no entiendo que esta pasando en el mundo hoy dia‏

Well hello everybody!

So yeah it was good to talk to everybody (except for Channing) (not that it wasn't nice to talk to you, its that I didn't) and see that you're all doing well and look rich. I noticed that when I was talking to you guys but forgot. We are doin pretty well compared to some people here. Count your many blessings!

CAMBRIA TEACH ME AN INSTRUMENT WHEN I GET HOME OR I WILL BURN MY UNDERPANTS!!!!

Oye, Channing, que mas mi hermana? No entendi algunas de sus palabras! Creo que hablan en differente formas alla en Panama. (oquey, sola una) Pero voy buscarla en mi diccinario a la casa. Pero, siga adelante!! Testifico de las palabras de mi hermana. Siga aprendiendo, siguendo el espiritu, y amando la gente. Como un discurso de conferencia general (la liahona llego' algunos dias atras) debemos disfrutar estes pequeños momentos que tenemos mientras estamos esforzandonos a ser mejores. Blake apesta como un gato muerto y Cambria le gusta comer comida de cuy. Pero te quiero, eres un gran ejemplo para mi. no tienes mucho tiempo en la misio'n pues, entonces tienes que esforzarse a ser lo mejor que puedas ser. Estas en mi oraciones!

Learned I kinda enjoy being a missionary. It's a good life. It's fun, challenging, and hey ya learn lots. Yeah boy!

Yep that's about it.

But hope everybody will be doing great for the new year, living it up (drink that sparkling grape stuff!! woooohooohooo that's some good stuff), make some goals, avoid fallin in holes, don't squash your toes, what am I saying (who knows?).

Aight have a good week, love ya all, its off to work I go!

Merry Christmas....And A Happy New Year‏

Well hello hello. Whew!!! That is what we like to call a machete. Esta macheteandome. And yes I know I`ll be more careful from now on. But yeah I`ll be safe and look both ways before crossing next time. Indeed!

Okay well about Skype and calling. If I use Skype, it would be Christmas Eve before 4 in the afternoon. Because we have to pay in this cyber cafe and I can`t go breaking the Sabbath to call my family. So it would be before 4 Christmas Eve. But if that doesn`t work, I could buy a call card and just call Christmas Day if that`s better. We don´t have phones, sola cabinas. But de todos modos I`ll be calling 3:30 Friday, to set everything up in the last minute. But I only have an hour of church on Sunday 9 to 10. So it would be after that I believe. So that`s what`s up! I`ll call para ver what we can do. Channing, you call first. Because it depends if you can use Skype or not. Or when. But that`s what is goin down. Oh what is this? Looks like I have to buy credit or something to call on Skype? Daft. Oh wait I think that`s if I want to call your phones. Neva mind!

And I just tested my new account with my compañero and it works. Excellent! So yeah Skype is now an option. I have you guys as contacts. Exito.

So I`ll be callin to find out everything yeah?

And don`t worry Mom, the packages will get here sooner or later. And it`s aight. I´m the child who got an ugly man and thought it was the best Christmas ever. Just a call will be fine.

Well good to hear that the surgery went good, good to hear that Blake is done with school, I was thinking about what his career will be the other day on the bus to Riobamba. Whatever it is, make room for your brother! I don`t have a clue what the heck I`m gonna do so I`ll just jump on your back to success. It`s what little bros do.

And I had a flash back the other day of me and Cambria, her with panties on her head and me with my boxers. Captain Boxers was my name. We went through the house trying not to be seen was our mission. Ooooohhh yeah. Style.

Ah good to hear that Papa and Rhonda are still goin good. And the party is alive! But I really need a list of birthdays or I`m never going to remember. I don`t remember my own mother`s birthday (I apologize). (September 9th?? I think?)

Oh crap!!! I took so much time setting up this Skype crap I only have 10 minutes to write. WELLL!!!!

So this week was good (and wet) and we have some new investigators and families that don`t come to church. Probably cuz we weren`t teaching about church good or teaching with members. But we´re working on that in companion study and we have a schedule with the members so that`s good. And a meeting with the presidents of the ramas. So it`s all good!

