...Its definitely a different world down here...

Monday January
30th, 2011

I am doing just great
family. No I am not in Galapagos, still in Malvinas. The Zone Leaders like
to mess with our heads lol. Tuesday night is when we had exchanges and by
the time it had got to 10:30 we hadn't received a call. And then about 11
we got a call from our zone leaders, my companion is district leader so we
get calls about exchanges for our whole district so I wasnt holding my
breath. One of the Zone leaders told my companion he was being transferred
to Loja and that I would be training one of the new guys that came in. Needless
to say I was a little freaked out. I dont speak that much spanish and I
certainly dont think I could train someone. 15 minutes later they called
back and said that they were joking and we didn't have transfers. I let
out a HUUUUGEE sigh of relief. Spencer didnt get transferred either, but
his companion did, he is now training Elder Smith. Elder smith looks like
a linebacker for the NFL. he is huge! haha but spencer seems to be
enjoying it, he did say that they had a pretty strenuous leg workout
though, because the elder loves to workout. We were supposed to have 4
baptisms this week, but 2 of them backed out. We had been teaching them
for a really long time, and then last minute they got cold feet. Me and my
companion were pretty bummed but happy that we still had two! One of the
people that backed out was Amado Mosgueda. He has been coming to church
for 4 months. His first baptismal interview he had with Pres. Montalti because
he had problems with some things. So President wanted him to wait a while
and feel some repentance. His second interview was this week, we went over
there earlier in the day to see if all was well. He told us that all was fine
and that he was really excited for his interview and to be baptized. So we
told him we would be back around 4 to pick him up and go to the church to
call President Montalti. He is in a wheelchair because he only has one leg
so this is why we had to go pick him up. We went back there at 4 and he
told us that he wasnt going to go. I was really surprised because he
seemed fine earlier and he has been waiting for 4 months for this moment.
So we asked him why and he said that his daughter didn't want him to get
baptized because he was already baptized in the ¨evangelist¨ church. So he
told us he wasnt going to go. So we called the zone leaders and cancelled. Then
our other investigator, Dany Silva doesn't think he is ready for his baptism.
We keep setting up appointments with him but he is never there. I think
his real problem is his girlfriend. she is evangelist and I think she has
been feeding him some anti-mormon stuff because the evangelist church is
always attacking our church. We don't know for sure what the problem is
there, but we re going to hopefully check in with him this week. OH YA I
totally forgot to write nicole back! I usually am pretty good about
writing people back, but I haven't received a stitch of mail from anyone
except you guys since the mtc! So ya I will for sure write her back, I am still
not sure how to send mail from here, so I will have to figure that out.
Thats really crazy that you guys saw the durkins! haha I probably would
not have recognized him lol. But thats cool that he is at Chico State! We
have had a ton of rain here as well! but it is still hot! but most of the roads
are not paved so there is a ton of mud everywhere. My shoes are definitely getting
some wear in them, but thats what I got em for! I haven't received a
picture yet with the canoe, but I am sure it is awesome, cuz dad built it!
haha has he got to test drive it yet, or is it not completely finished? Ya
usually Ceviche is really good, but fish eye Ceviche is not my cup of tea
lol. I havent had to many "adventures" with Spencer unfortunately. I
see him all the time, but usually it is just for a meeting and then we are
gone, Didn't get to play basketball with him last week, but we might play
"Risk" this week, idk for sure though. If we were in the same
district we could go on Exchanges but since we aren't we dont get to spend
too much time together. Ya Alex is doing really good, he just recieved the
priesthood this week, which was really awesome. He looks like a member. He
has all the books, tie, shirt, shoes and slacks. He fits in really well,
already flirting with some of the girls in the ward. I think that as long
as he keeps coming to church it won't take him long to be a leader. My
living situation is that me and my companion live in a one bedroom, one
bathroom little apartment. Its small, but its all good, we pretty much
only eat and sleep there so we dont need anything more. We have bunkbeds
and ya I am living out of my suitcase because we dont have dressers or a
closet or anything. How we do our laundry is a really difficult process.
We call a hermana in our stake and she comes by and picks it up and then
drops it off the next day and we pay her about 4 dollars. So I am happy
that I dont have to wash my own clothes, this is one luxury we do have. 99
percent of the time I make my self an egg sandwhich for breakfast and
dinner. I really havent adventured outside of this besides tuna or noodles
of some sort. Of course we have cereal as well. But I am satisfied with
this and it is a little bit healthy so that is good. Umm the saddest thing I
have probably seen is just the living conditions of some people. Living in
a tin shack with dirt floors and all they have for a bed is a soiled peice
of cardboard. They are really impoverished, but still happy. Just little
things like people having to use newspaper for socks, and not having any
shorts or a shirt, and just eating out of the trash. It is definitely a different
world down here that is for sure. We give lots of blessings to people.
They do get better, and I know that the blessing helped that a lot. Me
and my companions goal for this week is to have 15 new investigators and 5
baptismal dates. Usually the goal is to have 10 new investigators, but we
really want to challenge ourselves this week. Got a haircut today which
was really nice. I will send you some pictures of our recent baptism also.
Oh something kinda cool/nerveracking. The President is coming to our
sector today. He wants to visit with Amado Mosqueda because he really
cares about him. So he is coming to our sector tonight at 6 oclock. I know
that if anyone can change his mind, it will be President Montalti! Me and
my companion are feeling very optimistic. Spanish is still coming, I am
participating more and more in the lessons. I actually had to teach all of
the commandments to our investigator because my companion had to go to an
interview so we had a division and I taught all the commandments. Needless
to say they were taught with "simplicity" but it was a really
good experience for me! So ya I think that is all for this week, I will talk to
you guys later! 

