Hey everyone!
Sorry I didn't get any letter off on saturday. No I didn't get a exchange, I'm still here in Otavalo. We did change our Pday though, it is now mondays here in Otavalo. So no matter what sector I'm in, I will have Pday monday. We had a good week here this week. A couple of stumbling blocks, but it´s nothing to really get us down. I have decided its true what Juan Oldham taught us one sunday is Sunday school while I was in High School. He said "Satans most powerful tool is discouragement. If he can get us discouraged, he can do anything he wants with us." Well, that's what he tried on my companion and I this week. And for a moment or two, I got down, and discouraged. But I do know better now, I´m not here for me. If I´m going to walk around feeling sorry for myself, I´m never going to fulfill my calling. We were able to continue on visiting less active members and new converts, and even we were spiritually strengthened after the lessons. Instead of going back to the house or sitting around feeling sad all afternoon, we kept working. And in turn we were able to hear the magical words, "thank you elders, we knew you would come, we were waiting."
I am a bit nervous about this weekend. Elder Nash from the quorum of the 70 is visiting our mission. We are going to have a special conference with him here in Otavalo, one on friday night for member and nonmembers alike, then one especially for missionaries on saturday afternoon. Well President Sloan assigned me to conduct the meetings, so I´m a bit worried, but I´m sure that all will turn out well. We are all really excited to hear from Elder Nash and to be able to hear from President Sloan as well.
Thank you all for your letters this week. Normally I get about 3 or 4 a week, but today I had 18 waiting for me! Maybe you all thought I was lost, or depressed or something I don't know. haha. I have to give a special thanks to Jared and Krysten, they are the ONLY ones that will have let me be present at their wedding. I got the news about Zach, way to be bro! haha. Even though your are not going to wait for me to get home, like the other 3 of my 5 beloved siblings........ I would love to get some pictures and more information. Thank you Mary and Laura for the pictures this week, they were GREAT! I enjoyed them alot. This saturday I complete 19 months in the mission. Pretty scary to think about. The huge amount of time that I thought I had to be able to decide on my career, study course and everything, has turned out to be not alot of time at all. I guess I´m just going to wing it when I get home. I´m sure that in the next 5 months I wont be able to decide on anything either!
Well, thank you everyone for your letter and support, Love you all so much!
Elder Matthew David Morris

Hey Everyone!
How is everything back home? All is well here in good old Otavalo Ecuador. We had a good week this week. Still teaching quite a few people. We found a little pueblo around the mountain the other day that, of the people we met, have never heard from the Mormon missionaries. So we have a couple of places to go into now and make known the Restoration of the Gospel! There is MUCH work to do here, alot of people have no idea about the church and many have never even heard of it still. So we have our work cut out for us. We need all the help we can get. So we have had a good week this week. OH!!! I got Jared and Krystens x-mas package this week! Exactly 4 months after they sent it, it got to me. The candies were still good. The pictures were GREAT! Especially of Magnum pheasant hunting, it sure put a smile on my face. As of 4 months ago Cole was a pretty big boy! So I imagine now he´s even bigger! After having received the package from Jared and Krysten, I filled a little zip lock bag with mint candy canes. That night we went to an appointment to visit a very very poor family of 8 that lives up on the mountain side. We got to the house, and to make sure that the little ones would not be rowdy during the lesson, I gave them candie canes to keep them busy during the lesson. Its the first time they have had a candy like that. There sitting on a stump, inside a little mud hut with dirt floors, I saw 6 little kids, dirty clothes, muddy faces, a couple of the kids missing front or other teeth, but I saw those little kids light up in their faces. I wish I would have had my camera to take a picture of the group of them in that little hut, and their bright smiles as they sucked on their little candy canes! It was quite a humbling experience for me. Sometimes we worry so much in life about what we have, or maybe even more, what the neighbors do have. But we so easily forget how much the Lord has given us. I'm fairly certain that all of us back home, have a house that keeps the heat in during winter, the heat out during summer, we have a bathroom.. and almost always more than one, in our house. We have so many things that we take for granted. I can remember that back in high school, I HAD to have clean clothes everyday, I couldn't wear the same shirt more than once a week without washing it after the first use. But sometimes, these people down here only have one shirt to wear, one pair of shoes, usually broken and worn out. Yet, under these circumstances, they are happy, they don't complain or worry. I have come to find that the main reason for that is, they have their family, and they have the gospel, It may be that they are recently learning about it, but either way, they are happy and grateful for this life and their blessings. I don't know how I'm going to be able to leave this place. Tomorrow night we receive changes in the mission, I hope I stay. I don't know what it will be like when I have to finish up and go home. Its a pretty hard thing to even thing about. I love it here so much. The dogs, well.... ok I could do without all the dogs all the fleas, but I am going to miss it here. I cant imagine where or how I would be right now, had I not decided to serve a mission. Jared and Zach, thanks for pestering me so much the summer after my graduation. I'm sorry I didn't always listen, I know, I'm a putz.
President Sloan challenged us a couple of months ago to reread the book of Mormon before may 1st. Well to be honest, I'm not going to make the deadline, but its been a great experience for me. I think I'm on my 4th way through now. Every time I read I find new things, and better understand what I already may have known. Its strengthening my testimony day by day of the truth of this gospel. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, no doubt about it. We recently have had some ´bump ins´ with missionaries of other religions, they every time have tried to attack at our belief in the Book of Mormon and that of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Maybe in the same situation a year ago, I would have felt hurt, shaken. But today, no. In these moments I have been able to simply smile, bare my testimony as simply and clearly as I can, and I have no worries. I know that this is the true church, I know that I am where I need to be.

