Quito Week 3

Dear Fam and Friends,

Great to hear how everyone is doing! I'm glad it sounds like you all had an awesome Thanksgiving with the family and friends. I hope Uncle Stu didn't go too crazy with his Black Friday shopping haha. And I'm glad Grandpa is recovering! He sent me a quick email this week and it was great to hear from him. And Jessie sent me an email too which was awesome! I'm glad she really enjoyed Thanksgiving.

Well now I have passed the first big holiday in the mission, Thanksgiving. It was actually probably the hardest week I've had so far in the mission. I made it through though. We haven't been having very much success here which has been a little discouraging, but I have faith that the Lord will bless us and that we will find people. They're out there waiting, we just have to find them and I know the Lord will guide our steps this week and we will find someone who will want to listen.
As for Thanksgiving day itself, I feel like I have a pretty funny story. While everyone in the good old U.S. was enjoying a giant meal, my companion and I fasted. Yup. I didn't eat a thing for Thanksgiving that day. I actually had completely forgot that that day was Thanksgiving and my companion and I had decided to fast for help in our sector. I feel like it is kind of a funny story.

Oh and one thing that I don't like at all is that our shower is broken. I don't know if I've told you this before, but the houses here in Quito have something to heat the water because it's really cold, but ours is broken. It's like I'm bathing in ice water every morning. And it wasn't bad in Esmeraldas because there you get out of the shower and it's hot. But here, I get out of the shower and I can see my breath. I think it gets me sick every morning. We've called the offices for someone to come fix it so hopefully they do soon, but they haven't come for 3 weeks now so maybe not haha.

Oh and I want to say thanks again for the package! I didn't get a chance to open it before I sent the email last week so I wasn't sure what was inside. Thanks a ton for the pants! They are awesome haha. And thanks for all the treats too! Make sure and tell Ben I love the Mickey snacks. And I got a letter from Grandma Johnson today! Thanks a ton to her and its great to know that they are doing well.

Well that's about all I have for this week. I know that the Lord is looking out for me and that even though my companion and I had a tough week that we are still working hard and I know the Lord will bless us and that we are going to find people. I really am soo grateful to be a missionary and I love being out here even through the hard times. I really have learned so much, especially from times like this last week. I know this is where Ii'm supposed to be and I'm soo grateful to everyone for your prayers and letters! Love and miss you all soo much!

Love,
Elder Joshua Lee

P.S. Other ideas for Christmas are the Michael Buble Christmas CD and other Christmas music. Or if possible maybe you could send me some of the Christmas music through an email. That'd be awesome!
P.P.S. So I bought a guitar this week to learn in my free time haha. If maybe you could send me like an attatchment from online showing the guitar chords and how to play them that'd be sweet. I know some, but I'd like to have some more. And maybe if someone could like chose some cool songs with guitars and send me the chords and lyrics through an email that be awesome! Love you soo much mom and thanks for everything you do for me!

Pictures From Quito Week 2

 

  

Quito Week 2

Dear Family and Friends,

Alright so I'm trying to send emails on two pages now so I hope it works. I have firefox opened sending pictures and I'm trying to send an email from internet explorer so my email won't be as scattered this week like last week, so I hope it works!

Anyways, it's soo great to hear how the family is doing! I'm glad everything sounds like it's going well down there. And thanks soo much to  all of the for the letters! They meant a ton to me!

And let Stacey know that I hope she feels better! And Grandpa too. I'll keep them both in my prayers. And let Grandpa know that if he can send me an email I'd love to send him something every once in a while to let him know how I'm doing.

Well a LOT happened this week.It was a pretty awesome week. As you can probably see from some of the pictures, on Saturday we did a service for a family here called the Family Pepinòs. They have kids living in the U.S. right now so they are familiar with U.S. traditions like Thanksgiving! So after the service we had a big Thanksgiving dinner with all the missionaries in our zone. It was a little early, but it was still a ton of fun!

