Journal snippits

We went to talk with Sister Guilcapi again. She is trying to get us a phone number for one of her nieces. We have her records and want to send them to her new ward. Her family does not want the church in her life so they are not helpful and her cell phone is damaged and not working.  We appreciate her efforts. We can't/shouldn't send out records of members who have moved without some means of contacting them. They will end up lost forever if they do not go to church.

We helped clean the church. We went and picked up the pants that Luzmilla made for Lewis. He didn't bring white clothing thinking that he would not be doing any baptizing.  They were too tight and too long but they worked. Poor Medardo wore the pants that were too small for him instead of the ones that were too big. He could barely breathe. He was very happy to be baptized and is enthused about his future in the church and the possible opportunity to go on a mission. The young people had helped to clean the church and stayed for the baptism. Carolina gave a wonderful short talk on what to do after you join the church and are baptized. Flor was there and welcomed him into the young adult group. President Calapucha conducted.

We got to church almost an hour early and Medardo was there not long after we got there. We had a chance to chat with him and Lewis told him about the Sacrament and his possible duties after he receives the priesthood. He did in fact get sustained and ordained in Priesthood meeting. Lewis gave him a tie, he has a white shirt so he will be ready to get started on his Priesthood duties next week. Gladys was there. I have been worried about her. Joana and her husband and children were there. We attended the family history class. We were down to 3 participants in class but they had done their homework and are enthused. I went to Primary the third hour and sat next to Ariel. He is obviously no used to sitting reverently for 3 hours at a time. He needed a little supervision. Sister Calapucha did the sharing time. There is another girl that is very lively also. Primary has their hands full just like every other primary in the church. There were only about 10 children there today. 

I asked if I could attend the YW class next week. The president said "Yes, Would you teach the class?" Not exactly what I had in mind but I can do that.

The sisters had borrowed Otavalan costumes for the afternoon and changed into them in the restroom after church. They looked so adorable with their tiny waists wrapped in the beautiful traditional weavings. We had to take photos. I suppose that they plan to call their families over Skype and show off their finery. Tania was so proud of them and they were all having a good time. I asked Nori to get in some of the photos too as she is also waiting for a mission call like Tania is.

We had district meeting in the morning. Sister Banchon came to the church seeking assistance with her homework. She is the wife of the Branch presidency first counselor and the mother of a very busy 18 month old - the age with no judgment and lots of energy. She broke her wrist a couple of days ago and is struggling to keep up with life. She is in her last year of getting a degree in business management and needed help with some English grammar. I found it difficult because I do not know all of the meaning of all the grammar terms used in Spanish...or in English either. It was also challenging because some of the sentences used as examples were not sentences that any native speaker would have spoken. They could have been grammatically correct I guess, but they were awkward at best. Some of the questions were based on whether the speaker had regrets about what happened in the past or was just commenting on what had already happened. "You and your daughter should have eaten less." "We should have taken an earlier train." Can you tell whether the speaker has regrets? Anyway she was game and we did our best and she was grateful for the help. She can understand written English quite well but she never tries to speak it. I guess I can relate. It is not fun to make a fool of yourself over and over again until you learn to speak correctly. I missed most of the district meeting but I enjoyed spending time with Monica. She has to go to the continent to have surgery on her wrist.

The landlady came over to inspect he leaking roof we had told her about. It is worse than she thought and she plans to add an additional roof or an extension of the current roof or something. Did laundry and had breakfast and went to the church. The packages for the recent converts had been delivered and we have about 30 boxes containing a Bible, A Three in One, a hymnbook, a Liahona, The Proclamation on the Family, The Living Christ statement and a picture of the temple. Some have names. Most do not. We will try to find out how President wants them delivered. It should be with a member along we think so they will meet someone who will be here long term. The branch missionaries should be involved. We also want to get them to the recent converts so they don't have to wait 6 months  to receive their scriptures. 

We had an appointment with Franklin Jaramillo, the lawyer, at his home at 7:00. Or at least that is what Lewis had set up. When we arrived he looked surprised. Apparently he thought we were coming on Saturday. We had brought one of the boxes of materials that are sent for new members. He was pleased to accept it. We spent a while talking and Lewis asked him to read a few scriptures but it appeared that he was occupied with other things so we made the visit short. 

We got to church early to found a woman who thought she was late and couldn't open the gate. She is recently moved from Guayaquil. She is a very young looking grandmother with children and grandchildren who are active in church. Lewis got all the information to send for her records. Brother Jaramillo did come. Medardo was there. I didn't see Gladys. Sister Schiller spoke in Sacrament Meeting. That must have been the reason she was fasting. Also the Elders spoke. They did a great job and I was able to understand everyone because I have had practice hearing them speak and their subjects were basic gospel principles. There were lots of new people I don't remember seeing before in church. I said hello to those who got there before the meeting started. But as usual, 1/2 the congregation gets there after the opening prayer. There was an American family with four children here on vacation. They have lived in Cuenca since January and it was fun to chat with them for a couple of minutes. There was also a very tall BYU student who is interning here working with a company who will bring a group of employees here for an activity and he is organizing things in advance.   

Our family history class went very well and I taught the Young Women. The YW President was not there. Her second counselor was and she conducted and managed things and turned the time over to me to teach the class. I stayed in my seat. I had put the chairs in a circle. There was some whispering and note passing but they were paying attention and I think they learned a few things and have a somewhat higher desire to study the scriptures daily and make it a lifelong habit. They liked the examples about drawing pictures and marking their scriptures as a means to understand and remember what they have studied.

