September 5th through September 11th Part 1

 September 5th through September 11th, Part 1

Monday: President Perez, second counselor in the temple presidency, and his wife picked us up about 8:30am and we drove to Termas de Papallacta.  As we drove east out of the city and up into the mountains, the sun was shining and the weather was warm.  Once we got close to the summit we found ourselves in clouds and it began to rain.  We decended the mountain into a valley. There were water falls right next to the road.  We finally arrived at the thermal pools of Papallacta.  It was very overcast and still raining.  We paid the admission and changed into our bathing suits.  We had to shower to enter the pools and with the breeze it was freezing getting from the changing rooms to the first pool.  There were a number of groups of people from all over the world and some from Ecuador. We stayed in the first pool.  Everyone that left always came back and said that the pool we were in was the best temperature.  So why freeze trying to find another pool?  We enjoyed the hot pool for about 1 1/2 hours even though it was raining the entire time.  Then we got dressed and had lunch in a small resturant in the town of Papallacta.  We got home about 3:00pm.  

I took this as we were driving by.

This is the small river we had to cross to get to the pools.

President Perez and his wife.

Sister Perez and Chris.

It was a beautiful setting.

There were a lot of beautiful flowers.

The drive home was very cloudy as we went back up and over the mountain.

Tuesday:  We had our weekly meeting and found out that we would not have access to the temple for ordinance worker training for 4 weeks.  We asked President Aguirre if we could take advantage of the closure to visit Cuenca, a city in southern Ecuador where I had served 51 years ago as a young missionary.  He agreed and so we left late that afternoon.  The flight is only an hour and we arrived in Cuenca about 5:00pm.  We took the public transportation train into the old part of Cuenca.  We only had one small roller bag and my backpack.  We wandered around trying to find our Airbnb for about an hour.  We would ask someone which way to the street we needed and we would walk in that direction a few blocks and then we would ask another person and they would tell us a different direction.  Finally, I put the address in Waze and we got there.  I felt really old for not thinking of that sooner.  For me, the best part of the Airbnd was the patio that looked out over the roof tops.  For mom, the worst part of the Airbnb was the 3 flights of stairs to get to the apartment. We went out to dinner and bought some food for the fridge.

The were some amazing cloud formations on the flight down to Cuenca.  I think this is Cotapaxi under these clouds.

View from the plane of the new cathedral.

View from our patio when we arrived.

Stairs are not our friends at our age.

Dinner was salad and pizza.

After dinner, I took this picture of the domes 

of the new cathedral.

View from our patio at night.

Wednesday: I cooked eggs for breakfast.  Our first stop was the new cathedral on the main square, three short blocks from our apartment.  We walked through the church and then we found the entrance on the outside of the building in an alley to the stairs to the top of the towers.  We had to pay a dollar each, the old people price, for the priviledge to climb 175 stairs in a circular staircase.  The view was amazing.

Our day begins at the main plaza.

The new cathedral was started in 1885 and did not get completed until 1967.

There are many beautiful stained glass windows.

The post and dome over the altar are made of wood and covered in gold leaf.

Most of the marble was imported from Europe.

Back side of the cathedral.

Climbing the stairs.

Pano of the view.

There are 52 churches in the city.

Beautiful views.

Looking down on the main plaza,  Calderon Park.

All the views were stunning.

The picture on the right is a rendition of what the church was supposed to look like.  The architect made a miscalculation and they could not finish the towers because it was determined that the foundations were not strong enough to take the extra weight. The picture on the left is how it looks today.

  We then hopped on the city tour bus.  We and 2 other people were the only ones on the top of the double decker bus.  We drove around the city and ended at the Turi lookout.  Where we had 30 minutes to take pictures and enjoy the view.  The bus then dropped us off back at the main plaza. 

Here we go on the city bus tour.

Domes of the new cathedral.

We saw many interesting buildings.

There are 4 rivers that come together in Cuenca.

On the hill above Chris's head are Inca foundations from the town of Pumapungo.

The architecture along the river is fantastic.

This is a high school.

This is where we will be going to church on Sunday.

The Turi lookout.

Pano of the city below.

Can you find the domes of the new cathedral?

Headed back to the main plaza that is dead ahead.

We are getting closer.

 We next visited the old cathedral on the oppisite side of the main plaza from the new cathedral.

 Front doors to the old cathedral. Started in 1569 and completed 4 years latter.

Looking to the back at the organ loft. 

 

Looking forward to the altar.

The walls are painted.

Can you see where there was a painted door and then they added a real door?

These are the doors they added.

There were three small chapels on the side of the main church.

These two paintings on the wall were in the chapel above.

The crypt.

An amazing chest.

The twelve apostles.

We then went to lunch.  After lunch we went to the city museumn and then to the Mueso de Remigio Crespo Torral, a famous poet.  The building was interesting.

We next went to the Aborignal Museum in an old colonial house.  This is the private collection of a history professor, Juan Cordero Iniguez, and is considered by some to be the best archeology and anthropology museum in Ecuador.  Over 7,000 artifacts are displayed chronologically and by region.  Many of the artifacts are intact and show that the culture that pre-dates the Incas was very advanced. 

We were tired and got a taxi and went back to our apartment.  Part 2 to come in a few days.

