Weeks of May 2020

Comings and Goings

For the whole month of May and the first week in June, we had constant change as we were assigned Ecuadorian missionaries who had to return home from the country they were serving in,  as we got missionaries who finished their online MTC training but couldn't go to their assigned mission yet, and as we sent some of our original missionaries home once their countries borders opened up.  

It was a moving target - everyday would change of what missionaries were coming and going.

Saying goodbye to Hermana Ordoñez

Our leaders finally received smart phones and we were able to have our first zoom Consejo.  It was the first time in two and a half months that we were able to see our missionaries faces.  

It took until the end of May, but by then, everyone had smart phones and the work started picking up again.  

Saying goodbye to a wonderful group

Elder Ramos,  Elder Xicay, Elder Ruiz

Hermana Mejias, Hermana Lopez, Hermana Coc, Hermana Aponte

Elder Ruiz, one of our AP's saying goodbye to the rest of the office missionaries -

Elder Orben, Elder Ramirez, Elder Fueres, Elder Felix, Elder Chepe

leaving with other missionaries from other missions

Saying hello to other groups

Saying goodbye to another great group

Hermana Chanduvi, Hermana Garcia, Hermana Portacarrero, 

Elder Soria, Elder Gutierrez, Elder Canales, Elder Felix, Elder Damazo, Elder Olaya, 

Elder Melgarejo

Welcoming more

Missionaries entering in from other countries had to be quarantined in a hotel for two weeks until they could enter our mission.  This was a huge group of 40 that had come from Mexico, had finished their quarantine and were ready to be assigned to our mission.

Week of March 23rd, 2020

The Great Exodus

By the direction from the First Presidency, we needed to send all of our missionaries who were not Ecuadorian home to be reassigned in their own countries because of the corona virus pandemic. This created some challenges because our borders were closed, and a number of other countries borders were closed also. 

All of a sudden, however, a couple of US commercial flights and a couple of US Embassy flights opened up and we were instruction to have ALL of our North American missionaries leave on those planes.  

This happened all within a couple of days and we scrambled to get all the paperwork in order,  missionaries packed and into Quito

The missionaries were only allowed to take one bag on the plane and so they were consolidating and dumping extra items in the office.  It was a huge mess and super traumatic for a lot of them.  But it was nothing that the pioneers hadn't done multiples times before.

We had to say goodbye to Elder Tolman, our secretary, 

and our AP's - Elders Wright, Wilkinson, and Flint -

The office missionaries and AP's who were left to rebuild

Elder Ramirez, Elder Ruiz, Elder Felix, Elder Orben, Elder Fueres,

Elder and Sister Lewis

planes were delayed and missionaries spend hours and hours (and a sleepless night) in the airport

And they're off!