Hola mi familia!

Wow, Mom. It`s fun knowing that we are almost on the same latitude! I had no Idea that you were headed for a fun trip in New York! Today during our excercise time in the morning I was listening to Elder Anderson`s talk from the last conference about seeing the hand of God in our lives, and I`m glad you are getting this chance go see the hand of the Lord in so many parts of the restoration of the gospel. 

I`m also glad that the family is doing so well on the athletic front! =) I`m so proud of Joseph`s team for almost beating the top team in the league! And Jacob and Isaac sound like such star racers! I think it`s so great to be able to have fun, and get into great shape!

Here for us in Ventanas, we had a couple of fun trips this week. On Thursday Elder Cari and I had to go to Guayaquil because Elder Cari didn`t have a visa yet. We got to Guayaquil and met up with all the new missionaries from Peru, and it turns out that none had gotten visas yet. Luckily everything worked out, but we were pretty tired when we got home to Ventanas. It`s almost three hours from Ventanas to Guayaquil, but I know that`s not anything compared to the bus rides Kyle had when he was serving in Chile. 

Then yesterday we went to Catarama to do a baptismal interview, and sadly he won`t get baptized this week, but I feel like we were able to help him make reasonable goals. Luckily Catarama is pretty close to Ventanas. 

We`ve started working with a less active family that have not been to church for almost 4 years, and we had such a spiritual experience with them yesterday. They did not come to church, and when we visited them today and talked about the Joseph Smith story, we all felt the spirit so strongly, and they were able to remember all the important reasons why going to church is important. We`re really excited for their progress! =)

I think it`s so incredible how the Lord shows his hand in every part of our lives if we are willing to look for it. This week has been a great reminder for me that this truly is the Lord`s work, but he wants us to be able to share the blessings and joy with Him.

I hope that everyone was a safe week. Mom, I know you will be missed at home, and I hope Dad and the boys don`t get into too much mischief. ;)

Lots of love,

Elder Hales =)