Week 59 - The Subtleties of "Know"

Dearest friends and family,

You know, I’m realizing that there’s lots of things that get learned in the mission Ecuador Quito Norte. That was an awfully put together sentence. Can you tell I’m really tired? I hope not. Let me try that again.

I’m realizing that we missionaries are learning tons of little actions and habits that are specific to the culture and area of the world that we live in. For example, here in Ecuador the words “knowing” and “learning,” which are “saber” and “ensenar” in Spanish, have strong colloquial and contextual connotations with acclimation to or familiarity with a certain place or condition. When I arrived here in Cayambe many people would ask “te has ensenado?” to the city. They were basically asking if I had taught myself or had been taught by someone else the town of Cayambe in terms of being used to living here. Another illustration happened last night when Hermana Monica asked Elder Cuevas and me: “saben comer palomitas de maiz?” Word for word that sentence is asking if we physically knew how to eat popcorn, however the implied context is asking if we were accustomed to eating popcorn or if we liked eating popcorn. Obviously, we know how to eat popcorn. One last example so it sticks: Los miembros aqui en Cayambe saben llegar tarde a la iglesia. Literal translation: The members here in Cayambe know how to arrive late to Church. Ok? Good, it stuck.

So let’s get to my point. We missionaries “know” how to lots of things in the mission. We know how to eat – sometimes a lot of food – every single day. We “know” how to take showers with flip flops on. We “know” how to be ready with an inspirational thought in every moment because in any meeting, at any time, we are likely to be called upon to share without warning. Here’s a tricky one to see if you’ve been paying attention: We North Americans “know” how to forget how to talk English well here in the mission. I have lots more. We missionaries “know” how to travel lots. We “know” how to read in sketchy busses. We “know” how to fold up our suit coats when the situation arrives and put them into a backpack to do an impromptu interchange. We “know” how to get excited when you all send us pictures and emails and packages. We “know” how to eat lots of eggs, and I mean lots of eggs, because they’re easy to cook. We “know” how to prepare for changes in assignment every six weeks – which in fact will be upon us again next Saturday. I hope you aren’t bored.

Let’s get more personal. I have learned here how to eat lots of odd food items. On Thursday, Elder Cuevas and I were eating lunch with an extremely kind and generous woman who normally serves really quality food. This particular Thursday she served us a carne desconocida (unknown meat) in a mushroom sauce. Elder Cuevas didn’t recognize the meat which, for me, is a really bad sign because he’s the guy from Peru who loves fried liver and chicken heart soup. I asked him not to inquire about the mystery meat until I had finished because I was eating well – not entirely loving it mind you – but I was close to finishing and thanking her for it. Anyway, he finished his quickly and right after I finished me, he threw out the big question – hermana, que era la carne? Welp, turns out it was pig TONGUE.

Well I had lots more things I would wanted to include in this week’s letter but we were super busy working with a number of people over the weekend and I didn’t have time to finish. I’ll catch you next week. Know that I am doing well. Mission life is interesting.

Lots of love,

Elder Ericksen

Other tidbits:

• Today the boys went to the Coca base of the Cayambe volcano which I believe is around 15,100 feet of elevation. The parking area and building seen in the photos below appears familiar to Youtube videos posted by hikers who have made the trek. It takes professional climbers about 8 hours to summit the remaining 3000 of elevation, it's all glacier from there. The boys obviously couldn't climb for a host of reasons, but I won't lie: I am feeling jealous and a little sad that I could be there to discover and experience this incredible place with my son today. Trust me when I say he will one day soon "ensenarme" this beautiful place and we'll do it with a bag of biscochos and a thermos of hot chocolate in our camel pack. :) What sheer beauty!