Week 90 - Mother's Day Call

[Rough transcript of Adam's call home for Mother's Day - the call opens to what sounded like a kennel full of dogs barking in the background.]

Hey…what’s up guys? How are you doing? Happy Mother’s day! That’s so awesome you all made it and I can see you.

So can you hear the music and dogs? Those are street dogs, outside. There’s a lot of crazy stuff going on outside right now, as you can tell. I’m in the house of one of the nicest church members I’ve met in my entire mission - I know the wifi is going to work.

It’s so good to see all of you. Happy Mother’s Day! I must admit, I am a little nervous for this last call. I don’t know why, it’s weird.

Q: So, do you know how many days are left?

A: I don’t know. I know I have 12 weeks. I know I come home on the 7^th of August.

We got our changes last night and I am staying here in Esmeraldas. My companion, Elder Chavez, is leaving which I am kind of sad about because he’s been one of my favorite companions. My new companion is a guy from Bolivia named Elder Oyos. He is from the same ward as my trainer, Elder Fernandez so I’m basically ending the mission the same as I started it. But I am doing it way better this time. I can’t really say I enjoyed my training all that much. But it’s been so great to be back here in Esmeraldas again. It’s been a bit of redemption. I feel a lot older. Like I’ve leaned how to live. Like I’ve learned that it’s important to take a shower every day and if you don't, you shouldn’t be ok with that. I know it’s important to eat all the time. I’ve been living a lot happier, for sure.

Q: Do they have air conditioning?

A: No – the church has AC in the chapel (only) and the hospital. I’ve never been to hospital, but I imagine they have air. This area is very poor. It’s so good to see you guys – you look good.  

Q: What do you see there that you don’t see in the US?

A: Honestly, we could talk about that for an eternity. It completely depends on the region. The mountains, like in Quito, are very different from the coast. But in the coast there are tons of things to talk about. I know you saw the photo of the guy who stacked his ladder up against the wire. In the US, when they fix the electricity, they turn off the whole block. But he just turned off the one wire – you can see lights on behind him – leaned his ladder up against the wires and went to work. A lot of the things that are different here have to do with children and women. Like for example, something common here is when the mom’s feed their babies on the back of motorcycles or pick-up trucks. Laws in general are completely different – there may be laws, but I don’t think anyone knows them.

There are a lot of dogs they just wander around and make more dogs. The dogs aren’t aggressive they are laid back like the people. They are really, really dirty with fleas and ticks. We try not to touch them. Sometimes, a lot of times, they fight and that is one thing I don’t like because there’s no rules – they basically fight to the death.

But I’m really happy to be back here on the coast – there are a lot of amazing people here and I feel like I have grown a lot as a missionary and a person. I am living well despite all of the challenges here and I am really happy, which is good.

Q: How is the food – are you eating well?

A: The food here is better. In the sierra, you eat a lot of potatoes and corn. There’s a lot of food, really good food, specific to this region. Like this one dish, corviche - it’s like plantains shredded with a cheese grater and then mixed with a peanut paste and they put fish in the middle and fry it. It is sold in the street and we eat it a lot. There’s a lot of food that doesn’t have a name. The families here have a lot of recipes and flavors that are specific to their family. We had rooster for lunch today. It was like a – how do you call a field rooster, you know, they grow up outside – yes, wild rooster. The meat is really hard you have to chew it for a long time. They cook it a variety of ways – the woman today made it with a pressure cooker. We ate it with rice and fried plantains

Q: Your shirt looks clean – like you’re holding up.

A: Ya - all of my clothes are ruined. Right now I have 2 pairs of pants that work. I get holes in the crotch because we walk so much and you really can’t fix that. I mean, I’m going to try because it only costs like a dollar, but I need to get a new pair of pants. I’m doing really, really well – I’m really happy. I’ve been practicing my English.

