Ecuador, Otra Vez!

     Late last night we arrived in Ecuador.  We, meaning the BYU nursing group.  We will be here until May 22nd, in the cities of Guayaquil, Quito, and Otovalo.  We will be observing in the hospitals, teaching such things as CPR to the firemen, in the hospitals, in the communities.  We will have health fairs, test children for anemia, and build houses.  It is great to be back--Ecuador is an amazing place.

Some of us at the bottom of the 444 steps up to the lighthouse

     One thing that is the same is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.   We went to church here in Guayaquil, just to find the same lessons, the same structure, and the same sacrament that we would find back in the United States.  It is one way that I know we have the restored gospel here on the earth--the gospel is the same here in Guayquil as it is anywhere in the world.
   Rebecca, 2nd from the left, top row, had a cool thing happen.  Her dad came here in his mission, back in the late 1960's.  Today Gunther Vaca, one of our favorite friends here in Guayaquil, came and walked with us to church.  He is an integral part of every visit to Guayquil, helping us to interface for health fairs, and when I was here last, publicity.  Well, Rebecca's dad baptized Gunther's parents when he was here on his mission.  Now here she is in Guayaquil, meeting Gunther.  They have come full circle.

It is a small world, especially within the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Dad and Shawn's South American Travels

No posts for a long time.  I got reprimanded by Ruth, and it always seems like I have too much to do; this blog is way down on my list.  But I a going to catch up--so if you see random posts coming through from months ago, you will know what that is about.

We had the rare opportunity of having our college kids home this weekend.  College kids meaning Neil, Shawn, and Annie.  It was Cnference here this weekend, and usually with conference we have guests.  This weekend was no exception, however, we had a more multicultural mix than usual.  Tonight at one point we had us, and people from Mexico, Chile, and Honduras.  The Castros are staying with us right now; they arrived on Wednesday from Honduras, in anticipation of ours/their son Kemish's wedding on April 19th.  My Spanish is improving--there is no way it cannot because I am talking in Spanish ALL of the time.  Hermana (Norma) Castro is good to correct my bad verb conjugations, and I am very appreciative of that.  Maybe I will improve, which will be good, seeing that I get to spend a month in Ecuador with the BYU nursing students starting April 27th.
  So late tonight, Dad and Shawn were reminiscing about their travels in Ecuador/Peru/Chile/Brazil/ and almost Bolivia in 2008.  They spent five weeks on all night buses, traveling to wherever they felt like going, places like the Amazon, Machu Picu, Lake Titicaca, the northern desert in Chile.  It was fascinating.  Unfortunately the camera with all of the pictures disappeared in Lima, so there are no pictures of this trip.   They were telling Neil and I about eating grubs.   Here is a picture of said grubs, located by Shawn on the internet.

Here is the conversation:
Shawn:  "I thought they were pretty good"
Mom:  "What did they taste like?"
Dad: "Like grasshoppers"
Neil:  "Since when have you eaten grasshoppers?"

No reply from Dad.  Maybe he mixed them with tuna.