Last week of February=Normal Week

Hola mi querida familia!!!!

How's everybody doing this week? All of you always have lots of stuff to write about in your letters that you send to me each week...but this week there isn't much to write about from the Southern Hemisphere. But, I'll write about the few things that happened this week :)

Yesterday I was sick....sick enough that I couldn't go to Church :P I'm pretty sure it was something that I ate on Saturday, but I'm still not sure what it might have been cause my companion didn't get sick. I wasn't dying or anything..just the normal sickness in Latin America..... you know, diarrhea lol. And I threw up 3 times in about an hour and a half :P It just kept me in the house all day yesterday...a good chance to catch up on some much-needed sleep, I guess. But no worries now, I'm all back to normal...just in time for P-day! haha

On Friday we had a Zone Conference in Guayaquil. Only the 2 zones from Durán went...Durán Norte and Durán Sur..so there weren't a lot of missionaries there. Pres. Gamboa had written us all last Monday saying that it was Zone Conference week and that the Conferences would be full of practices...and he said that the 'new' missionaries would have a lot of chances to learn from the 'old' missionaries. So, Elder Garcia and I were both prepared to be called on alot..since we're both 'old' missionaries lol. But, it turned out that Pres. Gamboa changed his mind and we almost didn't do any practices and he talked most of the time. That was fine with me cause I love listening to him talk. And Hermana Gamboa gave an awesome talk about the Atonement. Almost any talk about the Atonement is a good talk, but I really liked this one. She used a talk from 1985 and I think it's called 'The Purifying Power of Gethsemane' (or something like that) and I don't know who gave it. But it was a really powerful talk. I am eternally grateful for the Atonement. And they also talked about the need for us to be refined, and not ordinary, in everything we do as representatives of Jesus Christ. The way we talk, the way we dress, the way we comb our hair, even the way we brush our teeth ;) haha. It was a really good time to reflect and think about things I want to improve.

And I guess something that's kinda exciting is that this week is MY BIRTHDAY!!! Feliz Cumpleaños a mí :) lol I can't believe I'll be 21!!!! Time flies... (I think I've said that before haha). We'll be celebrating my birthday this Sunday in Stake Conference. I got lucky cause they changed Fast Sunday to the NEXT week cause of Stake Conference ;) lol

Today we're gonna go to this part of our zone that is the richest part in ALL of Ecuador. It's the zone leaders' sector..and there are some rediculously huge houses there...it reminds me of the States haha. I think that part is called 'Samborondón,' but sometimes they call it 'La Puntilla' too (but sometimes they call Salinas 'La Puntilla' too). But we're going there to go BOWLING!!!! I'm super excited..even though I'm not so great at bowling, it will be lots of fun :) The 4 from our house are going.

Well, that's the news for this week!!!! Not much, but hey, that's what I got :) haha I love each and every one of you SOOOOOOOO much!!! I'm thankful for everything that you do for me. Thanks for supporting me in every way possible. Thanks for all of the letters and pics! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, Elder Beck