So, a little more about my new area (that's not about the scenery). The ward isn't huge or anything, it's about regular size for here. We don't have a ton of investigators right now, but the ones we do have are golden, meaning they are doing everything in their power to follow Christ and are super excited about their baptisms, which will be this coming up the 13th. They are rather amazing, and we've had some really good experiences with them. We don't have a lot more investigators right now because we haven't been able to find more for a bit. Actually, for two days we couldn't work at all, which I'll be telling you all about right now.
So, Quito is wonderful and everything, but it is much colder than Santo Domingo. My body is used to the heat right now, and not so much the cold. So, starting Wednesday night, I got a cold. It wasn't too terrible Wednesday night, but Thursday morning I was pretty miserable. My throat was killing me, my sinuses were congested, my nose was running, I had a fever, the works. I managed to go to the district meeting in the morning, where I got a priesthood blessing, but after that I couldn't hardly do anything. Now comes the double whammy. As we were walking back to the bus stop from the meeting, my companion hit his head on a street sign and had to get four stitches. So after that we went back to the apartment and just stayed there the rest of the day. Oh wait, no, we went to lunch at the bishop's house, and then I called the nurse, and then we went to the apartment. That's were we stayed for the rest of that day and the next, because on Friday my cold moved to my chest and my asthma started acting up. Asthma and the hills here in Quito plus a cold just don't mix, so I just rested up, and so did Elder Maridueña. [He has his inhaler, so no one needs to worry.] But I am at about 80% now, so all is good. I still have a bit of a runny nose, but I can work and I'm not miserable at all, so that's very good.
Oh yeah, the hills. Wow, the hills. Okay, Quito is like Denver if Denver had the hills of San Fransisco EVERYWHERE. Actually, the hills here are worse because they're a lot steeper. I'm pretty sure I've seen some 60º hills here, and that's pretty dang steep. It's not fun walking up those at all. But alas!, such is the life of a missionary.
I've realized that I think I'm kind of a city guy. I like the city a lot, though I still want my own lawn, garden, and trees. Just in case any of you wanted to know.
I was so excited to hear that Jeffrey got his Patriarchal Blessing! That is so incredibly exciting. I know that mine has helped me out a ton in my life. It certainly did strengthen my testimony, too. I actually just recently read it again, but this time I studied it out. I looked up things in the scriptures to get more information, and that was an amazing experience. Also, I am going to have a wonderful, miraculous life if I keep living the Gospel and doing so with love for my Heavenly Father and for His Son. Jeffrey, study that Blessing out, and read it at least once a week. You'll find something knew every time, or your testimony will grow even more. Either way, keep studying it (when you get the hard copy, that is).
Moving to a different place or getting a new companion always strikes up a fire in me. I am so excited to work here. It's rather ridiculous. I feel bouncing-off-the-walls excited to work here, and I hope that I get to spend awhile in Quito. There are enough different areas in Quito that I feasibly could never leave Quito for the rest of my mission. I think it'd be cool to see other parts of Ecuador too though, like Riobamba and maybe even Otavalo. Places I've decided I'd be okay without seeing include: Orriente. That's basically the beginnings of the Amazon, and I've heard some stories about there that make me perfectly fine staying in the sierra for the rest of my mission, though "iré y haré las cosas del Señor" no importa donde Él me mande. ["I will go and do the things of the Lord" no matter where He sends me.]
I'm glad to hear that my letter package arrived on Saturday. July 18th seems so long ago. Anyway, my sickness actually had blessings, too. I was able to catch up with ALL of the letter writting that I had to do (which was not insubstantial). I sent out another package today, so hopefully you'll get that soon. Let's see how long it takes a package straight from Quito to get to the States. From Santo Domingo it takes 19ish days, so let's hope from Quito it's faster.
I am way excited to also hear that Jeffrey's going out with the Elders now. Getting started now is fantastic. He'll be so much more prepared for his mission if he really starts preparing now. Also, he'll see some even more interesting ways of shooing someone off, and he'll also see some miracles, because we do live in a time of miracles.
I included some photos. Two are from the window of our apartment looking out at some of the mountains that surround/are part of Quito. I don't think I got a picture of the enormous volcano that's in the distance, but I'll get a picture for next week. It's huge. It's either Mt. Cotapaxi or Pichincha, neither Elder Maridueña nor I are sure, but it's big. The mountains here don't look too much bigger than the mountains back home, but then you remember that Quito is at about 9500 feet in elevation, and back home we're about 2000 less than that. And then you look closer at the mountains, and you think, "Yep, that one's probably a good 18,000 feet tall." Cotapaxi is 6200 meters tall, which is about 2000 meters more than Mt. Elbert in Colorado. Yeah, I'm in the Andes for sure.
Well, I hope everyone is doing well still. I love you all very very much. Thank you so much for your support for me and for what I'm doing. I hope everyone keeps trying to find more ways to get closer to the Lord and to His Father. I know that the work that I'm doing is true, and is the most important work in the world. I know that this Church was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith, and we are guided today by a prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, who has the same power and authority as every prophet that has ever lived, from Adam to Moses, from Moses to Jesus. I know that this Church and this Gospel are true, and I will always know this truth. I love you all! Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Elder Schomburg
No comments:
Post a Comment