Missionary Marriage Therapy

Wow, marriage sure is some crazy stuff!  I wish more people would be getting married here in Ecuador too!  But that doesnt happen very often.  Pretty sweet that Chelsea's doing it though!  It'll be pretty cool to be able to get to know Spencer one of these days.  

Well this week was a bit better than last week.  We were able to find a new family of investigators named the F. Gomez (luis and lucia).  They didnt come to church this week, and they're not married either, but I have hope that they will be able to start progressing soon.  I think it's pretty cool that most of the investigators we have right now are families, but like I just said, I wish marriage was a bit more common here.  

This week we visited the Familia Idrovo and tried to help them out with the relationship problems that they have been having.  As we were aproching their house I was saying a silent prayer in my mind for help in the lesson and for the guidance of the Holy Ghost.  We then got in their house and started talking to them.  We mostly talked about forgiveness and repentance.  The lesson went very well.  I really did feel the guidance of the Spirit during the lesson.  At the end of the lesson the husband said to us something like, "oh, so all of this has just been satan trying to tempt us and take away the happiness that we have had".  It made us very happy to know that they were able to understand that this has been opposition that satan has been trying to put in their path.  Thanks to the Spirit, I feel like we were able to help them a bit with their challenges.  

My companion, Elder Paiz, makes me laugh alot.  He's normaly quiet, but sometimes he just opens up and does something funny.

There hasnt been very many of those dogs lately.  I was hoping to see that same dog again here in Turubamba, but I havent seen it yet. Nope, I can hardly see anything from my sector.  It's a very flat sector and filled with big house complexes.  

This week one of the words that I leared was "apio" which means celery.  I recently bought a small notebook to carry around with me everywhere to write down the words that I dont know.  It's been helping alot and I have been able to learn alot of new words.  I should have started doing this earlier.  Some other new words include: arveja, gaveta, disimular, estirar, divisar, destellar, gatillo, enredar, ect. 

I love you too mom!!

Elder Eastman

Hi dad!  Yep it does seem like tomorrow will be a pretty big day.  It'll be a really good day too I'm sure.  It sure would be cool to be there with you guys but I'm ok with being here in Ecuador.  I love being a missionary even though it can be really tough some times.  I will be both sad and happy to come home.  Sad because I will be leaving this wonderful country and be getting releaved from this great calling, and happy because I will be able to be with you guys again.  You really have been a wonderful father to me and have taught me so many wonderful and important things.  I sure do love you too!

Elder Eastman

pic: one of the many giant apartment complexes in my sector

Terremoto!

Hello mom!  Well everything is alright here in Quito.  It was mostly the coast that got hit hard.  Especially the part of Manabí.  The earthquake (terremoto) was still pretty strong here in Quito, but it hardly did anything.  The power went out for a little while and so did the phone lines.  But there was hardly any damage to buildings.  So life here is pretty much normal now.  We were just walking in the street around 7:00 at night when it started.  At first I felt like I was just get really dizzy, so i was confused at what was going on for a few seconds.  But then we stopped and realized that it was an earthquake.  So we just stood there for a few minutes while it was going on.  I think it lasted around 2 minutes or so.  It was really weird and kinda cool to feel your feet move underneath you.  All the powerlines were swaying back and forth.  Some of them even fell over.  But not were we were.  After it finished we started contacting some of the people that were outside.  There were tons of people in the streets because they all ran out of there houses.  But everyone we talked to still rejected us.  So that's my part of the story.  

Well unfortunatly none of our investigators came to church this sunday.  The work has been pretty tough this week.  We still havnt visted the Familia Segura Chimba (we will tonight) so we still dont know exactly why they didnt come to church.  We called the F. Idrovo on sunday and they said that they are wanting to get separated right now.  So we tried to go and visit them but they werent home.  So we still dont know what is going on with them.  Hopefully we can visit them soon to try and help them.  I know it is just opposition that they are passing through right now that they have to get over.  When ever people try to do the right thing satan always puts something in their path to make it harder.  And alot of the time it is some type of dificulty in a relationship that makes them want to split up.  So this week the work has been really hard.  For some reason it has been super hard to just teach a lesson.  We are also a bit low on investigators and other people like recent converts and less actives right now.  It has been especially dificult to stay diligent when there just isnt anyone to teach.  Sometimes I just want to stay in the house of some member for a long time or find something else to do so the time goes by.  But I really need to be more diligent and obedient than ever because we really need some miracles in this sector to get the work moving forward well.  I know that we will recieve those miracles.  And I will learn and grow so much while I'm here.  

Well I dont have much more time to be on the computer.  Sorry I wasnt able to tell you about a teaching experience from this week.  I will include one next week.

I love you all very much!

Elder Eastman

Hey dad!  Well everything is going alright here in Quito.  Really nothing much happened here.  It was mostly just the coast that got hit hard.  Here in Quito we were just without power for a little while and the phone lines also went down for a while.  We were just walking in the street when it started.  It felt really weird to stand there and feel the ground move under my feet.  Everybody got out of their houses really quickly and just stood there as well.  I think it lasted for a good 2 minutes or so.  After it finished we started contacting because there was a bunch of people out side.  But nobody really wanted to listen to us very much.  So yeah, everything is pretty much normal here in Quito.  But it will be nice to help in some way the people in the coast.  

I love you too dad!