Here’s another thing that happens in Ecuador not in the US – I am really discriminated against. Like the other day, I was on the bus and the kids started calling me “come gratis” – the guy who eats for free – and they were slapping their hands on me, like they were definitely bullying me. I’ve experienced a lot of things that will help me be more respectful.

Q: Do you cook your own meals?

A: We do try to cook our own dinners. We cook eggs, plantains, we make banana milkshakes because they’re very hydrating.

Q: Where do you shop?

A: We don’t really shop – the only mall in town is about an hour away on the bus because of traffic. I’m just really happy, I can’t really explain it. I’m just really blissful - I’m happy now, I’m happy what’s about to happen in my future, I’m happy for my life so far – I’m just extremely happy. To be honest, the thought of coming home kind of stresses me out.

Q: Do you still have the paper machete man? From New Years?

A: You know I bought that for $3, right? There are more cooler ones.

Q: You know why we love it right? Because it looks like you…

A: It’s in the apartment back in Quito. I’ll call Elder Ross and make sure it’s there.

Q: Hey Nathan, what is the first movie I need to watch when I get home?

A: Um, probably Star Wars.

I feel like a lot of missionaries get stressed when it comes to going home but sof ar, not me. I feel like I have a lot of time left in the mission yet. I did find out I won’t see Elder Castagno – he’s moving to another area to train, so I won’t see him until we go home. I think our whole group is together until Dallas.

I am excited. I feel like everything in the future will be great. It’s like the first time I was here, I was miserable and I didn’t want to be here. And then I went away and I learned how to live and coming back I have so much confidence and a sense of self worth. I feel like I’m conquering it now. We are just so blessed, every one of us, you know? Looking around at people who have dirt floors and their houses are made out of cinderblock and they have no chairs or furniture, just blocks to sit on – I mean, we should all be so happy just to be alive. I mean our family is amazing and I have such amazing friends. The fact that God has blessed us so much – we have to go out and help others as much as we can. I really love the new emphasis on ministering; I mean that’s already what we were doing as missionaries, but its good everyone is focusing on that more. I go out everyday thinking “how can I serve you today?” and I am just really happy about that. It’s really awesome. We all eat every day – 3 meals at that – life is really amazing. I love you all so much. We need to keep strengthening one another and loving one another, as much as we can.

I’ve had seem really incredible companions and I’ve really been able to get my head on straight this second year. I’m really confident and really happy. There’s nothing that can upset me at this point.

Next change a lot of my mission friends, Elders George, Moon, Welch, Morton, McKinnon – they are all going home. I’ll be really alone. Elder Morton is from Provo he has a lot of things I can do while going there for school.

Q: What do you think you will miss the most?

A: I will miss a lot of things. There are a lot of people who are very important to me in this country. There is one guy who was passing through some hard things and we really helped him and just loved him through it. Not doing that anymore will be really hard. I will definitely miss helping others full-time. I will be happy to lose this collared shirt and stop riding the bus and being with you guys and stuff. But everyone here is like family and I will miss them the most. When I was here in Esmeraldas the first time, I walked around in a stupor and must have looked shell-shocked because the members in that first branch really helped me. The people there remembered me when I came back and that was really great. The ward we’re serving in now will be one of my favorites.

But I will really miss the people. Like the familia Lopez in Tulcan. Hemano Mauricio got the Melchizedek Priesthood and Hermana Natalia (daughter) is planning to go on a mission. She had her first interview with President Murphy – he showed me a photo and I’m really happy about it. That is a very special family that I will never forget. I love Tulcan so much. Such an amazing family. We’ll go to their house one day and when they meet you, they will break down in tears. I just can’t describe the kind of relationship I have with them. I have families like that in every area I’ve been – especially in Cayambe, too. We baptized this one family there that lives an hour and a half from Church, up this big hill, in the middle of nowhere. Cayambe is at 10,000 feet and their house is at 13,500 feet, and they walk up and down the hill every Sunday to go to Church. They wrote me an email and are doing great. There will be a lot of people here to visit when I come back. Sorry my emails have been getting shorter and less detailed – enjoy each one because you only get 12 more from me.

