John and Christine's Adventures: October 2022

October 17th through October 23rd Part 2:

Thursday: We got picked up at 8:00am for our trip to Otavalo. We got Natali, one of the Uber drivers we have used, to drive us. As we got close to Otavalo, we saw a group of restaurants advertising hot chocolate and bizcochos. We had a little discussion about bizcochos and being a little unsure of what they were, we pulled into one of these restaurants. It was in the middle of 3 in a row. As we walked in, the woman working there said, "Hi Elder, how are you, I am a member of the church also." We ordered hot chocolate and bizcochos. She was very helpful and explained how to make bizcochos (flour, water, salt and a lot of pressing, NOT kneading). We finished our hot chocolate and bizcochos and then her husband came in. As we talked, we realized that he was one of the counselors to President Lema. President Lema is the new Assistant Recorder in the temple and one of the 3 stake presidents in Otavalo. He is going to be released soon because he has to live in Quito to be closer to the temple. It is such a small world in the church. Wearing the black name tag really does have some advantages.

On the way up, we pulled over at a lookout and there was a family there from Arizona. The father had served a mission in Guayaquil 20 years ago. Many former missionaries have come back for the temple open house.

This is Natali, our Uber driver.

Elena de Fernandez

We then drove on to our hotel, Hacienda Cusin. What a magical place. We wanted to stay at this hacienda because during our mission 51 years ago we had a zone conference at this hacienda and Chris and Judy stayed here with Chris' parents on their way home after their missions. I will let the pictures show you how very special this place really is.

The property was bought in an auction in Seville Spain in 1602 by the Luna family. They gave it as a dowry to their daughter when she married Ernesto de Chiriboga. It stayed in the Chiriboga family until about 1980.

This is the main building where the kitchen, dining room, and Salon Bolivar are located.

This is the oldest building and was built in 1800.

This is the reception building.

The succulents grow to impressive sizes.

There are several buildings where guests stay.

The gardens are 100's of years old and very beautiful.

There are bromeliades growing on many of the trees.

The dining room was remodeled in the early 1990's.

Salon Bolivar is where we remember having a mission zone conference. We were happy to spend the evening here around a cozy fire.

The Englishman who has owned the property for over 30 years has collected a lot of religious artifacts and old paintings. This is the other side of Salon Bolivar opposite the fireplace.

It is kind of like staying in a museum.

This is our room. They put hot water bottles in our bed at night.

We had a fireplace and they came and made a roaring fire in every evening.

This is the reading room next to the library.

Later that afternoon we took a taxi into Otavalo and passed this chapel in San Pedro.

Friday: We got picked up by Edwin Vinueza, the chief administrator of the Saminay El Legado high school. This school is sponsored by the foundation, Children of the Andes Humanitarian, and our good friend, Martha Cooper, is the Executive Director of the foundation. Our daughter, Genevieve, is also a member of the board of directors of the foundation. We visited with Martha and Wally Cooper here in 2008 when it only had 2 classrooms and the old farm building. Now it has a cheese processing building, a large cafeteria and kitchen, new bathrooms, and a large building with 6 classrooms. There are also 4 buildings that they hope to get funding to turn into a restaurant and an eco hotel. We were fed lunch at the school and we then visited the classrooms and helped with the English class.

This is the new building with 6 classrooms.

The view from the top of the property is extraordinary and this was a cloudy day.

Buildings they hope to covert to an eco hotel.

The campus view from the top of the property.

Lunch. They serve the students breakfast and lunch.

One of the classrooms in the new building.

The students in the English class. We each took a group of students.

Mom helped this group of kids with their English assignment.

This was my group.

This was another class working on an assembly they were going to have in a few months.

When we got back to the hacienda, Judy realized that she did not have her cell phone. We checked the truck and looked everywhere. Edwin called the school and they could not find it. He went back to the only stop we had made on the way down the mountain and could not find it. So we went to our room and said a prayer. I went looking all over the grounds where we had been walking prior to Judy realizing she did not have her phone. Judy went to her room and got on her knees and prayed again. She came and found us and said she got the impression after praying that we should call the phone. I had the idea that we should have Edwin listen in the truck to see if he could here it ring. I called him and he said he had already left the truck at the office in Otavalo, but that he would go back to the truck and listen. He had given the keys to someone else and got a hold of him and told him to meet him back at the truck. We called Edwin and he could only listen from outside the truck. Finally the guy with the keys got there and before we called again Edwin called and said he had found the phone on the floor under a big plastic tarp. He had to then drive 20 minutes back to the hacienda to bring us the phone. This whole process took about 3 hours, but our prayers were answered and we found Judy's phone. Edwin was so gracious and accommodating. Saturday: After breakfast, I put Mom's and my suitcase in a taxi that I had hired to take us back to Quito and he left with his passenger and agreed to meet us in Otavalo. Mom and Judy did not think that this was a great idea. We then took a different taxi to Otavalo. When we got to Otavalo, we asked the taxi driver to take Judy's bags to Freddy, the taxi driver that had our suitcases. They both were from the same taxi company. Again, mom and Judy were not comfortable with my plan. They wondered if all our bags would end up in the same taxi and they also wondered if Freddy would show up to take us back to Quito. I, on the other hand, had all the faith in the world that this was a great plan. We walked through the poncho market and Chris and I had on our missionary name tags. About every 15 or 20 feet someone would, say "Hola, Elder", or "Hola, Hermana, I am also a member of the church." One member was helping Judy find the tablecloths she wanted to buy and we were walking to another stall. Another sister stopped me and we began talking. I had the idea to show her a picture on my phone of two little girls. I took this picture at a District conference in Quito 50 years ago. She was intrigued with the photo and asked if she could take a picture of the photo on my phone. She then sent it by What's App to all the Relief Society sisters in her stake to see if anyone could identify the two little girls.

