Dear Mom and Dad,
Thanks for your email. It´s definitely crazy being back in Quevedo but it´s sweet. Quevedo was one of my favorite areas just because of how green it is. I don´t know if I´ve ever mentioned how Ecuador is divided into three climate zones: Coastal, tropical, and mountain (er, I think that´s how you say it, lol). Basically all of this mission is classified in the coastal zone but I think here in Quevedo is a little closer to the tropical zone. And yeah it´s fun to run into the people I saw before. Apparently I lost weight in Duran because everyone says I look thinner, lol. That´s funny the Bishop joked I´m back to find my shoes. Yeah when I see anyone walking down the street in a nice pair of Rockports we´ll have to go contact him :P.
But anyways, oh and before I forget it was funny in Duran Elder Cruz found some ointment he forgot about in his baggage. It was an interesting type that I’d never heard of but it seemed to help what he had on his arms. I tried it but it didn´t seem to do much but at least I think Elder Cruz was doing better with what he had on his arms so I wouldn´t worry about sending more to him. If I see him in Zone Conference or anything I´ll ask him how it´s doing.
Well I´m afraid I don´t have too much news from this week. We´ve been working hard trying to get a program started here in the ward. It´s a lot tougher planning when you only have one or two investigators to plan for, lol. A good program usually has around 10-15 people or families to plan for and focus on. So we´ve been knocking a lot of doors and working a lot with the members to try and find investigators. One good thing about this work is the quality of the leaders. Our bishop is fresh (with only a few months as bishop, I remember when I was in Bolívar hearing about him getting called) but he has a lot of enthusiasm for the work and his wife helps us a lot. The Ward mission leader is also from off his mission but it´s neat you can see by the way he works that he was a good missionary. The Relief society president and a lot of others have helped us a ton as well. In this Ward there are many who have lived and have a lot of time in the church (like over 20 years, which isn´t very common to see here) and it´s great to have the experience as a help. We´ll have to take advantage of it here.
And yeah it´s great to work with Elder Barrientos. And yeah that was hilarious what he said when he stepped in something soft. It was funny he kept walking with his eyes closed and calmly asking if it was crap but I was laughing so hard I couldn´t answer until finally we stopped and he looked and yep, it was crap, lol. But yeah it seems time is going way fast now. It´s kool being with Elder Barrientos because we both have the same time on the mission and we both agree it´s crazy how the time is passing and we don´t like to think about how little time we have left.
Oh so we found “Correros de Ecuador” (Mail of Ecuador) the other day that was just a few blocks from the house so I´m gonna try to send a few memory cards today. In Duran I was able to have a photo store put all the photos on a disk so I have a copy of all of them in case the cards get lost. I think I´ll just send one or two at a time to be safer. They said it´s only 1-2 weeks to arrive so you´ll have to let me know when you get them. I took $20 out to send them and to find some shoes to exercise. Since I´ll really only use them to exercise every now and then or do service every now and then I´m just gonna buy some cheap shoes I can find. All the addidas or nike or any nice brand of running shoes are more expensive here than in the states.
Well other than that all is well here in Quevedo. I remember my mission prep teacher in BYU saying that in his opinion being Zone Leader is the best position in the mission because you´re the voice of the president to the missionaries but at the same time the voice of the missionaries to the president. It´s just also a bit more stressful at times, lol. But it´s neat because as zone leader we´re often calling the Assistants or the assistants call us so it´s been fun talking with Elder Sanchez every now and then. He opened a sector too so he knows what it´s like.
Alright well I´d better get going. Thanks for your email and hope you have another great week!
Love,
Elder David Frome
Quevedo!
Hey Mom and Dad,
That´s great it sounds like it´s been a good week back at home, with the weather getting good and everything. Ouch that’s no fun to hear about Ryan and Robbie going through finals. Yeah, that´s definitely one part I don´t miss about school, lol. I always enjoy learning new subjects and materials, but man the stress of finals is never very fun. But I´m sure Ryan and Robbie are both studying good and are well prepared. And that´s kool you´ll have to tell Elder Fuller hi for me. That´s too bad his companion was transferred after only 6 weeks, I know how he feels. But that´s nice they get a few days notice in advance to be able to say goodbye.
