Thoughts of Eternity

First off, we had a baptism this week! Yay!

His name's Anthony. We first got in contact with him when, leaving the chapel one Sunday back in March, an Hermana called us over - someone we didn't recognize. Well, she presented us to Anthony and explained they had recently come here on a kind of extended vacation and that she was a member but her son wasn't and that she wanted us to teach him and prepare him for baptism. Of course we accepted the invitation!

It turns out they live near Loja, another city in Ecuador (that's outside of our mission), but they live far outside of the city and where they live there aren't any chapels, so it's hard for them to come to church. So that's why she wanted him to receive the lessons and be baptized here. So we did it!

Anthony's a good kid, and although teaching a kid (he's 11 years old) has its own set of challenges, we've helped him to read the Book of Mormon, pray, and also receive an answer that the church is true - he just felt it, and we explained that was what he needed. Maybe it took a couple tries to help him understand the math of tithing, or the meaning of the word of wisdom, but it all turned out well in the end. The greatest challenge was actually convincing his mom to let us baptize him at the time that we did - she wanted to keep waiting and waiting until he practically knew the Book of Mormon and Bible backwards and forwards. That and the fact that she had to travel to Spain for a few weeks and that all this time we've been worried, running against the clock until the time that they have to go back to Loja (they're going back next month). So in the time that we have now we need to really solidify what he knows and help him set out on a good path.

Honestly I had a lot of doubts about whether we should baptize him. Which was kinda funny - I'm sure most missionaries would jump on that, but...I just really worried about whether I was doing the right thing, if I was really trying to love him and care about his salvation. I do feel much better now and know it was what we needed to do, but it's made me think a lot. About why it's not easy, why we don't have more "success." Sometimes I look at all the wards here and the problems that they currently have and wonder how in the world it happened and how in the world we can actually continue having progress. It always seems to happen to other missionaries, you know? They always seem to be the ones that have the miracle conversion stories and it's hard to see what we've done.

The thing I do know is that it's the Lord's work! It will keep going, like the stone cut without hands, until it fills the whole earth. And we are always helping people even if we don't realize it. Today I was talking with one of my old companions - in a funny twist he left La Bota to come here. Between me, him, and my companion, we represent almost the entirety of the history (9 months or so) of the sector La Bota 2 and we're all here in the same zone. It was great to hear that some families we had all worked with for all that time were progressing and coming back to church.

I got the audio from a video where Elder Holland speaks that is really powerful. He explains why it's so darn hard.

elder holland

My only other thought from this week comes from the training that our district leader gave last Thursday. He explained that we need to help the people we're teaching understand the ETERNAL significance of what we teach, and of the decisions we take.

Do you think about that often? Do you think about the fact that what you're doing in this moment will have an impact on how you will live for eternity?

We can imagine a string that stretches out in both directions infinitely - take another piece of string and tie it around the infinite string. The width of that string represents the time we have in this life. The time we have to affect all of the rest of the string. Mathematically speaking (no, I haven't entirely forgotten math) that actually represents zero.

What we do, the decisions we take, are different when we think of it in that light. If we fail to be faithful, to live the commandments, to search God and religion, it's often a lack of perspective. Moroni 7:41:

 41 And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.

Keep that in mind! And strive for eternal life! More than anything...remember you can do it. It is absolutely within your reach.

Have I mentioned I'm in the coast yet?

I seriously don't understand why latinos can't smile for pictures! I swear, they have nice smiles!

 On divisions with my district leader. Esmeraldas is one of the poorest parts of the country.

 

Me quedo!

Well, there were changes today, but not for me! I'm staying here with Elder Gonzalez. But I did take a bunch of pictures just in case I was going to leave, so you'll have plenty of pics today. I'm happy to be staying here in Paraiso. There's a lot of work to be done and I'm seeing fruit from what Elder Equite and I were sowing months ago. It's pretty interesting how the missionary work functions some times - it seems to me that missionaries very rarely get to actually see the end result of their efforts - at the very least in this mission, where they change us around so frequently. I should keep that in mind more. And it's rather odd for me - this'll be the first time I'll have had more than two changes in a sector. Most missionaries usually have at least one or two sectors where they're there for more than two changes, so this is one of mine, I guess.

