Talk to you Sunday! Feliz Navidad

 

Dear Family,

How are you all this week?  I hope you are enjoying winter break.  Everyone here is asking me if it is snowing in Seattle.

Juan Reyes

This week we found a man named Juan Reyes.  He is kind of timid but has accepted a baptismal date.  He has been especially receptive to the idea of receiving a remission of his sins and pleasing the Lord.  We are really lucky to have found him.  We are having some problems with Nancy.  I think we are fighting some hidden Testigo (Jehovah Witness) influences that she doesn’t want to admit it.  She keeps inviting us to their meetings.  She wants a one for one deal.  I think we need to talk about the nature of receiving commitments and covenants from the Lord.

4 pm sounds like a good time to call.  I think you are two or three hours before Ecuador time.  I am not sure what I’ll do about shoes.  Mine are getting pretty "holy".  Missionary humor.

Sorry, but I don’t have much time to write.  Talk to you Sunday!

Feliz Navidad~

Elder Nano

Nan's question for family:  Why do I always have companion problems?  (I am hoping for some kind of motherly machete).

A Good Week in Cuenca

Dear Family,

Are the Evans the family that is from Cuenca?  If you could send a brand shiny new pair of army-strong missionary shoes, that would be a wonderful Christmas for Nan.  The camera hasn’t shown up either.  I was also thinking of something else I would like for Christmas.  In one of your last letters you wrote about how dad was recording violins.  I would like a Ludlam violin/Ava piano concerto to listen to on all my new music equipo (equipment).

We had a good week in Cuenca.  We found quite a few new people.  We met a new couple, Ciro and Nelida.  We went over to lunch in the house of  the Familia Cando on Tuesday .  They had invited over Ciro and Nelida, their friends, because they were having marriage problems.  They want a divorce, but we read to them in the Book of Mormon about the Doctrine of Christ and what we need to be save our souls (and their marriage).  Ciro had some problems about becoming like a child and not guarding rencor (holding grudges) and got kind of upset and left, saying that there was no alternative to divorce. 

Making Tacos with Elder Castro (2nd from left)

We kept talking with the wife afterwards and she told us that she had this feeling that there would be no happiness in getting a divorce.  She said earlier that week they had an appointment with the lawyer to finalize their divorce.  She said she knelt down to pray and plead that she would not have to go through with it.  When she got to the appointment, someone had forgotten the necessary paperwork which bought them some more time.  We haven’t been able to go to deep into the message of the restoration, but I think they felt the spirit testify really strong when we read the Book of Mormon.  The hermana agreed to meet with us tomorrow again and asked us to call the husband to try and get him to listen to us again.  When we called, he said that he had a conversation with his wife and they would both be looking forward to the visit tomorrow.  They are both ministers of their local congregation, but so far have been really open to listen to us.

We also had another reference named Nancy.  So far we’ve only been able to teach her once, but she came to church this week.  She is sympathetic with the JW’s but this week we did the Final Judgement in Gospel Principles (class at church on Sunday), so it was a really good opportunity to compare ancient and modern revelation side by side.  We’ll have to see how well she took it this week.  W also found a few young men in a part-member family called Sucuzhañai.  Javier, the son of 20 years, also came to church.  (Church attendance is twice as exciting in Cuenca).

Cristo Rey

I am afraid I won’t be able to do a pre-llamada (usually he calls us first to give us a phone number) this year.  You have to call here.  We are going to be encarcelados (imprisoned) again this year although this time it will be for even longer.  We have to be in the house after lunch on Friday and have to stay there until Monday.  We only get to leave for Sacrament meeting.  The number of the house is 011-593-87591154.  "011-593-" is the international code and 087591154 is the house number.  You have to get rid of the "0" at the beginning, though.  Looking forward to talking to you.  I don’t know if you want to send some questions ahead of time for speed and efficiency with our 45 min limit.

Well, love you a ton,

Mister Elder Ludlam

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 

Pasando con los Paisanitos (Hanging with the Country Folk)

Dear family,

Elder Marquez, Ludlam, Castro, Retuerto

I hope you all had a wonderful Día de Accion de Gracias (Thanksgiving Day).  I spent mine in Cuenca!  This transfer came as a shock.  I am in a ward they just recently created a few months ago called Las Americas.  Great News: Monay is now a ward!  My new companion's name is Elder Castro from Trujillo, Perú.  He has only been here about a week longer than I have, so we are still trying to figure out where all the members are. 

