ACCEPT - ADJUST - ADAPT!

On Monday and Tuesday, we saw the Barlow’s again for some final missionary and mission office business.  We said our final, FINAL farewells on Tuesday, but we had a few phone calls and email exchanges before they officially flew out on Wednesday.

   

When President Barlow finished instructing the office staff on how to manage a normal transfer (since we haven’t had a normal anything since Covid quarantine began on March 17th), he brought out a rack of ties and let the office missionaries choose from his tie collection.  There must have been 50+ ties.  Once the 4 missionaries had made their selections, Elder Lewis was given a left over brown tie that he might actually use.  It was a sweet and memorable gesture by President Barlow! 

President Barlow gifts his tie wardrobe to Elders Chepe, Fueres, Orben, and Ramirez. 

One final photo with the Barlow's.  We are grateful for their love, leadership, and service!  

On Wednesday, we officially moved to the new mission office in the Colon building.  The move went pretty smoothly.  They loaded up computers and designated boxes on Tuesday evening. When we arrived at the new office on Wednesday morning, we decided who was going to take what computer and where I and the two office Elders were going to sit.  

   

I’m pleased with my arrangements.  I have a corner desk with the only computer that has the CDE program on it for recording fichas and creating membership records, two sets of 3-drawer file cabinets, and two other file drawers to store missionary files in.  I also have two printers to my right that are easy to access.   

My new office space!   

My work space is the most visible when you walk into the office, and I do keep it tidy!  The other two missionaries are on the other end of the room.  No one is situated at the front desk, so we told the assistants that they could have that space, but they are usually lingering around the other two Elders' desks.  That works for me, because it gives me ample space to do my work without stumbling over someone else.

   

As financial secretary, Elder Lewis has his own office.  It’s actually bigger than the office he had in the other building. There’s also an office for the Mission President, which is smaller than the previous one, and there is a small storage closet.

Elder Lewis in the new financial office of the Ecuador Quito Mission.

We have not moved all of the mission supplies from the other office.  For now, we are going to store them in the bodega (storage unit) on the premises of the office complex that we were in. We will move and organize the supplies in the bodega sometime this week. 

Wednesday morning, the new temporary mission president - President Baquerizo also came into the office with his wife and teenage daughter.  It was really nice to meet them and he went right to work helping to resolve a medical appointment issue for Elder Sarango.  President Baquerizo is a medical doctor by profession and a former mission president.  He's experienced and has credentials that will be helpful to the mission as we await the arrival of President & Sister Winters.

L-R: President & Sister Baquerizo, Elder Fueres, Elder Orben, Elder Ramirez, Elder Chepe, Elder Lewis, Sister Lewis

While I was helping President Baquerizo with Elder Sarango's medical history, Elder Lewis was zealously discussing the printer situation in the office.  On our way to the new office, we stopped by the old office and picked up the colored printer we'd been using there.  It was a printer that had been recycled from President Barlow’s mission home office this last March when the office printer stopped working.  We were not necessarily partial to that printer, but it did have the functionality that we needed.

Elder Lewis standing curbside with the recycled printer texting the missionaries to
LET US IN the new office.

Well…….the facilities management people DID NOT like that!  For auditing purposes, they are required to keep an inventory of all equipment and where it is located.  That means, that we could not have more than the 3 new printers purchased and designated for the Ecuador Quito Mission. 

Elder Lewis’ tried to adamantly explain why we needed the functionality of the old printer (color, copying, and scanning), but it didn't make any difference.  We still ended up with the 3 designated printers specified for our office.  The discussion created a little bit of tension and a rough start to the morning, but things calmed down and we finished the day on a positive note.  It's unfortunate that they didn’t ask any of us in the office what kind of printers we needed.  Our requests would have been more economical with greater usability than what we were given.  Experiences like this, help us remember three key words for missionaries - ACCEPT, ADJUST, ADAPT!

      

Moving to the new office has given us the opportunity to search out some new places to eat lunch.  Our first choice was only a block from the office - Valentina’s.  It’s small and hardly noticeable when you walk by, but they serve a nice almuerzo (lunch) for $3.  It includes fresh juice, soup, entree, 3 sides (rice, potatoes, vegetables/salad), and a small dessert.  We ate there on Wednesday by ourselves and Thursday with the office Elders.  Both times, we left feeling very satisfied.

   

Friday we tried a Panaderia on the next block.  It’s a large bakery that also serves lunch. Our lunch was $5 and nicely presented.  However, the food and service were better at Valentina’s.

   Lunch at the Panaderia.   Nice presentation!

  

Friday evening, we Zoomed into a baptism at the Colon building that was conducted by the Assistants - Elder Fueres and Elder Orben.  The person getting baptized was Mishell Brigith Shiguango.  As we Zoomed in, the video was showing others who had joined the Zoom baptism.  Here’s what we saw…….

Zoom footage of baptismal attendees for the baptism of
Mishell Brigeth Shiguango on 3 July 2020.

I think this was Mishell’s mother.  I must admit that it seemed a little strange to see someone smoking a cigarette at a baptism, because tobacco is not permitted in our church buildings where baptisms are held.  But, I think it's meaningful that her mother wanted to participate.  Maybe someday Mishell will share the restored gospel with her mother, who will accept the doctrine of Christ, and the Lord's law of health revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1843. (See https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/89?lang=eng)

Yesterday, was the 4th of July.  That doesn’t mean much in Ecuador, but I did find myself longing to celebrate the US holiday in some way.  We received a notice from the US Embassy of a celebration via Facebook Live hosted by the US Ambassador to Ecuador - Michael J. Fitzpatrick.  We accessed the link last night at 7 PM and realized that the celebration was geared to Ecuadorians who had some connection with the US.  It was all in Spanish and we didn’t even hear any patriotic music.  It was disappointing.

   

I’m disappointed that I didn’t do something more to celebrate.  We spent the day cleaning the apartment after Ruben finished painting on Friday.  We scrubbed paint splatters off the floors, wiped the dust and paint splatters off the baseboards, doorways and cabinets, washed windows, vacuumed, dusted, and cleaned until we were exhausted.  

   

The apartment does look brighter and cleaner with a fresh coat of paint.  I can’t say it was an exceptional paint job, but it is better than what we had, and I feel refreshed!

After we finished cleaning, Max and I cut my hair.  I was going to go have it cut, but I didn't want to deal with masks and trying to explain what I wanted, so I decided we could do it ourselves. It turn out pretty good.  The good news is that I think my hair is growing back in.  I’m seeing all kinds of little hairs coming in at the hairline around my face.  I’m also seeing short hairs throughout my scalp.  Maybe those prenatal vitamins that Dr. Vaclaw (brother-in-law) recommended are working.  I’ve been taking them for 3+ months.  Keeping my fingers crossed!

  

Today is fast Sunday.  We invited the sisters upstairs - Hermanas Cabrera, Quena, and Vargas to join us for sacrament meeting.   We did parts of the meeting in Spanish and parts of it in English. Hermana Quena said the opening prayer in English, we sang the opening/sacrament song in English, Elder Lewis blessed the sacrament in Spanish, Hermanas Quena and Vargas shared their testimonies in English, Elder Lewis and I shared our testimonies in Spanish, we sang the closing song in Spanish, and Hermana Cabrera gave the closing prayer in Spanish. It was great meeting with a nice blend of languages.  Hermanas Quena and Vargas are working on their English and Elder & Sister Lewis are working on their Spanish.

Love & Blessings to all!
Elder & Sister Lewis