At our Mission Presidents Seminar in Quito...
We had two full days of training.
Brother Steve Allen director of the Missionary Department
came to speak and enlighten us.
And of course our Area Presidency
Elder Pino, Elder Uceda and Elder Waddell.
Then we were out for some exciting site seeing.
We were all given some awesome panama hats.
None of us got lost or sunburned that's for sure.
First stop... the Equator!
They showed us some amazing things that happen only on the equator
for instance...
If you walk along the line of the equator with your hands out to your side
you are being pulled in two directions.... it is very hard to stay on the line.
They also had a bucket of water...
When you were on one side of the line it would swirl one way
and if it was on the other side of the equator just 10 feet away
it would swirl in the opposite direction.
These patterns are the exact same direction as the weather patterns
on each side of the world.
Then if you set it right on the line it would not swirl at all.
You could also balance an egg on a small nail head on the equator
because the force pulls the yoke straight down...
There were several more fun things that were demonstrated.
The museum feels a little like the Polynesian Culture Center in Hawaii.
You walk around to small villages and they explain the different tribes
and cultures of the Ecuadorean people.
This tribe would skin the heads of people...
boil the skin and shrink it down
and put it on a necklace.
This is an actual shrunken head.
I didn't buy one of these necklaces.
This warrior does a wicked dance.
He was pulling people up to dance with him.
President Turk paid him to take a picture instead
Good idea honey...
Below is the giant marker of the Equator.
This was built in the 1800's and was just a little bit off the true mark.
After GPS came around they got the exact location
and now there are two museums to visit.
You climb to the top of this like the Statue of Liberty
You can see a few heads up by the Globe.
And this is the view from the top....
It's so fun to be in this beautiful country
eating a coconut ice-cream bar with a man in a hat.
We ate lunch in the clouds with the llamas.
It was a little rainy but beautiful....
There was some thunder and I got so excited because I haven't heard thunder
at all in Peru for two and half years. I love thunder .... and llamas.
We hopped on tour buses and went all over Quito
to see the most beautiful architectural sites.
It felt a lot like Europe in the historic district... Nothing like I expected.
It is a big beautiful clean city.
Around this cathedral it felt like Mary Poppin's to me.
It was a perfect Halloween night with a full moon.
After all the driving we ended up at the top of the largest hill in the city
where this statue of the virgin Mary was built...
You can see her all over the city... it is huge.
But more importantly at this spot in 1965, Elder Spencer W. Kimball
came here and dedicated the country of Ecuador
for missionary work. This was before the statue was built.
We listened as the leaders told the story of Elder Kimball, Elder Richards,
along with the Mission President of the Andes Area and four new missionaries
knelt down to dedicate this great place for the building of the kingdom of God on the earth
and oh wait the taxi driver, a non member, also
knelt with them as they opened Ecuador up for missionary work.
This taxi driver was one of the first baptized members and his family
is still a very active prominent family in the church in Quito.
Now our friends the Ghents are serving as the Mission President and wife
in this great city of Quito. And the work is moving forward...
Fast and Furious.