Had a cool experience finding a family. So this town of Santa Fe that I mentioned earlier, well I wanna find some more investigators over there because 1. there`s some less actives that need more support over there 2. they`re all Catholics and I can`t stand to see la gran apostasía in control over the whole town. So we were working over there with a Zone Leader, and we decided to help this couple with the bags they had. And we went up on this hill (which is already on this mountain. It`s high up. It`s green and beautiful. Gotta take pics someday) where they live and then taught them a short lesson on families and the Gospel. Then we set everything up and then their son, Edgar get`s this panicked look on his face and grabs his mom`s hands. Says he`s gonna die. Then he falls of his stool and goes into these spasms. His dad his holding him and his mom too. They explain that he has a heart problem. His eyes are bulging and his breath is ragged and drooling. They´re all calm and I´m standing there thinking that he´s gonna die. So we tell them that we have to power to give blessings and they said we could give him a blessing. So Elder Lamprecth (or somethin, I can´t remember the Zone Leader´s name) gives the blessing with us participating. And during the blessing Edgar´s spasms lessen, his breathing returns to normal, and by the end he´s pretty peaceful. I´m like wooooow. Maybe it was just coincidence, maybe he was gonna be fine at that time anyway, but I felt like I was seeing the power of God in the works. And so really, my prayers to help somebody and to have the faith to do healings was answered in my eyes. So I walked away just... well kinda like I said. wooooooow.

And it doesn´t feel like Christmas here. But I like singing Mister Grinch anyway. And Another Brick in The Wall by Pink Floyd. That´s what I think of here in Christmas time.

But hey, my time is up, I must go, I must do, the things the Lord commands, so l´ll be callin ya guys Friday yeah? Love ya all, hope you´re doin better than a tickle me Elmo at Wal Mart, and Iiiiiiiii´llllll beee hoooome for Chriiisstmaaaas, if only by Skyyyyyyyppeee.

THE DEVIL LIVES IN URANUS

(Editors note - Brett did write this week but it only went to Blake. Maybe because Brett knew that he was in for a major ALL CAPS lecture about getting into cars with strangers.)

WELL.....
uh
gah.
So the impressions I have of your letters are as following

1. Mom I don't know what the crap is happenin to your body but I'm sorry. Sounds like a pile of crap wrapped in a bun.
2. The Panama Mailing system is better than Ecuador's. Haven't gotten anything yet.
3. Channing sounds like you're are livin it up my sista! Get em! Bunch of freaks and sheeks. I wish I had a pee bag. I could go all day chugging water! And way to break into houses. Ask Ty and Tara about breaking into houses. They would know. BUH!
4. I'm hungry

But sounds like the life is rocking on. HEY!

Cambria Happy Birthday. You're what? 7? Next year you can be baptized! WOOO!!! (I'm saying that to avoid the thought of you liking boys or anything. If one of them touches you I'm sending small pox in the form of a dead cat to his doorstep.)

Sounds like babies are being born. That's good. Keeps the birth rate healthy I guess.... idk what I'm supposed to say there.

Um, que mas? Somebody tell Smokey I said what's up babe.

Aight so the week started out explosive. In a bowels sorta way. We must have a family connection or somethin cuz a family that sticks together, gets the runs together. The first two days of the week were terrible. I did more contacting the bathroom than the streets. It's a good thing I brought my own toilet paper. The terminal, the market, the house, Plaza Roja. Whew everywhere. I was bad. My new compañero probably thought I was a freak. But I'm good now! I can eat my yogurt and cereal again. We don't have gas to cook so that's all I've been eating this week. Oh and bread. Some with cheese and some with jam. Because I don't have peanut butter. But it´s the good life!

My companion is different than Elder Andrade. He has the same time as me, 5 months tomorrow! So he just has a month more than me in the mission field since I was in the CCM. So he doesn´t always know the heck is goin on either. So it´s good! Cuz he´s not bossing me around and I can actually make the decisions. Kinda like Channing with her divisions. It´s a good growing experience.

But he´s different as in that he likes to do things his own time. Latino time. A little slow for me (who would have ever thought that Brett Jackson would say that? THAT´S RIGHT BROTHER! NOT SLOW OR STUPID!!!) but it´s aight. We're learning how to do things and get it done. He does have the advantage of Spanish of course but I´m still working on it. It´s harder with only 30 minutes to study Spanish. But I still have my little notebook that I write all the Spanish words and scriptures I can find. Just need it to stick. Which it does with time. So yeah! We keep on goin.

