May 5 Evening - Viejo Dinner at the Mission Home

We took a taxi to the VERY nice section of Guayaquil where the Ridds lived in the mission home. The viejo dinner celebrated all the departing missionaries.


Beautiful Sister Tamina Ridd, Elder Hema Heimuli and Awesome President Randall Ridd

May 5 Afternoon - He's All Ours (Finally!)

We went straight from the terminal to the hotel to put Elder H's well-worn bag away. He took a nice, hot shower and promptly fell asleep for a few hours. We wanted to go to the mall, but knew he had worn himself out in the Lord's service, so we waited for him to wake. We had to talk Elder H into letting us buy him a nice new pair of shoes, and he successfully talked his Dad into getting a nice short haircut -- then we toured around the busy and beautiful city of Guayaquil.








It was nice to see Elder H relaxed every once and a while, but it was also amazing to watch him talk to complete strangers about the gospel...our taxi driver, and this Peruvian man Elder H met in the bathroom!

May 5 Morning - Terminal

Walking into the bus terminal -- a beautiful busy hub with a mall downstairs -- and seeing all the beautiful & handsome missionaries buzzing with excitement, was like walking into Heaven. And there was Elder Heimuli in the middle of them all!








Who knew Napoleon Dynamite (in the center) served a mission in Ecuador?






After spending over an hour with the missionaries who have literally been Elder Heimuli's family for the last 2 years, it's time to drag him out of the terminal and get him into a taxi...not easy for Elder H to say goodbye...


One final stop at the mission office to pick up his tailor-made suit and say some more goodbyes