video

Here's a little video of what New Year is like in Guayaquil. I hope you can hear okay all of the explosions ;) Love you! Elder Beck

HAPPY 2011!!! ....y cambios

Hola mi querida familia!!!!!

Happy New year!!!!!! I hope that everyone had a fun holiday and I hope that this year is amazing for all of you :) New Year's Eve was a lot of fun hear in Guayaquil...but I have to tell you what happened before New Year's Eve first :)

On Monday, we played soccer, like I told you in last week's letter. It was a lot of fun....and my body was hurting like 2 hours after playing lol. Those aches and pains lasted a few days, worsened slightly because I got a little bit sick.

On Tuesday, I woke up with a little bit of a cough, but I thought nothing of it and got all ready and we went to our weekly District Meeting. The APs came to visit us in our District Meeting and it went really well and we did a lot of practices and learned a lot. But the whole time I just kept feeling worse and worse. By the end of the meeting everybody was asking me what happened and why I didn't look so good and I just said that my stomach was hurting a little bit (partly true..lol). But when we got home, I pulled out my thermometer and I had a fever of 101.9 and Sister Gamboa has told us that if we have a fever higher that 101 that we should call her. So I called and told her what was up and she just told me to take Tylenol, drink lots of water, and rest. So I took a pill and slept from like 1:30pm until 7:30pm and when I woke up I felt a little better, but still not very good haha.

On Wednesday, I didn't have a fever so we decided to go out and work. On Thursday morning I had a fever again so we didn't go work until the afternoon. And then on Friday I felt better, except a cough and a runny nose, and we worked all day. The same thing on Saturday. But it seems like Sunday was what helped me get better. On Sunday, we were in the Church from 10am till 5pm because we have 2 wards and they changed the schedule with the new year. After being in Church all day I felt a lot better :) And today I feel just about perfect ;)

Yesterday, I played the piano in Church. Some parts, just the right hand.....but hey, I played piano :) Mom, you owe me big time! lol JK It felt good to play after not playing for so much time.

Friday was New Year's Eve and it was crazy at night!!! Nobody invited us to dinner, so we bought some big hamburgers and a bunch of french fries and ate dinner at home with the 4 that live there. It was fun :) And we went to sleep at 1030pm, like always, but we woke up at about 1155pm to the sound of explosions haha. I think I mentioned on the phone that it is illegal here to buy firecrackers and fireworks, but it is very obvious that the police don't do anything here lol. Every family burns an año viejo or 2 (the paper mache figures) and most of the people pile up a ton of them, cover them in gasoline and firecrackers, and then burn them. I think the biggest fire I saw was more than 4 stories tall....and I thought I was going to be deaf with all of those firecrackers haha. We could see a ton of the city from our 3rd-floor window and it was really cool......and smoky lol.

Now, the big and unexpected news for this week is CAMBIOS!!! Last night I received a call and they told me I needed to be in the Terminal with my bags at 745am this morning. What a surprise!!!!!! I really wasn't expecting that....I was hoping to 'kill' Elder Barrientos lol (this is his last transfer). But, apparently that's not what the Lord had in store for me. Now I am in a place called Durán (it's across the huge river from Guayaquil, but it's still part of Guayaquil, I think.) The zone is Durán Norte and my sector is called Los Rieles (in English= the Rails ....like on a railroad). My companion is Elder Romero and he is from Bolivia. We were both in Salinas, so I already know him :) We also live with Elder Elias, from Guatemala, and Elder Laub, from St. George Utah. Mom, I'm pretty sure he's the one you recently found when you were NOT blog-stalking ;) haha

THANKS SO MUCH TREVOR AND NICOLE for the package that I received last week!!!! 2 Ties, giant sticky hand, Cheez Its, Mints, Family pics (those are AWESOME), money, and sour candy. Thanks for everything! I love you!!!

So, that's the news for the week!!!! I hope you all enjoy this new week of this new year ;) I love each and every one of you SOOOOOOOO much!!!!! SOOOO much that I can only describe it with CAPS LOCK and lots of !!!!!!!!! haha. Thanks for being awesome. SMILE :D Read the scriptures. Make goals for the new year...and work to reach them ;) I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!

