normal week

Hola mi querida familia!!!

How's everybody doing this week? Sounds like last week was lots of fun, especially with some hilarious Primary Programs lol. The primary programs here aren't so funny..all the kids are calm :P What's the point of the primary program if the kids don't do anything funny?? lol

Well, this week was a pretty normal week. Nothing too new or exciting to tell you about. I guess that in 2 years, there is bound to be a week or 2 like this lol. It wasn't a bad week, there just isn't anything new to write about.

But, I did eat something that definitely is worth writing about. It is called guatita. It has 'peanut butter' (The peanut butter here is nothing compared to pb in the states, but hey, it has pb so I was looking forward to trying this food). So, I ate the food...trying not to gag because it was disgusting lol. And after we ate, I asked my companion what guatita is. It probably would have been better if I hadn't asked..... It is cow stomach *barf* haha. No wonder it was so nasty.

And a brother in our ward said something that made me laugh enough to almost make juice squirt out of my nose. We were talking about REALLY fat people. I don't know how that subject came up. But we were talking about them and then this guy said "I don't really know why....but I have like........a PHOBIA....of really fat people! When I see them, I get goosebumps...and I get a lump in my throat like I'm about to throw up. It is so gross." And then Emily (the one who got baptized last week) asked if that was how he feels when he sees this one lady in our ward who is quite large and we all started laughing. It was hilarious.

So, that's the news for the week. Oh yeah, and thanks for the packages I got this week!!!! Church News, letters, "Laughter Can Be a Good Remedy" (I loved the lame cow jokes lol), mini Oil vials, pics of jesus and the child, chocolate pies, cinnabon bars (they are like the real thing!!!), Peanut butter M&ms, granola bars, gum, and Cold Stone Jelly Beans (that is almost like eating Cold Stone ;) ). Thanks a TON!!! Sorry there's not much news this week. But I hope you can at least laugh a little bit about the nasty things I eat and the funny things people say :)

I love you all SOOO much!! Thanks for everything! Thanks for your letters, pics, prayers, love, etc. I love you!

Love, Elder Beck

Fast week

Hola mi querida familia!!!!!

How's everybody doing this week? I hope you are all GREAT! I am doing great here in Salinas. The weather is starting to change a bit...lots more sun and less cold air :P But the ocean breeze is constant, and it is very welcome :) haha

This week we did a Zone activity with the 12 missionaries in our zone. It was on Monday, right after I wrote last week. We played soccer and basketball for about 2 1/2 hours and ate (chicken, rice, and soup---typical lol). A sister-member that has a little restaurant made an offer we couldn't refuse for the food :) It was WAY fun! And we were all INCREDIBLY sore on Tuesday and Wednesday! lol But it was worth it. We want to do Zone activities like that more often...they help the zone to be more united and we get to distract ourselves for a little while playing sports :)

In the next package that you send I would like to request something :) More pictures from Hawaii. Specifically underwater pictures, like of the turtles. And just Hawaii pics in general :) Thanks! I already have some...but you can never have too many hawaii pictures lol.

Speaking of packages, I sent a package home today. It has some tourist-y stuff from this part of Ecuador. Posters with whales, beaches, surfers, waves, etc :) And some tourism pamhplets. And a letter from me. So let me know when that gets there :)

On Friday we had Exchanges with the Elders from Playas. I went to Playas with Elder Brandaris from Costa Rica. I love the house where they live....it has a view of the beach! And it is really new...so it doesn't look like missionaries have lived there for years lol. Basically that means that it is still clean ;) haha

On Saturday afternoon our ward had a big activity that lasted like 5 hours. It was pretty fun. They just played soccer and basketball and stuff. And each organization (YM, YW, RS, etc) made t-shirts so they could tell the teams apart. Lots of people came that don't come to church on Sundays, so that was good too.

And after the ward activity, we had a BAPTISM! Emily got baptized on Saturday, by Elder Baquerizo. She was so happy :D It was nice to finally have a baptism again.

And yesterday in Church I gave a talk. I talked about the Book of Mormon and its power in conversion. We are doing something new with the BoM in this ward. We are going to the house of every family and giving them a Book of Mormon. And they have to do 3 things. Write their testimonies in the Book, wrap the book like a present, and then give it to a friend. We are hoping that we can find lots of new people to teach with this technique, and it seems like the members are eager to help :)

Well, that's the news for this week! I hope you guys all have an awesome week. I love you all so much! Thanks for everything you do for me :)

Love, Elder Beck

ps. Here are the pics of the baptism and the zone at the zone activity :)

Trunky Travel Week

Hola mi querida familia!!!!

