Hey guys!!

It's Christmas!  Well for me it's a normal day, but it's still Christmas!  How's everyones Christmas going?  The only thing I want for christmas right now is the cold.  I love the cold weather so much, but here it's just super hot.  But yeah, I can deal with it.

On Saturday we had this huge activity with the stake.  It was so cool.  Tons of people came and there were tons of references that we got.  Now we just have to try to find those people.  There were a bunch of music and lots of people learned about the restored gospel which was really cool!  We gave out tons of pamphlets and Book of Mormons and yeah, I loved it.  Also, Santa came and yeah, it was cool.  I put some pictures here so you guys can see a little.  (note from mom....he said his pictures took too long to download, so didn't get any sent, so I sent a couple from our Skype yesterday and I received an email from his Mission President with some pics too.  So Fun!)

Also, the other week my comp and I were contacting, and we came across this Jehovah Witness and he really didn't want anything to do with us, but we gave him a Book of Mormon and he was talking and he said that he didn't need the Book of Mormon in his life and stuff and gave it back. I was like woah...... so I just told him why he needs the Book of Mormon in his life and said some other stuff and then gave the Book of Mormon back to him.  He took it, but I don't know if he's going to ever read it though.  But, the Spirit was strong when my comp and I were talking and it was good that we got to talk to that guy and share the Book of Mormon with him.

Well, other than that, this week was normal and stuff.  It was hot, there was a lot of walking, and we talked to tons people.  It stinks when we contact people and we sit down and teach them and then later find out that they are members but not active and were baptized like 10 plus years  ago.  Haha, but yeah, all is well we can just reactivate them haha.

Anyway,  I love you guys so much and hope all is well.  I hope everyone is having an amazing Christmas, and remember to read the Book of Mormon every day.  Love you guys!  Bye.

Elder Pollock

Day 146

Buenas!!

I am sorry, but right now I cannot remember what all I did this week. Whoops.  Everything is going good and the people here are awesome.  Yesterday was Sunday and one of the Ecuador soccer teams won this championship, so everyone was out in the streets and stuff watching the game and almost everyone was super drunk haha.  My comp and I had this drunk guy yell at us and walk up to us and was going off, haha.  It was kinda stressful at times cause there were times where he would just stop talking and it was literally a staring contest.  He would stop talking and we would just be staring at each other for like 30 seconds.  I thought he was going to start throwing punches.  So we gave him this pamphlet and left and he was just yelling in the street..

This week we also did a little stand in a street mall.  It's where tons of people go and sell stuff and yeah there's tons of people.  We set up this stand call ilumina el mundo and it was dope.  We were just handing out these sweet cards and trying to get references.  We did that for an hour and yeah it was cool.

Well, I don't know what else to mention.  It's been super super hot this week.  Christmas is in a week.  I'm pumped.  Oh and I forgot to take pictures this week, so sorry guys, haha.  Other than that, it's just been tons of working, walking and trying to find people.  So yeah, that's all I've got for you.  Lo siento.

Alright, love you guys so much!!  Bye.

Elder Pollock

139 Days In!

Hey guys what's up!

This week went by so fast it's unbelievable.  We are working super hard and it's just been day and night lately.  Wow. But, I love it.  It's starting to get super super hot here.  It hasn't rained yet so I'm just waiting for that to come any day now.  It was just like one day it was incredibly hot and it's just been like that ever since.  Now I'm starting to love the super cold showers haha.  Yeah, I'm actually really starting to like them.

Every day is the same, but it's not, you know.  We go out and walk all day doing the same stuff, but everyday different things happen and there's always new people and tons of people to talk to.  It's super cool.  Our investigators aren't progressing a whole ton.  It's hard when you have an appointment and then you go to their house and they aren't home.  That happens a ton.  Right now we are working a lot on trying to find tons of references from the members.  It's hard to find the houses.  Especially here, but it gives us a ton to do.

This week we also went to the temple!  I loved it!  It was good cause I could actually understand almost all of it.  Not all, but almost.  It felt nice just to sit, relax, and feel the spirit.  Now I get to wait another 3 months yeah!  After that, the mission pres told all the missionaries at the temple to come to his house and we did this zone picture with them so that was super cool.