Elder Matthew Morris

Hey everyone!
This week was a wet week for us here in Otavalo. It looks like the winter weather is finally gettin here. Rainy season here just above the equator is supposedly from dec.- march. but its just now getting to us. It has rained almost every day this week. The first day it rained, we definitely not prepared for it. Short sleeved shirts and not jackets, needless to say we got soaked up in Topo Grande, the highest community up in my sector. And even more, we were at the house of the Guaján family, they live in the very last house up on the mountainside! haha. Well, we learned our lesson. We ran down the hillside to the catholic church as fast as we could. Hidden in the arched doorway we called our bishop to come and save us in his car. He brought us back down to the house, let us change (and I had to change down to my sock, everything was wet) then he took us down to his house to have hot chocolate! haha. The days thereafter we kept our rain jackets with us, and they sure came in handy. We had a couple of close calls of falling down face first trying to go down the mountainside in the rain, but all is well.
Tomorrow we are hoping very very much that it doesn't rain. We have a special plaza presentation here in our sector. The mission has printed paintings from the church about 5 feet by 3 feet that have special questions on them. We place these big paintings on special stands and go to parks to share the gospel with others and help them to better get to know "the Mormons". Its a great activity that has been able to bring alot of success to the sectors where they do it. So tomorrow afternoon after lunch, all of the missionaries from the zone are coming to so the presentation. I will take pictures to send home next week. Pray with us that it doesn't rain from 3-5 tomorrow afternoon! haha.And pray for us that we can find those who are prepared to receive this message.
I got a couple of letter and pictures this week of Mark and Kyle! WOW. How time flies by. They both look pretty much the same, just a little bit older. I cant believe that they are already home. Before to long I´ll be seeing all the family as well. Lately I got to thinking about it, and I self analyzed myself and I decided I'm not that weird now. Those who remember how Jared and Zach were when they got home know what I'm talking about, no offense Jared and Zach. But yesterday on the bus I had an experience that proved me wrong. While on the bus on the way back to our sector from a meeting we had, a couple of north American girls got on the bus and sat across the isle from my companion and I. My companion nudged me and asked in spanish, where they were from. they were speaking in english but had a Canadian accent, so I told him they were most likely from Canada. Then he told me to ask them were were from. An innocent question right? Right. But as I opened my mouth to politely ask them where they were from, nothing came out! I began to shake a little and my mind went blank. I'm not sure if it were because I cant really speak english well, or the fact that they were girls, but I froze! So I'm feeling a little down about my lack of social skills with those that speak english. haha. But I'm going to get better, if not, oh well I can be weird for a while. So I guess those are my fun stories for this week. I hope everything is well back home and that the weather continues to warm up. Love you all. Someone give Mark and Kyle a big hug for me, them punch em both in the arm!
Elder Matthew Morris

