The Only Good Cat is a Dead Cat!

Week 28 Valencia

Have you gotten your packages yet? I sent them on September 15th, so it has been 27 days.

I got the packages. Thankyou so much! They were great!!! Elder Machuca ate just about all of my jerky, so I think he liked it.

If so, how are the insoles working?

The insoles are amazing! I am using the work insoles, not the walking ones that you sent me. The walking ones made my feet really hot all day long, but the work ones have little air vents in them that keep my feet much cooler and a lot happier, too.

Is there anything you need or want in your next package?

Well let’s hope that the boys get some deer so they can send me some more deer jerky. Tell Clain to be careful with the duck that he grinds up for jerky. I found a BB in the jerky.

Did you ever get the post cards we sent?

Yep, I got a ton of post cards from lots of people. They were all from Island Park and Yellowstone.

Have you mailed my photo CDs yet?

No, I haven´t sorry. I need to call the pouch guy and ask him how I can do it.

Are you going to resend the package for Clain and Skyler?

I don´t think so. I think I will just bring the things home with me and give them the things when I get back.

How much of General Conference did you get to see this time?

I got to see all five sessions. That was really awesome!

What was your favorite talk? Why?

I liked in the Priesthood session I can´t remember who it was but they gave a talk to the sons and to the dads about how they can have better relationships.

Elder M. Russell Ballard's Talk
"Fathers and Sons: A Remarkable Relationship"

You said that the San Martin girls attended conference with you. Which session? Did any of your other investigators attend?

They came in the Sunday morning session. Yep, we had seven investigators that attended the conference, the five San Martin girls and a couple that are friends of Isabel.

About how many people were at each session? One of the other missionaries said that the Sunday morning session was well attended, but the other sessions had very few people. Was it the same in your area?

In the Sunday morning session there was a lot, like four or five hundred and in the rest it depended, but twenty to forty people, but in the priesthood session there was about 100 people there.

Where did you have to go to watch the conference?

We had to go to the stake center in Quevedo.

How is Mosche doing?

I haven´t been able to find him lately he started another job so he is just about never home.

What is happening with Esther and her two daughters?

We haven´t been visiting them recently. She doesn´t want to come to church anymore, so there isn´t anything else that we can do.

Have you heard from Shirley since she left for school?

Yep, she had two weeks of vacation, so she came back to Valencia. So we visited a few times this last week with her. She was in a six week course that was like my Connections class or something like that so they could get used to the university and now she is actually starting to study. But she said that now she has more time on the weekends. Before she would study in the university until five in the evening on Saturdays and now she gets done at one on Fridays, so she said that she is going to be coming back to Valencia just about every weekend, so we should be able to visit with her more often now, but let’s see what happens.

Tell us about Dexy?s friends that you are teaching.

There is Valeria. She has a baptism date for the 31st, but she hasn´t come to church for a couple of weeks, so let’s see what happens. She studies with Dexy. They are seniors in high school right now which is kind of funny because Dexy and I are the same age to the day. And she is a senior still, but ya things happen. She got sick when she was younger and had to drop out of school because of it, but now she is finishing up. There is also Mariana. She is 21. She isn´t studying, just helping out at home and working a little here and there when she can. She hasn´t come to church again either, so we need to visit the both of them, but last week we couldn´t go visit them because of the conference and other things that happened.

What is happening with Dexy’s siblings?

We are trying to get her to introduce us to them, but she still doesn’t want to, so we aren´t pushing things right now.

Do you have any new investigators?

We have found a lot of new investigators with Elder Machuca. We have been knocking a lot of doors so that he knows how to do it. We have also been working with some new inactive families that we have found and we found three girls. They are cousins and the three are granddaughters of a less active woman. So we have been visiting and one of the three came to church Sunday and the young men are doing a good job of being their friends. All of the young men that are fifteen to nineteen are their friends now, because the three are 16 and 17 years old and they are pretty, so we don´t have to worry about them not having friends in the church. Three young men went Sunday morning to pick them up and walked with the one that came to church, so that was pretty cool.

Tell us more about your companion. What is his full name? What does he like to do? Did he attend college before the mission? Is he funny like your other companions from Lima?