Anyhow, I'd just like to share one experience today as I don't have a ton of time. I don't think I ever mentioned Sebastian. We first met him about three weeks ago. We've been teaching a less-active family, the Espinozas, who are making excellent progress and are very close to being rescued. One day after a lesson the mom mentioned to us that she had a friend, a non-member, whose son was a cancer patient, and that she'd (Hna. Espinoza) been feeling recently that she should mention to them about priesthood blessings. (For those of you who don't understand exactly what that is, you can look up a definition on lds.org.) We encouraged her to do so, and so the next visit she gave us the news that they'd accepted to have us come and give a blessing to Sebastian!

So, we did. We went there a few weeks ago and got to know the family and gave Sebastian a blessing. I hadn't really realized the severity of his cancer until I saw him in his bed, where he's confined, and the massive swelling in his head. He's had it for quite some time and the doctors hadn't given him much time to live. He himself isn't aware of a lot and so we mostly talked with the parents. We explained that the blessing depended on their faith as well as the will of the Lord and gave the blessing. They were very gracious and invited us to come back whenever we wanted.

We went back after a bit more than a week. While we were there I could really feel the Spirit there - I think it's that way often in situations like this. We talked with his mom. I felt to share Alma 7:11-12, and we also left the pamphlet for lesson 2, the Plan of Salvation, with them.

We went back yesterday night. We found there were a lot of people there that weren't from Sebastian's immediate family, and when we went in to his room, his dad explained to us that he was in the final stages. It could be hours, or days, but he's on his way out. The family had known this for a long time - they were very calm about it. I felt we needed to share lesson 2, so I said, "Could we share something with the whole family?" and of course they were like, "sure!"

When all the other people I didn't know started filing in I realized just what I'd gotten myself into. The other people there were family as well - uncles, aunts, cousins, and in total we had probably about 10 people crammed into his little room. I realized, in the back of my head, this is the kind of experience that people share in e-mails and homecoming talks.

Well, we taught. Maybe I didn't feel the Spirit a lot during the lesson itself and maybe a few people on the fringes found an excuse to leave the room. But what's important is that we testified of the importance of eternal families. I could testify, even if I couldn't explain and can't exactly what it is I know or what I feel - but I testified and testify that families weren't meant to last just for a brief moment here on Earth, but that they're supposed to continue after, as well. Just know that, please, whoever you are, that it's possible. Your family can be together forever. I know it, and I hope you can come to know it, too.

I could testify of Joseph Smith, that he truly saw Christ and our Heavenly Father, and that through him the church of Christ has been restored on the Earth, that the Priesthood Christ used is on the Earth and that is has the power to seal families.

I'm not sure if, in the end, any of those people will listen to the missionaries. It's an odd situation - we aren't technically teaching the family, more doing a service. But I do know we needed to share lesson 2. I hope it helped them. I think it helped some of those people there, even if they weren't the immediate family of Sebastian. I know Sebastian is going to a better place. And I do know that the Lord had placed us there in that moment for a reason.

I'm really coming to realize that I do practically nothing here. I'm nothing more than an instrument in the Lord's hands and it's His work, not mine. I just know I need to live righteously and follow the Spirit.

What I'd like for you to do, person who's reading this, is pray to God to know if what I said is true. I want you to know it's true - and He does too, I'm sure. You can know it! You just need to ask.

 Anthony, the kid we're probably going to baptize this weekend! :)

Yes, that is a coconut in my hand.

Downtown Esmeraldas.

 It rained something ridiculous this past week and the streets got turned into rivers.

A less-active family, the Espinozas, who are progressing really well and are almost rescued. The girl in the middle is a reference who lives down the road who's also been doing great - she's got a baptismal date for the 13th of June! We just need to help her family, too!

A snail. I didn't think things like this actually existed.

 

Cast Not Away, Therefore, Thy Confidence‏

Sorry if the e-mail comes out a bit funky today. The keyboard I'm using isn't great. I've already peeled off the stickers they'd placed on the keys that had been worn out so that I can write a bit better.

Calling home was great! As missionaries, for those who don't know, we get to do it twice a year - once on Mother's Day and once on Christmas. And I'll have you know I most definitely didn't cry. Nope. I don't even know why you'd think such a thing who told you I cried because I didn't.

