(WEEK 40) Waddell Week

So this we just had a thousand more meetings than the last. On top of ward council, the district meeting, and the leadership meeting, we also had 2 giant meetings with a 70, Elder Waddell. On Thursday night we had the biggest church meeting ever in the Iñaquito chappel. All of the leaders of every ward in Quito attended, as well as most of the missonaries in our entire mission(Other than Otavalo and Ibarra). And this guy speaks with power and authority. He threw in jokes, doctrine, and machettied the members on the few things they are doing wrong(Little apostacies). So I loved it. I also got to see almost every missionary I've ever know in the mission, o sea, estuve feliz, muy feliz.

On Friday, round two. From 8:00 to about 4:30pm, we had another giant meeting, but this time it was just 2 zones, Ofelia and Calderón. Again, power and authority. He interviewed three random missionaries, a leader, an elder, and a sister. I was not chosen. However, 3 random missionaries were called to give talks in the middle of the meeting, and I was on of them. I talked on chapters 2 and 8 of preach my gospel. They had to be 5 minutes long, and a strict 5 minutes. My companion timed me. I got 4:59. Praise the man.

Elder Meriles(My awesome zone leader) is going home tomorrow. As well as my dad, Elder Richimondg. I haven't been able to see him since he left Coca when I only had 4 months in the mission. But we passed by the offices today and he was there! So I got to see both of my dads the day before they left home (Elder Agapito in February). On Thursday Elder Meriles gave his last will and testament to the zone. He gave everyone a gift in the zone. I got the best one, a green lightsaber! May the force/spirit be with me." Speaking of them going, the normal changes are in 3 weeks, but since 4 zone leaders will leave tomorrow, there were emergency changes, and a ton...

So 3 missionaries in my district left. Elder Espinoza is going to my old sector in the orient, Elder Santos is going to La Luz with the zone leaders hahaha, My companion, Elder Risco is going just down the mountain but in the same zone and he'll be companions with Elder Cabezas while I get him companion, Elder Obando. Also, Elder Williams is getting Elder (I can't remember his name), I just know that he's latino and he only has 3 weeks in Ecuador, so that's interesting. (I wonder if you guys ever skip the part of my letters where I talk about the changes, like the book of numbers... "And Asa begat Josaphat", or something like that haha.)

Since I didn't really get to work a ton in my sector or and any sector this week, the investigators are about in the same state haha. The only difference is that we found 3 new families! So that's kinda cool. One family has their baptismal date already so we'll see what happenes with them. Once again, were planning on getting a ton of lesson with less-active again this week. Pilas. Also we finally had ou missoin correlation meeting with our new ward mission leader... He doesn't know anything hahaha, so we'll have to train him. But he has a good spirit and is excited to help us.

Bueno queridos, esa es toda la semana. Espero que se disfruten este verano! Cuídense! Hasta luego!

(WEEK 39) Read this, it talks about a tini granny

A ton of meetings this week! A ton! On Tuesday we have ward council meeting, but that's normal. On Wednesday, we had interviews with the president as a zone that lasted from 2:00 - 6:30. On Thursday we had our district meeting and I taught on Diligence in General and used the examples of Nephi and Peter to help me. And finally on Friday we had our leadership meeting with the ZL's. And this week someone from the 70 is coming down to have giant zone meetings with us and interview some random missionaries in our zone and all throughout the missions in Ecuador and Peru. His name is Elder Waddell. So on Thursday night and pretty much all of Friday we'll be in the Iñaquito chappel in downtown Quito. And that doesn't count the regular district and leadership meetings that we'll probably have on Wednesday andThursday morning. I'm excited for him to come though.

Silvia and Martha went out of town again. They are super difficult to find sometimes. All they need is an interview from the zone leaders and a new baptismal date. So they STILL haven't been baptized, but it's just a matter of getting one more appointment with them, and them being there this time. Juan and Cathorine are still progressing well. Juan is almost in 2Nephi in him personal reading, so I'm pretty happy about that. They only problem with him is his attendances. A typical problem in Ecuador is selling bananas on Sunday morning. And Juan has to do that every Sunday to support him family. Sometimes he finnishes early and can go to church at 10:30am but other times he can't. We just have to get lucky with him and hope he can find another way to support his family.

We found a soild new family thanks to a referance from the mission secretaries. Familia Dias. Finally we have a new solid family to teach. We haven't actully had time to teach them yet but we've talked to them and they just sound perfect. We have a new less-active activating goal that is bacansisimo. Entonces, pilas!

Other notes, On our lesson with Juan on Tuesday he just ripped one in the middle of our lesson. That's right, this kid just passes gas while he's reading 1 Nephi 7 and then just keeps reading like nothing ever happened hahaha. I just looked at my companion and then was fighting back laughter for the next 5 minutes. I guess I'm just inmature haha. Also, on Tuesday, I met a a little indiginous lady that was about 3 feet tall(At most) and was probably about 100 years old, we contacted her and she gave me a coffee flavored hard candy haha! Woo!!