I will have to do some investigating to find out his whole name. I have seen it, but I forgot and he won´t tell me right now. He liked to dance and do the whole skatebord and BMX biking stuff, things I really don´t like to do all that much. He likes cats, you know how I feel about cats and when I told him that I don´t like cats he like got all offended, so we will have to work on that, but I still think that the only good cat is a dead cat. He didn´t attend college, but he wants to study Civil Engineering. He is pretty funny, but it bugs me sometimes, like when we are in the bus and the radio is playing, he likes to dance in his seat to the music and that bugs me, but I try to have patience. I haven´t said anything to him yet, but ya, it bugs me.

How did your District Meeting go this past week?

It went good. We talked about the numbers as a district and how we could improve them and then I gave every companionship a copy of their numbers and how they are doing compared to the Standard of Excellence that the mission has. And then we talked about what goals we could put so that we could reach the standard like we should.

How was your Zone Meeting?

Zone Conference was really great. We did a lot of activities and I learned a lot of new things that I need to apply in my teaching now.

Do you handle the mail that comes to the missionaries in your district now? How does that work?

All of the missionaries in my district give me their mail and I make sure that the mail isn´t going to any women inside of the mission, unless they have permission from President. And then I give it to Elder Bejar, the Zone Leader and he packs it up in a box and sends it to Guayaquil. What they do here is they go to the bus terminal and say that they want to send the package to Guayaquil. So they weigh it and pay for it and send it to Guayaquil. In Guayaquil, the pouch guy goes to the terminal and he has to go to the offices of the different lines that the different places send the pouch through and he picks up all of the pouch and takes it to the office. And there he sorts it and sends it where it needs to go, and then he puts our stuff in a box and sends it back the same way it came to us with the stuff that we have asked for.

Did your new glasses fit okay? Did you have to have them adjusted? Is there any place there where they sell glasses that can adjust them?

They fit pretty good I adjusted them a little bit so that they fit better but they fit ok.

Do very many people in Ecuador wear glasses?

There are a lot here that wear glasses. They buy the pre-made ones to read that come in the increments, the ones that you can find in the gas stations, you know.

Are sunglasses a big thing down there?

Yep, but we can´t wear them as missionaries.

Tell us something funny that has happened to you lately.

(no answer)

We would love to hear some of your spiritual experiences. Share some please.

(no answer)

Hi Curtis. It is good to hear from you. Thanks for the answers to my questions. How come you always leave those last two questions blank? We want to hear more of your experiences, funny, spiritual, weird, etc.

I am glad the insoles are working. Do you need more of them for the other pairs of shoes? I couldn't decide which ones would work better for you, so I got two different kinds.

I will tell Clain about the BB. I am sure he included it on purpose so you could have a wonderful reminder of home! Ha! Ha! :)

I am glad that Elder Machuca liked the jerky and I am glad you have learned to share and be nice. It is great training for when you will get married. Your wife will want to share everything with you, even your favorite snacks.

Please make sure you tell your future wife that you do not like to dance! Don't let her be disappointed like I was. I thought your dad sort of liked to dance because we had fun at a couple of dances before we got married. I found out after we were married that he does not like to dance or to hold hands. Be fair and let your future wife know up front that it bugs you. Ha! Ha! :)

I am happy that you are controlling your feelings and not saying anything about the things that bug you. That is also good practice for the future. There are many times when it is better to just keep your thoughts and feelings to yourself rather than risk offending someone. However, you can agree to disagree with your companion about the cats. He can have his opinion and you can have yours and it shouldn't matter since neither of you should be having anything to do with cats while you are on your missions. I guess maybe a few members might have cats in their homes, but you shouldn't be spending your time with the cats, just the people.

I am glad you liked General Conference and that you got to attend all of it this time. It is neat that you had investigators attend with you. I have attached that talk by Elder Ballard on Fathers and Sons. I can send you all of the talks again if you want. Did you use the ones from the last conference?

Did you like the printed ones I did or the Ensign or Liahona best?

Are you able to study them at all or use them in your lessons?

I am glad things are going well with your investigators, or at least some of them. We will continue to pray for them and for you. You need to pray lots, also, for the specific help you need to get them to commit and to feel the spirit. I know the Lord will help you with the work if you put your faith in him and trust that he will do his part if you do your part.

