Haha I bet you all said those last few words wrong. That is becuase they are in Quichua, the native language of the people in the Otavalo area here. The word in the title means "how are you", and at the beginning it says "sisters and brothers". It feels weird to be here and not in the Jungle, but I like it here. There is a lot and a lot of farming that goes on here, so it reminds me of Lyman quite a bit :)
I learned that the native people that occupy this region of Ecuador, are the closest living descendants of the Lamanites! Me being gringo really makes me feel like a Nephite missionary sent to preach repentance unto the Lamanites. Hopefully Im not one of the ones that they killed because they didnt want to listen :) But Ive had the story of Ammon playing in the back of my mind all week haha.
The people here are ironically harder to teach here. Many people are very self conscious of what their friends and neighbors think. Ive heard that many investigators of missinaries have said the they know the Chuch is true, but dont want to join for fear of criticism. We have had two lessons that started out good, but turned into more or less Bible Bashes. The people here dont like it when other people try to correct their lives. But no one ever said missionary work was easy.
We have an investigator, Bryan Castañeda with a baptismal date for the 7th of February, and it looks like that will work out nicely. We also have an investigator named Tupac de la Torre. Yes, his name is TUPAC. The kid is 13 and has one of the strongest testimonies ever, but his dad wont let him get baptized! He says that Tupac needs more knowlegde of the gospel before he can be baptized. Sorry chief, we only teach the basic doctrine, and MILLIONS of other people get baptized just knowing that stuff.
Im loving it here. I will have the opportunity to "kill" my companion as this will be his last change. La Iglesia es verdadera. El Libro de Mormon fue traducido por el poder de Dios para nosotros en estos ultimos dias. Es la guia para tener la vida eterna. Se que Thomas S. Monson es el profeta de Dios hoy en dia. Comparto estas cosas en el nombre de Jesucristo. Amen.
Kayacama! (See you later/tomorrow)
Elder Zambrano feeding the cow
Pizza for the first time in Ecuador
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