QUEVEDO

Hey Mom and Dad,

Haha sounds like it´s been another great week at home. lol So the Lundgreen's came over with a nice sharp axe to “take care of the rooster?” haha that´s great. Yeah I´m sure the chicken was nice and fresh like what we eat here.

Well I have to say Quevedo is awesome. Just this first week we´ve found a ton of new investigators who are ready to listen to us. Several have already prayed and said they believe it´s true! It´s way exciting. I´ve never found so many new good investigators in the first week in any of my sectors. And with my companion, Elder Vinueza, we´re teaching great. I feel like he´s one of the best companions I´ve had yet, in terms of teaching in synch with each other instead of one talking a ton. I think it´s because we´re both pretty equal in terms of how outgoing we are. Like I´ve always felt just naturally reserved while a lot of elders are way outgoing. And so Elder Vinueza seems about the same, so we both just work off each other teaching. I´m excited to have a great change with him at least. Also I´m excited we´re working pretty well with the mission leader and the ward in having activities and things.

I have gotten through the first week safely as district leader, lol. But now this week will be the first test, one companionship in the district need a baptism interview Wednesday. That is probably the most intimidating thing for me. It´s awesome living with the zone leaders because they said Wednesday morning they´ll teach me how to hold a baptism interview :)

Alright well I´d better get going. Thanks for everything! oh and my feet are doing great. I think starting this week we´re going go out running in the mornings. Quevedo has some awesome hills that I think I´d like to do some sprints on. It´s been so long since I´ve had a good run!
I love you and hope you have another great week!

Love,
David

Cambios!

Hey Mom and Dad,

Well I´m glad it sounds like it´s been another nice smooth week for you. Oh before I forget I got your package with the insoles and rootbeer extract today! Thanks!! I´m way excited to make rootbeer now. I pulled it out and asked my comp if he´d every heard of rootbeer and he just asked me what it was, lol. Oh man what the Ecuadorian people are missing!

Well this week has definitely been a crazy one. I forgot to tell you that this was the last week of the change so there might be transfers. It was one of those weeks where I wasn’t really sure if I was going or not so we just worked as normal like I would stay. Our zone was planning a sweet stake activity called “return to 600 years BC” which was basically supposed to be like a time warp everyone who comes to Book of Mormon times where they would see Lehi and Nephi and everything. We were planning a tone of participation from every Ward and were getting it planned for Friday night. So me and Elder Cevallos were passing by everyone Thursday and Thursday night we had a practice in the stake center and we were all excited. Well then crazy thing Thursday night in the house we got a call from Elder Salazar our zone leader. He asked me how everything was coming and I told him great we´re all excited for tomorrow. He then informed me that regretably I had to be in Terminal in Guayaquil the following morning by 8 for changes. He´s a funny guy so I first thought he was just joking. But no he told me it was for real and that I had to go with the other 2 elders because Elder Cevallos wouldn´t get his comp till Monday. Yeah, sad day, lol. I´m not a big fan of the having changes randomly before big exciting events, lol. If you remember my last change I was transferred away from Libertad the week of our baptism. But ah well, as is life as a missionary. But yeah it was kinda sad, in Libertad I had been there so long I was definitely ready for the change, but this time I kinda was but kinda not, lol. But ah well it was kool to see a bunch of different elders in terminal the next day. There they informed me that I was going to the Quevedo South zone and my companion Elder Vinueza would meet me at the bus station there. I traveled with Elder Vargas who was also going. Quevedo is the farthest zone I´ve been in yet, about a 3 hour bus ride from Guayaquil. but it definitely looks awesome. It´s in the same province as Babahoyo, just 2 hours north. While Babahoyo is the capital of the province Los Rios, I believe Quevedo is the most populated city. So I´m pretty excited. My first impressions is just how much more green it looks here. It looks like what I imagined Ecuador to be before I came, lol. With a lot more tropical trees and there´s a lot more ups and downs in my sector. I´m definitely going to have to take a camera one day to show you, its so beautiful. And my companion, Elder Vinueza seems like an awesome guy. Very humble but a good worker. He has about 7 months in the misión and is also from Quito (yeah, 2 quiteños in a row, what´re the odds, right?). That and the Ward looks awesome with an actual Ward misión leader and Ward missionaries!!! (it´s my first time in a Ward with that!:) so yeah we´re definitely going to take advantage of that. Then other than that Sunday night was crazy, lol. We live with the zone leaders Elder Smith and now Elder Rojas so the assistants and everyone were calling us to get everything organized. Me and Elder Vinueza made patacones (which are like Friday squashed platano, which is a type of banana that is way good fried, tastes kinda like potato chips:) Elder Vargas, who came with me on Friday, was called again and was transfered to go back to Manta, lol. We guessed that the assistants must have realized because he and Elder Smith were going to be zone leaders but were ending the misión at the same time that they can´t be together to finish in 2 changes so they changed Elder Vargas. It was crazy hearing about him and all the other changes. But then Elder Arellano called a little after 10:30 when all the changes were finally set and he asked to talk to me. He said he was pleased to inform me that I have a new assignment as District leader! Lol yeah crazy. He told me congratulations and that he´s confident I´ll serve well. So yeah that was probably the most crazy change of the week, lol. So now I have the fun opportunity to teach the class for district meeting every week, lol. The thing I´m most nervous for is probably having to do the baptism interviews because it´s usually the district leaders who do them. I´ll definitely be praying the I´ll be able to do them in a edifying way for all that want to be baptized.

