Hey Family!
I hope all are doing well. I got a couple photos from Krysten, WOW that new firepit is nice! I cant tell you all how much I miss laying stone! I miss working with my hands, but this has gotta be the next best thing, if not the very best thing to be doing! I hope everyone had a good 4th of July! We had an activity planned to do here, saturday in the morning, but we had to go to Quito on friday for a training meeting I got invited to. So we ended up coming back here to Esmeraldas saturday night. It was a long weekend. Esmeraldas to Quito is a 7 to 8 hour ride in bus on roads that just wind through the mountains up to Quito, and it is going from sea level to about 10,000ft where Quito is. But it was a good meeting, I learned alot. And after the meeting we got to go have dinner with President and his wife at their house. Chicken Alfredo and homemade pizza, and blonde brownies with vanilla ice cream! It was quite possible the closest I have felt to heaven........ It makes me teary eyed just to think about it now! haha, it was a great dinner, that's for sure!
I have just been having some great experiences here. I'm sure grateful for them too! Its what helps me keep plugging on! Dad and Jeanne, I got the package from you the other day! Thank you so much for the photos of the Temple! If anyone is putting anything together to send, load it with photos! I love getting pictures, and it´ll be easier to get them by mail not, my email box is getting about full from all of the big file pictures I've got! haha, oh well.
A quick little story to tell, we have an investigator right now named Vicente. He is 76 years old and from columbia. He doesn't know how to read or write, never learned. He lives in a little 7 ft x 12ft wood shack that has a rusty tin roof. He is the most humble person I have ever known my entire life. He has a few kids, but none of them talk to him. They live in another part of Ecuador but he doesn't know where. But in teaching him I have seen a new happiness and brightness come into his life. He quit smoking and drinking alcohol. And has a baptismal date for july 18th! I'm really excited about it. In the lessons we have to help him out with the prayers like they do in primary (whispering in the ear), but hes doing great! We are also trying to teach him how to read, its a slow process, but we´re getting there. It is a really humbling experience for me. It always makes me realize how blessed I am when I can read and write spanish just fine, and people here never have learned their own language. Always be grateful for what we have back home, we´ve sure got a lot. Seeing some of the pictures of the house and yard back home, it makes me shake my head at myself for not being grateful before for what we have back home. I love you all and thank you so much for the letters and the support! I hope all is well with everyone!
Elder Matthew Morris