2009_06_15 Week 11 Valencia Mom

Baptism of Oscar Ante Rodrigo Guanotuña on May 23, 2009

Elder Goode, Oscar, Elder Castañeda, and Oscar's Mom

Elder Frye in the back, Elder Castañeda in the front

Well, tell us all about your week. Are your investigators coming along good? Are they going to be ready to be baptized on Saturday? Please tell us more about each one of them. What are their names so we can pray for them?

I have a few that we are teaching. There is Shirley. She is 17 and she is ready to be baptised this Saturday. We are teaching a single mom. She has two kids. Her name is Esther. We are planning on baptising her this Saturday, but we lost contact with her a little bit so we are trying to contact her so that we can plan for her baptism. So we will see what happens. We are teaching another family, the family Cuello or neck in English. There is the mom, her daughter and husband, another daughter and the neighbor girl that we are teaching. They had a baptism date for this Saturday, but they didn’t come to church this Sunday so we can’t baptise them, so we are going to visit them tomorrow and put another baptism date for a later date like the first or second Saturday in July.

How are things coming along with your companion?

Things are coming good. We had Zone Conference this week and now we are being more obedient and trying to follow the rules, so it is going really good.

Did you have any investigators to church today? Do you teach them in a Gospel Essentials class?

We had investigators in the church, but we didn’t teach them because this Sunday was the Sunday to vote, so we only had the Sacrament Meeting.

How did Zone Conference go?

Zone conference was really good. We learned that we need to commit all people to be baptised as soon as possible when we meet them. So now we need to put it into practice so we can see how well it works. I think that it will work really good because the more people that we are inviting to be baptized, the more people that will accept and the more people that will be baptised.

You said you were going to send some videos.

I haven’t sent them yet, but I’ll work on it. Ok?

Are your packages all arriving okay?

Yeah my packages are getting here fine. They haven’t been opened at all lately, so that is a good thing and everything gets here just fine.

2009_01_05 Week 11 Balzar Mom

Carol wrote to Curtis Monday, January 5, 2009
Curtis replied that same day.

Hi Curtis,

Please tell us more about your baptisms. Did you have another one this week? Who was it? Tell us more about the people you have baptized recently.

The last people we baptized was the Ricardo and Maria and their son Carlos. They are an awesome family. Now we are preparing Ricardo to receive the Aaronic Priesthood. We meet with them usually in the evening, our last appointment and every time even though we tell them not to they feed us. Usually cola and crackers with fresh cheese or sandwiches. It is good, but not necessary. They are the last family that we baptized. We also are preparing them to enter the temple, but that won´t be for a year, so they have time.

Have you performed the baptisms or confirmations?

I personally have performed 4 of the 6 baptisms so far in my mission; Antonia, Allison, Ricardo, and Carlos. Elder Bejar baptized Maria and a member, the husband of Hermana Alvarado, our mamita de comida for Wednesdays, baptized Carlos de Barco.

Do you have any more new investigators? Tell us about them.

Right now we are struggling to find new investigators but we are working on it.

How are the people you met last week in Relicario coming along?

They didn´t come to church this week and Thursday when we went to Relicario to visit they weren’t there, but the family that is members that we were going to meet in their home wasn´t there either, so it is ok. Sunday everybody came to Balzar for church, so it is ok that this new family didn´t come. We are going to visit in Relicario 2 days this week, Tuesday and Thursday so we will meet with them this week hopefully.

What is the best experience you have had these past few weeks?

Baptizing a family so they can be together forever, that is the best experience so far.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you?

(no reply)

Tell us anything else you think we would like to know.

(no reply)

Tell us more about your companion.

He is interesting. The food he prepares is different; tomatoes and radishes with avocado with a little oil. Mix it together and put it on top of a pile of rice. He likes to joke and have fun with other people.

How big does the branch have to get before they will get a meeting house?

The thing that has to happen first is they need to have I think 6 or 8 people that hold the Melchizedek Priesthood and are active before they can form their own branch. Right now they are part of the Balzar Branch, but they meet separately because it is much closer for them this way.

When will they get a Branch President called who is not a missionary?

When they have enough priesthood holders to form their own branch.

What do you do with the tithes and offerings that are gathered in Relicario?