No mucho pasó esta semana, pero aún fue muy espiritual y eficaz. No me puedo esperar para las entrevistas y conferencias con Elder Waddell y también los milagros que nos vamos a ver en nuestro sector de Comité del pueblo muy pronto. ¡Les quiero mucho! ¡Amo la misión!

(WEEK 39)

(WEEK 38) Mother's Day

I'll start with the work of salvation: Silvia showed up this week but her daughter, Martha did not. I'm not sure why. But she's now totally set for her baptism this time. Now it should be a for sure. She'll have her interview this Wednesday and be baptized on this Saturday. Martha should be ready soon too. Juan can't always come to church because he has to sell bananas with his mom on Sunday mornings. If he sells them all fast, he can usually make it to church. Cathorine and Juan both have all of the lessons now. They just both need two more church attendances each. We can't really do much until they go. This week we are planning on doing a ton of contacting (I'll be honest, I don't like it, but we need a larger pool of investigators now.)

On Friday we did divisions with Collaloma and I stayed in my sector with the new guy of the district, Elder Williams. Andon Saturday we had surprize divisions with the zone leaders. They're in a trio right now so Elder Meriles and Elder Pita stayed in their sector while Elder Ospina(Ex-assistant) went with us in our sector to first check our house and then help us finnish all of our appointments that day. Our ward had a huge Mother's day activity on Saturday. They brought giant speakers into the chappel and then had a talent show, after that they just danced all night long. In the end they payed a Meriachi band to come hahaha They even had fireworks here for Mother's day. We never do that in the states for Mother's day hahaha. On Sunday I got to talk with my beloved family by using Skype. I was even better this time (The 2nd time). I'm imagining it'll be even better the 3rd and 4th times. (P.S. Elder Bolton is never trunky, he's a rock.)

Last Monday we went bowling and I started out so terrible, amazingly terrible. I wasn't even mad because it was so bad. I was just laughing because of how many gutter balls I was getting. But then I got 2 Turkeys (3 strikes in a row) with a spare to separate them to finnish it off, so I won. I actully switched balls to the number 6(Super light) and just chucked it as hard as I could every time hahaha. Other news, I'm in Psalms in the old testament. I think I'm in section 85, or something like that. So I should finnish it pretty soon. The chappel was broken into Monday afternoon, We found it on Monday night. They didn't steal anyhting but they broke some doors with the emergency axe, crazy, right? I'll send pictures. Now I'm sure the 2 wards will remember to set the alarm every night.

Esa fue mi semana, mis amados hermanos. Yo estaba pensando que esta carta sería pequeña porque ya hablé con mi familia ayer, pero creo que lo hice bien hahaha. Hasta luego

(WEEK 38)

(WEEK 37) Comité Mormón

'll start with the changes! Elder Gebs se fue :( But I'm super happy for him because he's going to Ofelia as a district leader, where he will do work! That's my baby Gebs... Elder Santos got Elder Williams in place of Elder Gebs. He's from the same group as Elder Gebs (About 6 months). Other than that, the district didn't change. Elder Ospina has been an assistant since I arrived in Ecuador and now he's my other Zone leader. So now it's Elder Meriles and Elder Ospina, so that should be pretty sweet. My MTC companion Elder Guild is now a district leader in Ofelia as well. Represent!

The Collaloma missionaries had the baptisms of David and Carlos Calderón. When I interviewed them a week ago I knew they were super prepared. They're not just baptisms, they're converts. We also helped out with a ward baptism the same day. The daughter of familia Lozada-Suin was baptized. I conducted the baptism and Elder Risco gave a talk. If all goes well Silvia and Martha should be baptized this next Saturday. But the happiest news of the week: Juan finally showed up to church! Finally!! Tours do work! Familia Pazmiño has been going through big family problems lately, so we visited them like 3 times this week. They're still not in the best shape but I think they're doing a lot better now. This week was the week of divisions too. I wasn't even in my sector that much this week. First i did them with La Bota, then Collaloma.

We had a mini zone conference on Thursday so I didn't have to train this week. Then we played dodgeball; Gringos vs. Latinos. Best 3/5 wins. And after it all, Gringos won in game five! It was one on one to finnish it too. Santana vs. Folsom (Father vs. Son). We used a ton of toilet paper rolls with a ton of tape for the balls. Super fun. During the meeting Elder Santana and Elder Folsom gave a talk on Pride. And it was sweet. Like slaps in the face for everyone, but the kind of slaps in the face that you enjoy. Like Elder Holland preisthood session talks. Our mission president really wanted my companion to get a haircut because it was getting out of control. So we both got haircuts. He kept telling me he was going to kill me hahaha. Oh, hijo mio, paz a tu alma...

Compré mucha comida hoy, entonces ahora, casi no tengo dinero para esta semana. Disculpa la mala pobreza ;)

I'll send a separate E-mail about Skype. Si estáis preparados; No temeréis. Hahahaha

(WEEK 37)