Snippets from my journal

We went to try to buy envelopes for the tithing. We are out of tithing envelopes. The stores in town don't have a box of envelopes for sale. Hopefully they will get a shipment before the weekend. And they always need batteries for the remotes for the TV screens and the air conditioning. We also each got an ice cream.

We bought tamales on the way home. Lewis liked them. They look like Mexican tamales but are wrapped in banana leaves instead of corn husks. I wasn't very impressed but then I don't like the others very much either. Thank heavens we have a chunk of chocolate for dessert.

Lewis went to buy lumber and cement blocks with which to build a shelf to hold all of the manuals that he took out of the office. He found boards. He had to go out to the artisan area to buy blocks. He bought a saw and paid for a lot of taxi rides and help to unload everything. But he got a big shelf built and all of the manuals off the floor. After breakfast/lunch we went to the chapel and he worked more on the paperwork. Brother Villon came again and worked with Lewis organizing the clerk's office.  

We sorted out all of the books on the new shelves and put them in categories. Lewis had me organize all the pictures "in the library". They were all in a plastic bag. Lewis was destroying all financial records older than three years and two notebooks became available. I got almost all of the Gospel Art into the plastic sleeves of the two notebooks along with the index so they can be found. There are still a lot of pictures from the lesson manuals. I will keep working to sort those out as well. Brother Villon came to work for an hour or so in the office with Lewis and they got more done on the financial records.

I have been reading the history of Joseph Smith written by his mother. It is fascinating and has so many interesting details about the lives of her family. I am enjoying reading it. I need to remember that any sacrifices I might make are very small indeed. 

Angela Calapucha and Marianita Becerra and Karen Macias made Fanesca - the traditional Easter soup. Fanesca is a special soup with supposedly 15 different grains and peas and beans in it. It also has a special salted and dried fish but they took some soup out for us before the fish was added. So nice. It is a fairly big fish that they cut open, lay out flat, salt heavily and when it is almost dry, some people hang it on the clothesline to finish drying completely. The dog was tied up the day they had a fish out drying near where we live. It is an Ecuadorian tradition and the dried fish is for sale all over Ecuador at this time of year. (It smells awful.) But the soup was good. 

The women worked all morning in the heat over an open fire behind the chapel to make the soup. They have a huge pot and placed it on several stones - there are hundreds surrounding the church. They cooked it over an open fire. People started showing up about 1:00 and they served 30-40 people. There were several new members and non members and old members and children and it was very festive and fun. If you serve food they will come. 

The soup had a lovely broth with lots of grains and vegetables. To serve it they added a cooked strip of ripe plantain, a chunk of hard boiled egg and a strip of cheese. They also had juice that was very good. Lots of work went into that meal. The three women from the ward spent all day, cooking, serving and cleaning up outside the church in the sun. And they did the dishes in the big pot with a hose. I tried to help clean up. They said I could help clean the chapel tomorrow but I wasn't dressed to wash dishes with them outside. The provided a very welcome activity for the ward. It was appreciated by all who came.

I am having a great birthday. The sister missionaries baked me a banana cake and brought it to our meeting this morning. I even had balloons! We had been invited to go to lunch at a members house today and while we got lost on the way, we finally made it. We were in a cement block house but nicely plastered and painted on the inside. The roof looks like a Chipotle restaurant--the shiny corrugated metal they use for a false ceiling. But in this case it is the real ceiling and roof and there are no problems with the openings at the eves because there is no glass in the windows either. She has a stove that is much better than mine at home. Her brother who lives in Florida was there with his blond American wife and bilingual daughter. His birthday is today also. Who knew I would ever spend my birthday in the outskirts of Bella Vista above Puerto Ayora on the Island of Santa Cruz in the Galapagos Islands?! We even saw a "wild" tortoise near the roadside on the way back down the hill. That was a cool birthday present. 

We had church at 8:00 this morning because the medical and dental team were going to be using the building on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. But they changed the plans at the last minute and the company who was sponsoring the doctors wanted them to hold it in another location. So the people who were at church on time last week came at 8:00 and the rest of them came at 9:00 when we were finishing up. Lewis gave a great talk on family history and explained that our emphasis on families and temples is because we know that life after death is as real as our lives here on the earth. Sister Dengue also spoke about the Savior so they did remember it was Easter Sunday. Also a young man talked about tithing. 

