Double-duty Backpack

Hi everyone!

Today I am doing fairly well. We had a lot of investigators in Sacrament Meeting yesterday (12!!) and we have a lot of people with baptismal dates (13!!). We're really excited about that, especially because basically all of the families that we've been teaching came yesterday, including our beloved Tigre family and also a family of 6 (even though only 5 came and have baptismal dates), the Granda family. We're so darn excited, and President and the assistants are excited for us too. But, unfortunately, there is a dark side to this story. 

In our zone there are currently 16 people with baptismal dates. Now, if you remember how many I said are ours, you'll see a slight problem. If we weren't in the zone, there would only be 3 people with baptismal dates. How many families were found in the zone this week? 3. How many did we (Elder Valdiviezo and I) find? 3. It's very worrisome. We think that there's some disobedience in one of the sectors, and we know that the sisters are not doing so well right now. The training sister does not have any confidence at all and the sister-in-training is a rather timid sister, so that doesn't make for a good combination. We're going to try to see what we can do to get them excited about the work and to help the whole zone be more obedient and find those people that are prepared. It's going to be a bit tough, especially because when we do divisions with the Elders they act like they work hard with us, and then we leave and they don't seem to do anything. We call it being "lámpara" (lámpara=lamp; when the Elders are around a leader, they "turn on", and when the leaders leave they "turn off".), and we're going to have to find a way to change all that. It will involve a lot of prayer, I can guarantee you of that. 

Changing topics: The picture [there was no photo attached - oops] is what resulted of me trying to play with some of the kids at Church. One night, while waiting for some investigators to come, there were a bunch of little kids outside playing with some leaves (the leaves look like aloe vera leaves, except not as thick, and they come from trees). They were using the leaves as swords, and they started to attack me, so I decided to play with them a bit. As I was dashing about, I jumped and landed in a squatting position and heard a horrible tearing sound. Yep, those were my pants that ripped, the whole seat. I went about the rest of the night with my backpack handily cinched about my waist. Also, when I told the kids that I couldn't play anymore, instead of just running off to play-fight among themselves, they mercilessly whipped me and my companion with the leaves. I just thought to myself of the scripture in the Bible when the Lord says: "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do." 

So, I only have 6 months left. Wow. That's only 4 transfers more. That's crazy. 

Well, I don't have a lot more to share for today. Next week we'll have two baptisms, which we're really excited for. I hope everyone is doing well and are doing their best to follow Christ. Oh, to answer a question that my mom posed to me; yes, I do eat popcorn, though I usually only eat it when it's served with the soups. Yep, Ecuadorians toss their popcorn into their soups, such as ceviche, encebollado, or any of the creams (cream of asparagus, tomato, etc.). I do have a way to make it...right there in a pot on the stove. None of that fancy microwave stuff for me! Okay, now I do have to go. I love you all, and I thank you all for your support. I sent a couple of letters out today, so maybe you'll be getting them sometime. I say maybe because I got a letter from my sister today that was dated in October. Okay, I love you! 

Love,

Elder Schomburg