Hello!
To start this letter off, I got some pictures from Jared, and one of them was of dad on the fourwheeler with caleb, and I dont know when Dad started wearing suspenders, but I had to look twice because the first time I saw it I thougth it was Grandpa Morris sitting there! It through me for a loop. This week was a pretty good week. The coast is amazing. I think this is the most beautiful place on earth! The ward the we are working in is ´Eden´ another one here is in Esmeraldas is ´Paraiso´spanish for Paradise! Our sector isnt very big and its basically all flat. The people here live in Bamboo shacks that are elevated up off the ground. Some have the normal concrete houses the are throughout ecuador. Alot of people just have dirt floors. But the people are GREAT here! Everyone is happy and listening to music sittin in the shade of the palm trees all day long. Thats just the overall attitude here. We cant be out teaching in about 90% of the sector after dark. There is alot of robberies and just drugs. But we are safe and smart, we are always back to the house at a safe time, and our house is in a very safe area with a police station out our back window. So I HAVE to tell you all about the temperature here. My first day was one of the most horrible days of my life! I have never felt such heat and humidity before! It gets so hot and humid here its almost suffocating. I am constantly sweating, every pore of the body, it runns down my face and neck without end! And thats is even on cloudy days, when the sun is out..... wow. I cant even explain it. Its just way different than anywhere I have ever been before. One good thing is that comming from Tulcan and Quito, my heart is very strong and used to high elevation, here we are at sea level and I never get short of breath while walking. It rained a little the other day, I thought it might help cool me down, NOPE! It just rains hot rain and makes it even more humid! When we get back home at night, we shower, when we get up in the mornings, shower again! At night I dont think it cools down past 85* so I usually sweat throughout the night as well. We sleep with mosquito nets over the bed. But Im getting used to it better than I thought I would, Im really enjoying it here. A few days ago in companionship study a big fat cockroach went running across the floor by my desk..... They are bigger than the big fat mice back home. I did not enjoy that. There are little lizzards always running on building walls, inside and out of houses, but they are good they eat the mosquitos! Its just a whole new world to me down here! I love it.
The people here are EXTREMELY open here and accept the gospel very easily. Everyone is friendly and willing to listen. Just walking down the streets here little kids will be playing and see us and say hi to the ´mormons´or the ´missionaries´. Its fun. The food is GREAT here! All of the fish and shrimp is fresh and just so so good. You can buy a whole branch of bananas for 1.00, they have all sorts of fruit here. In every direction you look there are all kinda of fruit trees. Tonight we are going to do a family home evening with a family that has been gone to their fruit farm for a few days, they are bringing us back food! Fresh banana, mango, papaya, coconut, and other stuff that I dont know what it is called!
My companion is Elder Tirado from Lima Peru but has lived in Guyaquil the past four years. He has the exact same time as me in the mission but is 24 years old. We have a good companionship. We work hard but dont kill ourselves, teach by the spirit, and just watch out for each other. We had a really successful first week, and this week should be even better, as we now know the sector better. We are both new to this sector, so we have had alot of help from the members.
This part should make you all very jealous, this afternoon for p-day our district went to the beach (20 minutes in bus) and we played soccer and just goofed off. It was AMAZING!! I enjoyed myself. There is an Elder in our district that has 2 months in the mission, he is from Guyaquil, bishop Klinglers son Kelley served in his home ward and visited his family alot. There is also a new Sister missionary that just got here when I got exchanged here, Hermana Morris from Panama! She is pure latino, but somehow got the last name Morris! Pretty coincedental.
Anywho, I think im all out of stories for this week. Hope you all enjoy, and im sorry its so long! Love you all.
Elder Morris