February 6th through Februrary 12th

February 6th through February 12th:  Monday: We went to President Aguirre's home for dinner and family home evening.  Gabriel, their son-in-law, cooked steaks and a bunch of different sausages. The food was great.  Family home evening was all of their family thanking us for our service.  We keep telling people that we are the ones that need to give thanks, for this has truly been a blessing in our lives.  They are so sweet and kind and loving.  We feel we are kindred spirits. 

Sister Aguirre, mom and Fernanda, their daughter.

Lots of cake for dessert.  This is their son David, his wife, Grace and their children, Ezekial and Victoria.

President and Sister Aguirre sang for us.  He said he only does that for special people.

Tuesday through Saturday: We worked the morning shift each day.  We were able to say a few words at the being of each preperation meeting.  It got harder and harder as the week went on to say good-bye to so many wonderful, faithful friends.  More and more tears and more and more hugs.  Some of the shifts still wanted to have a little going away party. They want us to feel their gatitude and love and we do.

Wednesday night shift.

Wednesday night cakes.

The maintance and cleaning employees. Thursday night.

Shrimp in garlic and butter, yum.

All the parties are blending together.

We had at least 10 goodbye parties.

Friday morning shift.

They gave me the end of the leg of the pig.

Video of me eating Hornado.

Hornado, roasted pig, is delicious.  Even though the Saturday morning shift had a party for us last week, they found out that one of my favorite dishes is hornado.  They said they had to have a second party for us.  They are so kind and generous.

Saturday morning.

Mom got a new apron from the sisters on the Friday morning shift.

Brother Vallejo and his wife came by to say, "adios".  He is the temple recorder and she is a shift coordinator.

This is our new sealer, Brother Munoz, and his wife.  I am so glad that they now have a Quichua speaking sealer from Otavalo. 

We went to dinner with the Calderon family on Friday night.  Brother Calderon was an early convert from Puyo.  His son, Moroni, is a bishop and a worker in the temple office.

John Hansen this one is for you.  The Willards served in Hong Kong and are now serving in the Quito North mission.

Saturday afternoon, after a very long day in the temple, President Aguirre asked us to come over to his appartment for a few minutes.  He sat us down and asked if he could offer a prayer.  He thanked Heavenly Father for sending us to Ecuador, for our service and then asked a blessing to be upon us and our family.  It was so sweet and tender.  He then gave us our release papers as ordiance workers in the Quito Temple.  He is the best and there is no question in my mind why he is the temple president.  He is a true deciple of Christ.  Saturday evening we started packing.   Sunday:  We finished packing.  It was stake conference today and the stake center is over an hour away.  We decided to stay home and watch our home ward's sacrament meeting.  We had President Aguirre and his wife over for lunch.  We got picked up at 3:30pm by Natali, one of our Uber drivers, and she took us to the Colon ward. From there our bags were loaded on a van and we headed to President Winters' home for a going away meeting and dinner. 

Good bye dinner.

Camerons don't leave for 2 weeks.

God be with you till we meet again.

We headed to the airport at 8:30pm.  We will be traveling with 5 sister missionaries and 1 Elder.  The eight of us will travel together to Atlanta and then split up.  Our plane leaves at midnight, so we fly all night and will get home at 10:30am Monday, if everything goes as planned.