Well this week has definitely been an extra crazy one. So I don´t think I told you last week but this was the last week of the change, and you know what that means, crazy random transfers at any day of the week for any elder of the zone. Well this week it was Tuesday. The day went by normally with Elder Cruz. We were especially excited because we had comité with the bishop Tuesday night (the Bishop is so awesome how he is a very active person, as in when there´s an idea to do something he gets it done, and he´s been way supportive in missionary work) where we set goals to bring investigators to a ward activity we were planning for Friday. Well as we were planning that night is when the phone rang. I got up to answer it and felt my heart jump to see that it was President Gamboa. I answered and we started talking. As soon as Elder Cruz and the others heard me say “hi President” they came over to see what it was, lol. It was kind of funny because the first thing he asked me was how I was doing and my health, but then he asked if I was willing to accept whatever assignment he gave me, even if it were junior companion. I told him of course whatever he says I´ll do it. He told me good answer, lol. Then he told me that he had a new assignment for me to be zone leader, that he appreciates our work and has a lot of confidence in me. Yeah, I didn´t know what to say. I think I told him thanks and I´ll do my best. He told me that the assistants would call later to tell me where I would assigned to be. Yeah, all four of us in the house went wild (well, not really wild, just wild for missionaries:) lol. A little later Elder Anderson (the zone leader) called because he received the transfers and told me to be in Terminal at 8:00 the following morning but that he didn´t know where I would go or who would be my companion. Yeah, crazy!! Yeah it was way exciting and crazy but sad at the same time. I told Elder Cruz I´m getting tired of being transferred after just 6 weeks in a sectorl. There are so many awesome families and we were working so hard with some. But ah well, as is life. I´d say it was way better this time though, because it wasn´t actually like I wasn´t expecting it at all. When I was transferred from Quevedo after only 6 weeks I had no expectations at all of being transferred. But this time these last few weeks Elder Cruz has been joking about me moving up to Zone Leader. I always told him he´s silly and there´s no way that´s gonna happen but in the back of my mind I knew there was a large group of zone leaders going home this change that will have to be replaced so it wasn´t like it couldn´t happen, lol. Luckily, this time we prepared and, knowing it was the week of changes, we brought our cameras and took pictures with some of the families. One family in particular on Tuesday, the Ramoz Gamboa family, we visited Tuesday afternoon and told them that there might be changes so we wanted to take some pictures, they told us it couldn´t be but we took some pictures. I left a picture with my email and everything with them and several other families so it was all right. I´m definitely going to miss that ward though. It´s amazing how you come to love every ward you serve in and find the best parts of each.
Well the next day I got up a little early because I had to go pick up my clean clothes before going. It was nice being so close to Guayaquil because we just took a taxi to Terminal, nice and easy, lol. When we got there first thing I saw Elder Rojas who I lived with in Quevedo. He told me that he heard I was going to replace him in Quevedo as Zone Leader. Though I was confused because I knew his companion had just gone home finishing his mission, so how would it work with both leaving? Well a little later the Assistants got there, Elder Sanchez and Elder Aguirre (yeah, I guess Elder Sanchez got a one change extension of his mission!) but, as their custom, waited as long as they could to hold the suspense before telling us where we were going, lol. When I talked to Elder Sanchez I confirmed I was going to Quevedo and he asked me if I was ready to open a sector. That idea made my heart jump as well, lol. But yeah I guess both elders were leaving the sector so technically my new companion and me would be opening it again. He asked me how well I knew the zone leaders area when I was in Quevedo. I told him I only went to the zone leaders twice on interchanges. He said “well, you´re gonna be the guide, lol.” My new companion was to be Elder Barrientos but he was coming from farther away so we had a little to wait, which was nice because it gave us a chance to chat with the other Elders there. But soon enough my new Companion came, Elder Barrientos from Chile. It´s cool he has the same time as me 14 months in the mission. He is an excellent missionary. I remember hearing a little bit about him before. I guess he´s been zone leader for three changes now. On his third change in the mission he trained. So yeah, very obedient and a very good worker. I guess he only has a little over 2 and a half years of being member. He´s the only member in his family but still is very good. Yeah just after these last few days I know this is going to be a good change. I think I´m going to learn a lot from him. It´s crazy thinking I´m new zone leader but it´s nice having Elder Barrientos who already knows the ropes a little bit. Here in the sector it´s fun I´m living in the same house I lived in 2 months ago, just now in the other ward. I´ve already run into some of the youth and people I met here. I´m way tempted now though to just go by all of my old investigators and converts, lol. The ward here is awesome. A new Bishop and great members. I think we´re going to have a lot of success here. Elder Barrientos is hilarious, lol. He has a very calm, smooth voice and very professional. But he still knows how to make jokes and just his way of being is hilarious. Like once on Sunday before church we were walking to lunch and he put his hand on my backpack and told me he was now going to walk eyes closed following me. Lol I had some fun walking around guiding him around for a bit but then after a bit he said “ooh, pisé algo suave. ¿no era crap?” (ooh I stepped in something soft, was it crap?) just the way he said it made me start laughing uncontrollably. He actually said the word crap that he must´ve learned from another gringo companion because that´s not Spanish at all, lol. But yeah that´s Elder Barrientos.
