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