HEY!!
Happy Monday everyone! Its a day I look forward too.
Thanks for the updates on everyone mom and dad. So great to hear about all the girls and the kiddos, about the things every one is doing. Very good to hear about that all. I pray for you all every day.
Questions first so I dont get to the end of the email and see that im out of time. sorry about that there is just so much to write about I just forget about the questions that are asked. But ok. My apartment is decent. The last one we were in was nicer. We live on the 5th floor of a 6th story building so climbing the stairs at the end of the day is kind of a pain. But hey, its not like crossing the plains. The inside is barren. There are lots of windows but there are super tinted so people cant see in. but its nice because you can open them and have the wind cool the apartment down. It rains a ton here and the windows arent sealed with anything, so the tracks the windows run on, fill with water and then it spills over the edge, and floods our apartment. On the 5th floor. didnt think that was possible. The kitchen is ok. The sink doesnt work it just drips. before it dripped very little, then I kind of fixed it and now it drips a lot. haha i think we are going to have to call the plumber. My bed is nice and we have mosquito nets so thats good. My room where I keep my things is big. My bathroom is solid. Good shower too. There is a laundry company just right by our building that we take our laundry to. Its about 4 dollars for everything. Not bad. they do a really good job with my shirts too. We get food SO much. This place is still the coast but its a lot nicer than esmeraldas, so people are still really nice like coastal people but they have more money and can give more food. Its a pain! I mean its good and i like it, but I am ALWAYS full. Almost to the point of throwing up full. The ward is great! It just recently got made from a branch into a ward, so everyone is excited to work and help us out. The bishop is the man. He is really organized, he has good leaders that surround him that magnify there callings, and he speaks very directly. He is maybe 30, with a cute little family. His little boy always brings me oreos, every time I see him cuz I gave him a bunch of tootsie rolls and a couple of air heads from the package you sent. Its about connections and networking, right mom? :) The ward has about 200 people assist every week, which is way strong. Lots of really good families. The bishop pushes hard to get temple trips in every month and a half. They just went to Guayaquil and they are already planning the next one. That is so great. And almost everyone went. Filled a couple buses. The other missionaries are a stones throw away from our house. well, never tried it but its pretty close. Thats really nice. We eat lunch together every day so we are always talking and we know eachothers investigators. its super handy. The ward mission leader has his mission call to Lima Peru. He is basically a missionary and accompanies us a lot. He does his job and makes our easier. Santo Domingo is the province that La Concordia is now a part of. The main city is called Santo Domingo, but we are in La Concordia. A city of about 40,000 i think? I think i heard someone say that. Anyway, the majority of the people that live here work in the fields that are a little bit outside of the town, harvesting Palm oil. THere is a refinery about 20 minutes away. Not quite sure what they use it for but its big here. Its inland about an hour and half from the beach, but still has the feel of the coast. Today we went to a forest reserve. It was pure jungle. Straight like Emperors new groove with all sorts of weird looking bugs, swarms of nats and cool plants. supposedly there was suposed to be animals but we didnt see any.
This week went really fast. Probably the fastest one of the change. It went really well too with quite a bit of success. With the elders before me, the first week I was here, we baptized those who were ready and then looked at the people we had to teach and there was no body. But, this week, I actually felt like we have solid people who we are teaching, a bunch of contacts that we can fall back on, and full agenda just about every day. This week we didnt really do that much contacting because we had appointments with investigators or contacts. Finally starting to see a little bit of growth/success. we have a couple of baptisms lined up. But a couple of frustrations. So we are working with a lady, a reference we got, her name is Isabel. She got married about 40 years ago in a small little town, back when they didnt keep good records, so now she doesnt show up in the Ecuadorian registry. supposedly the civil registry where she got married was burned down a week after they got married so the records were lost. She lives with her husband but they just basically share the roof to sleep under, nothing more. But, after all the work we have done, and the desire she has shown, now the assistants say she cant get baptized but there is no proof that she is married.. UH! Frustrating. But, we are going to try and find some sort of paper from somewhere.
Also, quick story. We were looking for a reference, and knocked on this ladies door. we contacted her, shared the first lesson quickly, and left her with a pamphlet. We bounced and kept looking for the reference. Well we come to find out that she is friends with a member, Hermana Ana Bella, who, is the female bishop in the ward. always the first to help, donate, serve, show up. Plus she cooks really good and makes shakes that are really good. anywy, we went back with Ana Bella to visit her. We got close to the house, and this lady, Digna was outside running around screaming for help. We asked how we could help. She said the wind had blown her tin roof off. A massive storm was rolling in at the moment, in fact right when we got there, it was just starting. anyway, us, and the neighbor climbed up on the roof and fixed her roof. There was no way that the short neighbor could have done it without us, and the little old lady couldnt have done. We fixed the roof in the rain, right before it started to poor. We got down, went in and taught about the book of mormon. she cried and said that she knows god sent us there in that moment to help her. She´ll read the book of mormon, she is Pilas. (a word used here that means smart, knows what she is doing) Anyway, I was amazed, looking back on the experience as to how we were guided there too. Just the small little things that happened before we went, that made it so we showed up right at the right time. Truly we were guided that night.
we are having success. all is well and we are keeping on in the work of the Lord.. as are you all! I love Him and I know He lives.
JAGE
Here are some pictures from last P-Day.
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