Christmas Skype, Packages from Home Received, Preparing for New Years and Next Changes

12/28/2015

Wow that is really great. You managed to get everything right for the camera and I did get some photos taken so I will be sending those to you guys. It was great seeing you in the call and I didn't cry afterwards but I really enjoyed seeing and hearing from you guys. I can still remember leaving to go here in June. Time has flown. The kids seemed a little quiet though but oh well.

I know it is supposed to get somewhat chaotic here for New Years. That is great to hear about the other missionaries. This week was a little lazier for us but we still managed to get work in. Basically from the phone call on Christmas Day we went straight to work so we didn't slack off too much. I enjoyed all the gifts and as I promised you will get more photos soon.

Today we just ate a nice lunch and cleaned our house as often we don't have many things to do here that aren't really expensive. So that is pretty much what we did. The Friday was interesting as we recieved a capacitacion (translation=Training) on Family History and the first half hour was like, you need to go to the temple. Well I thought, geez thanks I know we need to go. Say something else (mom's note-the Temple in Ecuador is in Guayaquil, so he won't be able to go there for his whole mission since it is in another mission altogether). So we spent a little time doing that. The sector and my relationship with Elder Paul are going well and we have changes coming up soonish so we will have to see.


Love,
Elder Throop


*Mom's Note
Tyler was able to Skype home Christmas Day, in the afternoon, so we were able to see him and talk to him.  He mentioned that he did receive both packages, one from me and one from the ward, for Christmas.  He had already made good use of the Nutella!  He also bore his testimony in Spanish which was great to hear.  He was a bit confused on my package, however, since he had forgotten that I had hidden his camera inside the box of soap.  I told him that he needed to go back home and open the "soap" box since that's where I hid the camera so it wouldn't get swiped by customs once it was inspected in Ecuador.  There have been many stories of items not getting to the missionaries because the boxes are searched before sending on and valuables are sometimes taken out.  So, after the call, Tyler was able to find the camera hidden in the box, so now we have the first pictures of him since Elder Goodfellow, his first companion, was transferred.

Selfie in his new Ecuador soccer shirt

Elder Paul's strange look

What passes for a "mountain" in Santo Domingo

View from apartment

Further down the street outside the apartment

Spoiler Wanted for Star Wars VII, New Years is a BIG Deal, Dinner with the President, Ecuador Futbol Jersey

12/21/2015

Wow that sounds cool with the Star Wars plot. Here in Santo Domingo the celebrations are a little died down for Christmas I think. I mean I have seen some parties and stuff going on but nothing crazy. They don't have too many Christmas lights. Mostly they go around with an image of Mary and light off fireworks causing some disturbances. It is during New Years that is the problem. Apparently the 31st people do lots of stuff here that is pretty insane. I have heard some things but I will be able to tell you guys more soon in the call. All I need to know now is your Skype info as it should be three here if I am thinking correctly.

I kind of want to hear the main spoiler as I have like 17 months until I will see it. I think my companion wants to know as well. I wasn't aware you were planning on getting me anything so thanks for those things. I guess it must be stuff I can only use after the mission. I recently passed a computer store and saw cameras and they were expensive so I will wait to see if those packages came in.

That is great with the Messiah. I have had a slight cold here but it is clearing up.

The main event of our last week was the dinner with our President. It was about a 3 hour bus ride to get to Quito. We left on Wednesday and had the dinner and everything on Thursday. It was really fun. So that was the main event we had. Today we had no activity but I did finally get an Ecuador futbol jersey (fake of course) for 8 bucks from my personal money. It looks pretty good and should last the mission. I think that is all I have to say for now. I hope you guys have a good week and I look forward to seeing you guys on Friday.

Love

Elder Throop

Dirt Roads Get Muddy, Cow Stomach, Can't Bully Me Anymore

12/14/2015

Well I did hear about Sister Young which is really sad. I knew she had heart problems but I didn't know she would die. That is really sad but we do know where she is now. She might even being keeping an eye on my mission.

It's great to hear grandma is getting a smart device. Hopefully she learns a little bit more about the twenty first century now. The area is going fine. We have been contacting like crazy. We had divisions with our zone leaders last week and I ran my sector for the first time. Everything fell (typical luck huh?) so we contacted a bunch. We are starting to see fruits of all those contacts as we had citas (translation=appointments) set up with many and we have many more citas planned for the coming weeks. 

As for the weather it rains almost every day but when it doesn't the sun comes out and bakes us. We have a lot of dirt roads in our sector so they get really muddy. As with the ward council well I think it is a normal thing here were it isn't the best but we still try to do our part. Here it is an obligation for us to be in ward council. So that will happen in this sector.

Well as for the foods I recently ate cow stomach. It looked really strange but didn't taste too bad. The rice part of that meal was worse quite honestly so we do have strange foods sometimes.