So yeah a ton has happened this week but that’s the biggest news, but now I´m about out of time so I´d better go. Thanks for everything! I love you! Have great week! Oh and good luck in your talk mom! Sorry I didn´t give any suggestions but I know you´ll do great!

Love,
Elder David Frome

Bautismo!

Hey Mom and Dad,

Oh man, so I´ve been on this computer for an hour and have barely been able to start writing, the mouse has been going crazy and I´ve had to restart the computer a few times. Times like this is when I miss a home personal computer, lol. But that sounds like you guys had a rough time last night. I guess even personal computers can be frustrating when the power isn´t constant.

Well, this week has been pretty good. Definitely the highlight was the baptism we had on Saturday. We had it for a 9 year old girl. It was an excellent service. It was great because we had a meeting for the missionary stake activity so everyone who came to the meeting (about 10 from our Ward) just stayed for the baptism. The only tough part of the whole thing was that Selena actually has a big fear of wáter. I guess when she was little she fell into a pool and nearly drowned. I heard in the MTC of investigators who will have that problem, but this was the first time seeing it in the field. The last two weeks we´ve been telling her not to worry it´s just a quick dunk (lol) and showed her the font and everything and I think it helped a bit. Just walking in she said she was way nervous and right before we started the meeting she was almost crying. But ah man she was so brave I felt so proud of her. Once we started she looked a little better. Then when it was time for the ordinance and we stepped into the wáter she was holding her breath. Then right before she asked me “really quick, right?” I told her it´ll be way quick, lol. But I was way proud of her after she came out of the wáter she looked fine, lol. I hope it was a special night for the entire family.

Alright, well I´d better get going now. Hey thanks for everything and haha I´m glad you like my emails. As I said before you could probably thanks my friends like Amanda and others that I got used to emailing through high school. :P

Love you!

Elder David Frome

Another Week :)

Hey Mom and Dad,

Haha thanks for the emails it sounds like everyone is doing great. Thanks for sending new insoles for my shoes. Those´ll be nice to have, not that my shoes are getting too bad, just that in the near future they might. And for about the first time I found a good sized blister on the ball of my foot (it barely hurt, but still had one:). And thanks that´ll be fun to get the rootbeer extract. I´m sure our investigators will love to try some American Rootbeer that I´ve been telling them so much about :D. That´s neat you saw Christina at Pings the other day. Ah that´s too bad she tried sending a card but didn´t make it. I always feel bad when I hear about that, I wonder how often it happens. It´s too bad pouch is such a strict system.

