Week # 75 - 29 left

Hello To  All those within the sound of my luxurious voice! 

Happy first week of the NEW YEAR !  The year in which I shine my greatest!

  The 6-Month downhill run!  It should be an Olympic event, ha ha.

SO!  First, I did love all of your photos!  From our rad new kitchen to your very own Año Viejo!  I did love it indeed!  WAY TO GO!!! 
I can`t wait to do it next year with you all, it should definitely be a new family tradition.    (and Dad`s Elk-Bacon burger sounds legendary!)

OK.... News of the week...  Ah yes!  It took me a week to realize, but we`ve been getting TONS of people with a baptismal date!  here`s a sample list:

-Family S: cousins to members, 3 boys 2 parents, their dad is a parachuting marine in the army, they are the most rich investigators I`ve ever taught, AND:  4 of them have a baptismal date! They are humble, and they are in need of the gospel!

-D and K: Newly weds.  one is 15, one is 18, and they have a baby!  They are great too, but didn`t attend church!  :(

.N,  She was attended Jehovah`s witness, but now her and her husband are way into the church!  Her husband has been to a lot of others, and hasn`t liked them.,.. until now that is!  They came to our ward activity (sport`s night) and also to church!  And they are great!

-G:  A reference from our ward mission leader... and all that`s interesting about him is that he accepted to be baptized, and we haven`t seen him since!  We`ll find him soon.  :)

So, all in all, the work is going well!  We`re still working with the family M, the rest of them need to be baptized so BADLY!!!   But we`ll see what we can do for them...

And for an update on our English classes!  I don`t know if I`ve told you, but Elder Kingsford and I have been doing english classes for about 4 weeks now, and it seems every other week it goes from Many in attendance, to almost none!  So we hope next week will go better!  We need some references hungry to learn some solid gringo language!  Because it`s a good service, because many english classes here are rather expensive and often ineffective, so it really does help to go to them!

And it seems  as of late, we have been making many trips to the hospital.  Not because we`re sick!  But because member after member have been falling ill these last two months back!  At least 7 if I+m correct.... so we`ve been busy with blessings, visits, and bringing good cheer to all.  In fact, one dramatic one we had recently was with one niece of the ward pianist who had gone blind and needed a surgery to correct it, and once they had the surgery, she couldn`t see!  The doctor`s said that it was her mind not letting her be able to use her eyes, but after a blessing from us and weeks of prayers from the members, her eyesight was restored!  So a lovely success story!  Blessings do work! 



So! I hope you all have a lovely week!  Eat well, get plenty of rest and exercise! 

When I say that, I really mean feed your testimony, give rest to your soul, and exercise faith!

(I just made that up on the spot, ha ha! So it`s an Elder Sander`s original!  But a good principle to live by!  So do it! )

Elder Sanders

Photos: New years!  Our año viejos, before and after!

Week # 74 - 30 weeks left

DEAREST FAMILY!!!

Christmas was mighty!!!

Plenty of candy bags from members, monopoly, and food!  We made homemade Navajo tacos and Wassail! And they turned out waaay good! 

And yes, the phone call was extraordinary…now I`m all trunky!!!  (missing home,missionary slang)  but I did love it.  And it seems as if Christmas was a dream come true for you all too!  We really enjoyed taking a day or so off from missionary work,  wait.  It`s impossible to get a day off from missionary work, isn`t it?  Oh well!

SO! Today we got to go visit Lago Quilotoa!  A giant volcano which inactivated and turned into a beautiful lake!  We did love it indeed! It took about a half an hour to get down to see it, but over an hour to get back up!  It was exhausting! But worth it! I`ll attach photos of our epic journey! We went with a member leaving on his mission in a week, his dad, and Ruben, sister Patricia`s son. 

SO we had fun… until Ruben threw up in the car!  It was bad because he was sitting in the middle!  But we got it all cleaned up. 

