When Bad Things Happen to Good People - New Year 2016

Apparently these are built and then burned in the streets - along with a whole bunch of others -
for New Year.  People pay 50 cents to have their picture taken with them.

Jacob!!!!! My little brother!! Congratulations on the baptism man. That is super great. You have just made one of the biggest decisions in your life - and you made it right. Love you lots little man! All grown up and a member of God´s kingdom here on the earth! I hope you never ever forget about that day. it is a super special one, one that I would have loved to have seen. Just remember to hold on to those covenants you made, and you´ll do great!!

Well, let me tell you a little bit about my New Year. It was actually super awesome. In the building we live in, we got permission from the lady that owns it (and the president of the mission) to go to the top balcony for New Years Eve. I told you about how they destroy these sort of piñata thingies in the street, but the people here know how to celebrate. We were on top of that building, and we could see all of Guayaquil city around us. In every direction, you could see fireworks going off, just like the ones on the 4th of July. And there were tons! Sometimes people would light them off right next to our building, and we were almost deafened by the sound! It was really one of the neatest New Years I have ever had. The best part was right as the countdown was going, the people beat apart their piñata thingies and lit them on fire with gasoline and roman candles. (fireworks). When it happened, almost literally the whole street went up in flames! It was nuts, and I was pretty glad I was four stories or so up in the air. (thats about as tall as the skyscrapers get around here) Also, someone lit a nearby mountain on fire. That was a little sketchy, at least until one of the members told me that happens every year haha! Then for the rest of the day we just stayed in the house and that was it.

So, a quick spiritual thought. Something that my companion and I joke about lately is the pregunta: why do bad things happen to good people? It all started when I asked him that when I accidently spilled my soda in KFC. Since then, we have been using the phrase a lot for different things. But I had to look at it in a spiritual way at some point. Why is it sometimes that we run into things that knock us down when we are doing everything to keep the commandments and live the way Heavenly Father wants us to? I have found a couple of reasons why. One, because sometimes its bad luck haha! But another is that there needs to be opposition in all things. How would we know the good times from the bad if we had never had either? How would we know what happiness is if we had never felt sad? 2 Nephi 2 talks about that in the scriptures. But another reason I have found is that it helps us recognize how much we need to rely on our Savior to help us out. In some circumstances, everything is out of our hands, and we physically are unable to better our circumstances. But even if we think that all is lost, it is not, if we are willing to search for and find comfort in the grace that Christ so willingly spares us. We have tough times and trials so that we can learn to rely on Him, and when we do so, He will be there. Just to think about, but I love you guys lots, and I´ll talk to yall next week!

First Christmas in Ecuador

The best part of our Christmas!
He had a little trouble speaking English - and his Spanish sounded awesome!

Well, Christmas was great!! Best part was talking to my family back at home; shoutout to the fam! Love you guys so much. 

How did my Christmas go? Well, after talking to the fam, we ate Christmas dinner with two different families. (the members are so great here.) Not only did we eat dinner there, but lots of members gave us food for the night and stuff. I guess they just want to fill in the space that we left back at home with our own families and be ours in the mission (if that makes sense). After we ate and gathered all our supplies, we left to go stay the night with some other missionaries in our district. The whole time, we played card games and board games that the members let us borrow and watched a couple of Disney movies. (dont worry, we had permission from the President). We had to stay in all of Christmas day because people aparently just go nuts on the holidays. Still awesome though!

I hope you all had a great Christmas. I hope that we dont forget the importance of this special time of year. However, not only in this time of year, but for ever and always. Christ was born to be our Savior, but it is because of His life that we have reason to rejoice. What He taught us, what He did for us, cannot be bought with a price, but in reality is an infinite gift. I love my Savior!! And He loves me, just as He does with each and every one of God´s children. Love you all, and take care, and have an awesome New Year!!

One of these things is not like the others.....But he feels like he fits right in!
Jonny told us that when he goes to get his haircut, they all fight over who gets to cut that blonde hair!

We are so grateful for the families that help take care of our boy!
Jonny Skyped from this family's home on Christmas Eve.  He is a doctor in his area.  He looked over Jonny's shoulder and said, "Grande Familia!"

Jonny GQ photo bombing his companion.

