Conference = Christmas

Hello Family,

Well, this week we have started to teach some of Carlos’s friends that came to live with him from Loja.  They all seem really interested and like what we teach.  One of them even has already made a little protective case for his Book of Mormon.  We took them to see a baptism of some of the other missionaries and they really liked what they felt.  Hopefully, they can continue to progress if they can get married to their partners.  It should be really easy if it doesn’t take two years, based on their previous voting record.  I don’t know if I told you before, but Ecuador has recently passed a bunch of laws in the year or so that really slows down the marriage process.

 

I hope you are all looking forward to General Conference this week.  As a missionary, it kind of feels like Christmas again.  (I’ve learned to not associate holidays with the weather any more.)  Hopefully we can get our investigators to realize what an incredible opportunity it is to hear the Lord’s mouthpiece address the world this weekend.  The last conference sure helped me a lot in the CCM as I was looking for ways to explain particular concepts to investigators.  I have certainly made good use of all the material from the October session.  I have started a little collection of conference Ensigns (church magazines).  The other day I found one from '98.  I had forgotten how awesome Elder Maxwell was.

L to R: Elders Church, Despot, Keebles, Nuñez,
Ludlam, Nelson, Miller, Guanchaj (too short for pic!)

The members enjoyed our missionary activity.  Elder Nuñez, our branch mission leader and I made hundreds of little brochures for the members to hand out with pamphlets of the missionary lessons and an invitation to General Conference attached to the back.  We went over to mission leader’s house, designed the invitation, stuck in Men of the MoTab, and started manufacturing the brochures.  I think the members liked the activity.  They want to do another one.

Anyway, as part of another branch activity this week, we watched this Mormon comedy about how two young men escape from this military correctional camp and rob a car of two missionaries.  While waiting for a chance to leave the state, they pose as missionaries for a few days.  Unfortunately, after watching that movie, the members haven’t quite looked at Elder Nuñez and me the same again.

Well, I look forward to talking to you again next week.

Elder Lamslud

Apocalypses and Cheese

"Beware the Ides of March" 
Grant celebrates by eating a little Caesar salad

Hello Family,  How are you all this week?  The branch has an activity planned for this Saturday where all the members are going to go through their neighborhood and invite everyone to General Conference.  They seem excited to go out.  We are still working on getting more invitations and pamphlets for them to hand out.  We are also hoping to get a few good references, too.

This week, a lot of people have stopped us and asked us to go through and explain Apocalypses to them.  Everyone has moved into a little apocalyptic frenzy after the Tsunami in Japan.  This week, there was also a weird phenomenon where a halo appeared around the sun, which was visible in a few parts of Ecuador. A lot of people took this as a sign of the second coming, so I guess people wanted to know what to expect.  I guess the people do this a lot here.  It also happened after the earthquake in August and again when that 2012 movie came out, but the crazes usually only last a few days.

Elder Nuñez and his camera

Elder Núñez is going through a little crisis right now.  He accidentally erased half of his photos off of his camera, so he has been trying to figure out how he can get in contact with his old companions, members, or anyone who might have duplicate photos.  He moans every now and then, "Mis Fotos."

We have a Family Home Evening tonight with our super reference-generating abuela I told you about before.  Recently, she has been inviting us every week to pass by her house so that she can give us a brick of cheese.   We usually pass by her house about every other day anyway, but she specially sets up these cheese visits.  She knows it is against the rules to call us directly at our house so she calls our ward mission leader "to ask the elders to pass by the house for un quesito."(a little cheese)  I am not sure why she decided we needed more cheese, but we gratefully enjoy cheese sandwiches every night!

Well, hope to hear from you tomorrow at District Meeting.  Take care.

Love, Elder Ludlam

Coastal Elders Flee Tsunami Up to Cuenca

Hello Family,

How are you all?  This last week I got a big load of letters that had been building up.  I think I am updated up until Feb 20 or so.

