Baptism

Baptism!!!

Yep it sure did happen!  It was pretty sweet.  Not very many people showed up to the service but it was still really nice.  So kinda funny story.  The baptism was in the morning and before the baptism we went of to the bishops house to get the clothes.  He gave us the biggest ones he had and also that the stake had but they were still not big enough.  So that made us worried a bit.  Then we called the zone leaders and luckily they had something bigger.  So they had to rush over to our church building and give them to us.  That was a bit stressfull.  But we got them in time and they fit.  So everything worked out just fine.  It was a really nice experience.  At the end Hna. Teresa bore her testimony and it was super awesome.  She even cried.  So i think she is going to be a wonderful member.  And then this sunday she got the gift of the Holy Ghost.  That was nice too.  

Well for my shoes i just tried to fill up the crack with some liquid silicone stuff.  I think that should work at least temporarily.  No theyre not my favorite.  I like the eccos better.  And the other shoes are doing wonderfully.  I rotate wearing each pair pretty evenly too.  

Yes I think i have read most of those letters.  They are all very nice.  And no i havnt gotten the pens yet.  Also i finaly sent a letter to you guys.  Sorry it has taken so long.  

A massive worm we found the other day.

Hola mi Padre!

Estaba enfermo también.  Pero hoy día estoy un poco mejor.  

I really really like that talk by Elder Holland.  We listen to it all the time.  

I'm definitely glad that im on a mission too.  It's been tough for sure but i know it's worth it.  

Yesterday i was listening to the talk Lord, is it I? and a sertain part really stuck out to me this time.  A part where Elder Uchtdorf talks a bit about the scritpure that says, where your treasures are, there too will your heart be also.  Or something like that.  And he says "is your heart set on the convenient things of this world, or is it focused on the teachings of the diligent Jesus Christ?" And i thought that i should probably stop worrying or thinking so much about the nice things of this world and focus my mind more on the work that we are doing here.  Becuase when i start thinking about the things i used to have and the things i dont have anymore the mission gets a bit harder.  But when i think of the good things i get to do now and the help and blessings we get to give people the mission gets a bit easier.  So i guess in order to have a great mission experience your heart needs to be really into it.  And in order to have that you need to stop focusing on the convenient things of this world.  So i'm going to start really trying to do that.  

Love you too!

Elder Eastman

Holding To The Rod

Hello Family!

Well I dont think that anything super interesting happened this week.  But it was still a pretty good week.  We are definitely getting better.  

A few days ago we were having a lesson with the Hna. Teresa.  And she told us that her brother (who is a part of the church Teresa used to be in) talked to her and kind of accused her about her dicision to get baptised in this church.  And that really made her not sure about being baptised anymore.  So we just talked about that for a while.  I told her that baptism is the right thing to be doing in her life and that she will recieve many great blessings because of it.  And that Satan doesnt want her to recieve these blessings.  So he is going to send more temptations because she is doing the right things.  I also talked about Lehi's Dream and the fog around the people and the people in the big building.  And we just have to keep holding onto the rod of iron.  So it's kind of interesting to see that as she gets closer to her baptism the more challenges she has to face.  But she had her baptismal interview a few days ago and shes still all good for baptism.  So i really think she will be able to do it.  She has alot of faith and knows that this is the right thing to do.  So im pretty excited for this saturday when she is going to get baptised.  

Well im pretty much out of time and dont have much more.  

Have a good week everyone!

Elder Eastman

Hello Dad!

Yes i did like that picture.  It was very nice!  Yep sometimes i do wish we had iPads.  But its alright.  Yeah i doodle quite alot!  

Thats cool youre getting more into running again!  And cool also about your primary class!  I really like that idea about how to think about commandments.  We teach that quite often.  

Things here are still doing good!  Still hard but still good.  The food has pretty much been the same for the most part.  A few days ago i got a soup with a mashed up hard boiled egg in it and popcorn.  I didnt like it at all.  But i guess its still better than having a chicken foot in it.  But nothing super weird lately.  Still just alot of chicken and rice.  I havnt gotten any cool local clothes yet.  Ive been looking for a cool local tie but havnt been able to find one.  

Love you too!

Elder Eastman

This is what is happening with my Johnson and Murphy shoes.  Theyre kind of falling apart.  And this lets in alot of water.  So im not really sure what i should do.  Ill probably just deal with it.   

First Journal Filled!

Hello Everyone!

So i wish i would have remembered to say this earlier but i kept forgetting.  So im kind of almost done with that one journal that i have.  The brown one.  And i remember that we bought a brown and a black journal.  But the black one is nowhere to be found.  Maybe i left it in the mtc or just didnt bring it.  i dont know.  But i kinda need a new journal.  So do you think that you could get another black journal like the ones we bought before the mission and send it to me?  Or really any journal would be great if you cant find the same kind as i have now.  So sorry i didnt tell you that before you sent off this one.  

