More Pictures

Boots for the rain lol

A rainy day in Vinces

And A dry (but cloudy) day in Vinces

Me with David Medrano (that got baptized a couple weeks ago) and his family/cousins. He's the one in red (The pics from his baptism are the ones that are lost :( )

After the baptism of Matilde and her daughters. Not a lot of people come to the baptisms, but it's all good :)

ZONA LOS RÍOS FOTO DE LA GIRA MISIONAL

7 Months!

Hola Mi Querido Familia!!!

How's everybody doing up in North America? Great, I hope. Everything is still going great here in Vinces :) It didn't rain so much this week, which was good. But I know that more rain is coming....haha The rain doesn't stop until April or May from what I hear. So there's lots more rain to look forward to for me :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JOSH ON SATURDAY!!! I love you Josh! I can't believe he is going to be 4! All the little nieces and nephews will be so big when I get back haha.

As you might have guessed from the subject of this email, today is my 7 MONTH mark! WOOO!! haha I can't believe how fast the time is going by. I feel like I say that all the time...but it is so true!

This week we had our Zone Conference in Babahoyo in the chapel where I would go when I was there :) Elder Baum was there too. That was fun to see him. He is living in the same house where I lived, but in the other ward. Something special about this Zone Conference was that Elder Gavarett, the 1st counselor in the area presidency, was there! That was pretty cool and he talked for a LOOOOONG time haha. But it was good :) He gave us lots of new ideas. And he told us something interesting that I never knew.... Mission Presidents interview themselves for temple reccomends. The only signature on their reccomend is their own! Maybe everybody else already knew that, but I though it was interesting lol. He told us that to show to us how much trust the Lord puts in Mission Presidents and how much we need to follow the counsel of our mission pres :)

Could you please send me the recipe to make Apple Pie? Every week the RS does cake-making classes on Thursdays and they want to make Apple Pie. It's great for us Elders too, because we have Correlation (is that spelled right? Spanish makes me doubt my english spelling lol) with our ward mission leader and then after the meeting the RS gives us a piece of cake or whatever they made that day :) lol I'm excited for this week cause they are going to make BROWNIES!!!!!!!! yum :)

So, here in Vinces alot of traveling is done in Moto-taxis. They're kinda like big tricycles with one person in the front driving, and two seats in the back. Anyways, 2 times this week we were in a hurry at night to get back to the house on time so we went in a moto-taxi. And both times it was the same guy driving the same moto-taxi. That's pretty common cause Vinces isn't very big, but the problem was that this guy doesn't know how to drive a motorcycle. BOTH nights he got stuck in the SAME place where it's always muddy and you have to go fast-ish through it so you don't get stuck. This guy must be a slow learner cause both nights he practically stopped before entering in the muddy spot lol. The second night that we rode with him I said to E Morataya "I hope this guy knows how to drive a moto now" And we were joking the whole way home about how funny it would be if he got stuck in the same spot again... And, what do ya know? He got stuck there again! We were laughing SOOOO hard lol. ( I just re-read that paragraph, and it was a LOT funnier in real life...so........sorry lol. Just laugh when you read it, ok? Cause I promise, it was funny. Thanks haha.)

Mom and dad...has a package gotten to the house yet? Let me know when it gets there and if it's broken when it gets there lol.

This week, we were teaching this couple (not married, of course) Luis and Maribel. We've taught them for a few weeks now and they have a Bible from the J-dubs that we've been trying to replace with the new Bible from our Church. But they always said no cause it was a gift, and lots of excuses. But, E Morataya and I decided to tell them straight up that the J-dub Bible was false. We showed them a few scriptures that they have taken out of their Bible and then a scripture that says you can't add or take away from the Bible. And when Maribel finished reading that scripture she picked up the J-dub bible and threw it across the table to us and said "Take it. We don't want it anymore. Take it." I was so shocked at first. I know they felt the Spirit cause I felt it so strongly. So that was pretty exciting news this week. We put a baptism date for them too :) The only problems now are getting them to get married and go to church. lol But I know they will do it :)

Well, I think that's all the news for this week. I hope everything is going well with the family and everyone :) I love you all SOOO much! Thanks for everything you do for me! Thanks for the prayers!

Love, Elder Beck

Pics!

The baptism that we had this week. OOPS! I forgot to write in the letter to everyone that we had a baptism this week! lol 3 People got baptized on saturday :)

And we took pics at the eiffel tower in vinces :)

Carnaval

Hola mi familia!

How is everything going up in the United States? Everything here is going great :) This week started the holiday of Carnaval....here in Ecuador that means that you will get wet...which makes me think of Sea World and the soak zone lol. "If you're sittin in the first 12 rows there's something you oughtta know, there's a 50-50 bet, you'll get 100 percent wet! But don't look so surprised 'OH MY HAIR' when the water splashes in your eyes. I just thought you might like to know about the imminent H20. So if you like that camera or that dress, don't let the salt water make it all a mess. Stay dry-er...move a little bit higher. Stay dry-er...move a little bit higher!" (Wow I still remember the whole song! hahah) Anyways, in Carnaval here there are people in the streets that throw water, paint, beer, etc on people that pass by :) Lot's of fun, right? lol So, Pres. Gamboa doesn't want us to get wet so we have a modified schedule that started on saturday and goes until wednesday. We have to come back to the house after lunch and study until 6pm. And then we can leave again and teach a couple lessons. So, it's kinda like p-day every day...except we can't take naps lol. There have been a few people that have thrown water at us...but they haven't hit us. I guess that's why baseball isn't so popular here...they can't aim lol. The other day we were on a bus and people threw a bunch of eggs..but thankfully all the windows were closed lol.

