Pictures

Homemade Tacos

 A Random Donkey,

Apparently "Ecuador is weird like that"

The Tungurahua Volcano Eruption

Sewing Skills and Donkeys

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow mom, thanks so much for the update. I'm glad that all the kids are doing well too. Now back in school and back in the swing of things. Kinda crazy!! I'll be back with you all by the end of the school year. Weird!! hahaha

So I'm still doing well. This week wasn't as great as last week but it was still pretty good and I'm still pretty happy. There weren't any big events this week. My companion and I made tacos one day which were delicious. I'm sending some pics. And there's another pic with me and a donkey. My companion and I just saw it while we were walking one day. Ecuador is weird sometimes. 

So this week I had a couple pairs of pants tear. The pocket got a hole in it and another pair of pants got a hole. I'm getting old now. But I'm kinda a boss and sewed it up. That part is kinda so people can know that I can sew a little bit. I'm a pretty talented and diverse guy. haha. oh and I threw up for the first time in my mission. It was actually a week ago I just forgot to tell you about it. It was because I ate avocado and it messed me up. I'm still not a big avocado fan even though they eat it a ton here. Oh and I'm getting like way ripped because my companion and I go running like every day in the mornings. So when I get back and try running in Arizona I'm gonna be able to do it piece of cake because of the altitude. Oh and I'm gonna take some more pictures of the house this week so you can see where I'm living. It's actually a really nice house. it's 2 stories. the best house I've been in my whole mission. Whoo!!! Sorry my letter is so scatterbrained. I'm trying to get a lot in and I don't have a ton of time to write. Oh and I'm going to send some pictures of the volcano that erupted because it's been erupting like these whole 2 weeks. kinda cool! love you all a ton! I'll write more next week I promise!

Con amor,

Elder Joshua LEEEEEEE

Pictures

The City of Ambato

Mowing the Lawn

An Amazing Week, Except for the Fleas and Having to Cut the Grass with Scissors!

Dear Fam and Friends,

It's great to hear how well everyone is doing! That's insane that they are already back in school. I can't believe it. The summer just flew by. Time goes soo fast out here. The kids are just growing up soo fast. They can't do that. Amanda shouldn't be driving yet and Jacob shouldn't be in high school and Ben shouldn't be starting school. I just can't picture them that big. Wow it's crazy how time flies!

So this week was absolutely.........AMAZING!!!  My companion and I had an outstanding week. The Lord really blessed us soo much. We started out the week with just about nothing. We had one family we were teaching but they were the only investigators we had. And my companion and I don't know where the members houses are in our sector so we decided to just contact. So we did. We went knocking on doors and there was just a magic in it this week. It seemed that behind almost every door we knocked on someone was ready to hear the Gospel. We just found more and more people every day. And one Wednesday we found a family that is just awesome. They are the Cobos Taco Family. Kind of some weird last names, but they are amazing! We found them because we went to an appointment that fell through so we decided to contact behind the house and the second door we contacted was this family. They accepted a date right away to get baptized on the 3rd of August and they came to church and loved it! 

So talking about church, we had a lot better week this week at church. We had 6 investigators come to church this week. It wasn't all of the people that we wanted to come to church, but it is an amazing number so I'm not complaining. And even with all of these blessings from the Lord, he decided to bless us even more after church on Sunday. We had a little extra time in the afternoon where we didn't have an appointment so we decided to contact. And a guy came out from the first door we knocked on and let us in to share a message with his family and they all accepted a date to get baptized on the 17th of August. I just can't believe all the blessings and miracles we've seen this week. We have been working hard and the blessings have come because of it. It was just the most amazing week! I am soo incredible happy right now. being a missionary is pretty cool haha.

