[Some of the symbols come through differently. Look for the patterns and you should understand it. -- Ed.]
Hola familia!!
I cannot relieve that I{m already almost at the end of my first cambio. (exchange? Isn{t that what we use in English? Okay, a little scary how fast this knowledge is disappearing….or just becoming more dormant. I guess that{s okay. I think I generally think in Spanglish now. ) We{ll be changing back into our trio this week on Wednesday when Hna Castro (the one volunteering from the ward) leaves. But one of the hnas in the other companionship will be going home at the end of the exchange, and a couple days before someone else arrives, so Hna Ramos will move over to working in that sector. At least it{s all in the same house and ward.
This past Friday, we had 4 baptisms shaping up for Saturday evening. We{re not really sure what changed the minds of the younger boys, but as it turned out, only 2 were baptized. I{m hoping and praying these two will not be swayed by the rebelous attitude of their older brother, who said “I{m not going to be baptized-I{m catholic”. Their mother will pretty much surely be baptized, so I{m going they{ll go ahead and do so at the same time as her.
Two others were baptized from our investigator pool, as well as two from the other sets of missionaries in the ward. Wilson Briones, 21, is part of a family that is almost all new members now. They have a goal to get to the temple and be sealed in a year. There{s still a couple siblings that haven{t made the decision to be baptized yet, though. I guess if the time comes and all haven{t gone ahead, you just go with the part of the family that does want to be sealed together? Que triste without the whole family! (Thank you so much for that blessing, for that covenant you made long before I was en route to this world. I know it makes a difference in how we view and treat each other in the family.) The other, David Garzon, is the nephew of Wilson, and his little sisters are already members. His mother and father are still working on the getting married part.
One thing that complicates such matter here is that often the fathers travel a lot for work, so they{ll only be at home for a very limited time. We definitely have the process down of telling people how easy it actually is to have a civil marriage. The main struggle is that it{s a cultural norm to live with someone for years and years and not marry. Even then, people will say they aren{t sure they want to get married, they don{t know each other well enough, etc. Many times, it{s just clear that they think, we{ll, I{m not sure what (or who) will come up, and I want to be available. I think there{s also a stigma that there{s somehow more problems with marriages, or, well, it{s just harder to get away, because you{d have to go through a divorce process, not just leave. The funny thing is that many times we first talk with the woman and she claims the man doesn{t want to marry but when we sit down and teach them both the Law of Chastity, the man commits readily and then the woman admits that she still doesn{t want to.
Back to the baptisms. We started late, as we waited for all of them to arrive, and during that waiting time the ward mission leader asked me to give the talk. Dad, I really don{t think I{d be able to claim you as my father if I didn{t share 2 N 31:20. That really is such a good scripture. Hna Castro did a special presentation, showing pictures of Christ while we listened to Greater Than us All. The Spirit was really strong. It was really neat to then witness 4 baptisms, especially with the families of the part-member families there. We four also sang the primary song I like to look for Rainbows…in Spanish, of course. Funny, I just now remembered that I sang that at my baptism, too. (Speaking of primary songs, Mom, we sang Scripture Power in the MTC. I´m not sure why some people already knew it, but during one of the firesides or devotionals, we had this all music meeting, singing a bunch of different songs, including that one. I haven´t experienced it with kids, but it was pretty powerful in a room with 2500 missionaries. We even did the action of raising up the scriptures together. Chevere. ) It was almost better the next day to see them all confirmed at the beginning of sacrament meeting, completing the process. The Spirit was really amazing, and of course it is neat to hear the blessings for the individuals. A couple of the blessings talked about serving missions, including that of the hermana who was baptized. We especially thought those parts were great. I loved most just seeing the new members smile with that glow of feeling so clean, so good, and knowing it{s right. I was worried a little the night before that Wilson didn{t really seem very excited, observing his body language before and as I spoke to all of them, because even though he did smile, it seemed more like a response to my efforts to fire smiles at each one, rather than something from within. Sunday, though, after his confirmation, he was wearing his very own beaming sunshine face that just cannot be contained when you{re so full of the joy of the Spirit. Isn{t the Gospel wonderful!?
As it turns out, I usually read your letters afterward, so at this point, I don´t really have time to tell you much about food. But I haven´t been really sick yet, and I generally think it´s really good. Rico es la palabra.
The first time you sent mail, dad, both arrived on the same day, so I think it all balances out.
CONGRATULATIONS ANITA AND MATTHEW AND SHANA AND MARK!!!!!
Thanks for letting me know, Mom and Dad!! I love their names, too!!
