My Dear Family, =)

It sounds like everyone had a great fun filled week! I was excited to hear about Joseph´s soccer game, and Isaac I am so proud of your eagle progect! Really that´s so incredible, and I know that you´ll be doing a great service for the community. It sounds like Jacob also enjoyed his date, and I´m glad that he was able to make such great use out of mine and Dad´s clothes. haha =)

To get the suspense out of the way, we were not transfered and it looks like we´ll be staying in Ventanas until at least mid December, which is actually really good because I hadn´t thought about what the Primary would do if I had been transferred, because this next week is the Primary program. The children have been working so hard, and our Primary president has been so great in involving the children whose parents are less active. This next Sunday will be a great chance for them to remember the importance of coming to church. We´re all really excited! =)

The only sad news is that our great zone leader, Elder Nelson, did get transfered. He was in Ventanas for almost 7 months, so the zone will definately feel different without him. Later today we´ll find out who our new zone leader is. It should be exciting!  

Elder Cari is also happy that he is officially a trained missionary! We had a meeting with President Riggins, his wife, and the assistants for all the missionaries that were finishing their training and it was such a great meeting. There were so many insights about how to teach with more spiritual power, and how to turn all the everyday moments into opportunities to find someone to teach the gospel. One of the pearls was what our president showed us how to use pictures and the pamphlets in our teaching. Elder Uceda (our area president) told us that Latinos don´t like to read very much, but that they have great imaginations. One of the ways to take advantage of that is by using the tools that we have been given (pictures, videos, that sort of thing) to try and invite the spirit. It made me think of my great missionary sister who always takes small moments to share videos, or messages with her friends. =)

I was happy that I was not transferred because I feel like there is still some work that needs to be done here in Ventanas. It has truly been a great experience to be able to serve others here in this district, and try to help them prepare to be a stake. I hope that everyone has a great week, and that the weather isn´t too cold. We´re about to start the rainy season, and everyone is very anxious for how the city will hold up with the predicted heavy rain storms. I´ll keep you updated about any fun weather stories haha =)

Stay safe, and have a great week!

Elder Hales =)

kitchen/eating area

the room where the missionaries study - this room also holds two wardrobes where the other missionaries living with Jonathan keep their clothes

My Dear Family, =)

Sounds like everyone had a busy week! Mom, I don´t know if I´ve ever told you, but it is so incredible all the things you do! I´m so proud of how well you balance everything. You are such a great example for me =)

How exciting to go to a Spanish branch! For me, the hardest words to remember in English are the gospel terms, because those are the words you say most often, and  I was sad to realize that I don´t really remember the words to the English hymns very well anymore, but I´m glad that you could enjoy singing in Spanish. =) I´m also glad that Emma´s baby is doing so well, but I still wish they would have named him Robin, so his name could be Robin Banks hahaha =)

The ´´Fiestas de Ventanas´´ are going strong, with the largest parties/parades being tomorrow. We´re not sure yet but we might not be able to go outside past 7 PM. Basically the whole city shuts down tomorrow, so we´ll see how productive it will be. It has actually been calmer than I thought, probably because our new house isn´t in the center of the city, but closer to the church  which is nice. Our new house is newer than our other house, but I feel bad about having to leave so suddenly. The zone leaders called us last Saturday and told us we had to move on Monday. The owner of our old house was very sad, and told us that the missionaries had lived in that house for 30 years now. It´s all very strange how everything happened so fast, and  I hope there aren´t any hard feelings.

Here in Sibimbe we´ve been working really hard, and Elder Cari is really excited because this is his last week of training. After this next week he´ll officially be a graduated missinonary! Our mission president has been having the missionaries that finish training start to train other brand new missionaries, and Elder Cari is a little worried that next week he´ll get a new companion straight from the MTC, but we´ll just have to wait and see. =)

One way or another we´ll be going to Guayaquil this week or the next, for transfers or for Elder Cari´s meeting with president for missionaries that just finished training. It´s so crazy for me how fast time passes sometimes!

I´m glad that everyone is well, and I hope that you all have fantastic weeks!  Know that you´re in my prayers =)

Elder Hales

When Jonathan and his companion moved, they left the refrigerator outside for a while hoping these big blocks of ice would melt.

Hola Familia! =)

I am so proud of my great family! Really everyone is so incredible! Isaac, I`m proud of you for running a half marathon! That is so impressive bud! You sure look different than since I left, but I was looking at some pictures of when I just left, and I think I look pretty different too haha. Jacob, great job for riding in the state mountain bike tournament with a sore knee! Really that is such an honor to be riding in varsity, and I`m so proud of all your training. =) Joseph! I`m proud of you for finishing your great soccer season! From what I heard you guys all had some great victories, and I`m happy that you`re doing well.=)

This week has been very interesting and exciting for us here! 

Friday there was a fun activity that the Elders Quorom had - a barbeque on the shore of the river, Ventanas. They were a little dissappointed that more members didn`t come, and I know there was a lot of barbeque that was left over, but they`re still building their confidence with doing activities, and I think it was a great success. 