Love, Elder Beck

Chili's, Chatting, and Chancho

Hola mi querida familia!!!!

Well, this week was just AMAZING!!!! And from what I've read in the letters I've received, it sounds like the PHONE CALL was the highlight of everyone's week. It was most definitely the highlight of my week. I just loved hearing from everyone..I never get enough of hearing your voices. It's great to read letters every week and all, but it's just not the same as talking and hearing your voices haha :) Before we know it, we'll be talking again in May. It's crazy how fast time goes by! Here comes 2011 :)

THANKS A TON FOR THE PACKAGES I GOT THIS WEEK!!!!!!!! Tie savers, Christmas pillowcases (we all love them and are using them ;) ), Templos Liahona, Peanut Butter, Liahona Zipper Pull, Grow Toy Santa (he is growing as we speak haha), Nativity, Candy Canes, Foamy Stickers, Stephen's Peppermint Hot Chocolate, PEZ, Pics with Friends, Pics of Jamison and Gavin, Conference Liahonas, Christ Images, cards from all the Fam, Church News, and an awesome purple tie!! I love all of it! And my comp says thanks for all the gifts he received too :)

Other big news this week was something that I talked a little bit about on the phone. We had FIVE BAPTISMS on Saturday, Christmas Day! It was such an AWESOME baptism service. There were 4 people from 1 ward that got baptized, and one person from the other ward. And 60 people came to the baptism service, including 3 investigators. So, you could basically say that it was a big success. Sometimes we are lucky if 10-15 people come to a baptism...and I was a little nervous that that would happen with it being Christmas morning and everything. But, I was pleasantly surprised :) And everything was just perfect. There was even a special musical number...it would be nice if the people here knew how to sing, but I'll just have to forgive them for not being able to sing...at least they try ;) lol. But really, it was so awesome. Henry's (Stefania's uncle) wife Jessica came and she looked so happy so we ae going to work hard with her so that the entire family can be together forever :) And the baptismal font was clean enough to pass the Sister RM's inspection lol. Afterwards, there was a lot of soda and junk food for people to snack on and it was all just great. I felt so happy.

On Sunday, all 5 got to Church on time and were all confirmed. I confirmed one of them and that was the first time in my life I had ever done that...and in Spanish. But it went well :) And then Henry bore his testimony. I think we all know how it feels when a recent convert gets up to bear his testimony...everybody's on the edge of their seats, hoping that he doesn't say anything too weird, or something that's not true, or that they're not used to 'Mormon' vocabulary and it just sounds kinda weird. You know what I'm talking about, right? lol Well, Henry's testimony was NONE of that :) It was simply beautiful. The Spirit was so strong and I felt so happy to have been able to play a small part in helping him know the truth :)

On Sunday we were also invited to a Christmas dinner. They gave us pork ('chancho' in Spanish), which we almost never eat cause we can only eat one brand of pork that is kinda expensive. It was REALLY good :)

Today we did a Zone Activity! We played soccer for about 2 hours and then ate A LOT of pizza while watching a biography of Pres. Hinckley. It was a lot of fun! And I'm sure that tomorrow I won't be able to walk lol.

We went to Chili's last week, as I mentioned on the phone and it was DELICIOUS. I miss American food, but I think we all know that lol.

Well, this weekend is the beginning of 2011, so HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!! I hope you all have a great holiday. I love you all TONS!!!!! Thanks for everything you do for me, thanks for your examples, for your letters, for your prayers, for your EVERYTHING!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!

Love, Elder Beck

Ps...PICS!!!!

Zone Activity

Rosa and her daughter..the RM

Jessica, Henry, Andy, Jonathan, Kevin

CHILI'S

Love you!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Hola mi Querida Familia!!!

