Howdy!
Just wanted to send a quick update and let everyone know that we are well. We hope everyone is doing great, and we pray for those who are experiencing health issues. We pray for a speedy recovery, and that you will be restored to walk in abundance!
This is not our favorite time of year here, with all the wind that we experience. We are managing to enjoy almost every minute despite it. Another month and we should start getting rain again and everything will have that tropical feel.
So far, we have sent letters to you telling you of so many wonderful things about Ecuador. I thought I might tell you of one of the things that we dislike about Ecuador:
About 8 years ago, Ecuador enacted strict gun control laws. The only way to legally own a firearm here is to go through the governmental process of applying, psychological exam, physical and a lot of money and time to be approved. When you are approved, there is a restriction on caliber and amount of ammunition you can have in your possession. I don’t have all those numbers because it is hard to get the true story here in Ecuador even if you consult a lawyer. If you legally posses a firearm and then actually use it in self-defense, you are most certainly going to prison. Murder here carries between a 15-17-year sentence. That is if you LEGALLY own a firearm!
If you obtain a firearm illegally and are caught with it in your home, it is usually a 2-5 year sentence but you might be lucky enough to get away with a fine. If it has serial numbers removed, it is a much steeper sentence.
We have experienced a wave of home-invasions lately. They usually occur in this manner: anywhere from 2-6 guys with guns and masks (sometimes dressed as policemen) bust down your door, beat you up and take your valuables. Sometimes they hold you hostage and make you go to the ATM to withdraw money. Luckily, here the ATM’s only give $300 per day. If the police do manage to catch someone, most Gringos don’t press charges because of the fear of retaliation and the legal process is almost as brutal. Very little is done about these crimes. Many blame Columbians, Venezuelans and other outside influences. I believe many of the crimes are quite possible inside jobs. People working for the Gringos see that they have valuables and tell others who then commit the crime.
What this have left in this country is the following: Criminals have plenty of guns, and the law-abiding citizen is not allowed to legally protect themselves. In other words, GUN CONTROL DOES NOT WORK TO REDUCE CRIME! The law is almost useless in terms of Justice for the victim. We take precautions to keep ourselves safe. We have a 15 ft brick wall around our property which has 3 strands of barbed wire at the top. We have security cameras which store video in the cloud, and we also have some self-contained game cameras hidden. We have signs, we have motion detectors and 3 big dogs. We also make sure that people who work for us are afraid of those dogs and that they know we are armed. We never show money around town or at home. We let our workers know we must go to the ATM in order to get money to pay them. We have no jewelry and almost nothing of value in our home except for our T.V. and computer. It is a concern; however, our crime rate is much lower than the U.S. and most other countries surrounding us.
Please understand this is what gun control brings to a country; Lawlessness and images of the old west. I implore you to ignore the media hype and read facts on crime in the U.S. it is a much different story then the narrative that is being pushed. Don’t let your country become like Venezuela where people starve to death. Our friends there tell us that the boarder guards take away your food if you try to bring it back in from Colombia. Recently, a band of rebels attacked the boarder and ran off the guards so that the people could cross the boarder and buy food then return home. Their guns were taken away years ago. These are facts told to us from the people living there.
If Ecuador were to suddenly experience economic collapse, we have a plan. We don’t discuss this plan, but we have a small group of friends who would be involved in helping us. We can survive years here in our compound since we grow our own food.
We don’t live in fear here. We are just very careful about our security. We try to be “smart”. This country has so many wonderful aspects, that it is easy to forget that there are always people willing to do evil things to try and take advantage of those who have worked hard to acquire things. Part of the mindset of any impoverished community is that they are justified in taking your things because they are not responsible for their own lifestyle. It is an attitude of entitlement and therefore their conscience is not relevant.
I would not want to dissuade anyone from visiting Ecuador, nor would I dissuade them from visiting the U.S. It is much more dangerous in the U.S. I would encourage each of you to understand some of South America’s problems, because they will soon be yours.
I will end here and encourage you to look at the attached baby pic of Ethan our Grandson.
Love one another!
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