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