Guyaquil

Now we can say we've been to Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador.  It was a quick weekend trip and we'll be going back in June.  It takes only 30 minutes by air or nine hours by bus going down the windy roads of the Andes.  The 30 minute flight was nicer than the bus.  Gordon did his first training the PEF Stake Specialists there.  We also had the chance to go to the Guayaquil temple.  The temple was very crowded and it's the first time lines inside a temple.  But, that was another check off our list.  I don't know if we'll try the temple when we go in June.  We saw many saints there who had traveled by bus for 10 hours or more through the night to get to the temple.  We were especially impressed with the beauty of the Otavalan Saints at the temple (they rode for 11 hours)!  Such beautiful people.

We are posting this a little later than we had hoped.  But, we just now have an internet connection:

Funeral and Burial

Significant events occurred these past few days.  I feel both, as though we were there and directly involved, thanks to technology but also as though we were in the clouds somewhere watching from a great distance, unable to hug, and touch and empathize with what all of you were going through.  It’s been a difficult and emotional time.  Gramma Jacque died.  We are all missing her so much I realize but we’re not missing what we’ve known for the last several months/years but now we’re missing what we remember from years ago so eloquently expressed at her funeral.  Gramma had a magnificent funeral! Dad and I can hardly describe how impressed and thankful we are for the heroic efforts displayed to make it all happen.  We realize all the love, patience, kindness, determination and dedication it took.  We are family.  You did it! You are all the BEST!

Update as of 5/15/12

Our calling, it appears, to be very clerical and administrative, at least judging by the training we’ve had so far.  We’re hoping to make more of it, eventually.  But, we understand we’ve got to learn the mechanics of all the different systems and such and then we’ll go from there.

We were more than a little scared of the cleanliness of the food because we’d been told so many things about what not to eat and to wash all the fruit with disinfectant, etc.  On top of all that, we have both been suffering some distress, especially Gordon.  We arrived from Peru less than well.  After a week in Ecuador, we’re starting to get comfortable with the food and feeling better about things.

The stopover in Lima was difficult.  We were living in extremely uncomfortable circumstances in a very small hotel room with all our 18 month’s worth of luggage.  The hotel was on a very busy corner in a not-so-safe neighborhood.  And Lima is so dusty and dirty and brown; we heard it hasn’t rained there in thirty years!  And it looked like it.  The one redeeming quality of Lima:  the food!  Absolutely wonderful.  Shocking, really.  We loved the cuisine there.

We are so gratified by what we found upon arrival in Quito.  First, we were met at the airport by a whole contingent of senior missionaries!  What a treat and what a difference from Lima where we were met at midnight by only the cab company—very disconcerting.  Quito is quite clean and certainly fresh and green.  It rains here most every day and so that’s nice.  And, even our accommodations are lovely.  We are in a very nice two-bedroom apartment with a cute little kitchen.  We will be here about two weeks and then will move up to an even nicer apartment when that couple goes home.  We have felt very isolated in not having the Internet.  We have it at the office, but we’re too busy to do much personal stuff that we would normally do in the evenings in our leisure.  We went down and got signed up for service in our apartment today—it was a long cab ride and even longer ordeal at the cable office.  The isolation has added to our homesickness, for sure.

On Saturday, p-day, we took an excursion to an Ecuadorian rain forest.  The ride was too long and too bumpy, but we did see some pretty things and some interesting things, like barbecued cuy (guinea pig).  Gordon got altitude sickness and his appetite was annihilated.  On the way back, at our driver’s recommendation, we stopped at a big pork-feed restaurant.  Sandy ate, but Gordon couldn’t.  Gordon has lost eleven pounds to date.

We've been in Lima for almost two days.  We feel great.  We've cried several times however.  It happens when we think of our kids and our sweet little grandchildren.  We love having Viber so we can call and text, but being so fresh on the mission our hearts are still a little tender and tears come easily when we hear of Romney declaring that she can't be in our home (while Mom does the final cleaning) because there are too many memories.  Or Stone walking from room to room while there asking, "Lolly?  Pop?" Or Addy crying in her bed the first night or two wondering how life will be without her Lolly and Pop for a while.
We love and miss everyone so much it paralyzes us at moments several times a day.  We just have to stop and let the tears flow for a minute or two and then we're okay.  And I do mean 'we'.  Dad is more sensitive than I am at times.  He really can't speak about any one of you yet without crying.  I guess we need to heed President Hinkley's father's advice and "Forget ourselves (or rather-all of you) and get to work."  The work is interesting and doing a lot of good.  We're so happy to be involved in this cause.  Giddy up!

On the Plane.

Here we go!

In Peru!

We're here and well as I think most of you know from FB.  We're slowly getting acclimated a bit.

Having instant wi-fi is such a blessing!  I feel like I can almost go without food if I have wi-fi!

It's a holiday here (Labor Day) and EVERYTHING is closed.  Luckily, we brought food from the states and the plane and and there is some cold bottled water in the lobby and so we're fine.  The hotel is full of soccer players; they look about high school age to me.  I think we'll venture out of our room in a bit--we're taking a p-day, by golly!

All of the electricity is 220 and we weren't prepared for that as it is all 110 in Ecuador.  So, I talked to the clerk in the lobby and he gave me a converter and we're charging our iPhones now so we can use Viber.  My little charging brick is heating up a bit; I hope I'm not frying it.  But, the phone is charging.  

We had a pretty long ride from the airport last night in the heat (about an hour)--a little scary since they were not people from the Church that picked us up at midnight.  What happened to the good ol' days when the President or the Assistants picked you up?  At least they didn't smoke.  The city was bustling even at 1:00 in the morning!  We're staying kind of close to the Temple and they took us by it last night.  I was pretty disappointed seeing it--no lights, no beautiful grounds; I was pretty shocked.  They said it was the Temple, though they said they weren't yet members of the Church.  Maybe it wasn't the Temple--it was so dark I'm not sure.  Sandy noticed how dark all the buildings were on the way through the crazy busy city. 

The people with the Taxi company who picked us up gave us a local cell phone and charger from the Church--I'm trying to figure out how to use it--so different from what I'm used to.  I think the number is 971414605.

I initially thought our room was a real dive, but in the daylight it's not so bad.  Very small.  Mom sure is a trooper.  You should see us with our six ginormous suit cases in this little room!  Pretty comical.  The shower this morning was pretty good, though I forgot to close my mouth!  Oh no!  There is no inside lock on our room door and there is a hole in the ceiling above the toilet to sky, but it's partially covered with some cardboard, so I hope it's okay.  We don't feel unsafe.

Sure love you all!

Mom and Dad

Great Day of Role Playing

Another great day with Sandy. I'm so glad she is my companion--I loved having her as my partner in our role playing exercise today. She is really good at it. I love that we think alike, that we can finish each other's thoughts and sentences if needed.

And, we even made some new friends today--from Blanding! He grew up with all my cousins--amazing!

Ainsley made dinner for us tonight and it was so good!

And, Scott got his dental license approved for the state of Nevada--a real miracle. Prayers are being answered.