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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Wednesday, November 21, 2012

November 10th



 November 10th:  We got up early and went to the temple a little after 6:00am to help get everything ready for the early morning session.  I then drove Pres. Crayk and his wife to the airport.  They are going to Sucre for a stake conference this weekend.  Since they are out of town we got the assignment to go and speak to a ward youth conference for the Jaihuayco ward.  The bishop works at the temple in the cleaning department.  I had one of the office workers call him on Thursday and ask for directions to Los Molles, the place where the conference would be held.  He said he wasn’t exactly sure but would get back to us.  We didn’t get a call, so on Friday I asked someone else in the office if they knew where Los Molles was and how to get there.  He said that if it was where he thought, he could get a map off the internet for me.  Sure enough, before we left for the airport a map was on my desk.  It looked like it was somewhere above Tiquipaya in the foothills of the mountains that surround Cochabamba.  We found the road that led up into the foothills.  As we passed the end of the bus line that ran up this hill, there was a couple walking with one small child.  They kind of flagged us down and asked for a ride.  I asked if they knew where Los Molles was and they said yes, that that was where they wanted to go.  So they climbed in and directed us up the mountain.  It took maybe 15 minutes from where we picked them up so they really would have had a long walk if we had not happened along.  There are no coincidences in life.  We needed to go to the conference and talk to the youth and we didn’t know where it was and so the Lord provided us a guide.  We had been assigned to speak at 11:00am and we arrived at about 10 minutes to 11:00am and the youth were on a break.  They had name tags for us that they put around our necks and gave us a drink of soda.  Los Molles is kind of a place where you can go and stay and be out in nature.  They had rented a building that had two large dormitories one for the boys and one for the girls. It had a kitchen and then a big room where there were tables for eating and they had set up the tables so all the youth faced the fire place.  They had asked us to talk about the importance of preparing to go on a mission.  Mom spoke about her mission for about 15 minutes and did a great job of bringing the Spirit.  I then talked for 40 minutes on the changes in the missionary age and how many young women will now also be planning on a mission, not just waiting to see if they get married before deciding to serve or not.  Then I talked about the importance of preparing and how they need to know the Doctrine of Christ.  I then taught them about the Doctrine of Christ as found in 2 Nephi Chapter 31.  I was on a roll and really had them with me.  The Spirit was strong and we left feeling totally energized. 

Youth Conference

We then went home and had a bite to eat and went to the temple for our shift.
November 11th: Since I had the car, we took the Eames to the Tiquipaya ward for church.  I was asked to sit on the stand and while sitting there was asked if I would give a talk.  I was the concluding speaker and since I had not come with any of my talks, I gave my talk about Dulce from memory.  Mom said it was one of the best talks I have given.  I certainly had some help with that one.  I had put a roast in the crock pot and when we got home I made gravy but since we had forgotten to buy potatoes I made rice and had gravy over rice.  The gravy was good and we had enough left over so we can buy potatoes and have leftovers for a few days.
November 12th: We had a fun FHE tonight.  The Eames were in charge and had asked every couple prepare a 1 minute presentation on a chapter of the Book of Mormon in a way that would be unforgettable.  Some of the skits and ideas were so clever and it really was a lot of fun.  We did Moroni 10 which talks about the gifts of the Spirit (and also the promise of the Book or Mormon).  So mom had printed all the gifts of the Spirit on a slip of paper and we had rolled them up and everyone picked their gift from a bag and then read it.  We also learned hand signals for the 10 commandments from the Kennedys, the Johnsons acted out the Garden of Eden, the Crayks gave everyone clear stones to light our boats, and the Hursts had us blindfolded and holding onto a rope to demonstrate listening to the Spirit.  The Cardons performed an original song, set to the music of Gilligan’s Isle. 


Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale,
A tale of a fateful trip,
That started from the Sinai,
Aboard this tiny ship.  (they held up a reed boat from lake Titicaca)

Nephi was a man of God,
A prophet with a  plan,
The Israelites set sail that day,
For the Promised Land.  For the Promised Land.
(Thunder)
The weather started getting rough,
The tiny ship was tossed,
Nephi’s brothers tied him to the mast,
They thought that all was lost.  They thought that all was lost.

The ship set ground on the shore of this unchartered Promised Land,
With Sariah,
And Lehi too,
Ishmael and his wife,
Their daughters too,
Zoram, Sam and the rest,
Here in…………the Promised Land.

So this is the tale of Lehi’s clan,
They’re here for a long, long time,
They’ll have to make the best of things,
With kids fighting all the time.
Nephi and his followers,
Will do whatever they can,
To follow God’s commandments here
In the Promised Land.

No homes, no wine, no dancing girls,
Not a single luxury,
Like Moses in the desert land,
As primitive as can be.

