PICS

Elder Beck with 2 of the things he's gonna miss most from Ecuador. Plantains--ripe, and not-ripe.

Elder Beck sweating and dying from mosqutio bites...by the bamboo houses waiting for some investigators to go to Church with us.

19 Months

Hola mi querida familia!!!

How's all the fam this week? It sounds like everybody has had a great time in California all weekend. How would it be possible to NOT have a good time in California? haha Congratulations to Jamison on his baptism! That's so great! This week we invited 4 people to get baptized in the middle of March...and all 4 accepted! I was very happy and I was thinking about the baptism that was happening up in Pismo :) Also, all 4 of them came to Church yesterday. 5 other investigators came to Church too, so it was a pretty good Sunday. Lot's of people in the Gospel Principles class. I just wish that a few more of the 200+ members in this ward would get smart and at least say hi and introduce themselves to the people that are in the Church for the first time. We talked about that a little bit yesterday with the Bishop..we'll see how things change :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JOSH ON SUNDAY!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you Josh and I hope you have an awesome birthday!

THANKS FOR THE PACKAGE THAT I GOT THIS WEEK! Deodorant, HLJ rings, Pencils, sour candy, oats & dark chocolate nature valley bars, English hymn book, wedding announcements (EVERYBODY is getting married!!!! lol), Valentine's Day card (the jokes on the back were hilarious), Valentine's day stickers, Church News, letters. I love getting packages!!!!!!!! :D

Yesterday was a really good sacrament meeting..for the most part. There was one little part that was slightly uncomfortable, but funny. The guy who gave the last talk was talking about Jesus Christ and his life and it was just a really good talk. It really got me thinking about Him and all that He did for me and every person that has ever existed or will exist. I was thinking about the Sacrament and what the bread and water really mean, and how thankful I am for all that He did. I felt really good....until he asked a question.....and then asked the members to raise their hand if they knew the answer. Everybody knew the answer cause it was really obvious, but they all paused wondering if they should Really raise their hand. And the speaker just kept on waiting for everyone to raise their hand.... So one by one they raised their hand quickly and then put it back down. And then he said that it looked like everybody knew the answer......so he asked them to all shout out the answer. I thought/hoped that that was just a joke....and I was hoping that all of the members would think it was just a joke too. But there were a quite a few that took it seriously and they started to shout out the answer. I was trying my hardest not to laugh at that moment..especially when I saw the look on the Bishop's face lol. I think he was about to stand up and ask the speaker to sit down..but then the speaker took control again and somehow finished his talk, making everyone feel the Spirit again. It was like a mini spiritual roller coaster lol.

This week we were teaching a family (a referral from the Mamita Acuria) and the wife/mom of that family (Mirian) has been having some problems with one of her kids that lives about an hour away with his grandparents. He has chosen a lot of friends that have had a very bad influence on him. They are the type of kids that do drugs and drink and all that stuff. She's pretty sure that her son doesn't actually participate in the drugs, drinking, etc. but she doesn't want him to be with those kids anymore. In that moment, my companion and I were really grateful for the guidance of the Holy Ghost. We had planned to teach the Plan of Salvation and we had already introduced the lesson. And when she told us that, we both pulled out our Book of Mormon and opened up to Mosiah 27 where it talks about the time when the angel appeared to Alma the Younger. The angel explained that he had come as a response to the prayers of Alma, father, and all of the people, and commanded Alma the Younger to stop persecuting the Church. It was so great as Mirian and her husband (Augusto) could feel how that related with the situation they were in at that moment. That day we invited them to get baptized on March 12, too, but they wouldn't say anything. When we went 2 days later they said 'We're not sure if it's gonna be March 12, but now we are sure that we are going to get baptized.' I LOVE the Book of Mormon and as we were sharing those Scriptures with them I could feel that it really has ALL of the answers. The Book of Mormon is true..it is the word of God.

