Roughing It

Two weekends ago we had our annual staff retreat, staff meaning all of the missionaries from the US in Ecuador.  Safe to say it was a blast!  On Friday night, we went out to eat at a nice restuaraunt in Old Quito called Vista Hermosa (“Beautiful View”) that is up on the top of a fairly large building and has, quite literally, a beautiful view of the city.  Our dinner was, as you would expect, delicious.

Most of our retreat consisted of on Saturday and Sunday morning a trip to Papallacta, which is an area up in the mountains that has natural hot springs.  It’s good we weren’t paying for things because we stayed in a very nice resort which actually had the hot springs in them.  It was, as you might guess, a wonderful time to relax and to just spend time with our fellow missionaries.  We all took turns sharing our stories and how we had become missionaries.  It was great to hear everyone’s story and learn more about one other.  Here are some pictures to give you an idea:

Here is a picture of the team at the restaurant Vista Hermosa

A family portrait at Vista Hermosa.

The Termas de Papallacta were beautiful.

Another shot of the resort.

We tried making a fire but we struggle with lighting it at that altitude.

This is where the title "roughing it" came from.

Simeon getting tired in the hot springs, resting on Mandy

Father and son playing in the hot springs.

The family definitely liked the Termas de Papallacta. It was a nice break from all the trips to Santo Domingo.