President Gordon B. Hinckley saw two sides of this South American country Aug. 11-12 as he and Sister Hinckley visited hot, humid Guayaquil on the coast, and later the nation's capital, Quito, in the cool highlands.
This was believed to be the first visit to Ecuador by a president of the Church.In Guayaquil, President Hinckley was taken to the construction site of the Guayaquil temple. Wearing a hard hat, he recounted how he participated in the selection of the site.
During a visit several years ago to another site which was considered for the temple, he said he "didn't feel well about the site that had been chosen. We visited the site and it was just so noisy. The trucks that came up the hill had to gun their engines to make it up and the noise was just terrible. It just would not do. So we looked around . . . and then drove up a little two-track road to this spot. There was a guard here cooking over a little fire. I looked out over the city and had a feeling that this was the place for the temple. I had a feeling as clear as anything that this was the site for the temple. We checked to see if the property was for sale. We found that it might be, and so we negotiated the purchase.
Pres. Acevedo's reply is still quoted more than half a century later: "When the Lord created the world, there was only Adam and Eve," he said.
Permission was granted to build a meetinghouse, and Manual saw its construction. After the building was completed, surplus materials were provided to the Catholics, who were also building a chapel. Relationships between the two faiths has been cordial for many years.
Following dedication of the meetinghouse, Brother Morales helped in the branch's growth.
"I did not have the opportunity to serve a full-time mission even though I had a great desire to do so," explained Brother Morales, now 64. "But the branch president spoke with
Mexican MissionT Pres. Harold Pratt and told him I was his helper in everything. Pres. Pratt told me, `Your mission is here; you serve here.' "
So the young man went to work in the Mutual program and encouraged people to attend. They held many activities, even showing movies in a room in the meetinghouse. His "home mission" was successful. Brother Morales later married a returned missionary and stayed in La Caseta. He served as branch president from 1957-1964, and has filled additional callings since then.
When many around him moved to the United States to find work, he remained at home, content to serve. He feels he's received many blessings for doing so. One of those blessings was surviving a serious accident while working as a mechanic on a pickup. The vehicle slipped off its props and fell on his head. Doctors expected him to die, but he had faith that he would be preserved, and today he has no after-effects of the accident.
Another member with ties to the building from a later era, is Ramon Ramos Ruiz, recently called as patriarch of the Ciudad Juarez East Stake.
Brother Ramos was baptized in 1975 in La Caseta. Just 10 months later, he was invited by the stake president to take part in an excursion to the Arizona Temple. When the group arrived at the temple, the temple president informed Brother Ruiz about the Church's policy that a year's membership is required before a convert can receive his temple blessings.
The temple president called Brother Ramos' stake president, Sergio de la Morra, who happened to be on the excursion and asked why he hadn't waited a year. Pres. de la Morra replied, "I don't know, but I felt inspired to give him a recommend."
The temple president explained that he could not let Brother Ramos receive his temple blessings without the authorization of the First Presidency. So he then telephoned the First Presidency in Salt Lake City.
"To his surprise, President Spencer W. Kimball answered in person," said Brother Ramos. "The temple president pushed a button to speak privately, but he pushed the wrong button and we were able to hear the conversation. I didn't speak English, but the temple president translated for us that President Kimball personally authorized our sealing and our receiving all of the ordinances.
"That was a very special experience for me. I received all my ordinances in October, and three months later, I was called as bishop of the La Caseta Ward."
"I tried to serve my brothers and sisters with all my heart."
