More Letters!

November 21, 2011

Candice-

Wow, thanks so much for the lyrics! Made me so happy, and sad at the same time. You totally were the mom that trip to Moab, and just mobbed it in Ivy's car! Hahaha :D How lucky that you get to be in california. I actually forgot about thanksgiving, so no, they don't celebrate it. nor do they have pumpkins. They just have Fiestas to celebrate the holidays, or everyone leaves Quito to go to the coast. There are some members in the ward who used to live in Utah for 5 years or so, so we'll stop by tonight to see if they made anything festive. There are a lot of fireworks at night, and that is something they do from nov. 2nd to january 1st. also, everyone has their fake christmas tree up already. the 6th of nov. is the usual day, then they take it down the 6th of january. kinda goofy. and they set up these huge scenes with toys and dolls around the bottom with jesus in the manger and wisemen and such and tons of animals...my companion, i'm sure, thinks i do a lot of weird things, but other than the way I dress on pdays, I think i'm pretty normal here. just tall. Well, thanks for the email, I love love love you. Thats cool that you write to Briana. I am learning to write with my left hand, but I just think about Briana. Sometimes though, when I write in my journal, I feel like I am writing to her.

Love Ian.

October 24, 2011

Dad-

It's tough out here and no one is watching to make sure you follow all the rules. I honestly have been surprised with my trainer. He is nothing like the trainer I expected, but I have learned a lot from him. And like you said, knowing where someone is coming from helps you love them. I have been constantly reminding myself of who he is. One thing that made me really mad is he told me he's eaten turtle eggs. I couldn't believe him. I couldn't believe that someone could do that to a threatened animal like a sea turtle. It was all I could do to keep from blowing up. I feel like I'm a patient guy, but I have learned a lot (: This week i had my first 24 hour divisions with another greenie from my group. Someone I don't understand very well yet (his parents used to live in laguna back in the 80's) from st george. In the provo MTC he stopped  speaking english and I admired his decision and dedication to spanish. But we hadn't learned much at that point, so he just didn't talk, nor make any sort of relations with the other elders. He doesn't know his sector for squat, doesn't know the buses to take to go to lunch with the mamitas...so we were lost for 3 hours and didn't get food and missed an appointment. phew, I felt like I was at scout camp with some of the goobers in our troop! Haha the other missionaries in our zone are tough on him, but I try to interpret for them. He was homeschooled too and just lacks a lot of social skills, but I love him still. Sadly he got changed today, oh yeah, today marked my first 6 weeks, and I get to stay in San Juan. You should look up my house on google earth or something: N11-68 Bombona and Guatemala, San Juan Quito Pichincha. . we get 14 new gringos tomorrow! I'm excited to see if I know any from BYU or something. Thanks for your love.

Elder Ian Blackwelder