Monday, December 28, 2009

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Hola mi querido familia!

SO....the best part about this week definitely was talking to you guys on the phone!!! It was great to hear everyone's voices and to hear that everyone is doing well :) I am doing great and working hard :)

After I talked to you guys we taught a few lessons and then went to dinner with some members. It was SOOO good! We ate real turkey! (and salad..that part wasn't so good lol). We ate SO much...and no rice! It was great :)

On Christmas day, it was just a normal work day. Except almost nobody was home and everybody was hung over lol. But that's why I love Ecuador! (I guess lol) In the night the 4 Elders in my house bought Avena Polaca and celebrated with that :) And we listened to a little bit of Mannheim Steamroller haha. It was fun :)

Something fun..but that made me a tiny bit homesick... Our neighbors bought a Bassett Hound puppy! It looks almost identical to Snickers when she was a baby, but Snickers had longer ears. I sat and pet their dog for like 5 mins and thought about home a little bit...and then got back to work lol.

On sunday we did a Secret Santa with some ward missionaries and our ward mission leader Jorge. I got a Guayaquil Temple tie tack and candy :)

Well, I think that's all for this week! I love you all SOOOO much! And I'm already excited to talk to you guys in May hahaha. Thanks for EVERYTHING you all do for me :)

Love,
Elder Beck

ps...I want to send you pics of ERod and I in front of the door to our house with the Merry Christmas banner and one of me drinking Polaca...but this computer doesn't have a USB port accessible. But hopefully next week! Love ya!

Monday, December 21, 2009

Temple & Baptism




Me at the temple and the Baptism of Oliver.

Feliz Navidad Familia

Hola mi querido familia!!!
Feliz Navidad this week! I can't wait to talk to you guys on Christmas Eve (Noche Buena here in Ecuador). I decided not to write so much today cause I want some stuff to be able to talk about on Thursday! haha

We had a baptism this weekend!!! Oliver Chillogallo got baptized. He is a 13 year old boy whose dad and bro are less active. We are working with them though haha. He was baptized by a member and it was great :)

We went to the templo last Wednesday for our zone conference! It was SOOOO great...and I understood most of it in Spanish! haha Pres Gamboa told us to focus our investigadores on the temple and eternal families instead of just baptism and we have been doing that and the people seem so excited to get baptized and be able to go to the temple. :)

Some American missionary's parents sent presents to EVERY missionary in this mission! I got a hymn book cover, a tie, and socks :) Pres. and Hermana Gamboa gave us banana bread :) It's been a fun week :)

I'll talk to you guys on the phone at 2:30 Ecuador time on Thursday...SO EXCITED!!!!!! Call me at the number I gave dad :)

Well that's all for this week...thanks for everything! Prayers, letters, love, packages, love, prayers...everything! I love you all SOOO much!

Love, Elder Beck

Monday, December 14, 2009

Lame computer...

Hola mi querido familia!

So...I typed up a huge letter telling all of the exciting stuff that has happened this week and then it wouldn't send....I love the computers in ecuador lol.

But...this week I was transferred to Guayaquil! Guess who my comp is???? Elder Rodriguez! haha I'm back with my dad lol. We are in Guayaquil in a zone called Prosperina in a sector called La Florida. HUGE sector with GIGANTIC hills lol. But its all good. We are working hard :)

No more time...sorry :( I don't like not being able to write alot. But I love you all tons!!!! Thanks for all the prayers

Love, Elder Beck

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Monday, December 7, 2009

Another week has come and gone...

HOLA MI QUERIDO FAMILIA!

I love you guys so much! This week has gone by so fast...like most weeks here! Sounds like you guys have been busy in North America, and I've been busy in South America too! haha Things are going great :) People here have been putting up Christmas decorations...it is different than the US haha. The biggest tree that I've seen in ALL of Babahoyo was like up to my shoulder. Things are a little more humble here, I guess. I'm gonna miss the 'non-humbleness' of Christmas decorations in the States lol. Like the decorations at the First Pres. Christmas Devotional. The conference center looked AWESOME! And it was fun to see the lights of Temple Square. I loved the music, too :)

So, I think it was mom that asked me about Maestro a while ago and I've been meaning to tell you guys about it. The Maestro is a TON of scriptures (more than 200) that we are supposed to memorize. It is organized by 'Millas' and I have memorized the first milla...which consists of the 1st Vision, the missionary objective, the last 2 paragraphs of the intro to the BofM, James 1:5-6, etc. I can't remember what else lol. Also, we have to study Preach My Gospel and do the activities and stuff. And when we're done, we pass it off to our zone leader. I'm working on it...it is hard to memorize scriptures in your non-native language lol.

Guess what?! We actually had service this week for the first time! lol We helped move planks of wood from one house to the place where the Hermano is going to live. It wasn't very hard work, but it was really hot lol. It felt good to help out a little bit too :) Maybe one day people will actually start saying that they DO need help....?

Today is 'Super P-day' !!! Which basically means that we clean the house for 2 hours instead of 1 haha. The last p-day of every change is super p-day. So the house is extra clean today! (Still not clean like home, but that's ok haha)

Hmmmmmmmmm.............what else do I need to tell you guys??????? OH YEAH! BAUTISMOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had 3 Baptisms this weekend :) They were the 3 daughters of the Ochoa family (the parents are ready to get baptized too, minus that the dad needs to get divorced from his former wife so he can marry his current wife....they are working on that). Anabela, Lucia, and Yorleni got baptized on Saturday and on Sunday were confirmed. It has been so awesome to see the happiness in their family increase as they have gained their testimonies. And the smiles of the kids as they got baptized were priceless! Love it :)

That's all that I can think of for this week...this letter seems shorter than other weeks? But I love you guys SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much!

Love,
Elder Beck :)