Busting Out! Happy New Year!



Cena Navideno de la Zona -- Zone Christmas Dinner in Cuenca

Hello Family,

These last two weeks have been interesting.  We got locked up again on New Years.  We were able to find a few promising new investigators.  We finally got to teach a sister named Maria Luz who we have tried setting up an appointment with for three weeks.  She told us she was really interested in listening to us, but the abuela (grandma) has done everything in her power to stop us from coming over to teach.  She keeps lying to us. Whenever we had an appointment, somehow the abuela made it to the door first to tell us to go away.  I guess she got tired of us coming over, so one day she just told us that Maria Luz had left on a trip and would not be back for a month.  Five minutes later, Maria Luz came back from around the corner to buy bread.  

Luckly, we were just across the street talking to a contact.  Maria told us that she had been waiting for us the whole night of our missed appointment, but we never showed up. We told her that somehow we had made a mistake because her mother had told us she was not available.  At that moment, the abuela came to the door to see what all the commotion in the street was, but realized that her little scheme had been foiled, so she slowly slunk back out of sight.  When we returned for the new appointment and were able to teach, she just hid in the kitchen and glared at us through the crack in the door. Anyway, when we taught Maria Luz and her son Damien, they were really interested in the message of the Restoration.

Burning Isaac as an Año Viejo

We also found a new young woman named Ruth.  She really got excited about our message and told us, "If what you’re telling me is true, this is the best thing that has ever happened to me."  We are looking forward to teaching her again.

Well, we are glad to be free from our apartment and back out in the big world again.  I was sure glad, however, to get to hear from everyone on Christmas.  I forgot to have Luci do The Living Christ for me.  I guess you’re all back to school today.  Sorry I don’t have anything interesting to talk about this week.  People just got drunk and blew a lot of stuff up.  Everyone has fireworks here.  Really illegal ones, too.  

Familia Espinoza, our landlords

We got to burn an Año Nuevo (New Year) with the members that live in the apartment above us.  Here in Cuenca, the Año Nuevos have more meaning than they do in la Costa (the Coast).  The families all choose one member to burn that year and that person writes a last will and testament which determines who will get to inherit all their stuff.  It all represents burning the old, sinful man and starting anew.  The family we spent New Years with burned their inactive son who is studying in Quito and recently changed to a music major. I think it may have been sending him a message.  He came to church this Sunday.

Well, I hope to talk to you all soon.

Love, Elder Grant



Zona Cuenca with Presidente Montalti and Family 2010