Quito Week 12

Dear Fam and Friends!

Well the big news from me this week is that we had transfers! And I didn't go anywhere but my companion left for Santo Domingo. So now in 5 transfers in the mission I am going to have 5 companions. But I don't know who my companion is yet because as we say in the mission i soobed or got promoted. I am now going to train a new missionary. A missionary straight out of the MTC. It's going to be an adventure! haha. So I'll meet my new companion Wednesday when I go to Iña Quito to pick him up. I kind of want to have a gringo companion, but it'll be tough if I do because he probably won't speak very much spanish. But I'll let you know who it is next week!

Now a bit of sad news. The other day we were in the house of a member and she wanted to take some pictures and her little daughter said that she wanted to take some pictures with my camera so I gave it to her. And while she had my camera she erased ALL of my pictures. I had 600 pictures from the first 7 months of my mission and now they're all gone. I about cried when that happened. And after we went and tried to see if we could get them restored and I got about 50 back but not very many. So just please save all the pictures I've sent home because those are all I have from the first 7 months of my mission. I had just barely bought a flashdrive to put all my pictures there too this week, but they got erased before I could transfer them. But that's life!!

In other news, there's not much else going on. Just excited to start this next transfer here in Atahualpa! Oh and I guess this next transfer is only 4 weeks instead of 6 because of some problems they had in the MTC with all the new missionaries coming in. So now all the people in our mission (and I think the rest of the missions) are coming home 2 weeks earlier. So I'll be home for your birthday in 2014 mommy!!! Whoo!! :) haha. But that's about it! I sent some letters back to Jessica Cook, Eden Lance and Sarah Adams today so hopefully you get them soon! Love you all a ton and I still absolutely love being a missionary! Until next week!!

Love Ya Boy,

 

Elder Joshua Lee

 

Quito Week 11 Pictures

 

 

Quito Week 11

Hey Fam!!

So there's not a lot new to say with me this week. We had a baptism on Saturday though which was awesome!! These are the pics. We baptized the two little girls of a family. We're going to baptize the parents too, but they have to get married first and are still working on some papers. But it went great! I also sang... no big deal. It was a musical number with some members there who can sing a bit so there were 4 of us and we sang La Oración del Niño, or A Child's Prayer. Here in South America I actually got a little bit of musical talent hahah. Oh and this next week we should be having 10 baptisms in our zone!!! Whoo!! Una Noche Blanca. So hopefully everything still goes well with those! Oh and talking about the pictures, I think it's still okay to send them out in the emails you forward and put them on the blog. It's just they don't want them up on facebook for the whole world to see and coment on. But the rest of the photos are fine to go up on facebook!

So what else... Oh after the baptism the missionaries in our zone did a skit in one of the ward. they had a talent activity and we actually did 2 skits for it. I was only in one but in that one I was the King Lion. It was pretty funny and i got a little decorated for the part. I'm gonna send home some pictures. And that stuff on my face was hard to get off! haha

In other news, my glasses broke. That was kind of sad. I don't know how either. I got home one day and went to take them off and they just broke. One of the little side thingies snapped off (im not sure what you call that thing). I still have my other glasses, but i don't like to use them that much and now I'm afraid they're gonna break too and I'll be without glasses, but yeah I think I'll live haha. I jsut dont use glasses as much now.

We had a pretty cool experience this week though. We got a reference from one of the other zone leaders and went to contact it this week. It was a dad and he wanted help because he was having some problems in the family and his wife was thinking of leaving him and all that. So we went and found him and went to his house and had a lesson with his family. It was probably the best lesson I've had of my mission soo far. We talk about the family like the whole time and the spirit was soo strong there. I could see it really touched the members of this family too. And at the end of the lesson we put a date with them to get baptized the 9th of February!!! So hopefully everything keeps going well with this family, the Tapón family!

As for other things, not much. We went the the Vasilico today (not sure if that's spelt right). But it's this big Catholic church in the middle of Quito. If you type Quito into google images it comes up i think. But we took a ton of pictures and Imma try and send some home. Oh and I got letters today from the bishop and from Sarah Adams! Thanks soo much! I'll write back as soon as I can! Love you all soo much and I still freaking love being a missionary!!

Love,

Elder Joshua Lee!!

Quito Week 10 Pictures

American Verses Ecuadorian Meal

Notice the Chicken foot in the above meal.

Quito Week 10

Hey fam!

Well as for me, there's not a lot new this week. I'm still having a great time and loving being a missionary! This week we should have 2 more baptisms which is awesome! They are the daughters of a family we are teaching and they are 8 and 9 years old. The parents would get baptized too, but they have to get married first and we are still working on that. But the mom is amazing. Her name is Merilla (i think that's how you spell is). She's probably one of the best investigators I've had so far. I think she's had a Book of Mormon for a little over a week and she's like halfway through Alma which is awesome! She blows away most of the members here haha. ANd we have some other people who are progressing and hopefully we keep having baptisms these next few weeks!

One thing I really do enjoy here is how some of the people pray. Some people just have an interesting way of praying. Probably my favorite thing I've heard is instead of saying Padre Celestial or Heavenly Father, an investigator we have says Papito Lindo which basically translates as pretty daddy hahaha. It's really funny when you know english, but it's something fairly normal here which is kinda funny.

