Adam Ericksen's Ecuador: Week 9 - The Wheels On The Bus Go...

Dear friends and family,

I would like to declare that blessings can come in all shapes, sizes, smells and flavors. This week the biggest blessing that I had graciously bestowed upon me by the esposa of Presidente Tello was broccoli. BROCCOLI! Wow, what an interesting way to start a letter – hah! (What do you think when you read these?) Anyway, the message that I would like to convey, similarly to last week, is that life is improving here day by day. I had my first serving of vegetables since entering the country and they were delicious. A lot of vegetables are hard to clean here because of the poor water quality (tomatoes, letter, broccoli) but yes, I got to eat some and my taste buds were craving it. However, don’t let me waste any more time jumping into my discussion of the categories of life in Ecuador. This week I’d like to start with…the busses.

The Busses: The busses here function kind of like a trolley or railway service. People are always jumping on and off and often you can find people loudly selling things up and down the aisle. The busses are always noisy, always packed, and always drive incredibly fast. If you were to ride in one, you’d think that the driver had buttons instead of pedals – one for “lightspeed ahead” and one for “stop right here, right now.” I get to ride in one of these unique transportation systems every couple of days and I have gone some interesting places. Natolita is one and I travel there whenever I have a reason to meet with my zone (24 other missionaries also assigned to Esmeraldas). I do this once a month or so and it did not take any time at all to learn to appreciate the breathtaking beauty of the river-swept, Amazonian landscape and countryside. I have noticed some earthquake damage where state-sponsored construction crews are digging super deep (9-12 feet) holes in the ground and are replacing piping. This past week I also go to go on a little viaje to a nice-ish beach town called Atacames. Bring raised near the beach all of my life it was really interesting to explore a beach with a more tropical flavor to it. On a different note, it was while traveling to Atacames this week, in a rickety, sloppily-painted bus branded “Las Palmas”, that had a real ability to toss its passengers to and fro that I had a realization that with the passing of October 23^rd, I can officially declare that I have been on my mission for 2 months. This lends quite nicely into the next topic: timing.

Timing: One thing that I have completely reevaluated on my mission is my perception of time. During my life before I left, things were very routine. Everyday I had everything all planned out – me in control of all the things that pertained to me. But here so many events in my schedule revolve around others – my companion, my leaders, my investigators (people who are learning more about the church) that I can’t really control all that much. The end result is that some days pass rather quickly and others go by impossibly slow.

This is coupled with the concept that time itself drives so much of what I do and think about. The time of two years that I have committed to this service, the time I spend studying, the time in between appointments, never having enough time to write home, the fact that my time in high school and youth has expired, it all matters and its always in my head. I could write an essay on this, but I won’t make you read that! The reality of the timing of my mission is that the larger 2-year chunk is divided into 17 smaller, 6-week chunks called Cambios (changes). For now I am going to be in Aire Libre for a minimum of 2 cambios for my 12-week period of training. After that, potentially, I could get moved around elsewhere in the country but I doubt it! Most people that get assigned to the coast put in 6+ months. We’ll have to see!

I hope you all find nothing but memories and happiness in the coming days of Halloween. Please remember that you’re always in my thoughts and prayers. Also, please remember to always enjoy your broccoli!

Until next Monday,

Elder Ericksen

Other anecdotes shared outside of the normal weekly email:

Today we went to a nicer beach called Las Palmas with the whole zone. It was really fun.
It’s always soupy at the beach and so hot, gross. We got to play soccer on the sand. It’s a mission rule not to go on the sand but we called President Murphy and he said it was ok. Last time I’ll stand on sand for the next 22 months, I was very happy. A sister from Mexico in my zone made guacamole to share and it was so good and reminded me of home.
I tried using my ATM card for the first time I went to the store to buy some stuff like a pillow, deodorant, and toothpaste. When I got to the register the lady asked for my ID which I had left back in the apartment. So I used my last $10 of cash to buy some basic food items. Long story short – I will be slumming it this week.
On Friday this week I travel to Quito for something called verifications – I’ll get my visa and meet with President Murphy. I’ll spend the night there and get to reconnect with all my friends from the MTC.
Thanks for the letters via email. I print them out and bring them home to read during the week. Each Monday night I can’t wait to see what you’ve all mailed me.