VIEWS OF ECUADOR

I had to put this one in even though there are power lines in it just so you can see the three waterfalls in the jungle. We pass these on our way to Tena.

I am adding this picture because it turned out so good being taken through a window of the car traveling down the highway, I think we slowed down to cross a bridge when I snapped it.

Sunset from our window.


Rio Napo in the Oriente.


Just another waterfall.


Volcano Antisana we have traveled to Tena 4 times and this was the first time the volcano was visable, such majesty.

By far my favorite thing is the waterfalls in the jungle areas, they are so beautiful.


There are many many rivers as we travel toward the jungle.


The diversity of flowers and fruits is amazing.





Fernando indicated that this rock had 3 faces in it. Can you see them?


I love it when we catch a glimpse of one of the volcanos.

Not to far out of Quito, as we head south we come to areas that are very much desert areas, lots of cactus and little other vegetation.


On the way to Tulcan. This patchwork landscape still amazes us, it often goes to the top of the mountains.

We did quite a bit of traveling during September and I wanted to post a few pictures of the countryside we traveled through. Going to Tena we traveled through 2 different National Parks that were beautiful. It is interesting that in just a very short time we can go from hugh city, to desert areas with little vegetation except for cactus and grass into jungle areas that are so full of vegetation you could not get through if you tried. Ecuador is a very small country but it is so diverse it continues to amaze us.

REFUGEE AID - TULCAN, ECUADOR

Hermano Gerson Cagua, a Church employee from Columbia who handles visas for missionaries, and Dad. We are all hoping this will help with the Church´s relations with Columbia.

Loading the vehicles with the kits.


Some of the sisters that helped, the wife of the Branch President and the wife of the Elders Quorum, they asked if they could keep the aprons so they could talk to the Relief Society and try to do some projects on their own in the community. We were hopeing that the members would catch the vision of service by helping with the projects.

Inspecting the kits.

Signing the donation papers.

Kits ready for donation.

The three kits we prepared, a closer view.

Primary children, youth, adults and Elders all helped with the project.





September 15-16, 2011

The next week we traveled to Tulcan. It is by the border of Columbia and is actually colder than Quito. We traveled through some very beautiful country that reminded us of Idaho and Wyoming. This is the area where they grow lots of papas (potatoes). There was actually lots of harvesting going on but I did not get any good pictures. I really need to have some lessons on taking pictures through a car window at 100 Km per hour. Anyway the harvesting was being done by hand, we only saw one tractor. It was very interesting to see large groups of people digging and filling bags with potatoes. I wonder what they would think if they came to Idaho and watched a harvest. Anyway back to the project. Again we had the members and the Elders help us assemble the kits. Here we did 200 school kits, 200 hygiene kits and 300 medicine kits. We did not get to give the kits out they were given to personnel from the Columbian Embassy. The gentleman that came to receive the kits asked several questions about the church and we gave him a Book of Mormon, a tract and a Liahona. We hope this will improve relations with Columbia and help the Church obtain visas etc for our missionaries. We also hope the gentleman will desire to know about the Church and investigate further.

SCHOOL KITS FOR TENA

This was one of the dances the children did for the ceremony, they are so beautiful.

Tena Children Presentation Ceremony from Brenda Yost on Vimeo.

Four groups of children preformed different dances for the program. These were beautiful and interesting, we felt like we were watching people right out of the Book of Mormon. Notice the boys with their spears in the 4th picture, does stripling warriors come to mind?






Some of the children with their new school kits.





Handing out the kits was so much fun, the children were so excited but very polite and orderly. The Elders had a great time, we hope that this will help with missionary work in this area.



Greeting some of the children before the ceremony.


The next morning I woke up with a horrible heat rash on my face.


750 kits is a lot of kits. It got tiring taking them up and down the stairs so we started handing them out the 2nd story window. They pretty much filled the truck.



Some had much more fun on this project than others. This is Isreal and he was so fun. He took my camera and took all kinds of pictures including several of himself.

Assembling the kits.

September 8-9, 2011

We traveled to Tena, in the jungle, to do school kits for children living in small villages along the Napo River. We had asked the Tena Branch members and the missionaries to help us assemble the kits. We had 20 members, 2 investigators and the Elders that worked for several hours getting the kits put together and loaded in the truck. It was a great experience for the members the Elders and us. These kits were a little awkard because the school had asked for a large piece of poster paper for each kit. These had to be rolled and then we had to tape the kit closed as the sealer we usually use would not work. The next day we attended a presentations ceremony. Several of the smaller schools had traveled to attend and we gave out about 300 of the kits. The children did dances in native costume, they looked like they were right off the pages of the Book of Mormon. My heart was so full as I saw these beautiful children I wanted them to know of their heritage and promised blessings. Other kits were taken to Coca, and others will be given out by teachers who travel the Napo River to the small isolated villages to teach the children. I sure wish we could go along on some of those trips.

MVSEO CIVDAD - EL MUSEO de la CIUDAD

This is the small original chapel area that was included when the hospital was first built, travelers would stop and worship at this chapel as they felt there were special blessings that came from doing so. It is very small I couldn´t get a very good shot with the camera because I could not get back far enough.

The alter in the newer chapel. Much more ornate the simplicity is lost.


Medical intruments, take a close look at that saw!


Pharmacy cabinet, don´t you love the old bottles. It would have been so interesting to explore and find the old medical items after the hospital was closed.


Display on Marianna de Jesus, patron saint of Ecuador.


Throughout the museum there is interesting art work. I found this picture particuallary interesting. Notice how on the Indian side the world is green and growing and on the Spanish side it is all dark and dead. The occupation of the Spanish was a very dark time for Ecuador and most of South America it seems.


The walls are extremly thick, that is probably how the building has been able to stand for so long. Sister Naylor by one of the interior arch doorways.


There are two courtyards, it is hard to give a sense of how large this building is.

Walkway along one side of the first courtyard, this is the ground floor.

This area is just being put together, there is some old hospital equipment, and in the alcoves there are displays showing newspaper articles about the hospital and other historical information.

These pictures will give you and idea of how the hospital would have looked. There was room under the bed for a bedpan, the patients personal belongings, and slippers. A small shelf in the wall held water, a candle or lamp and perhaps a book or other personal item.



I had read about a museum in Quito that was built in an old hospital. We had heard that it was a very good museum and if we had the chance we should go and see it. Then on one of our explorations of Old Town we happened to find it. When Sister Naylor and Sister Lopez wanted to go to Old Town we took the opportunity to go through this museum, indeed it was worth it. It is an old hospital and has a very interesting history. Most of the museum deals with Quito during Colonial times when the Spanish were here. There is one area where they have set up a room to show how the hospital would have looked. I found this the most interesting. Small alcoves were built into the walls and there was just enough room for one patient in each alcove, kind of a private space in a very large room. The hospital was in use for 409 years 5 months and 19 days without interruption, that is four centuries of hospital service. There was a short time that it was used as a Military Hospital. It was originally named Mercy Hospital of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Misericordia de Nuestro Señor Jesucristo), later the name was changed to Hospital San Juan de Dios, or Hospital Saint John of God. Between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it as administered by the City Council and the Brotherhood of Charity and Mercy. During the eighteenth century it operated under the friars of the Bethleham order. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries it was operated by local and national government and supported by the Sister of Charity.