Ok well I´d better get going. It´s been a crazy week and we´re working hard to get to know the sector. It´s crazy because we don´t really have much of a program at all. The few investigators that the elders left we don´t know yet. But it´s all right we´re still excited. It´ll be a good change here in Quevedo again.
Thanks for everything, love you!
Love,
Elder David Frome
That´s great it sounds like it´s been a good week back at home, with the weather getting good and everything. Ouch that’s no fun to hear about Ryan and Robbie going through finals. Yeah, that´s definitely one part I don´t miss about school, lol. I always enjoy learning new subjects and materials, but man the stress of finals is never very fun. But I´m sure Ryan and Robbie are both studying good and are well prepared. And that´s kool you´ll have to tell Elder Fuller hi for me. That´s too bad his companion was transferred after only 6 weeks, I know how he feels. But that´s nice they get a few days notice in advance to be able to say goodbye.
Well this week has definitely been an extra crazy one. So I don´t think I told you last week but this was the last week of the change, and you know what that means, crazy random transfers at any day of the week for any elder of the zone. Well this week it was Tuesday. The day went by normally with Elder Cruz. We were especially excited because we had comité with the bishop Tuesday night (the Bishop is so awesome how he is a very active person, as in when there´s an idea to do something he gets it done, and he´s been way supportive in missionary work) where we set goals to bring investigators to a ward activity we were planning for Friday. Well as we were planning that night is when the phone rang. I got up to answer it and felt my heart jump to see that it was President Gamboa. I answered and we started talking. As soon as Elder Cruz and the others heard me say “hi President” they came over to see what it was, lol. It was kind of funny because the first thing he asked me was how I was doing and my health, but then he asked if I was willing to accept whatever assignment he gave me, even if it were junior companion. I told him of course whatever he says I´ll do it. He told me good answer, lol. Then he told me that he had a new assignment for me to be zone leader, that he appreciates our work and has a lot of confidence in me. Yeah, I didn´t know what to say. I think I told him thanks and I´ll do my best. He told me that the assistants would call later to tell me where I would assigned to be. Yeah, all four of us in the house went wild (well, not really wild, just wild for missionaries:) lol. A little later Elder Anderson (the zone leader) called because he received the transfers and told me to be in Terminal at 8:00 the following morning but that he didn´t know where I would go or who would be my companion. Yeah, crazy!! Yeah it was way exciting and crazy but sad at the same time. I told Elder Cruz I´m getting tired of being transferred after just 6 weeks in a sectorl. There are so many awesome families and we were working so hard with some. But ah well, as is life. I´d say it was way better this time though, because it wasn´t actually like I wasn´t expecting it at all. When I was transferred from Quevedo after only 6 weeks I had no expectations at all of being transferred. But this time these last few weeks Elder Cruz has been joking about me moving up to Zone Leader. I always told him he´s silly and there´s no way that´s gonna happen but in the back of my mind I knew there was a large group of zone leaders going home this change that will have to be replaced so it wasn´t like it couldn´t happen, lol. Luckily, this time we prepared and, knowing it was the week of changes, we brought our cameras and took pictures with some of the families. One family in particular on Tuesday, the Ramoz Gamboa family, we visited Tuesday afternoon and told them that there might be changes so we wanted to take some pictures, they told us it couldn´t be but we took some pictures. I left a picture with my email and everything with them and several other families so it was all right. I´m definitely going to miss that ward though. It´s amazing how you come to love every ward you serve in and find the best parts of each.