The ward council was much more productive this week. The addition of Richard Rosado to take notes and ask for the name of the person accepting the assignment was very helpful. The missionaries did a good job of explaining which investigators, recent converts and less active needed which specific help and which organizations should be involved in families with several age groups. The meeting moved along pretty well and I suspect that there will be lots more follow up next week to see the results of the assignments. It is amazing to me that here in this lonely island there is a functioning branch of the church. They are far from perfect but they want to improve and bring back the brothers and sisters who have fallen off the radar. They are beginning to see that they need to involve more people in order to share the work load and to develop additional strong members. It won't be smooth going to call brand new members to take responsibility but in the long run it will provide lots of growth. 

Today is my Mom's birthday. I miss her. I can't wait to be able to talk with her again - when she has all of her memories and all of her amazing capabilities. She is a great woman and I am proud to be her daughter. I miss my Dad too.

Sister Calapucha and Sister Schiller came back to the chapel with additional information for the computer and Lewis made the corrections. Sister Ango and Sister Navarro came back soon after. Seminary is happening every evening from 5:00 to 6:00. That is great. I only saw five kids today but what a blessing for those that come. Sister Ango is teaching the class. She is wonderful to do so much to help build the kingdom. She is also the Primary President and always willing to help with whatever is going on. 

President Calapucha called this morning and asked Lewis to come to the chapel to supervise some workers who are repairing the sound system in the chapel. We finished getting ready quickly and went. We cleaned up a lot of black bugs. They come in every night and invade every room. They are looking for water apparently because there are scores of them in the baptismal font in only a day or two. We cleaned out 100's today. Lewis had put detergent in the water so they were all dead. We had to scoop them out. President Calapucha said just throw them out on the rocks because the birds like to eat them. Yuck! They stink!

...President called. He is not coming. He is in the process of getting residency and is missing one document. It will greatly reduce the cost of travel so he will wait to come. He said we are leaving on June 5th to go to Loja. It is in the mountains and will be cooler. YEA!

We thought we should make a list of what we think we have made progress with:
                 Changed the culture to "look it up in the handbook" and provided photocopies so they can.

                Improved the MLS records, transferred out those who have moved away and corrected many errors.

                Taught the Branch Presidency about the importance of the AP and YW.

                AP quorums and YW classes now have presidencies and stewardships and separate classes.

                Developed a system of locating people by recording the number on their electrical pole near their home.

                Cleaned out office and interview rooms. Records and materials are better organized. Still need shelves built.

                Organized storage and contributed to baptismal clothing. Still need shelves built.

                Trained the branch secretaries.

                Helped to make branch presidency, priesthood executive, and council meetings more organized and effective.

                Tried to identify, visit and invite prospective elders to interviews with priesthood leaders.

                Presidency members are now having scheduled monthly PPI's with their auxiliary leaders

We got to the church before 9:00 because the people repairing the sound system were going to return with a new microphone. They didn't come. Our Compromiso meeting went well. These missionaries are so good. They work very hard with so much faith and diligence. They are not reaching their goals but the goals are set sooo high. I think they should be very proud of what they accomplish. They plan to bring 20 investigators or less actives to church tomorrow. They probably will actually do it. They have other members going to the homes of these people as well as themselves trying to bring them all to Sacrament Meeting. They want so much for all the people of our island to find the same happiness and joy that they have found in the Gospel. 

There are still hundreds of the big black stinky bugs. No pesticides can be used on these islands because they don't want to disturb the ecology. Not sure what wonderful purpose these bugs have. Food for birds may be sufficient purpose. They come into the building every night. They hide during the daylight but they look for water. There are plenty more in the baptismal font today. Marianita and Elena Ango were there to clean the church as always. Fabian is always there as well. Tania is usually there. President and Sister Calapucha too. There is a core of very faithful people. Lots more come to clean but they rotate in and out. I think there are also assignments by organizations but they are not always diligent when it is their turn. However, it always gets done.

We got to church early. Marcello Herrera is the new Sacrament preparer. He is always there early and was instructing David Castaneda is how to bless the Sacrament today. The missionaries were scurrying about. They brought lots of people. Sister Ango went by several homes on her way to church with Nori and they brought some. She said Gladys and Kevin would be late but they are coming. The family that lives in Cuenca came again. They are going diving next week and said they would return next Sunday as well. Yulissa had made a big poster with a tree she had drawn and painted. She had the class members put their handprint on the tree as they have completed the class. It was impressive and the class members were proud. Most of them had done a lot of the work in their booklets. Everyone had collected additional information and expressed gratitude for the push to reach out to their families and find out not only dates but stories. They have chosen the people to attend the new class next month. This will be a good experience for this branch. Yulissa is doing great. Sister Vierra taught the class in RS. Her teacher was not able to come at the last minute. The room was packed and she did a good job. The RS is doing well in my opinion. There were several more Otavalan women today. Both Gladys and Juliana were there. They are the most recently baptized. Jessica is so cute with her new baby. I worry that Flor looks tired. But she is teaching math to high school kids. She probably deserves to look tired. 

We did apartment inspections of the Sisters and the Elders. They both passed. The sisters were practically perfect and the Elders were good. Our taxi driver back to Puerto Ayora was very interested in Lewis' explanation of the Book of Mormon and the restoration of the gospel. He said he would come to church on Sunday at 9:00 to get a Book of Mormon. His name is Hector. He seems like a person who is genuinely interested. We shall see.