Elder Sandes first baptism

week #17

Hello to one and all! Today is a glorious day!  Why?  Guess who helped bring in 3 new converts to the church?  HAHA! I`m attaching photos of the glorious event!  But first, I`d like to say thanks to Eli, Chantel, Mom, Dad, Patti, and Grandma & Grandpa Sanders for all of your wonderful letters, they were quite the surprise.  And: Chantel is 21?! Meghan is in the MTC?!  Tristian is a `huge ham`?   What glorious events!

 

And now, I shall recount the event that was Saturday:    First off, we had 3 people planned for baptism at 3 PM: G, T, and her neice H Gon and T were good to go, but apparently we never quite got the written permission of her mom for baptism, so we went in the morning to quite literally teach/convince her enough to let her daughter get permission. (without going into details, the mom is a crusty lady). But! It worked out, although Heidi had a huge fear of all the people watching her, so we scheduled a baptismal service at 8:00 for just her and her family.  We were over there for over 2 hours, and needed to run over to the church to start filing the font.  We got there at about 12:40, and turned on the water.  At 2:30, we returned to start setting up. And to our horror.. the water was only 1/3 full!  Frantically, we started hauling buckets of water from the underground resevoir of the church, and soon enough, people started showing up.  But, the great thing was, everyone started helping us, even the some of investigators showed up and started to help too!  Synergy! 

 

So, we were able to fill it quickly, and although it was cold, it was ready.  Everyone arrived, and we started the service.  G`s friend baptized him, and I baptized T.  YAAHH!!!   The service soon ended, and as we were closing up, we learned that while I was baptizing T, beforehand she misunderstood us and didn`t give me her full name, (which you NEED to recite in the baptismal prayer for it to be valid), so... technically... it was invalid!  ACK!!!  So, we quickly planned to re-do it later in the night when we were going to baptize H So, by the end of the night, everything worked out, we figured out how to make the water warm again, and we had 3 baptisms.  The next day at church, Elder Gomez confirmed G, I confirmed T, and our bishop confirmed H.  It was a Great Weekend. 

 

And how can you top off the perfect baptismal Sunday?  A surprise THANKSGIVING DINNER from our Mamita, that`s what!  Turkey, potatoe balls, and more rice than should ever had entered my plate. But I was SO thankful.  And yes, while carving the turkey, I did feel a pang of sorrow that my family was about a continent and a half away.  But, I shall remember you all! 

 

Well, I shall be sure to share any other Thanksgiving stories this Thursday, and wish you all a very happy Dia de gratitud. 

 

-And while I have time, question answering session!-

-our area is good, we`ve been avoiding anything potentially dangerous, our families are well, and we should have a couple more this Saturday for baptism!

- For the Christmas package, I can`t say there`s anything else that I need, just the peachios, Trafalga T, and... LEGOS!  Well, I also need to start trying to get presents for my friends, so I`ll write you next week if I need you to send anything.  (I`ll probably do something for Brandon & Erik, and see if I can do anything for the family.  I know sending packages here is UBSURDly expensive, and I still need to find a place close to my house that I can send it from) 

-OH, for light and gas, the owners of the building pay the big bills, and divide the pay out between those who live there. 

 

And:  my address:

Ecuador Quito Mission

Calle Robles 640 y Amazonas

Quito, Ecuador

 

Well, I believe that is all.  See ya later!

 

-Elder Sanders

 

PS- congrats to David Tolman on his gloriousl re-entry

Week # 17

¡Buenas Tardes!  Somos misioneros, de la Iglesia De JesuCristo, do los Santos de los Ultimos Dias. Yo Soy Elder Sanders, y esté es mi compañero.¨

 

Yup, that`s what it`s all about. 

 

Ok!  So, this week has been just peachy.  No earthquakes or other hazards to missionaries.  And before I dig into the meat of the letter, I finally recieved those `Dear Elders`!   I`m not quite sure how long it took for them to get here, but yes Ashlyne, just like water in a desert.  (And!  Thanks to Jodi, Mike, Jennifer, Julian, Alexandra, Mom, Dad, Chantel and Erik for your letters! Just like magic!)  And Ashlyne is dating?  Egads!  Plus, I hope your throat and test are ok now Chantel, life is quite exciting, is it not? And it sounds like Dad`s trip to Philadelphia went swell too.  Send my love to Meikayla and Madison too!   AND- Hooray for Sydney and Meghan!  New steps in life indeed!

