Quito Week 5

Dear Fam and Friends,

Glad to hear everything is going well with the fam! And mom I'm glad you're feeling better! The flu is no fun. I had one day this last week where I was feeling pretty terrible in the stomach, but it was only a one day thing. It's a lot better than this other Elder in my zone. Elder Russell from Utah had been to the hospital 2 different times and threw up like 4 times today and he has less time than me here in Ecuador. But he's a trooper and a great Elder and he'll make it through this.

As for me, all is still well here in Ecuador. This week started off a little tough as well. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who's had a bit of a hard time getting along with a latino companion. It has been tough with him, but we talked about it a little this last week and things are going a little better. It also was a little tough Sunday morning because again, no one came to church. We went by everyone of our investigators houses before church to bring them, but they either weren't home or couldn't come for some reason or other. I'm still trying to figure out how to help the people here see the importance of coming to church. But I'm going to figure it out soon!

As for the rest of the week, it was great! Sunday night was awesome. As a zone, we got permission from President Ghent to go out caroling 2 times a week to contact people, and it was a ton of fun! We went out with the 12 of us missionaries and knocked on doors and sang Christmas hymns to contact people. It was a soo much fun being together with all the other missionaries in our zone and singing of Christmas, and we got some really good contacts out of it. I like it a lot better than just knocking on doors to contact people because they seem a lot more willing to listen to us and a lot more friendly when we contacted them that way. We'll see what happens with these people! And I'm going to try and send some pictures of this.

Then today, as a zone we went to el mitad del mundo, or the center of the world! Latitud 00.00.00. It was a ton of fun too! It actually felt a lot like Arizona there which was really weird. The houses in that area were a little nicer and it was hot and everything looked really deserty, like with cacti and all that. But it was a ton of fun. I took some pictures so I'm going to try and send those home too, but the pictures aren't loading right now so I'll try and make it work.

At the center of the world, we took this tour thing where they told us all this stuff. We saw this 250 year old shrunken head (I'm sending a picture of that) and learned how the indigenous people made shrunken heads. We also balanced an egg on the head of a nail. Something about the forces there let you do that, and I got a certificate for it! And then, one of the coolest parts was when we made water go down a drain. On the north side of the equator it went one way, and on the south it went the other way! And then right on the equator, the water didn't swirl around like in a whirlpool, but just went straight down the drain. Kind of cool!

But that's what's going on with me. We've had a tough time having people come to church, but I'm working hard and I know the Lord is going to bless us. We found this awesome person yesterday too that I have a lot of hope for progressing. She's a solomom with 6 kids and we're starting to teach her and I feel like she's really gonna progress!

Well thanks soo much for everything! I got the package mom. It's in the offices and some other Elders in our district picked it up for me so I'm not going to get it until thursday, but I'm pumped to see what's inside! Oh and I also was able to write some letters back to David and Kenneth, Rebecca, Heidi and Eden today, but I didn't have time to send them off, so I'll send them next week! I'm glad everything is going well at home and I miss you all a ton! But I'm also so happy to be a missionary and I really know I've been soo blessed for being out here in Ecuador! Talk to you next week!

Love,
Elder Lee