Wheelchair Agreement Ceremony

Stake President with Director of Organization that the Church will donate more than a 1000 wheelchairs this year.  Next year as many as 2000 will be donated.  They will be our partner for the next 6-7 years or more.

Our good friend Isabel.  She is the director of foreign relations.

Dr.  Christiansen is developing a vision project with this organization and another in Milagro.  This organization does thousands of  cataract surgeries every year and they don't have a Jag laser.  Throughout the world about a third of people that receive cataract surgery go blind again because the lens turns opaque.  With this laser in about 30 seconds the patient will be able to see again.

Isabel was born in New York but was consul general for Ecuador in Toronto.  She loves Canada.  Maybe because this is where she was finally able to give birth to her only child..  She is holding a Canadian flag and a MacIntosh candy box.

Pichincha Hike

We're on our way to catch the bus that will take us to volcano Pichincha.  This picture is right outside of our apartment building.  this is the way garbage is gathered here in Quito.

Heading up the mountain on the teleferico!

Riding up on the gondola!

Well dressed missionary!  Where is your tag??

Quito in the distance and the trail we will be walking later in the week in the foreground.

It's really steep!!

Some pretty flowers below us!

Almost to the top!

Some workers below.  We stopped twice and dangled in the air.  It was so quiet!!

Communication towers.

Almost there.  Pichincha in the background.

Be Careful of advanced age, heart problems, breathing problems and no children under 1 year.  The altitude is about 13,451 feet and we hiked another couple of thousand feet.  Not bad for two old people.

A little coolish when we started.

One of my favorite flowers, lupines!

The trail goes on and on and it was pretty steep in places!

Little church where you can get married!

Heading back down.

Waiting for the bus!

Visiting with Sister Olga Chaumbo

Sister Olga Chaumbo

Last weekend we visited a family in our ward who own a hostel.  The owner, Hermana Chaumbo  took us outside to her backyard and showed us her chickens and trees.

She had a LOT of avocado trees.  Wished I could have picked some!!

Hermana Chaumbo holding a chirimoya.  It is a fruit and tastes very sweet.  The flesh inside is white with big black seeds and it tastes kind of like peaches and strawberries combined.  YUMMY!

Looking at the hostel from the backyard.

These are called tree tomatoes and are used to make a juice. To me they don't taste like a tomato.

She raises lots of chickens to eat and for their eggs.

These eggs were still warm from the chicken.  We took them home and I ate them.(Dad wouldn't touch them.)  They had really orange yolks and they tasted very delicious!!

Visit with Sister Bustos

Sister Bustos

Sister Bustos is a sweet little sister in our ward.  She can't come to church because of her health.  She has a brain tumor that has affected one side of her face and it's hard for her to get around.  She lost her husband 18 years ago and her only son two years ago.  He had menigitis as a child and it caused him to have some serious health problems.  She lives on the second floor of a small building here in Quito.  She shares this one room with her niece.  It is the only room with windows.  Her kitchen has a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling and it is very small and very old.  Her bathroom ceiling was covered in mold and she shares it with with the other family that lives on the same floor as her.  Hermana Bustos has a great sense of humor and loves to laugh.  She is a great example of enduring to the end.  She has been a member for 8 years.

Below is a video of Sister Bustos neighbor who lives on the same floor.  This lady is a native Ecuadorian and speaks Spanish as well as the native Quicha.  In the video she is telling us her name, about her family, where she is from and how happy she is to live here in Quito.

Here she is selling her fruits at the entrance to the building she shares with Hermana Bustos.  She and her husband and 2 children live in one room and pay $80 a month.  The native women wear lots of necklaces and earrings.  They all have long black hair parted in the middle and tied in a pony tail with fabric they have embroidered.   They also wear a shawl around their shoulders.  The fruit looks good but we don't dare eat off the street!

Here are some of the other things she is selling.  The food in the big bucket is a type bean.  I can't remember what the small green things are.