2009_03_09 Week 20 Balzar Mom

Mom wrote to Curtis on Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:23:21 -0600

Hi Curtis,

How was your Zone Conference? Where was it held? Did you get to shake hands and talk to Elder Pratt? What did he teach you? Tell us all about it please.

We learned a lot in the conferencia. The wife of Elder Pratt taught us about obediencia. She used the scriptures, 1 Nephi 19:23, D&C 130:20-21, D&C 132:5, D&C 82:10, and D&C 3:4. They are powerful scriptures to teach our investigators to be obedient, so we have been teaching obedience to all of our investigators this week. Elder Pratt talked about John 15:1-13. I think this is the scripture. It talks about Jesus is the vine and we are the branch and then Elder Pratt reprimanded us for not studying the scriptures more and committing them to memory. It was a good conference. I learned a lot to help our investigators.

Did you get to see any old friends at the Zone Conference?

Elder Felt is in our zone now. He is the companion of Elder Ronnow, our Zone Leader. Elder Contreras is the Zone Leader of the Zone Quevedo North now. He was the companion of Elder Bejar before I arrived in Balzar.

How is the weather?

Hot and humid with rain about every other day.

Did you get any of your packages? What condition were they in?

No, I haven´t gotten any of the packages yet.

Did any of the videos have sound on the computer when you tried them?

I didn´t get a chance to try last week, but I am working on it right now.

Did you send us a CD of photos?

No, I didn´t, but I am also working on that right now, too.

I bought most of the stuff you asked for, but Walmart didn’t have the replacement blades for your razor. I will try to look at some other stores and see if I can find them. Where did you buy your razor at? It might help if I go back to the same store to find the replacement blades.

I bought my razor at the Walmart in Syracuse.

Is there anything else you need in this next package?

An adaptor, USB to SD memory cards if you can send me one. Are you using the SD memory card I bought that is 20 gig? If you aren´t, could you send it to me I think I can transfer my pictures to it after I put them on the computer.

Are you healthy and happy?

Yeah, I am fine. My stomach has been a little bad lately, but don´t worry. A little diarrhea won´t hurt me.

How far along in the pregnancy was Ginger? Why does the doctor want her down in bed for so long? How are Rony and Ginger progressing?

I think that Ginger was a month or two along, not much. She wasn´t showing at all. I´m not for sure why she needs to be in bed for that long, but that is what the doctor said. Rony has a few problems he needs to work out before he can be baptized. If you look in my planners I senthome, in the front, there is a page of questions for baptism. He has some problems with question number four so he will have to wait a year before he can be baptized, if he has repented of everything. We are planning on helping Ginger to progress and be baptized and then letting other missionaries baptize Rony in a year or when he has repented.

Did you make any progress with the lady who didn’t want to get married?

No, we haven´t been able to talk to her yet. The kids keep lying for her, so we can´t talk to her.

Have you met very many handicapped people in Ecuador?

Yeah, I have met a few here in Balzar and one in Palestina.

We loved the ladder story. I am grateful that you and the ladder are both okay. I bet they don’t build things down there strong enough to hold men your size. Do you ever worry that you will fall through the floor of those houses on stilts?

There are a few houses that I have to be careful in, but for the most part it isn´t a problem.

What is the most interesting thing that happened to you this week? Tell us more fun stories, please.

I hit my head again in the bus and drew blood again. It hurt and I had agoose egg for four days, too.

Did you have any baptisms?

No, we haven´t had any. Our baptisms keep falling through.

Where is Relicario located? I can’t find it on the map anywhere. Is it on the road between Balzar and Palestina?

It is between Palestina and Balzar. There is a place where the road forks when you are going from Palestina to Balzar. Relicario is before this fork about three miles.

How long does it take you to go by bus to Relicario and to Palestina?

In bus, from Balzar, Relicario is thirty minutes and Palestina is forty minutes.

How big are the cities of Relicario and Palestina?

They are small, smaller than Balzar. Relicario is no more than the houses along the side of the road. Palestina is a little bigger, but nowhere near as big as Balzar.

What American food do you miss most?

Lasagna. I haven´t been able to find a place that makes lasagna here in Balzar. I have found places that make pizza and hamburgers (hamburger with a fried egg on top, but it is good).

I love you so very much. I am so proud of you! I am grateful that you are serving our Heavenly Father so willingly. I know it will bless and change your life forever. I know you are going to be a great instrument in the hands of the Lord. Be humble and faithful and let him use you tobring joy and happiness to the people of Ecuador.

Love always and forever,
Mom

P.S. Thanks for writing to Bishop Hipwell. It was a great letter. I hope he read it to the Priest Quorum. I forgot to ask Clain about it today after church. I know it would have fit right in with the theme of the day today.

We got tickets today to attend the Draper Temple Dedication on March 22nd. Our chapel will become an extension of the temple that day and the dedication will be broadcast in for us to participate in. We each need a white handkerchief for that day. I need to get some. There is a place online that sells them with the temple embossed on the corner.

Hi Curtis,

Thanks for the answers. I am glad the Zone Conference was good and you learned things you can use with your investigators. Did you get to shake their hands and talk personally to Elder and Sister Pratt?