I finished reading the Book of Mormon last week for the second time in Spanish. After I finished, I did what Moroni invited us all to do and prayed and asked God to help me feel again that the Book is true. And, as always, the Lord responded to my prayer and my testimony was strengthened. I love the Book of Mormon. I love this Church. I know it is the only true one. I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet. He really did see our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ. I know that Jesus Christ suffered for every one of my sins. He knows what I need and always is there to help me. I know that Thomas S. Monson is the Prophet of God at this time. He guides us with revelations from God. I'm so thankful for my testimony and that I can share it every day.

Well, that's the news for this week, fam! I love every one of you soooo much! Never be afraid to share your testimony. Pray and read the scriptures every day to keep that testimony burning bright. Be examples to the people around you. SMILE :D Thanks for all that each of you do for me. You are awesome! I LOVE YOU TOOOONNNNNSSSSSS!!!!!!!!

Love, Elder Beck

more pics!

Homemade Banana Bread!

Elder Beck and Elder Garcia on los rieles in sector-los rieles :)

Today after the derm. appointment we did a quick trip by the temple!

I LOVE ALL OF YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, Elder Beck

Nuevo cambio, sin cambios

Hola mi Querida Familia!!!

How's everybody doing?! HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO ALL OF YOU!!!!! It's a holiday here in Ecuador, too. But it has a different name for most people. Every so often I hear somebody say Happy Valentine's day...but all the rest of the people say Happy Love and Friendship Day haha. Our clothes mamita was asking us what present we had brought her for the holiday, and all 4 of us immediately pointed at our big bags of dirty clothes. Like we had planned it or something..it was pretty funny.

Today is day 1 of my 13th transfer in the mission...and I just want to say something about that...TIME FLIES! lol Last night we were all waiting anxiously to see if the phone was going to ring for changes...but it was silent all night! So, the 4 Elders in my house are staying put. That's a good thing...we all get along well :)

This week, we were outside of our sector for 4 days. On Tuesday, my companion had a derm. appointment in the early afternoon in Guayaquil. The doctor got there pretty late and after that we had to wait in the mission office while another Elder had an appt with the same doctor. While we were waiting in the mission office the only other person that was there was Pres. Gamboa, so we talked with him for a long time. That was kinda fun...he was joking around saying that my comp. and I are probably trunky cause we don't have much time left in the mission and we go home together. And then we politely reminded Pres. that we are going home the same time as him..and he thought about that for a couple seconds and then we all laughed lol. That night, Sis. Gamboa wanted to buy the medicine for my comp. so we stayed in the office and waited until about 9pm..and then she came back to the office to tell us that the pharmacy was closed haha. She told us to hurry and get back to our house...so we got back as quick as we could and that was at 10:30 pm...just in time to go to sleep haha. The good part about that trip was that we ate McDonalds...and McDonalds has a Snickers McFlurry now! haha

So, we had to go to Guayaquil again on Wednesday, just to pick up the medicine and go back to our sector. And that wasted pretty much our whole day.

On Thursday we were in the Stake Center cause my comp. was doing some baptism interviews for some elders in other sectors. And the same thing on Friday..and the interview-ees (the people getting interviewed lol) got there really late. And that took up almost all of those 2 days. So, we weren't so busy Preaching the Gospel this week like other weeks...but we were really busy with all of those other fun missionary responsibilities :) And somehow we still managed to have a few investigators in church on Sunday haha.

Sister Gamboa told us that there are a lot of Elders in this mission that are suffering with acne...and she has decided to make a drastic change in Ecuador. She says that the food here is too greasy..and the greasiest part is the soup. So....she has told us that we are no longer aloud to eat soup!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOO Thank you Sister Gamboa! The prayers of all of the missionaries in this mission have now been answered lol. I think that the people that give us lunch are gonna freak out a little bit about that new rule...but I'm willing to deal with it if it means that I don't have to eat soup bahaha.

On Saturday morning we had a ward missionary 'bonding' activity at the Bishop's house. We all went over there and made banana bread. Basically Elder Garcia and I made it all and the ward missionaries just washed dishes....and ate haha. It was DELICIOUS:

Well, that's all the news for this week! I hope you all have a fantastic week! ENJOY California this weekend!!! Send some pics of the baptism. Congrats on your baptism Jamison! I LOVE every one of you SOOOOO much!!!!!! Thanks for everything you do for me :)

I LOVE YOU!

