FINALLY

I FINALLY did it. It cost $8 for just half, but it was totally worth it. I know the Lord directs this work because he put me in the very sector that includes the most famous guinea-pig spots here in the mission.

The skin was pretty chewy and there wasn't actually a ton of meat, but it was tasty. The meat itself was kind of stringy. I ended up eating the brain, too, which was really soft and tasted like a boiled egg.

But really at the same time none of that matters. What matters is that I got the pic.

In other food adventure news the other day my companion and I were walking to an appointment and my companion saw a cactus where the fruits were nice and big and red. I didn't even know the things were edible, so of course I was excited to try it out. We finally knocked a fruit down throwing rocks at the cactus and tried it. Buut my companion had somehow forgotten you have to thoroughly clean it first, so we had tiny thorns in our lips and hands for the rest of the day. It was kind of obnoxious but hey another thing to add onto my exotic foods tried list.

On the spiritual side this week we had a visit from Elder Godoy, from the area presidency, who toured the mission over two days. It was pretty great - we had a meeting with him on Friday in Otavalo. The two zones of Otavalo and the Ibarra zone got together. He's a really cool guy - he's actually from Brasil, but speaks Spanish and English in addition to Portuguese. It was funny, I think he actually felt more comfortable with his English than his Spanish because he'd sometimes slip into English while talking to us. He was very funny and personable. We had a question and answer session and he problem solved for the mission.

In essence, what he told us was that everything is in place for it to be an excellent mission. We're obedient and diligent. What we still lack...is faith. He explained that the conditions are perfect. We're working in practically the promised land of missionary work, the land of the children of Lehi. What most impressed me was that he said he believed we can baptize weekly here. I think most missionaries are happy here if they baptize every month. But he thinks we can baptize weekly. And it has to do with our faith!

I left pretty excited, honestly. It really inspired me. And I have to say, I have seen a lot miracles just these past few weeks.

One of those is Cristian. I mentioned last week that we had an investigator come out of nowhere and come to church. That's him. His wife who lives in Quito was baptized only a few months ago and invited him to come to church. Now we're working with him, as well, and he's progressing well towards a date for the 30th of this month. It's awesome - every time he meets with us he mentions how much he's changing and how good he feels in his life. It's really special. I know the gospel changes lives! And it's pretty much the only thing that really can.

And speaking of other miracles, I found the missionaries who are in my previous sector when we met with Elder Godoy, and they let me know that the Sánchez family, a family we'd found before Christmas, also got baptized.

It's great being a missionary!

Eating the cuy.

Guinea Pig.

Part of the sector.