I don't know how exactly people get recommended to be senior companion but I do know it is inspiration as I know someone who just finished his training and now is training. Quite honestly I am alright waiting and learning as many people can remain junior companion for awhile but I have 6 months so no one will bully me and tease me as much anymore even if I am junior comp. I don't know if they want me to be senior comp or not.

Well it has gone well this week. This next week we are going to Quito for the Christmas dinner so two and a half days out of commission but you can see the pictures on Facebook if you look up the Ecuador Quito Mission as Hermana Christensen puts things on Facebook. So we will be doing that. I hope all is going well and I am looking forward immensely to the Skype.

Love 

Elder Throop

Dirt roads, Opening the Sector, Christmas is Coming

12/7/2015

I am in a nicer cyber this week but still dinky. This sector has a lot of dirt roads and there are many people here that are uneducated or poorly educated here so it can be harder to teach. My companion is from California and he has been bugged in recent days to hear about the terrorist attacks on California. I also heard a little on what is going on with the political elections. We got to see the Christmas program yesterday (in Spanish) and that was great but it was unfortunate Thomas S Monson didn't speak. His age seems to be affecting him.

This sector is a little harder as we are opening the sector. Opening means that you and another Elder have to find bunches of new people and contact like crazy and learn the sector and you have a hard few weeks. What happened previously was a missionary decided to do something dumb and emergency changes happened after like two weeks and so my companion ended up working in the other sector as this sector didn't have people (thanks to missionaries being not the most obedient). So now we, as harder workers (and hopefully more obedient), get to open the sector. It has been rough. The ward council literally does nothing and only like 4 people went to ward council. We had 170 something people in church but our bishop most specifically didn't say too much other than ask about the numbers and ignore everyone's council on home teaching. So we got a rough sector, but I can deal with it. So that is what happened.

Today for Pday we played football which was really fun. Last week we did have lessons but we did a lot of contacts.

Well love you all and Christmas is really close as well as the phone call.

Elder Throop

New Area, Wall of Humidity, Turkey for Thanksgiving

11/30/2015

Well we got transfers and I got transferred far! We got the transfers yesterday and Bum Bum Bum I'm in a new sector today. I got transferred to Santo Domingo which is the coast of the mission. I am in a place called Bomboli. So we are about 3 to 4 hours bus ride from Quito.  Quite honestly you need to be a missionary to understand the importance of transfers and of how nerve racking it can be. Still it wasn't too bad. I never thought I would go here but I am here in my second sector with my fourth companion. Getting here was rough but I had no trouble packing last night. You know me, shove and push and hope it zips shut. It worked really well.

This sector does look a lot different. I am glad to be here as it is a new opportunity. The changes for the other missionaries from my sector were weird as one person who just finished his training is going to train. So they will have fun in Argelia. This change should be a lot different as I went far. Still I am looking forward to it and it should be a good experience.

The weather here is really humid. I got off the bus and ooooof I was hit with a wall. It is modernized but has a lot of jungle as well so it is weird here. The problem is it could be 50 outside right now and it feels a lot hotter. I am starting to adjust bit by bit and hopefully I get used to this place. My companions name is Elder Paul (gringo).

Well last week was harder and we had some activities. The numbers were the worse ever and I just did not get along  well with Elder Lopez.

The Thanksgiving here was pretty good as the Pday before the Thursday we got invited to a members house to eat turkey. I completely forgot Thursday was Thanksgiving as it doesn't happen here. Christmas is important here so I will notice that happening and we will do a lot during that time

Since the transfer, I may never get the packages.  The problem is that people only go once a month and there is too much stuff and not enough time. The secretaries aught to send it but they don't apparently.  But, I am smart so I will find a way to get my package if I can. I just have to be in the offices long enough the day beforehand as we have to go a day early for the day of Christmas dinner. It is a three four hour bus ride. My plan is ask for permission to pass by the offices the day beforehand but it depends on what time we get there. If I do it right I should be able to get one package. It just will be hard as they don't send packages like they are supposed to and the pouch (all the stuff that is supposed to go to Santo Domingo) normally never is sent so it piles up with stuff. But I will get you photos don't worry. I just have to figure out how.

Also, it looks like they might be cutting my mission one week short (and the missions of everyone) as the church is planning on changing the MTC time for native speakers from 2 weeks to 3 weeks. Due to this change, one of our changes will be 5 weeks and so I believe I could be going home as early as May 23rd as the changes normally put people two weeks before they hit two years. Now it is three weeks.

Love,

Elder Throop

*Mom's Note
Here's the mission map with a close up of Santo Domingo and the Bomboli ward.