I sat next to Menardo who came to church for the first time. We sat in on one of his lessons last week. He is a sweet 18 year old who really cares about religion and knows that our church is not highly regarded by the other churches in town but he has felt something special in his lessons and wants to know more. I think he enjoyed church today. Sunday School class is always good. Narcisa is an excellent teacher. Relief Society was also very good. I was nervous as one of the newer converts who is not socially well adjusted asked if Joseph Smith was a prophet and then she asked if she could bear her testimony. I wasn't able to understand everything she said but she did bear a testimony and while it was long the teacher handled it beautifully and made everyone feel comfortable. She invited one of the Sister missionaries to tell a little bit about Joseph Smith and said it is always good to ask questions when you want to learn. 

The teacher then told us that long ago, Narcisa (the Gospel Doctrine teacher) worked across the street from where she worked and they were acquaintances. Somehow they were discussing religion and Narcisa asked her if she would like to learn about Mormons. Sister Rosario Villon said "Yes" and the missionaries happened to be passing nearby and they called them over and made an appointment. She has been a member for 14 years. Her children told her it wouldn't last long because she had been a member of two previous churches but she bore a sweet testimony and said she is here to stay. It was a great meeting.

More snippets

The Hermanas spoke in Sacrament Meeting and did a great job. Flor taught Sunday School again. I really like her. She is self assured and  humble. She looks and acts like she is everyone's best friend and people respond to her. I need to be more like her.

We went to our district missionary meeting and the elders had a couple of well planned thoughts and presentations. The presented the mission goal of 600 baptisms in the month of April. March ended with 395. WOW! When we were in Quito, the Quito mission was happy when they broke 200. We did a roll play and I was the investigator. They plan to teach about keeping the Sabbath Day holy every day this week and commit people to coming to church to participate in General Conference. 

We went out hunting for prospective Melchizedek Priesthood holders. We looked in all the wrong places and then found a guy who was helpful and told a taxi driver where to take us. We were looking for an artist's park which it turns out is way out of town and a place where there are about 20 big open sheds where individual artisans stored their supplies and made their products. This is not a souvenir market. This is where carpenters make furniture and  large cabinets and serious stuff. There was also a big shed that served as a cafeteria because we were a long ways from town. We were looking for Luis XV. We found a sign with that name but no one was there. We asked at a nearby one and the man we were looking for was inside. Lewis talked with him and invited him to come to church on Sunday to listen to General Conference. He said he would come. I had stayed in the taxi so that the driver wouldn't leave us. It is a long way back to town.  One success. We shall see if he does come on Sunday. Will we recognize him if he does?

The taxi driver took us back to town. He charged us $6 but it was worth it. We were studying the maps and lists on the sidewalk when the YW's president came by. We asked her a couple of questions and she suggested we talk with Marianita. She was headed to her office and took us with her. Marianita has a business taking care of legal matters and selling real estate. She is a long time member and has lived here for many years. She spent at least an hour with us and gave Lewis lots of helpful information. She knew of several people who have left the island and could tell us who was active and who was not. She gave us names of active members who would be able to find less active member that they are related to. She was so kind to share her time with us. It will be a good help. 

We bought stationary to write thank you notes to the people who were so kind to us during the evacuation. The taxi driver asked us when we got out of the car, "What time did you say conference started?" Maybe...lots of people will come and watch General Conference.

We went to the church. It took several tries each to get four out of five new photos uploaded to Shutterfly. I have not been able to complete a download since coming here but I am getting some things backed-up. I have a lot of new photos for instance. I am just deleting most of my general newsletters and emails and the Feedly stuff. I cannot keep up here. And the time I do have is so inefficient I can get little done. Do you think it might help break my addiction? Probably not, but I will find out I can live without reading everything. I am so glad we can keep in contact somewhat with our family. Skype does not work but we can read and send emails. Leiann sent me an email saying she really liked the birthday cards for Bryce and Troy. Yea for thank you notes. 

