Dearest friends and family,
WARNING: READ WITH CAUTION. HIDE THE CHILDRENS’ EYES AND PROCEED WITH STRONG STOMACH
“Pues, es mi tierra y es costumbre que la novia da 25 cuyes
a los padrinos, pero yo no voy a dar 25…yo voy a matar a todos para la fiesta, jajaja.”
This is a quote from Hermana Soledad, one of the people we have been teaching
and she told us last night that she has more than 40 cuys prepared for the
lunch on Saturday in celebration of her wedding. I’m starting this letter on
Thursday morning, with a good 3 days of anticipation remaining, so we don’t
know yet if I’ll be eating one of those 160 cuy legs for sure but I’m hopeful!
Stay tuned to find out.
Wow, so Friday was the craziest, most hectic day of my
mission to date. Where do I even start? Finishing breakfast one minute before
8am, we get a call saying from Hermana Soledad that 1) the marriage witnesses
fell through and 2) an unexpected error happened at the Civil Registry office
and she and Luis had forfeited their appointment at 4pm later that day. Soledad
asked us to find 2 witnesses and said she’d ask for permission to get off work
at 2pm so she and Luis could try and squeeze into an earlier time slot. We of
course said “okay” and went to work. We were able to get everything lined up on
our side but frustratingly the soon to be husband and wife couldn’t arrive. And
their wedding has been postponed until Tuesday.
More than anything, I’m happiest when everyone around me is
happy so I did my best in the circumstances to keep our spirits up. It was an
interesting afternoon. Soledad told me that they wouldn’t cancel the Saturday lunch
because they had already purchased the food and they’d make it a
pre-celebration lunch. She also asked that we continue inviting Church members
and to have everything ready for Saturday at 1:30.
It looked like this week wasn’t going to let up on me in
terms of stress and problem solving! Saturday was another great but hectic day.
We went up to Cangahua to enjoy the lunch and everything turned out great. Lots
of members were able to join them and express their support for the almost
newlywed couple which brought me lots of relief. Also, a definite highlight of
the day, I can finally provide a first-hand witness and confirmation that our
furry little friends, the cuyes, are basically Ecuadorian bacon. I mean they don’t
have a ton of meat on them and what gets eaten is skin, nice and crispy. Don’t
call me crazy but I actually really enjoyed them. The plate was intimidating
with steak, chicken, potatoes, choclo and cuy but I was very content. The
family also brought down a lamb to make a stew. Yes it was a lot of food, but everyone
was very happy. My comp and I hit the road earlier than the rest of the members
who stayed up on the hill for a while longer in order to come home and get back
to work and also to put final touches on the baptismal service plans for that
evening. Alexandra, who had been getting ready for baptism on the 16th
of September, asked us to bring it up a week and of course we weren’t going to
say no to that.
All in all, it was an incredible week. We are juggling lots
of things but so far every single one has come out miraculously well and we
haven’t dropped any major balls. I’m content and enjoying the pace and managing
well. I miss and love you guys. Oh yeah, guinea pig is pretty delicious. I
approve.
Have a great week,
Elder Ericksen
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