Ecuadoooooooor

Hola, Familia!!!!!!!!

I want to apologize for my inability to write in English.  Honestly, I can´t talk super great in Spanish, and the other day, I had to help out the chico in my ward who is going to the Fresno Mission talk to the woman in the mission office to get some questions answered, and I couldn´t talk in English either, so now I´m mediocre in two languages and fluent in none.  It´s fun.  I hope my emails make sense, and if you get anything out of them, know that I love you and the Lord and Ecuador and the Gospel.

This week has been a roller coaster!  Earlier this week, we could not find one of our investigators for forever!  We talked to his mom, family, neighbors, etc. and could not get in contact with him.  Finally after much prayer, we ran into him at his house on Wednesday.  He had been reading false information online about the church and started doubting his testimony.  Also, he has always had the desire to teach jóvenes, and decided to join a group of people who teach youth in preparation for their first communion in the Catholic church.  However, he told us that he wanted to teach them like we teach him--with the Book of Mormon.  haha Sorry, pal, that´s not possible.  We were able to answer most of his doubts, and we had a lesson that was so powerful.  The Spirit was incredibly strong testifying of the truthfulness of this Gospel, and he told us later that he felt like God was in his house.  That is the power of the Spirit and the power of faith.  I love this Gospel and I KNOW that this is the church of Jesus Christ.  The next day, he had his baptismal interview and still had some doubts/preguntas, but the elder giving the interview answered them all.  Now he is even more psyched than before for his baptism, which will be this Saturday!  I´m so excited.  Ricardo is great, and he´s going to be a great missionary someday.

This last Saturday, the 13th, we had a baptism for Kevin Pinela!  The younger brother (15 years) of Victor, who was baptized 3 weeks ago.  The best part of all was that Victor baptized Kevin!  Seeing an investigator pre-baptism to after with the Priesthood helping his family receive the Gospel is incredible.  It was a great baptism and his brother is just as animated about the gospel as Victor is.  Now we have to work with the rest of the family.  There are 8 kids total.  One girl is the oldest and then 7 boys.  The parents are Evangelicos, so they don´t want to come to church at all, but we´re working on building confianza so we can help them feel comfortable and have the desire to come to church.

Our last convert, Marcos, has been having some trials in his life, but he is such an inspiration, because through it all, he has remained strong and patient and knows that with God´s help he can do everything.  He stole my hair elastic off my wrist a few weeks ago and now wears it everywhere.

Random thoughts:  I was told twice last week that people thought I was 17.  Weird.  We walk everywhere and sometimes take the bus and sometimes taxis.  But usually walk.  They have moto taxis which is basically someone driving a motorcycle and someone can hop on back.  Looks kinda fun. haha  Everyone here drives motorcycles!  The best part is, you can fit a family of 5 on a motorcycle.  Who knew, huh?  Also, laws I took for granted: Don´t change lanes in the intersection and don´t burn trash.  Two things Ecuador can improve on.

I love you all and thank you so much for the package.  I finally got it this week!  I still need more pictures.  Today, Hna. Olson and I are going to learn how to make kites with the niños on the street of the familia of Victor and Kevin.  They´re always outside with their cometas and finally we´re going to learn how to be pros like the Ecuatorianos!  I can´t wait!