Elder Eastman in Ecuador: 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.