Week #80

May 24, 2014 - Elder Waddell

I have had such a good week Emily! I am not going to write down everyday, but I will give you an overview… Or maybe I will just write the whole thing down!!!! Hahaha I don’t have a good reason not to, so here it is! I’m just lazy about writing!

Sunday: We went to church and then worked for like 30 minutes in my own sector because we were in the offices.  That was literally my whole day!

Monday: We went early to the office to do the verifications and I did mine pretty fast! I am getting a lot better at them now!  We finished at about 6:00 PM and then we had a meeting with the President where we did planning!  The coolest part of the week is that we had a special visit from Elder Waddell, who is a general authority (member of the 70).  Since he was visiting, that meant our job was to plan everything and make it all perfect.  We finished planning at about 9 at night and then we went home!!!

Tuesday: We woke up early and made the 3 hour trip in a bus to a place called Otavalo (which is a place that we HAVE to come back and visit someday).  It’s a city right in the middle of two volcanoes and there is a huge lake that is super pretty!!! One of the apostles said that the most pure Lamanite blood in the whole world was from the people there in Otavalo.

They are super cool.  All of the men have really long hair and the women are small and fat and they’re specialists in fine craftsmanship in fabrics and clothing and wood and everything that you can do with your hands! They are soo good that EVERY native that is born there is born with a free visa to any part of the world because the whole world wants them to go to there countries!!! It’s super cool to see them!!!! That night I worked with Elder Parra and Elder Aliaga, who are good missionaries but sometimes they seem to have a hard time teaching. That is why it is good that we only have to teach and the spirit does the real work. Then at night we got the church ready for Elder Waddell. 

Wend (I think he meant Wednesday ;)): We woke up early and went to the church building and to our surprise there was no power in the whole city and so no water either!! hahaha and we were pretty bummed because it was going to suck having to receive a 70 without light in the church and so I said a little prayer and I am sure everyone did and well until the very second that he set his foot in the building there was no power, but as soon as he came in I kid you not that everything started working again!!!! It was a cool little miracle!!! And yeah his training was sweet!!!!! He is a cool guy!!! He is like 7 feel tall! And just a super good teacher! And his wife is super cool!!!!! I think it would be cool to be a seventy because you just travel all the time with your wife and just teach about being a good missionary and do service! It’s super cool!!!!! Then at night we got on another bus and went back to Quito! We almost didn’t get the bus but we were just in time!!!

One thing he taught was: we need to have a cape like any superhero would have. In Spanish, cape is capa.

C-Creer

A-Aprender

P-Pedir ayuda

A-Actuar

Believe, learn, ask for help, and act. It was a good training. He also said “Missionaries can convince, but only the spirit can convert.”

Thursday: In Quito again, with the same elder Waddell, we went early to the church building of Iñaquito, where we heard the same training and all that until late.  Then at night we had another meeting all the ward council of all Quito and Elder Waddell and it was pretty cool because I got to see some people from Carapungo and from La Luz (his old areas). And yeah that lasted until late.

Friday: The same thing with elder Waddell and this time I got to direct the meeting! It was cool to direct in a meeting with a seventy! And yeah that went until about 7:00 pm and then Elder Miranda got sick and we went home and just stayed there. For some reason that always seems to happen when I have Latino companions haha. 

Saturday: Today!!!!! I got up and got to study for the first time all week!!! I can’t wait to be able to study with you when I am home and get on a schedule with it!  I was excited to get to email you! Then I went and got money out and I bought a suit because mine is dirty and I can’t wash it!!! hahaah and that will be ready next Saturday so I can sent you a picture when I get it!!! Speaking of pictures I have sooo many cool pictures that I want to send you but I keep forgetting my freaking adapter!!!!

To answer your questions… I have not worked at all in my own sector this week! They said this is pretty normal for being assistant.

I don’t remember your other questions!!!

(It was a nice thought that he tried to answer my questions, but the only answer he gave does not fit as an answer with a single one of the questions that I did ask; so I am not entirely sure which question he thought he was answering haha.  I even bolded my questions, and made the font about 5 times larger than the font from the general email I sent, and he still thought it was hard to scroll up and reread them to answer them haha.  Moral of the story: if you email Christian and he doesn’t answer your questions don’t feel bad, it isn’t you! Haha)

Also I realized this week that I will only get to/have to Email Christian 27 more times until he is home.  That is crazy! He has come so far!