Where Did February Go?

Well, another month has flown by. As I was updating my files this week, I realized that Friday was the last day of the month. That just proves we are having a wonderful time.
It was good to have Elder W. back working in the office. I had missed him being there with me. The good thing about being a “Senior Missionary” is that we do not have to occupy the same space at all times.
Also this week I have been able to “reconnect” with an old high school friend through Classmates, a web site. He and Elder W. also played little league baseball together, many years ago. He remembers Elder well. He also told me he lived in Ecuador for three years. He works for Bechtel International. He visits here often and knows exactly where we are living. How small is this world?
We will be having some changes soon. Our “Mission Nurse”, Sister Wallace, will be going home to Canada in two weeks. A couple will come to replace her. The Sister will be the nurse and the Elder will be the Finance Elder for the Mission. We will also have a new Mission President in July.
We also got some other great news this week. Our dear friends from our last Mission, Brother and Sister Nancolis, have been called as a Mission President. They will receive their assignment at a later time. We are so very excited for them, even more excited for the Elders and Sisters who will serve under him. He has worked for the Church for many years and in many Spanish speaking countries. We of course would love for him to come here to Quito.
We love you and miss you all! The Gospel is the greatest thing in our lives, our Savior loves us all and wants the best for all his children. We are teaching this principle each day.
Until next time!

Dad's "Gansta" look

This post is just for Jamie, she wanted this photo for everyone to see. So there you are!

It's been and interesting week!

Elder W. has been sick for a few weeks now, he is finally feeling better though. If he had to get sick, it happened at a good time, we have little work in the office at this time. We are very cought up with our assignment. We do make a good team, it I may say so myself, he is such a good administrator and teacher of Priesthood Correlation, and I am a very well organized secretary (executive assistant).
The middle of the week, I finally conviced him to stay home and rest He listened! He is now feeling much better. We did venture out on a nice sunny Saturday, we needed the exercize and he was going stir crazy. Just to the mall for lunch and a little people watching, it is so fun!
The one thing about the Saints here they SING the Hymns of the Church, with or without a piano. The missionaries usually lead the music. At this time we have two wonderful Latin Sisters, which is quite unusual. They are doing very well and are teaching several women.
We love serving here in Quito, it is a wonderful City with people of faith. We talk often with tourists about why we are living here. We have met some wonderful people on the streets. The shop keepers love us. Dad had a pair of beautiful black boots made a few weeks ago, and I had a pair this week. They are so,so inexpensive, he makes a mold of your foot, how cool is that?
That has been our strange week. Please know you are in our thoughts and prayers, both family and friends. We pray for you always wherever you are.
Time is flying by, we have been here for seven full months already.
Well that's about all for now, until I write again.
Hermana W.

Our Trip with Greg to Otovalo

A few months ago we had the pleasure of showing our son-in-law, Greg Gardner around our City. He was here on a business trip, we were thrilled to see him. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner with him on Friday evening then on Saturday we hired our good friend Patricio to drive us for the day. We went to a beautiful very old Hacienda, "La Cusin." It is about 400 years old. The tapistries were just remarkable. There were beautiful gardens,it has been converted to a hotel/bed and breakfast. We had a very nice lunch and then drove on further to the marketplace in Otovalo. It is a huge open-air market and there are also some small shops which Greg loves brouse. It is very famous market. The weather turned rainy and we cut our shopping short. Dad did buy a black felt hat and an "Ecuadorian Poncho." We then drove home. I'm sure Greg, because of his world travels, was not as impressed as he thought he would be. Actually, we went there our last mission. We were able to barter more last time and seemed to be smaller this time. He was glad to have made the trip. We had a good day.
I will continue to do little stories until we get caught up on time. We love Ecuador.

We're Official Bloggers!

Now that we have begun this blogging thing, we need to do a little backing up.
As a convert to the Church, during the last 40 years, I have learned the Gospel through callings or assignments, in different organizations being, Primary for 13 years, then Young Women, and Relief Society. Elder W. has served in many callings all having to do with Priesthood Organization. His most wonderful calling was as a counselor to three Mission Presidents over a five year period. Doing service to others gives a wonderful feeling, especially when prompted by the Spirit. I especially realize "when you are in the service of your fellow being, you are only in the service of you God" (Mosiah 2:17). We know this principle to be true, as we have tried to live our lives by this principle.
Eight years ago we began a Mission here in Quito, Ecuador assigned to work in the "Employment Resource Center". We worked in the same building as the Institute, which is where young adult students take religious classes. We loved that mission and knew that we would serve again in the future. Knowing we wanted to serve as Missionaries again we submitted our papers, which is a procedure the Church has to make assignments.
We received our assignment to the Perpetual Education Program, to begin in July of this year. This program aids students in third world countries who do not have the opportunity for education. They are able to obtain a loan from a fund which grows “perpetually” by donations from private and corporate donors. After the student graduates from their schooling, they repay the loan, with a small amount of interest. Our assignment is to help and encourage them to repay their payments and more importantly, keep their commitments to the Lord in the use of these sacred funds.
While we are here, we have met some wonderful other “Senior Missionaries” as well as reacquainting ourselves with old friends here in Quito.
Our family is so special to us. We are an Eternal Family. We have tried to teach our children and grandchildren by example, so being here, away from them, is very hard. It is so wonderful to have the Internet and be able to communicate easily with our family and friends. We will keep this blog, as well as e-mail and I especially will not be so homesick. It is amazing to think we have already had seven months go by. We will probably be home by the end of the year.
Our testimonies are strengthened each day as we see God’s children grow and learn principles of the Gospel.

As we sit in here on a Mission in Quito, Ecuador, our daughter tried to get us to do this a time back. Our friends Steve and Marian Shipley recently received a call to Ghana, Africa. Steve will be the Executive Secretary to the Area Presidency. They will do a wonderful job. Marion had started a blog, and it is such fun to read, we decided to give it a try. I am not the writer my husband is, but I will do my best. Their experience in the MTC brought back some wonderful and common memories. We also met some wonderful new friends who are serving in Brazil, Samoa, Peru, Columbia and many other places in our wonderful world. The Church needs more Senior Missionaries (I use this reluctantly) to help the Church move forward. There are so many diverse assignments to be had.Our assignment here is with the Perpetual Education Fund. We have been given (at this time) almost 300 students. Our primary concern is here is Quito and several outlying areas as well. We also have another couple in small city (Riobamba) which is south of us. They did not have enough to do in their original assignment (Family History) so we recruited them. They love it! They do both assignments each day, and are happy being busy.During the past 7 months we have accomplished quite a bit, I think. We are extremely organized, and thus it is much easier to get more done. We also are very blessed to have a dear friend, Patricio, serve with us as a Service Missionary. We met and worked with Patricio during our last mission here in 2000. Recently he lost his job, fortuitous for us, not for his family. With much assistance, from wonderful friends, we have been able to help he and his family a little. He makes our phone calls to our students who are delinquent in their repayments to the Fund. Each student, while they are in school, pay just $4.00 each month. After they graduate, the payment goes up, it depends on how much they borrow as to how much the payment is. He is wonderful, he knows so many people in the Church here, he is a great resource.Up to this time our health has been good, little things now and them, but right now ElderWhitaker has been a little under the weather for a few days with a chest cold, so he has had some additional home time, as per the Mission nurse, Sister Wallace, and he does not like it.I will do a better job of updating this weekly so we can all keep in touch.