Interesting story this week. We had divisions with me and Elder Bloxham and we went to a little town up in the mountains called Santa Fe. The one next to the giant statue of Christ carrying his cross. And they have a giant blue cross themselves in the middle of the town. Made some contacts there, a lot of rejections (Do you believe in the Virgin? We believe she's a great person. I'm Catholic bye.), set up some citas, and headed back down the mountain. The bus only comes by every 40 minutes so we were walking down. A man with a machete contacted me. So we'll go visit him. But as we were walking, a car pulled up and asked where we were going. Guaranda, so he said come on in. We asked how much will it cost. Nothin. Aight let's go!

So we got in and started talking with these two gentlemen. They wanted to know why we were here and yeah yeah yeah. But then we went of the main road. We went bumping down this dirt road through the woods higher in the back part of the mountains. Hmmm interesting route I thought. Then a night club comes into view. Big yellow woman infested night club. My stomach dropped. He looked at me in the mirror and I looked at him. I think he saw somethin in my eyes cuz he then told us, It´s a night club! I looked at Elder Bloxham and he looked like he was trying to swallow a cucumber. I thought We´ve been shamboozeled!!! But then there was another road I didn´t see and we kept goin. Whew. But further into the mountains. By that time my mind was all kinds of paranoid. We just got in this car and we don´t know these fools. They´re gonna kill us cuz they think we´re rich Gringos. Daft. They´re taking us to the back country to kill us! I gotta get out of here!! (Needless to say our contacting dramatically came to a halt). And then we passed a tourist place with a giant beer bottle, and he liked pointing that out to us. yeeeaaaah. Then ANOTHER stinkin night club. What is this man?! He pointed it out to us too. But then we finally got to town, oh it was a back road. We thanked him, wrote down their numbers, and got out. Elder Bloxham and I just looked at each other and kinda did a stupid chuckle laugh thingy. Huh...huh huh huh....... wow. huh huh huh. Crazy huh? Yeah.

But all was fine and dandy. These people are nice here. But I´m not gonna do it again in Quito!

Um we had District Conference, they divided our branch into two branches now. So I have church at 12:30. Walter Segura, one of our converts, received the Melchizedek Priesthood so that was cool to see. And my focus this week on scripture study has been on how I can have greater faith to do the things that the earlier church people did. Because where did the power go?? There were people doing healings and seeing angels and hearing voices from heaven back in the day of Joseph Smith. What happened to our church? I think people just don't have the same faith now a days and we just don't treat the church with the same amount of faith and sacrifice. That's my idea anyway. I dunno but I'm gonna try for it. GET SOME..... FAITH!!!

So that's all folks, I love you all, we'll talk later about calls, and hasta luego!

December 12th

We didn't hear from Brett this week, so this picture from the mission website will have to do.

The Other Side of Heaven‏

Well I loved those two pictures. Ty is a happy little school boy and Taylor is a mad viking woman on a rampage. But it´s about dang time she put on some knee pads. Her knees were nasty last year. I say that with respect of course.

Aight so we had changes today. I have a new companion from Lima, Peru and he has about the same time as me. But I´m still junior companion but that´s okay with me. We still got some growin to do kids! So I don´t have much time to write because he arrived at 5 and we got all situated at the new house. So we´re good.

Anyway, I have been transferred all the way too....... the sector next door. I´m in Guaranda Sur now. Elder Andrade and Elder Bloxham have the north and me and my new compañero have the south. So it´s all good! I just have to figure out what the heck we´re gonna do down here. I think visit the contacts we had these last few days, seeing it was me and Elder Bloxham. So that´s what we´ll do! So the gangs all here and I´m just in the south part. We´ll see how things change or how this companionship is different. It´ll be interesting.

So I got one package! The one for my compañero. And awesome letters from Cody and Taylor. And that´s it at this point. So we shall see. Sitting hoping waiting wishing.

Ah man he has a different accent. That´ll take some getting used to. Talks fast too. Well lets hope the Spanish keeps on coming no?

Well the Valley sounds quite miserable. I always did hate wind. Don´t miss it here. Maybe a bit of snow would be nice, but for the most part it´s pretty good! Just rains like a sad cow farts.

