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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Thursday, March 27, 2014

March 20th through March 26th



March 20th through March 26th:  Thursday, I got up early and went and worked on the moldings.  I said last week that they were ready for paint.  I lied, only the downstairs was ready for paint.  I caulked and sanded some more on the upstairs.  Chris got on a plane today to go to Seattle to visit her 3 brothers.  They used to get together every year, but we have been out of the country for so many of the last 4 years, it has been a long time since they were together.  I could only work till 11:00am because I had to go to work at HD.  On my way to work I stopped by Costco in Bountiful to get a hot dog for lunch and as I was walking out I ran into Bill and Linda Johnson.  They were on their way to Vernal to tend grandkids, one of their daughters had just given birth.  It was fun to see them and they wanted me to say hi to everyone.  Friday, I worked all day caulking and getting the upstairs really ready for paint.  At 4:00pm I went to the dentist.  Everything went well, he was able to extract the tooth, do a bone graft, implant the post, and he was able to use my old crown as a temporary crown.   I went home and put ice on my face.  I am sleeping at John and Jill’s for a few days because Alex’s mom came to visit the new baby.  Since Chris was already in Seattle, I thought it was easy to give her our room and I would just sleep at John’s house.  The dentist gave me a prescription for amoxicillin and pain killer.  The pain pills worked real well and I got a good night’s rest.  Saturday, I had to work at HD.  I can only eat soft things so I am now on a diet of yogurt and mac and cheese.  Sunday, I taught our Sunday School lesson alone, boy does she owe me, and then had to go to work at HD.  Chris got home about 4:00pm and I was done at 5:00pm.  She had a good time with her brothers.

Chris' brothers L to R Craig, Scott, Mark and of course Chris.

Monday, Chris had a substitute teaching job so I stayed home in the morning and helped get Charlotte’s kids to school.  Then Charlotte dropped me off at HD.  Only 3 more days of work at HD.  Tuesday, I went and painted the moldings.  Ten hours of painting is a lot for an old man and I was really tired when I got home.  I am still eating only soft foods, so I had yogurt for breakfast and lunch and mom made me mashed potatoes for dinner.  Wednesday, I again painted for 10 hours and finished the second coat on the downstairs moldings.  Chris had a half day teaching job and then went and had gum grafts.  So she is also now eating only soft foods.  You would think we are old people or something.  We are glad that we are able to get this dental stuff done now so we won’t have problems in Oaxaca.  We only have a little more than 6 weeks before we leave. 

Thursday, March 20, 2014

March 15th through March 20th:



March 15th through March 20th:  Saturday, I went to work at Home Depot and in the afternoon Chris and I took 10 of our grandkids to see “Mr. Peabody and Sherman”.  We had help from Katie and Charlotte and Alex so it was only two children to one adult.  It was fun to be out and about with all of them.  Sunday, we went to church with James and Kirstin to listen to Kirstin speak in church.  She gave a great talk and it was fun to play with Rigby on the bench while Chris walked the halls with Emme.  Every time Emme heard her mother’s voice she would say, “Mommy, mommy, mommy.”  Chris did not get to hear much of Kirstin’s talk, but she had it written out so she got to read it afterwards.  Then we went to another sacrament meeting to listen to the homecoming talks of Chris’s cousin and his wife, Paul and Marty Westover.  They had just returned from their mission to Cambodia, where they had spent the last 23 months as the office couple.  They gave great talks and it made us want to be in the mission field--only 7 and 1/2 weeks left.

L to R Me, Chris, Marty and Paul Westover, the returning missionaries, Kari and Mark Larabee, Kari is another of Chris' cousins.

We had dinner at John and Jill’s home.  It was the monthly sibling get-together for dinner, so the house was full of cousins and Katie brought a turkey.  So we had a Thanksgiving dinner and it was delicious.  Thanks everyone that brought food. I really enjoyed it. 

Sunday dinner.
Sunday dinner.

Monday was crazy, I got up and went to work at 500am.  I was supposed to work till 1:30pm, but they want me to come back at 6:00pm and set tile in the break room, so they let me go at 9:30am.  I went home and changed clothes and went and grouted the bathroom floor for Brother Pascoe. 

The grouted bathroom floor.