This is the picture I showed the sister who sent it to all the RS sisters.

By this time Judy had her tablecloths we had to head to the main plaza to meet Jim Bird. Jim is another missionary who served with us 51 years ago.

This is the church at the main plaza.

After we met up with Jim, Chris wanted to go see an old church we had walked past on our way to the main plaza.

This is the old church Chris wanted to see.

I love all the carved doors on the churches.

After the church, we headed back to the Plaza de los Ponchos. We walked down the same street and the sister who had sent the picture out stopped us and said that someone had showed it to their bishop and he immediately said "This is my mother!" What a surprise! The bishop has my contact information and is going to meet up with us when he comes to the temple. We finished shopping and called Freddy. I told him the corner where we were and he said it would take him about 10 minutes to get there. All I can say is, "Oh, ye of little faith." He came and had all of our bags. We all piled in, Jim in the front and Judy, Chris and I in the back. We got back to the temple at about 2:00pm.

When we got back to the temple there were long lines. I think around 15,000 people visited Saturday.

We went through all my pictures of the mission and with Jim's and Judy's help we were able to identify most of the missionaries. We laughed a lot and had a great time. We had been asked by President and Sister Aguirre to come to their house for dinner and to eat colada morada and guaguas de pan. Jim was a little hesitant to come with us, but I assured him that they knew he would be with us and that he was invited.

Jim Bird, Sister Aguirre, mom, me and Judy Irvine Nelson learning how to make colada morada, a delicious fruit drink.

This traditional drink has 6 different fruits and spices typical of Ecuador. It is eaten with guaguas, a sweet bread in the shape of little babies and often filled with chocolate, pudding, or cream cheese.

I knew Jim wanted to try and find some of the people he had taught and baptized and I knew if anyone could help it would be President Aguirre. We had a great time and as we were eating the colada morada and guaguas, I told President Aguirre about Jim's desire. President Aguirre asked Jim who he would like to find. The first name Jim said was, Bolivar Guerrero. President said, "Well, there is a Bolivar Guerrero that is a patriarch in the Calderon stake. I don't know if it is the same person but let me call his son". He called Edison and Jim and Edison talked and as Jim explained the family and the house where he had taught the Guerrero family it became clear that this was indeed the same family he had taught with Elder Thayne while they served together in the office. Tears flowed down all of our faces as we listened to the conversation and felt the joy of reconnection. It was decided that Edison would contact all the family and we would all get together tomorrow at the temple. President Aguirre gave us permission to use the patron housing building. The next name was a woman named Chiriboga. Jim could not remember her first name. He explained that she was the most prepared person he ever met and that she read the entire Book of Mormon in 6 days and then devoured every book and pamphlet in the commissary in the mission office. Her husband would not allow her to be baptized at the time. President said, "There is an Elena Chiriboga in our ward, but she is visiting her mother in Miami, but her sister, Patricia, is here in Quito. Let me call her". He called and she did not answer, but 5 minutes later she returned the call. Jim talked to her and started telling her about the father of the family. He remembered that he was an engineer who had studied in the states and he had a red Alfa Romeo car. To our surprise, the woman said, "That's my dad!" Once again, tears started to flow and she explained that her mother indeed got baptized and that she and her sister Elena had also joined the church and that her father asked the family to do his work vicariously when he was ill and about to pass away. Patricia called her sister in Miami and in a few minutes Elena and Jim were talking. Their mom was out, but she said she would be back in 30 minutes. Later, the mom called and Jim was able to talk to her. Jim, needless to say, was on cloud ninety nine. It was perhaps the most uplifting and spiritual evening we have been part of in a long time. President and Sister Aguirre then took us back to the temple and offered to take Judy to the airport.

Getting dropped off at the temple. Jim, President and Sister Aguirre, Judy, Mom, me.

Some of the Trujillo family.

We feel so privileged to serve with President and Sister Aguirre. They are such good people and we love them. Later that evening, mom and Sister Aguirre were texting back and forth and Sister Aguirre said, "We like sharing time with you. You are a blessing in the lives of many people. We love you and we value everything that you have done to build the Kingdom of God in our country. We see you as bringing to pass the prophecies and blessings in our lives." Sunday: We woke up and still felt like we were full of the Spirit. Yesterday was incredible and we feel so blessed to be here on this mission. We went to church in our ward for the first time in a few weeks. They probably think we are semi-active. We invited Jim to dinner and he came over to the apartment at 2:00pm. After dinner, I was showing Jim around and we were out looking at the guard house when the first of many cars belonging to the Guerrero family arrived. It was amazing to watch Jim connect with this family. Lots of hugs, smiles and tears. Besides Bolivar, who is a patriarch in his stake, there have been 2 bishops and 5 returned missionaries in the family of 5 generations. We finished up at 7:00pm and said goodbye to Jim. What a finish to a wonderful week with Judy and Jim.

Bolivar Guerrero and Jim meeting after 50 years.

These pictures are of the Guerrero family.

This is Edison Guerrero who set up this meeting and talked about how the gospel has blessed his family's life. Beatriz was pregnant with him when the missionaries arrived at their home.