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!!

In The Belly of The Whale‏

So that´s cool that Tyson is goin on his mission! Rock on.

Channing, David sounds like an interesting place and your compañera sounds charming. Enjoy that crap!

So I am now in a trio! Us three missionaries have total the provincia de Bolivar. Tengo la toda provincia, in mis manos! Our District Leader se fue and now we´re here us three. We´re not even a district now so we have to go to Riobamba for our district meetings. And it´s gonna be hard balancing two sectors with three elders. But we´re gonna be doing a lot of divisions. With members. I hope.

But yeah it´ll be cool! Elder Bloxham is a good missionary so we´ll be fine. And he´s color blind too!! There are others!!

But I decided I hate holidays in Ecuador. I have never seen so many drunk people. In the streets, in the parks, laying on the sidewalks, in their houses, holy cow it´s terrible. And so we had some really crappy days there. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday all were terrible for trying to find people. All our appointments fell, nobody wanted to talk with us, and we walked. Whew. No fun. So yeah we had three days of just walking around and I got pretty discouraged. I started doubting. I was thinking, man does God even help us out here? And I started feeling that I don´t even know if these things are true. What the heck am I doin out here? Chya it was pretty grim.

So Thursday, it started like everyday but I was kinda grim. Bleh. And then we had personal study. I prayed, asking to know if God was really there or no. Then, as I started opening to the Book of Mormon, for some reason, I decided to go to the Bible. And not even trying I opened up to Matthew 26. (I think) Here was the story of the Garden of Gethsamene. That was good, but then I kept reading.

Right after, He was betrayed by one of His disciples. Then the other apostles ran away when it looked ugly. Then Peter denied Him three times. Then he cried bitterly when he realized what he had done. When times got hard, even his apostles fled, even when they knew who He was. And I was doing the exact same thing. I was denying, or running, from what I knew to be true because times got hard.

Then even more, not even trying to, I came to the story of Jonah in the Old Testament. Here, Jonah was called to preach, but he tried to run away from his calling, from the Lord even. Then on the boat, the great storm came, and I love the advice of the ship master in verse...6 I think. He says WAKE UP!! And call to your God that he might remember us and we won´t perish. I thought of that.... WAKE UP!!

I needed to pray to God, if I wanted to be remembered, maybe I needed to put the effort into my prayers and show that I really want His help. Then in Chapter 2 is the prayer of Jonah in the whale, in verses 8 and 9 (I think) is Jonah´s promise to remember his promise, to do what the Lord commanded. Just like I made a promise to serve with my heart, mind, and strength.

Maybe I´m scared to give it my all. I´m too proud or too unfaithful. But I think it´s about time I start doing my promise to Lord. It took 3 days in a whale for Jonah to realize what he needed to do, and in a metaphorical sense it´s the same for me. When we have these hard times, it´s the times that the Lord humbles us and makes us remember what we need to do. Jonah went later on to preach to the city, and the city accepted him and they repented and were saved. He finally did his mission. So why not me?

So what I´m saying is, that sometimes we all need some time in a whale. It´s when we have these hard times that we can strengthen our testimony and gain the experience we need.

And time is short so I gotta go!!

Love you all, thanks for listening to my whining, I´ll improve, I´m gonna go work now, till we meet again!!

FIESTA IN LA CALLE!!‏

Well yes they do celebrate Halloween here. Wish I had my camera. A grand parade was goin down, and a lot of women in dresses shaking their hips, men in traditional clothing prancing about, some Smurf lookin thing with a mountain on it´s head, and tons of music. And they´re all getting ready for the Day of the Dead on November 2. They usually start celebrating a week before the actual holiday. I ate a bread thing called a guagua, which is bread that looks like a child, and it´s the traditional thing to eat for day of the dead. I took a picture, but again I forgot my camera. Next week.

And yeah the baptism was good. Good ol Walter. I explained to him what the baptism is gonna be and so I said the prayer thing and starting getting ready to put him in the water. But he wouldn´t plug his nose. Su nariz! Su nariz! But he just wanted to go down, throwing his back and everything. Well alrighty then! So I just put him under and he came up coughing like mad. The ward thought I killed him. But he´s alive, has a remission of his sins, the Holy Ghost, and the priesthood so todo bien.

