A Mail Bonanza!

(Sorry for the delay this week.  Mom was at Girls' Camp 'til Friday!  We got our first actual snail mail letters from Ecuador this week!  Such a treat for all of us to receive personal messages!)

Hello Family,

I just heard about Rebecca's call.  That's fantastic.  I didn’t know she had put her papers in.  You’ll have to congratulate her for me.  She’ll do great.  Most of the sister missionaries here baptize more than the elders.  President Montalti said that the elders work on fortifying the Primary and Relief Society but the Sisters are the ones who find the sacerdocio (priesthood).

Well, my first week with Elder Garcia went well.  He is pretty tranquilo (laid back).  Although we tried hard, Elder Castro left and we didn’t have much to work with.  Elder Garcia has speakers and an mp3 device, so it has been nice to have some music in the house again.  He put the CDs you sent me on his mp3 so I have finally been able to listen to all the songs.  We are working with Hermana Dioselina´s daughter, Vaneza.  We   are trying to reactivate her friend, Monica Colobon, so she can help us out to get Vaneza a little more excited about joining the church. 

One of the benefits and downsides of bringing a new elder into an area is that they start making invitations to everyone.  Sometimes, the people I thought did not want to listen to us actually decided to hear what we have to say.  On the other hand, some people explode.  For example, the landlady.  "Every single missionary who comes through here has tried converting me, but I’m CATHOLIC."  She puts up with a lot from the missionaries.  We forgot our keys in the apartment twice this week.  She also told Elder Castro before he left that she hoped my new companion didn’t like to have late-night wrestling matches. Elder Castro, our mission leader, and I were prone to have a tussle when Elder Castro would tell him he was a flake.  (I guess that is probably another broken rule I can add, Jenna).  We had a little machismo going on.

They changed Faro to Saturday because they decided some of the activities are not quite Sabbath appropriate.  Unfortunately, attendance has dropped off, which is a shame, because it really did help our younger group of investigators to assimilate into our little Mormon community.  I don’t know why, but Elder Garcia has not been too impressed with our ward.  Maybe he’s just Peruvian.  He has been good to work with.  He’s not the most outgoing, so I guess we will both have to grow in that aspect a little bit.  He does like to contact though, which is good. 

I’m sorry you’ll be losing your bestest Bellevue buddy, Mom.  It’s sad to think I’ll get back and they won’t be there.  It sounds like you got a lot out of your last few weeks together though.  I hope you can keep in close contact even though you are far away.  They were good friends.  She has written to me a couple times.  I’ll have to write them a letter.

I was looking at some of the pictures you’ve sent.  Lucia and Ava are getting tall.  Ava is as big as you and Lia.

Well, I am looking to some big letters coming my way soon.  I don’t know what I will do with all the letters I’ve received.  My mailbox runneth o´er.  I may write back shortly.  Elder Garcia and I took a photo together on his camera and we are going to try and load it on another computer. 

Love, Nannel

Give Squiddles a good lovin´...

Did Dad use my river rafting hat for trek?  I'm glad to see the girls are back to swimming again.  Do they have good diving form in those pictures?  Would you mind sending me some of the electronic versions of some of the pictures of the family and Bellevue life?  I am trying to put together a little picture book to take around because they like to see photos, but I am afraid something will happen to the pictures you gave as hard copies.  Maybe a lacrosse picture, too.  People ask a  lot of questions about that.  Gracias.

Welcoming Elder Garcia...

Hello Lamsluds,

Well, the colombiano se fue (left).  Murió tronquíssimo (He went out trunky).  I am waiting now for my new companion to arrive from Machala.  His name is Elder Garcia.  Another one from Perú.  I am ashamed to admit we did not do much all week except good byes.  Lots of cake.  President Montalti told Elder Castro he is only allowed to be trunky after 23 months and 29 days.  What he did not realize is that Elder Castro passed his 2-year mark the 2nd of July (happy birthday, again, jeje). 

