Los Rieles

Hola mi querida familia!!!

It's Monday again, and here I am in front of the computer doing the things that I love most! Reading letters, looking at pics of the fam, and writing to all of you!!! I love Mondays ;) It sounds like all of you have had a great week, but what else is new? haha Your weeks are always great, like mine :)

It sounds like everybody wants to here about the new house where I am living. First, it's big. It is 2 stories, with 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, and a lot of open space. That open space would probably be taken up by couches, a tv, a computer, etc in normal peoples' houses. But missionaries are not normal people...we just have a lot of open space lol. Lot's of room to exercise in the mornings, I guess ;) This is the biggest house that I've lived in, or seen, in the mission. And it is definitely the dirtiest house that I've lived in in the mission lol. I think it's so big that other missionaries haven't worried about cleaning all of it :P Our bathroom vividly reminds me of the latrines at Camp Geronimo. I remember that when we were at Geronimo, if we had to go to the bathroom we would just hold it until breakfast, lunch, or dinner to use the real bathroom in the dining hall cause the latrines smelled SO bad. Yeah, our bathroom smells almost like that ;) It's gross lol. But, we are working on cleaning the place up. That'll be a project that will definitely last for more than one P-day haha.

This week (on Tuesday, I think) we were on the sidewalk talking to some members and I saw some junior high-aged girls walking down the street. I noticed that one of the girls was crying and that she couldn't really walk in a straight line. As they got closer and closer, I realized that that girl had definitely been drinking. When she passed by my companion, she tried to hit him in the arm, but he backed up quickly and she missed him. And when she passed by me, I backed up (afraid that she would try to hit me too lol) but instead of trying to hit me she went straight for my tie. She yanked it pretty hard and said that she liked it and that she wanted me to give it to her. And then, she walked away. Soooooooo that was pretty interesting lol. It was really funny and random...I think my companion was laughing for about 10 minutes non-stop lol. That's the kind of stuff that only happens in Ecuador (I hope lol).

On a happier note, this week we had a BAPTISM!!! Mercy got baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. She is really special cause the missionaries found her 3 weeks ago knocking doors. She had definitely been prepared by the Lord. She is so happy and her testimony has grown so strong in a very short time. She's awesome. I'm happy to play a small part in the conversion of people like Mercy.

We also found out this week that this guy that has been coming to church for months isn't a member and that he wants to get baptized! So, he will be baptized shortly ;) And that's the news for this week!! Thanks for everything (big and small) that you all do for me. I love you all SOOOO much!!!

Love, Elder Beck

PS Here's a pic at Mercy's baptism. Love you!