Sometimes the elevator will do funny things. The other day we pushed the button to call the elevator and waited but it didn’t come to our floor. When this happens Lynn will go down to the 15th floor and see if it will go to that floor. A few minutes later the elevator opened on our floor, the 16th floor. Lynn wasn’t on it so I got in, noticed that the light above the door said it was on the 14th floor. I pushed the button so it would go down to the 15th floor to pick Lynn up. It stopped on the 15th floor but Lynn wasn’t there so I pushed the button for the bottom floor. It went on down to what it indicated was the bottom floor but when the door opened it was on the 3rd floor. I decided that I would just get out and go by way of the stairs to the bottom floor. Lynn was waiting in the foyer. This has happened before. It’s always a bit scary to have the elevator not work since we live on the 16th floor. I would hate to have to go down all those stairs to get out of the building.
Now, just a word about how we get rid of our garbage. We line our garbage cans with plastic grocery bags. Then, when they get filled we take them to the garbage shoot on our floor, much like a laundry shoot would work. This last week Lynn took our garbage down the hall and found that the door was locked to where the garbage shoot is located. He went down to the next floor and found that it was locked, also. So, he went down to the bottom floor to ask the guard why the doors were locked to the garbage. He was told that there was a blockage and they had to keep everyone from using the shoots until it could be unblocked. He was directed to the back of the building where he could temporarily place the garbage.
Sometimes, if you aren’t careful, mistakes can happen. Yesterday Sister Platts was taking some cookies and jam to the office in a plastic bag to give to the AP’s. She also had some garbage to dump down the shoot. Before she realized what she was doing she opened the garbage shoot and tossed the bag with the cookies and jam. As soon as she dropped it down the shoot she realized that it was the wrong bag. She went downstairs and told the guard what had happened. He took her to the bottom floor room where the garbage falls into. It smelled really bad. They looked through bags but didn’t find the right one.
Wednesday was our Mission Leaders Council. They decided to have it in a meeting room on the bottom floor of the apartment building where the mission home is located. This proved to be a lot more convenient for the preparation of the meals since they could be prepared in the mission home kitchen instead of having to cart everything to the chapel where we usually hold the meetings. Inevitably, something is forgotten and we’ve had to make do. It was nice to have everything we needed readily available.
Sister Richardson has been really sick this last week, so it’s been really hard for her to get the things done that needed to be taken care of. She is an amazing woman. I admire her strength and faith. She is a great example for the missionaries and does a great job of seeing to their needs. This is in addition to taking care of the needs of their teenage daughter. And keeping everyone happy.
Friday night the senior missionaries went out to dinner at Café Del Fraile and watched a dance performance at the Palacio Arzobispal (Archbishop’s Palace) located on the north side of the Plaza Grande (or Plaza de la Independencia) in old town Quito. The Presidential Palace is to its left and the Metropolitan Cathedral is across the plaza. Even though most of us have been there before it was enjoyable to watch the dancers.
For more photos click on the below link:
Link to more photos at the Palacio Arzobispa
This is the link to my Dropbox where you can see the videos I took:
Link to Dancers at the Palacio Arzobispa Videos
At church today we met a new missionary that had just arrived. Elder Thomas said that he was sent to us from Venezuela. Evidently all the non-Venezuelans are being sent to other missions because of political unrest. The Quito mission is getting several, as are we. The timing couldn’t be more perfect after we just sent off several missionaries last week we are ready to receive these new ones. This next week is going to be busy as we process these new missionaries and get ready for our regular new ones scheduled to come next week on change day.
Background of the Palacio Arzobispa:
The Archbishop's Palace is located in front of Plaza Grande, at the opposite side of the Cathedral and next to the Palace of Government. It is the seat of religious authority and residence of the Bishop since the sixteenth century and one of the oldest buildings in the city, although it has been modified over time.
The Archbishop's Palace, as part of Plaza Grande in Quito, is the perfect place to observe the day-to-day running of Quito. This is a unique place and you'll never find this place without people walking, or the elderlies sitting. This place is the representation of all, a bit of what the inhabitants of Quito are.
Today, part of the building works for different function: around its courtyards operate several restaurants, coffee shops, craft shops, galleries, internet and a large open area where they have entertainment on Friday nights.
This new role of the Archbishop's Palace allows visitors to taste delicious dishes for every taste and pocket. The first floor houses some fast food places, a restaurant specialized in seafood and other offering lunches (for $ 3.50) and more menu options.
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