It sounds like you are working hard and being an effective missionary. Set high goals and then stretch yourself to reach them. I would love to see you have a bunch of baptisms during this change. We will keep praying that this will happen for you. Commit them to baptism early and then work hard to make sure they are ready.

We love you so much and we are so very proud of you. I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are pleased with you. That is a great place to be and a great feeling to know that you are doing what the Lord would have you do. You should have a very peaceful heart as you do their work here on earth knowing that you are worthy and actively engaged in the work.

Love,
Mom

Baptisms, Birthdays and Life Skills

Week 23 Valencia

Hey, here is the photo of Dexy’s baptism. I´ll send more in a minute and I will send a report of what I have done these past two weeks.

Hi, Curtis. Neat photo! Have you grown taller? She is really cute. She looks nice. Can't wait to hear more from you.

Here is a picture of Shirley.

Shirley is very pretty, but not very tall. She looks like she is a sweet girl.

Here is a photo of the baptism of Isabel she is in the white and the other two are her daughters and her grandson.

Awesome!!! Congratulations!!! How are her two daughters coming as far as baptism? Who is the other lady in the photo?

Here is a picture of my birthday this is what we ate for lunch we had lazania with a salad of broccoli and corn and rice (It isn´t food here in Ecuador if there isn´t rice.) And we had the cakes, too. If you look good, the candles are in the cake, too. The cake was really good. It is a three milk cake with peaches on top. It was delicious.

It looks very festive with all of the bright colors. You and rice are going to be lifelong friends!!! There are seven plates. Who attended the party?

OK, to answer your questions. In the photo of the baptism of Isabel, the other lady is the sister Paula Pinarera. She is the one that lives in front of Isabel and loves to cook for us. I think because of her I have stopped losing weight. In my party, there was me, of course, my companion, the mamita, her husband, and their two kids, Cesar and Aura and a friend of Cesar and Hector Ramirez. He is a friend of Cesar. He is my convert, if you don't remember. There are only seven plates, because Elder Castaneda wasn't feeling very good that day, so he didn't eat, but the mamita gave us two plates more and we put them in the fridge to eat later, so it was really cool.

Thanks for the pictures. It is awesome to see you looking all happy and well and great to hear from you. I do not like it when you miss a week, so don't do it again, please!

This picture is for Braxton. I heard that you recently earned your painting merit badge. Congratulations and congratulations on earning your Eagle, too. But you know what Braxton, you never know when the things that you are learning right now are going to come in handy. Look at the picture. I too, earned my painting merit badge with dad. We painted a lot of things in a lot of different ways and look, I got to use what I had learned to help a friend here in Ecuador. Really you never know when you are going to be able to use the things that you have learned to help others, so keep on learning and keep your chin up. Ya, I love you Buddy and I am looking forward to next year when we can go hunting together just the two of us, ok? I love you lots! Bye, Buddy.

Hey! It is Braxton. Thanks for the picture. It was very cool to get something from you and I really enjoy getting things from you.

Hey, Braxton! What is up with that? I sent you a whole paragraph and you sent me one line. I went to all of the effort to write and send you a cool picture and I get a line....................................................................... Now, I know how you feel! I will definitely have to try harder, Buddy. I´m sorry that I haven´t been writing very much. I will try harder, ok? I love you, Buddy!

This picture is for Clain. Clain here I am using my machete in one of the ways they use it here in Ecuador. When they say that they are exorting someone to do something they say that they are macheteing. It is one of many uses. In this photo, we were having a little bit of fun in the house, but I have learned many things about machetes here in Ecuador. I learned that all that you need to build a house here in Ecuador is a machete, a hammer and nails and you can build a house of wood and cane. I am pretty sure that you are going to learn how to build a house using many different tools and different techniques. Learn them well, because they will serve in the future a lot. You have always liked to work with tools and with materials, so I know that you will do great in your Construction class. Keep working hard Buddy and tell everyone Hi for me, ok? Thanks, Buddy. I love you lots! Elder Goode

What scripture are you reading? What are you exorting him to do?