What else.. Ah yes!  We also got to help family Maldonado to make an `año Viejo`, an old man made out of newspaper and old clothes to burn on new years!   I don`t know if you recall the tradition,but you make a giant dummy to represent the bad things that happened last year, and then burn it! It represents putting the past behind and forgetting about the bad that was in it!  And then, many men dress up like widowed old ladies,  and stop cars with branches and chain the roads, and won`t let them pass until they give them money, because, well, their `husbands` got burned, and now they are poor and widowed.  Right?  but on the way back from the lake our car got stopped 3 times by the man-ladies!!!  Odd, but it`s an Ecuador special!

Alright, so as for the work, we had 3 new investigators with baptismal dates! BUT NONE OF THEM showed up to church! but we did find a new family of 2 newlyweds, and it seems that Patricia`s husband is going to give permission for her 2 sons to be baptized!  The goal is for the 12th, so we hope it goes well!

Anio Viejo !!!

WELL! That is all for the moment, and I do wish everyone a very Merry Evening,

-Elder Sanders

WEEK # 73 FELIZ NAVIDAD !

¡MERRY Christmas!

  How is everyone back stateside?  Wonderful I hope because I am!  So!  Many news to give! 

Hm... First off... BAPTISM!!! Yes, we have 2 lovely new additions to the church! And they have much in common: they are 9 or under in age, have a parent which is not a member, gave wonderfully powerful testimonies, and are just wonderful!  The only difference is that one is a convert baptism, and the other is a ward baptism.  Which translates as one goes to the mission, but 2 go into my personal list of baptisms.  YES!!!  So I hope in a future date their parents will eventually be members, I believe one day it shall be just like that!

But alright, so for Christmas here in Ecuador, everyone has little Christmas trees, little house decorations (as in NO ONE has anything outside), and a little Christmas music.  But, the spirit is flowing about, the stores are stocking up, and it seems that Christmas here is not focused on receiving gifts, but of making big business in sells for the year!  Rather like an unofficial Christmas bonus.    Hm.   But everyone is still joyful.

Yesterday we were in Ambato again, singing with the other missionaries, (contacting through carols, AWESOME!) and finished late so we stayed the night there.  My companion got a couple packages from home, and I got a lovely one from the Lechtenbergs, MANY THANKS TO SARAH, JAKE, AND PATTI!!!!  I just love me some Legos!!!

And today, we were shopping, cleaning, cutting our own hair, and doing laundry.  But!  We are to make a Christmas feast!  I`m going to try my hand at making Wassil, and then we`re going to make some Navajo Tacos!    Scones baby!    Today, we also plan to practice the Quena (sorry, I forgot to take a photo! Look it up on YouTube instead), draw requested pictures for investigators and members, write letters, watch The Mountain of The Lord, and lounge about.  It should be nice.  But, you may ask... why do we have so much free time today? Well, today is our P-Day first off, and we need to be inside at 4:00 sharp due to nasty drunk Christmas party riots in the streets!  Which means... it`s like 24 hours of not working!  Well, not quite like that... but like a 24-hour P-Day!  And tomorrow, we must be indoors at no later than 6:00, so we get more relaxation time! 

Not to mention: candy from members and a mighty MIGHTY Ecuadorian Fruit-Cake that actually is not nasty!  I would send a photo, but unfortunately we took it with it right after I cut my hair and all I`m wearing are Gym shorts!  So  maybe for another week, 

Well! 

Good to write you all, and as always, I wish you well and thank you for your love, prayers, and support!

`Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!`

  or for a better quote:

`It`s in the singing of a street corner choir,
       It`s going home and getting warm by the fire,
                It`s true! Wherever you find love, it feels like Christmas!`
                                   -Muppet`s Christmas Carol

-Elder Sanders

Week 72

PRESIDENT AND SISTER GHENT 

Dearest family and friends!  How are you all today?  Fine I hope!

WELL!   It`s been a nice week, not too much news on mission work but plenty of news on fun Christmas stuff!

To start off, changes have come!  And what has happened?  Well, I shall explain from Sunday morning:  We were at church, and just twitching because we knew the transfers were coming, and we felt our doom of seperating was imminent!  And to add on that, Rafael, the 8 year old son of Patricia  (who was baptized a week or so ago)  came up to my companion and I, and literally crying, gave us both hand-made cards! (how sweet!  I took a photo and attached it for you guys, Mom will have to translate it) Turns out he really, REALLY didn`t want any of us to go!  But, his mom told him, that if he prayed hard enough that we could stay, it would happen!  So, it turns out he prayed well for we did not leave!  HOORAY!!!