Then Chris and I went to lunch and afterwards we went to the dentist’s office and got my stitches out.  I then went back to Home Depot and Bob, another employee of Home Depot, and I laid out the floor and we both started in the middle. We each had about 400 square feet of tile to lay.  I finished up with my side at 12:30am. 

That is Bob on his half of the room.
Bob is just finishing up, but my end is done.

I don’t think I have been that tired in a long time.  My body hurt in so many places.  I didn’t fall asleep until about 1:30am.  Tuesday, I got up and went to work at the molding job.  I sanded and fixed joints for 10 hours.  It is finally ready for painting.  Wednesday, I slept 10 hours last night.  My body is trying to recuperate from the abuse I am inflicting on it.  I went to the molding job early and started caulking.   I met Chris at a new periodontist’s office.  Chris had her receding gums looked at and she needs to have gum grafts and I had my cracked tooth checked out and am going to have it extracted and maybe a post implanted on Friday.  We will have to see how much we can get done here.  Maybe I will have to have the crown done in Mexico, but the plan is to try and at least have the post done before we leave.  Chris will have her surgery next week and a couple of cavities fixed.  We have at least one tender mercy, the Rigby’s want me to do the painting and think they have enough work to keep me busy till we leave and so I gave notice at Home Depot and my last day will be the 29th.  With my social security starting and the work from the Rigby’s we should be able to pay for all this dental work.  We feel so blessed and know that we are being looked after and we are so grateful for all of our blessings.

Saturday, March 15, 2014

March 6th through March 14th



March 6th through March 14th:  It has been hard to find time to write this blog.  I have been burning the candle at both ends.  As you read you will get the idea.  Thursday, March 6th, I was up early and at the molding job at 7:00am.  I worked on the stairs and getting the base to die into the stair skirts, so that things would look good and flow together well.  I installed more base downstairs. 

I had to make the stair skirts wider to flow into the new baseboards.

I met Chris and Wally and Martha at Crown Burger for dinner about 6:00pm and then we went to another lecture on the Dead Sea Scrolls.  This time it was a lecture on the Isaiah scrolls.  This professor was on the international team of translators of the scrolls and boy did he love Isaiah and his style of writing.  Friday, I had the pleasure of going to the endodontist and have surgery on a front tooth that I was having problems with.  Turns out that he cut me open only to find a crack and that he could not repair the 35 year old root canal.  He said it would have to come out and I would need a bridge or an implant.  He sewed me up and said that will be 600 dollars.  So I have 6 stitches, a sore mouth,  a lighter pocket book and still have a tooth that needs to be fixed.  It is not bothering me and so we emailed Pres. Atkinson and he said many Americans come to Oaxaca to get dental work done.  I think that is what we will do.  There is just not time to get it all done here before we leave.    Saturday, I worked at Home Depot from 10:00am till 5:30pm.  Sunday, we asked our Sunday school class to sing a song on the Sunday in April that we talk.  They said they would.  I had to work in the afternoon.  Monday, I got up at 6:00am and went and looked at patio doors at the Home Depot in Salt Lake.  They had one door left that would fit the door at the Rigby’s.  So I bought it and had it delivered.  I then went and finished installing the bathroom floor and base for Brother Pascoe in our ward.  I then went to work at Home Depot and finished up at 6:00pm.  Tuesday, I got up early and was at Home Depot by 6:00am buying wood for the jambs and casings for 5 windows that got added to the molding job.  I then went to John’s house to rip the sills.  I made it to the job site a little after 7:00am.  I worked on the sills for the windows and then started the door.  I had some real problems getting a plate milled and installed into the 60 year old concrete.  But finally I got the door installed except for the casing and hardware.  I finished up about 7:00pm. 

The new patio door downstairs.

Wednesday, I got to work early again. Chris dropped me off about 7:30am and then she went to a substituting job at Edison Elementary.  I got the windows cased and finished the door.  Everything downstairs is installed and ready for sanding.

Some of the windows that got added.
New base boards and casings.

Mom came and picked me up about 6:30 pm.  Thursday, mom dropped me at 7:00am and she went to East High for another sub job.  I sanded for 5 hours straight and got the basement sanded.  It makes such a mess that we are going to wait to start the painting until all the sanding is done.  Mom picked me up at 1:00pm and I went straight to the shower when I got home.  I was covered in dust.