We collect them and take them to Balzar with us and they are taken care of the following Sunday, because before we leave for lunch after church Sunday we help President Ruiz to count the tithing and enter it in the computer and then transmit it to Quito to a regional headquarters then President Ruiz takes the money to the bank Monday morning.

Do you have to enter it into the computer in Balzar or do you take it to Balzar for the other branch to take care of it?

We take it to Balzar and enter it in the same with the other branch.

You said you live above the City Offices in Balzar. Do you live on the main street of Balzar then?

We live next to the city offices in Balzar. Our street is not the main street that is the one that runs through town and on to Empalme and Quevedo, but our street is the popular one for the people to party on at night during the weekend cars with loud music and people drinking everywhere, ya that is our street!

Why are there so many buildings that are half finished?

The people here work from paycheck to paycheck but it depends on what they do. Some get paid daily, others weekly or every other week, so when they have money they buy material and work on the building. When they don´t, they don´t work on the building, but I don´t know why the people start building and don´t finish. There are lots of houses that are only part way built all over Balzar.

Did you meet any new missionaries at the temple or zone conference? I have been emailing with mothers of some of the missionaries in your mission. There are nine that have kids in your mission. Have you met any of them?

Elder Blake Bartolomei - in Manta He was my companion in the MTC
Elder Michael Crismon No
Hermana Desiree' Draeger - She will arrive there this month
Elder Nate Elwood - in Babahoyo. Ya, I talked with him on the bus on the way back from the temple. He lives in Logan near the hospital. He was in my Chemistry class the first semester I had at Utah State. He likes to hunt and fish too.
Hermana Rachel Foote - just got home from her mission No
Elder Darren Haymond - No
Elder Dan Mitton - in Babahoyo No but if he is in Babahoyo he was on the bus with us to the temple.
Elder Robert Ogden - he has red hair No
Elder Tyler Walke - in Babahoyo, he flew to Ecuador with you. He was on the bus with us to the temple too.

I love you lots.
Mom

Hi Curtis,

Thanks for the answers. It is busy today, so it took me a bit to get to your email. What else has been happening there? Did you get to see the DVD we sent you?

Ya, I watched the DVD. It was cool to see photos of everybody in the ward.

So things in Balzar are good, no problems. This is probably the last week I will have with Elder Bejar, because next Monday is transfers, so I will probably get on the computer later in the day because we will have to get up at 5 and take a bus to Guayaquil and then take a bus back to Balzar with my new companion, so it may be later. I don´t know for sure I guess we will see.

Oh, Elder Bryan finishes his mission this transfer so you can talk to him about his mission. I don´t have his information but I am pretty sure that you have his moms email address.

I will try to contact that other elder you told me about and Elder Bryan after the wedding. Are you fairly sure that Elder Bejar will get transferred and you will stay in Balzar?

It was pretty cool when we were at the church watching the DVD. All of us had tears in our eyes. Did you like our family piece?

Hey my time is up. I gotta go. I love you all very much. Tell everybody Hi for me.

Elder Goode

I love you too. Sorry, we didn't get to chat much today. First day back after a holiday!
Love you lots. Have a great week.

Mom

2008_12_15 Week 8 Balzar Mom

Mom Emailed Curtis on Mon, 15 Dec 2008 01:38:28 -0700
Curtis Emailed back that same day.

Hi Curtis,

We would like to have you call on Thursday night. That is this week, on the 18th if that will work for you. Rob, Shara,Taylor, Michelle and Jeff can all come down that night if it will work for you. They will not get here till 6:30 or 7:00. I know that is getting really late for you. If it needs to be earlier, Michelle will leave work early to get here sooner. Will that work and what time is best for you? If not, we could do Friday, the 19th or Sunday, the 21st. Those days don't work as well for everyone, but they will adapt to work with your schedule.

is there a time that I can call the next week? when it is closer to christmas. I will have to ask permission in order to call this week and the time to ask would be this wednesday when I have an innterview with president gamboa but then I won?t be able to tell you if I am calling or not. the next week would be much better if you could.

Where will you be calling from?

The house of president Ruiz he has a phone that they allow the public to use and it has a meeter on it to tell how much time you have used and how much it costs so I can call you on this and then you can call back

How long are you allowed to talk on your phone call? I need to buy the right length of calling card.

