Pictures

Pictures of all the ZLs and the missionaries from my group (the ones that are all going home together)

 

 

 

Planning for Life after the Mission

Dear Fam and Friends,

I've gotten Christmas packages!! Sorry for not letting you know! I got one from you and one from Grandma and Grandpa Johnson and one from Grandma and Grandpa Pope and one from the Hills. Awesome packages and thanks sooo much to everyone!!!!!!! It was nice getting some later because it has made the goodies last longer.

 

Well life is good here in Ecuador. This week I was feeling a bit down and stressed out because I felt like we were losing some of our investigators. We had an awesome family that wasn't as excited when we visited them and didn't go to church yesterday. But things got better when we went to visit them after church. We got there and the wife was reading the Book of Mormon and was pretty happy. She had just been feeling a little down because her husband doesn't want to get baptized yet. So we are going to keep helping them and hopefully get the whole family baptized together, or at least baptize the mom and kids for now. And we also got a couple of referrals from recent converts this week which was nice. I'm feeling better now.

 

I think the stress is combined with the stress of having to pick BYU classes soon. I'm still not sure what I want to study and I have to pick my classes on March 31st. I'll plan classes on MyMap on the BYU website and if you could register for them at midnight on March 31st that would be great. 

 

But otherwise things are going well. I'm still trying to stay focused on missionary work and why I'm here. I can figure out life later. Here are some pictures from like a couple weeks ago. I finally got my camera back so I can send them now. These are pictures of a convert family I visited in Quito and when I went to crepes and waffles with Elder Nelson. Delicious!! Enjoy!

Love,

 

Elder Joshua Lee

Pictures

The Matador

Dear Family,

 

 

So I believe I should be arriving home Tuesday, June 3rd. I don't know at what time though. They should probably give me all the details in a month or two. So it looks like I'll be home for a couple days and then get to travel again. And you just got me super excited about the trip to California to see a baseball game. Tell dad that that is like the first thing I want to do when I get home. It would be awesome that same night to go to a Dbacks game. I miss baseball. But it sounds like it'll be a fun summer. And how long are Amanda and Nicole going to be in Tonga? That's like way far away... Cool stuff.

So you just gave me a lot of information there. And I always laugh at the Ben stories and at your lack of enthusiasm for golf haha. Everything is going well here in Ecuador. We just had changes today and my companion finished his mission and is going home tomorrow. I have now gotten the reputation as the matador (or the killer) here in the mission because they say you "kill" someone when you are their last companion before they go home. And I have now "killed" 3 missionaries which is a lot. But I was happy and sad with the changes. I am very happy because my new companion is Elder Schneider!!! He is a missionary from my same group. We met over a year and a half ago in the MTC in Peru and now we are companions. He's an awesome guy and I'm way excited for this change. I've wanted to be with someone from my group my whole mission and now I finally am. But I am sad because this probably means that I won't finish my mission here. I will most likely have to spent my last transfer in another sector because Elder Schneider and I are going home together. But I guess I'll get over it.

 

This week was fun. My last companion, Elder Plua, pretty much spent it saying goodbye to everyone. I took a lot of pictures, but sadly my camera almost got lost and is now in the offices in Quito. We'll see how soon they can get it back out to me. But when I get it I will be sure and send all the pictures we took. For now, here are a couple pictures off of my companion's camera. This is us with all the zone leaders at the leaders council with President Ghent. And the other picture is our zone before we had transfers.

 

Oh and last week one of the Senior Missionaries called me from the office asking which airport I'd be flying into. That was a trunkey phone call haha. I told her Sky Harbor airport. So I will be flying there. But in like 3 months still. Life is good. I love being a missionary. And I am going to work hard until the end. I love you all soo much and have an amazing week and spring break!

Love,

Elder Joshua Lee

Pictures

Carnaval and an Answer to Prayers

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow sounds like a pretty eventful week. It sounds like an awesome experience at the Temple Cultural Celebration.

Here things are pretty much the same. Not a lot has changed. I am still doing well and enjoying life. 

Yesterday, today and tomorrow are a holiday here in Ecuador. Its called Carnaval. Its something they do in a lot of South American countries. But its pretty much a three day holiday where people use it as an excuse to throw water on other people. And more than that. People go around throwing water with foam and coloring and even eggs and flower. It can get pretty messy. So some people got my companion and I soaked and with coloring on the white shirt and face. I sent a picture. You might not be able to see that well though. But we spent all day yesterday wet. Luckily today we had to come to Quito and its cold here so they don't get each other wet as much.

And I saw an answer to my prayers this week. These last couple weeks I have been praying to find a family that was married and ready to listen to our message, and this last week the Lord answered my prayers  Two Sundays ago when they had elections here in Ecuador we only went to one hour of church and it was at 8:00 am instead of 10:00 am.  So we left at 9:00 to go visit some people. Well after we had left a family had shown up to church because they had desires to see what it was like. But when they got there almost everyone had left, except for our Elder's Quorum President.  So he talked with the family and got their direction and phone number and set up an appointment for us on the following Tuesday.  

That Tuesday we went to visit this family, the Familia Zambrano and we had a great lesson.  they said that the Lord had touched their hearts and that they had a desire to go to Church and learn more about it.  So we were able to teach them a few times during the week and they came to church again on Sunday. I really could see that the Lord answers prayers.  An awesome experience.

So life is good here in Ecuador.  I am also sending a picture with a giant plate of food.  You could say I'm a happy guy here.

Love you all so much,

Love,

Elder Joshua Lee

Fish Head Soup

Dear Family and Friends,

 

I will be sure and check out the Temple Cultural Celebration on the church website next week. And that's awesome that Jessie got to dance at a Suns game! Way to go Jess!! And as always, I love the Ben stories.

This week was another normal week. Not a lot of exciting events. We did have a lunch this week of fish head soup. It was a soup with a GIANT fish head in it. With the teeth and eyeball and all that jazz. And it was actually really delicious. I sucked the eyeball up and ate the tongue and other cool stuff like that. I'm actually really amazed at all the different foods I enjoy now. If someone would have tried to make me eat fish head soup two years ago I would've said they were crazy. There are a lot of cool experiences on the mission.

 

But not a lot else happened this week. We have some investigators who are progressing al lright, but we still have to find that family. There are a lot of cool families here, but the problem is finding a family that is married and willing to progress. But I have faith that the Lord will help us to find one soon. 

I love you all a ton! Thanks for everything!!

 

Love,

 

Elder Joshua Lee