Happy Independen​ce Day!!!

Hello all!

Happy 4th of July!! I hope everyone has gone all-out patriotic this year. I would if I could, but I'm kinda in Ecuador, so I can't really do that so much. Funny thing is, I'm a lot more patriotic here than I ever was in the States. I guess I just realized how good I had it in the States and how amazing it really is to be an American, so I'm now a very patriotic guy.

This week I'm doing pretty well. As a companionship we're doing pretty well, too. We have 11 people with a baptismal date between now and the 23rd, and potentially 19 if we can get them to go to church these next two weeks. But, we might not be here for the next two weeks, and that's because recently (as in yesterday), we've been receiving some problems from the ex-boyfriend of the young lady that we baptized this Saturday. She broke up with the guy about 3 days before her baptizm because he wasn't a good influence on her and she realized that, and he was pressuring her to not get baptized and such. Well, that's not so bad, right? Well, turns out that this guy also recently offered to teach our investigator (now recent convert!!) how to use guns, which is all fine and well too. But...yesterday he found Elder Buckland and said that he's been looking all around town for us (Elder Larrea and me) so that he can talk to Elder Larrea one-on-one. That's a tad worrisome, so we're stuck in Santo Domingo for at least 2 days while the new mission president decides what to do with us. It's very probable that Elder Larrea will be getting a transfer somewhere, and there's a chance that I will too. I'd be happier about that, but we have a lot of progressing investigators right now, and if we leave the new missionaries won't be able to find our investigators. (By the way, there's no such thing as a street address here. Well, in La Concordia. The streets don't have names, and the houses don't have numbers. It's rather inconvenient.) So yeah, excitingness! I'm spending my 4th of July on the run from a heartbroken and possibly armed man! Woo! Haha, but such is the life of a missionary. At least I haven't been robbed yet or anything. I'm not worried or anything though. I know that I haven't done anything wrong, that I've been doing my best to keep all the commandments, and so I will have the Holy Ghost to be with me, and I'll be watched over. I'm here doing the Lord's work, and I'm doing it with all my heart, so I will be protected. Like Alma, I'm not boasting of myself, rather of my God. He will protect me because He has made a promise with me that He will if I keep his commandments, and I've been doing my best to keep the commandments, and repenting when I've fallen short in some way, so I will be protected. Also, I know I have several people praying for me, and every pray helps. Thank you all!

How's the weather here...well, right now in Sto. Domingo it's overcast and slightly cooler, though I imagine in La Concordia it's overcast and hot. It's always the same. Mostly overcast all day, and hot. If it's Sunday, there're still clouds in the sky, but they'll never cover the sun, and the sun will bake you alive all day, and staying awake during your lessons will be the biggest challenge of the day. That's just how Sundays are. And that's how it will always be, forever and ever, because we're in Ecuador and the weather never changes. I'm starting to realize what it'd be like to be Adam in the Garden of Eden, always having perfect weather all the time, and I would have eaten the fruit too, if only for a change of scenery.

I need to give a big shout out to my lovely and wonderful mother, whom recently became a Take Shape For Life Health Coach and has lost almost 46 pounds since I left! Good job madre! I am very proud of you. I know what you're doing isn't easy, but the rewards are definitely worth it. Maybe we can run a 5k together when I get back. That'd be pretty awesome, I'm thinking. Maybe not right when I get back (January isn't the greatest time for doing 5ks), but let's do one at some time, okay?

Ah, to ask a question submitted by Robby: to be honest, I don't drink a lot of water, and if I do it's bottled. I usually drink soda (which is why I've been gordando, and which I'll be changing this week along with my new workout routine that I've actually been following; when a gringo tells you you're gordando, it's time to repent of your ways and start working out.) or I drink juice. I'd tell you the types of juice, but I'm still not quite sure the names of most of them. A popular one is guaca, which looks rather repulsive but is actually quite tasty.

I was very happy to hear that there was a Relief Society meeting where someone said that life can be hard, because you're darn straight that life can be hard. I wouldn't have it any other way though. If life was perfect all the time, how would we progress? How would we realize whom we can become? How would we learn anything? How would we enjoy life? There's a reason that life is hard. If it wasn't hard, how would we know if we have a testimony? A testimony only comes after the trial of our faith, after all. How would we enjoy the simple pleasures in life if all we ever knew was perfectness? Do you guys know what is amazing? Having carpet. Drinking out of the tap. Grass (as green as it is here, there's not really grass. Weird, huh?). Spaghetti. If life wasn't hard, we wouldn't know the blessings of those things. We should all strive to be like a grape vine. Do you know how to get a really good crop of grapes? You don't prune the vines all nice and neat. No, you have to hack them to pieces, and then they grow back even fuller and more bountiful than before. Let's take every bad situation that we're faced with and try to find the good in it, no matter how bleak things look. There's always something good about every situation. Many times it will be that we need to rely on the Lord more, or that the commandments are not restrictions, but are rather guidelines for the happiest life possible. So let's persevere through the hard times, and let the Lord stretch us and test us. After all, this life is a life of probation, a time to be tested and to see if we're worthy to enter into the presence of our Heavenly Father again. I would exhort all of you to keep on keeping on, and when you feel like you can't, remember to read 2 Nephi 4 (all of it, but the last verses are the best). The Lord will be with us through all of our afflictions and while we wander through our deserts. Trust in Him. Isn't He the reason we have this nation, too? Are we not "one nation, under God"? Keep on keeping on everyone, and relish the tests and trials.

I love you all! I'm glad to hear that you're doing well, and that you're keeping busy (my family is at least; I don't know much about the rest of you because the pouch system here isn't exactly a racing snail (woo obscure movie reference!). Keep writing, and I'll keep doing my best to respond. I love you all, and I wish you all a very happy 4th of July. Bye!

Love,
Elder Schomburg