Sorry, I might write again when I get my companion.  He probably hasn’t written yet.

Ciao

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Well, here is part two.

So far Elder Garcia has been great.  He only has two transfers left but assures me he is as excited for the work as the day he stepped off the plane.  He already knows our area a little bit.  I’ve been taking him around to get to know the members and stopped to write.  Elder Castro is reported to still be wandering around the area with another Elder who also served here from his travel group.  Maybe we’ll bump into each other later today.  Elder Castro is thinking about coming back here to study some time in the near future.

Elder Garcia from Lima

Like I said, this week was full of despedidas (goodbyes).  This week, Elder Castro had his best-friend/convert come up from Pasaje to say good-bye.  He’s the branch president down there.  I’d like to be able to serve there some day.  It is a nice mix of coast and sierra.  Quite beautiful. 

Several of the ladies from the ward started a very large stuffed animal fight during one of Elder Castro’s farewells.  They couldn’t control themselves seein´ how Elder Castro’s such a stud.  This morning we got up bright and early to drop off the colombiano at the new office missionaries house.  Their new place is rather decked out.  Aniñado, as they like to say here.  They live in the city center and I was pleased to learn there are actually some rather beautiful parts to Guayaquil.  Anyway, after I dropping him off, I went to the bus terminal which is where I wrote you.

Well, I am excited for the new change.  Every one has told me I got a good companion.  Elder Castro and I had a lot of success but it became a push at the end.  The funny thing is, though, he just wanted to leave so he could come back and live here as a RM (returned missionary).  I’ll tell you if he shows up again in the next few weeks. 

Well, I love you all so much.  It looks like you had a lot of fun doing trek.  I look forward to hearing about all your adventures in a month or so.

Love Elder Ludlam

Elder Garcia is a little worried about how he’s going to pronounce my name.

PS You have to hear about Fletcher´s brilliant idea.  He has decide he will no longer sign his letters but rather stamp them with an image of his face.  He sent me an example so I asked him how he did it and he sent me this.  It is a very Fletcher-esque operation.

The way I made my face stamp is: with our handy dandy cell phones here we have a camera on it and the camera has the option to turn your picture into a pearly black and white image.  So it makes lighter areas of the photograph white and darker ones black, no in between, so in essence it makes a stamp image.  So then I took a photo of my face and changed it in to a stamp image and then I printed it out on just plain paper and then using a homemade x-acto knife from an old razor blade and a pencil and super glue I cut out only the dark areas of the picture.  Then I traced the areas that I cut out onto the back side of a spider man stamp that I bought.  And then the dark area of the stamp is on the back side so then I cut away everything that wasn't dark using my knife and there you have your face stamp.

Happy 4th!

Dear Family,

How are you all?  I almost forgot about the 4th.  We talked about it in district meeting last week, but I didn’t blow anything up to celebrate.  I did remember Mom’s birthday, though.  I’ll make a special birthday feel-y just for the occasion.

This week we found a few of Joao’s friends to start teaching.  One of them is named Miguel Antonio Perlaza.  He has known the missionaries for several years.  He has wanted to be baptized for a while but his mother does not want to let him.  We found a very dubious baptismal permission slip with his name on it, but he said that it is not his mom’s signature-- nor was he in the country on the date that it was signed.  What were those elders up to?  

Anyway, a year back he was practically an active member.  He came to church with us again for the first time in a few months and said he had forgotten how much he liked church and that it just felt right.  All the members remembered him and were very happy to see him.  I love fellowshipping members.

Speaking of our ward, they just called a few ward missionaries.  We will have to see how it turns out (there is still some of that chisme (gossip) business that is still unresolved).  It made me excited to see the bishop handing out copies of Preach My Gospel.  Does the ward back home use it a lot?  I guess I wasn’t paying attention.  The sister who teaches our New Member Gospel Doctrine class, Adriana Apolinario, is in charge of getting the new ward missionaries up to speed.  She is an ex- missionary and is very excited to be back in the obra misional (missionary work).  It looks like they will just focus on teaching the new member discussions.