We went to visit Raul Acosta again. He was not home. We waited in front of his house for 1/2 hour to see if he came home. No luck. We each got an ice cream cone. We talked with President Banchon and got the keys to the clerk's office so Lewis could try to correct some of the errors on the membership records. He cannot send anything out without the Branch president's approval so he can only do little stuff. He removed the Garner's records. They left a couple of years ago and are now serving in the Area Office.

We found Sister Navarro at the church with a new companion! Things move fast in this mission! Sister Campbell got a phone call last night and left this morning. So did Elder Cabrera. New missionaries to get acquainted with. So sad to have lost the last two but the new ones will be great also. They are scrambling to find the baptismal clothing and get things ready for Gladys's and Kevin's baptism after conference on Sunday. We had leftover vegetable soup with rice and avocado and bread. 

Today is Saturday and the beginning of General Conference. We went early and Lewis worked on the branch computer for a while. It took me several tries but I finished uploading the last birthday card I had made. He set up the broadcast equipment as well. We had 40 people come to listen to the first session. It was wonderful. I even understood most of it. We met the Degel family, Rosa Pisco and lots of people I have seen before. It is good to recognize a few people now. I took notes and stayed alert for most of the talks. There was one big lapse where we missed the song and most of one talk and part of another one but most came through very well.

We went to the "kiosks" to eat lunch. We sat at a table with a young woman and learned that the oldest daughter of the Branch President is her friend. We had soup with bola, I wasn't so sure about the bola but the broth and the vegetables were very good. We had seco de pollo, which is a sauce over rice with a piece of chicken. There was a fried madura (ripe plantain) also. I am learning to like them. It was all good and we had juice too. I can never eat all of the rice that is served. When we got back we had a prayer with Pte Banchon and the family of Pte Tite and the missionaries to begin a branch fast for the less active. I love General Conference, even in Spanish. Lewis went to the Priesthood session but I stayed in our apartment. 

On Sunday after the second session we all gathered in the room with the font. The room was packed full. Lewis and I sat in the hall. It sounded like Kevin was going swimming before they opened the doors to the font. He enjoyed being in the water I think. His mother was baptized as well and they were both confirmed because it would be week until Sacrament Meeting. It was a lovely meeting and Gladys looked very happy.  We were at the church until about 6:00. We were happy to go home and have scrambled eggs for dinner. Conference attendance was:  Sat AM 40, Sat PM 47, Sat Priesthood 27 (San Cristobal 10) Sun AM 84 (San Cristobal 37, Sun PM 50  -   not bad I'd say.

Journal snippits from March in Galapagos

I thought I would share some snippits from my journal from the first weeks of our mission in the Galapagos Branch:

On our first Sunday we got ready for church and I packed my missionary bag again because we had taken it apart to pack the suitcases. It has straps like a backpack and a wrap around the waist for support as well. The sisters make it look easy but I am still learning how to put it on. It is like baby wearing but less damage if you drop it.  (There was a woman in church with an 18 month old strapped to her back the whole of Sacrament Meeting. He clonked her on the head with his toy but he stayed in there and didn't make noise for the whole meeting. She couldn't sit back in the chair. He could stand on the seat of the chair but he stayed put and was quiet. I was impressed. The way they wrap supports the baby under their bottom and again across the top of their back. I don't know how they do it but apparently the mom goes about her regular life and the baby goes with her on her back instead of inside in the front. It is like pregnancy never ends but now you have to feed and change the baby.)

We and the missionaries had all been invited to go to the home of the Elder's Quorum president for a merienda. Fabian Delgado, the Elder's Quorum President left the church with us and we went by two taxis to his house. It was completely dark in the tiny passageway that leads back to their home. It is very humble. Tiny, a bed in the living room, cement floor and walls, plastic table and chairs. We could see one bedroom. I hope there were more. Apparently he lives there with his wife, his daughter and her boyfriend (they explained that their daughter was living in sin), his wife's mother and her sister and a dog and a cat. There was another couple there from the ward as well. The husband is the new branch financial secretary that Lewis spent time with last night. The Delgados proudly told us that they have had all of the missionaries who have come to Santa Cruz into their home for a meal. We were pleasantly surprised that the meal we were served was very good. It was not attractive but the rice was seasoned with basil and milk and cheese and was yummy. The thin slice of beef was highly seasoned and very good also. There was also a salad and chicken but I was full after the plate of rice and meat. Lewis talked about marriage, how to invite people to change and the importance of the temple. It was a very pleasant evening and the missionary hours were over quickly and we needed to get home. We put the sisters in a taxi because their apartment was further away. We walked home with the Elders. We had no idea where we were but it was not long before we were at the Elder's apartment and we only live another block away. We made it.

