February 2009

Carnaval (called Mardi Gras New Orleans) is a festive time of year in Ecuador and throughout all of Latin America. There are parades, parties and lots of water balloon throwing. Natalie and Stephanie with Osamani decided to take time out and spray "silly foam" on each other in the play ground behind our apartment complex.

On a Preparation Day the girls had no school so we all went to the bowling to have some fun with the office missionaries and zone leaders.

After we enjoyed our time bowling, we ate a quick lunch and then played some ping pong. L to R, Elder Scott, Elder Grange, Elder Mata, Elder Padilla, Tim, Elder Bentacourth and Elder Katzenbach.

In Zone Conferences we typically practice what we've learned from Preach My Gospel. Here is a "pretend" ward council meeting with two missionaries who are reviewing the "Informe de Progreso" with ward leaders. Standing is President Cando (stake president of the Esmeraldas stake), one of his bishops and branch presidents. Sister Cando (in blue) is also representing the Relief Society. We always have fun putting into practice what we learn.

It's Sunday morning, we are in Puyo (Amazon area) and we are enjoying the hot humidity on a porch at the hostel where we stayed the night before. A half hour later we were in church, enjoying the conference in the Puyo Branch. Some 70 members were in attendance. It was the first time they had a branch conference in three years.

We were privileged to be in Puyo to attend a branch conference, the first held in over three years! The Puyo branch is an "independent" branch under the direction of the mission presidency. Puyo is located on the Amazonian region of the country. What a wonderful conference it was. This little primary choir melted our hearts.

Natalie is standing in the main plaza of her school, Cotopaxi Academy. Natalie loves her school and her teacher. Below, Natalie was selected as the student of the month for her class. She was nervous to receive her award.

As a "Real Cool Kid" Natalie was honored along with a few other children for their contributions in the classroom. We are very proud of Natalie.

The rainforest part of the country has been inundated with torrential rainfall in January and February. This waterfall wasn't there before the rains fell. The road where the bus later eroded and this main highway between Quito and Santo Domingo was blocked off.

Driving to the tropical coast can be unpredictable. Our trip to Esmeraldas was thrown a curve ball by this huge hole in the road caused by torrential rains that have created landslides and erosion all through the rainforest on the western slope of the Andes. We had just passed through a small town named Nanegalito when we approached this hole in the road. We had two options, we could return to Quito and drive further south through Aloag and Santo Domingo or opt to take the detour that we newly created. We were told that the detour around this hole would be a simple and quick delay. It was anything but that.

Once we were on the detour, we were "off-roading," climbing steep embankments, sludging our way through the rainforest, and managing our way through rough terrain. Leaving the safe road behind us there was no turning back nor the assurance that we could navigate the path that was cut out of the jungle. In some parts the mud was so thick with wet clay that we sank six to eight inches deep. The four-wheel drive on the Explorer was hardly a match for the challenge. The tires were pasted with about an inch thick of mud that stuck on like glue. But we were having fun slipping and sliding through the underbrush. We finally came to place where some heavy equipment had cleared a wider swath through the forest down a hill that eventually linked to a paved road.

Here we are with the two Assistants guiding the car down a grade. At this point we're moving quite well and we knew we could make to the otherside of the big hole.

We're lucky it wasn't raining when we descended the slope.

We climbed up, traversed through a jungle and then descended down this road that was cleared nicely for us, allowing us to reach the main road. Cindy and Sister Griesemer took a leisurely walk down the hill without biffing or really getting dirty. Amazing! The road was really steeper than it looks. After driving the Explorer to the paved road, we took a moment to clean our shoes and scrape off the clay stuck to the tires. We felt relieved that this little adventure was behind us. What fun we had! Elder Padilla to our left and Elder Katzenbach to our right.

We eventually arrived to Esmeraldas, a city on the northern coast of Ecuador. After an afternoon of interviews, we sat down for a delicious seafood dinner with President Cando (stake president) and his wife along with our Assistants and the Zone Leaders.

After our zone conference in Esmeraldas we took this picture of one of the districts. L to R, Elder Robles (Bolivia), Elder Tripp (USA), Hermana Merida (Guatemala), Cindy and Tim, Hermana Maidana (Bolivia), Elder Cruz (Bolivia) and Elder Solorzano (Peru).

A newly arrived group of missionaries at the airport! It's an exciting day when the missionaries come. These missionaries came from Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, Ecuador, Chile, Guatemala and one came from the United States. We love them all!

We are enjoying a wonderful dinner with the stake presidency of Santo Domingo, a city in the tropical rainforest. Presidente and Sister Figueroa are sitting next to us. This restaurant is located in the Hotel Grand Santo Domingo, where we usually stay when we visit every six weeks.

We are standing next to our Assistants, Elder Padilla (L) from Guatemala and Elder Rivera from Nicaragua. They are wonderful Assistants. Elder Rivera was recently called as my newest Assistant. The background is the city of Quito, looking northward.

We have a tradition of taking the new missionaries to a landmark of the city called El Panecillo, where President Kimball dedicated the country of Ecuador in 1966. As a tradition, we read a portion of the dedicatory prayer to the missionaries to remind them of the privilege it is to serve in Ecuador.

With every new arrival of missionaries we also have a farewell of missionaries. The two Assistants, Elders Katzenbach and Padilla are standing in the center and the rest of the Elders are outgoing missionaries who left for home the following day.

After an adventerous trip, descending the Andes through the rainforest, we arrived at Esmeraldas which is located on the ocean in the Northeast part of Ecuador. This picture is taken with the Esmeraldas zone.

We are here in the mission home surrounded by our two wonderful Assistants (L) Elder Padilla from Guatemala and (R) Elder Katzenbach from Arizona. We have had many experiences together that we will always cherish.

In Ambato, we are surrounded by our wonderful missionaries from the Zona Sur. These missionaries serve in the mountains, Riobamba and Ambato, and in the jungles of the Amazon, Tena and Puyo where we have "independent branches."

Cindy is teaching a group of missionaries from the Esmeraldas Zone during Zone Conference. All the missionaries love Cindy who is an excellent teacher! Her fluency in Spanish is like a native.

We are standing with our wonderful missionaries from the Ofelia/Calderon Zone in the Iñaquito chapel in Quito after having a very uplifting zone conference.