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Monday, January 27, 2014

We got a baptism!

Hey mom!! How are you? How is the family?? You have not written me yet so I don't know?? How is school and everything?! Let me know what is going on!! Have you had any spiritual experiences lately??

Well my week was pretty good! We were able to baptize Jean Floyd and he is super awesome! He is 12 years old his Grandma owns this bar and there are always parties there, but she always gives us this super good drink! :)

I am really grateful that we could find him and he is a prime example of someone who has been prepared to receive the gospel! His family supports him and all but they do not really help him.  They don't want to listen to us and they are all caught up in the things of this world but Jean Floyd is awesome and I am really amazed with the faith that he has! He was 30 minutes late for his confirmation yesterday and we were a little nervous but I figure it is just because his mom took a while to get ready!

As for other things that have happened not a lot! Just the same old same old! We have been working really hard and we have found new people to teach it is just hard to find people who are willing to keep the compromisos and progress! But yeah things are good! My spanish is actually getting half way good! I can say pretty much anything I want or at least find a way to say it and so that is a good feeling! I just need to remember to have patience! Haha I have so much to learn it is not even funny but I am excited to learn everything! I feel like I am not going to have enough time in these two years to learn as much as I want! I guess we will see when I am done huh?
Well i don't have a lot more but I love you! Tell the family I love them!

Elder Guild

this is our zone! at the lighthouse

I wish these photos would have turned out better, but I love these kids!




Monday, January 20, 2014

Photos

These were taken like the 2nd or 3rd week into the mission
























Thanks for Christmas!

Mom I am not going to lie to you, your emails really are super great to me! Thank you for always emailing me and keeping me updated on everything! So my shoelaces broke so if you could send me another pair in my birthday package that would be great!! :) I actually have not been using my sunscreen or mosquito spray a lot.  There are not a lot of mosquitos here and well for the sun I just forget usually... I will wear it good for like a week and then I will forget for about... a month or so!!! haha but thank you! Sounds like the family is doing good for the most part!! 

Thank you for the Christmas!!!!

Haha I wont lie I did make myself sick! It was a lot of chocolate but I wont lie I loved loved it! And so did my companion.  I have fat weeks and skinny weeks... to say the least this was a fat week... haha our mommita last Sunday said I need to eat more because I was looking a little skinny and this week she told me that I looked like i have gained a little weight!! haha thanks for everything though! yeah I will definitely send some pictures next week!



Monday, January 13, 2014

A Test of Patience

Hey mom!! 
Wow! Sounds like you are doing awesome! Haha I am so glad that you guys are putting in an effort to be a little better! Really makes me feel so great! Thank you for the update on everything!

What time is it?

I love you mom! How was your week? How is your business going? I am excited to come home and you can teach me all about how to do it! You will probably be a pro by then right? As for as my packages go, I still don't have them! But the president is coming this week and I am sure I will get at least one of them then! Our week was good! We worked soo hard! We had numbers that I never had before! Elder Aliaga is a little shy sometimes and I think he is suppose to be the senior companion but he doesn't know the area very well and so I have kinda been taking lead and well I try to work super hard and do everything right.  It worked out really well.  We had 11 new investigators and 50 contacts but it is still way below the goals for the missions and sometimes i feel like the goals are out of reach which makes me a little frustrated because I feel like I won't every be able to reach it no matter how hard I work! But I guess we just need to have a little more faith work a little harder and we will get there! We had a better week this week so that is good.  On sunday I got a little down because we worked and worked and then no one showed up to sacrament!! It was like a punch to the gut! Sometimes it just makes me mad! Just need some patience! :) mas que toto we are keeping our spirits up.  Sometimes it is tough and frustrating but i am doing good! I feel like i have been in this same sector forever and if I don't get changed this next cambiar then i will be in the same sector for 6 months! I wouldn't mind going to Quito where it is a little colder! It is so hot sometimes but yeah I can handle it!
Love you mom tell the family that I love that and I am so glad that you guys are working a little better as far as spiritually goes!
Elder Guild

just some fun at a noche de hogar! (family home evening)

Monday, January 6, 2014

VAMOS!

Hey mom!! I am glad you got rid of that tree!! Sounds a little dangerous! Did Jacob like his birthday? So it sounds really cold there and here it is not cold at all.  Actually it is the hottest time of the year.  From now until about March I guess it rains a lot and is super hot.  People don't like it because it is so hot... I'm not sure what I would pick the super hot or the cold but it really is not too hot here.  I guess there are other parts of Ecuador like the jungle that are a lot hotter! My package was only a little over weight so i guess it only cost 5 dollars and they are sending it here to Esmeraldas.  
Elder Aliaga is very chill! He is an awesome guy really! Haha he makes me laugh! He is just so chill and goes with the flow! I don't think we could have an argument if I wanted one! He is really young though.  Only eighteen years old and he has only been a member of the church for about a year and a half now so he is not only young in age and maturity but also young in the church! Haha this makes the teaching interesting! He has actually only been in Ecuador for 6 more weeks than me! And our lessons are not quite the same as they were with old Elder Bautista! I guess I never really realized how good of a teacher Elder Bautista was! Elder Aliaga is good, he is just young and inexperienced as well as me haha but I cant really go through a whole lesson in full detail because my spanish is not that good yet and my companion forgets to really asks questions some times and so a veces our lessons are super short! haha so we have a lot of extra time but we are going to be working on our teaching skills and I hope it gets better!  

Elder Aliaga:

Our week went well! We taught a lot of lessons we even found two new investigators and we have one kid who is really progressing--well and I think we will be able to baptize him in a couple weeks! Elder Aliaga is super good with helping me with my spanish and I asked him if he would correct me whenever I make mistakes and he has been doing that so that is awesome! Haha he is a little shy and timid at times but something that might surprise you is I kinda don't have any fear when I go and talk to people! I know my spanish is not good at all and I cant understand completely everything but I just don't really think about it! The other day we were contacting and we knocked on a door and the lady was busy so we set an appointment for the next day! haha well they next day came and as we came up to the house there was this big black man with his shirt off in the door way and it was a little intimidating! So we were walking and I noticed Elder Aliaga was just going to walk right passed and I asked him what he was doing and he was like they look a little busy! So I just looked at him for a second then said vamos! And I went up to the man and was like hola como esta? haha he didnt even say anything but come in! haha so we came in and we taught these ladies and got two new investigators! And then later during the week the same exact thing happened and I had to tell Elder Aliaga vamos! And we ended up teaching someone new! So he is a little shy, but I think I will help him with that.  I always just think to myself to Just Do It! Really what is the worst that could happen! Most of the people in this world are pretty nice!  

This is Elder Gebs. He is from Evanston:


I get to see Elder Bautista about every Monday and every Thursday when we have district meeting! So that is cool we are good friends! I kinda miss him and the teaching was a lot better but Elder Aliaga and I are getting along great and I think both Elder Aliaga and I are going to learn a lot! They kinda threw the two of us out here with each other without a lot of experience, but I know it will be for the best.  Elder Baustista didn't really try to learn any English but Elder Aliaga wants to learn so we read things in english and spanish for that.  He doesn't know like anything so it is good! 
It makes me so glad to hear that your guys are reading the BOM I know that you will get huge blessings from that! Really when the family has the gospel and lives it they are so much happier and they have so much more power to withstand temptation and it is just awesome! Kinda crazy how awesome the gospel is! One scripture I like that is a good example of the effects of the gospel is 4 Nephi 1:15-18! 
Tell every one that I love them! I do not have very many emails this week so get on them for that!! I want to hear from you guys!!! 
I love you mom! Miss ya! :)
Elder Guild