I hope everyone is having a fantastic week and are working hard.  You guys are amazing and hope you are always recognizing the Lords hand in your daily lives.  That's important.  Don't be slow to recognize the Lord and put Him first. If you do, He will bless you more than you can imagine.

Love you guys so much.  Alright, well, see you next week.

Elder Pollock

Cambios Emergencia!

Hey guys!!

This week was absolutely loco!  So if I remember right it was Wednesday morning we got a call from the assistants to the president and they said that my comp and the two zone leaders that live in the house with us had transfers. So yeah, they all left.  Haha.  So now I have a new comp and two new zone leaders. The zone leaders names are Elder Pava, who was my zone leader in Manta and also Elder Pincock who was a missionary in this zone so I know both of them, that was nice with the whole change.  My comp is a lot different than my old comp.  My new comp is a Gringo too!  It's nice to have an American comp honestly.  His name is Elder West.  He is from Utah, Heber City.  He is super cool and has 11 months in the mission.  He's fluent in Spanish and doesn't have a Gringo accent when speaking Spanish.  It's dope.  We get along really well and both love hunting!!!  That part is a bonus haha.  We have been working really hard these past couple days to get to know people like the members and investigators, and trying to find people to teach also.  There's a lot more English now, haha so that's good.

My Spanish is getting a lot better.  I can understand what people are saying so that's really nice.  Obviously not everything, but I can get the general idea of what people are talking about.  When I'm talking and teaching people it's hard to respond most of the time cause I can understand, but I'm still trying to put stuff together in my mind so it's rough sometimes.  But, better and better every day.

Yesterday morning their was another earthquake.  It's so crazy cause there was like none for my first two months and now its weekly.  It's pretty cool.  We were just sleeping and about 6 in the morning my bed started shaking for like 10 seconds.  It was cool.  I woke up and said Elder West "hay un temblor."... and then he said, "cool" and we went back to bed for another half hour.  Sleep is very precious.

So that was my week pretty much and all is going well.  I hope all of your week is going great!  Don't forget to pray.  It really makes your days better, trust me.  It's almost Christmas too, so that's super exciting!  We have a Christmas tree in our house.  Alright, love you all! bye!

Elder Pollock

One pic is of me and Elder West eating breakfast and the other is a pic of the street, haha, cause I never take my camera out with me so I never really get pics throughout the week sorry.

La Expiacion

Hey Guys!!

This week was good.  There were some pretty hot days.  It's weird cause there's not a ton of sun and it's usually just always cloudy, but all of the heat comes from below us, so that really sucks for like our feet and stuff.

This weekend we had an activity of talents, it was so cool!!  People really just got up to sing and stuff.  I didn't understand much but that's alright haha.  Our zone did a skit too, so that was really fun!  It was fun to prepare for that.

I was nervous all week cause we had transfers today.  So last night we got the call if you did or not.  I was nervous that I would get tranfered again.  But luckily my zone leader called the President and said that he thinks that my comp and I should stay cause we only had two weeks here.  So yeah, my comp and I are still companions in Puerto Liza so that's cool.  We still have the same zone leaders so that's also cool.  I love them haha we live in the same house with them.

So my comp and I have 4 new investigators! there's an older guy and his son and his son's wife and their daughter.  We were origionally only teaching the older guy.  If I remember right, his name is Alcedes Peso, but one day his son walked in drunk and sat in and listened and argued a ton and it was so weird haha.  But then the next time his wife sat in and listened and we taught about the story in the Book of Mormon where Alma the Younger had the angel come to him and the sons of Mosiah.  It was cool.  She's a real hard core Catholic I think, but she seemed kinda interested.  We invited them to come to church, and yesterday they all came to church, it was so cool!!!!  They came for all three hours. So yeah I hope that they continue to want to take the lessons.  They seem like good people, but they aren't married so that's a problem danget.

Anyway, I love you guys so much, and hope you all have a fantastic week!!  Always be praying in your hearts. La Expiacion de Jesucristo es muy importante en nuestros vidas and por medie de El podemos ser limpios de nuestros pecados.

Love you guys, bye!!

Elder Pollock

Earthquakes and Ingrown toenails!

