Hey everyone!
This week was a very good week for us. We had zone conference and interviews with President Sloan. I still don't get tired of those conferences. My companion and I had to do the training part of the conference. It went very well. Today we watched the game of Chile vs Brasil, it was a qualifying game to get into the finals of the world cup, sorry Jared, Chile lost 3-0. We then went to a nice little restaurant and I had a plate called Churrasco, one of my favorites. It is a big grilled fillet of beef, a portion of rice, a portion of fries, 2 fried eggs and an avocado with some lettuce and tomato slices. DELICIOUS. Even though it may not sound very good. haha.
I am really enjoying my time here in Otavalo. President mentioned to me that I will most likely get changed here in 3 weeks. Its alright with me, I just told him if he changes me I want to go back to the coast! haha. This week we had 9 investigators come to church! It was one of my best weeks thus far on the mission. We have a new family of 6 that is investigating, all but the father came this week. The dad wanted to come but sunday morning while getting ready his work called and had him go help, so he couldn´t make it. There are the two parents, which ARE married, not very usual here, and they have 4 kids, Estefanía 11, Diego jr. 9, Shayla 8, and Cristofer 1. I have had some really good experiences every time that I have gone to teach them. After we finished the first lesson, teaching about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, we simply asked how they felt, now knowing that God has called Prophets here on earth again, and that he has restored the true church on earth. The wife got a big smile on her face and said "To be honest with you, I´m catholic, this is the first time that I have ever accepted missionaries into my house with my family. But I´m glad I did. I never would have known. I believe that Joseph Smith was a Prophet. I´m so glad to know this now, and that we have more scriptures to help us do whats right". As you can imagine, I was shocked. And we asked how the dad felt, he had the same thing to say. After the lesson we left 3 Nephi 11 for them to read as a family, two days later we came back, upon simply opening the door the wife smiled and begged us to please come in, she would gather the family. Within moments the little kids came running, excited to tell us about what they read in the Book of Mormon. So we re-read a little with them to be sure they understood it well, they did. haha. After the lesson we asked if they would like to come to church with us and they all got big smiles on their faces and said "we would love to!". So that´s their story, we have another appointment with the family tomorrow evening. We are going to teach them about the plan of salvation. We are going to put the baptismal date with them, for July 10th. We are really excited for them. We also have 2 baptisms this weekend here. One of the guys, is Juan Villarreal. He is about 45, recently divorced, has 4 or 5 kids, but they don't talk. His life was ruined because of a bad drinking habit that he produced. He over the years has been to the church a couple of times. He has had a copy of the Book of Mormon in his bookshelf for over 25 years as well. A member of our ward knew that he had been previously to church and had found out about the divorce and other problems. The member introduced us and we have been visiting him ever since, thursday afternoon he passed his baptismal interview to be baptised this weekend. He is very happy, yet regret at the same time that he didn´t decide to change sooner. I will be sure to send pictures of the baptism. And we will hopefully have a family home evening in a members house with that investigator family this week. I will be sure to send pictures as well. I hope that all is well with everyone back home. Thank you all as always, for the letter and pictures! Love you all so much!
Elder Matthew Morris

Hey Everyone,
I have a few interesting stories for this week, and pictures to go with them! One of the things we did to start out the week was a service project for one of the bishops here. We went up to his land WAY up above Otavalo on the hillside in an area called Imbabuela.

Once we got to the land where he had his potatoes plants, they dumped us outta the truck with the hoes and gunny sacks and said, we will be back at one! Take into account that it was only 9 in the morning! haha. So we got to work, the bishop showed us where the rows were and handed us the hoes! So hand digging we spent about 4 hours picking spuds! We filled 8 sacks in the time that we were there. It was a different experience but it help me get back into the feel of things. I felt like an old time Idahoan for a few minutes. I'm sure grateful for all of the John Deere´s that we have back home, they sure make life easier on us all. I ended up with 5 blisters on my hands, two of which keep drying and splitting even now. But it was all worth it. It was alot of fun and a great experience. Getting the sacks full we had to carry them out of the field on our backs to the road where the truck was going to come pick us up. My knee did really well, it was a little bit sore afterwards, but its basically got all of its strength back from the football accident.
Friday afternoon we had an activity to go to for one of the indigenous wards, but before the activity for their ward, we had a small one in ours. The Relief Society had a "beauty shop" training at the church. So they invited us to come be the participants. They were cutting hair, doing manicures, pedicures, etc. No worries, I only got my haircut. So there is a picture in here of me getting my haircut.

