Hey everyone!
Yesterday was a great day here in Pomasqui. We have had a pretty rough week here in the sector, but yesterday was a good day. We were able to find a few new people to teach. People who were needing us. Its pretty sad sometimes when we find new people and we see their living conditions, and even more, when we see how they are spiritually. There are so many people here that are lost, the feel that they have no purpose in this life. But it is a great feeling to be able to answer all of their questions and doubts. Many times people have so many questions about life, about religion, that they haven´t ever been able to answer, then we come along and show them all of the answers. Its such a great blessing to have this gospel in our lives. The world is running off the tracks, there are so many bad things happening, so much evil and wickedness, but as Elder Holland taught is his talk from conference Oct. 2009, we have the Book of Mormon and the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, which is "Security for the Soul". I know that the Lord can respond our prayers through the scriptures, and we can find what we are looking for. I have been able to personally experience it, and I know that it is true.
I have such mixed feelings in this position I am in now. I miss you all so much, especially Magnum, and I am excited to meet the new generation of twerps in the family, but it is going to be so sad for me to leave this place. I don't know how it will be to not have rules on studying the scriptures minimum of 1 hour a day. The real world isn´t going to give me time for that, it isn´t going to give me much time for anything! I love being here,and I love the people here. I hope and pray that Bishop Klingler has a calling ready for me when I get home. I love this gospel so much. I feel sad for having lost so much time in High School in things that weren´t of worth to me. Sorry Jared and Zach, I was just stubborn, I should have listened to you a bit more. I do know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. I know it. I love "la obra misional", there is nothing so heart wrenching, yet so satisfying as that of helping someone out, helping families stay together, seeing someones progress and transformation to a new person, a new way of life. Sadly the family I taught in Otavalo that was to get baptised today, couldn´t get work off today, so they got baptised Saturday evening instead. I was not able to be there, but I called by phone and was able to speak a couple of minutes with them. There are no words that describe the feelings when a family like them, that was on the verge of divorce, having four young kids, now is on a new track, making plans already to go to the Temple to be sealed for time and all eternity. And all because one day my companion and I decided to say a prayer in the street and knock on there door. They accepted a return visit, but it wasn´t until the 5th return visit that they let us in to share with them our message that we promised would bless them. I love this gospel. I know that families can be together forever. I know without any doubt that the Book of Mormon is true, and my testimony of it cannot be broken down, by that same testimony, I know that we have the Priesthood on the earth, that we have a living Prophet of our Loving Father in Heaven.
I miss you all, but at times I think it would be better if I just missed my plane home to stay just for that much longer. haha. Thank you all for your letters, and I hope that everyone is doing well.
Elder Matthew Morris

Hey Everyone!
This week was a good week for us here. We had a few meetings in downtown Quito, but all turned out well. We just got back to our sector. Today we went to the Stake Center and played soccer again. This week I actually was able to help out my team. I made 2 goals in fact. One I headbutted in, ya I was pretty proud of myself, and the other I kicked in over the goalies head, and not just that, but I kicked it with my left foot. Impressive I know, I'm Ecuadorian at heart. I do miss good old football though. I will be eager to attend dome high school games this fall.
It has been a really hot and sunny week for us. This sector in unique in the mission. It must be for the fact that we are at a high elevation and right on the ecuatorial line, because it is an absolute desert here. There is no other sector in this mission as dry and hot as this one. There isn't even any vegetation in this sector. Im slowly getting used to it, but surely feel out of my comfort zone. It will be a very interesting climate change going from here to home, right as winter is starting.
This next monday will surely be a memorable preparation day for me. A family in Otavalo that my companion and I contacted in the street in June, is getting baptised. We were able to teach them and prepare them while I was still there. Well, they accepted a baptismal date, and have asked that I attend the baptism. So I got special permission from President Sloan to spend next monday there in Otavalo to be able to preform the baptisms and visit some families. I am very excited, if you cant tell I miss Otavalo about as much as I miss Idaho. It just felt like home to me there. The family that is getting baptized is a family of 6, Diego, the dad, Iralda the mom, then the kids, Estefanía 11years old, Diego jr. 9 years old, Shayla 7 years old, and Cristofer 1 year and 4 months old. They are such a great family, ever since the first visit they surprised me with their comment, questions and how readily they accepted our message. Because of that family, I gained a better testimony of the fact that the Lord prepares people to receive this gospel and to make the necessary changes in their lives to live the gospel.
Thank you all for your letters. I love you all so very much and I love to hear from you and to get all of the pictures. I hope you all have a great week this week.

