June 29, 2014 Weekly Letter

Sent from my iPad

Hey family who is most likely down in Lake Powell still. I hope you you had a good time in Lake Powell, and as far as I know everyone is alright I hope. This week wasn't too exciting, transfers were this week and another group of missionaries have come and gone. My trainer has left me and my new companion is Elder Hatch, he technically is on his last transfer give or take, but chances are I will be killing him (missionary saying) on August 31. Can't say much for this week we are still teaching the same people and I have been trying to maintain the area, making sure we make our goals, trying to fellowship our investigators more and getting a better relation with our members, which has proved to be difficult.

We have been teaching a new guy named Juan and this guy has a baptismal date for July 27, he seems very promising he keeps all his commitments and I see the desire that he has to change, he essentially is what you call golden. I hope we can keep him on track for a baptism, we just have to work with him on the smoking problem, but he is trying really hard to stop.

We have also been teaching Zefferina and have tried to put a baptismal date on her multiple times and still nothing. We are planning on fasting for her on Sunday and hopefully that can provide a change of heart for Zefferina.

Other than that not much has happened since last week, hope you have a good week.

Love,

Ethan

June 23, 2014

Sent from my iPad

Hey everyone,

This week has been a interesting one, but I can't recollect a lot of it except for a few things, but I'll do my best to write all I can.

This week wasn't near as successful as last week under certain conditions, was a good one, but nothing too amazing. So you know how I said we had a ton of investigators last week, ya, well they are dropping like flies, nothing here is stagnant here it just goes up and down. So a lot of the investigators we picked up last week listen to us, but you can tell they don't care because they obviously look bored and they don't remember anything you say, and they don't keep or remember the commitments you extended, so unfortunately we will lose a couple of them for that reason, then one of then is from Miami and will moving back down there soon, and we found out we lost three really good investigators because out of nowhere they decided to move, seriously they were literally here for one day and the next they were gone and living in another state that we don't know. However on the bright side we have picked up a baptismal date with this guy we met yesterday and he was committed in less than thirty minutes. He was a referral from a member/recent convert and he want to quit smoking so he really want our help and to hear what we teach. Funny thing is, is that he has already been reading the bible and the Book of Mormon before we came there, so keep our fingers crossed that we can help him, then with Zefferina, she is still going strong still praying for an answer, she tells us she's been praying, but admits she may not be listening for an answer, so she said she would do that.

Ummm, what else oh ya, today we went to the American history museum, super cool museum, loved it, so much better than the Holocaust museum or the space museum. It really hits the patriotic side of you, and I can honestly say that I am proud to be an American, super cool history, a lot of cool artifacts and videos of wars and to respect the American soldiers. I really have a new found respect for our troops and what they do.

Not much else happened this week, except that my Trainer Elder Stubbs is being transferred to another area, I am staying and will get a new companion, so we will see what happens to area once he leaves because he knows everything about this area basically and I get I get to figure out how to lead my new companion around the city.

Lake Powell sounds like a blast, but it is whatever not much I can do a few thousand miles away, so have a good time and web safe.

Well that's a week.

Love,

Ethan

June 16, 2014 - Part 1

Hey everyone,

      This week was amazing, we worked really hard this week and a lot has come out of it. Sadly, not fatal accidents to report this week LOL. However, I will make it a point to leave those things out of my emails and for my journal. (By the way mom, no my helmet didn't break, nothing broke).

      So this week, we taught a ton, we taught twelve lessons this week vs. the normal six, so we basically doubled the normal, we would have had more had a few appointments not cancelled. We crushed our goals at least most of them, the one's that we could control, but as for baptismal dates or members to church, practically nothing. We had one member at church, but we were planning for six of our investigators to show up. We have right now fifteen investigators vs. the normal five or six investigators at best, so things are really booming in our area.

      My companion says we are working really good together and are accomplishing a lot, sadly it only took ten weeks to get there. Elder Stubbs tells me that I am the best companion he has ever had, whether he is just saying that or not, it works for me. However, even though we are working great together we are still struggling to get our investigators to baptism for one reason or another. Many are on the fact that they have been baptized before in the Catholic church and I am going to pull my hair out if I hear that one more time. Then there are reasons they don't feel ready or are waiting on family to come to the country. So, I have no idea how to help them realize the importance of baptism with the proper authority.

