Garrett in front of the Guayaquil Temple

Monday, November 26, 2012

26 Nov 2012

Hi family from what is right now a rainy Santa Rosa! It appears to be
clearing up though. first time I've seen rain here in Ecuador since April
or so.

Wow, we had a pretty good week, mostly for the fact that we had a baptism
of an elderly gentleman named Luis. The interesting fact about Luis is that
after an unfortunate workplace accident several years ago, he was left
blind. It was a little different teaching him the principles, especially
the Book of Mormon, as he isn't able to see it for himself, so we made sure
to give very powerful testimony about the book so that it would profoundly
touch his heart. And it did! The baptismal service was excellent, but we're
a little short on time, so the photos will come next week! This week looks
to be good, as we'll be teaching more and more people! Today my 16th and
final transfer period began, I'm still with Elder Castro, but it's possible
tonight that there will be transfers, but I've been told I'll stay here in
Santa Rosa until the end of my mission, in the beginning of January! So
we'll see what happens with that! Six weeks to go!

Thanks for the photos, and a new car? I get to drive it too! And the turkey
you cooked looked delicious! Glad to hear all the family is doing good,
tell them all I say hi!

Have a great week, I love you all, and December begins this week! That
deserves a big WOW!

Take care everyone! Talk to you next Monday!

-- 
Elder Garrett Cederquist
Misión Ecuador Guayaquil Sur

Monday, November 12, 2012

12 Nov 2012 Transferred Again!

Hello family! Apologies for writing late today, but I was transferred this
morning from Guayaquil to the city of Santa Rosa, about 5 hours south of
Guayaquil. Santa Rosa is pretty close to Machala, where it seems eternities
ago I started my mission! It was rather unexpected, as the complete
transfers aren't for another two weeks, but I suppose it's for the best! It
is really possible that this will be my last sector, but we'll see, nobody
knows! The bummer about leaving Guayaquil is that I was going to have three
baptisms this upcoming Saturday, but now Elder Coy and his new companion
will have them! My new companion is Elder Castro, from Lima, Peru, the
first Peruvian companion in the 22 months I have on the mission. There's
always a first for everything! He has about 3 months on the mission, so
when I say new, I really mean it! Although it's sad leaving all the members
and investigators I got to know in Amazonas 2, I'm more excited than I
thought to be here in Santa Rosa. The Santa Rosa zone is well-known for
baptizing a lot, so that boosted my spirits!

I got quite a few emails from everyone today, thanks for writing me! I
don't have much time today, but next week I should be able to get back to
everyone!

Well, got to get going, a lot to do!

I love you all, have a fantastic week! Chao for now!


-- 
Elder Garrett Cederquist
Misión Ecuador Guayaquil Sur

Monday, November 5, 2012

5 Nov 2012 I have a return date!

Hello Family! And November too! I can't quite grasp that it's Monday again,
but indeed it is! This week flew by incredibly fast! I suppose that's for
the fact that the weeks I have left here in Ecuador stand in the single
digits now, nine (9) to be exact! That's also a fact that surprises me,
likely all of you as well! November will shortly become December!

This week was going pretty good for us, until yesterday, when several of
our investigators left on vacation, meaning they didn't show up for church.
They had baptismal dates for this Saturday, the 10th, but they still lack
one church attendance, so we'll have to shoot for the 17th for them. But I
feel confident in that they will be baptized. We are also working with some
others as well, preparing them for baptism later this month.

Elder Coy and I decided to go running in the mornings, but can I tell you
how out of shape I felt after running Saturday morning for a mere 20
minutes? Whew, that was a wake up call! Today's run was a little better on
me, so I'll have to keep that going to get back into shape!

Well, the weather has been partly to mostly cloudy this week, with the sun
always sneeking a peek to warm things up! Soon enough the rainy season will
be upon us again, time to prepare the umbrellas!

That's about it for this week, boy the time is just going by so fast! So
much to do in so little time!

I love you all, have a fantastic week! Un abrazo para todos!
Go RSL!

-- 
Elder Garrett Cederquist
Misión Ecuador Guayaquil Sur

Sunday, November 4, 2012

29 Oct 2012

¡Hola familia! Good Monday to you all! It's been cloudy all day here in
Guayaquil, but not too hot, so that's a nice advantage. Wow, thank you all
for your updates. seems like you all had a busy week! Indeed, October has
come and gone! November is sure to be even quicker! And yes, HAPPY BIRTHDAY
DAD (on Wednesday that is)! This week was pretty busy for us as well! We
managed to find quite a few people to teach, but as it always seems to be,
some accepted, and some didn't. But I feel pretty good about the people who
have accepted, they can and will progress! I think this week I lacked a
little in patience, as we were contacting like crazy, but it paid off, we
had some of those people attend church with us, in fact, it was a family of
three, so that was pretty neat!

I heard a really neat statistic last week. After the announcement in
General Conference about the reduced mission ages, the First Presidency
received 7,000 missionary applications. The weekly average before that was
just a mere 600. Crazy! We'll definitely be seeing more missionaries coming
to this mission! That will be a great blessing!

Well, this week we'll sure be keeping busy, helping everyone we can to
receive the Gospel, because in reality, it's the thing in life that has the
most value. And I'm sure glad to be sharing that with the great people of
Ecuador. I've seen many people's lives be changed by this simple message,
and I'm hoping to change many more lives in the short space of two months!

I love you all, I hope this week is a great one for you! If the sun stays
away this week here, it will be a good week too! But if not, well, it will
still be good!

Tell everyone I say hi!

-- 
Elder Garrett Cederquist
Misión Ecuador Guayaquil Sur

22 Oct 2012

Hello family! Wow, this week in the family we have some important dates!
First, Happy Birthday Mom tomorrow! And to Mom and Dad, Happy Anniversary
on Saturday! And what better way to celebrate the two dates than going to
see RSL play! Sounds good to me! Well, we had a pretty good week I'd say,
the first week with Elder Coy went pretty well. We found some more people
to teach, so we'll see how they progress. It's amazing how fast the time
has gone by! But don't worry, I'm not what they call "truncky" (those who
near the end of their missions and are only thinking of their houses).
Nope, I'm making sure I'm taking full advantage of the time that's left! I
want to enjoy the the I have left, not suffer in wondering what I'll do
after! Ha ha! So that's my plan for the next 11 weeks! Shouldn't be too
hard to accomplish that goal!

Well, to be honest, that's about it for this week, but hopefully I'll have
more to report on next week!

I love you all, hope you all have a fantastic week!

-- 
Elder Garrett Cederquist
Misión Ecuador Guayaquil Sur