August?!

Hola mi querida familia!!!

August already....but what happened with July?!?!?! It went by way too fast, that's what happened. I'm already in my last August in the mission haha. Next August I will be eating homemade oreos at home....that's what I've been craving this week lol.

This week I have also been SOOOOO thankful for my testimony. I have never met so many inactive members of the Church who don't have a testimony. The majority that we visited this week have never prayed or read the scriptures...no wonder they are inactive. But it's really sad. I'm so glad that I grew up in the Church and that I've always had my family there as support for me :) I know that this Church is the ONLY true church on the earth and I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It has the answers to all of our lives' questions. I know that God hears me when I pray and that he answers me. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet who saw God and Jesus Christ in the Sacred Grove. I know that Christ atoned for our sins and that he forgives us when we make mistakes. I know that families can be eternal, and that we can live together forever with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God and that he guides us through revelation.

Yesterday's testimony meeting was great. There were lots of spiritual testimonies from members who DO have testimonies :) And there were a lot of inactives that came for the first time in years yesterday :) It feels so great to see them back in Church and happy. There was one pretty funny line though. One lady (named Mary) cried a lot during her testimony and said 'I'm not crying cause I'm sad, but because I'm so happy.' A few minutes later, another lady (Cecilia) was bearing her testimony and said 'Mary mentioned that she wasn't crying cause she was sad, but because she was happy..... Right now I am shaking like crazy. But I'm not shaking because I'm nervous, but because it is FREEZING COLD!!!!!' (and she got so close to the mic when she said freezing cold that she almost swallowed it! hahaha) It was funny. And it was freezing cold in the chapel. It was funny because they can never get the chapel to a comfortable temperature..always too hot or too cold.

This week I'm pretty sure that I ate goat meat. It was gross and the hermana was telling us what it was, and my companion was trying to describe what the animal looks like. But I didn't know what it was until we got home at night and I looked up the word in the dictionary lol. I never wanna eat that again!

On to better food...that I ate today! Today, while we were in Guayaquil, we went to Gran Chef to celebrate my hump-day and Elder E's last change. It is a buffet with a ton of food!!! I ate 4 plates of food and 2 plates of desserts. And it was delicious. I was only missing root beer haha. My favorite part was the self-serve, hand-scooped ice cream with pieces of chocolate cake. Tasty!!! Actually, my favorite part was that I didn't eat ANY rice or soup!!! hahaha

So, that's all for this week :) I love you alll SOOOOOOOOOO much!!!!! Don't forget to read the scriptures and pray every day!!!

I LOVE YOU!!
Love, Elder Beck