Oh man its quite hard to really know exactly what i just learned in spanish.  It kinda just gets better slowly without really being able to notice it.  But i think that my regular conversation skills have been getting a bit better lately.  Also ive gotten better at saying toilet paper in spanish.  Its papel higiénico. And speaking of toilet paper its really not that bad here.  I mean not nearly as good as it is in the states but its not bad.  Some are better than others though.  So the quality of it goes up with the price.  

This past week me and my comp were able to set up a pretty sweet weight set.  It just consist of a long stick with water jugs tied on each end and then a plank of wood raised off the ground a couple concrete blocks and some spanish books that we dont use.  It works really well.  So i guess that was one success that we had this week.  

Well contacting is still hard.  Because of the lack of people.  Door contacting seems to work better here though.  Also one family that we found a few days ago said they would come to church this sunday but never showed up.  So getting people to come to church is a bit hard sometimes.  

One thing that made me smile this week was when we got to teach our best investigator Hna. Teresa.  We talked to her just about the baptismal interview questions and she said was all good about them and still super willing to get baptised.  So im pretty excited for that!

Oh and also something cool about this week is that we found this new couple who are super cool.  The husband is straight from Nigeria, speaks pretty good english and good spanish too.  Along with his weird African language.  His english can be really hard to understand sometimes though becuase he has a thick african accent.  The wife is just from Ecuador.  Theyre really cool and pretty good investigators too.  They could really progress well.  The only think that might be really tough though is that they go to this african church here.  It might be hard to get him away from that.  

Well thats pretty much it for now!  

Elder Eastman

Dear Father,

Well that's super cool that you really like your new primary class!  I'm sure that it's really nice to get away from that crazy government stuff and back to the simple gosple truths.  And thats really how we try to teach most of the time.  Especially with new investigators.  With just simple terms and basic concepts.  

Thanks for that little thought about trust.  Thats definitely really interesting and important.  And ill definitely look up more about it.  

I love you too!

Elder Eastman

A Dog and A Drunk

Hello Family!

Thanks for the pens!

We kind of taught Freddy.  He was in the prossess of leaving so we only got to share a quick message about prayer with him while he was waiting for the bus.  The other lady named Teresa wasnt able to come to church this past couple sundays because left on vacation for a while.  So we have to now put a new date on her for not this saturday but the next.  And we saw her today at the bus terminal and was able to talk to her and set up a cita for this wednesday.  

So a few weird things happend yesterday.  Ill start with the most weird.  So we were out side of this one familys house who are recent converts just talking.  I was just looking down the street because i wasnt talking at this moment.  Then i looked back somewhere else.  And then down the street again.  And at this moment I saw this thing falling through the air off of this two story house.  It then hit the ground hard.  I thought it was just a big brown paper bag filled with something heavy.  But no.  As i was looking at it for a bit longer i realized it wasnt a bag, it was a dog.  Somehow a dog either got thrown off a two story house or it was really dumb and decided to jump off.  So i was a bit speachless.  Then i said, umm i think a dog just fell off of that house...  So we walked over there to get a better look.  I thought for sure it would die.  Then it started trying to run for some reason.  But it was on its side and couldnt get up so it wasnt going anywhere.  It probably couldnt breathe either because it wasnt making any noises.  All the things that i think could be wrong with this dog now was going through my head at this point.  Broken ribs, broken back, paralysis, death...  To our surprisment however it eventually got up and started walking around.  What?? How is this possible??  I dont know.  But it starting walking around and looked super freaked out.  So as far as i know it survived.  

Now for the next weird thing.  This one will be shorter.  This happend right after this dog thing.  One of the guys who lived in this house that we were talking to named Alex and is 21 years old came out of the house.  And unfortunately he was super super duper drunk.  He couldnt walk at all and could hardly talk.  Probabaly any more drunk and he would be passed out.  And also he and the rest of the people in this house are recent converts from the change before i got here in guamani.  So that was a bit dissapointing.  I guess we have a bit more work to do with this family, and especially him.  

And thats pretty much all for now!

Elder Eastman

Hello Father!

This new year was a bit borring.  We had to stay in the house all day because of the crazy things that can happen here on that day.  So we did alot of studying.  Alot of guys dress up as girls that day and go around to people and cars and do weird things to these people to get money.  And they especially like to go for the gringos because they know they have money.  That and all the drunk people is the reason why we stay inside all day.  

Wow thats cool that Jeremy got home recently!  I didnt really know that he was in Armenia.  But thats cool!  

Im not really sure how God knows everyone either.  But i believe He really does too.  

Thats super cool that you are doing that half marathon again!  And the Famous Potato too!  I think you can definitely get that PR!  And in the words of Tracy Harris, remain curious and visualize in your mind the race you want before the race.  Yes im pretty sure that is the race I volunteered at last year.  