So I´ve been a bit abused these last couple days. One time I was getting out of the back of the camioneta and Elder Bloxham just happened to be swinging his arm up, and popped me right in the side of the head by the eye. A little bit tender. Then after that I was listening to Elder Andrade tell a story and wasn´t paying attention to where I was walking then, GAH! Above the sidewalk they had stinkin barbewire. And of course it doesn´t bother them, but us tall gringos get diced. So I had blood in my hair when we went to eat at the member´s house. They let me run my head under the shower. The problem with being tall in the States is that you can´t find pants long enough, in Ecuador you have to avoid being decapitated. Then today I hit my head on the doorway a couple of times. Wheeew my head is feelin goooood.

Um I realized that my patriarchal blessing tells me what gifts I have. And they rock. I could be a good missionary if I could actually have them. So that´s what I´m working on right now. Developing the gifts of the Spirit. Cuz I need it!!!

Um, I don´t I have time for more so I´ll just have to get to skiddly skadatin.

Rock on my family and friends. Tell dad to watch his step, tell smokey I said "sup, babe", tell Cambria if she wants to be sick she can think of my hiney doing the tango. CHANNING WHERE ARE YOU?!?!? And that´s all I have to say about that. Time to go exploring with my new frraaaaaaiiiiinnnnddd. Yippee ki yay.

Oh and love you and all that jazz. Rock on!

No llore para mi Argentina‏

Well hello one and all and all in one. I´m writing early today because we´re sick of having to fight a bunch of teenagers for a computer. I swear Facebook has got to be bigger here than in the states. Or maybe it´s just that they don´t have their own computers....

WOOO!! Bout time they put in the Tebow. Ugly sloppy passes, but winning, is better than nice short passes and losing. So I´m down with that. Probably those prayers that are working. And Channing nobody says anything about the Colts because we all know that they´re terrible and hardly worth mentioning. Like the bees knees. Small, weak, and nobody actually cares about them unless it´s some saying without any real meaning. Like the franchise of the Colts. And that´s all I have to say about that.

Cambria!! Ahhhh I can here his lovely song in my head now. I still smile inside. But rock on, do what ya want but don't fail. Basketball can be fun if you want it to be. If ya don´t want it to be, it won´t be. Duh. But rock on my Diddy Kong.

I wish I could take pictures. I´ve been seeing some beautiful stuff down here. But asi es la vida.

So Channing, sounds like you´re having a wonderful time. Lots of rejection (like my love life) and walking around (like Wal Mart). But paintball is good! We don´t have that here. If we want to put bruises on somebody we have to throw papas or shoot corn out of our nostrils. Count your blessings.

WAIT!! Why didn´t anyone tell me it was Thanksgiving?? I had (this will be surprising) rice! and chicken!! and bananas!! The Thanksgiving of Kings right there. And contacted. But hey it´s alright, the foods good when you don´t put too much thought into it.

So I hate Christmas songs on the mission. We sang The First Noel for district meeting and I started thinking of the time I got sent back to class in honor choir in the 4th grade because I started falling asleep singing that song, then that led to me thinking of Christmas trees then Smokey laying under it, then the warm floors in winter then Josh Groban singing the Drummer Boy, then Christmas parties and then family then I said WHAT THE HECK IS GOIN ON HERE!!! So I don´t like it because it makes me think of memories and Christmas at home. No bueno por un misionero nuevo. No debo pensar en esta manera o voy llorar desnudo por 3 semanas. Por eso.

But on to the obra!! So this week actually wasn´t that bad. WE FOUND TWO FAMILIES!!! I don´t know if this makes you yell like Voldemort did in those commercials for the last movie or what but I´m a happy little camper. Mission work can be fun when you actually get to teach people. Go figure! So we had this challenge to contact 90 people in 5 days (the norma is 120 a week in the mission) so we really tried to talk to alot of people in the streets. Alot of rejections yeah, alot of liars yeah, one threat to send the dogs after us yeah, but we found some people! And like Channing, we´ve been going through deciding which investigators we can leave and which we should keep visiting. Been dropping some. But we started teaching again this family that we kinda half way dropped in my first month here, but now we started teaching them again. But wow something changed in the dad. He used to drink like a mad man so we couldn´t ever visit. But now he´s demanding chapters to read in the Libro de Mormon and wants to learn more. He assisted church and noche de hogar tambien. So he and his daughter have fechas now. The wife was ironing I guess so we didn´t get to ask her. But we will!