Hi Curtis
How are you doing? I am doing good? Thanks for the email. I love you. Clain

Curtis,
Hi! How are you doing? We just got done putting a loft in a shed for Shara and Rob. The guys at work all say Hi. We have been back to school for a couple of weeks. What are you doing in the picture of you with the machete? I love the classes I have this year.
Love, Clain

Hey! Sorry that I didn´t write last week. The internet was down in all of Valencia, so we couldn´t write at all, but today there is internet, so here I am writing you. So, since I last wrote you we baptised Isabel and now we are working on preparing about six people for the next week. We have a family of four women that we are preparing and we have two friends of Dexy that we are teaching that want to get baptized, too. And we have a family that investigated the Iglesia about two years ago and then moved to Quito, so they didn´t get baptized. Now they are back here in Valencia and they want to get baptized, so we just have to see who will be ready for next week and baptise them. That is all. I hope that we can baptise them before changes, so let’s see what happens. If not, I will leave more for the next missionary to reap when he gets here. But let’s see what happens. We are working hard and having lots of success now. I don´t know what changed when Elder Castañeda left and Elder Hernandez came, but now we are having lots of success.

I bought my new suit. I had to go to Buena Fe today to try it on, so he could see how it fit and he is going to finish it and Elder Frye will bring it to Quevedo on Wednesday. My suit ended up costing a little more than I thought it would. It cost 160 dollars, but I had him make me a vest, too and put on all of the bells and whistles, too. But for the suit and the vest it took five and a half yards of material to make. He said that usually it only takes three. So this is the biggest suit that he has ever made. I will try to be better about my spending and let’s see what happens. Well, I love you lots and I hope everything is going good.

Love,

Elder Goode

Hey, do you remember the Elder Feldman that sent you a letter for the family that he wanted me to look up? I found them and gave them his email address and they said that they have written him, but he hasn´t written back. Can you send him an email and see what is up? The thing that is kinda cool is that I found them without really trying. There is a member of my ward that is engaged to the daughter of Julia Romero, so I found them by chance. If you could write, I would really appreciate it. Thank you.

Bye,

Elder Goode

Okay. I will try to contact him again.

Dexy's Baptism

Week 21 Valencia Emails with Mom

Dear Curtis,

I am so excited to hear about Dexy’s baptism. Please tell us all about it. Who attended? Did her family and friends all come?

No she didn´t want her family to come to the baptism and we haven´t yet had a chance to meet her family but we are going to try and set up an appointment this week.

You said you were teaching some of her siblings, how are they progressing?

We aren´t teaching any of her family yet.

What about her parents?

We aren´t teaching yet this week we are going to try and set up an appointment.

Are they willing to listen? Are you teaching her friends and their families?

Right now we are teaching the family of one of her friends but the problem is they don´t want to come to church because it is a ways away.

You said you were going to baptize her, did you?

Yes

Who did the confirmation?

The bishop

Was she confirmed in church on Sunday?

Yes

How is Isabel doing?

Isabel is doing good she is excited for her baptism this Saturday so things are going really good.

Did she attend church?

Yep she did!

Is she ready to be baptized this week?

Yep! She will have her interview this Wednesday and then Saturday she will be baptized.

Do you have any other investigators who are ready to be baptized?

Right now we don´t, but we are working on it we have a family of five that we are getting ready for baptism, but they are a few weeks out right now.

How is Esther doing?

Esther is doing good she hasn´t been coming to church so we are working on that so that she will come and then when she has been coming to church for three or four weeks she can be baptized without problems so we are just waiting and exorting her to come to church.

Shirley is the one that is going to go to school in Guayaquil and she went last week and she is there right now.

When does she leave to go to Guayaquil for school?

Last week.

What is she going to study there?

She is going to be studying computers and design I think or something like that.

You said you would send us a photo of her.

I took a picture last Sunday, but the problem is I left the camera in the house so I can't send you a picture right now.

How is Mosche doing?

He is doing good he is back with his wife or his girlfriend so we have to help them get married but I don’t know if they want to get married so we will see what happens.

Is he still listening to you on Saturdays and Sundays?

Ya, he still is, but his wife won´t let him come to church. So it is hard for him to progress, so we will see what happens.

