Cambios!

Hey Mom and Dad,

I got your email mom when as I started getting on, so it was perfect timing. It’s great to hear about the other missionaries. As for things here, oh man this week has been crazy. So this week was the end of the change and that means transfers. With Elder Rojas and Smith and Vinueza we were all hoping we would have another 6 weeks together in the apartment, but alas we can´t all have what we want :P. but it was crazy what happened. Thursday night we come in and Elder Enciso was on the phone (he was on a interchange with Elder Smith so he came for the night and Elder Rojas went to his sector) after an interview he had done. After he tells Elder Vinueza he´s being transferred but was just joking. President doesn´t tell the transfers. The crazy part was when we were almost done planning Elder Smith then comes in and tells me that I´m being transferred and to be in Guayaquil at 8 in the morning. Now the first thing I said was just “haha your funny,” and we finish planning. Well a bit later he told me it´s true and I realize he´s not joking and that I had to go with Elder Guerra the following morning. Man that was sad to hear, lol. Elder Rojas and Elder Luttman called later asking if it was true that I was leaving and said bye. So yeah, I spent the night packing and had to leave for Guayaquil before 5 the next morning. If I didn´t quite feel ready to leave Babahoyo, I was definitely not ready to leave Quevedo. I couldn´t believe that they would transfer me after just one change. I was honestly hoping I´d be there for 5 months at least. But alas, as is life in the mission, lol.

But oh man Friday morning I felt so dumb for what happened because I lost one of my bags in terminal (bus station). So I was up till past midnight packing (which I think I´m getting better, before it´s taken me till 1ish to pack) and then got up a little after 3 to get ready to go to the bus station. And now you´ll have to imagine the bus station. The Bus systems are huge here, I´d say they´re the main mode of transportation. So you walk into this huge bus station and you first see all the different windows along the wall of the different bus lines (kinda like an airport with the different airliners, only here a lot smaller and more chaotic). And as soon as you walk in people from each desk start trying to convince you to take their bus. I realized the best thing to do is to just ignore them and walk to the window of the bus you wanna take. Well this morning we walk in and see Elder Guerra that I was going to travel with and pause for a bit. I haven´t traveled much through here, so I don´t really know which buses are good yet. So then a guy came up shouting “Guayaquil guayas! Guayaquil!” trying to get me to go on his bus. I think I made the mistake of nodding and maybe saying yeah we´re going to Guayaquil which in his mind confirms that I´m going to take his bus. Well I guess he then grabbed my small luggage and starting taking it to his bus. My mind definitely wasn´t working right because I barely registered it. We then go through another window to get on another bus. To these guys time is money so as we´re walking to the bus they grab our luggage and throw it in. I asked if it was all the luggage and they said yes. I should have made sure myself and looked to see if all my bags were there. But yeah when we arrived to Guayaquil I only got the 2 big bags. The other small bag must have been taken on another bus line. I went around asking the different liners if there was a bag brought but they weren´t much help. I think I´m realizing how you feel Dad when we go on trips or things and you have to deal with things like this. It was amazing how when I would walk to the desk they would immediately talk to me, but when I ask about a lost bag they want nothing to do with me, lol. The one bus liner that made an effort to help was Valencia. They actually called the central to try and find it but couldn´t. I now know which bus liner I´ll use if I´m ever in Quevedo again. But yeah, that was a frustrating morning. In the small bag I just put all my shoes so that´s even more frustrating. The 2 pair of rockports and one of wolverines and my tennis shoes were all lost. I now just have my wolverines. Yeah, I´m not gonna lie it made me kinda mad. But ah well as is life. I now know to be a lot more conscious of where my luggage is and who´s taking what. Hopefully that´ll never happen again.

In the terminal it was great to see all the missionaries. Elder Cevallos was there and oh guess what. Elder Sanchez is now one of the assistants! For his last change he´ll be an assistant to the president. Pretty awesome, lol. Oh and now I am in the Duran North zone. Which is about 15 minutes from Guayaquil, the closest I´ve ever been. My companion is Elder Cruz from Mexico and this is only his 2 transfer so he´s fresh from the MTC. He seems awesome so we should have a good change.

But ok I´d better go now, thanks for the letters! Oh and yeah I got 3 packages this week! Lol the one with the cassette, one for St. patricks, and the cookies! They´re amazing! I also got 2 of your letters dad. I can´t wait to listen to the cassette! Thanks!

Well I hope you have another great week! Love you!
Love,
David