able to serve the wonderful and faithful saints who sacrifice of their time and money to travel to the temple to worship. As tears well up in my eyes, as I write this, I realize how blessed we are to be missionaries and how our testimonies are being strengthened and our understanding of the love our Father in Heaven has for all of his children both living and dead has increased. The universality of the plan of salvation, and the desire of our Father in Heaven for all of his children to return to live with Him, is evidence of his love. We are so happy to be able to serve here in this part of the Lord’s vineyard. Wed. Feb. 29th: This morning we went with Marcelo to the immigration office. We waited in line for about an hour only to find out that we did not have our medical documents. We had to leave without getting our paperwork submitted. Happy Birthday to me. Turning 60 today didn’t really feel any different than any other day, except that mom invited all of the temple missionaries to stop by at lunch (there is about an hour and ½ where the morning shift missionaries and the afternoon shift missionaries are both at home) for pumpkin chocolate chip cup cakes with cream cheese icing. Boy did they taste great. I found out today that I am the second youngest missionary here. President Crayk’s wife, Connie, is 2 years younger than I am. Brother and Sister Vallanes could not attend because she was still at the hospital to have surgery to remove an abscess from her tailbone. More about the Vallanes on Friday. Thurs. Mar. 1st: This morning we went with Marcelo to have our blood drawn so we can have a Doctor certify that we are healthy. So next week we go to the doctor after he gets the results of the blood tests. Then once we have the certificate we can go back to immigration and submit our paperwork so we can get our permanent visas. Remember I said it took about 10 different visits to get all the paperwork done. Well we are now on number 5. We had a couple of free hours in the morning before we went to the temple and we both started a new painting.






Mine in acrylic

Mom's in watercolor




Fri. Mar. 2nd: I was working at the desk and Brother Vallanes came in. He had brought his wife home from the hospital earlier in the day. I asked how his wife was doing. He said that he thought physically she was doing better. But that she had just gotten a phone call that their oldest daughter had passed away that morning, that she had gone to bed with a head ache and died sometime in the night. I could not believe that here he was coming to the temple to do his shift. I asked him about it and he said that there was nothing he could do for her now and being in the temple would make him feel better. They are from Cuzco, Peru and they arrived about a week after we did. When I asked him about going home for the funeral, he said they did not have the money. I assured him that all the missionaries would chip in and they should go. He just said no, there is nothing we can do for them now. Then we realized that they don’t have their visas yet either, so they can not travel outside of the country. They were both in preparation meeting the following day she sore from surgery but both suffering from a broken heart. It was so touching to see their dedication to their calling and I understand their wanting to be in the temple. The Spirit of the Savior is very consoling to the soul and what better place to be close to the Savior than to be in His house. Sat. Mar. 3rd: Since Pres. Crayk has challenged the Los Alamos stake to come and attend a special session at 7:00am on Saturdays, that session has been full and there have been days when a second session at 7:15am has been needed. Mom and I decided we would attend this early morning session. It was really nice to be a patron and just sit and listen. I wish at times I could share with all of you the spiritual experiences I have had, but, alas, they are too sacred and too personal. Saturday morning was one of those experiences. But I assure you these experiences mean the world to me. After our shift, (Saturdays we start at 1:30pm and are done around 7:00pm) we had Henry and Jeanie Lachowski over to the apartment for R and R. They are a Catholic couple we met one day on the temple grounds. We saw them again about a week later during our morning walk and found out they are from Salt Lake and live on the avenues. They are here for 3 months learning Spanish and then hope to do some humanitarian work for an order in the Catholic Church. We just sat around and talked for a couple hours. They have done service work in Africa twice (Namibia) and Thailand. In Thailand they served at “Wild Flower"--a home for single mothers. Mom and I visited this NGO with Ginny and Sam when we were in Thailand last year. Small world experience. We are going to have them to dinner one of the next Monday nights, since that is our P-day. We think they really need some American friends and so we are happy to be such. Sun. Mar. 4th: We went to church today and Elder Adams had been transferred to Sucre. His companion Elder Mendoza had a brand new missionary who had arrived on Tuesday, Elder VanLeeuwen from Kaysville. He plays the piano so mom is out of a job. I took down his mom’s email address and sent her an email last night. This morning I got back a thank you email from her. She was so glad to hear he is here safe and sound. We had a sweet testimony meeting and taught our temple prep class. Oscar was the only one there. He leaves on his mission in May. We got to Skype with most of our kids and grandkids Sunday night. James had some amazing stories about his stake conference. Elder David Evans was the presiding authority and how James went on his mission became part of the Priesthood leadership meeting. James mentioned that Elder Evans thinks we are having too much fun here on our mission. I apologize for sharing mostly secular happenings, but most of what we do every day is too sacred and should not be shared is such an open forum. But Elder Evans, if you are reading this, rest assured we work hard and we play hard and yes, we are enjoying this mission very much and the work is joyous and at times hard. It is a sacrifice to be away from family and loved ones, but it is an honor to wear our missionary tags that read: Elder Norman and Hermana Norman. Thanks Elder Evans and Mary for showing so much love and concern for James and his family. We love and appreciate all you do. Some you have mentioned you would like to read the talks we gave last week in the Colon ward. So this week it will be my task to translate them into English. Wish me luck.