I hope nothing bad has happened to the packages. I thought they should have arrived by now. Hopefully they will this week. I will keep praying for them.

I will check the Syracuse Walmart for the blades and some other stores if necessary. I will go find a USB adapter for the SD cards. I don't remember a 20 GB SD card. I had an 8 GB that wouldn't work in my camera, but it did work for Michelle, so I gave it to her. I will try to find you some SD cards that hold a lot of stuff and send them to you.

Are the handicapped people you have met treated well? Are any of them members?

I am sorry to hear about your diarrhea and your bump on the head. Those are surely a pain, but you will be blessed for the sacrifice. I hope they get better soon. Has the diarrhea kept you from working? Can you find a toilet when you need to if you are out teaching or tracting?

Sorry there is no lasagna. Maybe I can send you a package mix that will be similar. They make a Hamburger Helper Lasagna.

Elder Pratt shook all of our hands and asked us where we were from and what stake we are from. Don´t worry about sending me hamburger helper I think I will survive for another 18 months without it. There are a few kids of members that are handicapped and they are treated very well here; not quite the same as in the states, but very good for here in Ecuador.

It is time for me to go, but it was good to hear from you. Tell Skyler I am still waiting for a letter or email from him. Tell him I want pictures, too.

I love you all very much. Thank you.

Elder Goode

2009_03_02 Week 19 Balzar Mom

Hey! How are things going? We didn’t have our baptisms this week. We had a few set backs. Last Monday, Ginger had a miscarriage and the doctor told her that she needs to stay in bed for three months. We visited her Tuesday and taught the Plan of Salvation again and explained that babies don’t need to be baptized. We read in Moroni 8: 11-12 that children are alive in Christ and that they don’t need baptized. We also taught about blessings and encouraged her to ask for a blessing from her soon to be father-in-law. We found out later that she did ask and receive the blessing and yesterday when we visited them in the evening, Ginger was up and walking, but only a little. They said that she is feeling a lot better now so we think that by the end of this change in April that Ginger and Rony will be baptized. We still need to get the Papel de Votacion for Ginger, but that won’t be hard to get now. We have a few weeks to plan and figure it all out.

We are planning on another baptism this Saturday, but we have a problem. The spouse of our investigator doesn’t want to get married. She also doesn’t want to talk to us. The other day, we visited the house and asked for our investigator, Kilo, but they said that he wasn’t home, so we asked for the wife, but the daughter (we were conversing through the window) looked behind her in the house and then responded that the wife wasn’t home either. So we left. We had gone about a block when we found our investigator walking towards his house, so we went with him back to his house and entered the house with him. The wife was there and when she saw us enter with her husband she had a look of terror on her face. She went into the kitchen. We started the lesson and then invited everybody in the house to come watch a video with us. We asked for the wife, but the kids said that the mom had left the house through the back door, so we are fairly certain that she doesn’t want to talk to us. We are fairly certain that if we talk to her we can convince her to be married, but she doesn’t want to talk to us. But President Ruiz said that he would talk to her and get the papers that we need to get them married. I guess we will see what happens.

We have Zone Conference this week on Wednesday. A General Authority is coming to talk to us, so it will be really good.

Hi Curtis,

Sorry about the baptisms falling through, but maybe it is better this way. Maybe after Ginger and Rony are married, they can start a family the right way with the Lord's blessings. I hope your other family and baptisms will work out. It is probably really hard there with the Catholic Church playing such an important part in the culture. I am sure it is a hard thing for many to give up their old ways and to worry about losing friends and family if they leave the Catholic Church. Do you have other investigators that you are working with?

Did you get any packages?

Tell me more about the Conference. Is this a whole Mission Conference? Are you going to Guayaquil for the Conference?

No I haven’t received any new packages yet, but maybe this week I will.

Okay. I hope so. I have worried about these with the knife and the camera. Have you tried watching any of the videos you have taken with the camera you bought down there on a computer? Does the manual tell you anything about the audio?

The manual doesn’t say anything about the audio, but I am downloading all of my pictures to the computer right now to make CDs to send to you. I will try to listen to see if there is audio with the videos when they are downloaded.

Okay. What kind of a player does Elder Alcocer have? If I put the music on a DVD, he probably couldn't play it on a CD player. Can you transfer music to an Ipod or whatever player he has at the Cyber Café you use? If I send you any new CDs, do you have a way to put the music on your ipod?

Elder Alcoer wants the music for when he leaves for his house. A DVD will be fine because he can transfer it to whatever format when he gets back to his house. I don’t need any more music. What I have is fine. Elder Alcocer also has a portable DVD player that he can play the music on.

Can you send me a replacement head for my razor? The one I have is getting dull. My razor is a Remington model 450 with the three heads and also two or three Tide Pens? They are life savers here in the mission.

Okay. I will see what I can do. Does Elder Alcocer want all the English music or just the Spanish ones?

All of it. He is learning English here in the mission, so he can understand parts of the music and he wants to learn to understand all of the music.

Well it is time for me to go, so I will talk to you next week. I love you.

Bye,

Elder Goode

I love you, too. Have a really great week!

Love,

Mom