How's everybody doing this week? This has been a great week...with not very much time in Salinas. Like it says in the subject, I've been doing a little bit of traveling this week :)

First, on Tuesday we had a special meeting in Guayaquil. It was for all of the Zone Leaders, District Leaders, and Trainers, and the companions of those people. It was basically a review of the 8 new lessons that we learned in the past couple of Zone Conferences. We did a TON of practices...thinking of real situations with real investigadores...and we analyzed like every part of the teaching. And we got lots of help with the most difficult challenges that our investigadores have. Mostly the purpose of the 8 lessons is to simplify our teaching and make us better teachers. It was a good meeting...lots of learning :)

On Tuesday night, when we got back from Guayaquil, I got a call from the APs (elder Baum). And he asked me how I was doing and we were just talking for a couple minutes..and then he asked if I wanted to go to Quito lol. I thought that he was just joking around and I said yes. Then he told me that I had to come to Guayaquil again on Wednesday night cause on thursday morning we were going to fly to Quito. It turns out that the church renewed our Visas in Quito (where the church offices are in Ecuador) and there is a new law here that says that you have to get your ID in the city where you renew your visa. So we went to Quito on Thursday (Elder Siebert, Elder Muhlestein, Elder Baum, a couple of Latinos from our group, and I). We left early in the morning for the half-hour flight, did all of the paperwork and stuff we had to do in Quito, and then flew back to Guayaquil in the afternoon. It was a fun, and fast, trip :)

THANKS for the package that I got this week! Church News, Letters from my friends and mom (mom, yes I've seen that flute thing that you drew), altoids, gum, cetaphil, sour patch kids, Joseph Smith pic, CTR rings, and that awesome red tie! I love you!!!

Luis and Maribel (remember them from Vinces?) wrote me a letter!!! Maribel is the 2nd counselor in the Branch primary presidency and Luis is the 2nd counselor in the Branch presidency!!!!! It was so awesome to read that. They thanked me a lot for having taught them the true gospel. They said they are so excited to get sealed in the temple, they have lots of goals, and they are really happy that I'll still be here when they go to the temple ( I hope I can go!!). And their daughter drew a pic for me ;) It was so cute. It feels so great to hear that they are doing so well :)

Well, that's the news for this week! I hope you guys have an awesome week! I Love you all so much!

Love, Elder Beck

ps..the pics are of Quito and Elder Muhlestein, Elder Baum and I in the plane :)

PICS!!!

Me, in a place called Ballenitas. The sisters in our zone live about 2 blocks from where I took this pic.

Me, in Salinas :)

Elder Baquerizo and I in Guayaquil

Elder Baum, Elder Siebert, and I in Guayaquil

Old vs New shoes :)

I love you!!!

Love, Elder Beck

Septiembre

Hola mi Querida Familia!

I can't believe it's September already! A year ago, I was going stir crazy wanting to get out of the MTC in Provo. It's interesting how time f l i e s by....especially when you are super busy! Also, almost a year ago, Weston was born! HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY ON SATURDAY WESTON! I love you!!! :) I remember being in the MTC and reading about the exciting rush from the beach to the hospital for his birth!

So, this week we are back to a normal companionship. Elder Garcia picked up his son on Tuesday. He is a 'gringo' from Highland, Utah (Yay for more gringos in the mission! haha). But the great part is his name....his name is Elder Elder. I might have almost laughed out loud when I saw his name tag lol. It's so weird to see new missionaries fresh from the US. He was worried about cold water showers... and if he could drink from the drinking fountain in the church...and if they always serve so much rice at lunch... and stuff like that that only gringos worry about haha. Made me remember when I got here :) But you get used to it so fast....well, most of it. I'm still hoping to get used to cold-water showers.

Speaking of cold-water showers...I heard that in the office-missionaries' house that all of the showers have hot water now and that they put AC in the whole house! And guess who I heard that from? The new AP....Elder Baum! Yup, he's AP now. Elder Siebert and Elder Baum are in the office now and they said they are waiting for me so that we can re-live the MTC times haha. But I don't think I wanna work in the office...except for the chance to shower in hot water every day lol.

US-food-craving that is impossible to find here in Ecuador---- A Costco Berry Smoothie. So, if you could send me a bunch of those in the next package that would be great. Thanks :) lol

So, on Tuesday we went to Guayaquil so that Elder Garcia could pick up his new companion, and that night we finally got to do some proselyting in Salinas. We got back to Salinas at about 6 and we only had a couple hours to do some visits, so we decided to only visit people that live close to our house. But, not a single person was home so I was trying to think of someone to visit. I decided to visit some members so that Elder Baquerizo could meet them. (Before I go on, about 2 months ago, this family's niece was living with them and she's not a member. When we found out that she wasn't a member, naturally we started teaching her. And, she wanted to get baptized! But, something happen and she decided she didn't want to get baptized and she went to live with some other family in Guayaquil. OK, now I can continue with the story). When we got there, the mom ran to the door and said 'Hi Elders! We were hoping that you would stop by! Emily's living here again...and she wants to get baptized!!!!' You can just imagine our joy when we heard that!!! haha So, we talked with Emily and she wants to get baptized next week, cause this week she has some school activity and isn't going to be here. So, that was really exciting for us! And we are finally going to have a baptism! :) haha

On Wednesday we did some more travelling and went to Playas de Villamil to do a baptism interview.

And on Friday we did some MORE travelling and went to Guayaquil for the Mission Leadership Council. It was a really great meeting. We talked a lot about obedience and goals and planning. In Preach My Gospel it says that goals reflect the desires of our heart. So true, and goals are so important and the Lord helps us to achieve all of our righteous desires :) And we ate those tasty sub sandwiches which are kinda like a Subway toasted sub :)

Well, that's the news this week from Salinas!!! I love you SO SO SO SO SOOOOOOO much family! Thanks for the support, prayers, letters, love, and everything else! I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to do it without all of you :) I LOVE YOU!

Love, Elder Beck