You said you have an inactive family that gave you a reference. Are you still teaching them? Tell us more about them, please.

Yep they are the Arias family, a family that consists of the mom and four daughters that are eight or older and three kids one girl and two boys that are younger than eight. They are progressing the mom wants to be baptized so we are working on it. We still need to teach them a lot more before they can be baptized so that is where we are right now.

Tell us more about your companion. What city in Guatemala is he from?

He is from Guatemala city or the capital.

How many are in his family?

There is his mom and dad and then he has his older brother and an older sister and then him and he is the baby in the family.

How long has he been a member?

He has been a member all of his life.

Where did he serve prior to coming to you?

He was in Babahyo for six months and then he came here like I did.

This is Elder Dan Mitton with Elder Mauricio R Hernandez.
Elder Mitton was his trainer in Babahoyo.

Who were his other companions? There was a Mauricio R Hernandez who was companions with Dan Mitton in Babahoyo. I wrote down that Dan was his trainer. Is he your new companion? I am attaching a photo. Is this him? Send us a photo of him if you can.

Yes, he is my companion now. He was with an Elder Mittton, Elder Donoso and an Elder Rodriguez and now with me.

Please take a look at the other photo and my guesses about who each missionary is. Correct it and send it back please.

Please send photos soon. It has been a very long time since you sent us any. We only have a couple of photos since you have been in Valencia. We want to see the people and the places you visit and your apartment and your companions. Please.

Have you received any more packages, letters or cards?

Tell us about the people you are teaching.

I love you so much.
Love always and forever,
Mom

It sounds like you have been very busy. Congratulations on the baptism. I am glad it worked out. Next week, pictures, for sure! Promise me!

What special experiences have you had this week?

I am actually planning on bringing my camera to the cyber and leaving it there and having them put all of the pictures that I have on my cards on a dvd so that I can send it to you, so I think I will drop my camera off a little later today and pick it up tomorrow with the dvd all ready to go. But next week I will have all of the photos in one disk to send you some, ok?

Okay. It has been a very long time since you sent us any. We want to see all the places and people. Thanks.

Are you getting along well with your new companion? What does he like to do? I sent a photo of a missionary I think is him. Is it?

Yes that is him. He likes the computer and stuff like that. I gotta ask him more. He doesn´t like to talk very much, so I don´t know much yet.

You are together all week long. I know you are supposed to focus on the work, but you could ask him a little bit about himself. :)

What spiritual experiences have you had this week? Anything funny?

Dr. Scholl's and Beto's

2009_08_17 Week 20 in Valencia - Email to Mom



Hey! How are things going? I am doing good. Today we are in La Mana having our pday. We came to La Mana because there is a place here that sells pizza that is really good. Today we split a meat lover’s pizza. It cost us four dollars each. That is really pretty good here when normally pizza is really expensive.

Well things are going pretty good. Dexy passed her interview Sunday and she will be getting baptised this Friday. She asked me to baptise her, so that is pretty cool. The really cool thing is that yesterday we were teaching our class in church and Dexy and Isabell were both there. We told everybody that was in our class that Dexy was going to be baptised and Dexy stood and bore her testimony that she was going to make a covenant with God and that it was something really sacred for her and do you know what happened? Isabell heard and she got excited and now she too wants to be baptised the week after Dexy, so now we have two baptisms. That is going to be so cool when it all works out.

So besides that we are working really hard trying to activate the less active members which is really working out good because we are finding lots of investigators through them and that gives us more reasons to visit the less active families and get them active again. So that is really cool. Today we have three Family Home Evenings. We are going on splits. Elder Hernandez will do one and I am going to see if I can combine the other two into one. If not, I will have to do two short ones, but let’s see what happens. It is really cool. The bishop here is really pushing to visit the people and it is paying off. We are seeing more and more people here in the church each week. This change is going to be a good one. I can feel it! I have a really good companion and we are working really hard. We are going to have lots of success. Well, if there is something else you want to know let me know. Ok?

I thought of a few other things that I want. Could you send me a pair of Doctor Scholl's insoles? Mine are about dead and here in Ecuador you just cut a piece of cardboard and put in your shoes when the insole dies, so if you could send me a pair my feet would really appreciate it.