I remember reading last year that for Halloween Emily and her companion switched name tags, and I thought that was such a fun idea. It was very funny to me and Elder Cari that not a single member noticed the whole day that I was wearing my companion`s name tag haha. =) We also had a lot of fun passing out 5 cent candies to the children in the street. =) But no one here really celebrates Halloween. They just know what it is from American television. The real news is that the national day of Ventanas started yesterday and goes until the 10th of November.  They're having 10 days of parties and parades! Everyone is excited and doing so many things. As for today (Dia de los muertos) the only difference is that it`s been harder to find an open cyber spot because everything is closed. 

The biggest news is that on Saturday night our zone leaders called us and said that Sunday we needed to make all the arrangements so that we could move to a new house today. That was what we did this morning. The house is a lot nicer, but the members that we were living with were very sad. I also felt bad that it was such short notice, and I hope that there are no hurt feelings. So we`ve spent most of our day today moving in. 

Dad, the day that they gave me for a release date was July 28th, but that was what they said on the day we got here to Ecuador and I`ve heard that those dates are not always the exact date that one leaves. It could be a week or two later. They don`t give exact days until you`re about a month before finishing from what I`ve heard. Sorry if that doesn`t help much!

I hope you have a great week everyone. Remember that I love you and that you`re in my prayers! =)

Lots of Love,

Elder Hales =)

Hola Querida Familia!

Wow! I thought that this was going to be a normal week, but it turned out to be full of some interesting twists and turns!

I´m glad that Dad was able to get home okay, how strange that he had a problem with his passport, but I´m glad that everything worked out okay and that Dad was able to have a good sense of humor about it all. There´s a Spanish phrase that applies, ´´el que nada hace, nada teme´´ or, he that does nothing, fears nothing. But I´m glad that Dad had the chance to help so many people. Really the Gospel is something that links us with the whole world, and I´m so grateful for the help you could give!

Here on Tuesday we had a surprise visit from President Riggins! He interviewed everyone and talked a lot about how he wants to help Ventanas become a stake before he finishes his service as a mission president. There is still a lot that needs to happen before that can take place, but he helped us see the vision a little better. I´m excited to try some of the things that he taught us.

Then on Friday I was with a another elder in a companionship interchange. Then suddenly at like 6:30 at night, Elder Peralta just starting breaking out with little bumps and blisters all over his face and neck. It turns out that he had an allergic reaction to the crab we ate for lunch! We had to run to the pharmacy and call the mission nurses but the poor guy just has two weeks in the mission field and did not have the best time in his first time out of his sector. But on the bright side, he´s doing a lot better now, and knows not to eat any more crab. haha

The rains started this week (I think 10 days ago we had our first real rain) and the government is really worried about this being a year of unusually strong rains. (Usually they don´t start until the end of December.) They´re so worried that now all the schools have classes on Saturdays to finish the school year hopefully before there are any floods. No one is happy about having school on Saturdays, and I can only imagine the uproars there would be in the United States if anyone ever thought about making school on Saturdays hahaha. =) Hopefully we´ll be able to keep dry, but I´ve started walking around with my umbrella just in case. =)

On Saturday we had our first activity in the branch in almost over a year. Unfortunatley not many people came, but we´re trying to help them do more activities and hopefully this was the first of more to come. =) Also we learned how to make a very delicious Ecuadorian cake called ´´torta de tres leches´´ with a less active member. She really liked the activity, and wants to come back to the church! So I would say it was a success =)

That´s pretty much all from me this week, and I hope that everyone is doing well, and enjoys their Halloween! Here the big event will be on Sunday, November first, but it´s more like Memorial Day than Halloween. I´ll keep you all filled in =)

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Hales =)

Serving a cake at the branch FHE - Jonathan with Elder Cari

Hola Familia!

It sounds like everyone had a great and busy week! Dad, it´s great to hear from you in Honduras, and I´m glad that you´re doing well. I hope you know that all my brothers wrote me and said that they were missing you! 

Joseph, I was so happy to hear about your soccer tournament! Really that´s so great, and I´m so happy for you! =) It sounds like Isaac is really busy with school and his training, and I´m sure that Jacob is really excited for state mountin biking! So many fun things coming up!

As far as moving goes, we did not end up moving, but that is an incredibly interesting story. haha =) So our zone leaders did end up changing houses, and we helped all of them move everything from their third story house into their new house. The new house is really nice, but we were all really sore from lowering the bookcases and the refrigerators. Then two days later, they called us again and told us that in the end, the owner of the new house declined the contract, and we moved everything back to their old house. It was pretty funny, but I think they are planning on trying to talk to the owner again, so we´ll see if we end up moving them back in these next few days. 

We went to Catarama twice this week too (about 45 minutes by bus), once for an interview and once for the baptism on Saturday. So we got there for the baptismal service, and there were like 20 members with buckets taking water from a well to go fill up the Baptismal font. It turns out the water went out in the chapel (That actually happens quite a bit here) but they were determined to have a baptism!

