!CAMBIOS! Beginning of Change 6!

Hey Mom and Dad,

So I´m not gonna lie. I almost can´t believe how fast this last change flew by. Seems like just yesterday I found out Elder Ethridge was going to be my companion and I made it to Babahoyo. We had a great change together and found a lot of new investigators so that´s what counts. And so yes, as you guessed, last night was the last night of the change, so that meant we all had to be in the house by 8 and wait for calls from the assistants to tell us who´s staying and who´s going. It´s always a little nerve racking the night of changes and it seemed like last night was especially crazy. We were waiting until finally the phone rang, and when Elder Rodriguez went to look at it he saw and said that it was from President! That´s more than usual, lol. But he first talked to Elder Rodriguez and found out that he was being transferred and going to become a zone leader. Then President wanted to talk to Elder Ethridge and told him that he was going to become a zone leader too! Yeah, it was crazy, lol. Elder Ethridge only has 2 changes as district leader and Elder Rodriguez has never even been a district leader so it was a surprise. But they´re both great missionaries so I know they´ll do great. But it was funny when they asked where they´re going President Gamboa just told them not to worry, just go to terminal the next day, lol. So after that they started packing but then the phone rang again, this time one of the assistants, Elder Aguirre (which was crazy but awesome to find out as well. Apparently he replaced Elder Gittins. He was a district leader in Libertad when I was there and I always remember being amazed at how great a missionary he was when we had interchanges), and he wanted to talk to me. He told me that this change they´d like me to train and asked me if I felt ready, lol. I finally told him that I do. It was nerve racking but way exciting. Thus for now I´m not sure who my companion is going to be. Elder Arellano, the zone leader here (who is an awesome missionary and actually an ortovalleño, which is from the sierra- like that family I told you about is also training so for these few days I´ll be companions with him. Which is going to be awesome because he is a powerful missionary who knows the scriptures very well, I´m excited because I know I´ll learn a lot. Then on Wednesday we´ll go to pick up our “kids” (as they call it in mission language, lol, when you train you´re the “dad” of your “kid”). And I heard that this time that the new missionaries may go through the temple and we may have the opportunity to go through with them!! So I´m hoping that we´ll be able to : ).

Other than that this last week was fairly good. It´s fun because apparently November 2 here is “day of the Dead.” Which sounds like something like our Halloween but it really isn´t much like it. It is kind of a celebration of the dead and just a day to visit gravesites and remember those who have passed on. It´s pretty neat. And it sounds like most people celebrate it starting on October 31 until November 2. It has been kool to learn more about the culture in those aspects. Only down side is the fact that it´s holidays we again had a Sunday with few numbers of people attending. But ah well as is life I suppose. Another fun part of this time of the year is a traditional drink called “Colada Morada,” which is like, purple colada, lol. It´s a drink made of black corn grinded to a powder so it looks purple, and they make it with water or milk and add just a ton of different fruits like pinapple, peach, apple, grape, plum, or anything. Apparently it originates from the sierra (which seems to be the place where most Ecuadorian customs come from in fact, lol). The family of serranos that I told you about made it for us in our last lesson. We had it with “humitos,” which is another thing made from corn and cooked in the corn husk. It reminded me of corn bread. So yeah definitely fun : )

As for investigators it seems like we have a lot of fairly new investigators that are progressing nicely. The family from the Sierra may be whom I´m most excited about. Each lesson that we´ve had with them I can tell that they´re opening up more and more. The first two lessons we had in there store downstairs after they closed it. But then this last lesson they invited us upstairs and gave us that colada morada. They just seem to be soaking in everything we tell them and even told us that they know we´re representatives of the Lord here to help them gain that eternal happiness. It´s funny when you find a family like that it just makes all your focus and energy and hopes go into helping them come and understand.

Alright well I´m out of time now so I´d better get going. Thanks for everything! I hope you have another great week! I´m glad you had a great time seeing Mellissa and Sean!

Love,
Elder Frome

PS- and yeah no worries my toe is doing fine, just a little swollen from walking so much but Ibuprofen seems to do the trick. If it starts to look worse the doctor lives next door : )
PPS- btw I got your package of cocoa and peanut butter! Lol we thought that was a clever way to send it in the packages like that! But thanks Elder Rodriguez and Ethridge were sad to be transferred because they wanted to have more of those cookies!