I'm a Man Now: Elder Ludlam Forgets to Shave

Dear Family,

How are you all?  I got a huge stack of letters last week.  I didn’t have anything from 2012.  I read about all the stuff you had to do to get that house, mom and dad.  Thank you for all that you do to for my sisters and I.  I love you mucho.

Well, we had an exciting week.  We hardly had anyone in our programs so we hit the streets.  We decided to go for the members and look for references and it turned out really well.  We found some great people.  So far the most promising is Diego.  He is a very interesting person.  His parents are members and he has been going to church on and off since he was about five.  He travels for his work so he’s lived all over the world.  He said he has been going to church in the Hong Kong foreigner’s branch for a while because he found a Mormon girlfriend that took him.  He came back to Ecuador recently and asked a sister in our ward who lives down the street from him to send us to see him.  So far the only problem is his new non-member girlfriend.  She needs to go.

I know I promised pictures today but they are on Elder Coy’s camera memory and we can’t find a computer with that kind of port.  Maybe I will be able to send them later on today.  My favorite picture I have to send you I have entitled I´m a Man Now: Elder Ludlam Forgets to Shave.

Well, I am not sure I much more to say.  I could just bore you with more companion problems.   Oh, did I tell you, I am living with the Elder Carnese.  He was secretary for a while, you know.  Elder Child is the fourth missionary living with us.

Well, I love you so.  Maybe I’ll get to write a little more later on.

Love,

Your Elde

Dear Sophie,

How are you?  I got your letter a few weeks ago.  I decided this that if I write to you this way, it is probably a better since my letter will get to you before spring term ends.  I am guessing you have heard that my family is moving to New Jersey in the next few months.  I guess I won't notice that much since I will be heading back off to school soon after I return.  I am just a little sad because I had all these ideas in my head of all the people I was going to look up in our class to convert as soon as I got home.  Oh well.

I was thinking of how old a missionary I am.  My time soon will come to an end.  I've got to make good use of every moment I've got left.  I am glad to hear that you are still want to leave on a mission.  It really is the best thing I've ever done.  Do you think you'll get to go foreign?  You have to tell me more about your trip to Ghana.

Well, I'm sorry I don't have much time.  I think my emailing we will be able to get mail back and forth more quickly, at least.

Talk to you later, Love Grant

A Day Late and a Camera Short

¡Familia!  Sigo vivo (I’m still alive).

Flooding in Guayaquil

Sorry, this last week has been Carneval and they haven’t let us leave the house due to the general mayhem.  (He didn't write on his usual Monday) It’s actually not really that bad.  They are giving us a little bit of time to write today.  I am sorry to keep you hanging like that.

More news.  I am back in my first ward, Solana.  I got transferred out of Cuenca.  It was close, but my previous record of only staying in a ward 14 weeks still stands.  My new companion’s name is Elder Coy from Guatemala.  He is a very smiley fellow.  

Narcissa and Gisella Villon and family

It is really weird because they have pulled the missionaries out of Solana a couple of times so not much has happened in the aspecto misional (missionary work) since I left.  I got to the new sector and opened up the area book and there were all my converts from a year ago right on top.  It is kind of like things were frozen in time.  I was only there two weeks so everything seems like a foggy memory.  Almost all the members a have said, "You seem familiar, have you been here before?"  I remind them I was with Elder Gonzalez and they say, "Oh, you were that quiet Elder."

Mall del Sur

Well, I want to wish Luci a very happy birthday today.  

Love, Mr. G

About the camera, I have some bad news.  I think someone took it out of my bag on the bus.  I got to the house and I didn’t have it anymore. Please don’t be too angry.  I do have some pretty good pictures to send that I took on my companion’s camera for next week.

Just a quick note

Dear Familia,

How are you?  It looks like you had some fun with the dance party for Ava.  I am back to using my big "tractor" shoes.  I had lent them to Elder Castro to use for a little while.  He likes to call them "mis tanques".  I need to look for a good place to find new shoes.

Well, we are running kind of late today.  The zone leaders wanted to come over to inspect our house and took forever to show up.  I am sorry I don’t have much time.  Elder Castro and I need to come up with some good ideas because we can’t get anyone to come to church.  We have been trying to work with the members. 

Well, I’ve got to go. 

Hope to talk to you soon.

Elder Grant

Staying in Cuenca!

Dear Family,

How is every one?  The new house doesn’t look any smaller or less Xanadu than the last one.

Well, today was transfers and it looks like I’ll be staying in Cuenca.  Everyone is staying here in our house except for Elder Warner.  He’s going to Monay.  We had a trip down to Machala to have a meeting with Presidente Montalti.  I guess the mission got pretty lazy this past month.  We all dropped in numbers.  I am rather proud of myself because this week we did really good working with members.  Elder Castro and I beat our record for number of lessons with a member present in a week for this area and we even were gone two whole days.  

We’ve been trying to help this family who knows the Book of Mormon is true but doesn’t want to pray to God about it.  We got the members excited about the family and they have all been trying to help, but I am afraid the family doesn’t want to progress.  The dad said that he really likes everything we have taught him from the Book of Mormon and even wants to go teach his friends using the Book of Mormon but said that he made the decision long ago to never join another church.  I think he’s talked with and investigated a lot of churches.  He said all the churches lead to Christ.  Apparently prophetic revelation, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and a remission of sins is not all that important to him.  I told him if he wants to walk away with the Book of Mormon but not join the church, its basically the same thing as stealing a bunch of cable channels from his neighbor.  I am not sure how he took it.

One of the big things I took home from the Machala conference is we need to always have a prayer in our heart.  Everything we do should be in a spirit of prayer.  If we do that, it will be a lot easier to stay focused on what is really important and we can know what we need to do.  We are still teaching the girl from Machala that I told you about last week.  There are two sets of senior missionaries here in Cuenca called the LaMarcas. They have been teaching English classes and our investigator has been going there with her friend, Yuliana.  The LaMarcas called and asked if they can come and teach her with us.  They are really good.  They still need me to translate, but they add a level of maturity to the lessons that Elder Castro and I are not quite capable of.

Hopefully, tomorrow I’ll get to learn what you’ve been up to.  How long did it take you to find the house?

Love,

Elder Ludlam