Hey guys! 

This week was super crazy! There were two more earthquakes in Guayaquil and tambien I had ingrown townails. Bad.  But all is well now.  My comp and I had to figure tons of things out this week. The members, the people in general, and the area we are working in, and woah it was confusing haha.  It was all good.  We work in the same sector as our zone leaders so we went on splits with them almost every day.  Not all day long but pretty much most of the day for working. It was really good though, I learned a lot and the people and members here are super cool!  

So there were two more earthquakes!  One happened while we were planning for the day.  Halfway through, the house started shaking and it lasted like 10 plus seconds and it wasn't weak but also wasn't super strong.  It was so cool.  And the other was in the night at like 11 and it lasted longer and was stronger, but I only heard about it because I was sleeping.  Most of the missionarys slept through it and some woke up to it but just went back to bed cause sleep's more important.  But I loved it.  Hopefully there aren't more cause if they're bad, some buildings will fall and ours might too, but oh well, I guess not much we can do. 

So on Saturday, my ingrown toenails were hurting a lot so we had a member in our ward who is a local dentist look at them.  She said that they needed to be cut and stuff. So yeah, Saturday night at like 11 she came to our house and gave me anesthetics and shots in my toes which hurt so bad. Probably the most pain I've been in haha.  Anyway, it was good, we got some videos and pics and stuff it was cool.  Today the mission nurses made an appointment at the foot doctor and me and one of the zone leaders went and the doctor dude said that she cut them bad and I had more still in my toe.  Anyway, the days before I had them cut my toes would be bleeding and stuff and puss and yeah it was gross.  But yeah, he started cutting away with no numbing stuff and it was way more painful then Saturday night.  My hands hurt too from squeezing the chair today.  But yeah, they should be all good now.  I can't walk on it today but tomorrow I should, he said.  Oh yeah and yesterday I couldn't go to church cause it hurt to walk. 

The people here are so cool and I think they are more responsive then in Jaramijo.  They actually have the whole families in the house.  In Jaramijo Todos De Los Esposos are fisherman so the men were never home.  But yeah I like it here more, but it's always crazy and so many things going on. We also had an activity where we brought and invited people to the church from the street and we taught them about the Book of Mormon and stuff in the church.  It was so cool I loved it so much!! 

Anyways, love you guys so much and I hope you all have fantastic weeks!!  Remember to always be quick to remember the Lords hand in your lives every day.  Bye! 

The pics are of a Coke bottle of a Santa I thought was funny, my scriptures cases that i got, and of my toe.  Sorry I don't have more. 

cambios de emergencia

Hey guys!! This past week was so crazy! Only at the end though. The week was kinda slow but we were working hard. The baptism for this last Sunday got pushed for the next Sunday so it stinks I wont be there for it. 

 A couple days ago we woke up to an earthquake. I forgot how to spell it. It took me a minute to remember it in English.  But anyway, it was insane and crazy.  At around 1:30- 2 in the morning we woke up and our beds were shaking and the windows were rattling so it was super loud!  It only lasted about 6 seconds.  I was already kinda awake when it started.  Elder White popped up and yelled vamos!  So we all got up and grab our emergency backpacks and left the house.  We live on the second story so it could have gone bad.  Oh yeah, and Elder White's comp who is new to the mission, Elder Porter, woke up a little late and saw that we were all running around to grab stuff so he just followed the leader and didn't really know what was going on but it was all good.  We left the house and about 20 min later we just went back inside and went back to bed.  I loved it.  I wish it would have happened in the daytime so I could have seen it. 

So on Saturday, after the weekly planning, when we are all together as a zone the zone leaders said we have an announcement, Elder Pollock and Elder Astete are leaving.  So yeah, me and my comp had emergency combio.  I don't know the word in English.  I think it's change.  We left that afternoon and now are in Guayaquil.  It's really weird.  We are still compañeros, but in a different zone.  We are now in Puerto Liza.  It's pretty rough changing like that.  Elder White and I got really close.  Now we are here trying to figure out what to do and how to get to know everyone as fast as possible, so yeah its pretty stressful.  The other two missionaries are from Peru and Quito.  They are super cool and zone leaders.  We are living with them now. 