The sisters picked us up at 6:00 PM to go to visit the Family History Consultant, Yuliana Bajana. She is a young wife and enthused about her calling. She is a new convert of 4 years and loves FH because she was very close to her grandmother who died the year she joined the church. She has done the work for her grandparents and is delighted to continue with all of her family that she can find. She is from Guayaquil and is able to go back and forth occasionally so she has been to the temple. We made a standing appointment to meet with her every Wednesday beginning next week. She has a laptop which she will bring and we can answer her questions and go over the training materials.  The sister's came back with us to our apartment and had watermelon. They loved it and it did taste very good to have cold watermelon when it is so hot even at 7:30 at night. They are out working until 9:00 each night. -- Yuliana and her husband have since gone to Guayaquil and have been sealed in the temple. She came back radiant and will start teaching the family history class in Sunday School. Her husband is Thomas, who is the ward mission leader and his mother is the Relief Society president. 

The RS celebrated all those who had birthdays in Jan, Feb and March. They honored those women and then did lots of dancing with games where you had to partner with a different person or three people or five people. They would have one woman dance with a broom and when she dropped the broom, everyone had to change partners. Those who were left with the broom when the music stopped had a penalty to pay at the end. One had to sing as if she were in an opera. One had to do a dance. One had to act like a monkey. Everyone was a good sport and there was a lot of laughing. Some of the women there would be comfortable in any of our wards and one or two have a lot of missing teeth and ratty clothing. The range of woman is very broad but they were all participating and happy as far as I could tell. I was impressed. They served chips and crackers and cheese and pieces of cake and Koala Kola. Then they went to Karaoke with a special microphone that hooked up to the church TV. The sisters got into it and sang lots of songs that I had never heard of - naturally - they are in Spanish. The sister missionaries left at 9:00 and that seemed like an good exit for me as well. Lewis was happy to leave the boring game he was playing with the Elders group. The RS always has more fun than the Priesthood quorums. I was impressed with how many women came and felt that they really did love and care about one another. Good job, Galapagos Branch.

Lewis has been asking all of the taxi drivers if they know why members of our church are called "Mormons". They do not know and he tells them about Mormon, that he was a prophet and lived here in the Americas about 1600 years ago, and the compilation he made of the records of the other prophets here in the Americas. He tells them that the Book of Mormon is a confirmation that the Bible is true and another testimony that Jesus Christ is the son of God. He explains that it tells of the visit of Jesus Christ here in the Americas after his resurrection and that he set up his church just like he did in Jerusalem. Some of them are quite interested. He has given away 3 BofM's and has told several to ask the young missionaries for a copy. Some are definitely not interested but they are the minority. One driver said, "That is an incredible story." Yes, it is. And if it is a true story, it is very important. It is my testimony that it is a true story and it is very important for all of us. 

Love to all,

Elder and Sister Pettingill aka G'ma and G'pa Pettingill

What is the island of Santa Cruz like?

It takes 45 minutes to travel by bus from one end of the island over the mountain in the center of the island to the city on the coast, Puerto Ayora, on the opposite side of the island. That is what we did after we landed at the airport that is on another very small island not far off the coast of Santa Cruz. That journey passes through Bella Vista which is the second largest city on the island. It is quite small. Puerto Ayora has the largest number of the approx. 22,000 people who live on the island and is largely contained in a 3 mile square. That is my guess. It is not a square however, only people who live in cities designed by Brigham Young live where all the streets are perpendicular to one another. Things grow organically in most places. A main street develops and then things spread out. There are two rocky cliffs (probably only 2-3 stories high) extending inland from the ocean that limit the city from expanding easily width wise. Growth is away from the water and up the hill. 