And with that call I also hit my 8 month mark! Whaat! The mission flies by fast, people. But I think I've done a pretty good job helping people and doing what I'm generally supposed to do. I was listening to one of my Zone Leaders do his call - his last one - and he kept saying he got depressed every time he started thinking about going home and leaving Ecuador. I'm well on my way to getting to that point.

Honestly, I don't think much about you people! That doesn't mean I don't love you but it means that I'm getting the hang of this work and getting it done, too. These 2 years are about thinking about the people here, after all.

New Investigator Miracles!

Speaking of which, we've been really blessed to find a lot of new people this week! Our leaders had given us the goal of finding 7 new investigators (12 is the standard of excellence) and we actually got all 7! It's really important to constantly be finding - we talk a lot about the "weekly process" here. The point is that we constantly need to be finding new people because inevitably the people we're working with will stop listening, we'll stop finding them, or they'll get to their goal of baptism. So when that happens, instead of starting back at zero again, we need to keep finding people constantly so we always have people to work with.

Here's a cool experience. A month ago or so, maybe more, Elder Equite and I were walking to an appointment.  As you usually do here you at the very least can greet the people with a "buenas tardes!" So we passed a guy on the street and at the last moment I said hi - and he turned around, calling after us, "Hey, wait, where can I get a Book of Mormon?" Awesome! We talked, but unfortunately didn't have one on us. He didn't live in our sector so we passed along the reference.

Weeks later we ran into him again. What?? This time we actually had a Book of Mormon and so handed it over.        

Last week we'd some less-actives and were teaching them when all of a sudden this guy walks in. I did a double take. "Have we talked at one point?" Guess what - it was the same guy! His name's Alan and now he's moved to live in our sector, so we can teach him! He has great questions and is super interested. He's a young guy and really friendly. We might see awesome things down the road!

Cast Not Away Thy Confidence

My message this week has a lot to do with last week's - for me, at least. Because this week I felt a lot of the same things I did last week. It was pretty frustrating. But this highlights another important principle we can learn.

In the Book of Mormon the prophets always talk to the people and to their kids about "remembering the captivity of their fathers." I've wondered why they talk so much about that. Why was it so important that they always remembered that stuff?

In Helaman 5, Nephi and Lehi (who were named as such so that they would always remember their ancestors of the same names) work some pretty marvelous miracles among the Lamanites. There's this whole deal with a cloud of darkness, angels, all of them being encircled with fire that doesn't burn them...pretty crazy stuff. But here's something interesting in verse 49, after all this happens:

 49 And there were about three hundred souls who saw  and heard these things; and they were bidden to go forth and marvel not, neither should they doubt.

That's what I've had to realize this week. We won't always be encircled about with fire. We won't always have angels talking to us. We won't always have a constant confirmation from the Spirit. If God did that, it'd be too easy. What he wants is for us to exercise our own free will and make our own choices.

The point is: after we've received personal revelation or confirmation of something, we can't afterwards doubt in what we've already received. We have to keep moving forward.

I needed to apply that this week. Many times the Lord has told me, "You're doing fine, don't worry, keep going."  But I've doubted! I've forgotten the captivity I was led out of and I forgot the many things the Lord has already shown me. Hours or minutes after receiving the comfort of the Spirit I've gotten impatient again and started to doubt that what I was doing was what I needed to do in that moment.

This is why it's so important to write down the impressions we've received - it's partly why I keep my prayer journal thing. So that I can remember what the Lord's promised and move forward, nothing doubting. I've got a little annotation on my patriarchal blessings of a spiritual confirmation I received some months ago about exactly how I should put in practice a promised blessing. I haven't received a confirmation since that that interpretation is correct, but I was smart enough to write it down in the moment. So I should keep going!

Anyhow, don't doubt! Go forward in faith! If you know you've received an answer the church is true, don't cast away thy confidence! The confirmation WON'T always be there, but you received it once. Now comes the hard part. Just stay true to that!

1. We have to buy a lot of water in the coast. I finished this in about 2 days.

2. My shoes are coming apart hilariously.

One Rough Week

Leading a sector isn't a lot of fun! For those of you less-familiar with mission parlance, every once in a while we receive different companions. So of course the companion that's been in the sector for a while has to take over for a while and show the new guy around - usually for a week or two - until the new guy knows the sector well enough to really start to contribute in the daily decision-making. And of course there's a period of getting used to each other's quirks and teaching styles and whatnot. Communication is incredibly important. And it can be really rough!