And before I forget I´ll have to answer some questions, the final Maestro test went well. I had a tough time with a couple scriptures that I couldn´t remember from the Old testament (those scriptures are so hard to memorize, they use words that I would never use and never hear, it´s more like I´m memorizing sounds, lol) but he told me it was all good and that I passed! Lol so yeah it feels good to not have to worry about it anymore, lol, like I´ve just finished the final for a college class, lol. Of course now I´ll just have to be sure to review them often so I don´t forget, that´ll be the hard part now. And as for that 3 kings day Elder Cevallos told me that it actually is the 6th. And yeah it sounds like the tradition is that you can give presents between Christmas and that Kings day is the last day you can give presents. Kinda funny sounds more like an excuse to give late Christmas presents, lol, but yeah kinda neat. I´ll have to ask where it comes from.

This week has been back to normal working and teaching, nothing too crazy has happened. It´s neat all the schools are being let out now (the schools down here get out at the beginning of January and from there have a couple months of vacations like our summer:) so we´re trying to think of some fun activities we can plan. This time of the year sounds perfect for activities because everyone is out of school and looking for things to do. So I was actually wondering what kind of ward activities do you have there? I never really thought of it before but I can´t really remember the ward missionaries putting on too many activities. Here it feels like we do a ton more, lol, but again I guess I´ve never really paid that much attention to the mission work in the states. So yeah if you have any ideas of activities we can do for the ward so they can bring new investigators and make friends with our investigators that´d be awesome :)

We´re still working with several families that are progressing little by little. And yeah that´s true what you said mom how they´re really just like kids in the gospel. Like for me growing up church was never a question of oh do I feel like going today or not, it was just a part of life. Thank you for always instilling that in us as kids, even when it must have been way hard, lol. Overall the church here does seem young. The majority of the members are converts. Patience is definitely an important attribute you learn :).

Hey I was wondering, I don´t have many resources here to search, but there is a hymn in spanish called “placentero nos es trabajar” that doesn´t exist in English and it´s one of my favorite hymns now, lol. I heard that there is a really kool history behind the hymn about how it was written by a missionary in mexico that was caught in a war and wrote it while he was imprisoned. It sounds like a kool story but I don´t know it all. I was just wondering if you had heard about that and could get the story or not. If you could, maybe the other moms may have heard it in the mission. Just wondering :) also, there´s a spiritual thought that I heard about a father that works changing tracks for a train station and one day brings his son. But this day there is a problem with the switch and he has to hold it but then sees his son on the tracks and has to make the decision whether to save the train and hold the switch or save his son. It´s a great story about the atonement and I was wondering if you and a copy of it. Again, if you have it that´d be great but if not no worries.

Alright well other than that there hasn´t been too much that´s happened, lol. Oh other than the fact that it´s finally started to rain :D. it´s crazy I´m starting to believe what I´ve heard how it´ll rain all night then during the day the sun will come out and heat everything up so you´ll have the water evaporating from below and the sun beating down from above and it just makes life even worse, lol. It´s interesting because the temperature itself really isn´t that bad, but the humidity really does get worse. With the clouds covering most of the sky during the day it almost feels like it makes a kind of green house effect. I still have yet to be caught in a rain storm while out working. It usually doesn´t start raining until about 10 after we´ve gotten back to the house. Then it´ll stop around 9 or 10 before we leave. So yeah, I guess it´s the rainy season here. It´s nice because I guess in some areas it´ll flood but where we´re at it´s all city so we don´t have to worry.

Alright well I´d better get going now, thanks for everything, I love you! Hope you have a great week!

Love,Elder David Frome

FELIZ AÑO NUEVO!