My perspective is very limited however because I have only been on the major road across the whole island and the places I have walked to within the city. (We also did some serious walking below the town of Bella Vista before we found the house we were looking for outside of town.) The government has created and sells a map with names of all the streets within the city but the taxi drivers and the people who live here do not know them. There are only a couple of street name signs and they are only in the tourist area down near the sea. The taxi drivers don't need to know the street names. They know the name of every business in town and probably the names of the people who live in most of the houses. People just state the barrio where they want to go and what their destination is near. It makes it very difficult for strangers to get around but it seems to work just fine for the people who live here. (It doesn't translate well on MLS - the church membership record software. Lewis is trying to improve the record keeping here in the branch and faces an uphill battle.)

It has not rained since we have arrived until today (didn't last long), except up in the mountain where it sprinkles often. It has been hot and humid. We are very happy that we have an air conditioner in the living room and one in our bedroom. We are happy that the apartment is furnished. The bed is good and the pillows will do. Our kitchen equipment is minimum. We have no oven but there is a microwave and a toaster oven. Lewis can't bake bread and we can't do cakes and cookies so we have not been doing a lot of cooking. We usually eat scrambled eggs with sauteed onions and peppers and toast for one meal of the day.  The other meal is very simple as well. We figure we don't want to buy a lot of things or stock up on food we will just have to leave behind. We do not know how long we will be here. President Torres said two or three months. We have been here for five weeks now. 

So many people in the world dream of traveling here. I want to share the experiences we have had so you can learn more about this island. I mentioned Tortuga Bay before. We went in the morning without eating anything first and I was very tired by the time we got back. We didn't realize that it is a 45 min walk to the beach, a long walk along the beach to the lagoon and then you retrace all that to return. It was well worth it but we should have been better prepared for a hike and have enough time to sit and enjoy the view before returning. Most of the island is part of a National Park that is protected and controlled. The considerations are for the animals and the people must be hardy enough to get themselves to the locations and back again. No motor vehicles are allowed. We were delighted to see tracks in the sand made by marine turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs. We didn't see any turtles but we could see where they had been. They have the dunes with vegetation roped off to protect the nests. One of the member's daughter works with the rangers and she said that if one turtle lays her eggs on top of another the weight of the eggs will crush those beneath. We saw a dozen or more marine iguanas sunning themselves on the beach. We also saw a baby shark in the clear water very near the shore. Other tourists were trying to photograph it. We first met Andre there. He saw our tags and said Hello. He and his family are members of the branch. He works as a guide and is often traveling and not at church. He speaks English. Wish I could sit and ask him a million questions about all the interesting things here. 

The Charles Darwin Scientific Center where they raise the baby tortoises is a must. They collect eggs from the various islands, incubate them and hatch the babies. (Did you know that the temperature in the incubator determines the sex of the tortoise!? Females like it warmer. I'll bet that didn't surprise you.) They keep them for three to five years, until they have reached a specific size and learned to climb the rocky lava mountains that will be their home. They implant some sort of identification just under the skin in each one so that if they happen to catch it again they can keep records. They have the empty "corral" (their Spanish word) where Lonesome George lived. He died in 2012 and was the last of his specific specie. They were never able to produce offspring. So it seems his particular specie is gone, at least for this lifetime. They have three land iguanas on display and gardens of endemic plants. We hope to back and explore further.

We have been to La Playa de Los Alemanes. One has to take a water taxi for 70 cents/each and cross over to the other side of the port. From there it is a 5 min walk past rural houses and hotels to a lovely beach that also has some mangroves. We passed a couple of areas that were roped off. There were signs that said the areas were marine iguana nesting areas. We didn't see any marine iguanas there that day but we enjoyed the sun and the sand. We saw a few birds--pelicans, frigates and finches. It would be lovely to spend a vacation week there. If we were as rich in money as we are in family we could rent a couple of hotels and all come for a Galapagos Beach Week. Wouldn't that be fun?