So it was with my week. A little bit about my companion: Elder Gonzalez (there are two Gonzalez in the mission and now they're in the same zone here) is from Chile, from Talca, about 3 hours from Santiago. His been out for a good long time and this is his first time in the coast! He was pretty happy about that because he was in Quito for 14 months. He's been in every single zone in Quito. Anyhow, he's also the trainer of my second trainer (so in mission vocabulary that makes him my step-grandpa or something) so we already knew a little about each other. He likes soccer - pretty darn good at it - Dragonball, drawing, and playing drums. Another thing he likes to do is let the newbies learn by doing a lot on their own - which is helpful and frustrating at the same time. Honestly up to this point in the mission I've really relied on my companions a lot - and this time it's been different. Of course he helps a ton, but just in different ways, and as he was getting to know the sector it's been really hard for me because I've had to do a lot of the decision-making.

That's why this week was so hard! I don't have a ton of confidence in my own ability to do that decision-making - and I had to do a lot of it. And there were quite a few appointments that fell through! Problem upon problem seemed to pile up - I wrote down a phone number wrong, our family that was progressing towards marriage don't have the money to do it and no plans to get said money, I let my fear get the best of me and didn't contact in the park, I couldn't understand some people...lots happened. What's worse - for me - is winning the confidence of the members. Being social can be hard for me and especially in a new language.

But the week ended with a ton of blessings on Sunday! First of all, we had 11 less-actives attending church. (By the way, here in the coast that's where we do a lot of work. With less-actives.) That's the most I've ever had! The standard of excellence of 9. Next, two references fell out of the sky - we found them as we were leaving the chapel and they were like, "hey we want to come here now but didn't know what time church started." Wow! And finally, a member invited us to lunch - we didn't have anyone to give us lunch that day.

But what was most important was an experience I had in the last lesson of the week. We were with a recent-convert family (I sent a picture of them a few weeks back) and I was feeling a lot of what I'd felt during the week. I saw that my companion won their confidence faster than I did, I felt that maybe they didn't love me as much as many other previous missionaries that had passed through the house, and as I tried to share a scripture (we hadn't planned for the lesson because it was a backup plan that came to our mind at the last moment because - guess what! - another appointment had fallen through) in Spanish, I felt I was talking in circles and not pronouncing very well. I tried to finish up as best as I could and handed off to my companion. He pulled out Ether 12:27.

 27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

As he shared it something stuck out to me I hadn't realized before. It explains that if men come unto the Lord, He will show their weakness unto them. I flipped the words around a bit. I realized that sometimes, if we are more conscious of our weakness, it's because we're coming unto Him!

And I thought about later on in verse 37. Sister Richardson shared with me a few months back the amazing promise in that scripture. Because we have seen our weakness, we will be strengthened!

All of this showed to me that...I'm doing fine! Uncovering my weaknesses is a part of becoming a better missionary. If I don't see my weakness, I can never progress. And because I'm seeing them...I'm actually doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

I'm not sure if I made myself understood completely, but I do know that His grace is sufficient. I know God loves us and has a perfect plan for each one of us. I know He exists without doubt and that he will help us through the hard times.

After the lesson, I asked my companion why he'd felt inspired to share the scripture. He said, "Well, it just went along well with what you shared at first." So...I can do it. And I know you, whoever you are wherever you are, can do so as well!

1. Our zone has a tradition of putting birthday cakes on the floor. We do it because it's one of the few zones that doesn't have sister missionaries, so we can actually get away with it.

2. Some people marching around on Labor Day (May 1st here). I'm not sure why. But it was peaceful and all. My companion said the marches in Chile aren't very peaceful.

3. I still haven't learned how to take selfies properly. But anyhow, here I am with shawarma. Who would've thought my first shawarma I'd eat here in Ecuador? It's pretty popular. Also I realized just how much I look like Dad :)

Sometimes Things Happen!

Frankly I don't even know what to say in this e-mail! Our district leader came to our house this morning to tell us we had transfers. We weren't at all expecting that - transfers aren't technically for another 3 weeks. Sometimes this happens - they suddenly have a spot open in one companionship or they need to shuffle some people around and so there are intermediate changes. My companion and I were both super sad, but...I've heard good things about my new companion, so I'm not worried. We'll just keep working normally! He's coming from Quito and my companion left for Quito in the morning - the zone leaders have had to drag me around all day.

