Monday, February 25, 2013

Week 4 in the jungle...all questions answered

The Mission has been divided!!!! Into Quito North and South. Changes won't start until July. The church will be sending lots of new missionaries here!

The weather here is so mild. The heat really hasn't been that bad for me, in the beginning it was, but now it is much more livable and relaxed. Mosquitos haven't been a problem at all, but it sure does rain a lot and there are cool geckos that cruise around the house at night and bark, or chirp... its awesome. OH! this week we were walking down the street and I was on the phone with the branch president, and out of the corner of my eye I saw an older gringo couple walking on the sidewalk in front of us. We had stepped down into the street to walk around them while I kept on the phone and as we passed, I heard the wife say to her husband in a surprised voice, THE Missionaries! We stopped to chat with them and they're from Missouri, but have a grandson that lives in Aliso Viejo! haha He had just left on a mission the 20 of January to Sao Paolo. His name is Brady Allen. They showed me a picture, and I could tell by his hair that he was definitely from so cal, but I didn't really recognize his face very well... good folks. Loved their accents!

Well, the million questions you had...

My companion is Elder Borroel from Southern Mexico, Vera Cruz. He is a good guy, really easy to live with, but I feel like he doesn't ever really stand up for what he wants but just goes with the flow. When his companion is obedient he is obedient, but when his companion is lazy, well he is too. There haven't been any problems yet at all. Just that he isn't much of a "go getter"  kind of a guy.
 
Yes, we always travel together except for when I came from Quito. Whenever there are transfers we travel alone.
 
Carnaval is just a holiday when everyone gets each other wet, or throws flour, or paint...those kinds of things. Kind of like a city wide water fight. President Ghent didn't want us to play, so I tried not to, but at the end of the day they painted my face.
 
I am doing better with my goals, but I find little time to read in the scriptures to fulfill my goal of 9 pages a day to finish before going home.
 
Service projects are normally just the same things I did at Nonnies's house, gardening projects. Next week I think we are going to help a guy harvest cacao (:
 
Yes, I am Zone Leader with Elder Borroel here in Tena, and the other Elders in our zone live in Puyo and are in a trio, Elder Condori, Elder Molina, and Elder Quiquivix. I was on exchanges with Elder Condori this weekend, I'll send pictures. He is from Peru, Cusco, and is the only member of his family who is a member of the church. I respect him a lot, spanish is his second language. He is a native of the high andes and speaks quechua. Puyo is 2.5 hours from Tena, but has a way different temperature average because it is higher up, but enjoys the same vegetation because of the high rainfall.
 
Elder Young was my zone leader from my last sector, he started his mission 6 weeks after me and was in the MTC with Lance Frame. Well, the story is, the Roche's sent me their christmas card, and one day when Elder Young was over, he was complaining about how his girlfriend got back from her mission and wasn't writing him anymore and his family was getting kind of lazy in writing too, so in order to not give him reason to whine, I gave him the address of the Roche's as a joke, but he ended up accepting it and told me he wrote them, but I honestly didn't believe him. He is a great guy and one of the few gringo friends I have made here on the mission. 

 
There it is. The answers to all your questions (: hahaha

 

Love, Elder Blackwelder

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