Merry CHRISTmas

Hey guys! Uncle Steve and Aunt Katharina, if youre reading this, I got your package! I loved all the quotes from "What About Bob," "Rocky," and the prophets and apostles. I was super excited for all that, you guys are the best!

Holy smokes Christmas is almost here!! Down here, everyone is getting geared up for it - but they have their own way of doing it down here. I mean, sure they do all the gifts and presents and stuff, but the celebration, as I have heard, is something pretty wild. They take these Manigotes (or like giant piñatas) and demolish them with firecrackers. They build these things, like I said, as big as buildings sometimes and destroy them (or so I have heard) with explosives. It´s like a pyromaniacs paradise! Too bad I wont be able to see much of it - I will be stuck inside the house after 6:00 on the 24, all Christmas day, and all of new years day as well. At least we have permission to use the board games and stuff of members in the ward:) 

Christmas is something I have always looked forward to. I admit, I had never thought a ton about its relation with the Savior´s birth and whatnot before, but now, especially in the mission, it is everything. Just think, if Christ never came to earth, we really wouldn´t have anything. Not presents for one, but much, much more. 

I have thought a lot about what it really means to say that Christ is our Savior. Sure, because of his Atoning Sacrifice, death, and Resurrection, we can all do the same. That is amazing and wonderful to me! But He is our Savior of so much more. He is our hope. He is our joy. He is the strength we can rely on in our daily struggles. 

No matter how many, no matter how big or small, no matter what kind of struggles we are having, He can SAVE us from them all. He suffered so that we wouldnt have to. He took all of our sins and pains and transgressions upon Himself, so that we could cast them off. He is not only our Savior from physical death, but from everything. And He is there. He will ALWAYS be there, and not just this Christmas season. Never forget Him, because whether you realize it or not, He has never forgotten you. Love you all, and have a Merry CHRISTmas! 

Scriptures (The Word of God) Lead to the Love of God

LOGAN! Felicidades en tu llamamiento misional!! I am so excited for you man. Anyone else reading this: Logan is going to be the best missionary in the entire world-hands down. Georgia doesnt know what is coming for them! 

I got my Christmas package!! I tried to keep it safe until Christmas, but my latin companions opened it for me before I could tell them to wait. I have never been so excited to get ties for Christmas!! I was so excited for that, and everything else! Thanks so much mom!!

So, on the 24th I will be skyping home! It will be at 5:00 p.m. here - I do not know exactly what time that is back at home. I am so excited to see you fam!!! 

We have been working hard this past week with a partial member family. The mom is a less active member, and her three sons have been coming to church with her the past 2 weeks. They love the church and the kids want to be baptised (they are 9, 12, and 14), but the problem is that the dad is Catholic, and doesnt want them to be baptised until they "are old enough to make the decision for themselves." Well, I mean it is good at least that he lets them come to church and all, so I try not to complain to much. We have a lesson with the whole family tonight, and we will see if we can change his mind. 

Spiritual thought: I read 1 Nefi (Nephi) 11:25 and had a hit of personal inspiration. It talks about in Lehi's dream the Iron Rod leads to the Tree of Life and Living Waters. It talks about how the Iron Rod represents the word of God, and how the tree and waters represent the Love of God. The word of God, which are the scriptures, leads to the Love of God, so: if you want to feel more of His love in your life, all you gotta do is read the Scriptues, and they will lead you right to it. Love you guys and stay good!

What is it that you can give to Him this Christmas?

First off_ JACOB!!  whoot whoot man 8 Years old!!! Fetch youre so grown up man! How does it feel to be all "Accountable" and all that? I am so sad you know man. I can't believe i will be missing your baptism man! But I love ya bud. Youre making a big choice, and I know it is the right one bud. Keep up the good example!

Gosh I miss you guys so much! I got to help out a family set up their christmas decorations today, so at least that helped me feel a little bit not so far from home. Too bad they dont use real trees here - oh well. Nothing like Mountain Western Pines. 