Well the next day I got up a little early because I had to go pick up my clean clothes before going. It was nice being so close to Guayaquil because we just took a taxi to Terminal, nice and easy, lol. When we got there first thing I saw Elder Rojas who I lived with in Quevedo. He told me that he heard I was going to replace him in Quevedo as Zone Leader. Though I was confused because I knew his companion had just gone home finishing his mission, so how would it work with both leaving? Well a little later the Assistants got there, Elder Sanchez and Elder Aguirre (yeah, I guess Elder Sanchez got a one change extension of his mission!) but, as their custom, waited as long as they could to hold the suspense before telling us where we were going, lol. When I talked to Elder Sanchez I confirmed I was going to Quevedo and he asked me if I was ready to open a sector. That idea made my heart jump as well, lol. But yeah I guess both elders were leaving the sector so technically my new companion and me would be opening it again. He asked me how well I knew the zone leaders area when I was in Quevedo. I told him I only went to the zone leaders twice on interchanges. He said “well, you´re gonna be the guide, lol.” My new companion was to be Elder Barrientos but he was coming from farther away so we had a little to wait, which was nice because it gave us a chance to chat with the other Elders there. But soon enough my new Companion came, Elder Barrientos from Chile. It´s cool he has the same time as me 14 months in the mission. He is an excellent missionary. I remember hearing a little bit about him before. I guess he´s been zone leader for three changes now. On his third change in the mission he trained. So yeah, very obedient and a very good worker. I guess he only has a little over 2 and a half years of being member. He´s the only member in his family but still is very good. Yeah just after these last few days I know this is going to be a good change. I think I´m going to learn a lot from him. It´s crazy thinking I´m new zone leader but it´s nice having Elder Barrientos who already knows the ropes a little bit. Here in the sector it´s fun I´m living in the same house I lived in 2 months ago, just now in the other ward. I´ve already run into some of the youth and people I met here. I´m way tempted now though to just go by all of my old investigators and converts, lol. The ward here is awesome. A new Bishop and great members. I think we´re going to have a lot of success here. Elder Barrientos is hilarious, lol. He has a very calm, smooth voice and very professional. But he still knows how to make jokes and just his way of being is hilarious. Like once on Sunday before church we were walking to lunch and he put his hand on my backpack and told me he was now going to walk eyes closed following me. Lol I had some fun walking around guiding him around for a bit but then after a bit he said “ooh, pisé algo suave. ¿no era crap?” (ooh I stepped in something soft, was it crap?) just the way he said it made me start laughing uncontrollably. He actually said the word crap that he must´ve learned from another gringo companion because that´s not Spanish at all, lol. But yeah that´s Elder Barrientos.
Ok well I´d better get going. It´s been a crazy week and we´re working hard to get to know the sector. It´s crazy because we don´t really have much of a program at all. The few investigators that the elders left we don´t know yet. But it´s all right we´re still excited. It´ll be a good change here in Quevedo again.
Thanks for everything, love you!
Love,
Elder David Frome
Lightening storms and Baptisms!
Hey Mom and Dad,
Thanks for the email! Sounds like everything is going great at home. That’s great that Ryan was called to be Elders Quorum president. He´ll do great. I´m sure he´ll have a good time at BYU over the summer. And that´s fun that Melissa is the assistant coach for Josh and Nathan. That´s hilarious how one game a kid threw a tantrum on the field then ended up sleeping on the sideline. I bet he was just tired out.
Oh ok and so before I forget there´s one thing I need to ask for Elder Cruz, lol. It´s kind of funny it starts a little over a month ago when I was showing him photos of the family (a pretty common process that you go through with every new companion :). When I showed him one photo of Amy he immediately fell in love. It´s kind of funny because as a joke we call each other cousins because now he jokes to meet Amy after the mission. So yeah the thing he´s been wanting me to ask is to send some pictures of Amy. Yeah I just had to ask so I can tell him I did (he´s been asking me for about a month now). Yeah, I dunno, I just think it´s funny.