Anyways, I can't really remember anything big that happened more. I miss the investigators from my old area.  They were super cool and I hope they progress.  It was hard there.  No one really wanted to do anything, but I still loved them a ton.  Anyways, love you guys so much! Remember to always be praying in your hearts throughout your days. You will feel better if you do.  And also read the Book of Mormon every day!  I'll do it with you!  It's a pretty cool book. It's the word of the God.  Alright, bye!!

Elder Pollock

A Goat

Hey guys!!

This week was pretty good!  There is getting to be a lot more sun so I got a cheep little hat which is dope so I'm going to start wearing that more.  Oh and also we are going to have a baptism this Sunday.  I'm pumped and hope everything turns out all good, cause I don't want it to fall through. It's going to be at like 7 in the morning before church so that means I get to wake up earlier..... yeah!!

So yesterday at church right before the last hour these Americans walked up and they are just like scoping out the area for their charity thing. They were pretty cool and it was super fun to talk to them they said that if we have anything to send home that they would would take it home for us for free!!  So we are going to meet up with them later to give them our stuff.  It's pretty cool.  Also today we went to this mall in Manta which is called Mall Pacifico and it is so pretty!! It felt like I was back in the states.  Well a Spanish USA.  Almost all the stores had English songs playing and it was sweet! It brought me back to the good old days.

I can't really remember what else happened this week cause all the days really blend together.  The Spanish is getting better which is really good. I think I can talk better then I can understand which is a little weird.  It's hard in lessons when I can't really understand fully what the people are saying.  I can get a good general idea but I'm confused a lot.  I'm glad my comp is Latino.  It's nice having him around.  Nothing much is going on just lots of work and walking and knocking on doors.  I love it and it's so hard.  It's crazy how fast time goes by though.

Alright, I love you guys so much. I hope you all have an amazing week!!  And remember the scripture in the Book of Mormon in Heleman ch.5 verse 12.  It's good and a good reminder of what we need to do.  Aright, well love you all. Sorry, but I don't really have any pictures for you guys. I think all I got is a pic of a goat that I took out of the window of a taxi.  It's my favorite goat.

Love,

Elder Jackson

*Note from Mom - The Americans that he was talking about sent me a text saying that she was with my awesome missionary and took a picture thinking of me.  So, with his lack of photos this week, I was happy to get her photo.  😊  

PS - His shoes are so dusty!  A hard working missionary!

2 Months In!!!

Hey guys!!


Hope everyone's weeks are going good!!  This week was pretty slow for me but it was good!  We moved houses today which was really crazy cause we only had today to do it, but the good news is that the veiw of the ocean is way better.  Our bedroom has this sweet patio that overlooks everything.  But the house is super dirty, so that's awesome.

My Spanish is coming along, but it's coming slowly but surely.  It's getting a lot easier to understand what people are saying and it's easier to respond.  With the words I know, I just say them without thinking about it so that's getting easier.  I'm speaking a lot faster then I was when I first got here. But something I really need to be working on is my conjugations.  Those are rough for me.  Also there's a ton of little things and rules that I could fix, but those will come over time as I study and listen to how people talk.  Tons of things in Spanish don't make a lot of sense in English and I'm trying to make sense of them when people are talking so that's rough. But it's coming faster than I expected, so that really good.  Thanks to the Gift of Tongues of course.

Throughout the weeks tons of things happen and I can't ever remember them to write them for you guys. But something happened the other day that was really funny and scared the crap out of me. This dog attacked us.  It didn't bite us or anything, but almost.  It was a big agressive dog.  I would just reach down and act like I'm picking up a rock and it would back off but not for a ton of time.  This other dog thought it was brave and joined in, but I hit it with a rock and it ran away but the other dog was a sucker.  I didn't try to throw any rocks at it and I don't know why.... I should have. But it was good.  My comp laughed at me.

The food here is so good. There's a ton of weird food mixtures but they are always good.  Some good foods are encebollado.  I don't know how to spell it so my comp just helped me.  Also seco de pollo is good and ceviche. He also just helped me with that last word but those are really good.  Also, really the only real meal I get a day is lunch so I'm always starving and it feels like I'm always just fasting.

