Elder Tomlinson 20th Birthday!
Hey family and friends! Hope you all had a good conference
week! I was able to watch conference in Spanish at the stake center here in The
Acacias. It was definitely a different experience trying to take it all in with
the Spanish that I know now. I did my best to keep up with it. So what I am
waiting for now is for the Conference Issue of the Ensign so I can see if what
I jotted down during conference made any sense or not! It was definitely kind
of hard to see President Monson in the state he is in. He has been through a lot
lately. Even during the Priesthood session you could see him struggling. He has
been such an important figure in my life so it was hard to watch that. Weve
been praying for him extra lately.
Funny thing about the people of Ecuador...they are kinda lazy
and just sit around all day. Conference was at the stake center and during
saturday morning and afternoon, there were maybe 35 people each time. Then
Sunday morning we went and the chapel and overflow was full! We even went
around and told everyone Saturday morning and they all said they werent going
to go because they wanted to sleep. It is definitely a lot different out here
than in the states!
Anyways... my week was a good one out here in the Acacias!
Our baptism this last week fell through. She drank coffee for the first time in
3 years one night for no reason! We know Satan is working very hard to push
back and stop our baptism dates. So we have been stopping by everyday to remind
her because she is going to get baptized this weekend. A lot of our investigators
are not quite 18 yet so we have been trying to go around and get permission
from their parents. We just got permission from another sister and she is going
to be baptized this next week too!
So how lunch works out here, Every week we eat with a
different family. It is usually a bigger family with youth, who is usually a
very strong family in the church here. This last week we had almuerzo with the
Portilla family. They are the ones we got Gabriela and Nicole as a reference
from who were in the pictures I sent home last week! They have a boy who is 12
and a daughter who is 3. They are such a funny family. The mom is Columbian and
the Dad is Peruvian. They always make great food and a lot of it.
Cool story from this last week. So we teach Gabriela and
Nicole(our recent converts) outside their house because their mom is very
Catholic and will not let us in the house. So we found out from Hna. Portilla
that the mom always sits upstairs with the windows open and listens to all of
our lessons with them...And she likes what she is hearing. So this last
Wednesday when we were teaching them, There was a little rival school fight
right on their street! Kids aged 12-17. They were launching big chunks of the
pavement and rocks at eachother! So we were sitting outside right in the line
of fire..and the girls had already run in. We were just kind of watching and
the MOM came out and grabbed us and let her in the house for the first time! It
was pretty monumental even with the circumstances. So we got to talk to her for
a few minutes and she is really nice. She invited us back that night for dinner
and cake because it was Elder Tomlinsons birthday! We can see the Lord working
in her and just need to figure out when the time is to ask and try to start
teaching her and seeing what her expectations are. The Lord works in mysterious
ways but the harder we work, the more blessings we get and see in our
investigators!
Other than that we have been busy contacting and talking to
people in the street trying to find and get new investigators. It gets pretty
hot and the days are long but I sleep well every night and am rewarded the
harder I work. We are getting ready for the rainy season in the next month or
so. It supposedly rains nonstop and in the streets the water gets up to mid
calf so that is going to be a new experience too.
Sorry i did not take many photos this week! These were from
my comps camera that we took on his birthday! This one is with a member who is
leaving on his mission to Colombia in 2 months! He comes and goes on visits
with us most days
We are having a multi zone training with the mission
president this week on wednesday so that is going to be fun as well! Hopefully
I will run into Elder Barba or Bolen from my district at the CCM!
Glad all is well! I
love you Mom!
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