And we were contacting yesterday in the rain for awhile, a lot of nothing, but then we found one family. It went like this.

Hello we´re missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!
Come on in!
Alrighty then.

And we talked with her and her husband, they thought we were Catholics but then we started talking about families and that there´s life after death. Left a folleto. But they have great interest.

After that yeah we talked with a drunk in the street and a few other guys then taught Familia Calderon la Expiacion then we got some referencias and visited another family. She let us in, we prayed, talked about what our purposito es como misioneros and then talked about prayer. She offered the last one and oooooooooo yeah. It was a good prayer. She cried. Elder Bloxham cried. Being the soul less, emotionally distant person that I was raised to be, didn´t cry but thanked her alot and now we´re gonna go visit tonight. Excited. Except Elder Bloxham wants to teach them the Word of Wisdom the first lesson so we´ll see how this turns out....

They had me bear my testimony at the Zone Council. This has a curse. Everyone who´s done this has had a transfer. It´s what happened to our zone leader, my district leader, una hermana, and now the other elder who bore his testimony too. Cambios son proxima semana. So it´s my fear that now that we have a little bit of success I´m gonna be moved to a different place. Siiiigh. But hey I´ll go where ya want me to go. It´s good for me, so I don´t get cocky o algo.

But it was hard this week at the same time without the help of the members. This made me a little irritated. So in priesthood meeting, they were all talking about being an example to the world and how we should help. But they didn´t do diddly squat to help us this last week. I was quietly reading the guia de las escrituras but I couldn´t take it. So I piped in my two cents how we say that we´re a light but we want to just keep our own light burning by just going to church and that´s it. So I told them they needed to share their light not talk about it, how they made convenants at baptism to be witnesses of Christ, how we´ve been asking them to help us for 2 weeks and they haven´t done anything, and they can talk all they want but as missionaries we´re dying here and we need their help. That fist in my chest felt a little better after that. So they made a list there in the class and now we have a schedule mas o menos. But we still need to talk to the mission leader who doesn´t do anything. And lies to the branch president about that. So he´s our next target. But at least we have some help this week. Sometimes, a verbal pencil to the face helps us all wake up.

Whew and that´s all I really have to think about now. Think we´re all good and dancing in the streets. And for some reason Evita has been playing in my head this week. That´s when you know it´s strange. YOUR QUEEN´S DEAD YOUR KING´S BLUE! SHE´S NOT COMIN BACK TO YOOOOouuuu

And what I learned in a lesson two days ago is that the Sabbath was changed from Saturday to Sunday to remember the resurrection of Christ. Which is awesome because there are some people who ask that alot. So ROCK ON!! And somebody please tell those 7th day Adventists this. Thanks.

That´s all my friends and family!! Ya voy! (I like that cuz it sounds like yeah boy) Till next week, I love you all, I want to eat a cookie, and it´s off to work I go. i ho i ho i ho i ho

Bienvenidos a Infierno‏

wooooooo I didn´t know we could put faces here. That´s cool. I feel like . Wait Can I use pictures like that ooooooh yeah. The letters just got dynamic.

Well alright ladies and gentlemen another week has gone by and it´s been up and down all around look at my pinky gee you´re stinky.

I´m feeling the pressure of being in a trio, and having two sectors. And not finding new families. Dang it´s hard. It´s like everyone just isn´t interested or somethin. Or I´m ugly. Let´s go with the first shall we? But yeah this week we´ve been having a spot of bad luck here and there. Well mostly Elder Bloxham. He clogged our toilet, broke my camera, and got our frisbee stuck on the roof. And we can´t find families. And don´t worry about the camera I´ve taken it apart and I´m fixing it the best I can..... and if not well it´s broken as it is. And Elder Andrade is saying we don´t respect him as a leader, but won´t tell us how we´re not respecting him. And I don´t know what the daggly dooda is goin on so I just keep my mouth shut and walk behind them. Oi.

But the lessons were alright. I hope. We found one William that was a really good lesson, I felt the Spirit anyway. Or so I hope. I dunno I´m not like Channing and can tell 100% of the time if ít´s the spirit or if I have heart burn. It´s a problem I tell ya.