Anyway, the week was good and all is going well.  It's getting hotter and hotter every day I feel like, but oh well, what do you expect.  Alright, love you all.... bye!!

Elder Pollock

Week 13!

Hey Guys!!

This week went by so slow, but not super slow.  Every day takes forever, but at the end when you look back it went by fast.  I love my new area.  My house over looks the beach which is super cool!  It's really hard too, though the people are super nice, a lot of the times that we go to appointements they aren't home.  So then we go to a different house or contact and we walk so much!  My feet and legs feel so good when I sit down at night.

This week has felt better than the other weeks.  I think it's because my Spanish is getting a little better and I feel more confident with it, but it still just absolutely sucks.  It's funny when I'll talk to people and they'll just turn and look at my comp cause they can't understand me.  It's mainly just my accent on some words and I'm not very good at conjugations.  But little by little it comes.  I feel like there's never time to study Spanish cause they're isn't any time.  We are always having to do stuff.  Well, we have 30 mins of language study but that's not a lot of time at all to get a bunch of stuff done.  It's hard when people are talking to you and stuff and there's just so many distractions.

My comp is super cool!  We get along really well together.  His name is Elder Astete.  He works really hard which I'm glad.  He's from Bolivia and is 18 years old.  He will be 19 soon but I can't remember when.  He's really good and patient with me with the language barrier.  That's a good thing to have in a comp.  He jokes around a lot, but knows when to be serious when he needs to be.  That's really good cause we have fun when we can, but work when we need to work.

The other day we woke up early in the morning at like 6 and went and played soccer on the beach.  It was so cool and peaceful.  We live with two other Elders in our apartment which is pretty fun.  They're both white boys from the U.S.,  so it's a bunch of Americans and a Latino in the house.  It's fun.  One of the other Elders is Elder White, he's been out for a year.  The other is his comp and he's been in Ecuador for 1 week now so he's new and knows very little Spanish so he's like me!

All is going well and working hard.  My favorite thing to teach is the Book of Mormon because it's so powerful and really helps our lives.  It's a true blessing and we need to be reading it every day.  I promise that if you do you will be blessed and will have a better day.

Anyway,  love you all so much!  Bye!

Elder Pollock

Transfers!!!

Hey guys!!

All is going well and I'm just livin the life as a missionary.  It's starting to get hotter out and that sucks, but what do you expect while on the equator?  Before the mission I never really thought about what a 3rd world country actually is, but now I truely know.  It's all good though, I'm used to it now.  We had tranfers today and I had a baptism on Saturday. 

The baptism went really good.  It was really special.  The lady we baptized was super happy.  I didn't mess up at all when I baptized her and I said part of her name in a hard English accent which sucked but that's okay haha.  I'll send some pics of the baptism.  I'm so white... it sucks cause everyone always stares at me.  Actually, no I don't care.

I went on splits again this last week and I lead in my sector.  It went really good and I didn't get lost once.  I looked like I knew what I was doing even though I didn't know any Spanish.  It is getting a lot better though, but it still sucks. But all is well.  The language is super cool and I love it, but it's such a grind to learn a knew language and it's really rough. I have a headache all the time pretty much. 

So we had transfers today.  It was really sad to say goodbye to my comp and the other guys that we lived with.  We all got along really well and we were such close friends.  I loved it.  So my comp got a call last night at 10:00 which sucks cause you are pretty much packing all night and don't get any sleep.  But it was good.  Anyway, he got a call and we all thought I was going to stay cause usually all new guys stay in their first sector the first transfer, but they said my comp was leaving and me also.  So now I'm in Manta.  It's so pretty here.  My house has this balcony that over looks the ocean and it's so so pretty.  I didn't get a picture, so I'll send that next week.  The only pic I got was with my comp in the computer place before we started typing, so that's all I got for you from Manta.   Sorry haha.  Anyway, I was so stressed, but everything turned out all good.  My new comps name is Elder Astete.  He's pretty cool! He doesn't know a ton of English, but who needs English anyway, am I right?  Anyway, it's so hot here and that sucks cause I sweat a lot. But, I like it here alright so hopefully I continue to.

