We are thinking about what else we should clean so that our apartment is spick and span for the sister missionaries who will move in this weekend. We will leave on Friday and stay in Guayaquil at the temple apartments until we fly your direction on the 12th of March. We expect to be in Idaho late that night.
Wanted to share a few more missionary photos so you can see the faces of the wonderful young missionaries we have the privilege of working with in Ecuador. Most of these missionaries are pretty new in Loja.
I also wanted to share some more photos of the open air market that is just two blocks from our apartment every Saturday morning. We are going to miss the opportunity to get really fresh produce so conveniently and so inexpensively. I'm sure we will be dismayed when we shop in the USA. But we hear that gas prices are better than when we left. In Ecuador, gas is about $1.50/gallon (because it is subsidized by the government).
Below is a man from Saraguro (short pants and the hat). He is selling us cut up pieces of a large winter squash that has an almost blue skin. It is very convenient to buy it this way and we like to cook it, then mash it and put it on baked potatoes.
Grandpa found some seedless grapes. These were imported and expensive but they were a delicious treat.
Flours, salt, corn starch, whole grains, dry beans and other things I don't recognize below. You can't buy baking soda here except in very small quantities and for high prices because apparently it is used in drug manufacture. But a big plus is that most medications are less expensive and no prescription is needed to buy them.
This family is selling their homemade cheese:
I enjoyed the bright colors of these plastic containers for sale. There are stores here that sell only plastic items. There is no "one stop shopping" in Ecuador except in the largest cities.
I wanted to share an update on our family missionaries. Below is Katie Pettingill in the center. She will get home from the France Paris Mission this month! She is currently in Belgium.
Her brother Jacob will return in June. Jacob is the tall one. Elder Pettingill is in the France Lyon Mission.
Troy is in Ghana and is nearer the end than the beginning of his mission. It has been fun for me recently because the senior couple who lived near Elder Snyder had a blog and they would post photos of our favorite missionary in Ghana.
Both Morgan Evans and Daniel Pettingill are more or less in the middle of their missions. Morgan is in Brazil Recife. I love this photo below. She said her companion stopped to fix her shoe. When the companion straightened up, Morgan didn't respond. So she took a photo. Morgan's head is resting on the tile. Morgan said she was taking advantage of a 30 second nap. Reminds me of my newspaper days.
Daniel is serving in one of the most isolated missions that exist. He is in the Marshall Islands. He served first in Beru and then Tarawa. He was the only English speaker on the smaller island. He will perhaps be transferred some 2000 miles away for his next assignment. I thought you would like to see this photo he sent. Apparently missionaries climb trees wearing their tie.
The photo below gives me nightmares. This is Daniel's foot. This infection didn't clear up until he returned to where the mission office is located and the mission nurse treated him and cleaned out the hole in his foot every day. He says it is just fine now and he has a cool scar to show his grandchildren.
Lots of interesting adventures on a mission. Every one is very different with its own perks and challenges. At this point we are looking forward to going home. Yes, we are "trunky". Four of our reasons to be excited about returning home are four new members of our family!
Jennifer had twins in December. Here she is with Alex and Owen on their blessing day.
This makes seven children in the Aaron Walker family. Jennifer gets the first visit as she has her hands very full and is not getting much sleep these days.We are hoping to be able to help carry a bit of the load for a couple of weeks. We will also get a chance to see Tea and her family and Lewis' sister Joyce and her family.
We also look forward to meeting Kyrsten, Colby Snyder's new bride. She has won the hearts of everyone else already.
We are delighted that we get to be involved in the next wedding. Jacey Preisler and Jason Mitchell have chosen each other and will be married on the 23rd of May. We look forward to getting to know Jason and to welcome him into our family also.
There is much to be grateful for and we look forward to spending time with our family members. They happen to be our favorite people. In addition to our family members, we count our friends as treasures also.
Jeri and Lewis Pettingill