 

Agite, this week has been quite focused on our investigators.  Right now, here are those who have a baptismal date: for this weekend, the Familia Q, (A Grandma and Granddaughter who were a reference and are totally loving the gospel!), Hmo. G, and for the rest of the month, the familia M, and hopefully an older couple named G y R. Plus, we may also baptize a person named Al who has been attending church for 5 or so years, but isn`t baptized yet.  We were going to, but we soon found out that there may be complications with that because we heard he used to lie to missionaries in his sector and it`s just mixed up,so we`ll have to see.                           It is just quite busy with them all!

 

AND!  I got to give 2 blessings this week, the first one was a blessing of council for one of our investigators.  For a week or so, we`ve been teaching another older couple who had a tendency to argue alot during the lessons with each other. We had a good lesson last Monday, and returned Tuesday afternoon to visit them, and found people moving out.  Quickly offering if we could help, we soon discovered they were moving stuff out of our investigators` house.  They had gotten divorced practically overnight!  The husband was quickly out of there, and the wife was left in shambles.  It was then that I got to give her a powerful blessing.  And I shall say, alot of the words I said did not come form me.  (The priesthood is power!) And the second was for the wife of Alfredo, who has cancer and will be living in a hospital for a couple months. I too was able to give here a blessing of health, (which coincidentally was the same day as the first one I gave to the divorced wife) and that one too, I felt was very strong.  Essentially, I was just on a Priesthood roll that day.      It was great.

 

So, I can`t say I have any `fun` stories to tell like the banana spiders, but this week we also had a Zone Conference with a member of the 70`s.  It was way good, and I was able to see Elder Redd again along with his new companion.  And- the familia Castillos from Carapungo, are now baptized!  YES! Although I didn`t get to do the actual baptism because I was in Carapungo, I definately was a major part in their conversion.  Then, at church, we had another member of the 70 visit! Surprise!  

 

Yeah, so all in all, a good week.  This one should be equally as busy, but we shall see.  AND!  I have one more thing I want to share with you guys, this is a recipe I got from Elder Redd, and I pretty much live off of it now.  Here it is:

 

Elder Redd Cereal  (double or triple as many times as you like, and it doesn`t need to be exact either, just general)

-4 cups instant oatmeal

-2 cups granola

-1 cup panela (I don`t know the english equavelant, it`s pretty much raw sugar cane and looks like brown sugar)

 

Mix in a container, and eat with milk.  It`s also stupendous with bananas, yougurt, or whatever else you can find.   We make a huge carton every week.. and its... so..  GOOD!

 

 

Well, that`s about all I have for now... but I do have one last thing to say:

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHANTEL!!!

 

I`ll have to draw you something or write you a poem... but may all your wildest dreams come true!

 

-Elder Sanders

 

-And yes, I do wear my shoes everywhere I go. ESPECIALLY in the shower. And I call my district leader every day, and we don`t have a phone.  If you go bearfoot, `you`re gone`!

 

Happy Halloween ! Here are some stories that are a Halloween nightmare for a mom ! :p enjoy !!!

Happy Halloween Meaties!  To one and all!  How does it fare?  Well, the world is just swell here in Atahualpa, my new sector.  All is well over here, we`re contacting, visiting, and just working hard. (And as for new experiences, I`ve finally had my first 2 bowls of Chicken-Foot soup and lamb stomach!  Yum Yum!) My comp, Elder Gomez, is just swell too.  Essentially, this sector is pretty similar to Carapungo, only it`s a little more `dangerous´at night.  So, it`s only a matter of time before I get my real first mugging, but we are being really safe about how we travel about.    And that`s not the only danger, I have 2 swell stories!  The first one is: yes, we did feel the Earthquake.  So we`re sitting, studying, and then what started out as what we thought was a normal plane passby quake turned more dramatic.  Yes, the whole city shook for a grand total of 5 seconds, but it sure got our hearts pumping!  Excitement! 

 

Ok, here`s the fun one:  over here Elder Gomez and I LOVE guinellos (fresh picked bananas), and we buy tons of them. Take a very close look at the one in the picture, looks Tasty, eh? Anyways, we were pretty much overtly excited to have just purchased this giant bunch of bananas when we noticed some leaves and webbing on the back.  Perturbed by the filthyness on our banana stash, we whipped out a lighter to easily burn away the white web.  But Lo!  The moment flame touched the web ball, simultaniously a giant banana spider lunged forth as hundreds of it`s babies spewed forth instantaniously everywhere.  We practically screamed, tossing the infected bunch into the sink as the hundreds of baby spiders spread quickly all over the bananas, the table, and the frigde. Frantically, we killed all the small ones before they could incubate in some cranny of our home, and proceeded to pour tons of boiling water on the bunch of bananas, killing all life while still preserving our beloved fruit.        Looking back at the picture, I can`t believe I was holding a whole infestation of spiders right up against my face.       Fun times, eh!?  (I`m drawing a comic about it right now, but didn`t finish it in time to send this week, but by next monday, it shall be ready!)