I do want to get back to Ecuador as soon as possible. It would be wonderful if the Murphy’s are still here too. I’m down for that. I love the Murphy’s; we have a really good bond from my time at the office. President knows every one of us and exactly what to say and what we need to hear to comfort us.

So a quick story: I was on an interchange with another missionary recently and we went to visit this family where the mom was sick and asked for a blessing. And when we were giving her the blessing, a dollar coin fell out of her hair. She acted like she didn’t know it was there and just squealed: “ah, my money.”

Q: How’s your Spanish?

A: Great. Esther writes me from Madrid and the Spain-Spanish is gross with the vosotros and stuff. I’m going to have to work on that a bit. Ecuador Spanish is very different from Argentina and Spain Spanish.

Q: Well do you need anything from us?

A: Actually, yes, I do have a huge favor to ask. So Church culture, you know, people form expectations about missionaries and other people and how things should be. If you are wondering about anything you can do for me, please don’t have any pre-conceived ideas or expectations about me when I get home: please just accept me how I am. That will be a huge relief.

I know I’m going to have to see everyone from our ward, and give my talk, and for that I am excited…but it would be a huge relief to know that I am accepted by you guys.

Also – I’d appreciate it if you put together a list of music I need to catch up on and a couple of movies to see so I can try to be a normal person, you know.

Other than that, please keep writing me – there’s only 12 weeks left. Oh ya – I’d also like to go visit Paraguay. That’s where Elder Acquino lives and he is one of my favorite companions.

I’m working hard and happy. Ask you guys do the same. Use every single day to its fullest to be good people. I am looking forward to my last 12 weeks and finishing my mission strong. I love you guys. See you next at the airport. Bye guys.

- Adam

Week 89 - Purple Dogs and Purple People

Dearest friends and family,

The city of Esmeraldas is a place full of purple dogs and the occasional purple person. I’ll explain what I mean in a moment.

There are so many exotic animals and plants here, how could I have not noticed this before? Last week I wrote that I feel like I’m living in a National Geographic TV show. This week I want to write about feeling silly for not noticing this sooner because it’s really quite obvious that it’s always been this way.

I wrote last week about seeing a chocolate tree in my sector and while that was monumental for me a few days ago, I’ve now noticed that there is an abundance of cocoa trees everywhere I look. We went to Quito on Monday for the monthly mission council meeting and during my favorite 6-hour bus ride through the jungle, I noticed that a lot of the trees that go whizzing by, especially in the flatter areas around Viche and Quininde, there are millions of these mystical cacao trees. I tried to take some photos but they came out blurry. But the lesson of the week is that Ecuador is an amazing country!

I don’t believe I’ve ever written about the geckos. In the coast, I haven’t seen too many “standard-issue” lizards like the ones we have back home. But I do see a lot of geckos! The most common species, that must be breeding season because they are everywhere, are these little white geckos with wide toes. Elder Chaves and I have been able to catch a few of them lately. Everywhere I look I see more bugs, animals, stray dogs, mosquitos, weird but cool flowers, plants with leaves the size of car doors, big ants, small ants, in-between ants, cock roaches, toads, frogs, everything! It leaves me wondering what doesn’t live here?

There are even purple dogs and the occasional purple person. They sell in the stores a purple “cure-all” anti-flea, anti-infection spray meant for dogs. But some people walk around spraying it everywhere, leaving a trail of “cured” purple-spotted dogs and objects in their wake. To me, the product seems like some sort of scam but I always chuckle when I notice someone has sprayed it on their own body. It’s very purple…it doesn’t look right.

Know that I’m happy. I’m living in the one of the most bio-diverse areas of the world and very content doing so.

With love - EE

PS – Can't wait to see you all on Mother’s day!

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