Well, this will be the last week for Elder Castro.  He’ll be home next Tuesday eating breakfast at his house (he has to get to the airport at 4 am).  I really am enjoying myself. Elder Castro has been my best companion since Papa Gonzalez.  I heard Elder Gonzalez was released as Zone Leader. He is going to train for his last two transfers which means I am no longer his "unigenito" (only son) as he likes to call me.

Well, it looks like you had a fun birthday on the lake.  Dad looks very distinguished in his hat.  I love you all.  I’ll talk to you soon.

Girndle the Gruñón 

Special Birthday Feely:
Well, know that Elder Catro is leaving, I  will be left to show my companion the new sector.  This will be the first time I'll be left in a sector.  I've been thinking about who I know that could be a cool companion and I realized almost everyone I am friends with in the mission is leaving this transfer or will be leaving in one or two.  Now I am the old missionary (10 months this last Friday).  Everybody thinks that I am going to get bumped up in seniority when Elder Castro leaves.  It is kind of scary.  If they give me a junior companion, I think we are just going to knock doors all day because I won't know what else to do.  I am not sure what I am trying to say exactly, but the mission has seemed to get a little lonelier all of a sudden.  Sorry.  That wasn't a very happy birthday feely. 

A Very Happy District Meeting

Dear family,

Great News!  This week I received a whopping .9 cm stack of letters más 2 paquetes (plus 2 packages)!  It was a very happy district meeting.  I’ve taken to singing the Mail Song from Blue’s Clues as the Zone Leaders arrive with the mail.  ♫ Here’s the mail, it never fails...

Well, this week we found a new investigator named Allison.  She is a friend of Génesis. She was studying medicine until she suffered from kidney failure.  She has quite a few medical problems, but has been very easy to teach.  She is really intelligent.  It is nice not to see that glazed-over look in an investigators eyes as you try to explain the Book of Mormon.  "So what you’re saying is the Book of Mormon is a summary of the Bible?" That’s what most people think after we explain where the Book of Mormon comes from.

Junior Apolinario, left

We had an unfortunate gossip incident this week with our little member friend named Junior.  He has a lot of free time on his hands, so he always accompanies us so we can go visit homes with only sisters.  One of the down sides of teaching so many lady investigators, we learned this week, is that Junior falls in love with all of them. Whenever we need to find him, we just go looking in all the homes of our investigators and he always turns up.  

Anyway, he is not all there, so when the ladies did not find him all that interesting, he started spreading stories about how Elder Castro was in love with them and was plotting with some of the members of the ward to come back and marry our investigators. He started sharing his little stories and things kind of got ugly between several of the ward members.  We had to get the stake counselor involved and things are all settled now, but I am afraid we will not be doing anymore visits with Junior.  The ironic part, though, is before any of this had happened I was assigned to give a message on chismes (gossip) for the spiritual part of Faro this week.  Elder Castro definitely made good use of that opportunity.  I found a pretty good scripture in 1 Tim 5:11-15 that suited our situation well.

We went to the Mall del Sur today and talked with some of my old missionary buddies, so hopefully next week I’ll be able to get some pictures of the first weeks on my mission to you guys.  Today was Elder Castro’s penúltimo (2^nd to last) P-day.  Just 12 days left before he flies back to Bógota.  

I was very glad to get updated on all of your adventures since Mother’s Day.  I really like the book you sent, Mom.  A lot of cool dudes talking about prayer.  I have been able to get some good material from it.

Well, I’ll talk to you next week.

Love, Grant

A rather memorable night

Dear family,

I guess I had better send you a long one.

