The beginning of November, Nathan headed from Nashville to Quito, Ecuador. We didn't get to talk to him until about 6 days later, on his preparation day, but I knew that he arrived when I saw the mission president posted pictures on Facebook with the new arrivals. The first picture is the mission president and his wife, Sandino and Lupita Roman. That first night he stayed in an apartment with about 10 other missionaries. He had breakfast the next morning with the mission president and headed to Otavalo, his first area, about 2 hours north of Quito. He said it was a taxi and 2 hour bus ride to Otavalo - hard toting around all his stuff. Nathan's companion for the next 6 weeks was Elder Perez, from Lima Peru, who knew very little English, so Nathan had to learn Spanish quickly.
The first weekend there was fast Sunday, which starts after the lunch meal on Saturday (their main meal of the day). So he walked about 12 miles that Saturday and half of that while fasting. He bore his testimony in church his first Sunday there. Apparently the only thing they had in their apartment that first weekend was pancake mix (that didn't seem to work) and a package of spaghetti. They tried cooking it, but the pot was too big or something and wasn't cooking. After about 1 1/2 hours, they had plain pasta for dinner. They do get fed quite often for lunch. They eat a lot of chicken, fries, and potatoes. They'll often have some kind of soup with chicken feet in it. They have to be careful about the water there, which makes the foreign missionaries sick if it's not filtered. They have a water filter attached to their kitchen sink and a filtered water bottle to carry around with them. Nathan has had some stomach issues, but nothing to keep him down for long.
Nathan got to watch the Quito Temple dedication via broadcast in the ward building on November 20th (by Elder Quentin Cook) and then got to go to the temple on December 15th.
Elder Perez and Nathan were able to finish teaching a 13 year old girl (started lessons with the sister missionaries), a sister of a member of the ward, and were able to baptize her (Nathan's first baptism). They've taught several lessons and done a lot of street contacting, even in the rain. They cover 2 wards, so they go to both wards on Sunday. Elder Perez and Nathan started teaching a man named Guido, whose wife was already a member (for 15 years). He agreed to come to church and the Sunday he came, his daughter bore her testimony about her experience in the Quito Temple for the dedication. She had prayed and asked whether her family would be sealed in the temple, and she got the answer "yes" in her mind. She knew that her dad would eventually join the church. He did start taking the lessons, quit smoking, and was ready to be baptized on December 31st!
Halfway through December, Elder Perez completed his mission and went home, so Nathan got a new companion, Elder Quispe, from Bolivia. On Nathan's P-days, he's mostly been playing Settlers of Catan with his companion and some other missionaries. He taught them how to play, and now that's the requested thing to do on their day off. He played a little bit of soccer, but most of the missionaries now want to play Catan. He did get to watch a little bit of World Cup soccer when the Ecuador game was shown on the big screen in town, just outside of their apartment. They were able to see it from their window. They sometimes see parades or other things from their apartment.
They see chickens and wild pigs and have seen quite a few dogs wandering around. There's one dog that hangs around the market and begs for food. When it doesn't get fed, it starts barking at you. They've had other dogs follow them around, but none have been aggressive. They've enjoyed getting out in the community. Nathan teaches some weekly English classes. On December 1st, they participated in a community service project. They've seen some interesting things for the holidays, such as strapping life-like dolls on the back of a truck and letting it fly around (kind-of weird) - he said it looked like a real person. Some guys dress up as women and dance around in front of cars for New Years as well. He got a feast for Christmas Eve, complete with a whole roasted pig. He got to try pig intestines!
I sent Nathan and his companion a package for Christmas. I used a special delivery service, Mission on the Fly, which goes through an individual who flies with packages and hand delivers them to the mission office. It was a very reliable and prompt service, but it did cost a lot of money! His birthday package, sent via a different method, on December 16th, probably won't arrive until February... Audrey used that service for a Christmas package and it took 7 weeks for her box to arrive.
The missionaries had a district Christmas party though and enjoyed a nice meal with the mission president. In conjunction with going to the temple, they got to go to musical celebration of some sort, which was a lot of fun. He met Elder Horn, another American missionary, who was also born in Houston. We're friends with his parents and knew their family back in Houston.
Nathan continues to learn the language and has felt the gift of tongues while teaching. He went on exchanges with another new American missionary one day, so neither one of them knew the language very well. Nathan got to teach the plan of salvation in Spanish, and the people seemed to understand what he said! At another lesson, however, with his Spanish speaking companion, his companion told him after the lesson that the questions Nathan asked didn't have to do with the lesson. 😃 I guess luckily his companion can smooth things out.
He's loving the mission and in good spirits!
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