Compañia de Jesus Church

The exterior of the church, click here to see more detail.

This is the inner door, after here no pictures are allowed. Again, click on this a few times to see the detail.

February 5, 2011

Today we took Sister Dreason to Old Town, "Centro Historico", to purchase some fabric. She will be leaving in May and wants to have a suit made before she leaves. There are many shops that sell fabric and the selection is awesome. While we were there we visited the Compañia de Jesus Church. This church does not look like much from the outside but is very beautiful inside. They do not allow pictures to be taken inside so you will have to look at the internet to see some pictures. There is 7 tons of gold used to decorated it. The pictures of hell I found quite interesting. It was built by Jesuits in the 17th century and took 160 years to complete. There are 10 side alters, all decorated very lavishly. The remains of Ecuadors patron saint Mariana de Jesús are entombed in the main gold alter.
The site www.ficj.org.ec, is pretty good but on this site you have to watch the slide show at the top of the page, it will show you some of the interior this one was the best I found. You can google Friends of Jesus Church Ecuador or Iglesia de La Compania de Jesus Ecuador. None of the sites give a good show of the interior or the art work. If any one finds a good site let me know I've been surfing for several days to find a really good one to refer you too. Trust me it is an awesome church.

Basilica del Voto Nacional

This is a hugh Gothic church the largest in the New World, it is very beautiful.


As we were leaving we passed the entrance to the catacombs under the Basilica. We were allowed to walk through them, this is where many people are buried, it was very interesting.



In front of the Basilica.


On the boardwalk above the ceiling of the church, from here you can climb into the tower. Click to enlarge you can see the ladder, then you go out and climb 2 or 3 more ladders into the tower.



The clock tower, I climed up to the clock but I didn´t go up to the towers.



Interior from the second floor.



Up close view of one of the large windows.



There are beautiful stained glass windows.






This church uses statues of animals found in Ecuador instead of the usual gargoyles. They are called grotesques, they are unique to this church.


A view of the Basilica from a hill by the school where we delivered the desks a few weeks ago,then a side view of the church.

January 30, 2011

The senior missionaries all got together today and went sightseeing. We went to the Basilica, a very, very large church in Quito. It was approved to build in 1884, and started in 1892. Mary´s Immaculate Heart Chapel was built from 1892 to 1909. By decree of July 3, 1885, the Fourth Quitense Provincial Council turned the construction of the basilica into a religious compromise in the name of the country as an external symbol of the Consecration of Ecuador to Jesus Sacred Heart realized on March 25, 1874. The basilica was blessed by Pope John Paul II on January 30, 1985. The basilica remains technically "unfinished". Local legend says that when the Basílica is completed, the end of the world will come. It is the largest neo-Gothic basilica in the Americas. There are 24 smaller chapels off the main chapel, one for each providance in Ecuador.

Newspaper Article

February 2, 2011

Fernando brought several newspaper articles to us to put into the project file. We are now celebrities if only for a few minutes. This was the one from our Colta Training.

Announcing the Arrival of Julia Nanette Yost

Our beautiful new grand-daughter.

January 28, 2011

We have a beautiful new grand-daughter. Julia Nanette Yost was born at 12:01 a.m. January 28th. She was 7 lbs 13 oz. and 21 inches long. How we wish we could be heading to Sacramento to see her, but skype will have to do for now. This is our 20th grandchild, 14 girls and 6 boys. We love and miss them all.

Ibarra, Otavalo and a CPU doll

Otavalan Market.


One shop in the Market.



A mask we bought at the market, doesn´t he look good. We sent this to Thayne to wear skiing.



By the falls.



Peguche Falls



The path to the falls.



Delivering our last CPU doll, now we can close this project.



Fun picture, only a small charge.



On the way we stopped at a small roadside shop. They had all kinds of things and charged for each one of them. Here is Dad with the Lama

January 26, 2011

Tuesday we did reports on the NRT project and got the pictures and files all in order. Wednesday we hired a car and went to Ibarra with Elder and Sister Flake. We had one last CPU doll to deliver to the hospital there. The hospital was very grateful for the equipment and we spoke with them about a future NRT project. Then we had some personal time to see some sites and go to the Otavalo Market. We first stopped in San Antonio and visited some of the wood carving shops. Then we went to Peguche Falls near Otavalo. This was so beautiful. I realized how much I miss the mountains and being in nature. It was a short hike and the falls were enjoyable. We had lunch, and then spent an hour at the market. You need to Google this market it is very famous, the largest market in South America. I got a few more souvenirs, much to Dad´s dismay. It was an enjoyable day. Elder and Sister Flake were very tired, and so were we, we have had a very busy 2 weeks. Sister Naylor fixed a nice dinner for us then we hung out until time for them to leave for the airport. We received word that they arrived home safe and sound. We look forward to working with them again in August.

Santo Domingo and Quevedo

Beautiful cloud forest. It would be hard to get through this jungle but very easy to get lost in it.





Banana plantation, (it is hard to get a good shot from a moving car through the window).



Ecuador is the worlds largest exporter of bananas, there are hugh plantations near Santo Domingo. Notice the bags over the bananas, this protects from insects.



One of the many waterfalls along the way.


Santo Domingo is more tropical than Quito, and very beautiful.



Monday January 24, 2011
We returned to Quito Saturday night. Everyone was pleased with how the training had gone and felt it was very successful. We were all tired but so happy. The group hung out at our apartment until time to leave for the airport. Their flight was at midnight, so they had a day a night and a day with very little sleep. Elder and Sister Flake remained here and on Monday morning we left for Santo Domingo and Quevdo to develop another NRT project for August. It is a beautiful drive through the mountains on a very winding twisty road. Our visits went very well and we are scheduled to do training the first of August. We had planned to stay the night, but were done early enough to return on Monday. This allowed us Tuesday to get reports completed while the Flakes were here, which worked out well for all of us.

Celebrating in Colta

I wanted to post this video of the dance that was held following the training in Colta. Everyone was very happy. We call this the Ecuadorian Two Step.

Celebrating in Colta from Brenda Yost on Vimeo.