Missionary work is a work of meeting people. Therefore it is
a work with lots of handshakes. That being said, Esmeraldas is a very sweaty,
dirty place with lots of dirty hands. What do you think people do here when their
hands are dirty and I reach out mine in a friendly handshake? Yes! Exactly!
They curl their fingers and hand into a little ball and offer you a nub-wrist
to shake! It threw me off at first but now I can add it to the list of things I’m
used to. It happens 3-4 times per day. My only question is what happens when
two people both have dirty hands but are feeling polite and friendly. Do they
clash nubs up and down a few times? I don’t know if I want to see that!
Anyway, this week was really up and down. I had a couple of
good days and a couple of less than good days. I got to eat a hearty serving of
cow stomach on Wednesday. The texture was chewy and hairy but the flavor wasn’t
that bad. Thinking about having a stomach in my stomach prompted one of those moments
where I had to take a step back and remind myself that life is sometimes weird.
But I’m hanging in there and staying faithful because, what else is there to
do? I know I’ve got this and I am happy to be here.
Christmas decorations are out in the stores and have been
for a couple weeks now. I thought we did Christmas early in the states but I
guess when you don’t have Thanksgiving, why not? I’m realizing quickly that
this is a hard time of year to be away from home and our culture. To be
completely honest, I’ve been here over a month and I haven’t heard much about
other celebrations / holidays that Ecuador has. We do have Carnival coming up
in February where people dress down, go dancing in the streets and throw water
on each other and anyone passing by, especially anyone wearing slacks and a
white button down shirt. In the roughly translated words of my companion “there’s
no reason for this holiday, it’s just to have fun.” I’ve also heard that New
Year’s celebration here on the coast is pretty crazy. I’ll keep you updated on
that one.
However, for the most part, people here do the same thing
day after day. They love to lounge, listen to really loud music, some work,
some play soccer, all of them eat great fruit all the time, drive mopeds, avoid
cleaning, cook really unhealthy food (google search “salchipapa”), bet dollar
coins on bingo in the streets and, most of the all, they love to pretend to be
busy. A lot of the people I teach and interact with have little jobs here and
there but, to be frank, it is hard to tell exactly what anyone does. Hermano
Trejo sells salchipapas in a little store that also has “hamburgers” and other
things. Presidente Tello works for the government. Hermano Alberto is studying
English at the University. But everyone gets by and everyone is happy.
The people here do a very good job living in the “in-betweens.”
Sometimes we tend to always be looking for the next big thing in our lives; the
next Christmas, the next vacation, the next promotion, the next weekend, the
next meal, the next big break. However the depressing, unseen side of effect of
this is that we ignore and rush through all of the in-between, ordinary days. It’s
not like that here. And I’m really trying hard to adapt that thinking into my
personality. Someone recently wrote to me: “don’t rob today dreaming about a
better tomorrow or feeding regrets from the past.” So that’s what I’m doing. Living
in the now, enjoying one day at a time. I’ll share more thoughts on this in
some later letter. Have a great week my friends and family.
Much affection,
Elder Ericksen
Adam included a personal experience in his letter to Lisa
and me tonight that I thought worth sharing…an extremely timely reminder that
none of us really have much reason to complain…J
Tonight we had a lesson with a lady named Alexandra. She is
probably around 23 years old but it’s been a hard 23 years. She has two boys,
Angel and Juninsky, who are about 4 and 1, respectively. She also has an “esposo”
but they aren’t married. She lives in a tiny – and I mean tiny – house with 3 pieces
of furniture that barely fit in her living room. All the padding is completely
gone on the chairs and she puts folded up blankets on top as cushions for us, blankets
that sometimes unravel and trail through her dirt floor courtesy of her boys.
She has worked hard every single day of her life and you can FEEL the tired in
her eyes. Her esposo is loving but works 10-12 hours a day and doesn’t want to
get married for a couple of reasons including being “surrounded by many failed
and broken promises.” So our lesson was basically floundering because the kids
were being rowdy and Esposo kept getting up and leaving the room, ultimately to
go buy some eggs and bread. It was getting late and we knew we had to leave
soon. We really wanted to leave on a positive note in the hopes it might soft
the heart of Mr. Esposo. Anyway, as we were heading out the door, stepping over
a coffee table and ducking under a miscellaneous wire, we heard Alexandra call
us back. Esposo wanted to share a drink before we left. We graciously accepted.
While sitting back down, Esposo brought out a small platter containing 3
glasses of masato (bananas blended in milk, served warm) along with 3 pieces of
freshly purchased bread. I crumbled inside because I had just watched Alexandra
scrounge 3 different places (her pocket, the coffee table drawer and another
room) to scrape together enough change to buy the bread. We prayed and I ate as
if this was the most expensive meal money could buy, because in their eyes, it
was. It was delicious and I made it clear how truly thankful I was for their
generosity. We set an appointment to return next Thursday and left. When I got
back to the apartment, I sat down in deep thought and just started bawling. I
felt so lonely, so far away from our family, and so terrible for every moment I
ever complained about anything in my life. I had the most blessed childhood of
any kid anywhere and I’ve been so blind to it. I am so thankful for every
effort you guys made to help me be a better person…I only wish I could be there
to tell you this in person.
Additional tidbits from other letters home this week:
- Sometimes my companion talks really quiet during prayers and this week I accidentally said “Amen” halfway through.
- People burn lots of trash and there’s always burning tires in the streets that cars swerve around
- My companion is feeling the pressure of only having 3 months left in his mission and having barely learned any English thus far – I’m pretty much a human dictionary right now.
- I’ve eaten cow stomach, hoof soup, and finally found out the mystery ingredient in most soups is yucca!
- Someone asked me what type of fruit the fruit of the “tree of knowledge of good and evil” was…I went with apple.
- There are guards with shotguns at the ATMs.
- People love Che Guevara here. There are tons of stickers everywhere
- I found a dentist. You can get a new ceramic tooth put in your mouth for $10 and “free extraction of old tooth.”
- The best banana is called platano de seda (regular bananas)
- You can’t buy anything normal here. Notebooks, pens, deodorant…they’re all super expensive and terrible quality. Example: $12 nutella.
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