Love, Elder Beck

PICS!

Zone: Durán Norte

The 4 Elders where I live. Elder Garcia, Elder Beck, Elder Laub, Elder Elías

McDonalds! 1/4 pound, double stack with cheese ;)

SUPER P-day

Hola mi querida familia!!!!

How is everybody doing this week? I'm doing great....like every other week haha. Today is Super P-day...the last P-day of this transfer. But every P-day is super P-day for me :) The only thing more SUPER about this P-day is that we took a SUPER-long time cleaning the house! lol It almost doesn't even look like the house that I moved in to 5 weeks ago...cause it's clean(er) now ;) I still can't call it clean cause I'm in Ecuador...and clean-standards just aren't the same here. For example, last week we walked by a cart-thing in the street where they sell meat. There was a almost-whole-cow hanging there...just missing skin and all of the 'insides'. And it was covered in flies...but there was a guy there swatting the flies and killing them ON the meat :P And I was just thinking how disgusting it was and thinking that nobody would buy meat like that. And we walked by an hour later and he had sold EVERY LAST BIT. And then we went to lunch and ate meat...I almost couldn't eat it cause I couldn't get that image out of my head lol. Gotta love Ecuador! ;)

Another thing to love about Ecuador is the rain. The rain that I described last week was nothing compared to the rain last night. I thought I was soaked last week...but yesterday I realized what getting soaked really means haha. Too bad I didn't have my camera though. All of the roads transformed into rivers. I think the sewers were too full to swallow up all that water. The rain is just barely lightening up as I write and I'm sure that in an hour or 2 it will be incredibly SUNNY! The good thing is that the sun will dry my shoes out ;)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JAMISON ON FRIDAY!!!!!!! I love you Jamison! Have a great Birthday! It's Great to be 8! You're so big!

Last week we were in Guayaquil for the entire P-day. After the doctor appointment and email, we looked for the closest Pizza Hut. It had been MONTHS since I had eaten any pizza. We bought a family size BBQ Chicken pizza and got a free pepperoni pizza. It was SOOOO good and we ate all of it! The BBQ chicken pizza wasn't up to Barro's standards...but it'll do until I can eat Barro's again haha. After that we bought groceries in Guayaquil and they had PB Cap'n Crunch! There were only 4 boxes of it...but guess how many boxes I bought? Yup, all 4!!! haha So, I've been eating that for breakfast every day, and when we get home at night :)

A few weeks ago when Hermana Gamboa came to our house and did the house inspection, she threw away all of our pots and pans cause she said they looked old. That was no problem for Elder Laub or for me, cause we NEVER use pots or pans (you don't need those things to make cereal lol). But, it was a problem for our companions who cooked at least eggs every morning. But this week, Hermana Gamboa sent us a new set of pots and pans.....and 3 new fans! I WAS excited for the fans, cause I didn't like having to share with my companion at night lol. So, now we have all new pots and pans, new fans, and a clean house!

We did service this week. We helped a family that has recently started coming to church again to paint their house. I got a nice little sunburn on the part of my arms just above the elbows that never sees the sun when I wear a dress shirt lol.

Last week I wrote that we had been visiting some less-active people and some recent converts. Yesterday, one of the members we visited last week came to church..but she didn't come alone. She brought 2 of her cousins and one of her friends. All 3 of them are non-members....for now haha. They all are willing to listen to the missionaries...and we are definitely willing to teach them :) So, I'll be letting you know how it goes with them.

I guess that's all the news for this week! Elder Garcia and I are hoping that this Sunday of transfers doesn't bring any changes in our companionship. We get along great and are just feeling like we're not lost anymore lol. We've got lots of people to teach too. But, as the Hymn says, I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord. I'll do what you want me to do. I'll be what you want me to be! That's the life of a missionary...and I love it ;) I love all of you SOOOO much! I hope you all know that. I'm thankful for all that you do. Thanks for supporting me with your prayers, letters, pictures, etc. It all helps me to keep on going. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, Elder Beck