LOVE 
Elder Storm

Tips on how not to get robbed...

Monday, January
24, 2011

This week was
really good. Got some interesting and good stuff to tell you. We had
another baptism and confirmation. His name is Alex, he is 21 years old and
you can definitely tell he is excited about the gospel. He has had a really
rough past, he has changed sooo much over the last month, its crazy! He
was in gang, and did some bad stuff, and was involved in some bad stuff. But
you can just see the change in him, its really awesome. During his baptism, at
the end he stood up and bore his testimony, I felt the spirit very
strongly, He is an awesome convert. I’ll send you some pictures for sure!
So some interesting food I have eaten this week... I asked Elder Keables
about this and it was a first for him as well. We had ceviche, which is
like a traditional dish down here, but with eyeballs in it. I didn’t
realize what they were until about the third one got on my spoon. they
were crunchy and very very tough. I also had cow tongue, and stomach! So didnt
like the food too much this week, but its all good! Me and my companion
made plans, and if all goes according to plan we should have 10 baptisms
in february! We got lots of faith I know it will happen. We are teaching a
family of 9 people right now, not all of them are interested but its
awesome! We also stumbled upon some less active people and they want their two
kids to be baptized as well. The Lord is definitely blessing us with lots
of baptisms. I am really excited! The spanish is coming pretty good, I am
learning lots and lots every day, and every day becomes a little easier!
Today for p-day me and my companion dont really have too many plans, I
think we might play basketball with elder keables and his companion. Not
quite sure yet. There is rumor that I might get transferred to the
galapogos today, but I really doubt I will. That would be cool, but me and
my companion have sooo many baptisms coming up that it would really stink at
the same time. I wrote brian a letter this week also, I hope its the right address.
So ya I got some good tips on how not to get robbed. My zone leader, Elder
Reese told me to just grab their wrist if they come up for a handshake and
I think that the person is sketchy. I actually got to apply this. A
borracho got off a bus and saw me and made a beeline for me, I knew something
was up so i grabbed his wrist when he tried to shake my hand, He looked so
confused and went off about how the people of malvinas are different than
the rest of guayaquil, haha. This next week we should have 2 more
baptisms! I am wayyy excited, we are making lots of progress. Alright,
well I dont really have much else to say, but I love you guys, and miss
you. You guys are always in my prayers.

Love
Elder Storm