I wore a mask to sand but everything else was white.

We had lunch together and then I went to work.  I got off an hour early at 9:00pm because I have to be back at work at 5:00am.  Friday, I got up at 4:30am and went to work at Home Depot and worked until 12:30pm.  Then I went to the molding job and got all the nail holes filled upstairs.  The upstairs is ready for sanding.  I will tackle that on Tuesday.

New base boards and casings.

Mom had a sub job at Meadowlark Elementary. I came home at 5:00pm and mom is at John’s tending and I am writing this blog and tending Tilda and the 3 boys while Charlotte and Alex goes to the store.  8 weeks to go.  Can’t wait.
The best part of any day.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

February 26th through March 5th



February 26th through March 5thWednesday, Mom substituted at Bennion.  Alex took her to school and I stayed home and got the kids off and watched Luke while Charlotte took Tilly in to have some blood drawn to check her bellyrubin. 

The fort I made Luke the day I tended him.

I got to the molding job about 10:45 and worked on installing casings on the main floor till 7:30pm and then went to John’s house and ripped casing that I needed and didn’t have a table saw at the job.  He helped me rip the molding and I got home about 8:30pm and showered and went to bed.  Thursday, I got to the molding job early and helped Blake and Michelle move furniture in a couple of rooms so that Blake could tear out the old molding.  I then worked on installing base boards on the main floor until about 5:00pm.  Friday, I worked at Home Depot to celebrate my birthday.  After work Chris had a few presents for me, mostly for our mission, new socks, a baggage scale, and a new wallet.  I told everyone on Facebook that it wasn’t really my birthday and that I did not get one this year and that I was not getting older, that I was in a state of fair preservation.   We went to dinner with John and Jill in the evening.  We went to Setebellos and had salads and pizza and then gelato for desert.  It was a very fun evening and so nice to be with John and Jill. 

John and us in front of the pizza oven.

Saturday, I had the early shift at Home Depot.  After being on my feet for 8 hours on that hard cement my feet hurt and I didn’t have energy for much of anything after work, but Chris and I did go and meet our daughter Kate and her kids at the play land at Burger King.  Good times. 

Burger King fun.

Sunday, church was good.  We felt like our Sunday school class went well and that we had a good Spirit in the class.  I had to go to work after church and then after dinner we got a call on face time from President and Sister Atkinson.  It was so fun to talk to them and get to hear their vision of what they wanted to accomplish and how we could help them.  They really made us feel needed and that we were suppose to go there.  It made us want to leave tomorrow, but alas we still have 11 weeks.  We thought we were going to a small temple, but Pres. Atkinson informed us that the Mexico temple is closed for renovations and so the Oaxaca temple now has 30 sessions a week and services 44 stakes!!  We will be busy.  Monday, I had the early shift again.  After work I went and helped a man in the ward install tile in his bathroom.  I installed and he watched.  He wanted to learn how to install tile.  It went so well that I was done in 2 hours.  Chris and I then went to the movies and then went shopping and bought new suitcases. 

Our new suitcases become the training bases for the ninga/transformer warriors.

Tuesday, Mom dropped me off at the molding job and she went and substituted at Meadowlark Elementary.  My brother Van came and got Blake and I for lunch.  We had Chinese at Little World.  I worked till about 6:00pm and then drove the truck that Blake had borrowed from his son, that was full of molding that needed to be ripped, to John’s house.  John helped me rip the molding and I finished up about 8:30pm.  I showered and went straight to bed.  Wednesday, I went to work at 5:00am but only had to work till 10:00am.  So I went straight to the molding job and installed the moldings that I had ripped the night before.  I finished up about 6:00pm and Blake and Michele let me drive the truck home so that Chris would not have to come and get me.  A couple of weeks ago I was up early and Evan work up and went up and asked his mother for the I-pad.  She said, “Evan go back to bed you have to sleep for at least 2 more hours.”  He replied, “But papa is up.” To which my daughter replied, “Papa is a crazy old man now go back to bed.”  It was 4:30am.  Now I know what my daughter really thinks of me.

Mom at the zoo with Rigby, Emme and Kate and her kids.