Umm so with the great week, there were a couple not so great parts. Like the part where the landlady of our house came by to inspect it. We had cleaned it up a ton, and my companion and I thought it was really clean, but she thought it was like the dirtiest house ever. So she complained about it and had us clean it for about 3 hours. We even had to cut the grass in the front yard with scissors. I've never done anything like that before. But it was kinda fun haha. And the landlady was pretty cool so we made it through alright. Oh and the other thing that wasn't so good was that for the first time in my mission and my life I got fleas. There were fleas in my bed and my companions bed and they bit us every night. We itched all over. My companion says that he's had fleas in like half of his houses here in Ecuador but it was my first time. So we bought some bug spray and sprayed everything down and now there aren't fleas anymore. So it's okay now. 

That's about it. I just love being here so much. I really know that my Heavenly Father lives and loves us soo much. It was the best week ever and my companion and I plan on having a week even better. The mission is amazing!!! love you all and hope you all are doing well!

Love,

Elder Joshua LEE

Pictures

A Volcanic Eruption

Dear Mom,

 

I'm glad you guys had a great summer break! it scares me how fast the summer went by. I feel like yesterday your summer started and now the kids are already going back to school. time is going by too fast. I don't like it haha. but I guess that's how it is. 

 

So I had a pretty good week. In missionary work it was pretty tough. We didn't have anyone come to church this week. But that's how it is sometimes. My comp and I feel like we are working hard so hopefully things get better this week. We did get to do some cool things though.

 

So first off, close by this city Ambato there is an active volcano called Tungurahua. And Sunday morning it erupted. It's a ways away so we are pretty safe. But all day Sunday there was ash like falling from the sky in the city. Way cool and way intense! But I'm okay mom so don't worry!!! :)) we are at least an hour and a half in bus away from the volcano so it wont hurt us haha.

 

Then today, we went to this place called Baños which is like at the foot of the volcano. Its a total tourist place. There are like a ton of sweet waterfalls and other cool stuff there. I took a ton of pictures so I am going to send as many as I can, but I'm not sure how many I'll be able too! 

Umm soo because of our trip to Baños I don't have a lot of time to write today. Sorry for the lame letter this week. I'll send more next week for sure! Enjoy the letters and I love you all soooooo muich!!!!

Love,

 

Elder Joshy LEEEEEEEEEE

Ambato!

Hey Mom!

Wassup! SO it's great to hear that the family is doing well. I'm glad you all had a great time up in Utah. Utah is pretty cool. And it's probably a nice break from the heat. Dad told me its like 110 degrees in Arizona. Yikes!! Sorry about that. I haven't felt heat like that in a long long time. And that is insane that they already are going back to school in like 2 weeks. Wow. I feel like their summer just barely started. Time really just flies by. Wow.

 

Well, I'm doing well here in Ambato! To answer some of your questions, Ambato is like 2 and a half hours from Quito so it's not too far. And it's really similar to Quito. It's still high up in the mountains and the weather is similar to Quito. There are times when the sun is out and it's really sunny and then like 10 minutes later it's raining again. But I like it. The city is a lot cleaner here too. There are a lot more trashcans outside and the people take more care of the city here which is nice. My sector is like part in the city and then part like a little outside of the city. So I got a little of both here. And the people seem a little more open and receptive here than in Quito. When we are contacting there are more people that are receptive to our message. 

