Carlos from Portoviejo, Ecuador

Thanks for always helping when I ask you to look into something on Family History. I don´t always have a lot of time but I am good at finding a few new openings to work with. Thanks for all that you do.

Carlos’s Baptismal Interview will be this Thursday because our zone leaders want it closer to the date of the baptism. We had 121 at church this week, which is really low.

For our Visas, we had to go to 4 different buildings to do different parts and parts were in the North Mission and other parts were close to my sector and one was in my ward. It was good, but long lines and the forms weren´t too horrible just long waiting for them to call the numbers like they do at the DMV in Farmington, only there are hundreds of people waiting to be called. It was fine though. I am doing great.

It was my whole CCM group and yeah they were all there, too and we have to do it 2 times during the mission, once for the first year and once for the second year. It was a lot closer to my sector than the others, so it was faster for me. We sat there in the building and waited. I had my Rubic´s Cube so I wasn´t horribly bored, but we talked to people and contacted and things like that while we waited, but it all worked out.

With our group it was just for the one day and our companions were with us. We have to do it 2 times for our own during the mission, but if I have a companion at some point that needs to do their Visa I will have to go with them. But I won´t have to do it again for another year for my own.

I bet it was fun to catch up with your CCM buddies. 

Yeah, it was. 

On the Rubic’s Cube, I know how to get one side and up from there to 2 rows but to put the line and cross on the last side and then fix the corners I don´t remember all of the steps. But I know how to do the majority and I almost finished it once so far.  The directions for the Rubic´s Cube for me are confusing. I get the general steps, but they don´t always work.... Oh well I will have to print the last few pages and see if I can learn how they work. Thanks.

Alright.  Don’t get too distracted with the Rubic’s Cube.  I want it to be fun, but not to be a huge distraction for you.  There are lots of videos online about how to work a Rubic’s Cube, but you probably can’t watch those.  I will try to email you Dad’s directions next week and you can see if those work any better for you.  I have never taken the time to learn how to work one. 

I will print these out and test them out I learned a lot of the steps from practice and I have 2 thirds of it done without any aids. The last steps are the hardest so that is where I need to have the helps. I will learn it and practice these until I can recognize the patterns.

Looks like a lot has passed, (happened).  I hope that the package shows up this Wednesday as well.  Thanks for everything. I´m sorry that everyone seems to be sick or not feeling well. There are moments when I feel bad because I am perfectly fine here serving with confidence that I won´t have problems because I am serving a mission, but everyone else seems to be suffering.... The time passes quickly and we will find out how many actually are coming to our mission this next Monday and I will let you know what happens with changes and everything. Thanks for always writing a lot and I hope that going back to school wasn´t as bad as it always seems to be. I don´t like going back either, but lately their aren´t breaks so more than anything a break for me would be nice and I am certain that I will have a break for a little bit after the mission, but who knows. I might start working, dating, who knows there is a lot of time before that happens. Thanks for everything and always being available to write.

Are you still there?  Write more and tell us about your week.  At least a paragraph or two, please.

It has been good mostly the routine. We are working like normal and I am doing well. There isn´t a lot special for this week, just working to have Carlos´ baptism this week and it was pretty awesome yesterday because Carlos bore his testimony as the last one in the meeting and it was really special.

I hope you wrote about it in your journal.

Ya I am working on keeping up with everything and remembering all of the experiences. Ask Curtis if he knows where Portoviejo and Babajoyo are. Also ask him if he tried Mate in the form of Terere. Thanks for everything that you do.

Okay. Thanks for everything. I have been a little slower today writing and it has taken quite a bit of time. Sorry I am trying and I am not going to get to Family History today. It gets harder and harder to get around to it. I still have to do a few other things as well. Thanks for all that you do and I am trying to keep excited about working but it is a little hard at times.

I am sure Curtis will know both of those places.  I remember them from when he was there.  Why?  Is that where Carlos is from?  Does Carlos have any family in Chile with him other than Soley?

Carlos is from Portoviejo and Soley´s family is from Babajoyo. That´s why I asked and no he doesn´t have family in Chile but Soley´s parents are visiting here until the 21st.

Hey I´m out of time but I will be on next week. Sorry that I didn´t send photos this week but I will next week and more. Thanks for everything. I love you!