Then today, we actually did an activity as a zone besides play soccer!! whoo!!! haha. Today we went to a place called Teleferico (i think that's how you spell it). We went up this ski lift thing to the top of a mountain just outside of Quito. I don't know exactly how high we were,but it was way dang high! We were litterally in the clouds. At one point I could barely see two Elders who were about 20 yards ahead of us it was soo cloudy or foggy or whatever you wanna call  it. It was a ton of fun though. I really love the elders and hermanas in my zone. They are soo awesome! I feel like we are really united as a zone here which I think helps a lot with keeping all of us focused, happy, and working hard.

Well I had a ton more to say, but I can't remember it all and I'm running out of time! I'll just finish with things cost soo cheap here. You can buy 3 banannas (sp? Sorry I can't spell that well in english anymore haha) for 10 cents!! And like twenty oranges for 1 dollar! A lot of things are way cheap here! But if it's anything from the U.S. it's usually more expensive. And I'm thinking about either buying a small guitar or a ukelele and learning to play a bit on my P'days or something. I just got to find the place to buy one haha.

Oh and I hope you all enjoy the pictures! I have a ton more, but that's all I have time to send today so hopefully next week or in the next few I can send some more!

Well thanks soo much for everything! Oh and I got the letters today from Jake, Jessie, Ben and Bree as well as the package mom! Thanks soo much! And letters from Eden and Brandon, finally, which were sent like 2 months ago and finally got here. I'll try and write back as soon as I can. But thanks soo much for the letters and the prayers. They mean the world to me! And I really do know that this church is true, and even though we are having a bit of a tough time right now finding investigators who want to listen and progress, I know that there are people out there that the Lord has prepared for us and we just have to find them. I love you all and miss you soo much and I just love being out here being a missionary in Quito Ecuador!!

Love,

Elder Joshua Lee

First Pictures From Quito

Quito Week !

Hey Fam and Friends!

It's great to hear from all of you this week! I loved the pictures from Disneyland. Especially the one of Ben in Carsland. It looks like he is having the time of his life. I'm glad all the family sounds like they're doing well.
 

Well so like I said last week real quick... I got transfered. I got sent from Esmeraldas to Quito and wow what a difference there is. First, Esmeraldas was burning hot and Quito is freezing!!! It like POURS rain in the afternoons and it is soo cold here. I've had a hard time adjusting to the cold and the altitude and so I've been a little sick ever since I got here, but I'm still alive!

I'm sending some of my last pictures in Esmeraldas

 

So my new Zone I'm in is called Atahualpa and I'm in the sector Oriente Quiteña. My sector is just hills. We are on like the outskirts of the city of Quito and it is just hill after hill after hill. I'm climbing hills all day. It is still really tough because I can't breath very well here at 9000ft in the air, but I'm getting used to it. And by the end of my time here I'm going to have some dang ripped legs haha.

And so like I said earlier it rains almost every afternoon. And most of the time it pours. And we are so high up the the lightening and thunder is loco! I there's been some thunder claps soo loud that I thought they were going to blow my ears out and I'm almost a little freaked out of the lightening because we are soo high up and so close to it.

 

Oh and I also hate the dogs here. The dogs in Esmeraldas were just lazy and wanted to sleep in the sand the whole time because it was so hot. The dogs here are mean. I have yet to get bitten but I've come close a couple times. The dogs really are viscious here. There's a couple things we do to not get bit. First, when dogs start running at us we bend down and either pick up a rock or pretend to pick one up and they'll usually stop or be too scared to keep coming closer. That or we take off our backpacks and put it in the way so that they'll at least bite our backpacks and not us. But I still haven't been bit yet, but my companion did get bit the first day I got here. It didn't break skin because he had on a few layers because of the cold at least.

 

And that brings me to my companion. I got my first latino companion! His name is Elder Taquez and he is from Columbia. He's been in the mission for 19 months now so he's getting ready to go home. It's a lot different having a latino companion than a gringo. In some way's I like it more because it definitely helps me with my spanish and stuff, but it's a lot different. He's a really quite guy and not very outgoing either. But he's a good guy and we get along pretty well.