The two elders farthest to the left,
Elders Soto and Winterton, stayed with us

I am guessing you heard about the big Tsunami that hit Japan.  On Friday, Zona Machala 2 came up to Cuenca because they put the whole coast on alert.  They gave the Machala elders 10 minutes notice to arrive at the bus terminal the morning of the Tsunami.  They had to pack pretty light.  Elder Soto and Elder Winderton stayed in our apartment in Totoracocha.  Because Elder Soto was so unaccustomed to the cold after spending his whole mission in the coast, he had to resort to wearing some of the left over sisters’ clothes for a few extra layers of warmth in the night.



Elder Ludlam shanked it one too many times!

We had a few problems with Carlos this week.  He has problems believing that he can keep the law of chastity.  I think he got ashamed because he tried for a while to hide from us.  I guess he realized we just wanted to help him because he eventually let us talk to him again.  He wants to make the necessary changes in his life, but is afraid it will be too hard.  He has a distinct ring tone and it goes off a lot, which has been very helpful in detecting him when he tries to leave the house.  He also lives in the same building, next door to a member, so whenever she finds us waiting outside Carlos’s door, she says, “Is Carlos hiding again?  Let me take care of this.”  She then marches into his house like his mom or something and says, “Carlos, get out here.  The missionaries are waiting!”  I am pretty sure that she has had a lot of direct talks with Carlos.

Elders Palacio, Sánchez, Ludlam and Nuñez

Anyway, we also found a new investigator who really likes LDS artwork, and has made a business of making reprints and selling them.  I think if she does not want to come to church next week, we may have to teach ‘Honoring and Sustaining the Law,’ especially copyright law.  It is, after all, a PMG (Preach My Gospel) lesson.

I did not really understand what your ‘cottage meeting’ was.  I really enjoyed the articles you have been sending me.  It really is true how as you start your mission, the Lord gives you an idea of the type of missionary he wants you to become, but is up to you to implement the things you know you need to do.

Well, until next time.  I will be waiting tomorrow to know how you all were on Feb 27.

Sincerely, Maldul Redle

A Week in Azogues

"Wherever I go, she is watching!"
 (Virgen de las Nubes in background--in Azogues)

Hello Family,

We just had our transfers yesterday. Élder Nuñez and I are on for another six weeks here in Totoracocha. We have been trying to keep a low profile as the Carnival Chaos continues.  If we stick to the back roads we usually stay pretty dry.  The only problems we have run into are marauding bands of super soakers on the way back home to re-outfit.  The primary danger is people hurling water ballons from their cars from the main roads.  Luckily, soccer is Ecuador's favorite sport and not baseball.  

Carlos, the young man I told you about last week, continues to progressing rapidly. Our only concern is that he will manage to survive el feriado (the holidays).  He left town to visit his family in Loja, so we won't hear from him for a few days.  He had another good experience at church even though half the branch took off after sacrament meeting to beat the mass exodus out of Cuenca.  Everyone from the Sierra goes to the beach during Carnival and everyone from la costa comes here to visit family and to escape the Carnival mayhem.

I really enjoyed my week long exchange with Elder Badger.  Azogues is having a lot of success recently.  A member just moved there from Guayaquil because he had the impression that he needed to come and help his family accept the gospel there in Azogues.  He got all of his family together for a family home evening and invited the elders over to share a short spiritual message and, lo and behold, the Azogues missionaries found 15 interested investigators in a single night.  Elder Badger was great to work with.  He is really excited about the work and has a way of winning the confidence of everyone he talks to.  I learned a lot from his example. He played safety for Notre Dame.

Thank you for the picture of Lia.  It was exactly what I was hoping for.  When I get back, Lia, we need to have a drag race.  You can have the Pontiac Grand Prix and I'll take the Nissan Rust Bucket.

Hope to talk to you all soon,

Élder Dudlán 

Five Days in Azogues!

Hello Family,

We just learned last night that President Montalti is doing a leadership training meeting in Machala for the next five days and all the senior companions are going to be there for the week.  I will be working with Elder Badger in Azogues for the next few days.  It is the only sector in our zone that is not in the city of Cuenca.  It is its own city about 45 minutes away.  Elder Badger is from my travel group and is a football player from Notre Dame.  It will be an interesting week.

