Elder Galloway in Atahualpa

11 Feb 2013 This Week in ..... Atahualpa! Hola, friends and family! I learned that you have to leave the house with some sort of rain-proof covering every day here in the south of Quito, even when it looks sunny. But don´t worry, I´m keeping warm and dry (when I can). Our ward conference went well, and we got quite a few compliments on the choir, too! We cleaned the house today (I cleaned the shower :)), and left late and have done some errands, and are now comfortably seated in the immense mall, Quicentro Sur, near our sector. I´d like to cover a lot of points quickly, because the internet is expensive here. Investigators of the Week!: We ended the last week nicely, and the elders in Argelia (Elder Celis and Elder Riveros) had a baptism of a nice family. This man was super prepared. He was a singer, "Alex el Rumbero," but was very prepared and ready for his baptism. He invited his family, his friends, and even organized to have his own food afterwards. It was a "perfect" baptism, if there ever was such a thing. We are happy, even if we don´t have anyone with a solid baptismal date. We found Martha Q. contacting outisde last Sunday afternoon. She was walking with her little daughter. She´s a middle-aged single lady, who recently had a knee replacement and walks with a cane. But she´s such a nice person, and is so happy to be in the Church. She told us she felt lonely, but that the things we have taught her have really helped. Friday night, after we had a zone conference with President, we took her on a tour of the church. The Spirit was strong, and she was able to find peace and comfort in this "refuge." The Church really is a refuge, isn´t it. And good news! Carmen (the little daughter) found one of her school best friends in Primary! So she´s really content. Also we are working with the M. family. Fortunately, they are going to get married! But unfortunately, that will take quite a while. It´s that Graciela has another daughter from a previous commitment (the father passed away), and President Correa has put in a lot of new laws and processes to get married. They have to register a "caretaker" for her first daughter in case that things don´t work out with Byron, who can take legal responsibility for the child. Which is a good thing, but it makes things hard for missionaries. We have a lawyer friend who helps missionaries out (the entire mission knows about her) who helps people get married quickly! She´s friends of the missionaries. Actually, she was receiving the discussions from the missionaries of Chillogallo. But she´ll help us out. We fasted with the family so that they would get a fast judge, because some judges are irresponsible, and our lawyer friend can get some "ins" with some of her judge friends. So we hope things go well. Election News of the Week: I don´t have much to comment here, but you might want to look up a publicity video, "Sueño Ecuatoriano," on YouTube. It´s been on the airwaves; you might be able to find a captioned translation. It´s an interesting spot by the current government (Correa), about the "Citizens´ Revolution," their campaign. Correa left a lot of big projects to be completed after the elections. Smart move. Sad News of the Week: Well, we had our multi-zone conference with President and Sister Ghent on Friday. They had some comments about some recent occurrences in the mission. Well, some missionaries just can´t abide by the rules. After repeated problems and a large incident, they had to send 9 missionaries home early without honor. They went home this last change. How sad it is! Some of those missionaries had been my friends, who just let themselves go. I don´t know why or what exactly, but that´s a large figure. I know that President is cleaning out the "rotten apples," as it could be said, to make way for all the new missionaries who will be coming in in the next few months. "Cleaning out the rafters." But Sister Ghent had a powerful observation. In addition to the 9, 4 missionaries ended their missions honorably, and they always dine in President´s house the night before they leave and have a nice meeting. President saw them off Tuesday morning at the airport. It was a joyous occasion. He also accompanied the 9 who left a little later that day. He said that those departures couldn´t be any more different. Sister Ghent remarked that those flights would be very different -- the emotions, the memories, the outlooks. The receptions in their respective countries would be completely different as well. There would be tears in both, even though for different reasons. I can´t imagine the pain it would be to come home early. There is no price too high to pay for a clean conscience. And I know that if we do all that the Lord requires of us in the mission, He will reward us our pay. Sister Ghent made a comment similar to that of President Brady, "Honor the Lord and He will honor you." It´s very true. "The laborer is worthy of his hire" (D&C 106:3, one of my favorite scriptures about missionary work). Natural Occurrence of the Week: Saturday morning we were studying when all of a sudden... Rrrrmmbggrrrblbggrrr.... the building started shaking! It was a temblor. It turns out that in Pasto, on the border between Columbia and Ecuador, there was a 7.0 earthquake on Saturday morning. It didn´t cause any damage here in Quito, but it lasted for quite a long time. Quite a long time. But everything´s good. That´s all my news. I hope you all have a good week. We´re going to be working hard this week. We´re going to work normally during Carnaval (tomorrow) and the elections (Sunday -- church will be held normally). But we´re not going to be contacting knocking doors (for safety´s sake). This change is only 4 weeks long, and it´s going by so fast, but we´re all getting along really well. That´s the good thing about Atahualpa -- all the sectors are close by. I´m drawing caricatures of all the missionaries and we´re going to make a t-shirt! (see attatched photo). The drawing´s not done yet. Take care! I love you all, Elder Galloway Zone Leaders´ Names: Here are the names of the people in the Zone Leaders´ photo that I sent earlier: Front Row: Elder Sotomayor (Guayaquil), Elder Balthazar (Utah), Elder Call, Elder daSilva (Brasil), me, Elder Gomez (New Mexico) Back Row: Elder Jackson (Colorado), Elder Bloxham, Elder Tuckett (Pleasant Grove), Elder Blackwelder (California), Elder Peterson (Salt Lake), Elder Papworth (California)