But anyways, that´s good you were able to see that I bought some shoes, though that´s interesting it says I bought them Wednesday, because it was Monday that we went to the mall and bough them. The price is correct though, I found them for $73. But yeah, we found the Rockport store and I tried on a bunch of different pairs but I dunno, I honestly wasn´t all that impressed. They didn´t have the biggest selection and didn´t have a whole lot in my size. I felt like the shoes they had were all more for style and fashion than for real walking and when I tried them on they weren´t the most comfortable. That and all of them were priced around $150-$175. So I figured I´d rather look around some more and the only other place we found with shoes in my size were Payless. There I found some shoes that don´t really look as nice but do feel comfortable. I don´t think they´ll last as long as the other pairs I had but for the time being they are comfortable and work good. I guess one thing I should have thought of was having the Rockport store order the same pair I got from the store in Portland but I couldn´t remember what they were called. Do you think you could send me the name and if I ever need to get shoes again I could do that? But yeah, no worries I should be good now with shoes :)
So anyways, this week was pretty crazy I´m not gonna lie. Though I think baptism weeks almost always are. One of the craziest parts was on Friday I had an interchange with a companionship in my district. So yeah, it went pretty well. The fun part was that starting around 7:00 it started raining, hard, and soon after starting thundering. Yeah if that wasn´t awesome enough it then started flooding and by about 7:30 or so all power went out in Recreo (kind of a suburb of Duran I think where we were at). Yeah, pretty sweet, right? So we were out finding our way around by light of lightning. After the power went out there was no way anyone would let us in so we passed by members and gave a spiritual thought about the symbolism of light in the scriptures and asked for references. We got back completely soaked, it was great! It was probably one of, if not the most strongest storms I´ve been in yet.
Then Saturday we did finally have the baptism for Manuel and Patricia. It went very well. We had it in the Stake center because all of their family and friends are there. They picked the speakers and everything so it was way good. The crazy part was that Patricia had asked me to sing in English (I found out later it was probably because for the baptism for her mom, one elder sung "The Spirit of God" all in English, though no doubt an elder who actually knew how to sing, lol). So we ended doing the musical number with Elder Cruz and Kimberly (Patricia´s daughter). I sang the first verse of "We Thank Thee oh God for a Prophet" in english, they sang the second in spanish, then we all sang the third in spanish. So yeah, not so bad I think, lol. They said they liked it anyways, lol.
Ok well thanks for those stories that you sent. That´s interesting I didn´t know the church made a video. In Babahoyo I remember once the zone met with the Stake President and as part of his presentation he showed a video of that story of the Train Switchman, that´s one reason why I wanted it. It looked like a video you could get off of youtube but maybe it was from the Church. But anyways, thanks it´s nice to have.
But all right I´d better get going, thanks for everything! Love you!
Love,
Elder David Frome
Thanks for the email! Sounds like everything is going great at home. That’s great that Ryan was called to be Elders Quorum president. He´ll do great. I´m sure he´ll have a good time at BYU over the summer. And that´s fun that Melissa is the assistant coach for Josh and Nathan. That´s hilarious how one game a kid threw a tantrum on the field then ended up sleeping on the sideline. I bet he was just tired out.
Oh ok and so before I forget there´s one thing I need to ask for Elder Cruz, lol. It´s kind of funny it starts a little over a month ago when I was showing him photos of the family (a pretty common process that you go through with every new companion :). When I showed him one photo of Amy he immediately fell in love. It´s kind of funny because as a joke we call each other cousins because now he jokes to meet Amy after the mission. So yeah the thing he´s been wanting me to ask is to send some pictures of Amy. Yeah I just had to ask so I can tell him I did (he´s been asking me for about a month now). Yeah, I dunno, I just think it´s funny.
But anyways, that´s good you were able to see that I bought some shoes, though that´s interesting it says I bought them Wednesday, because it was Monday that we went to the mall and bough them. The price is correct though, I found them for $73. But yeah, we found the Rockport store and I tried on a bunch of different pairs but I dunno, I honestly wasn´t all that impressed. They didn´t have the biggest selection and didn´t have a whole lot in my size. I felt like the shoes they had were all more for style and fashion than for real walking and when I tried them on they weren´t the most comfortable. That and all of them were priced around $150-$175. So I figured I´d rather look around some more and the only other place we found with shoes in my size were Payless. There I found some shoes that don´t really look as nice but do feel comfortable. I don´t think they´ll last as long as the other pairs I had but for the time being they are comfortable and work good. I guess one thing I should have thought of was having the Rockport store order the same pair I got from the store in Portland but I couldn´t remember what they were called. Do you think you could send me the name and if I ever need to get shoes again I could do that? But yeah, no worries I should be good now with shoes :)
So anyways, this week was pretty crazy I´m not gonna lie. Though I think baptism weeks almost always are. One of the craziest parts was on Friday I had an interchange with a companionship in my district. So yeah, it went pretty well. The fun part was that starting around 7:00 it started raining, hard, and soon after starting thundering. Yeah if that wasn´t awesome enough it then started flooding and by about 7:30 or so all power went out in Recreo (kind of a suburb of Duran I think where we were at). Yeah, pretty sweet, right? So we were out finding our way around by light of lightning. After the power went out there was no way anyone would let us in so we passed by members and gave a spiritual thought about the symbolism of light in the scriptures and asked for references. We got back completely soaked, it was great! It was probably one of, if not the most strongest storms I´ve been in yet.