August 29th through September 4th

 Monday:  Chris cut my hair and we went to a new area of Cumbaya, San Francisco.  It is an area around the best university in Ecuador.  We did our weekly shoping there and then spent the rest of the afternoon taking a nap, doing laundry, and cleaning.  Tuesday through Friday:  We went to the temple both morning and evening for the training of the workers on each shift.  We have been so impressed with the faithful members who come to the training, some who have to travel several hours or more.  On Tuesday evening, we had 180 missionaries from the Quito Ecuador mission come  to visit the temple.  The previous week, when Elder Neil L  Anderson was here, he had invited all the missionaries to come to the temple so that they could see the beauty of the temple and feel the spirit that is there.  It is a good way to remember the purpose of the gospel and what they are inviting their investigators to see and hopefully feel.  Chris was in the evening training session, but I helped get the missionaries into the temple.  We had the missionaries come in groups of 30 into the lobby in front of the recommend desk and then someone from the temple staff would lead them on a walk around the temple, passing the baptistry, sealing rooms, ordinance rooms, and finally the celestial room.  Then as they were leaving, the sister missionaries were invited into the waiting room.  We collected all the sister missionaries from each group of 30 missionaries and then at the end, the sister missionaries went back in to see the brides room.  On the wall behind the recommend desk, is a 10 foot painting of Christ standing in the jungle with two 7 or 8 year old children standing on either side of the Savior. Each of the children are clutching his robe and you get the impression they do not want to leave His side.  As one group of missionaries were leaving, I was standing in front of the recommend desk watching the missionaries walk back towards the front door. I glanced up at this painting of Christ and I felt the Spirit say to me, "These are my servants."   I had to wipe the tears from my eyes for a minute or two.  It was a very special experience.  

   Missionaries from the Quito Ecuador Mission

Wednesday and Thursday we had about 90 missionaries each evening come and see the temple from the Quito North Ecuador mission. 

Missionaries from the Quito North Ecuador Mission Wednesday evening

      Missionaries from the Quito North Ecuador Mission on Thursday evening

Friday: After our morning shift we had our weekly start-up committee meeting on Zoom. Last Sunday we found out that starting September 5th, today, the temple would be closed for a month to accomodate some repair work that needs to be done before the one year warranty period is up.  In our meeting, we discussed what we were going to do for the next month and how we were going to get the ordianance workers trained. It was decided that the special projects department at the church would try and negociate a shorter shut down period or perhaps letting us train part of each day, either in the morning or in the evening.  Now we will just have to wait and see if there can be some kind of accomadation. Saturday we went to the temple at 6:00 am and were the first ones there.  The doors were open, but I had to turn on all the lights.  We had a nice day helping with the 2 sessions of training.  In the afternoon, we went exploring.  We found a bakery and bought a chocolate cake for Sunday dinner.  We had it delivered to the guard house at the temple.  We had a late lunch at a new resturant we found and then finished up the afternoon with some grocery shopping. 

Waiting for our lunch

Sunday, we took an Uber into Quito and went to the Colon ward.  Mom had learned from Maureen Ludlow, a friend from her temple shift in Bountiful, about a woman who was the first missionary to serve from Ecuador, Martha Viteri.   Martha is the mother of her daughter-in-law and lives in the Colon ward and we wanted to meet her.  She left on her mission to Columbia at the same time we were serving in Ecuador.  Martha's father was a counselor to President Latimer, our mission president in 1971. We learned that members of  the Trujillo family also lived in this ward.  The Trujillo family were early members when we here 51 years ago and Mom had visited in their home several times.  Mom found Sister Martha Viteri de Ceballos, and we sat with her.  I bore my testimony and got a bit emontional as I talked about how it felt to be back in Quito after so many years.  After the meeting we met Guillermo and Pedro Trujillo who were children in the Trujillo family.  

Sister Martha Viteri de Ceballos and her husband, Frank Ceballos.

Three generations of the Trujillo family:  Left to right, Emily Tonato, grand-daughter, Sandra Trujillo de Tonato, daughter, mom, Marceleno Trujillo, father, Santiago Tonato, son-in-law, Mateo Tonato, grandson, me.

Pedro Trujillo and his wife

We got back to the temple and called president Aguirre.  He came and picked us up and we went to his home for dinner.  It was delicious.  First, we had Honey Walnut Chicken on a bed of lettuce.  Then talapia baked in butter and cream with rice and veggies.  We brought our chocolate cake and some ice cream for desert.  It was a feast for sure. I played Rummikub with President Aguirre, his son-in-law, Gabriel and and his 8 year old son, Gabriel Jr.  Mom played Barbie with their grand daughter, Eduarda.  We spent most of the afternoon there.

Honey Walnut Shrimp--yum!

We really enjoy the Aguirres

President Aguirre, his son-in-law, Gabriel, and his grandson Gabriel, Jr.

Edu made a friendship card for Mom.  

On the way home, we spotted Cotipaxi, an active volcano, covered in snow. It last erupted in 2015.  Most of the time you can't see it because of cloud cover.

We enjoy the Aguirres and feel like they have been our friends for years.  They are so kind to us. It is wonderful to feel like we have "family" here.  We got to catch up with some of our kids that evening on Facetime and everyone seems to be doing well.