Firstly...surprise! I am in Machala! I had changes again in the middle of this change. 3 sectors in one change. I think I am going for a new record.
We had some issues with the housing in our sector in Guayaquil, so we had emergency transfers to Machala. It is a coastal city with lots of bananas. Mostly I don`t know anything about anything happening here because we arrived approximately an hour and a half ago. Ha. But I feel good about it. Since the day I arrived in Guayaquil I had this feeling that I wouldn`t be there for very long, so the change didn`t really freak me out at all. We are opening a sector here. There haven`t been missionaries exclusively in our sector for 12 weeks, so we have a lot of work to do to get a program going here.
I am still with Hermana Moràn. She goes home on Saturday, so we have a very short time together here. It is so weird to be with a companion who is finishing the mission. I can`t really imagine what it must feel like. A strange mixture of everything, I suppose. Hna Moràn and I have fun together and we`re excited for this last few days here.
We had an interesting/funny experience this week in Guayaquil. We discovered that a single man lived in the same building as us, so we needed to change apartments. We addressed the situation with the owners of the house one morning and everything was fine. Or so we thought. We got home that night and were sitting in our apartment minding our own business when we heard shouting from the house of the owners. They were saying all these horrible things about us and saying that we were liars and cheaters and all kinds of really bad things. It was quite intense. It is interesting to hear what people say behind your back when they think you aren`t listening. We went out there and tried to resolve the situation, but they refused to listen to us so we just escaped to our apartment. Ha. Such a strange experience to hear all those horrible things said about you. In the end they asked our forgiveness and we left as friends.
This week we had zone conference with President Montalti. It was good...pretty typical going over rules and talking about the importance of baptizing. No big news there.
Also we had interviews this week. My first of the mission. For some reason i never had one when I first got here, so this was the very first real conversation I had with President. It went well I think. He told me I should consider becoming a journalist, which was weird because a lot of things in my life are leading me to writing as a career. We shall see where life takes me.
I have been thinking a lot this week about what motivates us as people to improve our lives. So much of our work as missionaries is coaching people on how to progress spiritually and showing them what they need to do to achieve success in life.
As people it seems we have an innate desire to progress and make things better. We practice sports to get a gold metal. We study in school to become smarter. We work hard in our jobs to get a promotion. We build buildings in order to develop cities. We are constantly tinkering with toys and technology to make things better or faster or sleeker. Essentially everything we do has the underlying intent to improve. But where does this drive come from? What motivates us to constantly work for something better?
I have my own theories about it that I will share next week, but I want to hear from all of you. What is your motivation to improve your life (in any aspect-spiritually, physically, economically, scholastically, etc)? I will let you know my thoughts on the matter next week :)
There isn`t really much else to update on because all the work we did in Guayaquil isn`t really applicable now. We did find a cool family there, though. Familia Rodriguez. They just need to get married and then they should be getting baptized on the 23rd. They are super cool and way receptive to everything we shared with them.
Also this week we taught a guy and his sister. They had a THOUSAND questions about weird things like 666 and polygamy and all kinds of things. I don`t know what it is about this recent fad, but EVERYONE asks us about 666. I guess there is this new theory that you have to mark yourself with it to be protected from Satan or something. I don`t really get it. Mostly through all the questions I realized that there is no way to be confused doctrinally with the gospel. There is always an answer.
Welp. That is all I can think of this week.
Love you all more than this city loves bananas.
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