Happy Valentines Day (yesterday) to every one. They have Valentine's day here too, but they don't do anything cause it's during Carnaval and they are busy getting people wet lol.

Could somebody please send me Dad's chocolate chip cookie recipe, please :) Just in an email...thanks :)

This week I tried a couple of new foods.... turtle and duck lol. The duck tasted the same as chicken but the meat is a really dark color. and the turtle tasted like beef, but tougher. I don't want to eat turtle again...I felt bad eating it lol.

Sacrament meeting this week was slightly comical... One of the speakers used a giant magnifying glass to read their whole talk from the ensign lol. And the other speaker's eyebrows moved more than I've ever seen eyebrows move in my life! lol

Last night it rained HARD!!! We walked home in water almost up to my knees! And when we got home, there was no electricity or water and it didn't come back until this morning at about 9:30. So last night I 'slept' without the fan. I didn't sleep much though cause I was sweating all night lol. Lots of fun :)

Well I think that's all for this week. I love you all SO much! Keep it up with the prayers, like always :) And the letters :)

Love ya!
Elder Beck

HOLA!

¡Hola mi querido familia!

How is everyone doing? Great I hope :) Everything is going great here in Vinces and it has been a good, and FAST, week!

First, Happy 7th Birthday to Jamison on Thursday! I can't belive that he is going to be 7 already! I love you Jamison! :)

Last week when I emailed, guess where I was? In Babahoyo on my way to Guayaquil! haha I was in the same place that I used to always go when that was my sector :) Last monday, Elder Morataya and I went to Guayaquil to this lighthouse that is on a huge hill right next to a river. There are exactly 444 stairs from the bottom of the hill to the lighthouse, and we climbed every one of them haha. It was pretty fun and there was a pretty view of all of Guayquil from the lighthouse :)

One night, we were walking back to the house after a day of teaching and we walked by the park where they have the Eiffel Tower. There were a bunch of people in the park so we went to see what was up. Everybody was saying that there were "perezosos" in the park. Perezoso means lazy, so I was wondering why everybody was looking at lazy people in the park. And then I saw 2 sloths and realized that perezoso also means sloth! haha Everybody was watching the sloths, not lazy people lol. Sloths are hilarious to watch..they are SO slow! Apparently they come down every so often from the trees at night to eat. So that was fun to see sloths...except I didn't have my camera with me :P

On Saturday we went to lunch like normal and they gave us soup, chicken, and a volcano of rice...like normal. And then in the 2 following lessons, the people gave us lunch too! So I ate 3 volcanoes of rice on saturday :P lol I am SO excited to not have to eat rice or soup when I am home hahaha.

Today, I was looking at pictures that Mom sent me and there were a few from Hawaii. I miss Hawaii.....lol Hopefully there is already a trip being planned for August of 2011 :) hahah JK (well, sort of JK lol)

And last, but definitely not least....we had a BAPTISM this week! David Medrano got baptized on Saturday and his dad baptized and confirmed him :) They are the family that has the car, and that recently started coming to church again. I was so glad that the dad was able to do all of that stuff :) Also, David bore his testimony after the baptism and in sacrament meeting yesterday. Hearing the testimonies of the people that we have been teaching strengthens my testimony so much. I love it :)

Well, I think that's all for this week. I love you all SOOOOOOO much! Thanks to everyone for everything. Thanks for remembering me in your prayers :) Love you!!!

Love, Elder Beck

February..wow!

Hola mi querido familia!

Well..it's February already and I can't believe how the time flies by! Every week, it feels like I was just emailing, and then I get to email again! Love it :)

One thing that I want you to email me....Dad's chocolate chip cookie recipe. Some members have said they want to make american cookies..and I want to eat american cookies haha.

So, this week we were leaving from lunch with some members and we were in their car cause they were going to take us to our next appointment. And then, out of nowhere, this guy comes up to the window and puts his hand on my shoulder and says he wants to talk with us. It seriously freaked me out at first and E Morataya and I didn't know what to do lol. But the Hermana told us to go with him (he is their neighbor) so we went with him and he introduced us to his huge family. And they told us that they want to do everything that we tell them to do and that they want to get baptized!!! I almost started laughing in shock! haha But the Lord really has people prepared to hear the gospel and it was so awesome to have that experience. Now, if only ALL of the people came up to us and told us they want to get baptized haha.

We did service 2 times this week (with the members mentioned above-the Medrano family) we painted their house inside and out. We are going to finish on Tuesday.

I am teaching English to whoever wants to learn english every Saturday at 230 pm in the Church :) I taught the first time this past saturday and we learned a bunch of clothing words. It is really hard for the people here to pronounce english words correctly lol.

So...I have been asking people why Vinces is nicknamed Little Italy if the Eiffel Tower is in france...and then somebody finally realized that the nickname is actually Little PARIS! Now it makes a little more sense...lol

Mom, I got a letter from you a couple weeks ago asking what you should serve at Zone Conferences for the missionaries....my best idea is pizza. If it's possible...that's what I'd want the most haha.

This week there was a talk in sacrament meeting that was just AMAZING... this really old guy read like a 6-page talk from the Liahona. And said in the name of Jesus Christ Amen. And that was all. It was great lol.

I am afraid that I will get fat here in Vinces...lol The Medrano family ALWAYS gives us dinner (We are teaching their son who is going to get baptized this week and they are only home at night, so they always feed us). Last night they made big hot dogs with onions, ketchup, cheese, and mayonaisse. A little weird...but I ate 3........lol Hopefully I keep sweating enough to not gain weight :)

Well...that's all the news from Vinces this week! I love you all SOOOOO much! You're the best family ever :) Thanks for everything..and keep up the prayers :)

Love ya!
Love, Elder Beck