Dear Brother and Sister Roberts-
We are letting you know that your son has arrived safely to the Quito Ecuador Mission. We can tell that he is a wonderful young man and we are so happy that he has joined our army of missionaries. He was assigned a trainer yesterday, Elder Brown, who is a great missionary and who will train your son well. You will hear more from him next Monday, his P-day.
We would like to introduce ourselves. We have been serving as President and wife since July 1st of 2017. We have five children - two married, one on a mission in Texas, and our youngest two (ages 15 and 17) are here with us in Ecuador. With our son on a mission, and our older son serving in Indonesia a few years ago, we are aware of the wonderful blessings having a missionary brings.
We have a facebook page for the mission, Steven-Christina Barlow. We also have a blog with the same pictures, quitoecuadormission.
Just another quick reminder about sending packages and letters that was given to your son when he received his call:
"Sending Letters from the U.S. to Ecuador
Use the same address as for packages.
Sending Packages from the U.S. to Ecuador
Packages sent from the U.S. to Ecuador may not exceed 8 pounds and must carry a green sticker, even if the post office workers suggest you use a white one. It must have this customs declaration on the package, or it will not be accepted in this country.
The packages must be addressed as follows:
Elder/Sister: Full name
Misión Ecuador Quito
Calle Robles E4-151 y Avenida Amazonas
Casilla: 17-03-078
Quito, Pichincha
Ecuador
Do not send packages by Priority mail or FedEx or UPS. These will automatically go to “mail jail”, requiring a special trip to the post office and payment of a large fee. All of which, will cause a long delay for your missionary to receive their packages. Also if packages are over the limit the country starts charging for overweight and what the package contains(incoming taxes charge) which means you have to pay to send it and then to receive it (generally $30-$80 to take it out of ¨mail jail¨). The church does not cover this cost. The time and money the church spends on postage is enormous in order for the missionaries to receive their mission mail and personal mail, your cooperation in this issue is highly valued, thank you for your help.”
We are finding that letters and packages take about 1-3 months to arrive.
Some parents have also used “mission on the fly” for packages (you can google it to find more info).
We know it is fun to get packages, but it is VERY expensive to send and receive them. Another option is to just deposit some extra fun money into their personal account. Almost everything can be bought here that we find in the states.
Attached you will find pictures of your son's arrival, welcome dinner, with us and with his new trainer.
We thank you for sharing your son and we know that the Lord will bless him and your family for his service.
Sincerely,
President and Sister Barlow
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