Las Cucarachas

Well family another week has gone by here in Guayaquil Ecuador.
First off, great letter, if it takes me more than 15 minutes to read it I am really happy. It sounds like you had a really nice thanksgiving. Like always I’ll write about your letter then Ill talk about my week here, but this week I have more to talk about than last week.

Dad- fist off wow, you really should get some more sleep you wrote for like 3 hours and it’s a really cool letter. I don’t understand that statistic; I see no reason for it to take longer for an older musician to learn a new instrument, if anything it should be easier because already you have the experience
Hey we have something in common, all of this week me and elder Forero have been really sick, but the thing is we can’t take off time so we have had to get better working the same amount of time that we always work. For three days we weren’t able to get medicine, because there is a new law here that you can’t buy cold medicine without a prescription so finally after 3 days without, we called the nurses and we got a mountain of medicine to take and we still feel sick but it’s getting better.
Yeah Marcie and Mike really did get a great deal on that house, so when they move in a couple of years they should actually be able to make money on it, so it’s a really good investment for them you guys just have to put a little work into it. So you are getting a lot done that is really good it sounds like you’re using your time wisely and with these 2 weeks you get off for Christmas, you should be able to get a lot done, just manage your time and you can do a heck of a lot more.
Hey thank you for telling me about thanksgiving food, you know what I ate Thursday. Practically nothing because I was sick, really I wasn’t even thinking about thanksgiving and didn’t realize until Saturday that it was Thursday last that it occurred.
I really hope that Allen will be able to get into that school. If he can he will defiantly be able to provide for his family for the rest of their lives and he will be able to progress pretty well.
I know I’m exceptional I just try and stay humble to not make the rest of the world look bad and lazy.
I’m not trying to look ahead, but I’m thinking when I get home, Ill make sure the Datsun is in really good working order, change the shocks and the bushings, then save up and buy a truck, this doesn’t mean I want to sell my baby, I just don’t want to put a bunch of miles on her, I just want to have a cool car that I can go on long calm drives with, and another truck to use as my work horse car. I you want to go ahead and repaint the bad parts I won’t complain just try and make her look good.
I’m glad you are finally realizing that good instruments are better to play and they sound better and can make a person who doesn’t sound as good, sound better, so save up and get a good guitar and you will like it more than the cheaper more affordable guitars.

Steven- How’s life going for you Allen told me about how hard he hit you in the balls the other day. So hope you’re feeling better. Yeah bro beckham is a beast, could you imagine if you were playing contact and he put the hurt on you, yeah just think about that. Well do good in school get good grades and work really really hard at what ever it is you are doing. Have a good week, be safe, read you scriptures and pray everyday, get your own testimony of the truth before you get out of high school, its way way important.

MOM- wow it really sounds like you and Ben need a break from working on the new house, How long until its going to be ready for them to move in, I really hope that it gets done soon because it sounds like everyone is ready to have a nervous breakdown about this house.
Mom life gets busier because church gets busier, I have seen that when the church things aren’t really going on the life is really relaxed and calm, and when there are a lot of church things going on that is when people get stressed so I don’t know why its that way but, I have decided that the solution is to not do church work that way we will never be stressed (kidding that’s all that I’m doing, and I’m always stressed) I don’t know why you guys always do your shopping on that night and that morning. Its always crazy, there are a million people there and you have to spend 70% of you time sitting in lines or waiting just to go into the store. It sounds like that area by Stacy will just keep getting bigger and crazier. So watch out.

ME-
This week went really well for the second week in a row we had a baptism and if we work really hard I think we can have 4 this change which will be really good.
Saturday we baptized Sister Rosa Sela. It was a good baptism, there were only about 8 people there (us included) but the spirit was really strong and she was able to make her covenant with god.
This week I had an interchange with the zone leaders and I went to their sector. For lunch I ate probably the most disgusting thing that I have ever eaten, it was a soup with a cow’s foot in it. The broth really wasn’t bad. It tasted decent but the cow’s foot was horrible, it was pure cartilage and fat and there were little pieces of black stuff in the cracks. I seriously feel nauseated in my stomach right now just thinking about it.

For the past month or so there have been a couple of circuses in our area, and its been cool to see the ads and the flyers and with one of them there is always a car that drives around with a person in a barney costume that waves to everybody. So the other day we were sitting around talking in the street and this kid of like 14 years came up to us and started to talk with us. We learned that he works with on of the circuses and he is the person in the barney costume, so it was really cool, because now we can tell people that we know the person that plays the barney in the circus show.
Like I was telling dad, we got really sick this week. I had a headache, nose problems, a sore throat and stomach problems for like a week. But seriously me and elder Forero have been able to work like normal this week, so it’s a real testament that the spirit can strengthen us because we have been able to work the exact same amount that we work every week while at the same time being sick.
We are teaching this girl that baby-sits for a member family, and one of the babies (5 months old) literally has the face of an old man, its really funny because he’ll look at you and it just looks like an old man with the body of a baby, and when he smiles its even funnier because he really doesn’t have any teeth so it looks like an old man with no teeth smiling at you.
We have been having a war in our house, a war of the cockroaches. I swear there are a million cockroaches in our house every single night. When we come home every night we have to spend time killing them with either a bug spray that we have or with our shoes, I’m going to attach a picture that we took it was on the side of the little table that we have our stove, there was a nest there and before we destroyed it I took a picture, we are to the point in this war that every night we are moving the fridge the tables and filling the sinks with water so that they cant get in, but still, every night more and more show up, I don’t know why they just do. So Ill update you on the status if it changes also we are looking for a new house and should get a new apartment next change I hope it is better than this one.
Well I love you all very much and I pray for you all every night, have a good week LOVE Elder Match