Still in Santa Ana!

Hello everyone!

This salutation comes from...Santa Ana, Quito! No transfer for me, nor for my companion, so unless more funky shenanigans happen like what happened at the end of the Riobamba tour, I'll be here until July 1. I guess the Lord has more for me to learn here. I'll just try to plug along as best as I can and hope that that's what the Lord wants of me. 

Wow, my little brother is all growin' up and stuff and is going to be graduating this week. That's crazy. Congratulations Jeffrey!! I knew you could do it. And congratulations for graduating from Seminary! That's awesome, and you're certainly more prepared than I was for your mission. Just don't decide to get all lazy and stop the preparing. You should prepare for your mission right up till the day that you leave, because if you don't keep preparing, you'll lose all that knowledge that you've gained. Remember to read the Scriptures daily (that's italicized, bolded, and underlined, so it's really super dupe hyper immensely important) and to say your prayers daily. Endure to the...well, beginning, in this case...!!! I know that you have huge potential. Don't be afraid to unlock it. 

Mmmmm, rootbeer floats......if someone finds out how to send one of those over here without completely destroying the package in the shipping process, you should test out that method with me. 

Well, the man who randomly showed up at Church last week didn't show up for his lesson nor for Church this week, and we don't have any way to get in contact with him. Hopefully one day he'll be able to come back and truly begin the repentance process. But Hilda Salazar did come to Church!! She's so amazing. She's basically my "mission grandma" because she's 74 and always feeds us when we go over (twice she gave us candy corn, which doesn't exist in Ecuador, but luckily she has offspring in Utah that love her enough to send her candy corn, which she shared with us!!). She's such a sweet lady. She has a baptismal date for this Saturday, but she has to have an interview with one of President Ghent's counselors first. We'll be praying that she passes her interview and doesn't have to postpone her baptism for a later date. 

I think that you (meaning my parents) will be very glad to learn that I have learned obedience fairly well (I'm known in the mission for demonstrating exact obedience), so at least one of the attributes that I need/ed to learn has been learned. Now I just have to work with my patience, and I do believe that will take the rest of my life to develop. It'd be better if it came sooner than later, but patience never, ever works that way. With time and practice it will come. 

Well, that's about all that I have to say for today. I hope all is well with all at home. I love you guys very much, and I wish the very best for you! 

Love, 
Elder Schomburg