And after the baptism we had a ward activity with corada morada, or this purple corn juice. It´s good with bread. That´s one thing I love here, the empanadas. Which is bread with cheese. I had no idea there was different names for bread, corn, and bananas till I got here to Ecuador. There´s like 5 different types of each! Madness!

Oh and I´m bald again. I forgot the word for scissors, but hey I remebered machina so BZZZZZRRRTTTT goes my hair. Ah esta bien I don´t need any more Spanish girls saying WHAT´S YO NAME?! in terrible English. But hey at least they try to learn a language.

GAH, so much music in here!! The Offspring, the gorrilas, Shakira, I´m gonna go mad! Or Babylon as Channing says.

Well Channing I´m glad you´re back in the mission work! Gotta love the video game analogy. And how the heck do you have time to read??! I have no time for nada!! I can´t write Grandma, or my friend´s letters, or read all I want. I only get to read it when we take the 2 hour bus ride to the rest of our sector. And WHY DO HERMANAS GET EVERYTHING?! haha We don´t have cupboards (how do you spell that?), furniture, and only half a fridge. And we were cleaning today and I found an ancient black orange. I squeezed it and powder flew out. Hope I don´t have some alien parasite grow out of my chest now that I´ve breathed the fumes. Oh and I found some old garments I didn´t have time to wash last week. That makes it a month I haven´t been able to wash them. I pulled them out and they have some kind of green and black mold growing on them. Smell terrible. Hope I didn´t wear them like that (joooke). They´re in clorox as we speak.

And if it´s not too late.... could you actually buy a cheap MP3 player mom? This flash drive plays the same songs over and over and over again even though it has others on there. I am about to lose my mind if I hear that weepy Be Still My Soul version again. And the stinkin church history!! I don´t know if I´ll last much longer....

I had a dream I went to Utah for training with my zone and everyone in Utah were nefitas and we were laminitas. They gave us dirty looks, and I thought I was talking to that weather guy on Good Morning America when somebody was coming behind him, I thought it was some cute girl, and it turned out to be a very fat man with a potty mouth. He wasn´t a happy camper. That made two of us.

Well celebrate that Halloween like it´s 2011!! Eat some candy! Enjoy the air!

Oh Channing I hear that Michael Jackson thing all the time. They actually just call me that instead of Elder. I don´t know if they know he´s dead or not. I don´t tell them otherwise. Just that he´s my spiritual brother.

I always have some kind of story to tell but then as soon as my fingers touch the computer I forget everything. Thus the emails with the excitement of butter dripping down cardboard. WOOO!!! let´s go again! let´s go again!

Umm..... we´ve been trying to teach people with very little understanding, but I think we finally realized that not being able to understand very well and lack of desire equal a great pile of cocooooo. So I think we´re gonna leave that family. But this other family is golden!!! We just need to work with the ward a little more and help with that. It´s gonna be good.

Ummm.... I was not transferred and our district stayed the same. It´s yo, Elder Andrade, Elder Keeling, and Elder Bloxham! Rocking Guaranda. And it´s pretty good. A poco a poco I´m feeling like I can take this all my own. A little hesitant to believe what my compañero says though. Pretty sure they say it to everyone. Cuz president said I´m being trained to be some leader or somethin or another but I think it´s just to motivate us greenys.

But I´m doin good! Oh if you haven´t sent the packages yet, could you send me a shirt or two for P day? Sick of wearing the same shirt.

Maaaaaaan I really can´t think of anything else that´s great or happenin. I´m livin the life in Ecuador! Channing, you rock, and smell like butter. So things are gonna be aight! Patience is one thing I´m learning and looks like you are too. And unlike you, I´m finding out how little of faith I actually have, so that´s one thing I´m trying to do too. And most of all, I just like desire. IF you have your goals with spanish and the mission, and work as hard as you can, you can do it. Just have the desire my sister. Desire to believe and desire to do what ya can.

Read Dallin H. Oaks april conference. I liked it. Made me realize, HEY I LIKE LEARNING!! I lost it back in high school but I really do love reading and learning more. There´s an adventure to it. And the feeling of having a purpose, and having some kind of drive!

Oh and can some one tell me what to do for pulled muscles? I jacked up the same leg twice and it doesn´t feel like a bed of roses.

But hey! Thanks a lt averyboty! Imma gonna gou nouw an find sum nuew fuends. Like a wise wise chicken should. chow, and love ya all, and I think of me when you eat pie.