Portoviejo!

Hola mi querida familia!!!!!

How's everybody doing this week? I'm doing great...getting all settled in to my new sector :) So far, I love it! There aren't as many members as in my last ward, but the members here are really great. We eat plenty (many members have said that I will gain weight here...but I hope that's not true lol). Our clothes mamita doesn't charge us anything to wash and iron our clothes :) Elder Pinza and I get along great! It sounds like he has had a number of 'difficult' companions, but so far we haven't had any problems. He likes to work really hard, and I'm glad about that. I've heard of a lot of missionaries who, when they are close to finishing their missions, have a companion that isn't too excited to work, and they get lazy at the end and basically stop working. That's something that I don't want to happen, and it won't happen :)

Speaking of being close to finishing the mission....I'll be coming home in the end of June! Not the end of July/beginning of August. It's so that I can get everything ready to get back in school, change my major, etc. And, I'll be finishing with Pres. Gamboa which is even better! So, I think only Mom and Dad knew about that...but now everybody knows :) That's just a little over 2 months from now! I'm excited to be back with all of the fam! ;) But for now, I gotta keep working hard!

Speaking of hard work, this week we have worked really hard. In this ward, they haven't had any baptisms in more than 7 months...and that's pretty rare here in Ecuador. But my comp. and I want to change that, and that's why we are working so hard. This week, 6 people accepted baptism dates. One investigator, Vilma Corrales, had accepted a baptism date for April 23. And then yesterday, in Gospel Principles, they announced that on the 23 the ward is going to the Temple. She asked, "And if I get baptized on the 16 instead of the 23, can I go to the Temple with the Ward on the 23, too?" and the Bishop was there and said "Of course!" So Vilma said, "I want to get baptized on the 16 then!" And who would say no if somebody wants to get baptized sooner than the date she had accepted at first?? lol So, we are planning the baptism for this week. She has a sister that lives in Salt Lake, and she said that she wants her baptism to be really pretty like they do it in Salt Lake ;) The members are excited!

I'm glad that we live SO close to a temple...and soon SO close to 2 Temples! Yesterday in Ward Council, the members were planning everything for that trip on the 23.... how many buses they would have to rent, how much budget they could spend on food, etc. And I was just thinking how much easier it is to live 10 mins from the Temple... We really should take advantage more that we live so close. It is a huge blessing. I think it was Pres. Monson (??) that talked about the imortance of the temple in General Conference. He said that there is no goal more important than keeping yourself worthy to enter in the temple. The temple must be pretty important!

On Friday, we were teaching a lesson and a bee came out of nowhere and stung my left hand. It hurt really bad lol. But after about 15 mins it didn't hurt anymore. And I guess it was a good thing that it chose to sting ME, cause afterwards everybody else said that they are really allergic to bees lol.

Funniest thing I heard this week: We were in a lesson with a family and a friend of one of the daughters was there. She said that she likes to read the Bible and that she has studied the Bible for many years.....but it was kinda obvious that she was just saying that so that we wouldn't try and teach her haha. The daughter that we are teaching asked her to name one book from the Old Testament. And the girl said "Well, the first book is GEMINI!!" BAHAHAHAHA I'm pretty sure she meant to say Genesis.....LOL It was HILARIOUS.

THANKS to Grandma and Grandpa Beck for the Birthday package that they sent me!!!!! I got it a couple of weeks ago, but I had forgotten to say thanks! Love you!

Well that's the news for this week! I love all of you SO much!!!! Thanks for everything you do for me :) Thanks for the letters, pics, prayers, etc. I'm thankful for all of you and all you do. I couldn't do it without your support! You all are the best family ever! I LOVE YOU TONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, Elder Beck