My Dear Family,

It sounds like everyone is doing well and having fun! Dad, I´m glad you´re keeping busy at home. It´s never fun to be cooped up with nothing to do. I think it´s great you´re taking advantage of this time to fix the house up a little bit.

Also I´m glad that the family could get to the beach safely! I think that is really such a fun family tradition. Are Lizzy and I the only missionaries in the family right now? The beach can be so relaxing. I hope you all enjoy the sun! (I will too haha ;) ) 

For me lots of things have happened here this week and I don´t really know where to start. We´ve been working really hard with the older sister of the new convert, Nahomi Chang. Her name is Yoko, and she has been passing through a couple of hard times recently. She is going to be baptized this Saturday! We´ve been working so hard with her family, and she had her interview Friday. Everything was perfect and she is so excited. 

We´ve also had a really spiritual experience teaching the brother of our first counselor in the bishopric. His name is Dario Fernandez. We met him last Tuesday and he told us that three weeks ago he stopped believing in God for some things that had happened in his life. We taught him a short lesson about how God loved him and invited him to pray. He said one of the most humble prayers I´ve heard in a long time and we all felt so strongly the spirit. We stood up and he told us that now he knew that he had a loving Father in Heaven. Experiences like these really make the sacrifices of serving seem so small.

Also, Saturday the assistants to the President came and did an exchange with us. I had no idea why they had decided to come work in our sector until Sunday night. It turns out that Elder Alucema and I both had transfers, and the assistants are going to be the new Elders that work in Babahoyo! I couldn´t believe that we were both going!

My new sector is called Simbibe, in the zone Ventanas. It´s a tiny branch that´s actually really close to Vinces (like 20 minutes away) so I might be able to visit in some future P-day =) It´ll be interesting working in a branch again, but I´m excited to be here and do my best to serve.

So that was my crazy week! I hope you are all safe and enjoying California! I hope you enjoy your class, Dad! 

Lots of Love,

Elder Hales =)

Jonathan and Elder Alucema getting ready to leave Babahoyo