Azogues with Elder Badger

This week we have been working with a young man named Carlos.  He has a pretty fixed schedule, so we have been able to have quite a few lessons with him.  He is excited about the gospel and is always ready for us to teach him.  He is a huge fan of the Liga, the futbol team here in Cuenca and we were afraid we would have to compete with La Liga every time we wanted to teach him because we had to cancel one of our first visits because he did not want to miss their game.  I think he felt pretty bad about canceling on us because during our next visit, he decided to listen to us and miss part of his game.  It was a big game between Quito and La Liga.  We told him it was alright if he wanted to finish the game and we could come back later.  He told us that he knew that what we had to teach was more important and that he could always watch the game later.  I think one of the biggest blessings of being a missionary is being able to see the people I’d least expect turn out to be sensitive to the sacred nature of the message that we carry.

This coming week is Carnival.  In Ecuador, they celebrate by throwing water, paint and chalk on everyone.  Here in Cuenca, the tradition is also to eat lots of chancho. Everyone bakes a whole pig and then puts it out in the middle of the street where everyone is having a big pig blood fight.  For this reason, most of the members have planned holidays in other parts of the country for this week.  It becomes socially acceptable to dump a bucket of paint on someone or hose them down while they are walking down the sidewalk.  We will have to keep on our toes.

I just got a bunch of letters today.  Since we won’t be having any district meetings, we got our mail earlier.  The Valentine's Day package made it up.  I need a picture of Lia with her new wheels.  I hope Luci had a great birthday this past week.

Thank you for all your support. I love you much.

Love, Elder Ludlam

Trip to Giron Falls

Hello Family,

All these elders squeezed into the truck
for a 20 minute ride down to Giron Falls.

Well, the family that we have been working with, Jessica and her brother, Jonathan, are progressing quickly, we have added Tatiana, the partner of Jonathan, to our little group.  When we first met her, she told us she was a Testigo (Jehovah's Witness)and that it would be a sin to listen to us, but Jonathan did not want to listen to us alone and asked her to accompany him to our lessons.  We started a conversation and she began talking about how she did not like the fact that she could not celebrate birthdays so we shared the Message of the Restoration with her and she liked it.  She came to church with us this week and liked that too.  Who would have known it was possible to give a missionary lesson to a Testigo?

A little fun in the cab...

We had a Valentine’s Day branch activity.  They had a big sound system set up and everybody danced.  All the different organizations were supposed to have a number prepared, but nobody except the Relief Society and Primary were ready, so there was a lot of improvisation.  The Young Men and Women prepared out in the hall way about five minutes before the performed.  The next day in Branch Council Meeting, the young married couples and the grannies had a nice friendly Mormon argument about whether or not there should be so much laughter in the Lord’s house of prayer.

Elder Nuñez and Elder Naño

Grant thought this was a nice gesture of hospitality--
charging tourists twice as much as everyone else.

Getting a little misty at Giron Falls

They called a new Branch Mission Leader because the old one disappeared somewhere in Machala.  The new guy is the Branch President’s son, so hopefully he will be a little easier to get a hold of.  The branch is excited about visiting our investigators.  Hopefully it will help the investigators to know that more than just the missionaries are interested in inviting them into our church.

Well, until next week, I hope to hear from you soon.  (The office mail strike continues)

Élder Lulán de Washington no la capital

 Hello Family,

How are things going?  Did you get my emails and pictures from last week?  A bunch came back as unsent.

P-day overlooking the city from Turi

Things are about the same in Totoracocha.  We are back in finding mode.  Our investigator who is progressing, Jessica Nacipuchi, has been out of town this week because her brother just got out of rehab.  She has been talking to him about what we are teaching her and he would like to hear our message.  We’ll see how it goes with him.

Los Elderes Lulán y Nuñez, Cuenca

This week I had got to see all the members from back in Monay.  Familia Patiño, the last family that Elder Salvioli and I were working with, got baptized and I got to go to the service.  They were ready to get baptized since our first visit with them.  At the end of the baptismal service, they both testified about how there was a new spirit of peace and respect in their home after they started listening to us.  I was glad I got to go and support them.  Elder Salvioli also told me Hernán blessed the sacrament this week.



Well, I hope they will have sent the mail tomorrow.  We are still in a mail famine.  It has been a few weeks since anything has arrived from Guayaquil. 

Love you all,

Élder Lulán de Washington no la capital (this is how people introduce me)