Anyways, for Chirstmas we have been doing this thing as a companionship - you know that movie thing the church made of "a savior is born"? I think thats what its called in English, anyways. We have these little cards that say "ha nacido un Salvador," and we have been making contacts with them. Everyone down here believes in Christ, and so it has not been an issue starting the conversation there. We get into stuff like "what has Christ done for you?" or "what has Christ given you?"  and we get some good answers from the people. They love to talk about Him, and why He loves us and stuff. After a while, we put the question in front of them: "and what is it that you can give to Him this Christmas?" They never know quite how to answer that. We then share a brief message with them, give them the card, write down their information, and set an appointment with them for when we can talk with them next, and about the little message. It has been working great so far! We have found some good new investigators and brought them to church with us! 

I love the Christmas spirit - although it isnt quite the same down here as back home, it is something different and special. In a world like this, I, and others as well, are really starting to see that a message of Him can bring light to a troubled place, and hope where there seems to be none. Love you guys and hope you are all doing well! 

cPeace!

KFC for Thanksgiving :)

Hey guys!! How was thanksgiving? Dang i miss that - there isnt such a thing as thanksgiving here. We went to KFC, and that was about as good as it gets down here :p There was kind of a black friday, but nothing has been really crazy down here. 

They say the week from Christmas until New Years is the most wild though - apparently we arent allowed to leave the house for two days or something when that time comes. We have permission to try and bribe the members into lending us their monopoly board games and stuff to keep us company, I think. We will see when it comes to that. 

They make these giant paper machet people and blow them up with firecrackers is what I have heard goes down. But these paper machet people and stuff they make can be ginormous. There are some guys building an Iron Man that is taller than a 4 story building next to one of the churches in our zone, and they have only built from the belly up so far. I will try to take some pictures if I can.

We also visited an iguana park today. I will try to send pictures if I can! we got them to crawl all over my companions and I, which was pretty freaky at first, but turned out super cool! I havent gotten to eat one yet, or any guinea pigs (sorry Sarah), but I am still remaining hopeful.

As for lessons this week, we were able to set a baptismal date with Maria this week! We are shooting for the 2nd of January, if all goes well. She has been to church like 5 times, so we could baptise her this Saturday, but shes got some idea where she wants to start a new life with the new year. Sweet! I´ll take that any other day than not! We also have a baptismal date set for a lady who is less than two weeks from giving birth. (that one might fall for a later date). She is super excited about it though! We´ll see what happens there. 

Well, I miss you guys all so much! Christmas just wont be the same without all the wild adventures in the snow we have back at home, what with pulling sleds behind fourwheelers and stuff. Love you guys and miss you guys! Stay good yall

Ketchup and Mayonnaise

So, to start off, I think I am starting to get used to all the food here. Things that might have sounded a little weird or gross back home seem pretty sensible and idealistic here. My companion taught me this neat trick where i cook up a bunch of ramen and mix it in with ketchup and scrambled eggs and mayonaise. (spelling?) its the best! as a matter of fact, we pretty much mix ketchup and mayo into about everything we eat here. Rice and soup, pretty much. sometimes chicken. I dont know how they do it down here. 

Has Jack Betzold left to Hawaii yet? I havent heard anything on that. Anyone got an update?

Ok, so for the week: This Saturday, my companion and I baptised the brother of Thomas, Joseph. It was a pretty neat experience. He has been through some pretty rough stuff in his life, and we had some work to do to get him to the baptismal font. However, when he came out of the water, just like the others, it was cool to see the way he had changed, and how the past at that point was back behind him. This guy, if you didnt know, is a gym-monkey, and when he hugged me afterward i swear he almost broke me. But other than that, everything went pretty great.

We are working with a lady whose name is Maria del Carmen Tapia. Heres the thing. She has listened to the missionaries a few times, come to church with us 5 or 6 times, and we havent been able to set a baptismal date with her. Well, we set three, but her daughters are very against it, and each time she somehow fell through. In our christmas conference for the mission, we talked about how family history can be essential to helping others convert to the gospel, and so, that is what my companion and i are going to strive for. We have taught her about family search, which she is very interested in, and next, we will teach her about family history and temple work, and how she can do the work for her parents and family, of which many have passed on, in the temple - after she is baptised a member of the church. That might sound kind of funny, but that is the sort of inspiration and revelation my companion and i believe she needs to go forward with faith in the Gospel. 

Well, another week down, about to finish my first 11 weeks in the mission (tomorrow, excluding the time in the MTC). I am loving it, and I love you all and miss you all!