Hey Mom and Dad,
Ah thats sweet sounds like you had a nice relaxing new year with Robbie and Kristen. And I bet Ryan must´ve had fun at the single dance. Yeah they told us we had to be in our house by 8:00 that night so we had a good time watching things from the window :). And wow that’s so exciting how all the Spanish news that’s happening in the stake, lol. that sounds like a great start to the new Spanish Branch. And sounds like the Pattons are well involved. They´ll be great leaders. That´d definitely be fun for after the mission when I get back to be able to continue talking in Spanish, especially in a church setting. And so you saw an Elder Fuller in church?? Wow yeah we weren´t really on a last name basis in the dorms but that name definitely sounds familiar, lol. was he tall, kind of lanky with brown hair? That´s kool that he saw you and I wonder how he recognized you. You´ll have to tell him Hi for me :).

It´s been fun to see the custom here in Ecuador for new years. The big tradition is to make what´s called “viejos” or “monigotes” or “muñecos.” The first word means old as for old year and I´m not sure how to say the other words, lol. but they´re basically life sized papermache figures of either a person or any other cartoon or popular character, lol. It´s pretty cool families will actually start making them months in advance. We´ve seened characters like dragon ball Z, the hulk, Michael Jackson, a giant bulldog and a transformer, sid from Ice Age and any other movie character you can think of. But yeah the custom is they´ll make those and paint them to look all nice of some character from that year, then on new years eve they´ll put them in the streets and burn them, lol. which actually looks pretty fun. I guess it´s symbolic to burn a character from that year to show the passing of the old year and start of a new. One dangerous part is some who are a bit more teenage crazies (you know there´s always some of those in the neighborhood lol) will take the Viejo, put a bunch of firecracker or other fireworks in it then burn it, thus lighting off a bunch of explosions. Then while it´s still burning they´ll walk by and throw in more firecrackers, lol. Once during the day we saw one and they had put in some rocket fireworks, oh man that was way crazy-dangerous. The rockets lit off and flew in random directions and exploding. So yeah, probably for good reason we had to be in the house by 8 :P

This week was kind of rough when it came to appointments falling through. I guess just with the holiday seasons a lot of people were together as families but they´ll always be doing stuff, lol. so we did a lot of knocking doors :P. which was actually pretty fun. We went with the just get in the door and ask for 5 or 10 minutes to get a quick message to the family and a return appointment strategy and it wasn´t too bad. With that we found a lot of new people. It always amazes me how Christian oriented the people are here. It seems the majority of the people already recognize us as servants of the Lord. One older couple let us in and it was awesome because they were already familiar with the church and said they knew we were servants of the Lord and looked way interested to hear us. I almost wanted to commit them to baptism right there but we didn´t have enough time, lol. Another older lady told us that her daughter died as an infant and was never baptized and her pastor said that baptism was required for heaven and had warned her to have the daughter baptized as soon as possible so she felt terrible. Yeah, that is definitely such an amazing doctrine of the church to be able to tell people that their children are in heaven because all little children are alive in Christ. So yeah, all in all a lot of walking and working this week, lol. but it´s been great. There´s nothing better than getting back to the house dead beat but knowing you did all you could to find, teach, and invite.

Thanks for sending insoles. One thing though, I´ve been talking with Elder Olsen and we´ve both been totally craving root beer, lol. I don´t know if I told you but there isn’t root beer here, like, at all, lol. It´s one thing that´s fun to tell people about. Often to start lessons we´ll have every say their name and favorite food. I always like to say a giant American burger, fries, and a huge glass of root beer, lol. so I was just wondering maybe you could send some rootbeer extract and the recipe, that´d be fun to make and share with the members and investigators. I was thinking too here there´s a lot of that plain carbonated water, could you make it with that? Lol but ok i´d better get going. Thanks for everything and I hope you have another great week! Love you!

Love,Elder David Frome

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