We have a few people we are working with.  We are working with the son of a member named Javier.  He used to be close to accepting the church, but his catholic wife doesn’t like that he is listening to us.  We are going to try and see what we can do for him.  We are also working with Rosa, the mother of two young daughters.  She was going to come to church this week but then left town, so we still need to figure out what happened to her.

So far, I have felt I am a much better missionary than I was the last time I was here in Cuenca.  Things are much more peaceful up here in Cuenca.

Well, I am looking forward to another Navidad Andina (Andean Christmas).  It has been great to see all these old faces again.  Make sure you give the Calamardita (little Squid, our cat) a good squeeze for me.

Love,

Elder “Douglas”

Well, this change came as a shock.  When I first learned about it, I was kind of sad I was going to be leaving Elder Johnson.  I guess this has happened a few times.  When you learn about a change, all those silly, petty differences no longer feel important at all and you kind of feel you lost an opportunity to be a better friend.  Then I slapped myself awake and said, "What am I talking about?  I'm free!"  I guess the last few weeks I did a lot to try and have a really good relationship with Elder Johnson.  I guess he reminded me of Elder Sanchez a lot.

When I first realized that that was where the relationship was going, I made a promise to myself that I would do whatever it took to make sure we could leave each other as friends.  I decided I'd find 20 things I liked about Elder Johnson, things that he did really well and that I could learn from him.  He was really good about jumping over the little barriers that people make when you first try to get to know them.  He also was aware of the investigators and remember the different people we talked to.  I geared myself up to try and watch and learn everything I could from him right when they changed us.  I guess I will have to try and follow his example here in Cuenca.  Those skills will be very useful considering people here in the Sierra are known for being very closed.

So far I have felt that I have been a much better missionary than I was the last time I was here in Cuenca.  I also found the great value of humor in a relationship.  One time when Elder Johnson was angry, he called up the district leader.  The DL asked us if it was possible to make each other laugh.  I thought it was really good advice.  I put in practice what you wrote me earlier, Mom, about forcing yourself to talk and it really helped a lot. If you are at least talking, then you have to work to be angry.  But sometimes, you need to make good feelings, too.

I made it another goal to try and make him have a really good laugh every day.  Having him beat me in chess provided many opportunities to put him in a good mood.  I am not really sure what went wrong.  I keep thinking it has something to do with passive aggressiveness.  I am still not exactly sure what that is, Dad, but I think that is what you used to talk to me about.  I think sometimes he would try to get a reaction out of me on different things and I would just say, "uh-huh" or a distracted, "Oh, wow."  I think that is what drove him up a wall.  I guess that was a much more painful way of learning what you had been trying to teach years ago. 

Turkey Week

Hello Family,

Is this Turkey Week?  I think starting this week, we are only going to sing the Christmas hymns for companionship study.  The transfer ends the day after Christmas.

We had a good week.  This past Saturday, there was a Stake activity.  The youth did a "pioneer dance" to Cotton Eyed Joe.  It was fun.  Jefferson, one of the kids we are teaching, participated with his friend.  Since the rest of the young men in the ward were not man enough, Jefferson and Joel represented two of the four young men who participated.  They really like Mutual (youth program).  They just asked them if they wanted to dance in the performance and they said "yes".

We have found some really good people this week.  During one of our lessons, we were teaching a mother and her daughter, Karol.  It was the second lesson for Karol, but the first for her mother.  I am not sure what the mother was expecting in the lesson but I think she was pretty impressed by what she felt about what we taught.  They seem to be a pretty heavy Catholic family.  She said that if her daughter received an answer to her prayer that this was the true religion, she could continue listening to us.  We asked Karol is she had read and prayed about the Book of Mormon.  She didn’t say anything at first but then started to cry and said that her father did not want her to continue with us.  We still need to figure out exactly what happened between them, but we are hoping to try and teach him to soften his heart like the mom.  I think sometimes people accept to listen to us because they think they will be able to poke their finger at our beliefs because of all the things they hear that other people say about our church.  Sometimes they are a little dismayed when they find that the Book of Mormon contains the purest form of Christianity they have ever seen.  I have taught a few pastors like that.