The man who got baptized asked if I could perform the ordinance, and when we got in the water. It was probably just up to our knees. We tried doing the baptism twice the normal way, and there just was not enough water. The poor guy was soaking wet and we tried for a third time. This time we just had him sit down in the font and then lay back. It was pretty much the most unique baptism I think I´ll ever see, but the man was really content, and his family (all members) were so happy. =)

I think this next week will be completely normal with no traveling, and no special meetings, so Elder Cari and I will take full advantage to find members. I can´t believe that he finishes his training in just three more weeks! He´s a little nervous because he thinks I´ll leave when his training is done, but I think he´s more prepared than he thinks he is.

I hope that everything goes well for you this week! And I hope that everyone avoids accidents! Jacob your crash sounded really painful.

I love you all!

Elder Hales =)

Querida familia,

Thank you for all your letters! I felt so loved today as I read all your emails. 

I don´t think I explained the situation very well in my last letter. We´re actually still living in the same house for right now, but no one is sure for how long that will be. There is a small rich suburb that´s about 5 minutes outside of Ventanas called Loma Grande, and a member invited the Elders to change houses because the house there is quite nice, but if they leave we would need to close one house in the zone, and everyone voted that it be our house because it is the oldest, but the mission financial secretary is still trying to work everything out with the house contracts and everything, so no one has moved anywhere yet. 

I´m glad that BYU has been able to play so well inspite of the difficulties! I think it is so fun to watch sports when both teams play well, (but your team plays just a little bit better. =) ) I saw my friend, Elder Rydalch (the Utah basketball player) and he made sure to let me know that Utah football is also doing very well. Next year when we play I´m sure it will be a great game!

Mom, I´m glad you were able to enjoy the BYU Homecoming Spectacular. It must have been so great to run into an old friend. It´s funny how the things like going to BYU shows, or going to sporting games as a family were things that sometimes I didn´t want to do, but now are some of the things that one misses most. I feel so blessed for living in such a loving family. Also Jacob I´m so proud of you for learning your Concerto! That is really such a great accomplishment! I would love to hear it when I get home. =) 

Dad, that´s so exciting htat you´re going to Honduras next week! I know you will have a great time, but that you will also be sorely missed at home. I hope that you have a great flight and that everything goes okay. Espero que tengas mucha salud y suerte. =)

This last week they called us on Wednesday and told us we had to be in Guayaquil at 9 AM for a meeting with President and all the other missionaries who are training or being trained. We did more practices with the assistants, and then we all came together and talked about teaching simply and learning the simple stuff really well. It was a great reminder about the fundamentals of the gospel. When we got back we were all pretty tired, but we enjoyed the training. I can´t believe that in one more month Elder Cari will be done with his training. Really the time has gone by very quickly.

A week ago our primary president asked me if I could play the piano during the primary program at the end of November and I said, "Of course. No problem." Yesterday was the first practice. It was a little funny hearing the Primary songs in Spanish, (they add beats and notes because the Spanish words are longer haha =) ) but we had a good time. The children don´t really know how to sing on pitch, but they sing very loud and confidently which is very good because there are only 8 of them. I´m sure though that their parents will love the program. =)

I´m so glad that I have a great family like you all, and I hope that everyone is enjoying themselves. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Hales =)

Hola Familia!

Papá! Tu Español es muy bueno, y me encanta que te estés esforzando por comunicar. Eso es lo mas importante. ¡Yo sé que serás una gran bendición para las personas que te necesitan en Honduras!

We had a great time at the temple and zone conference, and our president talked to us a lot about the importance of baptism. He read to us 2 Nephi 2:5. In English it just says, cast off, or thrust out or something, but in Spanish the translation is ``desarraigado`` ``desterrado`` and ``desdichados`` which literally means uprooted, or thrust out of the earth. He talked about how the fall cut us off from the presence of God, and we were uprooted from him. Being ``born again´´ is the only way that we can be readmitted into his presence. It was quite a deep doctrinal conference. Elder Cari and I got chosen to do a practice out of the four zones that were there, and he was pretty nervous, but he did just fine and was able to settle his nerves about his teaching skills which was really great.

We got home late Friday night, and Saturday and Sunday we had the conference. Luckily on Saturday we got to listen to the conference in English! I was so happy! It just feels like a little piece of home getting to hear the familiar voices. Sunday we had to listen in Spanish because our district center is pretty small, but it all worked out okay. I actually could understand it all without any problem, and I thought it was a great blessing that I have had so many companions that have been willing to help me with my Spanish. 

One of my favorite gems from conference was when President Uchtdorf talked about having personal interviews with yourself about prayer. I think that and the advice that Elder Lawrence gave about praying and asking the Spirit to tell you what you need to change to be able to progress will be a great aspect to our daily lives. Also ponderizing sounds so fun! I started this week with President Monson´s scripture in 1 Timothy about being examples of the believers in word, conversation, love, spirit, faith and purity. Such a beautiful goal to strive for. =)

There were a lot of changes in the zone last night, and we`re waiting for the new missionaries to get here. Because of all the changes, we`re actually going to have to move houses! So sorry to be a little short today, but we have to go pack! Next week I`ll be sure to send you lots of pictures of our new place!

I love you all and hope you have great weeks! 

Elder Hales =)