Week 88 - Real Life Nat Geo

Dearest family and friends,

This letter may be short because this week I’ve had a lot on my mind. I’ve felt like every moment of the week there’s been an investigator to think about, or a church member that is going through a challenge, or a missionary companionship in the zone that needs our calls and support. It has been a lot! At the same time, I’ve been enjoying many of those nights where you get home and just flop into bed because you feel “wow, I couldn’t have done one more good thing today because I was too busy getting every other good things accomplished.” I’m splendidly happy! It’s been an excellent week to be a missionary and not such a good one to be a letter writer.

On several different occasions this week I looked around and thought: “whoa, this is pretty cool…my life is like a living National Geographic magazine. On Wednesday I was walking along the side of a main road of a place I wrote about long ago (when I was first in the coast) called, “La Lucha de los Pobres.” We shuffled along, exploring the area and meeting as many people as we could. I was sweaty but the sun wasn’t too strong that day. We passed by the Esmeraldas prison and over the chipped-and-sun-bleached-painted wall, I noticed that many inmates were standing by the windows of their cells, looking outside. I think they just wanted fresh air.

Passing the jail, we continued down the road and I spotted something I had seen before in Ecuador, but never before coming to the mission. Lying on the road was a cracked open and ant-filled cocoa bean. I grabbed one of the seeds and smelled the super rich, slimy chocolate essence of it. If you’ve never seen a real cocoa bean, look it up…it’s kind of gross). I dropped the seed and looked around my surroundings a little more and was surprised to see the fallen seedpod was a wild cocoa tree! Esmeraldas is known for producing cocoa beans and I’ve seen many in my travels – but usually the trees are hidden behind private property because the beans are so valuable. I wish that I had had my camera with me that day.

All the kids here have now gone back to school. I think I’ve mentioned before that about 90% of Esmeraldas is African-Ecuadorian, right? Well, each family signs their kids up for their pick of Catholic school and the kids are assigned a uniform that is usually blue pants/white shirt and tie for the boys, and a white, collared dress for the girls. It makes my day when I see all the kids pour out of the big metal door of their walled-off schools in the afternoon. They run down the dirt roads, make loud jokes with their friends, and buy snacks from the little stores on every corner. It’s very picturesque. Seeing them really reminds me of photos I’ve seen of kids in other countries going to schools built by charitable organizations. It’s really interesting and I feel very fortunate to be living and exploring so much of this part of the world! Like I have said many times, culture is awesome! I say it with joy and love,

Elder Ericksen

Week 87 - La Ciudad Olvidada

Kudos to this guy - this can't be OSHA approved

Dearest friends and family,

So this is the third time that I scrap and restart this letter because I really want the feeling to come through! This time it will. I have this impression that many times people don’t think about or reflect on missionaries being out proselyting at night. We certainly do, and our appointments often fall through leaving us little choice but to knock doors and talk with people in the street.

Here in Esmeraldas night-time brings a different kind of feeling than that of the day. I felt it the first time I was here 18 months ago and I still feel it now. It feels like this: the street lights cast a baked-type of orange color and every few of them are not functioning. The roads are either dirt or very simply paved with a cheap and cracking cement. In the city there aren’t supposed to be any speed bumps but they place heavy fishing nets around the roads to slow down cars. In the dark we are constantly “stepping over” their silhouettes. It’s normal to see a good number of people out doing various things – buying eggs, fruit, or milk for their dinner, others riding bikes that look like they belong in the “lost and found”, and there are even a few who may be dancing. The stray dogs are always out. It’s a very lively scene. The night brings a cooler temperature, but the humidity never goes away. Lately it’s been raining a lot at night. I carry a towel to wipe off my face. Everything feels really tropical like a city in the rainforest. On top of it all is the music – the vibe and soul of the city (salsa, bachata mostly) - played at full volume, up and down every street. I’ve learned to be a lot more aware at night, because it feels like I need to be.

On Tuesday we were walking around on a night like this, very aware, when all of a sudden an audible clap sounded and echoed all around us. A power outage suddenly removed all light from the world, leaving us alone in the middle of a very dark shadow of our surroundings. Besides the obvious physical darkness, without the light I felt a negative thickness flowing through the air. When the light left, the life of the city seemed to retract as well. I noticed that people started putting out candles and everything seemed really calm. The music – the vibe and soul of the city – had stopped. The whole scene helped me understand better a nickname the rest of Ecuador has for Esmeraldas – “La Ciudad Olvidada.”