The lady cutting my hair got baptised last December. I interviewed her and her husband and son on Christmas day, they were baptised a couple of days later. They are a great family. So during the haircut I kept reminding her to not mess up my hair or I would recall my permission for her baptism! haha. But she did a good job, I left without any cuts or injuries. So after that we helped out with the indigenous activity. I first have to explain the fiestas that are going on right now. This week is called San Juan, its a holiday only here in Otavalo, they celebrate and do rituals in thanks to the sun god for the crops and harvests of the year. It is a 2 week long festival. They spend days just dancing and getting together as communities. (just another excuse for everyone to drink and not work). So one of the wards here held a ward party to celebrate in a healthy way. All of the ward organizations prepared skits and or dances, including the organization of missionary work! So we got the district together and thought up a few little goofy dances to do. We got out there in front of everyone all dressed in the traditional wear and did a little "traditional" dance. They all were laughing and loving it, they gave us an encore and told us to do another one. Luckily we had kind of practiced another goofy dance, so we did it too! It was alot of fun, and I have the videos of it for everyone to see when I get home.
So after our dance, that part of the activity was over, so they moved on to the dinner part. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. From outta nowhere all of the members ladies started to pull out pots and pots of potatoes, beans, rices, more rice and potatoes, and some meat. they threw it all onto a tarp that they laid out in front of everyone, then they mixed in all in together, and served it to everyone in little bowls. It was amazing. And it tasted pretty good too!!!
Getting home that night from the activity a sat down at my bed a teared up a little bit. I love this people. I love how humble and loving they are towards everyone. Being here in this city so long, I have gotten to know most of the members. A few of them were so happy to see me in the activity. I don't know how I will ever get used to the culture again in the states. I just love it here so much. I cant really remember now if there were other stories. I just got teary eyed again thinking about the people here. I just love it here. I'm so glad to still be in Otavalo. Time is going by quicker day by day.
I'm glad to hear that the weather is getting better back home. Enjoy it. We have been getting rained on here every day for the last week. Supposedly we are entering into summer in northern Ecuador, but they are only tricking themselves. It really is an eternal spring here, no matter what sector of the mission we are in. I hope everyone had a great week this week! Thank you all for the letters and pictures. Love you all!
Elder Matthew Morris

Hello Family!
Well we just got done watching one of the world cup games as a zone. President gave us permission to watch one game on preparation day to let us enjoy a little bit of the world cup. We watched the Italy and Paraguay game. They tied 1-1, I was rooting for Italy. Oh well. I had never watched a world cup game, let alone any soccer game, before the mission. But they are interesting. Not quite as fun as the super bowl, but oh well. We finished watching the game and we have pizza delivered. It was pretty fun.
I'm doing well here with my new companion. I enjoy this sector alot. I knew I would miss Cotacachi, and I do ALOT, but I didn't think I would grow to like this new sector as much as I do now. I already knew my way around the sector, having been here doing divisions and interviews before, so its been easy to just get familiarized with investigators houses. The greatest part about this week was that almost everyday of the week we arrived to an appointment and upon arriving there, the people told us with tears in their eyes "thank you for coming Elders! We were waiting for you." Alot of times when an appointment fails on us, and we have to go to plan B or even plan C, it gets frustrating, but its always worth it when we realize, well its because plan C was the one needing us, not plan A. We just after leaving here writing, have an appointment up on the hillside with an family that was investigating the church a few years ago, but the Elders got changed and no one ever came back. We contacted them on wednesday, and when they opened the door to us their eyes lit up`and the mom said "Elders! your back!" A new personal goal of mine is to hear someone say that they were waiting for us, everyday of the week. I'm enjoying it alot here in my sector. I miss Cotacachi very very much, I have bumped into a number of members from Cotacachi in this last week, its great to see them again, even though its only been a week! haha.
While contacting this week up on the hillside in our sector, we stopped in the corner of a soccer field, then looking around us, in one square block from the field we counted 14 stray dogs!!!! YA, the rumors about South America are true. Bob Barker is a revolutionary man in my mind. He has saved the United States from a very sad state of over population. And a very ugly population at that. Some of the crossbreeds here are so wierd. In the group of 14 I saw a Lab-Weinerdog cross, cocker-pitbull cross, and many many more. Well what more can I say. I am loving it here, and we are doing what we need to do.
I am doing very well, my health is good, I think I am actually loosing a little bit of weight too. The volcanoes as far as I know are calmed down a bit, I haven't heard anything new about that. So no worries. All is well in Ecuador! haha. The days are winding down fast. Have a great week everyone! Love you all! Thank you for the letters and all the pictures Mary, and Loua! Love you all.
Elder Matthew Morris

