Pusuqui‏

First off, I'm ok! Thanks for all the concern and well-wishing. If you haven't heard, there was a pretty rough earthquake in the coast of Ecuador last Saturday. Thankfully, most of the missionaries in our mission didn't experience much, just the aftershocks. My companion and I were at a member's house when all of a sudden everything started moving. It's kind of like being in a moving car - except the moving car is like the whole earth. We just waited it out outside the house. It lasted a good minute or two and we kept on with the lesson. The power had gone out in a good portion of Ibarra, but just for about an hour. Everyone was outside their houses, a little scared, but ok. Other people didn't even feel it.

The majority of the damage was in the coast like I said. We learned about that all the next day in church - everyone was of course talking about it. As far as I know, all the missionaries are fine, all of the members, too. We were fortunate. But it was pretty sad seeing some of the pics. It seems like it was pretty grave out there. It would be great to keep these people in your prayers.

In any case, the work just keeps on keeping on, and that didn't stop us from having transfers as planned. And...I have transfers! Now I'm in Quito once again, in a part called Pusuqui. The Mitad del Mundo monument is super close by, so I'll definitely have pictures of that within a few p-days. And I'm also with a gringo companion for the first time in over a year. His name is Elder Draper. I'm just excited to tear this sector up with him. I've been wanting to go back to Quito since I left...over a year ago. It was great being in Ibarra, but I think 3 changes was good enough.

Well I didn't put much thought into this letter because I was travelling in the morning...and I also have an obnoxious cold that just won't let me think straight.

I'm just...grateful for the gospel in my life. Do we realize what we have, if we have the gospel? I've learned so much in the mission, and one thing that's been especially important has been to be grateful. Never forget what God's done for you! Pray to know he's there and he'll answer. Do we really understand what the gospel's all about? What it means to be children of God? I hope you read the scriptures and pray to know about that!

We had an interesting meeting on Sunday - a "multi-stake conference," which I'd never seen before in my life. It was like a stake conference in the sense that people were ordained to the Melchezidek Priesthood and some stake business taken care of (in Ibarra's case, distrct business), but the rest was a transmission from Salt Lake where a few leaders spoke, including Dallin H. Oaks and Robert D. Hales. It was a good experience. What most called my attention was Elder Oaks' testimony...he testified, as the apostles always do, of Christ, and that this is His church. I suppose I just listened more carefully this time, because I could feel the spirit instead of routinely listening to the words coming out of his mouth. This is Christ's church! And I testify that miracles still happen. Hope you're all doing well!

The Cotacachi volcano. There are just a ton of volcanoes here in Ecuador, all of which have erupted at least some time or another. They were telling me a story the other day that a few generations back almost all of Ibarra was wiped out by an earthquake...

Doing some service this week, making a concrete wall with some members.

Ibarra.