Elder Matthew Morris

Here's a picture from the leadership meeting last week. The old district from the MTC, Elder Taylor and I, Elder Stieber and Elder Robinson. I hope you enjoy.
Oh, and today while in the mission offices picking up letter and such, I weighed myself, ........drum roll please.......... 177 lbs, ya that's right, the lightest Ive been since I got hooked on those MTC cookies, Ive finally gotten down almost to my highschool weight! love you all!
Elder Morris

Hey everyone!
Well let me just start, we had a SLOW week last week. All week long we had training meetings. But I was able to learn alot. I am doing very well. Every week that goes by I am more and more grateful for the sacrament. It really has meaning to me now. I am getting to like it here in my new sector. I really didn't think I would like this sector, but that's just how it goes I guess. Today we had a good day. We were able to go to a mall nearby, we ate at McDonald's. Basically that's the only thing we did today. Either way, it was worth it. haha. I hope that everyone back home is doing well. I love you all and miss you all very much. Mary sent me some pictures of the wedding this week. THANK YOU MARY. I knew she would be the one to send an albums worth of pictures when I hoped for a few simple ones! haha , you all know what I'm talking about. Anyways, what a joy and great feeling to see almost all of the family together. It has been quite a while since we've all been together. I think the last time was Jared's wedding. Maybe the next time will be my wedding! haha.
Well this week we have a couple more meetings in central Quito. I'm excited though. It will be nice. Tomorrow we have the zone leader council. That means dinner with the Sloan Family! That's always a good thing. This last week in the training meetings we had I got to see all of my old distirct from the MTC. Since we got here we haven't all been together. But in these meetings last week all of the leaders in the mission came into Quito. So we all got together, Elder Taylor and I Elder Stieber and Elder Robinson. We just are missing the two elders from Ogden that went to Argentina. I will send a Picture. Look back in the photos from the MTC to see the difference in us. Ok, well the computer I'm on doesn't have connection for my SD card, so I will try to send a few pictures next week. Sorry I don't have much to say. Thank you all so much for everything. I love you all so very much. I'm so grateful for the wonderful family that we have been blessed with. I love you all. have a great week!
Elder Morris

Hey Everyone!
I hope that everyone is doing well back home. I guess the wedding and reception went well for Zach and Juliana. I didn't get any pictures though, hopefully you took pictures! I would love to get some more family pictures. I'm sorry Zach to hear that you have been sick. I hope you get better. Pioneer day was this last weekend, I was sure not to forget. We had a ward activity here in our ward that day. It was fun, we did some little games and relay´s. I enjoyed it, but my legs are still sore from doing jumprope and squats for the relay race. I guess I´ve gotten a bit outta shape. I'm only good for walking, walking, walking.
Today we went to the stake center and played soccer with the Elders from the zone and some members from my ward. It was alot more fun than I thought it would be. I'm actually not that bad at soccer. I just got out there and played like it was football. All the skinny latin kids kept their distance from me for the rest of the game! haha. I headbutted one pass from my companion and it almost went in the goal! I was pretty impressed! hahaha. Last week after having gotten to the sector, I began unpacking my clothes and books. But there was alot of junk on my desk, so I had to clean it all out and arrange everything. So in the cleaning process I found one of those little hacky sack style "stress-balls" that you squeeze in our hand. And so I started playing with it. -off track but- A few years ago at the thanksgiving dinner at the house, Aunt Florence´s car had a tire low on air, so I went to fill it up so she could go home. As I was filling up the tire I noticed that the wires were showing and it began to bulge. The thought crossed my mind "I wonder how much longer this tire is going to last, it looks like its about to pop." and as "pop" crossed my mind, it did just that! A big of a scary experience, but you would think that I would have learned my lesson. So, as I was playing with this small anti-stress-ball, I looked and noticed an unnatural bulge. The thought again crossed my mind, "wow, I wonder how hard I can squeeze this thing, it looks like it about to...." And of course, it popped! Anti-stress-balls cause a very stressful situation when they pop. I had some sort of a powder/sand mixture ALL over me! Those things look pretty little, but they pack ALOT of powder. But all is well, I think I have it all cleaned up now.
This week we had a neat experience in a lesson. We are teaching a few Haitian people here in our sector. There are 4 Haitians that live in the house we are visiting. Edmón, is 20, his friend Shamushka also 20, Noel 29 and his wife Marimar. All of them are here as refuges, all of them lost their entire families in the earthquake. In Haiti they speak French and Creole. So the lessons are a little bit slow, Edmón knows some spanish, and Shamushka knows some English. So little by little we explain, they read from a French Book of Mormon, and then they discuss amongst themselves in French/Creole. Everytime we get to their house, they open the door with GIANT smiles, there is no handshaking from the men, Edmon and Noel, they go right in and give big hugs! They live under very humble circumstances, a small block house, with only a couple of plastic chairs to sit in. But they always try to give us something to eat after lessons, most of the time an apple or a banana. They have passed such trials, and are still passing through difficulties, they don't know the language here, work for probably $15 a week. But they always have a smile on their face, and always want to learn more. It has been, yet again, another humbling experience for me.
I am getting used to the sector here. I no longer have to ask my companion which bus takes us where, nor which street the investigators live on. Its a really dry and hot area. I wear sunscreen everyday, here directly on the equator the sun hits hard! I imagine all of the time, this must have been what Jared lived in for 2 years in Chile! Im grateful for the green and beautiful parts of the mission I have been in. haha
I love you all and thank you so much for always writing! Oh, my Stake President´s son served in the Pocatello Idaho mission about 4 years ago, he served in IF, Firth, Pocatello, and a couple other areas I cant remember. Pretty neat! Love you all.
Elder Matthew Morris