 

Ok, now here`s the spiritual side of what`s been happening.  So, since we`re both new to this sector, we have done tons of finding new famlies to teach, since we`re pretty much starting from scratch.  (except for one family, The Gonzalos, he`s already assisted church once and lives right across the street, yes! Automatic investigator! )  And lately, we`ve been teaching a new family we found on Tuesday, the familia Torres.  It`s 2 parents with 2 kids, and their whole family is DEEPLY rooted into the Catholic church, so it`s been a little tricky to teach them, but it`s really neat to see that as we explain the Book of Mormon, the restored church and authority, and other doctrine, you can see the understanding in their faces, but they don`t want to change because they`ve been rooted in their church their entire lives.  (and by their reactions, I think Cecilia, the mom, is afraid to know if this church really is the true church, and the changes and sacrifices she`ll have to make in order to live to the highest standard of God)    BUT,    the real thing I want to share is that yesterday, close to the end of the lesson, as we were closing and i  was bearing my testimony, I felt the spirit in a way I`ve never felt it before.  (because normally, it`s rather like an enveloping peaceful feeling) But instead, I felt it as if it were a literal burning in my bosom, enfusing my heart and feeling on the brink of shedding tears.  The spirit was testifying at that moment.  I felt it, and I truly hope they felt it too, and did not try to shove it off, but that was quite honestly the first time ever felt something like that, and thought that it was something I`d like to share with you guys at home.

 

So, read your scriptures, check your bananas before eating them, and have a happy Halloween!

 

-Elder Sanders

Eden is getting transfered !

Greetings to all!

  Ok, before I can do anything I must say: Today is changes!  That means I am leaving Elder Redd, and heading to a new sector with a new comp.  (Luckily, his name is Elder Gomez, a friend from the Provo MTC who got to leave the Peru CCM Early because he could already speak spanish, neat eh?)  So right now, I`m enjoying my last few hours with my ´Dad´ Elder Redd, and it is quite sad!  And to make it even more crunchy, the family Castillos is getting baptized this Saturday, and they would`ve been my first baptism!  But no!  ¡Cambiar!     But it`s ok, I`m not down because it is the way it must be done! 

So, we shall be opening a NEW sector, and I am totally stoked.    Next, thanks for your pics and letters Mom, Dad, Ashlyne, Chantel, Meikayla, Madison & cousins!  They were oh so sweet,  (and I have some great photos to attach too!)         And you guys asked if I`ve eaten anything weird... well. First, I`ve had a drink called Polaca that looks and tastes just like watery cake batter and is totally DELICIOUS!  Next, elder Redd and I have mastered making Monte Cristo Sandwiches, which is simply a ham, egg, and cheese sandwich dunked in pancake batter, deep fried in oil with syrup and powdered sugar.  (Yes Eric, they are good!)   And lastly, at a members house I received a plate of rice, potatoes, and tons of chunks that looked liked animal cartilage.  After pretty much muscling down the meal, I later learned that those chewy mysterious chunks were in reality (Ashlyne cover your ears) just slabs of sliced pig skin, cooked to a gross chewy perfection.  *shudder*

 

Ok, our ward is doing well, our investigators are sort of going well. The Castillos are right on track, but the Vallesteros have slipped a little and we haven´t seen them for a week, but we are teaching them again and it looks like they are getting on track again, but Elder Redd will have to hurry because they are moving on Nov 5th!  Our other 2 families are getting tough to get in contact with, but we just found a new one that is completely ready to receive the gospel.  They were a member reference, and they were actually getting exciting when we pulled out the Book of Mormon on our first visit.  So, the weather is swell, we do our laundry at a `Lavanderia`  (or laundromat)  and Thank you thank you thank you for your family`s conversion story.  I will definately share it!

 Elder Sanders

 

Next week I`ll send pics of my new sector and comp!  Ciao! Lo siento que no tengo mucho tiempo para escribir mas en español, pero tratarè el proximo semana!