Well, this Sunday we had a rather interesting fellowshipping activity.  Every Sunday here, Amazonas 1st Ward puts on a ward activity called Faro.  Someone gives a little spiritual message and then everyone plays games designed to develop ward unity.  The spiritual part last week was rather genius, in my opinion.  The hermano who is in charge of putting on Faro started the night by telling everyone that this was a night that would change the nature of the ward forever.  The plan was to make everyone start bawling like a baby, thus forging long lasting bonds of friendship by sharing such an emotional, potent mutual experience.  To achieve such an exquisitely emotional atmosphere, we watched a movie called Las Familias Son Eternas (Families are Forever).  It dates back to when all the church media was on little slides and you played a sound track that made beeps so you know when to move the filmstrip. 

The first time I saw this movie I was on an exchange with Elder Ruiz.  During lunch he put this movie on for the family to watch.  As the mamita served us the food, I had to wipe away the tears, while mumbling, "Gracias por la sopita, hermana, fue muy rico" (Thank you for the soup, Mamita.  It was delicious).  It gets to me every time, so when I saw they were starting it at the ward activitiy, Elder Castro and I ran to the back to take cover because we knew an emotional bombshell was coming.  It got to everyone.   Afterwards, Elder Castro and I had to search around the church and round up everybody who had left during the movie.  We would tell them, "It’s alright.  You can go back in.  Everybody is crying." 

After that, to lighten up the mood, we played a game called “Lamanitas,” where if you don’t say a certain phrase right, word for word, people get to draw Lamanite marks on your head with lipstick.  All in all, a rather memorable night. 

Noemi, Joao, Meylin, Dioselina

Do you remember how I told you about Joao last week?  (we don’t remember)  He is the son of our favorite mamita, Hermana Dioselina.  This hermana has always been super active since she was baptized, but she has never really been able to enjoy being a member of the church with her family.  Recently, Joao told us he was interested in taking the discussions.  We are trying to finish up all the lessons quickly because Joao is leaving in a week and a half for a karate tournament in Paraguay.  He spends most of the day practicing, so many of our appointments are in the morning.  The only problem is Joao likes to wake up a wee bit later than the missionaries do.  It takes a family effort to raise him from the dead to come listen to us.  We were very pleased to find out on Sunday morning that Joao had woken up by himself and was already to go to church!  Hermana Dioselina thanked us afterward and told us that being able to chat together with her son on the short walk to church had made her whole week.  It was nice to hear this from her since she does so much for us.

Obispo Rafael Tigre and Carlos Valdez

Well, thank you for the birthday picture.  One of our investigators learned it was my birthday and decided to give me some boxers with a dragon on them.  She told me she got them because she knew I didn’t have any like that.  It was a little difficult to explain why I couldn’t accept her gift.

We’ve just kept busy here in Amazonas.  Elder Castro has taken on the determination to finish his mission running faster than ever.  I hope to hear from you soon.  You are all probably out of school by now, aren’t you?

Love, Brother Birthday Boy

Just pictures...

Hello Family,

Sorry, but I don’t have much time to write.  I figured you would at least like some pictures.  I will try and cook up a nice, long letter for next week.  Je Je

Love Nan

From the top of Nan's house in Las Amazonas, Guayaquil

Grant's new companion, Elder Castro from Columbia



Happy P-day / D-Day

Hello Family,

How are you all?  I guess school is just about over.  When is everyone’s last day?  Are you excited for the break?

We had another good week.  We just had transfers, so it looks like I will be with Elder Castro here until he finishes in five weeks.  Every time we see a plane fly overhead he sighs and says, "Hey, llave (that’s Colombian speak, I think) look, there I go."  It looks like we already have a few people to work with in his last few weeks.  Last night, two of our favorite mamita’s grown children, Vaneza and Joao, decided to start accepting visits from us.  We also started teaching Kiara, Génesis´ cousin.  She is really shy, so we have been trying to find ways to get her to participate more in the lessons.

Thanks for the BYU lacrosse update.  I am glad they did so well.  They have a lot of really good club teams.  I think their rugby team is pretty good, too.

Sorry, but I don’t have much time to talk.  We just got back from a mission-wide leadership training for Elder Castro and we still need to do all of our other P-day duties.

Please send Holty a happy P-day D-Day!

Well, I hope to hear from you all.