Sunday, May 19, 2012-- First Day in Quito!

Last night we arrived at our fourth hotel of the trip: the Hotel Finlandia, here in Quito! Everyone was pretty exhausted from ziplining and hiking all day on Saturday, so we were all glad to get some sleep. This morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and at 9:00 we were able to attend church in Dr. Zambrano's ward. Sacrament Meeting was really good; the first speaker focused on the importance of temple and family history work and encouraged members to make temple attendance a priority in their lives. The second speaker talked about the importance of music and how we are able to feel closer to God and receive answers to prayer through music. We were then able to sing the special musical number "Mas Cerca Dios de Ti." (It was our third time singing it on this trip; I think we all have it memorized now!) Then a member of the high council spoke about "catching the wave" of missionary work. He reminded us that we each have a purpose in life and encouraged us to pray and meditate so that we can better understand what the Lord would have us do in order to spread the Gospel and help our fellow brothers and sisters.
The Relief Society lesson was also about temples. It was amazing to hear the hermanas in Relief Society testify about temples. So many of them shared stories and personal experiences about their experiences with sacrifice and temple worship.  The ward is having a temple trip this Thursday-Friday.  Because the closest temple is 8 hours away in Guayaquil, it takes a whole day to make the trip there and back. Even though the temple is pretty far away, the members here are so grateful to have a temple here in Ecuador. It definitely reminded us to be grateful that we are blessed to live so close to temples and have the opportunity to attend often, especially in Provo. The people here are very humble and because of the sacrifices they make to attend the temple, they have very strong testimonies of the sacred nature of temples.

After church, Dr. Zambrano and his family invited all 20 of us to come to his house for hamburgers, hotdogs, chips, and peaches for dessert! It was very kind of them to prepare so much food for all of us and to welcome us over. They have done so much for us on this trip and we are grateful for their service and support.

After lunch, everyone spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, napping, and talking to family/friends back home. It was good to have time to rest because the next two days will be busy touring the city and making the most of the time we have left here in Ecuador!