The View from Zamora

 

This is a very strange cloud in among the normal fluffy clouds I saw the other day here in Zamora. It reminded me of an old dried out marshmallow that had been squashed flat. It rains nearly every day here during the winter. It is winter because we are south of the equator. But there is some sunshine between the showers. The temperature is just fine so far. We have been here for a week now and as Lewis has not yet returned from a District Meeting in Loja this evening, I will get back to blogging.

There were some further delays getting a front door for our apartment. They were still installing it the day we moved in and one man returned again last week to do the last remaining tasks. We are very happy with our apartment. It is a newly created space in the building owned by our landlords. Their front door is just across from ours and Mrs. Morales couldn't have been nicer or more kind the day we moved in. She invited us over for coffee and when we explained that we didn't drink coffee or tea she asked about herb tea and we we happy to accept that offer. She fed us rolls and Zamora cheese and tea, answered our questions and afterward volunteered her son to drive us to town to buy some sheets for our bed. There was some kind of a demonstration/parade on the main street so we didn't arrive downtown until the stores were closed but her son found a tiny store that sold us a big fleece blanket so we were just fine.

I'll back up a bit. We very much enjoyed our time back in the temple apartments. We connected again with the Bottorfs and met two new couples and a new single sister. Sister Chiza has moved back to Quito. She was offered a job and since her tiny pension continues to diminish because of the inflation in Argentina she couldn't pass it up. We have emailed and talked with her and hope to see each other again before the end of our mission. We were able to attend the temple and go to church with our old friends. We were getting comfortable, taking advantage of washers and dryers, enjoying the great internet service and repacking our suitcases.

We must have been too comfortable between the missionary meetings and caring for the Torres children because President Torres thought we should spend our time inspecting missionary apartments. Before we left, President Torres called Lewis as the second counselor in the Guayaquil South Mission Presidency. Grandpa will be wonderful in that calling and can help with some of the duties President Torres has as the "stake president" for the two districts in the mission. He is responsible for about 235 missionaries and also for the two districts and the Galapagos. It is a good thing he is used to being busy and is very capable and dedicated leader.

Here you can see Grandpa and Grandma, Sister and President Torres and President Pincay, who is the First Counselor in the Mission Presidency. He is also one of the engineers working in the temple.

We left with about an hour's notice but were happy to go to Cuenca again. We discovered that some of the Elders in Cuenca have an even better view than President Ghent did in Quito.They have a 180 degree view of the city of Cuenca from their apartment on the hill. The photo below is only focused on the famous towers of the old Basilica. It was so fun to meet all of the elders and sisters and get a chance to chat with them for at least a little while.

 

I was glad of the chance to break up the trip. The bus rides are 4 hours long on curvy mountain roads and my childhood car sickness problem has only increased with age. Cuenca is a stake and still growing. There is a large population of American ex-pats living here as well as European retirees. The climate is wonderful and the shopping and cultural activities are great. Our next stop was Loja. Another four hours of twisty roads to reach it. This is one of the chapels in Loja. The Bottorfs who are currently serving in the temple were here on a previous mission and have a great love for the people here.

Loja is a district with two missionary zones. We had lots of missionaries and apartments to visit. We also were able to visit the weekly meeting of the East Zone and I was impressed again with the missionaries' maturity and the quality of their meetings. Good job missionaries. The Zamora elders were not at the meeting. Turned out that there was another mudslide and they got through--but only after waiting on the bus for several hours while he road was cleared. They got to Loja but only had time to pick up some things the Zone leaders wanted them to take back, including us, before the return trip.

The last leg of the trip was shorter. It only takes about 1 hour and 45 minutes to get from Loja to Zamora. Again the sweet missionaries helped us with our luggage. It is a chore to wrestle with five suitcases and the computers and my tote bag. People who travel with big crock pots, soup pots, bread dough bowls and lots of scriptures do not travel light. Since we were not flying we thought we could get that stuff here. We did, but only with some help.

This wood carving is on the outside of the bus terminal. They say that Zamora is the home of waterfalls and birds. We have not been outside of the city yet to see many birds but I have heard bird calls that are definitely different from Idaho or California birds. Can't wait to look around some more. The Zamora river runs the length of town and there are two other rivers that join nearby. We got a map but it doesn't show all the things I have questions about. This is a view from our front window.

There are buildings and houses on either side of this view but we are in a green valley that is very beautiful.Right next door to our building is a tiny store that sells bread and eggs and toilet paper and several things that have come in handy. The elders are showing us around. First they showed us a pizza place because we were all hungry. I thought it odd that the waitress made a phone call to order our pizzas. We waited quite a long time but they were delivered to our restaurant in regular cardboard pizza boxes and we were happily surprised that it was quite good.

We have discovered the mercado with all the open stalls selling meat in one section and produce in another section and then little stalls with hundreds of other things. There is one supermarket in town that has some imported goods. We have looked all over for cookie sheets and can only find one that is too big. Discovered that after we bought it, naturally. Finally found a "sort of" 9x13 inch baking pan. Bought two bread pans and Lewis made bread yesterday. There are little stores all around the center of town. Eventually we will learn where to find stuff. One of the elders mentioned that he likes spaghetti so we made a big batch (with fresh tomatoes as the only option, we had brought the spices and seasonings from Gayaquil) and had all four over for dinner. It was fun. Elder Aguirre will leave to go home this next week. He is the one on the left below. His father worked with us in Quito. He is in charge of Welfare for Ecuador and had responsibility for PEF during our last mission. It is great to have so many connections in Ecuador these days. Elder Carmona, third from left below was born in the Dominican Republic but moved to the US when he was six. His family now lives in Salt Lake. He needs Jacey to tell him what his native country is like. He can't remember very much.

We have a lot to learn about Zamora and the members. It will be fun to become acquainted and make friends and build memories in this new location. Stay tuned for further adventures.

Love to all of you from Elder and Sister Pettingill in Ecuador.