Then Saturday we did finally have the baptism for Manuel and Patricia. It went very well. We had it in the Stake center because all of their family and friends are there. They picked the speakers and everything so it was way good. The crazy part was that Patricia had asked me to sing in English (I found out later it was probably because for the baptism for her mom, one elder sung "The Spirit of God" all in English, though no doubt an elder who actually knew how to sing, lol). So we ended doing the musical number with Elder Cruz and Kimberly (Patricia´s daughter). I sang the first verse of "We Thank Thee oh God for a Prophet" in english, they sang the second in spanish, then we all sang the third in spanish. So yeah, not so bad I think, lol. They said they liked it anyways, lol.
Ok well thanks for those stories that you sent. That´s interesting I didn´t know the church made a video. In Babahoyo I remember once the zone met with the Stake President and as part of his presentation he showed a video of that story of the Train Switchman, that´s one reason why I wanted it. It looked like a video you could get off of youtube but maybe it was from the Church. But anyways, thanks it´s nice to have.
But all right I´d better get going, thanks for everything! Love you!
Love,
Elder David Frome
Power Week
Hey Mom and Dad,
That´s great it sounds like everything is going good at home! I hope you had a great Easter! And yeah I do believe the day is called Pascua (which is interesting learning because it always makes me think of the old testament holiday when they offer the Pascual lamb for Passover or something like that, is there any connection there? lol). Though usually in the Easter season here with so many Catholics they just refer to the entire week as “la semana santa” (holy week). And yeah it´s been fun learning some of the traditions. The first I think is that they don´t eat meat, lol. Once for lunch a family gave us a tuna salad with rice and had made fish soup because they weren´t eating beef or chicken for the week (it was sad because we had to turn down the fish soup because we can only eat it on the beach). And yeah I think for Good Friday the people took the day off to celebrate here as well, only thing a member told us it´s not so great because most people just use the day to drink. It´s been interesting we´ve been getting a lot of questions from people who have always lived with those traditions as to why the Church doesn´t celebrate any of it. Why is it only Easter that we celebrate. So it´s been fun, lol.
But anyways, so this week has definitely been a spiritual high. Firstly, Thursday morning we had Zone Conference and of course those are always great, lol. It was neat this time because Elder Sanchez was one of the assistants so he gave one of the presentations. It was especially neat to hear his topic of his presentation and basically the theme of the whole zone conference. He talked on personal purification. And it´s funny because when I was in Babahoyo I lived with Elder Larson who had brought from home a bunch of old papers and talks that are good for missionaries and he made several copies for me. One of the papers was on Personal Purification that really hit me deeply. When Elder Sanchez started talking it was the first thing I thought of. Then later President Gamboa read the exact paper (which they translated to Spanish). The paper talks of a missionary who had a profound experience teaching with a member. They taught an investigator the first lesson, testified, then gave the time to the member. When the member said in one sentence his testimony of Joseph Smith the Spirit filled the room immensely and the investigator began to cry. This elder was puzzled and later found out that if he wanted the Spirit in the same way he had to purify himself. Elder Sanchez made a comparison that 40 is a number used in the scriptures often as a time period of purification or preparation and that each change is 42 days, thus each change should be a time for us to purify something. President gave the example of a good elder he knew who, with his companion did a English fast for one change (hmm, who could he have been referring to? Lol). So it was neat.