Hey family!
This week was a good week. It was another rollercoaster week, but at least my health is good. Im all better, no fever, no parasites. We had a few challenges with some of the investigators that had plans on getting baptised. They will have to wait a little bit longer to be able to be ready for baptism. Two great things though. One, Last week while in Quito for leaders council, I was able to talk with the missionaries that are in my second sector, San Carlos/Santa Anita, and so I asked them how my converts are doing there, well, Fernando Barrigas, his wife and their two little boys are going to the Temple in Guyaquil next month to get sealed as a family! I still remember clearly the day they got baptised, now they are going to the temple as a family. It fills me with a complete and infinite joy, I cannot explain the feelings in me. And I just remember and think how I was simply an instrument in the Lord´s hands. The other good news, a few months ago in Cotacachi I mentioned in a letter about teaching a family up on the mountainside in the night under the stars, translating everything in Quichwa, WELL.... they are getting baptised this saturday! I would have loved to be present at the baptism. Now comes the sad news, I can´t make it to their baptism, because I got transferred today. I am now in Northern Quito. My sector has the equatorial line running right through the middle of it. Its an interesting area, the climate is much like a desert in fact. It reminds me ALOT of Mesquite Nevada. It was sad to have to leave Otavalo this morning, but I know that if the Lord wants me here, that's what I´ve got to do. There is some reason that I´m here. I love it here in the mission. Thank you Zach for your words in the letter last week. I'm so very excited for everyone back home. So many new things happening. I'm going to be the only single person in the family. Thats really odd. The pressure is on now. I'm in no real hurry though. I have got to apply for BYU I in the next little bit. Lots of crazy new changes coming up in life. I got my itinerary this week from the mission offices. I fly out of Quito October 21st at 6:15 AM, arrive in SLC that same day at about 8 PM. I think thats it, I will have to check for sure when we get back at the house. Like always, many mixed feelings about going home. But I know its just another "transfer" that I have to accept and search for the next lesson to learn from it.
I love you all so very much and am so grateful for the wonderful family that I have been blessed with. Zach and Julie, best of wishes. I'm happy for both of you, I was proud as can be getting the invitation this week, I showed everyone how my brother is going to get married in the temple, mostly I showed them because they all said how much better looking I am than you, but... haha. Love you all. Have a great week!
Elder Matthew Morris

The picture attached is of me roasting smores after the zone leader council here in Quito last week.
Totally forgot to even mention my new companion in the other letter. We are actually in a trip for right now, the missionary that I am replacing is Elder Harding from Virginia, he goes home on thursday, so he is just the third wheel for a couple more days, but my real companion is Elder Estrada, he is from Colombia! Finally! I have been wanting a Colombian companion ever since I got here. He is a great missionary. I knew him before in the mission. We are the zone leaders here in Zona Ofelia. There are a couple of challenges with some missionaries in the zone, but we are both excited to be here and to work together to help out the zone and this stake where we serve. The picture that I added on here was taken during the smore roast last week. Elder Estrada is on the far left, then comes my best friend in the mission, Elder Morales (he is also the new Assistant to President) and then my-handsome-self, and then Elder Duarte, my other best bud that is also from Colombia.
Elder Morris