...Yeah I seriously have no idea what to say. Sorry, people.

More than anything I've been learning the importance of following our leaders this week! Sometimes I feel bad for the Zone Leaders and District Leaders - they put a lot of work into the meetings they have with us Thursdays and afterwards it seems like the rest of us just leave and forget all about what they said. But more than anything we have to accept that our leaders in the church have been called by God. It's the basic mechanism of the church - revelation. What a blessing it is to have that, too!

It's explained simply in Articles of Faith 5 and 6:

1. We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.
2. We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.

And so that's how it gets done! Sometimes it seems like the leaders are off their rockers or just talking in circles, but if we accept that God has called them there has to be a reason and we have to learn something from them.

So I've been trying to apply a bit better the things our leaders tell us to do. I'll tell you all how it goes but I guess the answer will be obvious - everything will turn out better.

I know this is the truth! I know the Book of Mormon was true and as a result I know that Joseph Smith truly was a prophet of God. I know there are prophets on the Earth once again. And I know this is the best work we can be involved in! Get out there and do something good instead of dreaming of your mansions above. I'll try to do the same. As we apply the gospel in our lives God will make of us something far greater than what we could have made of ourselves.

Some awesome artifacts that one of our less-actives dug up north of Esmeraldas. Sorry for the poor quality.

Me trying to pretend I'm Asian while eating chifa (Chinese food).

                      Us in the terminal this morning.

The Irony!

Spelling update: the sickness is spelled "Chikungunya." How do I know that?

Welllll my companion got it.

It was a bit rough because we had to stay in the house a couple days. He had a pretty high fever, pains in the joints and back, and a pretty bad headache. As a missionary it stinks being inside because we just want to go out and work. We can get so much done in one day - visit so many people, change so many lives...buuut yeah it didn't happen those two days. Luckily they were two days where we normally have meetings so we didn't lose quite as much time as we could have.

And for me it was a great opportunity to serve. I gave my companion a priesthood blessing after the first day, and in that moment his fever broke and started to go back down. Some people have contracted this stuff and two weeks later the joint pains are too much for them to do much of anything. We were only in the house for two days, which was a great blessing.

The remedy? Pretty much just tylenol. That and everybody here told us to drink Guitig with lime and a bit of salt. Guitig is carbonated water. And they recommend it for everything. Well, it's pretty tasty with lime and salt so hey it worked out.

Much better than what other people have been trying to do - kill it with alcohol. Um, I'm pretty sure that doesn't work. And I'm pretty sure the only cases that have died because of chikungunya are the ones that tried drinking it to death. They drank something to death, I guess.

But We Did Have Some Success!

-First, we have a thing as a mission that we need to try hard to contact families we see in the street. I was on divisions with my district leader and because he wanted to focus in that I finally worked up the courage to do it. I saw a family down the road on the other side of the street and finally said, let's cross over and contact them. And we did! It turns out they were a family of Colombians that had recently moved here (they come here to Esmeraldas a lot - they know better how to run a business so generally do better than the lackadaisies here) and we got to share with them The Family, a Proclamation for the World. Unfortunately they didn't live in our sector, and my companion finished the contact before we could try to get their address to pass along the reference, but I felt the Spirit! I think they'll find the church some day. And I need to contact families more.

-Also I got to read a ton in my Book of Mormon while in the house - my second time through in the mission. I got through Helaman and about half of 3rd Nephi - now I'm almost done with Mormon. Whoo! Read it every day, people!

-And one of our less-actives did well. He's a guy who's been a convert for a good while but always had a few struggles, mostly with his family. Now he's pretty down all the time. He sees all his faults and it just gets him even more down. He doesn't like saying "Yeah, I'll come to church," and not fulfill his promise, which often happens. He can't stand it. But we really committed him to coming to church and he came! It's the first time in my my two months here that I've seen him in a regular sacrament meeting. And he was just so proud saying, "I did it!" that day. We can all do it! What kills is when we say "That's just the way I am. I'll never change." Because then we really do kill that last chance we have to do so.

