27 Feb 2012 Rain in Guayaquil

My companion is just a little taller than me!

Hello family from what's now a "normal" Guayaquil after the festivities of Carnaval last week. It's also been somewhat of a rainy week as well, so that keeps the temperature down just a little, but when the rain stops, the humidity hits big time! That is the part that's not fun!

Well, this week we were going to have the baptism of Yamilet, but for just a small little inconvenience, it had to be postponed until this Saturday, but that's even better because her sister Gia will also be baptized with her! I feel it will be a much more spiritual experience for the two of them to be baptized in the same night. And we'll have more support from the ward, as many people were on an extended vacation last week, so there are multiple reasons this week is better! 

The work is improving here in Puerto Nuevo, what I mean by that is that more people are accepting our visits, listening to the message we share. Kind of hit a slow spot the past few weeks, but now we're starting to move a little faster this week, something I'm grateful for! I had to exercise a lot of patience the past few weeks for those good things to start happening. But Elder Herrera and I keep having our good attitudes, so we're seeing the blessing that come from that. You'll see in the photos I've sent just what I mean when I say my companion is tall... Cue the jokes, everyone already has here. I just take it in stride and laugh with them. The other photos are of just how hard it rains here. And if the mission just doesn't get more exciting, what happens when there is a little gap between the window frame and the wall? Water gets in! Hey! Let's just say that was a rather interesting, unplanned P-Day activity!

This past week I got a letter from Alden. I was really excited to see that he even sent a few pictures with how things are going in Australia. The letter was dated January 2, 2012! I'll have to write him back soon. He is such a good example to me. Hope is doing great!

Well family, that's about all that is going on here in GYE. The heat and the rain continue, but we'll make the best out of this week, it's sure to be a busy one!

I love you all, take care!

--
Elder Garrett Cederquist
Misión Ecuador Guayaquil Sur

It rains hard here!

The rain comes down in buckets in Ecuador.

When it rains hard outside it usually gets wet inside also!

(Kind of) P-Day 22 February 2012

Good morning family from what has been a Carnaval-filled Guayaquil the last three days! What did that mean for us? Locked up in the house! NO!!! Well, luckily we have been given a little time this morning to write a little! I was going to send some intense pictures I was able to take of a storm that rolled in right after I had finished writing you last Monday, but due to the short time we have, I'll get those sent this upcoming Monday.

Not much happened this week in our sector, yet again, although there is a former missionary who finished his mission last week in Bolivia, and he is very willing to help us out here in Puerto Nuevo. That is giving us a big boost, as we'll be able to find and teach more people with his help. With this week being cut short a little due to Carnaval, we have a lot to do and less time to do it! We'll be having a baptism this week, the sister of Jose Luis, Yamilet. We're pretty excited to be having the baptism, but there's a few important things we've got to do before Saturday rolls around, and seeing as we're already Wednesday, wow, time is passing by quickly!

Enough with our sector, and I have just a little time to reply about Elder Herrera. He is super funny and keeps me laughing every day. He does in fact speak a little English, and he has a good accent too! 

And no, I hope it's not time for me to get transferred again! I'm happy where I'm at for the moment!

Time is about up, I'll write more next Monday!

Love you all!

--
Elder Garrett Cederquist
Misión Ecuador Guayaquil Sur

20 Feb 2012 Carnaval

Hey family, all is well here in Guayaquil. Today was Carnaval, and we were not allowed to leave our house until 6pm. It's 5 to 9 now, so we've got to go. But all is fine, thanks for all the emails, I'll try and respond to all of them! Not sure when or if we'll have P-Day this week....

Love you all!

--
Elder Garrett Cederquist
Misión Ecuador Guayaquil Sur

13 Feb 2012

¡HOLA FAMILIA!

It's been another sunny morning/rainy afternoon kind of week here in
Guayaquil! It's crazy how much it has been raining here lately! I'm getting
very used to always having my umbrella with me, because the rain comes
rather quickly, and we have to take out our umbrellas quickly, or it's
certain we will get soaked, kind of like last night.... haha! But all is
well with Elder Herrera and I, although this week was a pretty tough one to
find new people to teach. We are teaching a few people, but our challenge
is finding NEWER people. Our goal this week is to just go out and talk to
everyone and teach them. Easier said than done... That'll be the subject of
next week's email!

We continue teaching the family of Jose Luis, who are really receptive, and
are progressing towards baptism on the 25th of this month. Two of his
sisters could be baptized this week, but we've not been able to teach them
all they need to know in terms of the lessons, so we pushed the date back to
the 25th so it gives us enough time to help them build a strong testimony
about the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, the Gospel in general.

This weekend here in Ecuador is something called "Carnaval". It's basically
when everyone brings out their swimming pools and buckets and throw water
everywhere. I've also heard that paint and eggs are part of the throwing as
well. I'll make sure to stay away from all that hooliganism, and I'll also
report on that next week.

Not too much else going on around here to be honest, but I have attached a
few pictures I snapped during this week, mostly of the clouds and storms
rolling in. I'm having my own photo class here in Ecuador!

I don't mean to be so short, but I'll write more next Monday!

Enjoy your week!

I love you all!


--
Elder Garrett Cederquist
Misión Ecuador Guayaquil Sur

6 Feb 2012 My New Companion Is 6 Foot 5...

Hello family! Wow, this last week went by really fast, especially with getting things prepared for the baptism of Jose Luis, which we had Saturday night! It was a fantastic experience, and we had so much support from the ward it was incredible! And yet again, the adage of the mission applies here: Have success, get transferred. But this time it's not me who's on the move, it was Elder Alvarez, who was sent to Loja this morning! Crazy I tell you! The Companion Counter clicks once again, this time to number 13! My new companion goes by the name of Elder Herrera, from Bogotá, Colombia! He has 7 months on the mission, and measures a very tall 6 foot 5 inches! I seem to always be looking up with most of my companions, even more now! But I suppose that is a good thing!

This last week went by fast, but it seemed kind of slow because we weren't having too much success in the way of finding and teaching people. That was Monday to Friday! Saturday and Sunday all the blessings I thought I wasn't receiving through the work we've been doing all came, and there were many! One of those worries I had was that we wouldn't have many members from our ward attend, even though we had been announcing the baptism all week. But not only did the members show up, another ward also had baptisms that night, and members from that ward had came as well! The attendance was basically double what I thought it would be! It was great! 

Also, the family of Jose Luis wasn't sure if they'd be able to attend, but the made some arrangements and all of them showed up! They said it was a great experience, and the mom even said "I want to be the next one (baptism)." We put a baptismal date with her, but she didn't quite accept, but just seeing the reaction she had to the baptism makes me think she will accept a date to be baptized! The sisters of Jose Luis however, did accept dates for the 25th of the month, so we will be working diligently with them to get them all prepared! The first five days of last week were more or less, but Saturday and Sunday things really started rolling, a much needed boost for me in this sector!

It's going to be a good time working for the next few weeks, as we have a lot of potential baptismal candidates, those we know, and those that we've not come into contact with!

Awesome to hear that the Giants won, I think I mentioned to Dad last week that I would be rooting for them! Sounds like the news is still crazy, wow. Sad to hear that things like that happen.

Well, things are still good around here, still hot and rainy most days! I think I'll be glad when it's just hot later on this year!

The photos are from the baptism!

I love you all, have a fantastic week!

--
Elder Garrett Cederquist
Misión Ecuador Guayaquil Sur