Then of course General Conference was AMAZING!!! Its crazy being a missionary General Conference has taken a whole new meaning for me. It was way awesome because this time I got to see it in English! Lol yeah another companionship in my district has one latino and one American who is a little newer so we did a split with them so we could see it in English while they stayed and watched it in Spanish. The zone leaders are also Americans so it was the four of us who went to another room in the stake center and watched it in English. We watched every session in English except for Sunday morning because there were so many people they had to use the extra room when the main room was filled. But yeah, it was definitely a spiritual booster. Starting with session one with President Packer and his powerful talk on the Priesthood and fatherhood. Everything was so good. And yeah I was surprised they spoke so much to the parents and especially to mothers raising their kids. I think the family is being so brutally attacked in society these days the talks were well spoken. But man, maybe it´s because I haven´t listened to it in English for a while but I don´t remember it being so direct. But it was definitely good. I liked what Elder Andersen spoke at the end that the Lord takes each individual talk with it´s themes and principles and after the course of four sessions creates a spiritual symphony. It was sweet too because we had a good number of investigators come. I hope they all were able to feel the spirit.
But anyways, and so I did receive your two easter packages this week, thanks! I think today or tomorrow night we´ll be decorating some easter eggs :). Oh and funny thing, both me and Elder cruz have gotten a small (er, not so small in the case of Elder Cruz, lol) rash on our arms and we showed Sister Gamboa and she told us we should get hydrocortisone ointment, lol. I was surprised she knew it. Though we´ve been asking in pharmacies but no one seems to have it. So yeah thanks for sending that. Oh and some more ideas for sending: jerky is one thing I haven´t seen yet down here and so would always be good :P that and maybe sour candies (gummie worms, etc.) is another thing I don´t see much, lol. But idk anything you like is always good :).
Other than that all is well, it´s crazy to think i´ve been in Ecuador for nearly a year! We´re planning on ordering pizza tomorrow to celebrate (dominoes down here has a two for one Tuesdays deal:) so that should be fun. I heard after about a year living in a culture is the point when one has basically been adopted into the culture so I do almost consider myself ecuadoriano :P. I joke with Elder Cruz that I now have Ecuadorian blood. As for the weather I think we´re pulling out of the monsoon season. We´re back to the normal beating sun day in and day out, lol. But ah well it´s good.
Oh and before I forget Thursday we asked permission to go to the Mall Del Sol today to look for some shoes so hopefully we´ll find some. I have my debit card with me so I should be able to buy with that. Hopefully they´re not too ridiculously expensive :P
Alright and hey before I go I was wondering if you had heard about another story that is used often as a spiritual thought about the BYU Jerusalem center. How in the negotiations to start it there the Jerusalem ambassador said that we couldn´t proselyte at all. And when he was told we wouldn´t he responded “ok, but what are you going to do about the light in their eyes?” or something like that, lol. That and the train watchmen were a couple of spiritual thoughts I thought it´d be neat to have. So if you could find it in your free time that´d be kool :). And also it´s interesting since that movie 2012 has come out we´ve gotten a lot of questions about the end of the world. I was wondering what you would say when people ask what we believe about that or how it will be.
Alright well I´d better get going, thanks for everything! Next week we should have had a baptism for 2. I´m afraid to say for sure because every time I do something goes wrong, lol. Then we still do have Manuel for the next Saturday after. Should be a good two weeks :)
Love,
Elder David
That´s great it sounds like everything is going good at home! I hope you had a great Easter! And yeah I do believe the day is called Pascua (which is interesting learning because it always makes me think of the old testament holiday when they offer the Pascual lamb for Passover or something like that, is there any connection there? lol). Though usually in the Easter season here with so many Catholics they just refer to the entire week as “la semana santa” (holy week). And yeah it´s been fun learning some of the traditions. The first I think is that they don´t eat meat, lol. Once for lunch a family gave us a tuna salad with rice and had made fish soup because they weren´t eating beef or chicken for the week (it was sad because we had to turn down the fish soup because we can only eat it on the beach). And yeah I think for Good Friday the people took the day off to celebrate here as well, only thing a member told us it´s not so great because most people just use the day to drink. It´s been interesting we´ve been getting a lot of questions from people who have always lived with those traditions as to why the Church doesn´t celebrate any of it. Why is it only Easter that we celebrate. So it´s been fun, lol.
