2009_02_09 Questions

While reading last week's email again in the afternoon, I thought of a bunch of questions I wanted to ask Curtis, so I wrote him an email with them and sent it that day. When I wrote on Sunday, I had forgotten that I had sent the earlier email, so I ended up asking him a lot of the same questions again. He patiently answered most of them twice.

Mom Wrote on Mon, 02 Feb 2009 15:19:02 -0700


Hi Curtis,

I enjoyed your email. I just wish it was longer and you would tell us a whole lot more. We love to hear everything about what you are doing. Your first photo arrived fine. Your second one did not. I was glad I could login to your email or I wouldn't have gotten it. It was a cute photo. "The Mighty Mouse Hunters!"

We will pray that Mariella and her daughters and niece will come to church and keep progressing so that you can baptize them. There is not much you can do about the girls who are in love with you. It is just one of those things. I am sure you are a giant compared to these little teenage girls. It is comical to think about.

Did you find any boots in a giant size 12?

Yeah, but it isn´t raining much, so I haven´t had much opportunity to use them yet.

Are your feet staying dry?

Yeah. They are fine.

How is the rainy season?

It is actually quite dry. We haven´t gotten a whole lot of rain yet.

Do you get wet every day now or is it still raining mostly at night?

It rains mostly at nights, so we aren´t getting really wet.

In the first photo, you look like you are either sweating a lot or just come in out of the rain. Which is it?

We just came in out of the rain. In the photo, we are soaked.

You don't look like you are using your sunscreen. You are pretty red. Are you?

No, I am not.

Do you need more?

No. I have three tubes.

Does it help or do you just sweat it all off?

I just sweat it off.

Are you at least protecting those tender ears and your nose?

No.

I don't want you to have skin cancer later in life, you know.

Yeah, I know.

Where did you get the tie you are wearing in the first photo? It is a thinner black tie. I don't remember sending one like that with you.

I think it is blue, but because it is wet it looks black and Elder Bartolomei gave it to me.

You do look like you have lost some weight. You look really good and healthy and happy. I am glad. It brings me peace to know you are looking so fine. Please tell us more about your companion. Is he a good hard worker? Is he a good missionary?

Yeah, he is great. We are working hard.

Are you working hard and being effective as missionaries together?

Yeah, we don´t have any problems.

Are you getting along well?

Yeah.

He looks like he has a sense of humor like Elder Bejar. Do you enjoy him as much or more than Elder Bejar?

Yeah, he does. He is different than Elder Bejar.

What things has he taught you?

We are working on my teaching, making it better.

How did you catch the mouse? Did you just beat it to death with the brooms?

I beat it to death with a broom and today I killed two more in the house.

Do you have a lot of mice in your apartment or is this the first one you have noticed?

This is the first, but I killed two more today and Elder Bejar with Elder Contreras killed two.

Don't they have mousetraps down there?

I don´t know. We just kill the ones that we see.

Do you burn the incense to help it smell better in the apartment?

Yeah, it helps a lot.

Has Elder Alcocer been able to repair the fans that Elder Bejar broke? Are you keeping cool in your apartment?

No, we threw the fans away, but we should be getting new ones this week. But it is ok. We have one fan that works and we know how to share, so we are fine.

What black t-shirt is that that you are wearing in your photo of the mouse hunt? I don't remember sending you one like that.

It is a shirt that our zone had made. In the front, it says un missionaro de exito or a missionary of success or a successful missionary. In the back, it has a photo of a stick figure baptizing another stick figure and it says Elder Goode above the photo.

More questions later. I have to go take Braxton to soccer practice?I love you lots.

Mom

2009_02_02 Week 15 Balzar Mom

I didn't send Curtis a list of questions this week, just a few in my regular email to him which he didn't answer in his email. Thus his email is short. I guess I will go back to the questions next week again. It seems we get more information that way. He did include two photos with his email this week. This is Curtis with his new companion, Elder Christian Alcocer. Notice that he has lost some weight. He looks really good, except for the sunburn. It doesn't look like he is using the sunscreen he took with him. I will have to ask him about it next week. He is either sweating a lot in this photo or just come in from the rain. I don't remember sending that tie with him, so I am not sure where it came from. Another question for next week. He does look good and healthy and happy and that is comforting for his mother to see.



Hey! How is everything? Things in Ecuador are good. We have been working hard here in Balzar. We have found people to teach, but we are still having trouble finding people that will progress in the gospel. We only have one person right now that is progressing towards baptism. Her name is Mariella. She lives in Relicario. Her sister is a member and lives in the Casa Capilla or house church that we meet in in Relicario. She wants to be baptized, but she is having some doubts, but we are helping her to overcome those. After she is baptized, we are pretty sure that her two daughters will be baptized, too. One is 13 and the other is 11 and there is a niece that is 12 that we have met, too, that seems interested in the gospel or I guess I should say the gringo that preaches the gospel. Fetch! The girls here, especially the young girls 12 or 13 years old are all in love with me, I swear.


Things are good. I killed my first mouse in Ecuador the other day. It was in our house.



Notice that Curtis is holding the dead mouse and seems pretty happy about it. I guess this is as close to hunting and killing animals as he is going to get for a while. I am sure they made a good time of it as evidenced by the funky atire. Brooms would not be his weapon of choice, but I guess you must make do with what you have. We have the movie "Mouse Hunt" on DVD and I remember watching him as he watched that movie. He was laughing so hard at the antics of that sly little mouse in the movie. I am sure he would never want one of those creatures to get the best of him. Poor little creature! He was probably frightened to death by such a giant pursuing him.

I do notice that his pants are muddy at the bottom which is probably what they are looking like most of the time now with the rainy season upon them. He is wearing his shower shoes. I imagine he wears them around the apartment a lot. He didn't tell us if he found boots in his size or not. Maybe next week.

I made a cool thing to hold incense while it burns the other day out of a piece of bamboo. It is pretty cool.

We have been working in Palestina a lot the past two weeks to help the members there. They want to form their own branch, so we have been working to find more families so they can form a branch with their own missionaries.