Oh, ya, if you could send me Carne Asada Fries I would really appreciate it, too. Just put them on dry ice and send them and they will get here ok. I’m sure of it.

If not, send me a breakfast burrito. There is enough grease to preserve it, so don´t worry it will still be good when it gets here.

Things are really looking good now, so don´t worry. I haven´t gotten the pictures ready to send, so I´m sorry. Maybe next week.

One of Curtis's favorite places to eat is Beto's Mexican Restaurant. Their Breakfast Burritos are huge and the boys all love them. I was not so impressed because of all the grease, but all three of my boys love to eat there. They get so excited over a box of Carne Asada Fries! They are tasty, but I can only eat just a few. I wish I could send him some as a treat, but it is one sacrifice he will have to make. It will make him appreciate them more when he gets back home.

I wonder if he is getting tired of his diet of healthy rice and fruit?

2009_08_03 Week 18 Valencia Mom

Hey! How is it going? Things are going good here. We are working hard and doing good. I have been a little bit down lately. I think more than anything else is that Skyler got married and now I am getting that feeling fall is coming. I can feel it and fall brings hunting. I think that is one of the things that I am missing most right now. I am trying to stay focused in the work, but sometimes it gets hard.

We have two people that have baptism dates. We have Isabel Cuello and we have another investigator, Dexy. She is 21. She just turned 21 the day before I did and she wants to be baptized. So we are working with her and she has given us lots of references. In the past two weeks she introduced us to her friend and her family (a family with 12 kids). We are teaching them. There are five or six of the kids that have been listening to us, but they are all older 21, 19, 16, 15, so it is a little bit harder to teach because they all have different schedules and you know how young people are. Sometimes they just don´t want to listen. But it is cool. We had a Family Home Evening in the church Friday and she came and brought one of her friends. He is really cool. He has read all of the Book of Mormon, but from a scholar point of view, not as a religious point of view. So it is cool. We need to go visit him in his house. The thing is our Bishop wants us to work in Valencia, but we are getting a ton of references from Dexy for people that live in The Mana, so we are trying to work with the people that we have while trying to expand our teaching pool to include the people in The Mana.

Yesterday we went and taught Dexy in The Mana. There is a park in the middle of the town. We have been meeting her in the park and teaching her there. We had a really cool experience yesterday. We were teaching her about baptism. She wanted to know what she needed to do to be baptized, so we told her she needed to come to church and that before the baptism she needed to have an interview. And she asked us what they would ask her in the interview, so I pulled out my agenda and turned to the page that has the baptism questions on it and gave it to her to read. And she started reading it question for question and answering as she went. It was cool, but the cool part was when we got to the part about tithing. Elder Castañeda was explaining and I noticed that there was a man listening to what we were teaching. After about a minute of explaining, Elder Castañeda was explaining that we pay ten percent, but Dexy didn´t understand it very well. In this moment, the man that had been listening bursted into the lesson and started to teach about tithing. He taught her what ten percent was so that she could understand. After that he started to "machetear" (This is a word that we use in Spanish. Imagine that he had a machete in his hand and he was using it on her.) He started to say that women that dress inappropriately are sinning and that when men have inappropriate thoughts it is their sin and a bunch of things. So we quickly changed the subject, asked him where he was from, if he knew anyone Mormon and a bunch of other things. And then we gave him a pamphlet and luckily the bus pulled up and he left to take the bus. But the thing is that what he taught, we had been teaching her earlier about modesty. She wasn´t dressed immodestly or anything, but he was pretty harsh. But, we continued with the lesson as if nothing had happened, but the good thing was that Dexy understood what tithing is. But when we got there, Dexy introduced us to another friend, but she had to leave before we could teach. But we did invite her to the actividad that we are going to have this week. They are doing a talent show and each group has to present something. It should be cool.

We are working really hard and we are starting to have success. It seems like we always seem to find people that want to be baptised right before the change. Well, I will let you know next week what is happening with the changes, if I´m going or if I get to stay here to have some baptisms, but we will see.

