week # 67 Latacunga

Hello!

  How are you all this fine evening?  Over here, it`s rather rainy.  BUT- I do hear it`s been just a smidge more troublesome with the weather over in the US, right?  Super storm Sandy actually has been part of the news down here too! So luckily, I have been informed and I am as pleased as a peach that our cousins in New York are doing alright! Er, mostly.  Good to hear they`re all safe is a better response.(My companion and I are keeping you all in our prayers!)

And what fun at home!  I loved your guy`s costumes, (especially yours chantel! That rocked !), it looks as if all is good over yonder!  And Barbara Quittner, I got your letter!  I guess it don`t know if I mentioned that before, but I did thoroughly enjoy it!

But, it`s been very fine here in Latacunga, we have a handful of investigators, but this sector is full of opposition!  And the opposition isn`t in teaching, but in just trying to get lessons!  This is the largest sector in the mission, and A LOT of our time is dedicated to just traveling to visit investigators, and if they`re not home, we lose a lot of time!  Plus, we don`t have a cell phone!  So, it`s been a little harder, but at the same time, really good!  We received about 11 references last week!  Yes, about half of them were `duds`, but it`s still good that the members are willing to work with us!  (which, By the way, woot for Dad for looking to share the gospel to friends and airport travelers, and we meet people like that Jehovah`s witness member practically every day!)

Ah, what else?  So, we didn`t have baptisms this last week because we didn`t have the baptismal interviews!  So, we have the baptisms for the Familia A planned for this next Friday, so it all should go well. 

And this next week, Latacunga will be celebrating something called ¨Mama Negra´ where someone paints them self like a richly adorned jet black skinned woman, and leads a parade down the streets of the city, full of parties, fireworks, and celebrating.  I guess it somehow connects back to a time 200 or so years ago when the virgin Mary appeared and stopped the local volcanoes from erupting, but I am not too sure how that relates to a parade led by a black lady? Odd origins I suppose. Oh well!  I guess the party gets pretty riotous, so we`ll have to spend the weekend with other missionaries outside of our city!

BUT!  It was a good week, Sacrament meeting was really spiritual during testimony meeting, and our neighbors cooked Cui, guinea pig :( (and Ashlyne don`t read this next sentence!) as twisted and funny as it sounds, to kill them they hung them outside on the water spout!  Like an 18th century executioner!  That was a Sunday morning surprise...

So, it`s been good.  And I`m sending some photos!  One of me in front of our sector and my companion eating Granadilla (super good!)

Until next week!

-Elder Sanders