First, the big and exciting news is that on Friday, Christmas Eve, I will get to TALK with all of you on the phone!!!! I'm SO excited that I almost can't wait...but I have to lol. It will be awesome to hear everyone's voices. The phone call will be at 1230 AZ time, 230 Ecuador time (don't forget Dad ;) lol). There isn't much time to write, but that's ok today, cause I can tell you a bunch of stuff on the PHONE! :)

But, THANKS FOR THE PACKAGE that I got last week! Missionary figurines, chocolate almonds, blessing and ordinance cards, M&Ms, and Thanksgiving letters! I love all of it! It's always great to receive packages ;)

This week I saw Mountain of the Lord for the first time in Spanish...it's not so good in Spanish lol. I wanted to hear the guy say 'By RAIL!!!!' with the thick scottish accent! And it's not the same to hear Brigham Young speaking in Spanish and saying 'I will not move from this spot until I know what I am to do.' lol But, it's still a good movie, and some day I'll be able to see it again in English :)

This week my companion and I have been running around like a head with its chicken cut off (lol) getting things ready for the baptisms this Saturday! I'm so excited for that, and excited that people want to get baptized on Christmas Day. That will be a great gift for Jesus :)

Well, I'll save the rest of the news for FRIDAY when I get to TALK on the PHONE with all of you!!! I love you SOOOOOOOO much! Thanks for writing! MERRY CHRISTMAS ON SATURDAY!!!! I love you!

Love, Elder Beck

Monday, FunDay

Hola mi querida familia!!!!!

How's all the fam doing this week??? I am doing great this week :) Today is Monday, and I love mondays! We're not doing anything out of the ordinary today, but Monday is FunDay cause I get to write to my family and read your letters...and I LOVE that! And I love next week cause next week is CHRISTMAS!!! And I'm guessing that next week will be PHONE CALL week! We still haven't heard officially what day we'll be able to do the phone calls, but last year it was any day the week of Christmas and I think it'll be the same this year. I'll have to let you know the day and the time next week though, cause I'm not 100% sure.

THANKS FOR THE PACKAGE that I received last week!!!! Peanut butter, CTR rubber band bracelets, sour patch kids, beef jerky, card from Aunt Michele (Thanks Michele!!!!), ADORABLE pics of Emma, Regan, and Lyla, Spanish stickers and bookmarks, General Conference Ensign, Church News, article about Gilbert temple, and letters. THANKS a ton! I love getting packages :)

So, the big news of this week is that we went to the TEMPLE!!!!! We went on Wednesday morning, and Elder Muhlestein and Elder Baum were there, so it was fun to see them :) There are only 1 or 2 "gringos" who go home before us and then we'll be the oldest "gringos" in the mission. That makes me feel old...lol Time goes by so fast! Anyways, we got there a while before our session so we got to do some Initiatories and that was amazing. It is crazy to think about how much stuff I had forgotten...it makes me want to go A LOT when I am back home! It feels so great to be in the temple...you can really feel that it is the Lord's house. It's great to be able to help people who have passed away by going to the temple, too. After initiatories we did a session and that was great too. After the session we ate lunch in the temple (chicken, rice, soup...woo hoo! lol) And then we had our Zone Conference in the Temple's hotel, which is right next to the temple....just like last year. This year, the temple president didn't talk to us in the Zone Conference though. It was all so spiritual though, and it helped me get more excited to keep up the hard work, and help a lot of people to find the way back to our Heavenly Father's presence.

Speaking of hleping people find the way back to our Heavenly Father's presence, there are some people who are progressing and excited to get baptized on Christmas! I think there are 7 people who are almost for-sure baptisms for that day :) We have been working hard and praying a lot and it is really paying off. The Lord is hearing our prayers and blessing us for our hard work. It feels so good to be a missionary!

Well, that's the news for this week :) It's not much, but hey, some weeks are like that haha. I hope that you guys all have a great week :) I hope you all can always feel how much I love you. I pray for all of you every day. Thanks for all of your prayers for me :) Thanks for all of the letters! I LOVE hearing from you. And next week I'll actually get to HEAR from you! :D

I love you!!!!!!!
Love, Elder Beck


PS. Here are some pics

Me at the temple...that's my Christmas card for this year ;)

My comp and I by the Christmas tree in the Temple's hotel (I look like a peacock...)

And the pic I took of myself...of course ;) ENJOY!!! Love you all!