So yeah that's about is from me this week. Enjoy the pictures! These are from when we went bowling last week. I felt really American! haha. And I'm going to try and send 2 more which show the difference between an American meal I've eaten here and an Ecuadorian meal haha. Pretty funny! But yeah I honestly really love it here. I've learned soooo much and really grown soo much in my time here. It's freaking awesome being a missionary and seeing the changes that the Gospel makes in peoples lives. Love you all! Hasta next week!!

Love the Coolest Missionary Around,

Elder Joshua Lee

P.S. Oh and I also got two letters this week! I got a letter from the Tomlinsons and from Jessica! Thanks sooo much! I'm gonna try and write back as soon as I can!

P.P.S. Hey mom just one thing. President has asked us that we don't put up the pictures of baptisms on facebook. So just when I send those please don't put them up. The rest are fine I think. But thanks soo much for putting up my pictures and letters so everyone can see and read! I've had people tell me that my blog is the most updated and fun to follow so you're doing a pretty dang good job! Love you soo much and thanks for everything mom!! You da best!!

Quito Week 9 Pictures

Quito Week 9

Hey fam!

Well as for me things are going great here in Ecuador! Still here in the southern part of Quito and loving it! And this week........ We finally had a baptism!!! Whoo!!!! It had been like 3 months since I had had one and time goes a little slower when you're not baptizing anyone so that was freaking awesome! He name is Giovani (but spelled Geovany) and he's the husband and dad of a bunch of members. He just didn't feel like he wanted to get baptized yet. And the missionaries had been going to his house for like a year and finally with us he decided to get baptized!! Whoo!! It was freaking sweet! It's always awesome to be able to see the fruits of your work in baptism. And the awesome thing is that we've got more baptisms planned! We're not going to have any this weekend but we have 4 planned for the 19th and another 2 for the 26th so hopefully things keep going well there!

But as for other things, not that much new is going on here. We have this family we're teaching called the Family Merchan and they're pretty sweet. It's a mom and a dad and 2 daughters and i freaking love that family. The daughters are 8 and 9 years old and are way awesome. And the mom has had a Book of Mormon for like 5 days and has already read almost all the way to Alma which is freaking awesome! The only problem with them is that they have to get married. And marrying people here in Ecuador is a little tough because it costs 50 bucks. Don't know why but that's how it is. It's easier here in Quito though because the people at least have a little more money.

Umm so I did eat somethingelse new this week. I had cow hoof soup. That was interesting as well but still not too terrible. I've kind of liked almost all of the weird stuff I've tried here except maybe kidney (and I'm still not a big fan of Avocado even though we eat it a lot here). Oh and I hope you enjoy the pictures! The first is of my present I got in a white elephant thing we did as a zone for Christmas. Some lime green suspenders. I can't use them all that often on the mission, but I can use them to keep looking fresh after.

Oh and today was actually a lot of fun. I felt a lot more like a gringo and that I was in the states today because we went bowling as a zone! Whoo!! It was a lot of fun. I didn't do that hot (i wont say my score haha) but my excuse is that I haven't played in like 8 months haha. But it was still a ton of fun. And then afterwards I went and ate at Subway! We found a Subway in the mall place we went which was sweet! So I had myself a footlong turkey on which with American cheese and all that good stuff. It costed me like 10 bucks almost, but I wanted to feel a bit more like a gringo today haha. So I'm going to try and send pictures of that but they are loading really slowly.

It's been a bit tough with my companion these last couple weeks, but we're still getting along pretty well. He's actually a lot of fun and we have a ton of fun together, he just doesn't really think much of the mission rules. He tries to stay in the house of a member or something to watch a movie and doesn't get up on time, but I'm trying to help him be more obedient and keeping him in line for the most part. He's got a bit of an excuse because his back is messed up and really hurting him (he might even have to go home early to recover) so he has to rest up a bit, so I need to be patient with him, but he's a really good guy.

Umm so yeah that's about it from me! I got a ton of stuff this week which was awesome!!! Thanks sooo much to all my family and friends who sent me stuff! I got packages from the Hills, Grandma and Grandpa Pope, Grandma and Grandpa Johnson, and from some Sisters and the Young Women in our ward! Thanks soo much for everything it was awesome! I loved the treats (still enjoying them because I have soo many still haha) and the pens and stuff which were awesome! Something a little funny about that is that Grandmas really think alike haha. I got the same CD of the MoTab and David Archuletta from Grandma Johnson and Pope haha. And I also got another letter from Grandma Johnson and Eden so I'll try and write back as soon as I can! Thanks sooo much for all the letters and packages! My fam and friends really freaking love me! haha.

So a couple other quick things. I figured out how to put songs on my ipod so you can send me songs in emails and I can put them on there. Also do I maybe have a family member named Jeff Lee who served his mission in Switzerland and live in Lehi right now? Because there are some members who were baptized by him in Switzerland here and they want to know if we are related. I don't think so, but maybe he's a long lost cousin or something haha. But yeah that's how things are going with me! I love you all soooo much and miss you a ton! But it's friggin awesome to be a misisonary. I just love being here spreading the Gospel and baptizing those people. It's really amazing to see how much the Gospel changes lives. Talk to you all next week!!

Love,

Elder Joshua Lee