I’m always grateful that my home in the US isn’t a forgotten city. We have every necessity that one needs to live comfortably and I’ll always be grateful for that. I’m also grateful this week for the light. Light is life. Let us all cling to it. I’m happy to be on this earth, writing to you from the forgotten city. I’m happy to be a missionary. Life is amazing.

With all my love,

Elder Ericksen

Week 86 - So Far So Good

 April 13, 2018
Dearest Friends and family,
      Mom, I loved your questions! Esmeraldas is “so far so good!” No complaints and we’re working HARD!!. I’ve been received well by the members and almost all know me. We gave talks in church on Sunday... something I haven’t done for a while. I focused on how the gospel of Christ is perfect and how if we all understand that fact better we wouldn’t ever doubt the “why”.
I also made a big point of teaching how we are all one huge family in the church.
     My apartment is really basic, but usable and clean. When President Murphy arrived in Esmeraldas on Wednesday, he dropped by to deliver a shipment of mission supplies to our house. I’d say our street was probably one of the dirtiest places that the nice mission car has been so far. When President Murphy stopped by, he took advantage of being so close to come over and tour our house. I believed we received his approval of cleanliness because he wasn’t shocked or surprised in the “oh wow” kind of way when he walked in.
     You asked if we have a normal shower. Clarification: By US standards “normal showers” don’t exist in Ecuador if we are talking about warm water coming out of the wall. That being said, my shower now is pretty normal for Emeraldas. There is water most days that comes out of an elevated pipe. Its a huge advancement from Aire Libre (my first area). I have taken a shower every day and every night. Its been a huge physical comfort. The water is cold but it feels good and I sleep less sweaty. I do have “mamitas” that cook for me. I’ve had encocado of shrimp. I also have had calamari. It’s known throughout Ecuador that Esmeraldas has the best food in the country. I like that a lot.
     Washing laundry, we are on our own. We did find a laundromat near by and we are going to take our clothes! I am a very different missionary now. I understand and live better. My companion is great and I am loving being back in the mission field.
     This week we had a big zone conference and it was great seeing all the missionaries. In our zone theres a lot of missionaries with varied levels of experience. I like that because it means a big responsibility of unifying everyone, so that we can all pull ahead with success. As zone leacer, we do travel around quite a bit to all the sectors of the zone. We check their planning, their goals and their physical state. It is a lot to think about. So far so good. I love you family and can’t wait to read your letters this week.
Elder Ericksen

 Adam mentioned teaching at zone conference.  Looks like he was doing a great job.

 The basic, usable, clean apartment and Elder Chavez

 A laundromat where you add your own water?

Adam is very fortunate to return to his first area where he loved the people, the food and get to appreciate how much he has grown.

Week 85 - Esmeraldas: Part II

Dear friends and family,

I’m living an impressive lesson that looking upon something the second time, with some maturity and experience, causes you to see and notice things that you may have missed at first sight. I’m back in Esmeraldas everyone, for a second time! And I’m seeing and noticing many things that I never paid attention to when I was here during my first 3 months in country from October to December 2016.

I remember talking about any number of things that made me feel threatened here in my letters from 18 months ago. I remember feeling like the area was a little sketchy and the earthquakes always had me a little on edge. Well, I’ve discovered an awesome truth that is helping me so much. The people of Esmeraldas are incredibly friendly and open! In Quito, up in the cold Andes Mountains, everyone is comparatively closed off and we had to be extra friendly to be able to talk to and contact people. I got really used to it. Now that I’m here, I’ve continued to be extra friendly and I talk to everyone in the street and they’re all super friendly back! It’s completely solved my previous worries about weird stares and unusual cat calls. We’re going to be really well-known all around town by the time I next leave here.

My companion, Elder Chavez, is great. He is from Provo Utah but of Mexican heritage and speaks native Spanish. He’s super cool! We’re always laughing about little things like how we have our 2 fans always running whenever we’re in the house. We’re eating well, getting along splendidly, and working really hard in our sector. I’m having tons of fun with him. I won’t say Esmeraldas is the best place to live because of the heat, sweat and not being able to cool off in the ocean or abundant rivers with the locals, but attitude really is everything. And, as a bonus, I’ve reunited with lots of members from my old area, Aire Libre. And they remembered me! I saw Hermanos Trejo and Enzo and we were all smiles. And my ward, La Tolita, is really welcoming and friendly.

Sorry there’s not much time to detail and more this week – time has been really short. It seems there’s always a report to be made, a call to take, or a meeting to direct. It’s been cool though. Thursday is our zone council so look for photos later this week. I love you guys. Stay tuned for next week when I’ll update you about the shower situation here.

Elder Ericksen