10/31/11
Marlee that sounds so awesome. I'm so happy that there is so much missionary working going on in that part of the world ;) and well your costume sounds like it was the best, now all you need is a han solo.;) anyways I'm happy that you are starting to like the northern part of the state and that you are now finding lots of new friends,there is always a transitional phase in every age of life and i think you just passed your high school college transition. woohoo! keep me posted on those classes teachers, but especially you friends who are investigating the church!
Dad's Questions
So what’s going on down there? not much a little here a little there the hum drum of the 6:30 in the morning to the 10:30 at night normal everyday routine.
How is mission life treating you? its going good, we finally have evidence that i have lost weight, i broke down and stepped on a scale and guess what Ive lost 52lbs.... again! so yeah the mission is what does it, go out and teach the gospel! burn calories! yeah!
So they do not celebrate Halloween, do they have the day of the dead or anything like that? They exist here but its like April fools day, not a whole lot of emphasis
What other holidays do they celebrate? well every holiday that they have really is because of some saint or other religious day created by the catholic church.
What do they do for them? carry around idols in a parade and get drunk.... wow that's a very.... bleak way of looking at it, but this week one of our investigators told us how they were going to one of these processions, and they paused and look at it from the out side and realized how absurd it really was,and turned around and didn't go in.
Any cool traditions that would be fun to try out here? that isn't against the teachings of the church..... no. give me a while to find a good one, maybe from a member family....
So how is the new companion? Elder Andes Abel Granda
How long has he been out? 15 months
Where is he from? Guayaquil, Ecuador
How is the missionary work going this week? great we were able to make a ton of visits! lots of people that want to be baptized, but just need to come to church! ugh.... I think that is the hardest part, getting people to commit to go to church every Sunday for the rest of their lives! he he wow it sounds like a lot bigger of a promise when you say it like that.
Does it look like all you scheduled baptisms will go thru? looks like some of them will, but others need to be delayed for that reason of not going to church.
Did you meet any cool and interesting people this week? yes, we met a family that is going to get married and baptized in November and they are the coolest family ever, we broke the ice with them right from the start and they are super excited!
Mom's Questions
Did the Mission President ban you guys from playing “Missionary Tag?” Nope, he actually played it the following week, but with water balloons!
Do you guys get on facebook? NO, that's not allowed, that was a comment of when i get back to the states.
Or were you referring to when you return home? yes
Did you get your package from the mission home? no, not yet...
Was everything still in pretty good shape or was it pretty stale? not sure haven't opened it
What types of things could you use down there? umm nothing really i have all i need
Is there anything we can send you that would be helpful for you to share with the members down there? nah anything you want really
I was thinking of things like CTR rings for the kids, pictures of the Savior, book marks, stickers, things along those lines that you may be able to hand out and use in your discussions with the people there? ummm sure!
Do you have access to any of those types of things and would that be helpful? we have access to all of those things but its the thought that counts!
What size shirt do you wear now? depends if its a big med then med, or a small large than large, size 34 pants (Peruvian pants) not sure if its the same
Also what types of things are you craving from home? awww I miss you.....cough cough..... yeah no whatever i miss......cookies, they don't have moms good cookies here, the recipe would be amazing
How is the teaching going this week? awesome had some good experiences
How are the recently baptized members doing? great we got a few that are preparing to serve missions and are submitting their papers!
Probably hard to remember the English spelling and punctuation of things? you have no idea... that and well i never had the best typing skills.
ok so this week was awesome, we were able to have a lot of success in teaching our investigators and we got about six people to come to church with us three of whom are getting ready to be baptized in the coming weeks!
umm a story of the week, not not really any come to mind, just that it warms my heart to see our INVESTIGATORS going out of their way to find people to teach, they start sharing the gospel with their neighbors and sharing with them how blessed they feel to have found the truth and start sharing their testimonies and having real faith building experiences, BEFORE getting baptized and it just goes to show how wonderful and easy this work really is and how all we need to participate is a testimony.
anyways gtg love y'all!