But anyways, so this week has definitely been a spiritual high. Firstly, Thursday morning we had Zone Conference and of course those are always great, lol. It was neat this time because Elder Sanchez was one of the assistants so he gave one of the presentations. It was especially neat to hear his topic of his presentation and basically the theme of the whole zone conference. He talked on personal purification. And it´s funny because when I was in Babahoyo I lived with Elder Larson who had brought from home a bunch of old papers and talks that are good for missionaries and he made several copies for me. One of the papers was on Personal Purification that really hit me deeply. When Elder Sanchez started talking it was the first thing I thought of. Then later President Gamboa read the exact paper (which they translated to Spanish). The paper talks of a missionary who had a profound experience teaching with a member. They taught an investigator the first lesson, testified, then gave the time to the member. When the member said in one sentence his testimony of Joseph Smith the Spirit filled the room immensely and the investigator began to cry. This elder was puzzled and later found out that if he wanted the Spirit in the same way he had to purify himself. Elder Sanchez made a comparison that 40 is a number used in the scriptures often as a time period of purification or preparation and that each change is 42 days, thus each change should be a time for us to purify something. President gave the example of a good elder he knew who, with his companion did a English fast for one change (hmm, who could he have been referring to? Lol). So it was neat.
Then of course General Conference was AMAZING!!! Its crazy being a missionary General Conference has taken a whole new meaning for me. It was way awesome because this time I got to see it in English! Lol yeah another companionship in my district has one latino and one American who is a little newer so we did a split with them so we could see it in English while they stayed and watched it in Spanish. The zone leaders are also Americans so it was the four of us who went to another room in the stake center and watched it in English. We watched every session in English except for Sunday morning because there were so many people they had to use the extra room when the main room was filled. But yeah, it was definitely a spiritual booster. Starting with session one with President Packer and his powerful talk on the Priesthood and fatherhood. Everything was so good. And yeah I was surprised they spoke so much to the parents and especially to mothers raising their kids. I think the family is being so brutally attacked in society these days the talks were well spoken. But man, maybe it´s because I haven´t listened to it in English for a while but I don´t remember it being so direct. But it was definitely good. I liked what Elder Andersen spoke at the end that the Lord takes each individual talk with it´s themes and principles and after the course of four sessions creates a spiritual symphony. It was sweet too because we had a good number of investigators come. I hope they all were able to feel the spirit.
But anyways, and so I did receive your two easter packages this week, thanks! I think today or tomorrow night we´ll be decorating some easter eggs :). Oh and funny thing, both me and Elder cruz have gotten a small (er, not so small in the case of Elder Cruz, lol) rash on our arms and we showed Sister Gamboa and she told us we should get hydrocortisone ointment, lol. I was surprised she knew it. Though we´ve been asking in pharmacies but no one seems to have it. So yeah thanks for sending that. Oh and some more ideas for sending: jerky is one thing I haven´t seen yet down here and so would always be good :P that and maybe sour candies (gummie worms, etc.) is another thing I don´t see much, lol. But idk anything you like is always good :).
Other than that all is well, it´s crazy to think i´ve been in Ecuador for nearly a year! We´re planning on ordering pizza tomorrow to celebrate (dominoes down here has a two for one Tuesdays deal:) so that should be fun. I heard after about a year living in a culture is the point when one has basically been adopted into the culture so I do almost consider myself ecuadoriano :P. I joke with Elder Cruz that I now have Ecuadorian blood. As for the weather I think we´re pulling out of the monsoon season. We´re back to the normal beating sun day in and day out, lol. But ah well it´s good.
Oh and before I forget Thursday we asked permission to go to the Mall Del Sol today to look for some shoes so hopefully we´ll find some. I have my debit card with me so I should be able to buy with that. Hopefully they´re not too ridiculously expensive :P
Alright and hey before I go I was wondering if you had heard about another story that is used often as a spiritual thought about the BYU Jerusalem center. How in the negotiations to start it there the Jerusalem ambassador said that we couldn´t proselyte at all. And when he was told we wouldn´t he responded “ok, but what are you going to do about the light in their eyes?” or something like that, lol. That and the train watchmen were a couple of spiritual thoughts I thought it´d be neat to have. So if you could find it in your free time that´d be kool :). And also it´s interesting since that movie 2012 has come out we´ve gotten a lot of questions about the end of the world. I was wondering what you would say when people ask what we believe about that or how it will be.
Alright well I´d better get going, thanks for everything! Next week we should have had a baptism for 2. I´m afraid to say for sure because every time I do something goes wrong, lol. Then we still do have Manuel for the next Saturday after. Should be a good two weeks :)
Love,
Elder David
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