We Made It to Quito August 15th through August 21st

Monday morning at 9:00am, after posting the previous blog, I called the church travel department.  I explained that last Friday we had been told that we would be traveling to Phoenix today, Monday the 15th, for our consulate interview and from Phoenix on to Quito.  There had been a bit of miscommunication, but they went to work and she called me back about 9:15am and asked if we could make a 12:15pm flight.  That meant that we would need to leave for the airport by 10:30 am.  We, of course, said yes.  We went into warp speed and bathed, finished packing our carry on bags, and got dressed.  I called our daughter, Charlotte, and asked if she could be to our house by 10:20am and then take us to the airport.  I had our bags on the driveway as she pulled up.  We got everything loaded and were on our way to the airport at 10:32am.  We had to check bags at the counter, go through security, and then get to concourse B.  Concourse B is a long underground walk from concourse A.  When we got to the bottom of the escalator to start the 10 minute walk, there was an electric cart with only one person on it.  I waved to the driver about halfway down the escalator and indicated that we would like a ride.  She acknowledged she would wait.  That was just one of the many tender mercies we received on our way to Quito.  We arrived at our gate about 15 mintutes before they started boarding.  

            At the Salt Lake Airport "We're Leaving on a Jet Plane"

We arrived in Phoenix about 1:00pm (time change).  The consulate in Phoenix is only open till 3:00pm.  After waiting for our bags, we went and got a taxi.  Our hotel was right by the airport so we had the taxi take us there and I asked the front desk if we could leave our 4 bags and we would be back after our interviews at the consulate.  The consulate was about 20 minutes away.  We arrived and they took our papers and asked us to take a seat.  There was no one else in the cousulate.  We waited about 1 1/2 hours and we were getting nervous because it was after 3:00pm and we thought they would close before we got our visas. But they called us into an office in the back and we signed some papers and paid the $275.00 in cash each and a few minutes later we received an email with our electronic visa.  We forwarded it to our contact at the church visa department and called an Uber and headed back to our hotel.  It was about 5:00pm by the time we got back.  We were exhausted, so we ended up eating dinner at the hotel.  Our flight to Quito had a 6:00am departure.  We went to bed at 8:00pm and set an alarm for 3:30am.  Tuesday, I woke up at 2:00am thinking about a health declaration we needed to board our flight to Quito.  I had filled it out the night before, but I needed to get it printed.  I got dressed and went down to the office center.  I figured out how to email it to myself and then get my email open on their computer that was hooked up to the printer.  This took me about an hour.  When I got back to the room Mom was up getting showered and dressed.  We left for the airport right at 4:00am.  We had an easy check in at Delta and no issues with any of our documents. We got through security without any hiccups.  We had time for some breakfast and we left the gate right on time.  We arrived in Atlanta and made our way to a different terminal, found a quiet place, and connected to our start up committee meeting.  They were a bit suprised to see us.  After the meeting, we had lunch and then found our gate.  We left an half hour late.  We arrived in Quito and breezed through passport control and customs. Both Presidente Aguirre (Temple President) and his wife and Presidente Winters (Mission President) and his wife were there to welcome us to Quito.  The Winters just happened to be there to pickup up one of their daughters and her spouse, but it was fun to see them.  The Aguirres drove us to the temple, about a 40 minute drive.  We went to bed about 10:00pm.  

We got upgraded to Comfort + on our flight from Atlanta to Quito

President Aguirre told us to rest up and do some grocery shopping on Wednesday and that we would meet with him on Thursday morning. So that is what we did.  I had a headache most of the day.  I think the altitude was bothering me.  It takes a few days to get a accostomed to the 9000 feet altitude.  We got unpacked and the recorder, Brother Vallejo, drove us to a mall that also had a grocery store.  We told him we would take a taxi back and not to worry about us.  We tried to use the stove when we got back and couldn't figure out how to turn it on.  It is an induction stove and must be unlocked before you can choose a burner and it uses a single slide to choose a temperature.  We felt like true immigrants as one of managers tried to explain this to us in Spanish.

         We have a beautiful, brand new apartment in the patron housing building in front of the temple.

   The kitchen has everything one might need.

Our own washer and dryer

A cute little bathroom

A very nice bedroom.  They changed out our bed from a standard to a queen.

We met with President Aguirre Thursday morning and spent several hours talking about the training schedule they have planned for the ordinance workers and walking through the temple.  The temple is really beautiful.  There were many paintings of the Savior that we had not seen before.  He then set us apart as ordinances workers.  

          Wednesday morning was very sunny.

Taken from the steps of the temple looking at the patron housing building where we have our apartment.

Mountains on the north

Mountains on the South

Looking at the temple from the front doors of the patron housing building

Thursday afternoon we made another trip to the grocery store.  We needed lots of basic things we hadn't  thought of.  There aren't any restaurants within walking distance of the temple, so we will be cooking the majority of our meals.  We are about 20 minutes away from downtown Quito in an upscale residential area.

Friday: We went to the temple presidency meeting and met the two counselors and their wives,  President and Sister Mino and Presidente and Sister Perez.  Delightful people.  Then we had a training meeting.  In the afternoon, we helped greet members who had appointments to be interviewed to be temple workers.  They have called and set apart about 250 workers and have about another 120 interviews set up.  

Saturday: morning we again greeted members coming for interviews.  One young man's last name was De La Torre Tabongo.  De La Torrre is his father's last name and Tabongo is his mother's last name.  I asked him if he was related to the Brother Tabongo who was the patriarch.  He said that he was his grandson.  I then told him that 51 years ago I had the oppertunity to go to district meetings at his grandfather's home in Otavalo and that I have some pictures of his grandfather's children when they were very young.  He got very excited and wanted to see them.  When he came out of his interview, I asked if he was going to be an ordinance worker and if so, what shift he would be on.  He said yes, Saturday afternoons.  I told him I would bring the pictures.  Here are some of them.

Brother Tabongo and one of his sons.

These are some of his other children.

Outside Brother Tabongo's house with some of the missionaries.

District meeting in Brother Tabongo's house.

This is how we sold Book of Mormons on the street in 1971. I am the tall blonde behind the story board.  I could not resist including this one.

Sunday: President Aguirre and his wife picked us up for church and then invited us to their home for lunch.  We are so blessed and excited to be here.  Next week we have training sessions 9am to noon and 5pm to 8pm Tuesday through Saturday with the workers on each shift.

This is the Cumbaya chapel.

Dinner at President Aguirre's home

                 President and Sister Aguirre and Mom and I 

 

This is for Ted and Sharon Jackman.  Do you recognize your missionary, Elder Molina?

For the rest of you, Ted and Sharon Jackman had an Elder Molina from Ecuador in their mission in Peru.  He married Fernanda Aguirre, the daughter of the new temple president here.  We served with Ted and Sharon in the Cochabamba, Bolivia temple.  We had a wonderful dinner and afternoon visit with the Aguirre family.