Dearest friends and family,
Do you know what a pincho is? Well, let me tell you. It’s an
Ecuadorian shish-kabob and they sell them everywhere. In the streets, in some
restaurants, at Church events…everywhere. Well last week I got to eat some
chorizo pinchos that were pretty tasty! They were part of a church event…helping
a member of the branch. All of the members of our little branch here in Tulcan
were there and plenty happy to help out and even happier to receive food for
doing so. So we all went down to the tae-kwando studio of the father of this
family we were helping where he had his little charcoal grill out warming up
the pinchos. Of course we missionaries tried the punching-bags a couple of
times because we are 19 and 20-year old boys. It was a good morning of service,
with good company, and good food.
So I got my pincho and ate it quickly despite noticing that
it was cool in the center. I initially paused as I thought: “isn’t chorizo a
meat that doesn’t necessarily be cooked? Isn’t it cured or something? Yeah…it’s
ok because it’s cured.” Well, despite my brushing it off in the moment, I was
wrong and ended up getting really sick from this chorizo. I’m all better now,
almost a full week later. Wait, there’s something I’m leaving out. While we were
all eating, the wife of this martial artist family came down the stairs, smiled
while clapping her hands, and proclaimed, “Espero que les gusta el chorizo! Es carne
de caballo!” Elder Loveland and I immediately exchanged glances. Huh? So I
guess its horse sausage. Yeah, I guess so. She seems really proud of it. We laughed
a bit more than we should have. And then finished it. Now you all know the
story of the first time I ate horse meat.
So it was a pretty good week last week. It had its ups and
downs. The major down was that we all had to say goodbye to Elder Loveland who
moved to Imbabura (near Otavalo). His departure has definitely left a void in
the vibe and bond the 4 of us missionaries had developed and shared since the
robbery at the New Year. I miss him. It makes it a little easier that we
received Elder Castagno in his place as the new companion to Elder Morales.
Elder Castagno comes from la tierra of Idaho and has the same amount of time in
the mission as Elder Loveland. He is really nice and we all get along well.
Before his mission, he enjoyed carpentry and metal work which is super cool and
different in a very impressive way. He showed me a picture of some bronze roses
that he crafted and I can tell you he’s very good at it. Elder Castagno got
transferred here from the orient (the jungle). I don’t know if I’ll ever get to
serve out there in the amazon but the souvenirs and stories he’s shown and
shared have awoken a great desire in me to go. I have heard that the orient is
the one zone that suffers temperatures hotter than the ones I experience on the
coast. But I’d be more than willing to get past that in the name of adventure.
Who knows though? That’s one thing that is so exciting and fun about the
mission (and about my mission in particular) – there is such a wide variety of
adventures and experiences that a missionary could have here. For example, I
started out essentially slumming it on the coast for 3 months and now I’m here
in Tulcan with mountain people, fighting off cold temps and Colombian smuggled
goods. In 5 weeks another transfer comes and I could very well be shipped off
to any other part of the north of this country that’s roughly the size of
Colorado. It’s all very exciting to me and I’m undoubtedly enthralled by the
prospect of what’s coming my way.
That said, I am really enjoying Tulcan and I’m equally happy
to remain here another 4-5 months. I enjoy the people, I enjoy the other
missionaries, and I enjoy the progress I am making along with the people who listen
to us. Something that has been on my mind a lot, and it’s something my dad
writes about often, is slowing down and enjoying one day at a time in this
thing called life. That’s been my focus the last couple of days, to take a
single day at a time with an attitude of enjoyment and it’s been going really
well for me. Every day is a fresh start, with a fresh set of things to learn
and do. It’s not always easy to keep this perspective but it’s definitely doable.
I promise! As a great friend of mine has said many of times: “make it a great
day, everyone!” I’ll talk to you all soon and hope that all is well in every
sense of the phrase.
Much affection for you all,
Elder Ericksen
- President Murphy came to Tulcan to go to church with us this past Sunday. It was actually really fun and good for me. It was like having missionary parents at church and it was really nice to introduce him to all of the investigators I write him about every week. He taught a really inspiring priesthood class and gave a great talk in sacrament meeting about some upcoming changes (stay tuned).
- Natalia and Lady passed their baptism interviews!!!!! They will be getting baptized on the 18 of this month. They are the daughters from family Lopez. I really think their parents will be following soon, they just need a little more time.
- I’m writing you this p-day morning, sitting at a juice bar drinking lunch. It’s fun and very economical. We always try to order the weirdest drink possible. Today my mix is Pony malta, 2 eggs and alfalfa (the horse grass stuff). It actually isn’t that bad. We also got some of this fruit called borojo (definitely spelled that wrong). It looks like poo but the lady promised it would give us secret powers and energy, so you can imagine we were all over that. It was super rico plus she mixed it with milk. One day we’ll have to visit and I’ll show you all the best juices and fruits you could never find in the USA.
- We are coming in from a hike that we took today all soaking wet! It was really, really fun! It was basically where Frodo lived. We found a natural hot pool and a crazy lady with cows – she let us try the milk!!! I felt weird knowing that it had just come out of the animal. Hopefully photos came through, we are in a slower cyber today.
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