Iguanas and Frogs

Hello dearest family!!                                                                                  

Zarumilla is awesome!! I have a couple fun stories to tell, but first, I gotta answer some of Mom's questions. haha (I gave him a hard time last week about never answering any of the questions I ask… he did a good job at redeeming himself this week :)

How is the ward there? 

Great!! Sunday we had 123 members in attendance!! WOAH! The Bishop is great and have 2 active and supportive councilors, The ward mission leader I still have not visited with, but I have heard he is great.

And the members? 

There are over 700!! And the majority live in my area! But there are tons of inactives... But those who are active are awesome!

Are the missionaries having good success in that area?

The missionary work has been a little slow here... The last baptism was in June and in the district there is only 1 with a baptismal date so far. We have 3 companionships for the ward! We just gotta get better at finding the golden investigators.

Do you have a new Pensionista?

Yes we do! She also does our laundry and we are renting an annex of her house, so they are pretty much our family. haha The family is super awesome

What is her name? 

Hermana Teo. Teo is short for Teodora. She lives with her husband Maximo and her children. I really don't know for sure how many she has, the majority have already moved out, but Anita is always there, she is 11.

Will you be eating food that is much different than what you have eaten in the past or is it basically the same stuff? 

It is basically the same, but MASSIVE Plates. Like today we got soup (I am starting to eat soup and enjoy it... Peru is making me crazy! haha) then a platter full of rice beans and chicken, then a salad plate of avocado and cucumbers. I am going to get fat.

What is the landscape like there -- dry? green?

Rather dry, the grass seems to grow dead here. But there are also lots of green from banana plants and we have a Mango tree outside our apartment.

How about the temperature?

Holy smokes I almost DIED this week from the heat. and it is winter!! It was seriously killer. They say here is gets up to 40 degrees Celsius in the summer. But today was nice. It felt like an overcast September day (I used a sweater! hahaha)

What is your apartment like?

I will send pictures. But today I need to clean it. I don't think they have cleaned that bathroom. EVER. (Mom says, YIKES!) So that is my P Day activity.

What kind of neighborhood do you live in?

It’s nice. But we live 3 houses down from a bar constantly playing music very loudly. But the people are all nice.

What is your companion like?

I love him! Today we were shopping and he picked up a pack of those eyeliner pencils and was like "I think I will use these to mark my scriptures." I was like "Umm.... That’s makeup!!!" He was like "Oh..." then bought them. haha

But he is awesome at using the scriptures and is very humble. A great guy, loves to study English and be obedient. And he is teaching me Quechua!! He is from Cuzco and has 6 months in the mission.

What is his family situation?

I am not quite sure, but they are converts. He was baptized when he was 9 years old.

Is he willing to work and be obedient?

YES! We need to learn to be a little better in teaching with clarity and power, but he is teaching me a lot about how to use the scriptures especially in teaching.

ARE YOU HAPPY?

VERY MUCH SO!! :)

Ok so about the title. hahaha This is like my first time with a creative title!

Iguana. On my last day in Tambo Grande, we were walking away from a visit, and another less active young woman we have been teaching called us over. She told me her family had just received a little Iguana and they wanted to give it to me as a GIFT to remember them by!!!!! I have pictures to send. So tempting but I had to say no.

Frogs. 2 things. My companion is terrified of them!!! And there are quite a good number of them here! And also we are teaching a super super Catholic investigator who is kinda crazy in his theories. He believes the Catholic church and the LDS church are the same. He told us he received his answer that this church is true because he had a dream about a white frog. He said the white color had to mean purity, so he took it to be his answer. So... I don't know quite how to work with that... But when he told us that, I was like I HAVE to send that one home. I found it quite interesting!! haha

Well today for P Day we went up to a place called Aguas Verdes, it is the northern part of Zarumilla. Where the yellow line stops running on the road, you know you are in Ecuador!! Don’t worry though, we didn't cross. Sorry, I promise to send the pictures tomorrow!!

Thanks for all the emails and your support!! 

Love you all!! The church is true!!

Elder Collin Russell