 

Things are still going well. We have a few investigators here that we are working with and some really awesome ones who should be getting baptized soon! I'll make sure and take pictures and send them when it happens. I also love the ward here. The ward here is a lot more like the wards in the States. Our church building even has carpet!! I just wish we had some in our house because our house is at like the top of a mountain and just freeeeezzing!! haha. Oh and next week for P'day we are supposed to do some cool activity and go to some cool place so hopefully I'll have more pictures next week! Oh and for pday we have a mall in our sector so we went there to buy stuff and it's huge! It reminds me of Chandler Fashion Center. And speaking of that, I had a dream last night that for pday my companion and I were back in Arizona and we went to Chandler Fashion Center for Pday. But I was still a missionary. And there I saw some homies like Katie Farnsworth, but she didn't act surprised at all to see me there. It was a really weird dream. Oh and real quick about the weather. It started hailing one day too. It's really cold haha.
 

Well that's about all I have time for this week! Hopefully I can write more next week and have some more pictures. The ones I sent this week are my last ones from Esmeraldas and then a few I've taken here in Quito. Ill try and get some more. Oh and I finally found a place to send letters! I was able to send some letters to Garebear, Sarah Adams, and Jessica Cook so hopefully you all get them soon! Love you all soo much and thanks for the prayers and letters. Even with the cold, I'm soo pumped to be here in Quito!
 

Love,
 

Elder Joshua Lee

Last Pictures From Esmeraldas Ecuador

Esmeraldas Week 12

Dear Family and Friends,

Glad to hear everything is still going well at home!  As for the package thanks for sending another! And I'll have enough sunscreen to make it until you can send some more. And I'm sure I can find some more somewhere. Maybe not here in Esmeraldas, but in Quito if I ever get there or other cities.

Well anyways, things are going alright here. We've actually had a pretty tough time these last few weeks. Our investigators haven't been coming to church, and because of that, they aren't able to get baptized either. It's been a few weeks since we've had a baptism, which makes me feel a little bad because President has said that it is possible to have a baptism every week. I'm not sure what I need to do better to help my investigators really become converted and have desires to come to church and get baptized. But I'm going to keep working hard and I know that the Lord will help us and that we will have success. We're just having a bit of a hard time right now.

As for other things. I guess I have a few funny stories from this week. The first is that I gave a naked kid ice cream the other day. A lot of the time there are just naked kids walking around the streets here and he asked for my icecream and I didn't want it so I gave it to him haha. And I also saw two naked kids fighting over a bar of soap as well. That's not something I'd expect to see at home haha.

Well those might not be quite as funny as I thought they were going to be. And those are the only funny stories I have haha. But also I just want to say thanks to Uncle Stu and Aunt Anna. The one ugly, brown tie they gave me, is now like my favorite tie here on the mission. At times I want to try to keep some of my other ties a little nice, so this is my "proselyting" tie and I wear it more than any of my other ties. So it really came in handy!

Also thanks a lot to every one who has sent me letters. I got letters from Stacy, David and Kenneth, and Amanda this weeks and thanks soo much for all the letters. It's great to hear how everyone is doing back at home and I promise I am going to write back as soon as I can. I've even written a few letters already, I just don't know where the place is to send them from in Esmeraldas, so I've just been holding on to them. But I'll try and send them as soon as I can! And Amanda, your article was awesome! That's soo cool that you got published in the school paper! And with a picture too!! Saweeeett!!! Keep it up! Who knows, some day you could be writing for a nationwide newspaper or be writting books. Keep up the good work!

And thanks soo much for the letters from David and Kenneth! I'm going to try and write them back as soon as I can. It was soo cute to get Kenneth´s drawing. And way to score a goal David! I miss you too! :)

So that's about it for this week. Even though it's been a tough few weeks, I know the Lord is looking out for us and that he has prepared people here to listen to us. We just have to find them. Hopefully I can write home about a better week next week. And with pictures too! Love you all soo much and thanks soo much for the prayers!

Love,
Elder Joshua Lee