Elder Eastman

Putting Others First Before Self

Hey mom!  My week was a good week.  I have gotten to know my sector a bit better and also a few new members.  This sunday was the first normal sunday since I have been here (because of general conference last week), so I got to finaly see all the members here.  It seems like this is a really good ward.  There werent a whole lot of people in church but it still seems like there are a good amount of strong members.  The bishop here is really awesome as well.  He is really enthusiastic about the work and likes to talk alot. This week we found a new family of investigators named the Familia Segura Chimba.  The mom, named Martha, is who we found first.  Her sister is already a member (but lives somewhere else) and she has already attended church a few times with her.  Martha came by herself to a session of general conference last week.  This week we were able to go to her house and teach her and the rest of her family.  She has a husband named Juan Carlos (though they're not actualy married yet), and they have two sons, Joel (13 years old) and Jean Carlos (5 years old).  Juan Carlos is really catholic and isnt really interested in the church, but does support his wife and children.  Joel and Martha are really interested in the church and like it alot.  They came to church again this sunday and looked really happy there.  Joel has a baptismal date for april 30th, but Martha has to get married to Juan Carlos first to get baptised.  Then some day in the future I know that Juan Carlos will open up his heart and get baptised as well.

The Familia Idrovo are doing good, except they werent able to come to church this sunday.  They really like the gosple and the church though.  Right now we are working on teaching them the commandments.  When we taught them the Law of Chastity we found out that they really arent married.  Luckily they understand the commandment and are open to the idea of getting married.  So hopefuly all keeps going well with them and they can get married soon.  Literaly with every investigator that ever progresses there is always some type of opposition that comes in the way.  I sometimes wish it could be a bit easier but I know the opposition is necesary and just helps us grow stronger if we keep moving forward.  

This week I also fixed up my shoes.  So they are all good now!  The man who did it was very nice and only charged me $13 instead of $15 just because I'm a missionary.  He isnt even very interested in the church.  The new soles that he put on are really nice but also really hard, so by the end of the day walking in them my feet hurt a bit.  But it's all good, it's better then getting home with wet feet.  

Teaching people about Joseph Smith is an awesome thing.  We just have to trust in the Lord that He will help us get over our fear of doing it.  So I know that you can do it too mom! (if you ever come across somebody in South Jordan who's not already a member).

YAAAAAA!!! That's super awesome that they accepted me.  So I think my final answer to that school will be yes!  Thanks mom for all your help with that!  I sure do love you!!

Well that's it for now!  Have a good week!

Elder Eastman

Hey dad!  I'm doing really good!  I'm super happy about the news from USU.  I think it'll be the right decision to make.  Thanks for all your help with that!  

I think as well that we are all responsible for our own spirituality.  President Uchtdorf, in one of his talks, talked a bit about the phrase "seek and ye shall find", if we look for negative things about someone or something we will surely find it, because everybody and everything has it, but if we look for good, positive things, we will also be able to find them, because everyone and everything has them.  So we should always focus on the good things, and count our many blessings every day.  

This week we had interviews with President Christensen.  I learned alot in this interview and had a very nice spiritual experience with him.  I feel so lucky sometimes to be able to have a one on one conversation with him every once in a while.  One thing that I learned in this inverview is that I need to focus on putting other people before myself.  I realized that I have been focusing alot on myself and my problems.  With president we talked about becoming more like Christ.  Jesus Christ always put other people before himself.  So now that is something that I can get better at to become more like Him, put others before me and focus on their needs and not mine.  

Well that's it for this week!  I sure do love you dad!! Have a wonderful week!

Elder Eastman

This is our bathroom.  For some reason they put the toilet under a staircase.  So it's pretty much impossible to stand up there. 

This is our kitchen, and all the counter space we have.

Our beds are just fine.

A Temple In Quito!

Hey mom!

The members here went crazy when the Quito Temple was anounced.  There was a small time of slight irreverence in the chaple by all the cheers and clapping.  But maybe a temple in your home city can be one of the few excuses to do that.  I definitely want to come back one day when that temple his here.  

I really loved conference too and I cant wait to get to study those talks more.  A year ago I was also here in this stake for general conference ( i was in the manantial ward).  Saturday and Sunday was super cool becuase I got to talk to a bunch of the members that I got to know in that ward.  Surpisingly pretty much all of them that I remembered also remembered me.  Alot of them came up to me to say hi and ask me how the mission has been going for me.  It was really really cool to meet those good people again.  One of them told me that the Familia Pazmiño (Alexandra and Joanna) havnt been coming to church very much lately.  He told me that they got a bit offended by something that happend to them in the church and now they dont want to go anymore.  That made me a bit sad.  I told him to go back to them and help them get on the right path again.  

Here we have a family of investigators that are progressing really well.  Their name is the Familia Idrovo.  Its a husband and a wife with two little kids.  They came to the sunday afternoon session of conference.
So I really like this sector here.  My companion is great too.  I have had a bit of a cold for the past few days.  But it's getting better now.  

Still havent gotten any mail yet.  

Well that's it for this week!  I love you mom! Have a great week!

Elder Eastman

Hey dad!

Yeah it's pretty sweet that there will be a temple here in Quito.  It has been a bit of a rummor for a little while before the conference, but when it was actually announced everybody went crazy. Maybe someday in the future I will be able to come back and go to the Quito Temple.  

I also really loved this conference.  I'm excited to be able to study and listent to them more.  Us gringos here watched the conference in english in the secretary's office.  So that was pretty nice.  A year ago I was also here in this stake for general conference.  

Our apartment here is pretty good.  It's super small though.  But I like it.  I'll take pictures of it this week to send to you guys.  

Well I havent been eating much bread lately from the panaderías.  But there are definitely some good ones around here.  

I love you a bunch too dad! You definitely have been a great father for me!

Elder Eastman 

Im going to fix these shoes soon  (insert from mom...I don't think they are fixable!)

Elder Paíz and Elder Eastman in Turubamba