The Tongue Can Be a Sharp Sword, by Marvin J. Ashton

I listen to this talk a couple times a week because my playlist is kinda short but I've really come to love it. He talks a lot about the damage we can cause with just what we say, and charity. Here's a snippet:

During an informal fireside address held with a group of adult Latter-day Saints, the leader directing the discussion invited participation by asking the question:“How can you tell if someone is converted to Jesus Christ?” For forty-five minutes those in attendance made numerous suggestions in response to this question, and the leader carefully wrote down each answer on a large blackboard. All of the comments were thoughtful and appropriate. But after a time, this great teacher erased everything he had written. Then, acknowledging that all of the comments had been worthwhile and appreciated, he taught a vital principle:“The best and most clear indicator that we are progressing spiritually and coming unto Christ is the way we treat other people.”

Really, I just don't get it sometimes. Why is it so hard to give someone else the benefit of the doubt and believe that they're really trying? Why is it so hard to accept that many people struggle and help them instead of critizing them? Is it because they sometimes hold leadership positions? Why do we hold everyone else to a much higher standard of righteousness than our own? And why don't we just display charity and help them?

I've always loved a talk by President Monson, "See Others as They May Become." Another snippet for you.

Back in the year 1961, a worldwide conference was held for mission presidents, and every mission president in the Church was brought to Salt Lake City for those meetings. I came to Salt Lake City from my mission inToronto, Canada.

In one particular meeting, N. Eldon Tanner, who was then an Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve, had just returned from his initial experience of presiding over the missions in Great Britain and western Europe. He told of a missionary who had been the most successful missionary whom he had met in all of the interviews he had conducted. He said that as he interviewed that missionary, he said to him, “I suppose that all of the people whom you baptized came into the Church by way of referrals.”

The young man answered, “No, we found them all by tracting.”

Brother Tanner asked him what was different about his approach—why he had such phenomenal success when others didn’t. The young man said that he attempted to baptize every person whom he met. He said that if he knocked on the door and saw a man smoking a cigar and dressed in old clothes and seemingly uninterested in anything—particularly religion—the missionary would picture in his own mind what that man would look like under a different set of circumstances. In his mind he would look at him as clean-shaven and wearing a white shirt and white trousers. And the missionary could see himself leading that man into the waters of baptism. He said, “When I look at someone that way, I have the capacity to bear my testimony to him in a way that can touch his heart.”

We have the responsibility to look at our friends, our associates, our neighbors this way. Again, we have the responsibility to see individuals not as they are but rather as they can become. I would plead with you to think of them in this way.

I've found this mindset actually kind of...liberating. And it helps me to love the people more. Instead of getting annoyed with the less active that doesn't come to church I can instead see that they're really trying to do what's right in their family. I don't know, it's just...better to think this way. I don't mean to say it lowers our expectations but...well, I love this recent talk in General Conference. And I love the way the audience reacted to it. It's by Elder Renlund, and at the end of his talk his said:

"If we don't try, we're just latter-day sinners-"

The audience chuckled. Cute little phrase!

"If we don't persevere, we're just latter-day quitters-"

Laughing again. He made it rhyme! But then to make it clear that he wasn't joking, Renlund delivered:

"and if we don't allow others to try, we're just latter-day hypocrites."

Silence. I felt the heat from that machete swing here in Ecuador.

But how true it is! Love you all, hope you have a good week! 

A banana cart. My favorite thing in the world. As you can tell by the angle I'm stalking him. Waiting...

 A critter I found in the shop below our apartment.

A poorly-lit picture of people watching a football (soccer) game. They had all these drums lined up and where making QUITE the racket.

Elder Scanlan and the Case of the Sillily Surnamed Sickness‏

Have a new word: Baina. I have no idea if it's spelt that way, but it's more or less Spanish for "silly stuff."

Have another new word: Chee-con-goo-yah. I also have no idea what it's spelled like, so that's the phonetic version. Chee-con-goo-yah is this baina that's been running around here in Ecuador and more specifically Esmeraldas. It's some kind of virus transmitted by mosquitos that apparently first came from Africa and made its way here and everyone's freaking out about it. The symptoms are bone aches, fever, chills...doesn't sound like any kind of fun. The name is so absurd I can't help but laugh. I think they made it up just to make it sound scarier.

But I guess it's really no laughing matter because I swear every time we visit someone we hear about another person who got infected. Thankfully I haven't heard once of anyone dying from it - it just seems like it really, really stinks to have it.

