Another Dance Video

Ecuadorian Children´s Dance Group from Brenda Yost on Vimeo.

When we attended the Dance Performance in Old Town there was a children´s group that presented a few dances. They were so cute and seemed so excited to be dancing for an audience. I took a short video of them and thought I would share it.

Lemon Meringue Cake

This dessert was impressive looking and really tasted good if I do say so myself!



I am still working on my baking skills! Cooking at 10,000 feet is a challenge, but I am getting better, although my cookies still need some help. I was assigned to bring the dessert for a Sunday Dinner with President and Sister Ghent and the other Senior Missionaries. I don't know if I have seen this cake before or if I truly made it up in my dreams. I made a white cake cut it in half and then put lemon pudding filling in the center and on top. I made a meringue and covered the cake then baked for about 10 minutes. It was so good! Everyone seemed to enjoy it. The lemon pudding packages I have are very precious and I was worried about it not turning out and wasting one but it was worth the gamble. We may do a lemon meringue cake instead of a pie for Thanksgiving.

Jardín Botánico

Some of the roses in the rose garden.



The variety of flowers is amazing, these are la flor del Inca, they were used by the Inca´s for natural medicine.


I love gardens, wish I could make my Japanese Garden at home look like this.


How Elders view a rose garden!


Sister Pettingill and I in the dessert area.


There is a berry here called Mora, similar to raspberries only larger and more tart. We saw some of the plants in the garden, they really look wicked with those big thorns. I don´t think I will try growing them in Idaho.


The garden had several areas, jungle, dessert, rain forest, rose garden, this was the vegetable garden area, gave me some ideas to try when we get home.


I wonder if in the garden of Eden thay used leaves like these, you could get pretty good coverage.


We thought these wheelchairs were very unique, how better to see a garden then in a lawn chair. Very resourceful!


Entrance to the gardens.

Saturday July 9, 2011

We decided to go the Parque Carolina today and visit the Botanical Gardens. Elder and Sister Pettingill joined us and we had a delightful day. The gardens are beautiful; the only downside was that the orchard and carnivorous plant exhibits were not open. Guess we will have to go again!

Happy Birthday Elder Vergara and Elder Estrada

Blowing out the candles! Sister Naylor found the birthday candles and brought them to the party. They were so fun, they sent out sparkler like sparkles and would re-lite after being blown out!




The Elders taking home the left over cake following the party.

July 4 and 10, 2011

At our first staff meeting with the new President Elder Vergara indicated that his birthday was on Monday. The next person to introduce themselves was Elder Estrada who said his birthday was on the next Friday. This got to be kind of joke when I said our birthdays weren´t until August and September, everyone laughed. I decided to make a German chocolate cake (mostly because it sounded really good) for Elder Vergara on Monday. He was very surprised and seemed to really enjoy the cake. Then on Sunday the 10th we had the Elders over for dinner and had cake and ice cream for Elder Estrada. The missionaries like to be remembered and enjoy eating anytime, it is fun to do little things for them.

July 11, 2011 - Nine Months in the Mission

Good food and new good friends, what could be better!

July 11,2011

Today marks our half-way point, we have been in the mission field 9 months. We had decieded to have a special lunch together to mark the day. Sister Ghent came to our office and asked where a good place to eat was. Well, you can´t let that go by, we invited them to join us for lunch. We went to a Chinese Resturant close to the office that we really like. We all ordered a different dish and then shared, it was lots of fun. We also had a good opportunity to get to know our new president and his wife.

Operations Smiles Guayaquil, Ecuador

Delivering the supplies and signing the paperwork.



This was a cute little statue in the office. They do good work for so many children!

Thursday July 14, 2011

After doing the Smiles Project for Quito we were asked to help with the same supplies for surguries in Guayaquil. They are so happy to receive the materials as these supplies enable them to do the surgeries. We tried to get missionaries from the area to go to the hospital to help but have not heard if any were able to go. We did not get to go to Guayaquil so I have no pictures of the children. But it is good to know that about 90 children received some needed help.

New President - More Eating

President and Sister Ghent, our new mission president and his wife.


Their first Zone Leader Council.


Happy 4th of July America!!!


Sister Ghent made matching aprons for all the Senior Missionaries, guess she heard about all the cooking and serving we do.

Tuesday July 5, 2011

President and Sister Ghent are getting right into the action. Tuesday was Zone Leader Council and for now they wanted to keep things as they have been. That means lots of cooking so we can feed the missionaries. We were not able to go to help with breakfast or lunch but Dad and I went to the mission home and served dinner. The Senior Sisters made cake and put the jello stripes in it then I made little American flags on toothpicks to put in each piece of cake for the dessert. I hope this was politically correct. I had the Elders explain to the Latins that July 4th was the celebration of Independence for the USA. I think I need to look up Independence Days for the other countries we have represented here and do the same for them. The Elders seemed to enjoy the meal, although I think they were trying to be polite for this first meal, since most didn´t return for seconds.