We have found a few new investigators this past week so i think the success is starting to come a bit more now.  The sector has definitely been getting better.  I hope it just keeps getting better and better.

Well i love you too!

Elder Eastman

Happy New Year!

Hello Family!

All is still just fine.  I actualy havnt opened that cereal yet.  I dont have milk right now.  But ill open it soon.  

Wow i think i remember when chelsea said that!  (referring to Chelsea saying that she knew that she would be serving the Lord every single day of 2014).  Well this next year is definitely going to be a good one!  So 34 more to go means that you can get it done in 34 days right?  (referring to finishing the D&C)

A few weeks ago my zone had a zone conference thing and a dinner at the Presidents house.  So just not with all the missionaries.  

So yesterday we got our changes!  And they werent very exciting.  But still good!  So i am staying here in Guamani and so is my comp elder Bryce.  So now we get to stay together and finish the things we started last change.  So we decided we are definitely going to have a better change this time than last time.  

Also yesterday we contacted a reference that we got a while ago from a different missionary and even got a nice family out of it.  His name is Freddy Florres and he is super cool.  He doesnt remember how old he is so i think he might have some type of a learning disability.  But hes super nice.  And his family is quite good too.  there is 6 of them.  But two of them live out side of our sector so we can only baptise 4 of them.  And i think they have a pretty good chance at being baptised.  

Oh and today i got the umbrella!  thank you!  And thanks for the other stuff inside too!  

Well i think thats pretty much all for this week!

Elder Eastman

Hello my Father,

Well im pretty sure that the christmas call didnt mess me up.  So thats good!  It was just reall cool.  So yep im doing alright! Thanks for the advise about success!  This last change was a bit tough with that.  Alot of people didnt want to listen to us or just werent home.  So our numbers for alot of the week were pretty terrible.  And my companion occasionaly had a bit of a hard time still thinking that we had any success at all.  We definitely tried as hard as we know how to do and tried our best.  But sometimes the bad numbers would just get a hold of my companion and make him think that he was a bad missionary and doing something wrong.  So i tried to keep myself away from that and stay positive and think of the little successes that we did have.  And at least my companion is always trying to improve and become a better missionary.  I just think that sometimes he just listens to the wrong voice.  Because that is what satan tries to tell us, that we are worse than we really are or tries to make us feel bad about ourselves.  So yeah im going to try really hard and not base my success of of just numbers but think of the effort that i have put into it.

Well thats pretty cool that youll be teaching the little niños!  There is a super good talk that i have been listening to lately by David m. mcconkie called Teaching with the power and authority of God.  So you should look that up.  Its really good.  

Love you too!

Elder Eastman

A picture of my zone that actualy just changed a bit, me roasting marshmellows in our fire place, me, elder bryce, elder memmott, and elder hayrond, and me with mator (from the movie cars)

Christmas Day Skype

We sure love this missionary!  We are so grateful that we could talk with him, and as a bonus... we could see him too! He skyped in at the end of Hermana Chelsea's phone call, so they were able to say hello and say a few things in spanish to each other.  "I love technology!" (sing it like in Napoleon Dynamite)

Rough Pre-Christmas Week

Hello Father,

Well Christmas will defintely be very different this year but im glad im here too.  

Wow a primary teacher!  I definitely would never have expected that!  But thats super cool!  Isnt there like 206ish primary kids in that ward?  

Hahaha ceviche is super duper popular here! Shirmp ceviche is the best of them all i think but i still really dont like it.  There is just so much onions and weird stuff in it.  But ya ive had ceviche a bunch of times so far.  I dont think i have told you this but ive also had the wonderful opportunity to try chicken foot a few times.  Its always just thrown into soup.  So if they have chicken foot at that place i would recomend that you try it.  Because its super super gross.  But not as bad as pig skin or cow stomach.  

Love you too and ill see you on Chistmas!

Elder Eastman

Hello everyone!

So i think we are going to skype around 5 our time.  Which i guess would be 3 your time.  

Well sounds like you guys are just having a super wonderful time over in Utah!  That south american restaurant sounds pretty cool! 

Well this week was pretty rough.  We are really trying not to base our success off of the numbers.  Because this week the numbers really didnt show at all how hard we worked and how much we tried.  They were super terrible.  And pretty much worst of all our golden investigator Hna. Teresa didnt show up to church on sunday which means her baptismal date fell.  So now itll be on the 3rd which is next change which means me and elder bryce might not be there.  Or possibly only one of us.  So that wasnt very fun.  We still have to talk to her to figure out the reason why she wasnt there.  So i guess patience is a big thing that we can learn from this.  

Well i think thats pretty much it for now!  I can tell you more things through skype on Christmas. 

Elder Eastman