But hey Cambria rock on for leading music. I´ve only recently learned how to kinda do it here. But we´re alright

And Channing my dreams are always strange now that I´m on the mission. I was going to visit Grandma Jackson on a boat to Riobamba, where she lives now, with Taylor but then Simon Bolivar attacked so we left and went to some castle where there were a lot of people with only half bodies, and horses pooping, and dark. So I contacted in there but then I saw Dad working on Mitchell Wilson who didn´t have any skin and Dad was moving his guts around. I was quite disturbed after that one.

Um, what else happened this week? We ended up having to leave Family Chimbo, I don´t know why but attending church is one of the biggest problems we have with our investigators. They work or have fear of attending. And here is the opposite now of Channing, the sun is out all the time now. It´s madness. I think with high school sports, rouging, and my mission, I have a pretty good chance of getting skin cancer when I´m older. I´m using sunscreen when we leave but sometimes it´s not enough. Sooo.... I believe it might be grim when I´m old. C´ezt la vie mon ami. Oh man Í can´t remember how to spell that. Asi es.

Alright I shall send a letter to Wendy and Larry. I have a letter ready to send to you Mom with a lettter to you guys, Grandma Bagwell, and Ty. But I´ll wait to send it a little longer to write the others.

But yeah we´re living I guess. And that´s all I really have to say this week. Not feelin much.... I gave a talk in sacrament meeting sobre diligencia. That was alright. First time I didn´t have enough time to share everything. But we´re trying to get the rama to really start helping us, because we´re dying here without that other missionary. Too many places to be too far. We´re walking like mad men. Then my toe hurt, and had pus. So I thought of Dad and his little foot operations he would do on himself so I tried to do the same. I was sore the next day. But it doesn´t hurt anymore!! Hoorah for prayer and sharp objects.

So what IS Blake and Dad doing? I don´t know anything of their lives. What the heck is goin on over there?!?! I´m aight. Living the life. And waiting for my compañeros to finish writing President. I already did.

And this computer doesn´t have a SD thing so I can´t finish downloading pictures. Sorry.... I´ll try another time.

Wish I had some awesome missionary story to tell ya folks but I don´t! So let´s not pretend! I´m out here walking around a lot, talking to a lot of people that don´t want to change, but we push forward. Moroni 9:6. Have a short time but we know that there´s somebody out there waiting. We just gotta find them.

And that´s what we shall do. So I´m just gonna finish this up and say love you all, appreciate you all, love your letters, hate mine, but that´s the way the buzzard´s butt looks.

Rock on and have a lovely week!

Watch Yo Mouf‏

Hello one and all.

Well Mom I´m sorry!! This is the child that would tell you that he was homecoming king a week after it happened. I forgot!! And I thought that you had it, or said you had it. I can´t remember. Okay I got it here. And I know you don´t need it but I´ll just send it to help my conscience. Holy buckets I can´t spell that. conscoiusnshdskjfdklsjf crud. So long English.

Misón Ecuador Quito
Robles E4-515 y Amazonas
Casilla 17-03-078
Quito, Pichincha
Ecuador

So there! And I just never read the mission website. When do I have time? Soooo yeah there´s that. Sorry it cost so much. I´ll never ask for peanut butter again I promise!!

Aight so, that is very excellent that you´re helping those people Mom. That inspired me too. I´m gonna keep a few empanadas in my backpack from now on, to give to some of the dudes on the streets. We usually do that and there´s always a panadería nearby so it´s worked out pretty good. And that reminds me of that children's song. I´m Trying To Be Like Jesus. Be gentle and loving, in deed and in thought, for these are the things Jesus taught. How many times do we make an actual mental effort to be like Jesus? To do better? And one of my new favorites is that Señor te Seguiré. What´s it called in English? Can´t remember but it´s similar I think. I like when it says, Savior may I learn to love Thee. IT´s really a process. Learning to love the Saviour. And the scriptures that are with the hymn. 1 John 3:16-19. Or maybe it´s in chapter 4? Either way I love those chapters too. If we have love for the Saviour we can get this love for other people and really help other people. That´s what I´ve learned about how charity is the pure love of Christ. What the heck does that even mean?! Means that the whole shebang, the plan of salvacion, The Atonement, everything is because of the charity that Christ has. Because He loves us. Powerful stuff man. Makes me think of the Beatles. All we need is love, love, love is all we really need...

