News From Ecuador!

October 20, 2009

Fam!
Hola family how are you all¿ sorry if the question mark is upside down, I have no idea how to fix it. So guess what- I am still alive! can you believe that¿ lol ok so I have so much to tell you all. I forgot my thing of notes that I wanted to write to you guys about so I’ll have to try and remember. It seems like every time I write you I always forget something really important, and I always remember right when I’m done writing. First thing I wanted to tell you guys last week is that I found out about the mailing packages thing. Ok, so you can send packages and they get here pretty easy, but they need to be under five pounds. That’s really important because if they are over that then they cost way too much to get out. I also heard that the mail is pretty good, so no worries. Just make sure any package is under 5 pounds. Ok, so what could I tell you about Ecuador? Lol- not much. No,I’ll start off by telling you about my apartment. Ok so when we get up in the morning in Ecuador its actually kind of cold. I even sleep with a sheet over me sometimes. But the last few days have been kind of cloudy. So, we get up at 6:30 every morning and we all take shower. lol it’s my favorite. Lol there is no hot water and the shower is like a spicket coming out of the wall. No joke, it’s freezing and it’s one stream of water. I take the shortest showers ever! I wish we could just take showers at night, but we have no time. So we go to bed all sweaty, which is sooo nice. Lol ok then there is the kitchen, oh I cant wait to send you pics. They have these little bugs/ nats. I’m really not too sure what they are, but they are sick. They always get in my food. Yesterday I was studying and this fat beadle crawled up my leg. It was like half the size of my thumb, and it scared me so bad. We all sleep in one room with our beds all over the place. Today we get to clean it, which I’m looking forward to. Ok next is the food. We actually eat pretty good here. I have probably eaten like 20 pounds of rice since being in Ecuador. The pan is way good and way cheap. That’s bread. Lol for 50 cents you can buy like 8 little loaves of bread. Yesterday we went out to eat and paid 2 dollars for both me and my comp’s lunch. Though you gotta watch out if you have a lot of money. The other day I pulled 20 bucks out of a bank thing, and my comp told me to hide it quickly, it's not safe to be carrying around 20 bucks with you here. We have soup and rice with everything. Also, eggs are really cheap so we normally have those for breakfast. I really think I would have gained weight this week if it wasn’t for the five thousand miles we walked. No joke, we walked like 5 miles the other day to get some crutches for a member. The members are way nice here and they will do anything for the missionaries. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, we are holding my first baptism on the 24th, I think. Lol yup we have our first one in this area and my first ever! His name is José Madina. He is African American, and he is way cool. The Spanish is sooo hard! No joke, I still just sit there during the lesson and smile. When it’s my turn I just bear my testimony and look back at my comp for help or like, take it home. It is way hard not being able to say what I want to say when I want to. Really there has been so many times where I just want to tell the people how important this message is, or this gospel is to me and why they need it in their lives. I want to explain scriptures, but I can’t. It’s really hard, I feel like I’m never going to learn. But some of the Gringos or English speakers tell me just give it a month or two. It’s hard, but I really have no choice but to keep on studying, praying and practicing! I do feel like I have learned a lot just this last week, it just seem like it doesn’t show to anyone when I speak, not even myself. But anyway, It’s really cool here and really different. EVERYONE here plays soccer for football. No joke, they have a field painted on every street I turn down. In the evening they put up little goals and play. Pretty much on every block they have a pick-up game of about 20 people. It’s pretty crazy. The people drive crazy here. I think I already told you that, but really I couldn’t say it enough, they drive like mad men. But anyway, I gotta go now. I have a few more letters to write. I love you all very much, and I miss you all. If I have time I’ll write a letter for the mail and send it to you. If not I’ll talk to you next week. Love you all.
Con Amor,
Elder Keables.