Just a couple of pictures that I wanted to send home. 1st, eating Cuy after a service project last week, Cuy, or better known by you all back home as Guinea Pig is an animal that the indigenous often eat here, its like a delicacy. Can you see its little toes?!?!
2nd, Our stake center here in Stake Imbabura.
3rd One of the bishops and his family, a great picture that to me represents a happy Indigenous family.
4th Just after the sunday morning session ended, you can´t see really well the size of the croud walking down the road, but it was a great sight.
Enjoy!
Elder Matthew Morris

What a great week last week! And to finish it all off, a great general conference. We really did have a good week this last week. We were able to find a few new people to teach. A whole new family of 8 is now hearing the lessons. The two parents and all 6 kids! Its a great blessing to be able to find families to teach. It always helps converts stay converted when the whole family is in on it, and not just one or two. It was a very special experience for me when we found the family. It was in fact a referral from a member that was baptised last year and sealed to his wife in January. He had us come up to his house (at the very top of the mountain in our sector) and we then went to visit his neighbors. The family was all there and so they let us come down the path to visit. We all sat outside in a big circle with the sun fading down on the mountainous horizon. We got the lesson started, and because of the lack of speaking ability in spanish, after every couple of sentences we would have the member that was with us translate into Kichwa. It was a great experience, seeing how the family was learning and being touched by the spirit. By the end of the lesson we invited them that when they felt good about it, that they could be baptised into the church. They all accepted. I would love to be able to relive that lesson again. It was beautiful. When the sun went down it became one of the clearest nights I´ve seen here in Otavalo thus far. Big bright stars in the sky, a beautiful full moon showing the outline of the big volcanoes across the valley from the volcano-side that we were situated on, then little us, sitting in a circle outside a small "hut" of a house teaching with a couple of little flashlights the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There are many tough moments on the mission, moments of true despair and doubt, but I think that´s why sometimes I get to experience something so precious. To be honest, today has been a day of just plain old bad luck, a trial of a day. And honestly I didn't even want to write home this week. But now, sitting down and remembering the moments of this past week, I again feel better, and know that there is always hope for a better day. Its always darkest before the dawn. The past two days were great days as well. All of us who took the opportunity to listen to or watch General Conference have surely been touched and have learned. There were alot of great talks given. A great one was, of course, Elder Holland´s. He spoke with much clarity, to not have any confusion on the matter, but he spoke with alot of love and concern. I can´t right now think of all of the talks that I liked, but I did think it was very interesting the pattern and the overall focus. April last year was focused much on the Temple, and staying out of debt. But this year in turn, between the 3 meetings saturday and the 2 on sunday, had a general focus on Parents. How to be involved with your kids, how to show them your personal testimony, how to lead them by example. I enjoyed it alot. I know I may still be a few years from having any little ones, but I was able to learn alot and apply those things to my own life now here on the mission.
Every letter that I received this week talked about the big blizzard back home that snowed over all the new green spring grass! Well I guess all there is to say is, Surprise? What did you forget we live in Idaho?! haha. It was something I was talking to my bishop about just the other day while we were going to do some visits, how crazy the weather is back home. It´ll be sunny and great one moment, then outta nothing will come a big cloud, turn day into night and rain like crazy! Well, I hope that everyone is still safe and driving carefully when it does come in and snow like that. As far as the weather here, well.... sunny, once in a while a little rain, but only every couple of weeks. Cloudy days are my favorites, the sun up here at this elevation is pretty hard hitting. But I always put on sunscreen before leaving in the mornings.
Hopefully everyone had a great Easter Holiday, a couple of other gringo missionaries here and myself all boiled eggs to decorate and take to sundays conference sessions for lunch between meetings. It was pretty fun. Got to celebrate a little like back home. All is well here for me, no worries at all. I'm doing very well and staying healthy. Thank you all for your letters every week! Love you all.
Elder Matthew Morris