We went to Premecias up near Santa Rosa (the third city on the island, tiny) to see the larger "wild" tortoises. We hired a taxi driver to take us up on the mountain to see the tortoises. Premecias is a place that is private property with a restaurant and a gift shop. They charge $3 each to come and walk around their property and see several tortoises. You must watch where you step. Galapagos Tortoise poop is big. It is much cooler here and very green with many mature trees up on the mountain. It rains more frequently so the vegetation is dense and there is soil and plant matter instead of just lava rock underfoot. We enjoyed walking around and saw probably five different tortoises of varying sizes. We discovered  they enjoy fruit. There are lots of citrus ? trees - different than California trees for sure, but the tortoises apparently eat the fruit as well as the grass and bushes. 

On the same trip the taxi driver took us to see a lava tunnel. We didn't have a lot of time so we didn't walk the whole way through but were very impressed with the size. When the island was formed there must have been air trapped and/or huge boulders pushed through the molten lava to create tunnels. Or the lava spread over the top of the land and the hotter part beneath melted a parallel path. I don't know but it made an impressive tunnel. I understand there are many throughout the island. The one we went to had very nice stairs built to go down to the entrance. There was a sign and a trash can but no one was there and no entrance fee. We went a couple of curves into the tunnel. It was big enough to be a subway tunnel and it had electric lights every 50 feet or so. Very cool and pleasantly cool in temperature as well. There was some water dripping from the ceiling but it was pleasant. It made me think of how nice it is to be here in Galapagos where it is safe. That could be a perfect place for bad guys to hang out but it seems that there are no bad guys here. People comment that they like living here because it is "tranquilo" and safe. No one has locks on their bikes and the other day I noticed that a brand new scooter was parked with the keys in the ignition in front of the hardware store on the "muelle". People leave their doors and windows open and we walk home at night all the time. The rest of the world could take a lesson from the island of Santa Cruz. 

One of my favorite places is the fisherman's port on Charles Darwin Street in the tourist district. There are two big cement tables and a big cement sink under a canvas to provide shade. Fisherman in small boats pull right up to the dock and bring out camping coolers full of the fish they have caught. They take them to the two women who clean and cut up the fish and pack it away into other coolers. They are surrounded by tourists with cameras, pelicans, a dark gray seagull and one huge sea lion every time I have been by.  The sea lion is right next to the lady and looks soulfully up at her begging for a handout. It often works. The last time we passed by no one was working but the sea lion was there sleeping and there were several pelicans and one seagull. They must be the regulars. 

 So much for the tourist attractions. Our best experiences have been with the missionaries and the people of the branch. We have at least two meetings a week with the missionaries and see them often. We have visited with lots of members and they have been gracious to try to help us correct the records and find information about members who have moved from the area. We have been invited to dinner and to family home evening and to lunch by kind people. The young missionaries are fed dinner (at lunchtime) every day by different families in the branch. They are faithful and come through every day. They provide the greatest part of the missionaries' diet for sure. 

We have spent time in Sunday meetings with the members as well as activities and some random training sessions . There is a branch talent show tomorrow. We may get to know people much better after that experience. There are only two 2010 handbooks here. We have copied important information to share with leaders and are trying to make it possible for them to read and review the instructions with their presidencies and answer their questions. We have met with the family history specialist and helped her see her calling more clearly. We have the Area working on a real Family History Library set up here. The approvals have been obtained. Now the task of getting the equipment and making it happen is next. Normally that would never happen in a branch but there is no stake here and these people are not able to travel without considerable expense. 

Lewis and the financial secretary have been purging old records and cleaning up the office. We collected all of the manuals and church materials and organized them. We are still working on permanent storage for everything. We have organized pictures and teaching materials and things are beginning to look a little better and hopefully will be much easier to find and use. 

The chapel here is lovely. The members are fortunate to have such a nice building. They show their appreciation and diligence by keeping it clean. Every Saturday they sweep and mop all of the floors and clean the bathrooms and keep things in order. It is a big job. I am impressed with their willingness to own their stewardship and comply with the responsibilities that go with it. 

We are enjoying our experiences here in Santa Cruz, one of the Galapagos Islands.