Giving Thanks & Light the World!

We send our Happy Thanksgiving wishes to family and friends.  Of course, the US Thanksgiving is not an Ecuadorean holiday, but we want to celebrate by sharing our gratitude for the  many blessings that the restored gospel and its attending doctrines has brought to our family this past year.  Just to name a few.......

1) The early (3.5 months), but safe arrival of Evelyn Kae Lewis. Evelyn began life at 1 lb. 13 oz. and is now a healthy 11+ lbs.  She is a strong little girl who is growing and developing extremely well. Doctrine: The purpose of life is to gain a physical body and to learn obedience to Heavenly Father's Plan of Happiness.  Little Evelyn was determined to gain a physical body and experience mortality.  We're grateful she is part of our family.

2) Our mission call to the Ecuador Quito Mission.  Doctrine: Service and sharing the gospel.  Our mission experience has brought expected and unexpected opportunities for us to learn and grow.  We work diligently to serve and share, but we humbly recognize that we will always be unprofitable servants.

3) The engagement and temple marriage of our youngest daughter Natalie to Bradley J. Johnson.  Doctrine:  Families can be together forever when sealed in the holy temple by authorized priesthood keys.  Natalie and Brad began their lives together in the best possible way - united and sealed for the eternities!

4) Selling our Ohio home.  Doctrine:  Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers.  Selling a home can be challenging, but our prayers were answered in miraculous ways and we are grateful for the family who purchased our home, because they wanted a "family" home to raise their children in.

5) Successful school, career, and employment opportunities for our children, children in-law, and grandchildren.  Doctrine:  God knows, understands, and blesses our temporal affairs when we seek to follow Him.  God's hand has been involved as we, and our children, have made temporal transitions that have had significant spiritual impact.

6) The announcement of grandchild #29.  Staci & Kraig are expecting a little girl in May.  She will be a tie breaker and we will soon have 14 grandsons and 15 granddaughters.  Doctrine:  Families are central to the creator's plan.  We are ALWAYS excited to welcome another member to the Lewis Family.

We acknowledge that a lovely Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ are the source of these blessings.  We love them and we are grateful to be serving as missionaries of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ here in Quito.

This past week literally flew by.  We are preparing for the missionary transfers that will occur the first week in December.  The number of incoming missionaries has changed throughout the week due to the status of Visas, and the unrest in several South American countries.  As of Friday afternoon, the Ecuador Quito Mission will have 16 missionaries departing and 10 missionaries arriving.  The office prepares mission booklets for all, with letters and certificates for the outgoing missionaries; and health envelops, medical release forms, and questionnaires for the incoming missionaries.

In all honesty, paperwork is not my forte and I will admit that I have a love/hate relationship with the printers in the mission office.  But, this week went well and we will be prepared when transfer week arrives on December 2nd!

Yesterday, we went searching for a small and inexpensive Christmas tree.  We took the bus to one mall and didn't find anything suitable.  We decided to walk a mile to another mall and on the way we passed a park that had 3-4 vendors selling Christmas decor.  We decided to check out their decorations and we were fortunate to find a cute little tree priced at $12.  In my Spanglish, I offered the woman $10 if she would include the little plastic treetop star.  She agreed, and we walked away with our "mission" Christmas tree.

We brought it home, set it up, and began making some homemade decorations - popcorn garland and dried citrus.   It's a good thing the tree was small, because I ate far more popcorn than I threaded!

Our simple little tree is far different from the TREES we had in our Ohio home, but it invites the spirit of Christ into our apartment and we are looking forward to celebrating the season and sharing the message of Jesus Christ as missionaries.

We invite you to "transform Christmas into a season of service by following the example of Jesus Christ and ministering to others one by one -- just like He did."   For more, see LIGHT THE WORLD.  Please don't hesitate to share your Light the World experiences in the comment section of this blog.  

We send our love to all from Ecuador!

Elder & Sister Lewis

Zone Conference & the Finca

This week we traveled with President Barlow to Riobamba and Ambato for Zone conference.  We left early Wednesday morning to go to Riobamba where President Barlow conducted interviews with the missionaries who are serving in that zone.  After a day of interviews in Riobamba, we traveled back to Ambato and spent the night.

While President is conducting interviews with the missionaries, Elder Lewis and I are visiting with the missionaries, learning about them and their families, asking about the missionary work they are doing in their assigned areas, checking on their health and living conditions, and sharing our thoughts and testimonies.

On Wednesday in Riobamba, I also administered an online English test to Elder Huerta.  About 50% of the missionaries in this mission are Latino.  They are strongly encouraged to learn English while serving a mission and are almost always paired with an English speaking companion.  That arrangement helps both the Spanish missionary learn English and the English missionary learn Spanish.