Hi Curtis,

It is good to hear from you. Dexy sounds like a golden prospect. I hope it works out for you well and that you are able to continue to teach her friends and family. I hope for that reason that you are not transferred, but the Lord will decide. Maybe it will help that we fasted for you. I am glad there is nothing seriously the matter. Tell Satan to get lost and don't worry about Skyler. Things will work out for you when you get home. Right now, you need to be hunting for converts rather than ducks, elk and deer. That will be more important for your salvation in the long run.

I wish Skyler were off in Japan teaching the gospel like you, but we don't know why things happen as they do. I hope someday he is able to serve a mission. It seems strange that his Patriarchal Blessing would talk about a mission, and then he would be unable to go, but maybe that means it will be a blessing for a later time. I am glad he is not sitting home sulking or wasting his time. He is doing great things with this insurance business and if that makes him happy, I guess it is good.

What happened with the Jewish guy you were teaching?

With Moshe, he works a lot. We can’t leave the house until ten in the morning, right? Well he starts working in Quevedo at nine, his first job. Then he goes to his second job after that at three. Then he comes here to Valencia and starts his third job at six thirty and leaves the third job at ten. We have to be in the house at 9 or 9 thirty, the latest, so we can’t teach him during the week.

On the weekend, Saturday, that is his Domingo, so we can visit him Saturdays, but I don´t think he is very faithful to his holy day, because he goes out and about and that is not what he said that he should do. But I give him the benefit of the doubt that maybe he is going for a walk or to visit someone. I don´t know, but Saturday, we were doing service in the church, Elder Castañeda and me. I had my machete and we were trimming the plants in the flowerbeds. It is a ground cover plant and it was sticking out into the side walk and didn´t look very good, so I was going along with my machete cutting the plant so that it was even and Elder Castañeda was behind pulling all of the plant that I had cut out and putting it in a trash bag.

While we were working on this, Moshe passed and the first thing he asked us if we could work. I told him that we could, that it is Saturday, but then I laughingly told him that since our day of rest is Sunday that we could work on Saturday. I kept working, but he stayed there with me and was asking me a bunch of questions. It was really cool. The Lord really does help you when you need it. I haven’t studied the scriptures in English in just about ten months, so I couldn´t remember the scriptures very well, but the thing was, he asked me several questions and I, while working without stopping to think, was able to quote scriptures that I am pretty sure that I have never memorized in English, but I quoted them in English. It was really cool.

He had a few doubts, but I was able to help him understand what we believe and how he can know that the church is the correct church. It really was cool to be able to talk with him like that. I spent about an hour and a half teaching while I was working. It was so cool. The Lord really will give us the words we need in the right moment. I don´t think that Moshe is ready to be baptized, but he wants to keep learning, so I am going to keep teaching until I leave and hopefully what I have taught will one day have effect and he will be baptised.

I got another package last week. that makes three for my birthday and four for my Hump Day. Thankyou so much, but so you know, I now have four bottles of Maple Syrup Extract and I have used about half of a bottle, so I don´t need any more for a while, ok. But thank you for sending me more jerkey. I will tell you that I haven´t been eating much jerkey, because there isn´t much in the house. Because I open the package right and put the jerkey in the fridge and then when I go to get a piece there isn´t any in the fridge and my companion doesn´t know what happened to it or so he says, but that is all right. He really loves jerkey, so he has been eating just about all that I have received.

Could you do me a favor though? Can you send me a few temple recommend holders that have the picture of different temples in the states??? Elder Castañeda wants some, so if you can send them that would be really cool. And if I am not here when I get them I can send them through the pouch so he can have them.

Thank you for everything and thank you for your prayers and your fasting. I have felt the help in the work and in my excitement for the work, but I gotta go. It is late and we have appointments, so I will talk to you next week and let you know what happens with the transfers. And tell the family and the friends hi and sorry that I haven´t written them. Next week, I will, Ok? Bye.

Thanks Curtis. Wonderful letters today and thanks for saying thank you. It means a lot. We will keep praying for you as always. Any specific temples he wants?

Love always,
Mom

I just asked him and he said that whatever ones that I think are cool. So see if you can find the Salt Lake Temple, Ogden, and Logan. There is one in Washington that is really cool, one in California, I think the San Diego, but I could be wrong and the Washington DC temple and if there are a few other cool ones that you feel that would be cool. Thank you so much! I love you! Bye.