"pavo week 11/20/06" Catch-up#2A

Hola Familia!!

[Spanish phrase removed. RAH] It´s just more complicated to try to get all the acentos in there.  I guess I just need to develop faster spanish typing fingers.  Well, I´ve been out here for a couple weeks now and we´re working.  This week will be a little crazy since we have zone conference. Since our zone-district is really only 8 people, we go down to Embato, a 5.5 hour ride in buses one-way to meet with another zone and have the interviews and such.  We´ll leave way early in the morning tomorrow and won´t come back until late, late Wednesday.  Also, there´s elections again on Sunday, so we can´t go outside except to go to church (too much drinking and excitement among the people). Thus, we will have almost 3 days to do a lot of work this week.  We had to correct one of the elders yesterday and inform him that Thanksgiving is not the last week in the month, but the third.  We´re trying to convince them to make us a pavo, but it´s mostly a joke that I don´t think will happen.  Oh yeah, sometime I want to make swedish pancakes, carmel popcorn and orange rolls.  Can those be my Christmas list, or the part sent by email?  We can teach our inactive neighbor friends how to make orange rolls and use their oven. 
For the record, I survived primary again.  I can´t say I´m not relieved that we only have sacrament meeting next week.  I play the keyboard for that, by the way.  That´s interesting.  Better than nothing, though, I guess. 
Guess what!!??  The chapel (or room where we have sacrament meeting) was so good and full yesterday!!  There were 51 people.  Of course, the most exciting part is if there are investigators there.  Sorry about the bumming out of ellos last week, John.  I hate writing and reporting zeros, too.  Though, sometimes we just wish we could import good strong members from other areas to show people the examples of just how the church should be.  Sometimes people just get up and leave from sacrament meeting, mostly kids going out.  Then there was the slightly odd frantic waving of arms that the one excommunicated sister started doing when she thought the priesthood holders were going to forget to break the bread.  (I actually didn´t notice, Hna Weiss told me afterward.) If our investigator, who was sitting right behind the sister, has specific questions about that part, we´ll just answer in the most tactful and loving way possible.  It´s going to be so amazing here one day, though.  We are here to help get the people, the church, established in the gospel of Christ, so they are firm even in afflictions and when others are dissenting away, just like in the Book of Mormon.  Some people already know.  They already are that true and faithful.  How we love them!  Others are stuggling and learning, both from obedience and disobedience.  It really is a reminder that we are here to learn to make good decisions, to prove ourselves obedient. 
That reminds me of some awesome investigators I need to write about.  We are teaching the Valdez family, consisting of the father, Felix, and his two sons, Felix (18ish…soon a melchezidic priesthood holder, as we are aware) and Magno (12).  The mother died years ago and Felix did not want to be like so many people that just seek God when they have troubles.  Whenever he ran into the sisters awhile ago here in Tena, he decided that it was time to look more earnestly for God, though.  They live out from Tena a ways, up on this crazy hill that even a member´s truck couldn´t  get up one wet day.  There, they have a dream to establish a little zoo and be totally self-sufficient.  They have a variety of farm animals, including ginea pigs (people eat them here…hahaha), ducks, geese, chicken, rabbits, and fish right now.  Eventually he wants to have a field of ROUS´s.  By the way, they exist.  They´re really called guatuzas.  They´re pretty much like big rats. Well, that´s what they look like, only not quite as scary, big, or viscious looking as in Princess Bride.  Anyway, this family is awesome.  They already live the word of wisdom and avoid pornography, just because Felix learned from experience that that´s a better way to live.  They always want to know so much at once, ususally asking the perfect questions for the next lessons, so we have to remind them that they learn line upon line, not all at once.  They boys are so quick to obey and serve, but also totally attentive to the lessons, really taking it all in.  They want to be baptized the beginning of January.  I love teaching when people really want to learn!!!

In terms of Christmas, chapstick and toothbrushes would be nice.  Haha  I need the normalcy of those things. (is that really a word?  I don´t know any language, now. )  Really, I need some sneakers, but I could probably find some down here.  I´m not really sure what happened to my camera.  A favorite recipie collection?  Just fun stuff you find?  Wait, I really need some new knee highs, the thick kind like before is definitely best.  If you happen to still know where my frisbee is, that´d be fun to have. 
When do I recieve the list from you all??

Love you tons!

Hna Sue

Ecuabit:  Every little town has their own little celebration of the founding date with parades and such.  We even had fuego pyrotécnicos.  Yay!