Hey everyone!
This week was a MAJOR rolleroaster week. We had so many great things happen last week, and so many horrible things happen this week! It was very interesting to me how it all happened. I just know, its always darkest before the dawn. Last sunday we had 3 different families come to church, a total of 13, a record for me in the mission, this week we had a grand total of 0! One of the really sad things for us this week, was after church my companion and I decided to go visit our two investigators that were going to get baptised this coming weekend. Well we happened to find them both in the same place, one block away from the chapel, in a party, very very drunk. So we have our work cut out for us now to get them prepared better. They had both completely left alcohol, one of them is 3 or 4 months without drinking, and the other about 1 month. And they both fell, in the same party. It made me feel so sad. After that we went to lunch, it was a good lunch, I was feeling better, then on our way to another investigators house, like a ton of bricks it hit me, RUN TO A BATHROOM! Luckily we were close to the chapel. Last week I had taken some pills for the parasites I got, I was feeling better thursday through sunday, but they were only under remission. So I was dealing with stomach pains and other unwanted side effects all afternoon yesterday. I'm feeling a lot better today, no worries. And so with all of this going on and some other things, I got to thinking Why me? Why now? and I remembered, before church (and all of the bad fortune) started as I was sitting down reading my scriptures I felt impressed to read from Doctrine and Covenants section 121. And upon remembering that, I decided, all is well, I'm not THAT bad off.
7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.
It was a good lesson learned. Before leaving the house sunday morning I prayed for the ability to learn patience and charity. I guess I didn't take into account the part about HOW I wanted to learn it. But I learned my lesson. I know that the Lord surely answers our prayers. There is no doubt in my mind about that. Amongst all of those problems, we were able to have a family home evening with Family Rosero (converts that I interviewed for baptism 7 months ago) and Familia Aizaga (an investigator family that we found knocking doors a month ago). It was a great FHE. The family is so excited to get baptised. They have the baptismal goal July 24th. I will let you know on their progress and everything.
I hope that everyone back home is doing great. I love you all so much. I have such mixed feeling about everything right now. I just now feel like I'm getting into the groove of things, but now its so close for me to go home. I am so very excited to come home and meet all the new family! The only house that I know is my own! Everyone has gotten married and moved away. But at the same time I want to stay here. I love it here so much. I now understand all those times when Jared would tell me with tears in his eyes, "I am so jealous of you, I would give anything to be back in the mission."
Don't anybody worry about me. I will be just fine here, parasites are curable. Thank you all so much for the letters and pictures always! I love you all.
Elder Matthew David Morris

Hey Everyone,
Sorry it took so long to write today. We just got into Quito. We have a leaders meeting tomorrow. This morning we did a 4th of July barbecue as a zone, and by the time we were all done cleaning up and everything, it was time to get ready for the trip to Quito! Today had a rough start though. This morning we carried the clothes up to the roof for our clothes mamita to wash them. While taking the clothes up I was admiring my new little indigenous grass slippers. Well, on the way down the stairs my beautiful woven grass slippers didn't get any traction. I slipped, while trying to catch myself, I caught hold of the railing with my left arm, but my right hand in its struggle to grab something, caught the broken window next to me. It only caught a piece of it, but it gave me a good notch in the tip of my ring finger! But the bleeding stopped after a few minutes! haha. Just kidding, well no, it was bleeding pretty bad, but I'm fine. I may not have been an eagle scout but I do know a bit about first aid! And this week I had to stay a half a day in the house resting, I ate some bad food or something, I got a bit of the fever and have parasites again. I got the medication, the fever is over, but I still am working on the parasites. But I'm feeling a lot better, so no worries at all! I'm happy as can be here. About the barbecue, I was the "volunteer" chef for the activity. We had 15 lbs of ground beef for the burgers, 10 lbs of beef for the shishkabobs, and a bunch of Doritos, and fruit for a fruit salad. It was great! We cooked it all over a barrel drum grill with charcoals. The burgers and shishkabobs turned out great.
Everyone loved my patriotic outfit, you will see in the pictures. One of the sister missionaries in the offices made me the apron. Its my favorite. The little American flags were a part of a package that Chelsey sent me a couple of weeks ago. Ya, she´s on my favorite list now. The only down part about the activity is that when one of the missionaries was taking down the volleyball net he kinda fell off the poll the he straggled up. They had to take him to the hospital, we aren't sure yet, but they think he broke his arm... oops... So that's how our day went here, it was a fun 4th of July, surely unforgettable.
(OK, just so you know, the apron is the Ecuadorian flag)

This weekend we had a great baptism. Saturday afternoon, I celebrated an early Independence day! Juan Villarreal is a guy that we met my first week here. He has had a rough life, but the moment we arrived, we knew he was prepared. After his baptism he bore a very strong testimony about the church, the Book of Mormon, and that God loves us all and gives us all the opportunity to change. His older brother who is not a member was present at the baptism, he came to church yesterday as well to see how the confirmation is. He really enjoyed church, he even got up a bore his own testimony about what he had seen and felt in the church, it being his first time. He is now an investigator. He was previously the Mayor of Otavalo so everyone in church was happy to see him and touched by his testimony! We have had some great experiences here. Tomorrow at some point in the day I am going to ask President Sloan if I can finish my last three months in Otavalo.

I hope that all is well back home. Thank you for the stories and all of the pictures of this weekend. I hope that everyone had a great fourth of July. Now for being here in Ecuador I have realized how great our country really is. We have a great government, many rights and freedoms. It is a great place, and even better in Idaho!
Love you all. I hope to hear from you all next week!
Elder Matthew Morris