Sister Barlow oversees the English program available for Latino missionaries by distributing materials for them to use in their personal and companionship study, tracking their progress, and administering their final online test. Once a missionary has finished the 3 text books in the program, he or she can take the online test.  Latino missionaries generally take the English test a few weeks before they finished their mission.  If they score high enough, they are eligible to enter the PathwayConnect Program.

PathwayConnect is a reduced-cost online program that prepares students to start or finish a college degree by building spiritual confidence and teaching foundational academic skills.  All course credits count toward a bachelor's degree.  (See https://byupathway.lds.org/pathwayconnect)  It is a great opportunity for the Latino missionaries to obtain a college education from a US university at very low cost.  Elder Huerta was excited to tell me on Thursday that Sister Barlow had informed him that his test scores were high enough for him to enroll in PathwayConnect.

Thursday was Zone Conference for the Ambato, Oriente, and Riobamba zones.  It was wonderful! We echo President Barlow's words......the Ecuador Quito Mission IS blessed with outstanding young men and young women who are humble, obedient, hard-working, and have a great love for the people of Ecuador.  They work diligently to share the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and invite others to come to Him, make and keep sacred covenants, and received the blessings of His atoning sacrifice.

On our travels to Riobamba and Ambato, we saw some of the beautiful Ecuadorian countryside and almost got a glimpse of the well known volcano - Cotopaxi.  Cotopaxi is on our list of sites to see.  We will be making a trip to hike the volcano in the near future.

Patchwork of Ecuadorean farmlands.  It's amazing how high up the mountainside the farms go. 

A glimpse of Cotopaxi, an inactive volcano. This picture was taken at 11,200 ft, and the volcano rises up
from this base to an elevation of 19,347 ft!  When we hike Cotopaxi we will only be going to the first refuge.

Elder Lewis in Ambato at the Parque De Los Enamorados a few blocks from the Ambato Chapel.
Translation = Park of the Lovers.

Sculpted cypress at the Parque.  Yes, we did see a few couples besides ourselves enjoying a stroll through the park.

Elder Lewis standing next to a sculpted cypress.

We returned from our zone conference trip Thursday night.  Friday morning we were at the mission office until after lunch and then we left with the Guerrero family for an overnight trip to their cacao farm - finca, located about 3 hours northwest of Quito.  It is a mountain descent from 9600 feet elevation in Quito to 2000 feet elevation at the finca; thus the tropical/jungle terrain at the finca. 

We made a few stops to pick up supplies and then arrived at the finca after dark.   Once there, we turned on the electricity, primed the well for water, unpacked, and prepared our rooms for the night.  We then helped Sister Guerrero prepared a pot of homemade chicken soup for dinner.  After dinner, we visited, planned for the next day, and went to bed.

Sleeping with a mosquito net.  We haven't done that since our trip to Africa in 2003.

We awoke the next morning and headed into the jungle with Brother Guerrero to see the finca and to get breakfast supplies - it was literally "farm to table" for breakfast.  We gathered long stalks from a grassy plant to make a lemony tasting breakfast drink.  Then we cut down a bundle of plantains and carried them back to the farmhouse to make tortillas.

Elder Lewis on the edge of the jungle.

Fresh plantains for breakfast.

Once we had delivered breakfast supplies, we headed back out to see more of the farm........ There were bamboo trees, sugar cane, banana trees, plantain trees, heart of palm, cinnamon trees, lemon trees, lime trees, orange trees, avocado trees, pineapple plants, mango trees, and lots of cacao trees.  It was amazing!  We tasted about everything that was ripe and edible - sugar cane, heart of palm, yuca, lemons, plantains, and cacao.

Standing outside the farmhouse in our rubber boots.  

After our farm tour, we went back to help make a breakfast of lemon drink and plantain tortillas.

Plantain tortillas - boil 9 plantains until soft.  Mash with 2 Tbsp. of butter, fresh chopped cilantro and onion, and
1 clove of finely minced garlic.  Pat into a shallow cup, filled center with fresh mozzarella cheese,
cover center with dough, pat into a round pancake about 1/2 inch thick, fry.

After breakfast we hiked through the jungle to the river - Rio Blanca.  Brother Guerrero wielded his machete like a pro!  He cut down trees, sliced up sugar cane and heart of palm, and cleared a path to the river.  Once we arrived at the river we enjoyed exploring, sucking the sweet juice of the sugar cane, dipping our bare feet into the water, and taking photos.

Rio Blanca

Elder Lewis on the bank of the Rio Blanca

The Guerrero Family

Brother Guerrero finding the "heart" of the palm with his machete.

Getting a taste of the inside of a cacao pod.  The cacao beans are encased in the milky white center that is
edible and sweet. The cacao beans are removed from the center, dried, and sent to the market. 