Gotta get this off my chest!! I saw a little dwarf lady, I mean an actual dwarf (even shorter than the people here), and she was Indigenous and they were all drunk dancing in the street. And they invited us to dance in there strange spasms of....dancing I guess. But we just walked on by. But I had a good laugh after it was said and done. Whew. But it´s really not that funny in words. Had to have been there I guess.

So we had a meeting with an Elder.... Ucera! De la setenta. And he was awesome! Like Channing, I´ve been sick this week too. And like Channing, they play movies on the buses. But every time they´re rated R murderfests that you can only shut your eyes and hear the gore. Well I was sick, having a fever it felt like (I dunno my head was on fire) and listening to two men kill each other. I wasn´t too happy. Felt worse when we ate. So I gave my chicken to some dude. He was happy. I couldn´t concentrate on anything, lost my tooth brush and 20 bucks, and felt terrible. But we made it to the meeting and wow. Glad I didn´t go back to our house. He had great advice about being missionaries and what we can do better. His wife talked about heroes. But he made me look at revelation in a new way. Because he said how we can find more in scriptures, because God is the most intelligent person in the universe, so scriptures are written in a way that we can apply them to all these different situations.

So now I really like Ether 3:1. Revelation is from the most powerful being in the universe and sometimes we treat it lightly. "Ah, yeah I´m just gonna go pray to the Divine Creator of all things in my bed" and then we fall asleep and don´t even finish. We´re not gonna get diddly squat from that!!! We gotta work at it, take a few steps in the dark till we hear the voice, ponder, and actually try everything we can do it to obtain. And when we have it, use it. IT´s actually a difficult process.! But it´s worth so much more. So it was super good for me. I need to get some of that good stuff. And work for it. So I was there for a reason.

So our trio is good, no new elder has come yet. It´s super hard though to cover such a big area. My compañero, Elder Andrade, is district leader now and the two sectors are one big one. So we´re really trying to excite the members to help us because it´s next to impossible to do this work without them. Which is how it should have been all along, we just needed reminded. Hmmm seems to me that Heavenly Father has been doing a lot of reminding to me lately. Wish I wasn´t so stupid. But hey that´s how us humans are I guess. But we have a schedule with them this week so that it´s gonna be good.

We had a baptism this week!! Familia Calderon (minus the father.... he got macheted at the baptism by the branch president) (macheted means chewed out, scorned. Not with an actual machete heh) who have been investigating since January. Shhheeeesh. But they finally did it! And they have great support from their family in Guayaquil so that's good. I´m glad. But it´s like us missionaries can never fully enjoy it, because everytime we have a baptism I suddenly remember another family we´re working with and all that we still have to do with them. me cansa!! But we push forward saints. Heap yeah.

But this week I learned that you do NOT say "your mom" in Latin countries. I had a terrible lapse of judgement and said this to my compañero on the phone when he asked who it was. And he knew who it was!! One of those moments where your mouth moves faster than your brain. And it just happened that he had the phone on loud speaker..... and the branch president and district president and the choir were there. And they asked him after "missionaries can talk like that? they don´t respect you?" and soooo my compañero was kinda peeved after that. and I pretty much destroyed the trust of the leaders in me. REally, saying that is like a cuss word here. So I´ve been working really hard to get their trust back. This morning I was digging holes and pulling weeds in a corn garden of a member. GAH! WHY DID I DO IT?! So I got super humbled this week and have been afraid to open my mouth at all. But I´m determined to get mastery of what I say and do. But I still get those reminders that I´m just a new elder and I´m still terrible and all this. But through all this I´ve learned that I can always improve, always know where I need to turn to if I´m struggling. I´m way far from perfect, at times feel unqualified. But I´m grateful that I´m here and grateful that I get these slaps over the head to remind me what I´m doing here. And that, as missionaries, I need to take my calling as a representative of Jesus Christ seriously at all times. Just not when I´m with investigators.

But hey I´ve talked alot. About nothing really. Sorry!! But hey I gotta go so I´ll just say thank you all!! I love ya guys, thanks for the support, thanks for the example, and thanks for all you´ve done for me. And now it´s time to rock and roll for another week. Adios!!