Week 53 from Quito Ecuador

It’s the quiet before the storm week.  This week has been spent in final preparations before the arrival of our new missionaries next week.  We have 6 going home and 18 arriving.  I got the pictures for the Despedida (Departing) video and finished it up on Friday.  Then, Sis. Richardson sent me some new pictures to change into the Welcome video.  I’ll have to finish it up on Monday.  They want to show both to the departing missionaries on Monday night.  

Monday morning Elder Sego went to the Quito mission office looking for the mission nurse.  He was in great pain and needed her help.  She just happened to be there.  She determined that he needed to go to the hospital.  As she and the Segos were on the way in a taxi Elder Sego passed out.  The doctors at the hospital determined that he had kidney stones that were attached to the kidneys and they ended up having to operate.  One thing that we found to be quite interesting is that, according to the law, any patient who is under 5 or over 65 have to have someone, either a family member or friend, with them at all times.  So, Sister Sego has stayed with him, with a few short times when she has gone home for a shower.  They have been very kind to her and provided blankets and a place to sleep but she has had to be with him most of the time.  Hopefully, he will be able to be released tomorrow, if all goes well.

Lately, as we work in our office, we have been hearing shouts of protest from groups that have gathered in front of a government building located not far from our office.  We can see them from the back window of the office.  We are never really sure what they are protesting but they make a lot of noise.  A couple of weeks ago there was a large group of doctors marching down Amazonas who were protesting a new law that had just been passed that says that any doctor who is convicted of malpractice will receive an automatic prison term.  They were shouting things like “we aren’t killers”.  Here is a picture of the protest we could hear this week.

You may remember that our senior missionary group took a trip to Baños a few months ago. The Tungurahua volcano, which is located close to Baños, has reactivated  this week with a period of high activity of ash and hot gas and rock flow. This caused a high amount of ash to fall over a wide area in central Ecuador, which is south of us, and dusting the southern section of Quito.  Since we live and work in the central part of Quito we did not experience any effects of the volcanic eruption, but I have to wonder what effect it had on the quiet community of Baños that we found so delightful to visit.   I suppose they are used to it since the volcano seems to erupt on a regular basis.  It makes me wonder why you would want to live there.

We are losing another office missionary this week.  Elder Morton will be leaving the office on Monday.  He has been working as one of the financial secretaries since last spring, helping with the preparations of the creation of the mission in July. He now will get a chance to work out in the field as a regular proselyting missionary before he leaves in April.  He is excited but we will miss him in the office.  We have felt a certain amount of kinship with him since he is one of the oldest in a large family of 10 children.  Elder Hess has been training to take his place and is ready to take over.  

Today was our senior FHE at the Kaneens.  Last week we invited the Browns to join us.  They are the couple that is visiting here for a couple of months from Texas that I told you about last week.  I invited them to come home with us after church and have lunch with us and then could stay and join us for FHE.  We had a very nice visit with them as we spent the afternoon together.  They are converts to the church of about 40 years.

We get some rather interesting views from our window.  The other day I saw some workers cleaning windows and doing some touch up painting that had me a bit nervous for them.  You certainly wouldn’t catch me doing what they did.