When Brother Guerrero purchased his farm, much of the land was wet and swampy.  He was teaching Primary at the time and one of his Primary lessons shared the story of the early saints draining the land in Illinois to build the city of Nauvoo.  He felt impressed that he could do the same with his property - drain the swampy land and plant cacao trees.  He dug a few large ditches with a piece of machinery, but most of the drainage ditches were dug by hand.  It's impressive!

After our hike to the river we return to the farmhouse, gathered some wood, and cooked a delicious lunch in the open air kitchen before packing up and traveling back to Quito.  It was an Ecuadorean experience to remember.  We sincerely appreciated the hospitality of the Guerrero Family!

Brother Guerrero preparing a fire to cook lunch - chicken marinated in a cilantro sauce,
yuca, plantains, rice, and a tomato/cucumber/pepper salad.  Yummy!

Through our travels and experiences this past week, we have felt a deeper appreciation for God's creations, and for those like the missionaries and the Guerrero family, who exemplify God's love in word and deed.

Sending our love to all from Ecuador!
Elder & Sister Lewis

Santo Domingo & Sightseeing

On Tuesday, November 5th, we reached our 3 month Quito anniversary.  It's amazing how quickly the time has passed!  With the exception of the language, we feel very comfortable in our apartment complex, in the area of Quito where we live, in the mission office, with the missionaries, and in the ward.

This past week we had the opportunity to travel with President Barlow (mission president) to the Santo Domingo zone conference.  Santo Domingo is 3 hours west of Quito and about an hour from the coast.  The elevation drop was noticeable.  We went from 9600 ft. to about 2000 ft.  The climate was also much warmer and more humid.

The Beautiful Andres Mountains!

El poder brutal, also known as La cara del diablo ("The Face of the Devil"), is a colossal sculpture located in
Ecuador.  It is carved into the living rock of the mountain.  It is especially famous for its size and because
it is located on the most traveled route between Quito and Guayaquil. 
(See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_poder_brutal)

We left Quito at 9:45 AM and arrived at the Santo Domingo chapel shortly before 1 PM.  From 1 - 5 PM President conducted interviews with the missionaries.  Elder Lewis and I visited with the missionaries as they came and went.

We had some wonderful conversations and learned that there are 5 missionaries in the mission who have a twin serving somewhere else in the world.  We also discovered that the mission's tallest and shortest missionary are both in Santo Domingo.  Elder Marz at 6' 9" and Elder Chuquimango who is maybe  4' 9".

Missionaries celebrating birthdays in October & November.  Note Elder Marz at 6'9".  Elder Chuquimango is not pictured, but he is at least 8 - 10 inches shorter than the shortest Elder in this photo.

Knowing that we were going to be waiting several hours for President Barlow to finish his interviews, I took some piano music with me to practice if the opportunity presented itself.  At one point, while waiting for Elders to arrive, I sat down to play.  The zone leader Elder Wilkinson, asked me if I would accompany a few Elders who would be singing a special musical number the next day at zone conference.  I agreed to do so, and then I asked Elder Wilkinson what hymn they would be singing. He said they would be singing the lyrics from "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" with the music from "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing." Elder Wilkinson then went on to say that they didn't have the music for "Come Thou Fount", but was hopeful we could find a copy.

Monday afternoon when I was packing my piano music for our trip, I happened to find tucked in a thin book of chord progressions a one page copy of the music "Come Thou Fount." It was there because several years ago, when I was working on my own piano arrangement of "Come Thou Fount", I had made a copy of that hymn from a previous hymnal and apparently had left it in the chord progression book.  I did not realize it was there until the day before our Santo Domingo trip.  I decided to just leave it there and take the chord progression book  along with the other music I had to Santo Domingo.

You can imagine my surprise when Elder Wilkinson said they needed to find a copy of "Come Thou Fount."  There it was!  I had the copy that I'd found the day before!!  To be sure, it was a small miracle!! The next day at zone conference, five Elders sang "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" to the accompaniment of "Come Thou Fount." It was BEAUTIFUL!

Following interviews on Tuesday night, President took us out to dinner at a nice restaurant in downtown Santo Domingo.  The food was delicious and very reasonably priced.  We ordered a popular dish in Ecuador - ceviche, which is basically a cold seafood soup.

Ceviche - is a seafood dish originating in Peru and typically made from fresh raw fish cured in citrus juices, such as
lemon or lime, and spiced with aii, chili peppers or other seasonings including chopped onions, salt, and coriander.

President had also made arrangements for us to stay in a hotel that was on the outskirts of Santo Domingo. He thought it would be the best place to stay because it would be more quiet than the hotel where we'd had dinner.  What President didn't realize was that it was the week of Santo Domingo's State Fair and the fairgrounds were right across the street from our hotel.  Needless to say, it was a NOISY night!  Music was playing until 3 AM and then the roosters started crowing at dawn's first ray of light - approximately 4:45 AM.  Elder Lewis and I got little or no sleep.  We were hopeful that President was able to get some rest, but discovered at breakfast that he too had had a sleepless night.