Hey Everyone!
Well this has been a LONG weekend for us here. Last wednesday we went to quito for a leaders meeting. At the leaders meeting President Sloan made some new announcements, one of which, the new zones in the mission. Here in Otavalo we were one zone of missionaries covering 2 stakes, well we got split! We now have two zones here, and I got transferred. I am still in Otavalo, but now I'm here in the city itself. I got assigned to the latin ward, so we teach all of the latins in my zone, everyone else only teaches indigenous. So it will be pretty interesting. My companion is Elder Melendez from Peru. FINALLY another latin companion, I was beginning to get tired of having soo many gringo companions, too much english in my opinion. haha, So today we spent the day helping out the missionaries and getting all of the transfers figured out. It is a bit stressful being a Zone Leader at times, but it sure has helped me figure out how to handle responsibilities. Backtracking a bit, wednesday, before going to Quito, as walking back to the house to get the bags ready for the 2 day trip, we passed by a "north american" style restaurant in Cotacachi, a member came running out after us and invited us to have a gringo lunch! It was great, I had spaghetti and meatballs, and for dessert we had carrot cake, wow forgot how much I loved that! Then as we walked (on cloud nine) back to the house, we got up to our apartment, and the neighbor family from the 3rd story brought us down 2 plates of WAY good ice cream cake! So by this time my companion and I are dying of joy. Then we got invited to dinner in Quito with a couple of Senor Missionaries from Roy Utah. Sister Rose made ROAST BEEF, MASHED POTATOES, bread, and a fruit jello........ ya really....... and for desert we had a delicious chocolate cake with oreo ice cream.... cant get better right? WRONG!! So then thursday after the leaders council we went to President´s house and Sister Sloan made Chicken Enchiladas!!!!!! and THEN Root Beer Floats! All I can really say is, I am proud to be an american. But sadly my stomach was not as used to and happy with so much flavor. But I'm better now! haha. Thats my great story for this week. I am happy, I am still enjoying my time greatly here. I was sad to leave Cotacachi, it was a hard weekend, knowing that I had a transfer coming, but I'm still somewhat nearby. I assume that I will only be here for the 6 week transfer, to help my new companion learn some of the responsibilities, then I will get sent to another part of the mission to finish my last two transfers.
I hope that everyone is doing well this week. From all the letters from everyone, sounds like it has been pretty rainy and cold. Jared sent me some pictures of riding four wheelers and bikes out at 8mile canyon... I don't even know what to say about that. I guess just that, there better be a few machines with full tanks of gas for when I get back home. We live such blessed lives, so many toys.We live in about the greatest place in the world too! Love you all! I will be excited to hear from you all next week.
Elder Matthew Morris

one thing i have meaning to say. about 2 months ago there was an earthquake here in otavalo. it was a sunday morning at 3:30 am. there were actually 3 in a row over 3 hours the night, but the last one was the biggest. since then, a major volcano in central ecuador, tungurahua, woke up, it has been smoking since the earthquakes. last week it started having small eruptions of rock and lava flow. since then, one other major volcano and 2 other small ones started to smoke. there are some 40-50 volcanoes here in my mission (the ring of fire, ya not just a Johnny Cash song) so be sure to keep little ecuador in your prayers. we have a mission wide "fire-drill" in case of any emergencies. we all have emergency food storage and everything, so if anything were to happen, this mission is prepared. but just be sure to keep us in your prayers. love you all!
Elder Matthew Morris