Inspiration and a Little Bit of Luck!

Week 4 Portoviejo

How close are you to getting the Maestro all passed off? You haven’t told us in a while.

I still have a little work to do, but I am getting there.

What area of Portoviejo is your Sector in? Can you give me your street address so I can find it on Google Earth?

I am in 12 de Marzo. If you look at the university that is in Portoviejo, my sector is on the side of the university that goes out toward the ocean. That is my sector. Elder Felt and Elder Merchan have the other side of the university. But if you are looking at the university, follow the main street that the university is on for my sector and after the university in my sector there is a road that goes up on a hill. That is where there is a school that is called 12 de Marzo. I live on that street, but not up on the hill. I live just across the main road, not on the corner, but the second house on the side of the road that is closer to the university. I hope that makes sense. I don´t know how much clearer I can try to make it, because I don´t know how much Google Earth shows.

Have you received any packages yet? Your Thanksgiving packages will probably arrive after Thanksgiving. Sorry, it was poor planning on my part.

No I haven´t received any packages yet.

How is your athlete’s foot and fungus problem? Where on your hand is the fungus? Do you have any idea what is causing it?

The fungus is on my finger. It is my middle finger on my right hand. If you look at your hand with the nails up, it is on the right side of my middle finger and it goes from the tip of my finger to the middle of my finger, the knuckle. The humidity is the cause of it, but just about all of the elders get fungus sometime in the mission.

Did Elder Carlos get better from his throat infection?

Yep, he is a whole lot better.

Are you healthy and happy?

Yep.

What happened with the Bishop on your last six baptisms in Valencia. Why weren’t you able to have those baptisms?

He told us we couldn´t baptise the San Martin family if the mom didn´t get baptised with her kids. The assistants told me that Elder Machuca and Elder Thomas had a goal of six the last week, but that they all drank coffee, so they couldn´t get baptised. That Elder Mitton had to interview all six and they all said that they drank coffee. That is like four hours of interviews. That is really long.

Do the Peruvians eat a lot of hot foods? What kinds of things do they cook that you like to eat?

The Peruvians are a lot like the Mexicans. They like things spicy, but they cook a lot like the Ecuadorians, just with peppers and chiles to make it hot.

Did you get a family heirloom from Elder Bejar?

No, I didn´t, but I decided to start one so that we can have one in the family. Elder Williams told me that he received a shirt that has been passed from missionary to missionary since 1996. So it has had a while here in the mission. So I think unless one of my grand kids is a thief and keeps the family heirloom for themselves, it should be around a long time.

Did you write your names on the back of your heirloom for future posterity?

Yes, that is the idea, that the elders can say that my great great great....... great grandad is Elder Goode from Utah.

What day did you mail my photos? I am expecting to get them as my Christmas and Birthday present. Don’t disappoint me!

I mailed the disks this Wednesday, that is coming, in the District Meeting.

He Better!!!

Are you walking a lot in Portoviejo? Or do you use the buses and taxis to get around?

I am walking a lot here in Portoviejo, but we have to take buses sometimes to get from one part of the sector to others and then we walk. My sector goes from the university here in Portoviejo to another city called Cruzcita, that is out there on the ocean. So my sector like all of my others is a big one.

How big is your sector?

From the university to Cruzcita, is about an hour in bus, but at low speeds, like thirty-five to forty miles an hour.

Does your sector cover just one ward or one branch?

Yep, my sector is just one branch. It is part of the stake, but it isn´t big enough yet to be a ward, but they said that they were close.

How big is your ward or branch?

It is about the same size as Valencia.

How many people attend each week?

About 100 to 120.

Do you teach any lessons or have you talked in church?

I gave a talk on missionary work my first Sunday here and then we give a class every week. We teach the Gospel Principles class.

Are the members helping you a lot with the work? Are you able to take them with you to your lessons?

We are working on getting the youth involved so we are taking a youth with us just about every day when we visit.

Have you ever met President Gamboa’s Counselors in the mission? You have never mentioned them. Who are they and where are they from? What do they do to help the work?

No, I don´t know anything about his Counselors.

Do President and Hermana Gamboa have two sons with them on the mission? Elder Abriel mentioned a 14 year old son. I have found a lady on Facebook that I think is Hermana Gamboa. She is friends with some of the returned missionaries. Her name is Doris Pulido Barrerra. Is that Sister Gamboa? The photo is of her with President Gamboa and two sons. One looks like he is about fourteen and the other about eighteen. He could be on a mission, I guess.

That would be Hermana Gamboa and they have two sons. One is in the mission, in Argentina and the other is here. He comes sometimes to the Conferences with his parents.

Tell us about your investigators. Do you have any with baptismal dates set?

We have four with baptism dates. One is the brother of a member. He is 26 and his sister is about thirty and she is a member that lives in another ward. But he accepted a baptismal date for the 12th of December without problem. He has accepted everything that we have taught him without problems. His name is Juan Pablo or John Pedro in English.

We have three others that we are teaching that are all 16 years old. They have a lot of friends in the church and they like to go to the church to play soccer. We just need them to come to church so they can get baptized. I think we are going to have the four baptisms on the 12th, but let’s see what happens.

Do you have any that are progressing?

We have a lot that we have found that are progressing, so that is cool. I am pretty sure that all of the finding that we have been doing has paid off.

You said your sector is called the 12th of March. Did you know that the city of Portoviejo was founded on March 12, 1535?

No.

Is your sector near the university? If so, you might have lots of success working with the students there. I suspect they are a lot more receptive to change than their parents who are set in their ways of religion.

Have you been having power blackouts in your area? Some of the other missionaries are talking about how they turn off the power for an hour each morning and an hour each afternoon to conserve power. They say that Ecuador is experiencing a drought and because most of their power is created by water, they are having shortages of power due to the drought. Elder Daniel Mitton said they have been teaching about the light of Christ when they have to teach in the dark. He said this has been very beneficial to them and the people are listening because it is a real lesson they can see, how Christ represents light in their lives. It might be something you could use in your sector.

Yes we have been having black outs here. Ours are a three hour block in the mornings, from 9 to 12, so it doesn´t affect our area too much.

Hi Curtis,

I just got back on my computer. I had to go to WPJH for a bit and just got back to WPEL. I hope you are still on the computer. Thanks for the answers to the questions. Tell us more about what you have been doing this week. What happened that was exciting? You must have had a Zone
Conference. I believe that photo was taken on November 20th. Is that right?

Love you lots,
Mom

Yep, you are right the picture was taken on the 20th and we did have Zone Conference. We learned a lot about the obedience in the conference. There seems to be a huge problem with the disobedience right now here in the mission, so we talked about why it is so important that we are obedient. It was cool. I learned a lot and I got lucky with a lot of my comments or I was inspired, but I am sure that there was a little luck. Elder Aguirre passed out a letter to all of the elders, a different letter of the alfabet. I got the letter J and then Elder Aguirre asked Presidente to pick a letter and he picked one and Elder Piedra got picked and he was the example and then Presedent picked the J and I got picked and the thing was that we had to remember a scripture with a certain word that began with me letter. My word was juventud or youth in english and I had studied a long, long time ago in my second or third change the scripture so I had to give the reference and say the scripture from memory and then tell what principle I would apply it to and then what commitment I would give the people. So that was cool I got lucky with a scripture that I knew. Many didn´t know the scriptures. I was one of just two that were able to do it without any help.

Well I gotta go, but I love you lots and I hope that all is going well for you.

Bye,

Elder Goode