Anyway, love you guys so much!!  Hope all is going well and you guys are having a good week.  If you guys have a good week, then I'll have a good week.  So you guys better have a good week. 

Alright, bye!!

Elder Pollock

This week was way different!

This week was way different!  Monday night and all day Tuesday, my comp wasn't feeling good so we were in the clinic.  We weren't there the whole time.  We would go and have this check up thing and then go back to our area and do a little work and then have to go back again. The bus rides there were like an hour so we couldn't do much other then travel.  But, we did get some cool pics at the sweet bridge with a big river flowing under it.  My comp is okay, he just has some inflamation thing in his intestines,  i don't know, but it's been hurting him a lot.

On Thursday I went on splits with the zone leader.  They're house was so small.  His area is so cool.  The roads are only dirt and it's so quiet and peaceful in most of his area. There's no tricymotos or anything like that flying around.  I could feel the Spirit way better there.  We taught a bunch of people and it was awesome!  One family we just taught about the Book of Mormon for an hour and it was so spiritual and cool.  We then got back to his house and I looked on my bed and there were like a thousand ants on it haha! It sucked.  He just looked at it and said Muchos! And then he just went and made some toast.  I was like alright cool thanks.  There was only one crumb on my bed and I was like well great.  So I just swiped all the ants off and went about my business.

Yesterday I gave a talk in church. I was so nervous. All I did was really just write what I could in Spanish, but what I couldn't I had an Elder in my house translate it for me which was really nice. But I just took a ton of quotes out of Preach my Gospel and it was a lot. My talk was about 10 mins of me just absolutely destroying Spanish.  All the members said that they could understand everything so that was really nice.

Oh yeah, I have another baptism this Saturday!  I'm so pumped.  I hope everything goes alright.  Her name is Lady Salazar.  She can't read at all, so we help her out with that in lessons and she listens to the Book of Mormon on her phone.  She seems really excited, so that's good.

Anyways, all is well.  Just trying to work as hard as I can and do my best. I miss you all very much, but yeah 2 more years.  I hope everything is going good for you guys!

Love you all so much!

Elder Pollock

hey mom! im so glad you were able to have such a good time in paris! that sounds so fun! thanks so much for ordering and sending those things. im going to need the bug bite stuff haha! we do have a phone but my comp has it cause i dont know spanish. we write our emails in this little side store thing off the streat. its not very big but the computers are somewhat nice. that story of zack is crazy! hopefully none of that happens to me. we dont know but my comp will be leaving. president santos told me that my next comp will speak more inglish so thats good. i need that. but yeah next monday i will have a new compañion. i love you so much and wish i could write more but i dont have a ton of time. i love that your a seminary teacher and thanks for sharing what you taught. i love that chapter too! its such a good chapter. tell colton to hold in there.love you bye!

Hola!

Hola! This week was pretty good. I can't really remember what all happened cause the days really start to blend together here. As hard as it is, I'm loving it here. Conference this week was good. We did a lot of walking too. I love the people down here. They are all so nice and friendly. Some people just stare me down sometimes, I think it's because I'm white... but that's okay.

Teaching people is hard cause it's really hard for me to understand what is being said. I understand a ton more now, but still not even close to enough to put together what is being talked about exactly. But that's okay, I can usually get the general idea. Usually my comp will do all the talking and I make a comment here and there if I know what's being said and then I'll bare my testimony about the topic at the end. My favorite thing to teach about is the Book of Mormon cause the Spirit is so strong and I love it so much. We don't teach about it as much as I would like to though which kinda sucks. But all is well and I'm loving it.

So conference was this last weekend which was so cool!! The bishops wife was so kind and gave me her phone and some headphones so I could listen in English for all of the conference sessions whish was so nice. At times it was hard to hear cause in the chapel the sound was up so high in Spanish and it was hard to focus on the English, but I was able to get what I needed. It's really sad that Robert D. Hales died yesterday, that made me really sad.  Same with President Monson not being able to make it to conference. But, it was really good I loved it.

I can't really remember what all happened this week so sorry about that. Oh, we had a zone conference which is where we sat and listened to stuff for like 8 hours.  It was so frustrating cause I understood none of it haha. We are told not to bring our cameras with us when we are out prostaliting so I didn't have any pictures until I took some today, so hopefully you like them. One is when we were eating at a members house for lunch, the other is when we were shopping for food for the week and the last is just a pic of the street when we were walking down it.