I can only talk for 45 minutes no more

When is your companion going to make his phone call?

on the 25 in the evening

Have you received any packages yet? Did you call the office about them?

no I haven?t recieved them and no I didn?t call about them

Have you received any more DearElder paper letters? I have sent you one or two every week since you left.

yes I recieved 8 last wednesday and read them today

Did you get to baptize Christopher this week? How old are Allison and Christopher?

no we didn?t christopher is ten and allison is 12

Did your investigators come to church this week?

yes we had ten investigators at church this week

Tell us more about your investigators that are progressing and scheduled for baptism, please.

Carlos de Barco he is scheduled to be baptised this next sunday he has had much time with the missionaries but he studies in guayaquil which makes it hard to schedule time to meet with him but we have been working hard to schedule this and it is pretty sure that he will get baptised

The Family of Ricardo and Maria they are great investigators they need to get married but we are working on that we need to get mariah a papel de votacion to prove that she voted so that we can get the papers they need to be married they also have two kids that can get baptised too so on the 27th they are getting baptised if they are married by that date. they love the missionaries and we have lots of fun with them lots of good jokes

Tell us more about the four times you have hit your head. Did you get hurt badly? Did you laugh or cry?

the first time I hit my head it hurt we were leaving the barber shop and they have a metal door that is similar to a garage door that you can pull down this is what I hit my head on. The second time was in a bus the celing in the busses are short so I have to bend over a little bit to enter since I was bent over I didn?t see the hand rail that is monunted to the roof of the bussed and I hit my head on this this one hurt but not that bad I didn?t realise it untill later when I was scrathing my head and found a scab that this one had caused me to bleed. the third was the door to the house where allison and christopher live and it didn?t hurt but every one laughed at me and I laughed too. the fourth was a tin roof and it was more of a bump than a solid hit so it didn?t hurt at all.

How are your clothes holding up? Is the hand washing hard on them?

my clothes are fine no problems so far just the nametags on the socks are coming off that is all

Are you dreaming in Spanish yet?

no I haven?t really been dreaming in my sleep or if I have I don?t remember it

What was the best thing that happened to you this week?

(no answer)

Have you done anything Christmasy, like Caroling or baking cookies for your investigators? Do you have an oven?

no we haven?t done anything christmasy and no we don?t have an oven

Are you happy and healthy? Has the cold gotten better or worse?

yeah I am happy and healthy my cold is doing much better I have been using zicam that I bought in the mtc and it is helping a lot

Do you need anything?

no but in the next package you send send me a couple more tide pens they are life savers.

I love you lots.Mom

Hi Curtis,

Shara and Rob can't come down on Christmas Eve like normal because Rob's brother, Jason, is a fireman and that was the only day he had off. They are having the Gibbons party that night. I just emailed Shara to see when they could come down. It will have to be Sunday, Monday or Tuesday. Unless we do it on Christmas day and do it from Lewiston.

Michelle and Jeff are coming down for Christmas Eve and morning, then they are driving up to Island Park for the weekend with his family at a cabin. We could possibly all go up to Lewiston on Christmas day before Michelle and Jeff head north and call from there.

I read that you are going to the temple this week on Wednesday. Tell us more about that. What time to do leave on the bus to go? Are you sleeping the night? What other activities are planned besides going to the temple?

Are you still there? I feel really bad about the packages. They should have been there by now. Please try to do some checking to see if you can locate them. They left the airport in Miami on November 24th, so they are in Ecuador somewhere. I can't track them any farther than that. I tried, but I can't find the right place to look. I will see if Gary Jenkins can help me with the tracking. Please check on your end.

Curtis, Could you do Sunday night, the 21st? We could go to Smithfield and you could call there? We could go up after church, so anytime in the afternoon or evening would work that day.

We could do Monday or Tuesday if that doesn't work. We would have to drive to Smithfield and have you call there. Michelle gets off work at 6:00, so you could call at 6:30 and everyone would be there by then.

Choose the day and time that works best for you. The phone number in Smithfield is 435-563-5709.

(No answer to any of these. He must have been out of time. We will have to setup a phone call by email next Monday.)

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!