We taught a super cool investigator, she is this sweet little lady from Mexico (approximately 70 years old), the funny thing is she wears these plaid shirts that are obviously too big for her, as she is only about five feet tall, and she wears jeans with it, and she talks in this sweet quiet voice. I really want to convert this lady, because she is so close. We taught her this week about the Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ all in one lesson. We covered so much and I actually felt the spirit guiding me, as it is difficult to speak in Spanish, but for some reason I was able to say everything I needed to say, and with little error. I was the best lesson I have taught and one to the best Elder Stubbs has taught, we had a member there that really helped us teach Zefferina. She says she is going to pray about baptism, a little confused that the Catholic church could be confusing so many people, but she really looks promising and if she does everything we ask here to do, and keeps listening to us, we might see a baptisms in not too long, so we have our fingers crossed.

Something that is becoming a commonality here is bumping into our members and investigators on the road or people we have met before, we see it so often that I fell we know half the city (not really, but still). We have bumped into a member named Eusebio and have taken him to a few of our lessons this week or we bump into him randomly and he occasionally takes us out to FrozenYo. Two days ago we went into the square were we see everybody, and we saw Hermana Sierra and her thirteen year old granddaughter Joslyn (recent convert we teach), we also saw there at the same time our investigators Guillermina, her daughter Honey, and her niece Kimberly. And that's not all, then comes some more members, we see the Lacayo's and they come over and talk to us, it was a ward/investigator reunion. Then yesterday we went to the same place to give out Book of Mormon's and we bump into Guillermina and her daughter and her two nieces Kimberly and Marisol (All investigators) and we talked with them and they helped us give away two Book of Mormon's and set up and return appointment and take one of them to the VC. All in all, is was a super cool week. And this week we plan to make it better, with a temple trip added in on Wednesday.

This was our exciting week, super busy, super fun, and hoping for more.

Love you all,

Ethan 

June 16, 2014 - Part 2

So I felt the need to write back to you, sorry I did't write back earlier, I was out in the bloody hot weather at the air and space museum and at the capital. It was quite funny I got back from china town, the capital, and the museum and I had some serious sweat streaks on my shirt, really nasty by the way.

It was kind of weird not hearing from you until so late I was wondering where you were, in fact when I checked my email and nobody had written me I thought you all had gone to Lake Powell and failed to mention the fact. But no worries.

As far as the bed bugs go, I think there gone for now because no one has shown signs of them for over a week.

Also thank you for the scripture, I was just telling Elder Stubbs what you sent and he said we should do it. We have never taught from that scripture so we will try it and let you know howitzer goes.

The clothes I have are fine, I went to the thrift store and bought a new pair of pants, so they are holding up for now. I can't say much for my shirts by the end of the summer my white shirts will most definitely be yellow of sorts by the end of the summer, it if so disgusting how much you sweat here, I asked my companion if I gets hotter, he said not to much more, because today was flipping hot, really soaked us to the bone.

If you are sending a care package could you send some vitamins like potassium because the Hispanic food is killer, it sits in you, makes you feel bloated, and makes you fat really easily if you hadn't noticed, my face is really eating it up, AND I AM WORKING OUT. And could you send b12 apparently my companion says that gives you energy to do stuff and that would help. Anyway I think that's all I really need.

Today was a good day, we did a lot, I bought a ton of food, stuff for green smoothies for once (super expensive though, how do you afford food is my next question), then we visited some sites as you know and to finish the day off, why not possibly strain/sprain my wrist playing soccer with a eight year old, that was really embarrassing, right now I am writing you because I can't do anything else except chicken peck the screen. So that's my day, super exciting, could have done without the wrist accident though.

Have a good week

Love,

Ethan

PS yes I've seen Shawn's stuff on Facebook, no I can't watch it unfortunately, by the way who won the World Cup today us or Ghana, I know Chile won I saw some exciting pictures of Matias's family on Facebook. Anyway if you know could you let me know.

June 9, 2014 - A Great Bike Story

Hey guys,

I thought I would answer a few of your questions first. As far as the monuments go, apparently it's a pretty common tradition by the missionaries here and so my companion Elder Stubbs said it was something worth doing even if we had to wake up at four and bike to the monuments before five thirty. As you can see the pictures we really spectacular and even more so on the camera because I've managed to play around with it and have pulled off some awesome clear pictures I even got compliments from the other elders I live with, so I assume they Re pretty good.