I get to spend Christmas with my buddy in this wonderful sector!  But, it too means that we will need to work harder than ever in this next change, to finish the work we had started a month ago!  ONWARD!!!

And for other news, the dinner with President Ghent and his wife was great!  American dinner, caroling to his neighbors, seeing old friends, and sweet hot cocoa!  Not to mention home made cookies from Sister Ghent and a new note-diary.  Plus, I delivered my hand-made card to them and Sister Ghent just about died with laughter!  So they pretty much loved seeing themselves as cartoonized Mr. and Mrs. Claus.   :)

And also!  The ward talent show!  It was nice overall, but it started 2 hours late, was COMPLETELY unplanned, and ended in a stake dance kind of setting.  So, the ward loved it, which was all that mattered.  And 2 investigators came! YES!  And we also started doing free ENGLISH CLASSES!  (to help bring in more investigators and less-active members to church)  And those have been successful so far.

Hm.  What else?  Ah yes, I have been looking to buy an Otavalanian instrument called the `Quena`  for a while, which is pretty much the most rustic sounding indian flute ever conceived to man, which usually cost around $30 or more, but a handy member got us a great deal, and I got a REALLY nice one for a steal of $12.50!  HA HA!  So in the next few weeks I`m learning how to play the Quena, so I`ll send pics next week of it for you all.

WELL! I think those are all the big news, altough we are to have 2 baptisms this Saturday!  One of the ward, and one convert!  And they both are 9 years old!  SO wish us luck!

And for a spiritual thought when it comes to missionary work: 
       You can count the seeds in an apple, but you can`t count the apples in a seed. 

(let that one soak in)

-Elder Sanders

Photos: A few shots from the Talent show, the Chistmas dinner, the hand-card, the gargantuan moth we found in our house discovering the book of Mormon for the first time, and our `lovely` zone choir.  Enjoy!

I love you all and Merry Christmas


PS- what time should we do our Christmas phone call?

Week 71 !

Hello one and all! I´m VERY short on time today, due to a grand activity that we had in our zone!  And as says the title, we had our long lost thanksgiving dinner!  Odd, because instead of turkey we had Chelean-style Fettuchini with Chorisos mixed in, but still very VERY good!

Alright, since time at the moment is as precious as a loaf of bread during a famine, I shall give you this weeks news in stylish bullet points!

-Baptism indeed!  Yes, Patricia was officially confirmed!  And all her family came to church!  Not to mention, her R.M. brother from Guayaquil came down and did the ordinance himself!  So we´re celebrating, and not to mention, her 2 sons told us they want to be baptized too!  Plans are underway!

- Christmas to come! This Friday is our Christmas dinner with the mission president!  I´m also rather excited to give him a spiffy card I drew for him and his wife (attached)

-Changes! This is the last week of the change, so I hope we both get to stay together for Christmas!

-Caroling!  This Sunday, we left with our zone to sing to investigators!  It went well, especially since we had stylish home-made matching scarves!

-Christmas phone call!  YES! So, this Tuesday the 25th we are to Skype!  We just need to see what time will work out best, but we are pretty much good from the Morning up to 4 O´clock at night.

-Also! This Saturday, we are going to have English classes! Taught by the only Gringos in Latacunga: us!  So we hope it goes well, we are to do it to bring in member support and new investigators through our efforts

Well, it seems that is all that is going on for the moment, so unfortunately, I must sign out!  But, I must say, I loved the photos, and am super-jealous of all that delicious Christmas food that you had indulged!  (next year.... :)  )       But! Also thanks for the Talk, and I wish you all very well!  Good luck KT and congrats to all the new missionaries about to encounter the world!

-Elder Sanders

PHOTOS:

-A sketch I did in my companion´s memory book

- The baptism!

-Us eating late night hotdogs with two of the first counselor´s boys

- Our mighty thanksgiving lunch

- Most of our zone, ready to sing our lungs out!

¡Hasta Ver!