Training in Machala

Dear Family,

Who is that penultimate handsome devil ?  
Elders Linares, Marquez, Leonardson, Moss, Jimenez, Nacato, Silva, Lamslud, Liberato

How are you all this week?  I spent the last few days in Machala.  We had a training session with President Montalti.  He talked a lot about expressions of love for our investigator.  He said "not only do the investigators need to feel the spirit in the lessons, they need to feel the missionaries love for them."  I think it is something I can work on.

We are having trouble getting people to church, particularly with Rosa, the single sister I told you about last week.  She wants to go but something always comes up and suddenly taking the sacrament becomes not so important.  Elder Christofferson has an article about always remembering Christ and the Sacrament that I want to use.  He talks about how part of the sacramental covenant is making sure that Christ always takes a priority in our lives along with scripture study, prayer and Sunday worship.  Elder Marquez, my district leader, also helped come up with a plan to bring members along to every visit to help her have a stronger commitment to not leave town at the last minute.

The ward here is still really new so all the members don’t all know each other.  We had a big activity last week where we all went out and looked for the people on the ward lists that we weren’t really sure who they were.  We participated as well because it was a good way to get to know the area.

Last night we had a pretty interesting lesson.  We learned there is a Haitian community living in our ward.  Some of them are already members, but there are still many of them who have not talked with the missionaries.  Since the earthquake took out all the universities in Haiti, they all are here in Ecuador to study.  They told us the reason they chose Ecuador is because it is the only country where they could show up in the airport and ask for a visa.  Spanish is not their first language, so there is a little communication problem, but we are able to make ourselves understood.  We are still getting to know everyone, but last night we talked with Franky.  He is currently going to a lot of different churches and is looking for the truth.  I am excited to be able to talk to them again.

Hope to hear from you soon.  My stack of 7 Dear Elders from November/December should be getting here any day now. 

I am looking forward to putting in practice what I learned in Machala.  Lots of efficiency things.

Well, love you all!  Call number 3 is coming up!

Love Elder Ludlam