28 November 2011, Back To Guayaquil & A New Companion

Oh where do I begin this letter? Well, I'll start with this: My time in Naranjito has come to an end, and following what Kyley said in her email from two weeks ago, I've been transferred again! Today's entry comes from Guayaquil once again, from my new sector called "7 de Septiembre" (7th of September) in one of the most talked about stakes in Ecuador, the Cisne Stake. I've heard about Cisne all of my mission and the success that there is to be had with the people, and now I get my chance to be here! I'm pretty excited for that! My new companion, number 11 on the "Companion Counter" is Elder Curtis, from Draper, UT, who has 3 months here in Ecuador. Sadly I had to leave Elder Caal behind in Naranjito after only two weeks of training him. Hopefully he's able to find his away around quickly!

Well, this past week was a really crazy one! We were blessed to have the baptism and confirmation of Julio on Saturday, which turned out fantastic. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for Bella, who in all honesty bugged out on us both on Saturday and Sunday. Not sure if I want to recap all that happened with that, but I'll do it anyway for you all. So Saturday she couldn't come due to a minor accident she had while at the gym. So after the baptism of Julio, we went to her house to figure out what happened. We then committed her to baptism on Sunday at 8am, right before church, where then she could have been confirmed in Sacrament meeting. Well, she arrived to the chapel, in which we're thinking "Awesome!", until she tells Elder Caal and I that she has to go back and get some things she forgot at her house, and would be right back. well, she left, and we did too to go pick up Julio, who doesn't live too far from the chapel. But when we returned, Bella wasn't there, and had gone straight to work, a flat out, 100% lie, which affected everything else of the day, most notably our investigators attending Sacrament meeting, in which we had zero, all due to us getting run around by a possible baptism. Wow, I've not felt so let down before on the mission. But I remembered that people have their agency, and we as missionaries can't force them to be baptized, we just help them arrive spiritually to that point. But it was more sweet to see the baptism of Julio, because he was ready, in that I don't doubt. I just feel bad that I can't be there to reteach the lessons to him to help him grow more in the Gospel. But I'll make sure to write him a small note here in the coming weeks to keep him excited about everything.

Elder Curtis told me that we'll be having quite a few baptisms in the coming weeks, so look forward to a lot of photos! Oh yeah, can I just say how physically tired I am with all these transfers I've had lately?!?! It's the most tired I've felt as of yet on the mission. That's a testament to the amount of work my companions and I have been doing, finding God's elect. The blessings are coming more and more abundantly, something I'm extremely grateful for.

To answer the question about Thanksgiving here: We made up for it this year. Allow me to explain: So Turkey Day was Thursday, but all the Senior Companions from parts of Milagro and Guayaquil (me included) had a training with President Montalti last Friday. After the training, we went to Terminal Terrestre (the huge bus terminal in G'quil) where there is a pretty nice food court. It just so happens that all the senior comps were Americans, so where did we go? Pizza Hut. And we ate. And ate. And ate. A supreme pizza and cinnamon sticks have never tasted so good! And we have even more training with President tomorrow and Wednesday, so we'll see what food comes from that! :)

Well family, I'm glad to hear all is well and that you enjoyed the holiday!

Love you all, and I'll write you next Monday!

--
Elder Garrett Cederquist
Misión Ecuador Guayaquil Sur