In fact, two women from the Ministry of Health came to church yesterday and talked to us about it after sacrament. It's that important. They explained the mosquitos usually stick around in dark places and only bite in the mornings and evenings - in other words, they get you if you're at home. So we basically don't have much of a chance of getting it because we're always running around outside in the sun, working.

There is a missionary who got it about a week ago in the other zone here and so the next time we see him we're going to bug him about it so much.

It reminds me of something I once heard. Tragedy is when you break your leg. Comedy is when that other guy breaks his leg.

But I have had the opportunity to give more health blessings than in all my mission I think!

My Week, Arvanitas-Style

I've gotta say I love the format of Nick Arvanitas's e-mails (another guy I know serving in Mexico!). Somehow it's a perfect description of what happens in missionary work. Everything and nothing happen so often and at the same time. Here is a brief description of the things of this week:

-Finally discovered that when people call their oatmeal drinks "Quahker" it's because they're saying "Quaker" (as in the oats brand) with a Spanish accent.

-Fell asleep in a couple lessons.

-Got rejected hard by an old investigator.

-Woke up 6 in the morning to bring less-actives to church.

-Found a new family. Maybe they'll progress if they want to get married.

-Got contacted by three girls. We gave them pass-along cards and sent them on their way.

-Got a little sick from apples bought off the street.

-Taught hilariously semi-frustrating lessons to our kid with a baptismal date. He's got just too much going on in his head.

-We do have people progressing. Mostly less-actives. They just don't want to come to church. Why's it so hard?

-Need to find new people.

Well, really, we've been doing well. We were going to have baptisms this week but the kid we're teaching didn't come to church yesterday and we have no idea why. He's actually just here on vacation but his mom wants him baptized here because where they live a little bit more to the south they live faaar from the chapel and it's hard for them to attend regularly. So we're working against the clock, but it should turn out fine. He's just easily-distracted, that's all.

Oh, I always forget to mention that one of my favorite less-actives here raises chickens. For cockfighting. He's a great guy, he just hasn't come to church yet! We're not exactly sure why - well this past week it was probably because his nephew had the chee-con-goo-yah. Stinking virus.

The Power of Faith

Our Zone Leaders shared this message with us and I'd like to share it, simply, with you. It has to do with the cycle that starts with faith.

If you have faith, you're going to realize you can do it. You can really understand your true potential. You'll have animo (uh in English something like encouragement or enthusiasm) because of that belief you can have the focus to know what you want to get done and the vision to do it. With that you can get to work, with diligence. Diligence brings blessings, and you'll be more obedient. They end result? Humility and happiness, the kind of happiness the Gospel brings!

But what happens if you don't have faith? When you have doubt? You're going to get discouraged, feel like you can't do it. You getdistracted and start doing other things - any thing other than live the Gospel - because why do it in the first place? It won't bring blessings - who knows that? You start to lose focus and stop working. You get tired of it and stop living the commandments, become disobedient. And without those blessings, without the vision of what the Gospel does for you, why bother with any of it? You just give up and stop believing.

Pretty crazy huh? It's amazing what faith can do!

I realized I've never left my testimony here in Spanish, so here's a short one.

Yo sé que el Señor vive! Yo sé que el evangelio es el único camino que trae la felicidad que queremos en esta vida y que por medio de él podemos vivir con nuestras familias para siempre! Es la bendición más grande que podemos recibir. Yo sé que el Libro de Mormón es verdadero y que necesitamos leerlo cada día! En el nombre de Jesucristo, amen!

For those of us who speak English here is a translation (thank you Emily Wahlstrom!):
I know that the Lord lives!! I know that the gospel is the only way that brings us the happiness that we want in this life and through Him we can live with our families forever!! This is the greatest blessing that we  can receive. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and we need to read it every day! In the name of Jesus Christ, amen!

Huh. For the first time spellcheck isn't going nuts.

 Just one pic - us and an awesome recent convert family!

Conference Snidery Answer Key (See "The Jowls Strike Back"):

1. "The Music of the Gospel." Awesome talk.

2. "Stay By the Tree," by Elder Pearson. Just watch the talk.

3. Elder Zeballos. Chileans have the hardest accent to understand ever.

4. Elder Andersen explained that temples are chosen because the Lord knows the people there will use it well. I guess that Pittsburgh just isn't saintly enough yet for a temple.

5. The Young Single Adults choir.

6. Elder Packer's talk.