I´ve had a lot of awesome experiences this week and I´m loving the work so much. Well, first off, the big news. Manuelito and Heidi were baptized this last Saturday. It was such a special experience. They are both just so happy to be members and have not stopped thanking us since last week. The only thing that I would have improved was to tell Manuel to bend his knees when he went into the water. I dipped him under and he just went limp and didn´t help me at all. I was struggling really badly to lift him but I eventually did it and the ward got a good laugh out of it I guess.
We visited the Panecillo today for our P-Day. It was honestly a lot cooler than I thought it would be. Just to fill you guys in, the Panecillo is a giant statue of the Virgin Mary on a hill and it´s a popular tourist destination for people who visit Quito. It´s also the destination where Elder Spencer W. Kimball (back when he was Elder Kimball) dedicated the country of Ecuador for missionary work. When Elder Garcia first told me we were going, I was like "Oh, okay. Yeah, big statue. That´ll be cool I guess." I was not as excited to go as he was, but when I got there, there was a very different feeling about it. I kept thinking about how almost 60 years ago, this is where it all began. This is where the work began to role forth in Ecuador. I felt the Spirit really strongly as I pondered about that. It was a great experience and a good reminder of why I´m here.
We had verification last Thursday. That´s when after 3 weeks all of the new missionaries have a meeting with each other and the President just to kind of gauge how everyoné doing. It was so much fun to be reunited with all of my CCM friends. The only thing I regret was that I forgot my camera so I have no pictures of the grand reunion. Everyone had a lot of cool stories from their various sectors. Elder Kotter is in Puyo, which is in the middle of the jungle and is six hours from Quito. He had lot´s of pictures of Spiders and monkeys. He and his companion arrived in Quito at midnight because they left the morning before but were detained by the military for not having their passports (President Christensen said that that has never happened before and hopefully never will again). Elder Syndergaard had someone ask him and his companion to clear their house of demons. They went and were disappointed to find that their were no demons. Hermana Sjovold has had Cuy (guinae pig) several times and says it´s pretty good. I felt lame because I didn´t have any stories like that but I guess I have something to look forward to.
Elder Garcia and I heard a lot of things in that mission that we knew we had to improve. I´m really forward to this week and putting those changes into place. I´m hoping to have some more good things to report. So, that´s my week. I love you all and as usual hope that you are doing well in your respective locations around the globe.
Hasta la proxima semana,
Elder Travis Hicks
Picture 1: Heid and I in the their home. That thing you see on my head is a gift from them. You can´t really tell in this picture but it says stuf like "Ecuador FIFA 2014" and "Ecuador is my Choice".
Picture 2: All of us at the baptism. That woman on the far right is Julia, the ward meber who first invited Manuel and Heidi to investigate the church.
Picture 3: Left to Right: Hermana Montenegro, the Primary President who helped us so much with inviting them to church and helping them feel welcome, Heidi, Manuel, and Julia.
Picture 4: The Panecillo.
Picture 5: A selfie from the top of the lookout deck. I will not apologize. :)
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