As far as the bed bug problem goes, we haven't had any trouble with them this week as far as we know, so keep our fingers crossed, or maybe they aren't hungry, fun horrible fact, bed bugs can live up to eighteen months without food (blood). But I'll inform you on the run down in upcoming weeks, but Nothing I'm too worried about and nothing you should be to worried about.

This week we pulled off some pretty good numbers, we talked to eighty people, gave away seventeen Book of Mormon's, and now have four more investigators making thirteen for us, but it's pretty pathetic when you can't even get one to commit to baptism. The hardest part that we struggle with is commitment first off, but second, most of these people were born and raised Catholic, which means they have already been baptized or so they say. And so it is really hard to convince them otherwise, the only way would to compare and share about the baptism of Christ and how it compares to the Catholic Church's way of baptism.

Of by the way mom and dad there is a really good book I am reading for personal study and it is really good, I encourage you buy and read it (it's on LDS library). I can' remember the name of it so I will email it too you in another email.

I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but why not it makes for a good story. First off I want to thank all of you for your prayers, because I know for a fact that God and angels are watching over me.

The other day I got in a bike accident, and a pretty bad one at that.

My companion and I were heading down Georgia towards the chapel for a meeting with the Branch Presidency, well on our way we were stuck behind a bus for a ways and you know how clean of air those things let off. So there were four lanes of traffic two going one way and another two going the other. So going down Georgia we are stuck behind this huge double bus on the inside lane. Well all the traffic on the outside lane had gone by and there was nothing to be seen and since the bus had stayed in the same lane for the last five minutes I thought this was a good time to pass the stupid bus...wrong!!! I switched onto the outside lane and about halfway up the bus the stupid driver obviously doesn't signal or check his mirrors, because he starts cutting me off and pushing me into oncoming traffics. So here I am left with three options stay where I'm at and get hit by on coming traffic, try to slow down and get nailed by the back of the bus and get run over, or three attempt the crazy and pass the bus before I get hit by on coming traffic. So I took the third option and I made it past the bus and crossed over safely, or so I thought. My death was just delayed because as soon as I crossed over past the bus there was a truck and a ramp (the kind used for hauling cars) with side bars on the ramp. In a unfortunate attempt to dodge and weave I was launched up over the ramp a little over six feet in the air, over the man of the truck, then over my bike in front of a moving bus to land on my back and then to tuck and roll. I got up less then a second later only to find the same stink'n bus about three feet from my head. I pulled myself together to find nothing on me black, broken, scraped, bruised or anything. It is quite comical writing about this now, but I'm not done; the best part about it all other than having a good story and a miracle in my life was the fact that when I picked myself up, there was a guy on the street who witnessed it all who shouts "Jesus does it again" "How do these people not believe in Jesus I saw for myself he pick you up and swooped you down" it could be very possible, all I saw was my life pass before me, it resembles a very bright white light. Yes, I was in shock for the next while after, but thanks to the power of prayer I'm alright. A little while later I was talking to my companion about it all, who was behind me and he said it was a real miracle because he thought I died, he was like you could have died multiple ways and you didn't. The only thing bad that came out of this was a sore wrist, may have tweaked my back a little bit, not much though, and my back tire rim kind of got bent out of shape, literally. So that was another adventure of the week to go and buy an new rim and fix my bike, but very much worth it in comparison to my life.

What I learned from this experience was the great importance of prayer and obedience. Nothing may have broke physically, but my pride did, this was a real humbling experience that testifying that God is watching over all. From what I endured in that five second time frame I should be dead or very much hurt. I have no idea how I picked myself up within a second of final impact. I literally did a waterski fall where you totally eat it except the difference is I wasn't landing on water, but rather asphalt. It truly was a miracle in my life and something I will look back in remembrance that God has a plan for all and he will watch over us in times of need as long as we ask, and then live worthy to receive. I thought about it a little and I came to this conclusion  of why would God want to help us when we aren't willing to obey him, it's like asking for money when you aren't willing to work for it, you just demand it.

So I thank all of you for your prayers, know that they do mean a lot, and I pray for you guys daily. Take care and enjoy the week.

Love,

Ethan

(A little further explanation that he sent in a subsequent email).

So what happened was I passed the bus and I thought I was in the clear and I would have been had there not been a truck in the middle of the road and it had a ramp trailer, the kind a car could been placed on and towed. So it had bars/rails on the side so nothing would slide off, so I tried to dodge the ramp, but would have hit the bus and so I went up the ramp on an angle hit the side and flew off my bike in front of the bus along with my bike and then I made friends with the asphalt.