2008_11_24 Week 5 Balzar Mom

Mom wrote to Curtis Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:12:51 -0700
Curtis replied on Monday, November 24, 2008 at 11:40 am MST

Hi again Curtis,
Tell us about your week. What exciting things happened this week? Do you have new investigators?

yes we have many new investigators in palestina we have gladys and odalis in relicario we have jesus and a young woman named allison in balzar we have the family santillon they are the ones we taught the lesson on chastity to the family of ricardo and mariah. Mariah is the neice of a member and they are really interested in the gospel and they have four kids

How are your old investigators doing?

Most of them we have given up on and moved on to other people now

Did any of them come to church?

We had six investigators at church yesterday julio Espana, Hna. Beatrice and her son Julio part of the Fam. Santillon, Carlos de Barco, the father of a member came too. and in Relicario allison came

How is your smaller branch doing?

They are doing good I gave another talk this week on the importance of the book of mormon. there was 11 people there not counting me or my companion

On your letters to the mission president each week, you put down a list of numbers. Can you tell us what those stand for? Some of them we think we have figured out, but not all of them.

in order the numbers are baptisms, confirmations, investigators with a baptismal date, investigators that attended church, lesons taught with a member present, other lessons, investigators progressing, references recieved, references contacted, new investagators, lessons taught to recent converts or less active members

What is the most exciting thing you did this week?

probably the zone conference

Tell us about your very best lesson?

I taught obedience to the family santillon and I told the story of nephi getting the brass plates and shared the scripture 1nephi 3 7

Do you have any more baptisms lined up?

one this saturday with jesus the mother of antonia and then the 6 of december we have allison two members kids and carlos de barco so quite a few actually

How are the bugs and mosquitos down there?

they really aren´t a problem in balzar but my companion assured me that there are other areas that the bugs are really bad

Did you treat your sheets?

no I haven´t treated my sheets yet

Does the spray work well to keep them off you? Are you happy and healthy? I will continue to ask every week, so don't roll your eyes at me. ;D

yes I am happy and healthy

Tell us about your Zone Conference. Where was it held? Who spoke to you? What else did you do?

it was held in quevedo in a stake center elder bryan, elder ramirez, hna gamboa and presidente gamboa

Did you see any more of the elders you know at the Zone Conference?

no all of the other elders are serving in different areas elder bartolomei is in manta and elder felt is in peninsulare and elder fewkes is either in peninsulare or duran i´m not for sure which I don´t know where elder Smith is serving

Do you talk to many people while you are riding on the crowded bus with your knees squished?

I haven´t because MY spanish isn´t very good but my companion will sometimes talk to people and teach while on the bus

Do they have any kind of celebration at this time of year, like a harvest festival or Thanksgiving?

No just Navidad that is all

What is the most interesting thing you have seen?

I have seen motorcycles the size of mine with 6 people on it. it is quite funny actually

If I send Christmas Cards for President Ruiz and his family, and Sister Valdez, will they be able to read them in English? Should I translate the words first and write it in Spanish or let you translate it for them when you deliver the cards?

Translate them first it will be easier

We got your letter that you wrote on November 3rd with the scriptures in it. Thank you. It arrived on November 19th. It is postmarked on November 18th in Salt Lake City. That is kind of slow mail. Is there a return pouch that you are sending your mail through? Who paid the postage?

I take my letters to the district meetings and give them to my district leader he gives them to the zone leader and the zone leader puts them in a box and sends them on a bus to guayaquil where the elders in the office pick them up and sort through them and send the ones that need to go to the states and the ones that are in the mission they put into other boxes along with the other letters and things and send them the next week to the leaders of zones and they distribute them in the district meetings

I look forward to getting the one with your testimony in. The scriptures were awesome. I am glad you sent so many. We read them for Scripture Study the other night. Is the local mail unreliable in getting mail back to us?

I don´t know I just send them where I am told to send them

Do your district leaders go to the Mission Home every week to get your mail?

No it is through the pouch that they send on the buses my zone leader just goes to the bus terminal and picks the box up

How are the beds down there? Is your bed long enough for your big body or are your feet hanging off the end of the bed two feet? Is it too hard, just right or too soft?

the bed is good it is long enough but just barely

Where do you go to take out your trash? How often do you do that?

we put the trash in the gutter in bags and the garbage truck comes and picks it up about every other day

Do you clean your apartment every Pday?

yep we do

I wish you could send us some photos so we could visualize where you are and what you are doing. You said you would try to send them today. Is that going to work?

I don´t know I will try and see if I can send the cd through the pouch this wednesday I am working on the cd right now

Tell us anything else you think we would like to know.
I love you so much and I am so very proud of you.
Love always and forever,
Mom

Hi Curtis. Thanks for the answers. Have you heard from Michelle. She had good news to tell you. I know Braxton wrote about hunting and dad probably did, too. It sounds like you have been very busy. I am glad you had a good turnout at church. Do you teach a class for the investigators during Sunday School?

yeah we taught about the restoration of the church and yes I have heard from michelle

Do you have a large group in the Sunday School class, investigators and new members who attend? Besides listening to talks, what else did you do at the Zone Conference?

no there was four people in our class this week so it is small in zone conference I also had an interview with president gamboa ate a cookie an apple a package of 3 grahmcrackers and drank a bottle of cifruit

How long do the zone conferences last? What did all the elders do while President Gamboad did interviews?

all the other elders had their interviews the day before but since we are a hour and a half away from where zone conference is held they didn´t make us go the day before for our interview zone conference started at 9 and got done at about 1

That makes good sense. It sounds like they try not to waste any time. So you had four hours of talks. What did they teach you about?

how to effectivly use members and ward mission leaders to help our work. hna gamboa talked about eating breakfast and eating healthy and talking with our mamita about what foods are healthy and not to just serve us rice. oh Presidente and sister (Hermana in spanish or Hna. for short) send their love and told me to thank you for allowing me to serve a mission

That is cool. I will send a Christmas Card to them as well thanking them for taking good care of you. Are you eating a balanced diet? Do you eat pretty much the same things every day or is there more variety in your meals?

I am eating a pretty balanced diet rice with beans and meat or instead of beans something else like vegetables well I gotta Go I love you lots

I love you, too. Have a terrific week!