Dec 31 2013

Hi everyone,

Hope you all had a very merry Christmas. Mine was great! I got to build Lego's and talk to my family, really the two biggest reasons I loved christmas at home so it was a good day. And the new year is this week and the people of Riobamba have some awesome and weird traditions. Everyone makes all sorts of piñata type things for the new year and I don't really get why, but it is cool! They strap them to the front of their cars a lot of the time which is a little morbid but very funny. The fiestas are going to be awesome! People have been preparing for them ever since Christmas ended. I'm kind of sad I wont be able to see any of them, It will be my first new years I can remember not staying up for the new year but oh well. We have been having lots of success here which is great. We have one family named Familia Guevara who is awesome. The wife, Maria, and her 8 year old son, Louis, are going to get baptized this Saturday. Louis is probably the smartest most polite kid I have met on my mission and he is so fun to teach. The husband, Danilo, is 100% sure he is going to get baptized but thinks he needs to know everything about the gospel before he is ready so it might be awhile. They also have a daughter, Tatiana who just turned 17 and had a baby like two days ago. She also wants to be baptized but has a ways to go before she will be ready. But it is amazing to see how the gospel is changing her life and how it is affecting her. She wants to name her baby ¨Nefi¨ and I think that he is getting set on the right path in order to live up to his name. 

Thanks for all your support everyone and I hope you all have a great new year. New Years is a great time to make big goals that will turn you into a better person for the next year. I have very big but very simple goals for this next year, (it is the first time I have put something as ambitious as become fluent in a language on my list but 2014 will be a year of miracles for me). Its weird to think that I will be in Ecuador for the entire year of 2014 but I am very excited for it. 

Familia,

Dad- As I get deeper and deeper in the Bible I start to recognize stories that I had forgotten about that we learned with family jeopardy. Today I read the story of Gideon that I thought was so cool when you taught it a million years ago and I still do.

Mom- Glad you got to spend some time in Blanding and pretend you are an Indian

Audrey- Those pictures in blanding look awesome

Ian- El Chupacabras?

Alicia- Is Theo jealous of Poco?

Isaac- How is Lego building? 

I cant load my pics on to my flash so you guys are getting a very old picture today. ¨La Luz¨, but a better name for it is ¨escaleras de infierno¨. They took us 10-15 minutes to climb every time

I miss you all and pray for you everyday.

¡Yo sé que el Evangelio es verdadero!