Anyways, I love you all so much. Keep Christ at the center of your minds throughout your day and I promise your days will be better and you will be happier. Love you all and BYE! Oh yeah, and I'm so white in the pictures haha.. it sucks.

Elder Pollock

my area is Geranieos.  in guyaquil. your trip looks and sounds so fun!! im glad your having a good time. we are able to keep the appointments sometimes but yeah you know how missionary work is. lots of walking and yeah im going to need that bug cream haha i get some a lot.  i love and miss you so much!! im so happy i get to read your email each week!! oh yeah and me and my comp have to go to the hospital today cause his side has been hurting for a while too.. that sucks but hopefully all is well. could you tell dad that too cause i forgot to tell him. love you so much bye!!

Two Months In!

This week was great! Last Tuesday we went to the Guayaquil West Temple! It was so pretty and beautiful, but I  didn't know what was being said, so I had to wear those headphone things for the English translation of everything. It was still really good. I loved it, but other than the temple just tons of Spanish.

My comp and I also had another baptism! Her name is Isamar Yarlibeth Silva Espinoza. Everyones names here are so long. I can never remember anyones names. Especially all of the members. I see them a lot more but can never put a face to a name or remember their names. Oh yeah and my name is never said right haha! It's hilarious how the people here struggle with it. Only one person has gotten it right the first time and he studied English for a while so it doesn't count. His English is also really bad but he knows a little bit.

The Coke here is way better than in the US. I  love it so much but don't drink it as much because it makes me feel slow and tired, but it's still amazing.   Usually when people get soda they´re just in these huge bottles. People don't really buy them in the small bottles, and everything here is crazy cheap. In the US everything is probably trippled or more. I love it!

Most mornings I will wake up with random bug bites. Some itch and some don't. I don't know. I don't really see mosquitos flying around a lot but I'm getting bit. The mosquitos here are on steroids or something cause the bites itch more and last longer and leave red spots for a long time. It sucks.

It's so hard not being able to speak or understand anyone. Especially in lessons. Cause I  just want to talk and know what they're saying. My comps English sucks when he trys to explain stuff but that's alright. I love it though. I can't wait till i just know Spanish well enough to understand people. All the American missionaries here say that they come not knowing any Spanish and it usually takes about 3 to 4 weeks to understand what people are saying. So I still got a while.

All is well though, just soaking it in and working as hard as I can. Time is actually going by really fast. I just miss being out in the hills and stuff. Especially now that hunting season is starting, but I can wait till I get home I guess. Well I love you all and hope your weeks are going well! Keep the Lord in your thoughts and hearts and pray often. Love you!!! BYE!!!

Elder Pollock 

Week 2!

Hey guys!!

This week was better than the first. I still have no idea what people are saying, that's really cool.  I can get the gist of it though and I can share a scripture and bare my testimony, so I guess that's all I can do right now.  But I'm loving it. 

So I had my first baptism on Saturday and it went really well.  I was so nervous. I didn't mess up on the words and have to repeat it so that was good!  She was super excited too!  Also another one of our investigators said yes to baptism, so I'm super excited about that too!  It's so hard though not being able to talk to the people and stuff and actually have a nice conversation and know what they are saying, but it's getting a little better every day. 

The food here is so weird.  All the food and how they're mixed and stuff is something of it's own.  I love it though. There's so much food.  Every time we eat at a house it's like this huge huge meal and I have to eat all of it!  It's weird cause back home I could never eat all the food, but here, there's more food and I can always eat all of it.  The weather isn't too hot yet cause it's the cold season and there's not really any mosquitos,  but November, December, January, and February are the really hot, rainy, humid times of the year so I'm super excited for that. 

Today was my comps b-day and we went to the zoo so that was way fun! There were so many cool animals.  I'll send some pics. 

Anyway, all is well here.  I hope everyone is doing good.  I know God is looking out for you guys and helps you with your needs every day, no matter what it is.

Love you all so much!  Have a good week!

Elder Pollock