January 30th through February 5th

January 30th through February 5th:  Monday: We passed the day in the hot tubs and eating.  We did get in a massage. 

This pool was 10 feet from our cabin door.

Our Uber driver came and picked us up and got us back to the temple.  We had a very nice time at the Spa and Hotel at Termas at Papallacta.  Tuesday through Friday: We worked the afternoon/evening shift.  I spent most of my time either officating a session or being the follower on the session.  I was either training someone to be the officator or the follower.  Chris is still spending most of her time in initiatory. President Aguirre gave us a few minutes to say good-bye to the workers at the start of the preperation meeting.  As you can guess it got a bit emotional saying good-bye and thanking the workers and the presidency for their love and kindness towards us. A few of the shifts had a going away party for us after we were done in the temple.  Some of them did not get done until after 10:00pm.

Thanks for your service Norman Family

This was Wednesday night after the shift.

This is Brother and Sister Mora.  He is one of the sealers I trained.

The personal good-byes and thanks that we have received have been somewhat overwhelming. I don't think we realized how grateful these workers are for the training we have given them.  We had Sister Pamela and Brother Nestor over for lunch Friday. They came to serve for two weeks in the temple before leaving for their missions.

Pamela is going to Leeds England and Nestor is going to Guayaquil West.

Saturday:  We spent 9 hours in the temple.  We had a short break for a going away party for the morning shift and after the afternoon shift there was another party. It was a very long day.  

Saturday morning shift party.

February's birthdays.

Saturday afternoon I sat across from Brother Rivera and his son.  After chating for a minute, we discovered he served in the Quito Mission at the same time as our friend, Blake Rigby.  I sent Blake this picture and he remembers Elder Rivera.  We have had so many sweet connections.

Saturday afternoon party.

Sunday:  We went to church and said goodbye to the ward.  We had Nestor over for dinner.  We are on the count down now.