March 29, 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

We have been in Ecuador just over a week, just under two, and have comfortably settled into our lovely temple apartment. It has a lovely kitchen/ dining room combination with all of the amenities of home. The only thing we don’t have, that we had at home, is a dishwasher. The apartment is clean and recently painted. We have two air conditioners, one in the living room/kitchen and one in the bedroom. The bed is queen sized and comfortable. We have no bugs, ants, or little animals crawling around in the house. There is a gecko running around the walls in the outside corridor. (It is small and cute Fran says) and we only see it in the evening.

The attached picture shows the temple and some of the missionary couples we are working with. The other picture is with President and Sister Groberg. The picture was taken on a Sunday afternoon after a meeting in the temple for the missionary couples. The full time missionaries stabilize the temple work. We have 6 couple missionaries, one sister missionary and President and Sister Groberg. Brother (and Sister) Brimhall serve as a Counselor along with a local brother, Brother and Sister Bentencourt. We work Tuesday through Saturday. We have either the morning or the afternoon shift. The morning shift starts at 7:00 am and the afternoon shift starts at 5:00 pm. Evidently, the time between the two shifts makes it possible to wash the clothes and get ready, plus the patrons won’t show up. The biggest challenge the temple has now is the over crowding of the baptistery on Friday nights and Saturdays. The young people are very interested in coming to the temple and the Temple’s physical conditions will only take care of so many. Last Saturday it reached the point where they only allowed the last groups to be either confirmed or baptized.

We are suffering from culture shock as much as we are with the language difficulty. Everyone kisses everyone and shakes hands. MOST OF ALL, this is really a Spanish-speaking temple. There are very few English speakers in the whole country. Fortunately for us we have two couples that speak English and interpret for us. They speak very fast…but want so much to help us understand and speak their language. I helped in confirmations the other day and they spoke faster than any auctioneer I have ever heard in the USA. There was one blur of a sentence followed by another.

Looking at the schedule for the next 18 months the ideal time for any who would like to visit are the weeks we have off when the temple is under going maintenance. We are off Aug. 28, 2012 through Sept 8, 2012; Feb 28, 2013 through March 10, 2013; and August 29, 2013 through Sept 10, 2013. We are scheduled to be released sometime in Sept. There are many wonderful things to see in Ecuador and possibly more things to see in Peru, time permitting.

We are doing fine considering our limited ability to communicate effectively. We appreciate your prayers and enjoy reading your letters. The most effective time for us to Skype will be Sunday afternoons and Mondays. We have tried skyping most of the immediate family and made contact with most. Keep your computers on these two days and be prepared. In event of emergencies any time is good. Our Am schedule is from 6:00 am to 2:00pm and 4:00 pm to 11:00 pm (which is late!)


Hal and Fran