Changes Coming?, Trek Sister News, No New Foods, Struggles in District, Mission Pres Interview

11/23/2015


Well today we have an activity where we are going to a dinner with a counselor from the stake presidency so I will tell you about it next week and what happens with the changes. Unfortunately our apartment is a lot dirtier ever since the emergency changes.  We do have space with a room for us to sleep, a bathroom, a small kitchen with a fridge, and a room to study and that is our apartment. With changes close I don't know what will happen with my companionship. I believe it is a very real possibility that I could get changed and if that happens I don't know where to. I could stay in Quito or have a really long bus ride to who knows where but we receive the changes this Sunday.

Well I have some funny news my trek sister managed to track me down and she is in the mission field! She she sent me an email (pokie or mikayla for your information) What a surprise!
Apparently she is serving in South Carolina so she gets lots of cool stuff (ipad, car, computer, nice phones, etc) That would be cool to hear about her.

Well I don't necessarily need a hat or gloves but those things aren't necessary as it doesn't drop too cold. That is awesome to hear from Ben and I completely agree with him on the point of transition. The transition wasn't so rough for me as I was less a month from school then, Bam! Elder Throop. Still that is intense seeing him in the MTC. Must be close to Christmas and Thanksgiving break for you guys now huh? Yeah, thanks for the emails about the other Elders as that is extremely cool

As for this week no new foods. The weather is cooling down quite a bit and I need that long sleeved sweater most days and sometimes my rain jacket and umbrella so we are headed to colder times.

I don't think we will have any baptisms this change and quite honestly I feel it is a trial to see if I will be patient and wait the blessings of God in my life. I mean I had one baptism with Elder Goodfellow but then nothing. We kept teaching and I strive to be obedient and diligent, but it is quite the test of patience to have no results after so much work. Maybe I will get sent to Santo Domingo which has a lot of people from the coast and baptize a lot there as coastians are more sincere apparently. This sector has been hard and some of the investigators we had just don't want to repent too much. For example the familia Maldonado, the young paraja don't have many desires to get married as Javier (the man) fell into word of wisdom problems. I am really worried we will lose them as they kind of are hiding. We will have to drop a few people for not going to church and continuing to sin. So this is a harder sector. Still it is my first and I will remember it well.

We recently had our interviews with President Christensen which went well for me. I don't know how often interviews are as this is my first interview but I think every 3 months more or less depending on the transfer and what happens. He asked us to share a lesson of 5 minutes about the Book of Mormon and I think I did well enough and he said my accent is improving which is really good news for me as I have been striving to improve my accent and my grammar knowledge. He commented that when I came to the mission I had quite a bit of grammar knowledge thanks to the four years of French but I have improved which really cheered me up as it has been hard for me sometimes as I remember I had a great French accent. (Maybe I lack a bit in communication but Elder Lopez feels I talk too much. Highly ironic as Elder Goodfellow said I didn't talk enough.) We then shared a scripture we had meditizied (Mom's note-is this the Spanish version of Ponderize?) and our comments and anything we could improve on. I mentioned I had some problems with pride and being humble and he gave me some great counsel. President Christensen is great and very intelligent and helps out a lot when I need it.

Well with this next week I am kind of waiting for the changes as we are kind of mas o menos right now.

Lots of love,

Elder Throop

Skype home coming soon, Elder Lopez, Accent good, but Still Look Gringo, More Weird Food

11/16/2015

That play of Daniel's sounds cool and I find that interesting with everything happening there. It must be nearing Christmas break for everyone and that also means the Skype home is coming up quick. I will hit 6 months and just the week after I get the Skype home. The first Skype home for the family but not the last.

I think thanksgiving could turn out great but I don't know what we will get for Thanksgiving. I will get food of course and be in this same sector but I don't know what we will do.

Elder Lopez is interesting as a companion. Unfortunately, it can happen in the mission with people with 18 months get really trunky as it is 4 changes left. Normally people get trunky their last change as it's basically been 2 years time to go home. I hope we can communicate better as we lack a bit in communication.

Today we went to the telefeleco for my second time and we got farther this time. I actually dressed appropriately this time so I didn't get too cold. I think my accent in Spanish is improving I just can't hear my accent as well as I did with French as I had a pretty good French accent at the end of my school. Still I have improved my grammar a ton and practiced a lot. So I should sound more and more Latino but I still look gringo every day. I do look forward to hearing from Ben as he is starting out and I can remember very clearly what it was like to start.

Oh one thing I forgot. Weird food story time! We did divisions with the zone leaders recently and we got to eat meriande with their pensionista. And we got to eat the tripas of a baca. You want to know what that is in english? Good I will tell you. I ate cow intestine that day. It wasn't too bad (as you freak out reading this email) it was really chewy and I had too swallow it. It tasted kind of like bacon. Have fun thinking about that (we didn't eat too much and the were in small little round pieces.)

 I hope you guys do well and wish you my love and a fun time with Star Wars.

Elder Throop