So here we are this week my friends,
Many miles from our homes,
Still trying to spread the gospel here
In the PROMISED LAND.
November 13th:  I went up and did initiatory this morning and then we had presidency meeting.  We then went to lunch with the Crayks and then Pres. Crayk and I went to the airport to pick up the Dibbs.  They are a couple who have been serving in the La Paz mission.  The altitude finally got to them and they asked to finish their mission here at the temple.  So they will be with us until April.  I then went back up and did initiatory for the first hour of the afternoon shift. I hurried home because we had invited Christian and Lillian to dinner.  I taught Lillian to make beef and bean burritos.  We then had dinner and talked.  They seem so happy.  This is the couple who we taught the temple prep classes to and then I had the honor of sealing last month. The week after they were married, Christian was called as second counselor in the Bishopric in the Tiquipaya ward.  He is 24 years old.
November 14th:  We were on the morning shift today.  Mom and I have been studying Preach my Gospel.  We take turns reading in Spanish and English.  We can only do 3 or 4 pages a day.  But we are learning new words and it is good Spanish and Gospel study.
November 15th:  We took the Dibbs shopping this morning.  They need to buy stuff for their apartment and don’t know where to go.  We then worked the afternoon shift.  We have been concentrating for the first part of every shift on initiatory and the men have the goal to do at least 50 names each shift.  I had noticed that the morning shift had done about 65 names and I had counted that we had done over 80.  For some reason, I walked into the office and looked at the computer and asked how many initiatory had been completed.  Brother Candia, the assistant recorder, said 117. I said, “That is not the right number.”  I knew it had to be over 140.  We went back and took all the pages that he had recorded and found 4 pages that had not been recorded.  It is amazing to me how random things that we do are not really random at all, but the Spirit guiding us.  I don’t remember how many times I have looked to see how many names the morning shift has done, but it is fewer than 5 times, and to then realize that there is a problem and find the problem and correct it is truly a testament to the fact that this is God’s work and that He is directing it and will help it be done correctly if we will follow His guidance.
November 16th:  We were off today.  This evening we went and did a session with the Tiquipaya ward.  It is their ward conference this weekend and we wanted to be with them, but I will be speaking this Sunday in another ward.  The temple missionary choir is going to the University Ward and it is my turn to give the talk from the temple presidency. 
November 17th: We were up early today and at the temple by 6:15am.  We worked the morning shift and we had pretty good attendance.  We had a number of sealings, all at the same time, so I sealed a young couple and it was very special and such a privilege to be able to do this.  One of our coordinators, Sister Cardozo’s mother died yesterday and the funeral is this afternoon.  She is the lady that has made me a couple of white shirts.  Mom really wanted to go and support her.  So we took a taxi to the cemetery and then waited for over an hour for everyone to arrive.  We were told it was at 3:30pm and we arrived on time, but they didn’t show up till almost 5:00pm.  Later we realized that the funeral had probably stated at the funeral home at 3:30pm, but something got lost in translation and we went straight to the cemetery.  It was very similar to what would happen in the states.  We had a movie night at the Cardon’s and watched “New in Town” and ate popcorn.
November 18th:  This morning the Temple Choir is performing so I drove President Crayk’s car and he drove the pickup truck and we took as many of the missionaries as we could squeeze into the cars to the University ward.  The rest had to take public transportation.  But we all arrived on time.  We had a good meeting.  I felt good about my talk but the meeting went over and I probably should have cut my talk short.  We then came home and mom wanted to use up the cabbage we had so I found a recipe for chicken, cabbage and apples.  We got a call from the Cardons that they had shrimp po boy sandwiches and we decided to share and then we got a call from Sister Crayk saying she had made Navajo tacos and so we all took what we had made and went to the Caryk’s home for a feast.
November 19th:  We started our day with a meeting of all the missionaries in the patron housing building to prepare us for how to answer all the questions that will be asked on Wednesday during the national census.  The government is going to try and have a census taker (a university student) visit EVERY HOME IN BOLIVIA on November 21, 2012.  This is like a 8 page form with over 50 questions.  All businesses, schools, offices will be closed, there will be no public transportation and EVERYONE is required to stay at home.  The temples security workers must have a permit to come to work and to drive their car.  Have you ever heard of shutting down a country to do a census???  I’m am quite dubious about their ability to interview 7-8 million people in one day—especially in the rural areas.  But they are going to give it a shot.  We had our monthly activity today, a BBQ at Elder Cabrera’s home.  I spent the morning cooking wings.  We had a great time and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Part of our group at the BBQ.

Elder and Sister Cabrera.
Mom missed half of me.
View of the temple from Elder Cabrera's house.

 The BBQ
 The party continues.
 November 20th:  We went shopping early for stuff to make dressing for our thanksgiving dinner that we are going to have tomorrow after the census.  No one can leave their houses tomorrow during the census.  We had presidency meeting and then for lunch, leftover wings.  Yum Yum.  We worked the afternoon shift.


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