Things are going well.  We have got some good people for our program in December.  Things are pretty cool.  I am excited for the package.  Elder Johnson keeps beating me in chess.  He’s got me twice now.  If he was just beating me, I wouldn’t get so frustrated.  I think it doesn’t matter how many comebacks you can make if you keep making stupid mistakes.  It is kind of the house of cards thing.  Anyways, it has been fun, but I think we need to watch the board games.  Things got a little out of control last year on Christmas and New Years when we were locked up in our house and played about 10 games of Monopoly.  It got a little crazy.  We have just been playing the chess games over the span of several days during our free time.  For example, one guy moves while the other brushes his teeth.  I think we are going to have to limit it to a p-day activity because it has been getting a little too emotionally involved for me.  Sometimes I have trouble studying because I find myself staring at the board. Je Je

Well, hope to hear from you soon. 

Love Mr. Viktor

Feely:  Here are a few of the questions bounding around in Nan's soul:
In a relationship, why does it only need one smart comment to completely knock down the other 50 times you decided to just bite your tongue because you didn't have anything nice to say?  It is kind of like building a house of cards.

What does it say about you if you always feel someone is implying something about you but never comes out and says it?  Is that just your conscience freaking out or do some people have an innate ability for the implicit?

Internet trouble...

Dear Family,

How are you all doing?  I am sorry, but I don’t have much time.  I could not get into the internet for about half an hour.

We had a good week.  It has been weird.  For the last week, we have had all these unexpected people show up to church, but then they never come back.  It is a surprise batch every time.

Zona Puerto Lisa/Centenario

I liked your last few letters.  I don’t know why, but your last one reminded me of all those winter smells as I read about your holiday activities.  Burning fir wood, wassel, juniper.  I forgot about all that stuff.  Now I get a cold if the temperature drops below 80 degrees.  Actually, I don’t really ever know what the temperature is.  34-36 in Celsius.

Sorry I can’t write much.  I will send you a happy Victor picture to make it up.  Your last email about the smile got corrupted.  If you wouldn’t mind sending it again.

Love you all,

Mr. V

Caption for picture:  

Back: Elder Romney, Narvaez, Verduzco, Klingonsmith; 2do-Zuleta, Ludlam, Quishpee, Johnson, Díaz, Roviro, Demke, Juan Pedro, Whitney; 1ra-Brazo de Gomez, Lewis, Linares 

A picture, por fin!

Elders Johnson, Ludlam, Whitney and Demke

Famili!

How are you all this week?  I hope you are all well.

This week the feriado (holiday) took its toll on our program.  Everyone left town so we did a lot of looking for new people.  We might be getting a new house soon.  We don’t live in our sector right now so we want to move.  The new house has a nice, big view.  Hopefully we’ll get in pretty soon.

Feely:  I like what you said about singing in one of your letters.  I think I have gotten a lot better.  Before I just sang kind of softly so that way it kind of sounded like I was in tune with all the harmonics bouncing around and such, but I am getting to be a stronger singer. I sound pretty good in the middle of a South American sacrament meeting.  Elder Castro helped me with that.  He did not like it that I sang softly, being a military man and all.  He had no sense of pitch, but sure liked to belt it.  "Compañero, no quiero decirle otra vez, ¡tiene que cantar DURO!"

I had a really cool experience the other week.  I was on an interchange in another area.  The zone leaders called and said they wanted to come and see a few of the investigators of this area.  When they showed up, they came with Assistants (to the Missionary President), too.  I thought to myself, six missionaries, this is going to be a missionary sting. 

Anyway, that night they went around to a few different people.  For the last visit, we all gathered back together at the last house.  We couldn’t all fit in the house so we just set up a few chairs and sat in a circle and the rest of the Elders standing behind.  It was pretty cool to just see so many excellent missionaries teaching together, feeding off of each others teaching abilities while still having their own personal teaching manner.  Looking around, seeing all those white shirts together in the dark, I realized all those missionaries were my heroes.  After the interchange, I ran home and tried to get down on paper everything that everyone talked about.  It was a lot of good stuff.

Well, I hope to talk to you soon.

Love,

Elder Grant