In spite of our sleepless night, being with the missionaries was energizing and we managed the entire day and the drive home without any problems.

Yesterday, we took the Quito City On/Off Tour Bus.  It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed our 3 hour tour.  Some of the sites we had visited before and others were new to us.   We couldn't help but notice the Sherwin Williams sign.  I know that's not a "city site", but it's significant to us.  Have you been watching SW's stock price??

Sherwin Williams ....... cover the earth!

Homeless in Quito?

We do not consider homelessness to be a "city site", but this past week we saw 4 interesting situations.  This man was settled among the pigeons.  In two other cases, men were sleeping on busy streets in the morning hours. This morning on our way to Church, we came upon a young man (20 something), who was laying on the sidewalk at the corner of a busy intersection.  He looked as if he were dead.  As we approached him, I watched closely to see if his chest was rising and falling.  It was, and we knew he was still alive; but apparently he had fallen at that spot in a drunken or stoned stupor.  He was gone when we walked by two hours later.

We're not surprised by the situations described above.  In a city of over 2 million people, its amazing that we don't see more of the same.  But, it does cause one to stop and think, to count blessings, and to consider how best to share those blessings.

We are grateful to be here! We are learning and growing in new and exciting ways. We are serving and being served.  We are thankful for the love and support of our children, children-in-law, grandchildren, family members, and friends.  May God's choicest blessings be yours!

Love to all from Ecuador!
Elder & Sister Lewis

Halloween & All Souls Day

We mentioned in our last blog the celebration of "All Souls Day" or "Day of the Dead."  The office missionaries were eager to celebrate.......something. So, Elder Flint and Elder Martinez (Assistants to the President) asked the spouse of a new member to bake a cake for Halloween and for Elder Burga's birthday.  Elder Burga works in the office and oversees about 90 missionary apartments.  We celebrated both with a delicious homemade chocolate/nutello cake.

Elder Burga celebrates his 20th birthday - 28 octubre 2019

When transfers occur in early December, Elder Burga will be leaving the office and going out into the field.  He is currently training his replacement - Elder Fueres.  Consequently, he has a little extra time each day.  Never one to waste time, Elder Burga asked if I would read the Book of Mormon with him in English so that he could work on his English pronunciation.  We have been spending about 30 minutes a day reading.  At first, he was just reading out loud to me.  However, after a few days I realized that this would be a great opportunity for me to improve my Spanish pronunciation. So, I'm also reading out loud to him in Spanish.  Its a great exchange!

I'd like to say that Elder Lewis and I are getting better with the language, but it feels like the more we learn the less we know.  We will just keep working at it.  Sunday's at church are always humbling language days. We listen for 2 hours and seldom understand more than a small portion of what we hear. 

Today, I was asked at the last minute to play the piano for sacrament meeting.  It was fast and testimony meeting, and because of the large number of people who shared their testimonies the meeting went past the hour.  The counselor conducting the meeting announce the closing song and prayer.  I wasn't sure, but I thought he said that we would just sing the "primo" verse of the hymn.  Apparently I had heard correctly, because the young woman conducting the music finished the first verse, turned around, and sat down.  Anticipating that we were just going to sing one verse, I followed her lead and stopped playing, but the congregation continued and started to sing the "segundo" verse.  When they realized that there was no conductor or accompaniment, everyone eventually stopped singing and a slight chuckle rippled throughout the congregation.

Recently, I've had the opportunity to help some Pathway students edit their English essays. For the past 3 weeks, I've also been helping a potential BYU student with her college application essays.  Missionaries are encouraged to do 10 hours of service each week, and I'm enjoying my service hours assisting with English and teaching piano lessons.  This past week, I lost one piano student who went to work full-time, but added two new students - Camila (age 13) and Daniela (age 11).

A block down from the mission office is the Basilica of Saint Teresa.  We've had a desire to visit this basilica since we arrived in Ecuador.  On Saturday (officially All Souls Day). we stopped by the basilica and found that the main floor was locked, but the back entrance was open for those who wanted to go into the basement, tour the crypt, and pay homage to the deceased.  We decided to go inside and we found it to be fascinating and beautiful.

Basilica Saint of Saint Teresa

Basilica front courtyard.

According to Spanish Dict.com the little book above the front doors reads:
"I want to go into my Heaven, I am doing good on earth."

Crypt corridors........

You may have noticed the beautiful fresh cut roses in the Basilica photos.  Ecuador is a leading global producer of premium roses and you will find beautiful freshly cut roses everywhere.  A bouquet of long-stemmed roses cost about a dollar in the local markets. 

We are looking forward to the next two weeks, touring the mission with President Barlow, and meeting the missionaries.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers on our behalf.  Love to all from Ecuador!

Elder & Sister Lewis