Elder Anson Hollingshead

1 Anson 2:3

Hola everyone and Landon

First of Im not in America anymore Im in ECUADOR!!!! YAY. The past couple of days have been hard work but so so so awesome.

My area is pretty rough, it is the poorest and most dangerous in Ecuador so that's pretty awesome. Our apartment is one of the nicest in the area and we don't even have a trash can😭. But anyways It's called Monte Sinai and the zone I am in is Elvira. But even tho it's super rough here I don't have to worry too much about getting robbed because this area has their own superheroes(gang members). If superheroes demanded money for their services and if you didn't pay they will find you and do lots of not so nice things to you. But their services are in you get robbed or anything the self appointed superheroes(gang members) will find that person and bring them to your door step and kill them right in front of you. When I heard that I thought that my comp was kidding but he was fully serious. So I hope we don't get robbed😁.

Besides all that this place is so awesome. We are so closed to so many members and they people are so kind and so happy even though they live in some pretty terrible conditions. Something surprising to me is that mostly all of them will just let us talk about the gospel to them for a while even if they aren't super interested. So most people will listen to us which is awesome. Well I should say listen to my comp Im not close to speaking a ton in lessons yet but I'm getting better everyday.

Thursday:

My first day here was pretty chill my comp just took me around my area meeting a bunch of the members and people we were going to be teaching. Saw a ton of abandoned dogs and cats. Had dinner at a members house and got s family sized serving of rice.

Friday:

Friday we went to breakfast with the other Elders in my area and had my first balone and I didn't finish it, Im not used to the food yet. Then we had our DC which I think was good because it was all in español so who knows. We also went to a mall close by and it was the closest thing to America since I've been here. We had KFC there and instead of fries they serve you RICE!! I just can't get away from it. We missed some of our appointments too because we got lost for 2 hours but we did hopp in a game of soccer and won so that was pretty awesome.

Saturday:

We got invited to a service project. Had no idea what we were doing or what they were saying but we were only supposed to be there for an hour but we were there for 3. The members we were helping gave us breakfast which was good with another family sized serving of rice, except the the fake coffee they served us was terrible 0/10. Would not recommend trying. Came back and did some studying and the sleep demons were winning the battle, I hit my head a couple of times on my desk.

Sunday:

Had 0 of our friends we invited come to church which was a little disappointing. It was stake conference so it was 2 hours of straight talks in a language I don't understand so as except the sleep demons were winning the battle again. Also though we were gonna get robbed this day. We were at a friend's house just teaching on the front step when a bunch of gang members hopped off their motorcycles right in front of us. But then they went to the next door neighbors to bang on their door and demand their payment. Had dinner with members again and also again had a ton of rice.

All and all I love this place love the people just can't wait to be better at español so I can actually talk to them. Im so excited for the work I see the Lord helping us everyday we are out preaching the gospel and I know he answers our prayers.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/U1p9YbdbpLdbz1819

Elder Anson J Hollingshead