Hna Sue
Ecuabit: I think half of the world´s population of dogs is in Ecuador. Everyone (and their dog) has a dog. Really. The other day as I stood on a corner, I easily counted 10 dogs, just wandering around the sidewalks, in my view. I haven´t been bitten, yet, though. They just lack the price is right. haha
I cannot relieve that I{m already almost at the end of my first cambio. (exchange? Isn{t that what we use in English? Okay, a little scary how fast this knowledge is disappearing….or just becoming more dormant. I guess that{s okay. I think I generally think in Spanglish now. ) We{ll be changing back into our trio this week on Wednesday when Hna Castro (the one volunteering from the ward) leaves. But one of the hnas in the other companionship will be going home at the end of the exchange, and a couple days before someone else arrives, so Hna Ramos will move over to working in that sector. At least it{s all in the same house and ward.
This past Friday, we had 4 baptisms shaping up for Saturday evening. We{re not really sure what changed the minds of the younger boys, but as it turned out, only 2 were baptized. I{m hoping and praying these two will not be swayed by the rebelous attitude of their older brother, who said “I{m not going to be baptized-I{m catholic”. Their mother will pretty much surely be baptized, so I{m going they{ll go ahead and do so at the same time as her.
Two others were baptized from our investigator pool, as well as two from the other sets of missionaries in the ward. Wilson Briones, 21, is part of a family that is almost all new members now. They have a goal to get to the temple and be sealed in a year. There{s still a couple siblings that haven{t made the decision to be baptized yet, though. I guess if the time comes and all haven{t gone ahead, you just go with the part of the family that does want to be sealed together? Que triste without the whole family! (Thank you so much for that blessing, for that covenant you made long before I was en route to this world. I know it makes a difference in how we view and treat each other in the family.) The other, David Garzon, is the nephew of Wilson, and his little sisters are already members. His mother and father are still working on the getting married part.
One thing that complicates such matter here is that often the fathers travel a lot for work, so they{ll only be at home for a very limited time. We definitely have the process down of telling people how easy it actually is to have a civil marriage. The main struggle is that it{s a cultural norm to live with someone for years and years and not marry. Even then, people will say they aren{t sure they want to get married, they don{t know each other well enough, etc. Many times, it{s just clear that they think, we{ll, I{m not sure what (or who) will come up, and I want to be available. I think there{s also a stigma that there{s somehow more problems with marriages, or, well, it{s just harder to get away, because you{d have to go through a divorce process, not just leave. The funny thing is that many times we first talk with the woman and she claims the man doesn{t want to marry but when we sit down and teach them both the Law of Chastity, the man commits readily and then the woman admits that she still doesn{t want to.
Back to the baptisms. We started late, as we waited for all of them to arrive, and during that waiting time the ward mission leader asked me to give the talk. Dad, I really don{t think I{d be able to claim you as my father if I didn{t share 2 N 31:20. That really is such a good scripture. Hna Castro did a special presentation, showing pictures of Christ while we listened to Greater Than us All. The Spirit was really strong. It was really neat to then witness 4 baptisms, especially with the families of the part-member families there. We four also sang the primary song I like to look for Rainbows…in Spanish, of course. Funny, I just now remembered that I sang that at my baptism, too. (Speaking of primary songs, Mom, we sang Scripture Power in the MTC. I´m not sure why some people already knew it, but during one of the firesides or devotionals, we had this all music meeting, singing a bunch of different songs, including that one. I haven´t experienced it with kids, but it was pretty powerful in a room with 2500 missionaries. We even did the action of raising up the scriptures together. Chevere. ) It was almost better the next day to see them all confirmed at the beginning of sacrament meeting, completing the process. The Spirit was really amazing, and of course it is neat to hear the blessings for the individuals. A couple of the blessings talked about serving missions, including that of the hermana who was baptized. We especially thought those parts were great. I loved most just seeing the new members smile with that glow of feeling so clean, so good, and knowing it{s right. I was worried a little the night before that Wilson didn{t really seem very excited, observing his body language before and as I spoke to all of them, because even though he did smile, it seemed more like a response to my efforts to fire smiles at each one, rather than something from within. Sunday, though, after his confirmation, he was wearing his very own beaming sunshine face that just cannot be contained when you{re so full of the joy of the Spirit. Isn{t the Gospel wonderful!?
As it turns out, I usually read your letters afterward, so at this point, I don´t really have time to tell you much about food. But I haven´t been really sick yet, and I generally think it´s really good. Rico es la palabra.
The first time you sent mail, dad, both arrived on the same day, so I think it all balances out.
CONGRATULATIONS ANITA AND MATTHEW AND SHANA AND MARK!!!!!
Thanks for letting me know, Mom and Dad!! I love their names, too!!
Hna Sue
Ecuabit: I think half of the world´s population of dogs is in Ecuador. Everyone (and their dog) has a dog. Really. The other day as I stood on a corner, I easily counted 10 dogs, just wandering around the sidewalks, in my view. I haven´t been bitten, yet, though. They just lack the price is right. haha
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