And talking about that, we had like an amazing experience this last week. So there was this family of Colombians we had contacted and set up an appointment to go back and teach them. So we went back and were able to teach the mom, two kids and her niece and we had a great lesson with them and they wanted us to come back and teach them really soon. So we were able to teach them 2 times this last week, gave them a Book of Mormon Saturday night and we invited them to church on Sunday. They said they were going to come and so we were waiting for them at church. Church starts at 9:00 and we were waiting since like 8:45. and then 8:50, then 8:55, then 9:00 and they still hadn't shown up. We got scared that they weren't going to come, but they finally got there at like 9:15 and just in time for the sacrament. And this last week was Fast and Testimony meeting. so as we were sitting and listening to the testimonies the 11 year old kid named Julian turned to me and asked if he could go up and share his testimony. I was a little scared about what he would say but I told him he could and gave him an example of what he could say, like that God is our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is our Savior and some simple stuff like that. So he went up and started to give his testimony and it was the most powerful testimony that I have ever heard in my life. He got up and gave thanks that we (the missionaries) had showed up at their house and started teaching them with the Bible. Then he said. "I am also grateful for the Book of Mormon. I read a little bit last night and then I prayed to God and asked if it was true. And I know that the Book of Mormon is true." As he said those words the biggest smile ever came over my face. He kept going, "I prayed and asked if it was true and I felt this peaceful and happy feeling that told me it was true. And I know that everything the missionaries are teaching us is true." I looked at his mom as he said this and she was crying. It was the purist and most sincere testimony i have ever heard. And it came from an 11 year old boy. I was sooooo happy hearing this that I could barely contain it. We had only taught them twice and had given them a Book of Mormon the night before and he already knew it was true. It was honestly probably the greatest experience I have had on my mission. It came completely by surprise but was soo amazing. I love this family soo much!

 

So that's my cool story for the week. We are going to keep visiting this family and do everything we can to help them keep progressing. Colombians are awesome!!! haha.So to just finish up today a 15 year old girl cut my hair. That was weird. And she already has like her license to cut hair and everything. But it was still weird. I have a hard time trusting my hair to the people that cut it here. But just a few more hair cuts in Ecuador and I'll be able to get it cut at Sportclips again haha. 

Well that's about it for this week. Any more questions?? I love you all sooooo much!!! Hope you all finish up the summer well and get studying again. Ecuador is amazing and the mission is even better!!!!!!!!111 Whoo!!!!!!!!!!!1

Les amo,

 

Elder Joshy LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Pictures

Shrimp Dinner

A Transfer and a Zone Leader

Dear Fam and Friends,

Well mom, I'm glad to hear that everything is going well. Sounds like dad will be a little lonely these next few weeks, but that's okay. He can get some good book reading done and science studying and all that good stuff haha. And dang it looks like Jacob did take a pretty bad spill on the four-wheeler. How  did he do it? Send me a pic of the four-wheeler if you can. did he like flip or what? I'm glad it sounds like he's alright. And Amanda and Jake are definitely going to have an awesome time at EFY this year. EFY really is tight. 

Ummm so the big news this week is that I got transfered. I didn't think I was going to have transfers because my companion is going home tomorrow, but President Ghent decided to take the both of us out and put new missionaries there. I got sent to another city in Ecuador called Ambato. I've only been here for a few hours so I don't know how its gonna be, but I like it here. It's a lot cleaner than Quito and it seems pretty chill here. I've heard good things about Ambato so I should like it here. And they also bumped me up to a zone leader too. That part is pretty intense. I'm in a zone with 26 missionaries now and my companion and I have to take care of all of them. It'll be an adventure, but I'm excited to get started. And my companion is pretty tight. I finally have another gringo companion. His name is Elder Rogers and he's from Utah like the rest of the gringos, but he's pretty tight. 

So yeah that's what's up with me. Im pretty glad to have left Quito because I wanted to get to know more of Ecuador, but I'm sad to leave my old sector too. but that's life. It's gonna be a lot of fun here in Ambato for sure. One other funny/strange thing here is that I like carbonated water now. They drink a lot of it here and at first I hated it. I couldn't even finish it. But one family when I was in Atahualpa gave it to us like every day we visited them so I had to drink it. And now I love it!! Weird, but good! You all should try carbonated water sometime. It's pretty good. 

Hope everyone is still doing well! Enjoy the pics! They are of some shrimp that this family gave us that was deliciousssssssssss. but they cooked it with the shell and legs and everything and I ate it like that too. but it was way delishhhhhhhh. Yeah so talk to you next week!!!!!!! Love ya!!!!!!

Elder Joshy LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE}