Volcanos!

Here is the latest photo of Tungurahua volcano. The authorities said that a large amount of lava is building up. The people of the surrounding Pueblos (Towns) are preparing to evacuate. They have already moved all of the animals out of these towns. Also, the ash from the volcano is killing the crops.

It's sad because these people make their living from these crops.

Nancy and I will be in Rio Bamba in two weeks which is a lot closer to the volcano and so we should get some good pictures.

Love,

Elder Curtis

More Traveling!

Hola Todas;

Here are pictures of the wiring that on the telephone lines here in Quito. I think that some of the line have over a hundred lines on them. I don't know how they tell which is which.

The other pictures are of when we went to Tulcan, Ibarra, and Otavalo. The Indigenious Indians are demonstrating against the government for getting ready to pass un Ley de Aqua(Lay of Water) which the Indigenious disagree with because they feel it threatens their rights to water in the country. The indigenious have been putting road blocks all over the country. We ran into one going north and our bus driver said he wasn't going any further and told us to get off the bus and walk up further where other buses were stopped and see if we could get a ride on them to our destination. So we went walking right through the police lines and up until we found a bus going to Tulcan. We got on the bus and about 30 minutes later they leader of the Indigenious called it quits and they cleared the highway. Now this roadblock was at a intersection of three highways and so there were about 40 buses and 50-60 trucks and cars so it took about 30 more minutes to get everyone headed in the right direction.

It is now starting to get a little more violent with injuries and arrests. We hope they will get their issues resolved before someone gets killed.

Thats all from Quito Ecuador.

Love,

Hermana y Elder Curtis

May Events

Hola Todas;

Tungurahua is starting to calm down a little. We are glad that there was no more damage done than ash and rock spewed in the air. The ash and rock went as far South as Guayaquil and West as Guranda.

We are going down to Rio Bamba in 3 weeks so maybe we can get more photos if Tungurahua is still going.

Enjoy.

Elder Curtis

More Photos

Here are some more photos. Nancy was in Old Town Quito where the Palace is on last Monday with a Hermana from a ward that is sewing curtains for us for our apartments. It so happened that one Mondays there is the changing of the guard. Nancy was able to get pictures of this ceremony along with pictures of President Rafael Correra, president of Ecuador.

She said he waved at her or at least in her direction.

We also included a pictured of one of the thousand or so Guard Dogs. He posed just for us. The other dog is Elder Shepherd. He has his own Missionary Plaque. The Zone Leaders take him with them and if the people don't want to hear the Gospel or don't want to be baptized they call in Elder Shepherd.

Enjoy,

Elder Curtis

June 2010

Hola Todas;
We just returned from Otavalo where we had been for three days of Inspecting Apartments, Zone Conference and then Shopping at San Antonio which is an Artisan community that carves wood, then to the Otavalo Market for a half a day of shopping.

As you can imagine this is tough work. We cooked 200 Scones for the Zone Conference, Inspected 4 current apartments and looked at 4 new apartments.

This was a very different week in Otavalo. This week the people were celebrating San Juan Day which is to thank the Sun God for the bountious crops. The pictures we took were in Cotocatchi which is a pueblo just northwest of Otavalo. The groups you see in the pictures are doing a shuffle around the town square and whisteling and shouting. In some of the pictures you can see the police with their shields. At various times the groups get into fights with each other and then the police have to launch tear gas. The one photo was of a man that had had too much what ever and was passed out on the door step of the missionaries apartment. When they opened, he fell over and woke up. One of the pictures shows the queens of the celebration.

This was once in a lifetime experience to see these people in this ritual.

Now back to Otavalo. This week was a great occasion for Otavalo. 8 Heads of 8 nations were in Otavalo for a high level meeting about relations with their countries with each other. There were more Military and Police than you could count. Helicopters were coming in from every direction. We didn't dare take too many pictures other than Helicopters, Security was very tight.

Now keep in mind we really are working while all of this is going on................maybe!!!!!

Enjoy,


Los Curtis'

Our Trip to the Temple!

Hola todas;

This was our trip to Guayaquil, Ecuador to go to the temple with a family that we have been working with for a year. We met so many members at the temple. A lot of there are temple workers including seniors that are working there. Also, are pictures of an Iguana Park across the street from our hotel. We also took various pictures of Guayaquil so that Mitch can see what his old mission looks like now. Some of the pictures are mixed up a little. Some are of a park on the river. Other pictures are of an area that is being restored. The stuff you see in the big rivers is farming plants that have been washed down by upstream flooding that they have been having. There are some pictures from the plane showing the flooding.

Enjoy,

Los Curtis'

Updating our blog

We hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas Holiday. We are enjoying the holiday here in Quito, Ecuador. The temperature is really bad here today. It is hot. it hit 78 degrees and no snow in sight. But we are going to show you pictures of where our snow is at year round.

These are pictures of our Zone Leader Dinner and District Leader Dinner at the Mission President's home. The next pictures of of Hermana Curtis and I flying to Coca to open up another apartment and the Missionaries that helped us buy and move all of the stuff to the apartment and they were a great blessing to us We flue over several volucanoes and they were gorgeous.The next pictures are of the Branch Christmas Party.

The last pictures are of a Nativity Scene and the entire life of Christ that a woman has been working on for 30 years. Each pieces is either knitted or crocheted even the birds, ducks and fish. She is the one that we took a picture of standing next to her display. It took her 2 weeks to set it up. It is beautifuly.

We hope you have the Christmas Spirit this Season and certainly we all look forward to a Grand New Year.