¡Hola familia!

So you may be wondering why the subject for this email says “the news from Guayaquil” when I’m clearly in Balzar. No I didn’t get transferred. My darn companion has just been half sick for weeks and Sister Gamboa made us take a two-and-a-half-hour bus to Guayaquil so that he could have a one-hour doctor appointment where nothing seems to have been accomplished. But on a brighter note I did get to hang with Elder Elwood, and Elder Frye’s companion was also sick so I saw him for about 10 minutes too. I found it ironic that Elder Frye’s companion was sick instead of him because it seems that guy is always sick. In fact when I saw him I said, “What are you sick again? You were just getting over being sick the last time I saw you!” and he said, “Nope this time it’s my comp!” I just can’t stop running into those guys. I live in a very small world.

I’m changing apartments this week. That’s going to be fun. It’s a long, long story and I really don’t feel like going into details because it will annoy me just to think about it. President Gamboa told us to change our apartment ASAP, so that’s what I did Saturday. I didn’t work; I went apartment shopping. Which I have never done in my life. And as it turns out, there isn’t much of a housing market in Balzar—like, at all. But we did manage to find an apartment that fits the criteria that Elder Williams gave me. It’s awesome because it’s a brand new apartment, much better than the pit where we currently live. Honestly the biggest difference is that it’s a new apartment with fresh paint; it’s still just a concrete box like every other apartment I have lived in during my mission. So Elder Williams and I have been working like crazy trying to get this change to happen before transfers roll around next Monday and I think we will be able to pull it off. But that means that we will have to haul all of the stuff out of our old apartment and into the new one and that means next week will be yet another week full of interruptions where I don’t get everything done that I want done. Oh I forgot to mention that we did take a day off last week because my comp was sick and needed to stay in the house and throw up for a while. But he’s good now. Probably. So between my comp being sick on Thursday and the apartment garbage on Saturday we lost two work days last week. I also did an interchange with Elder Baum on Wednesday so that was three days during the week that I didn’t work in my sector. My interchange with Elder Baum was fun though. He is a cool guy and he works hard; his mommy should be pleased.

Hey, so you guys mentioned that you have been reading Nathan and Tasha’s weekly emails. Could you convince their parents send me their letters too? I can print them out and read them pday—and Derek’s too…and Clark’s. Yeah, that should cover it. I got that package you sent; it was great. I love the videos, the pen, and the cookies. I did hear about the Haiti quake by the way. I don’t know much about it; I just know it happened. I was thinking about what it would be like to be a missionary over there right now. Crazy stuff. I can just imagine the chaos that we would see if something like that hit Guayaquil. I think it would take a long time to sort out the mess. Are they struggling to get a decent relief effort mounted?

Moving back to Ecuador based things, Elder Mitton is going home this week. I still can’t believe it. I have been thinking about it a lot because he was the first gringo I ever knew in Ecuador and he hadn’t even hit 8 months at the time. And now he is going home. And Elder Elwood is about to hit 20 months. And Elder Muhlestein just broke 6 months. I can’t believe I have a kid with 6 months already.

Ok well its time to end this letter before I get too trunky. I think I will tell you my thoughts about what will happen with transfers just to ensure that it doesn’t happen like I think it will. Elder Lopez now has 4 changes here in Balzar so we probably wont be together next change. I doubt that I will get transferred because the only way I see myself leaving before Elder Lopez is if I become a zone leader, in other words, I ain’t going nowhere. If Elder Lopez does get transferred I think I may train again because there is a big group coming in. No matter who gets transferred though, both of us have to go to Guayaquil so that I can drop off Elder Lopez and pick up my new comp because there is nobody for me to stay with in Balzar while I wait for my new comp. So don’t expect a letter from me to quickly next Monday. Ok family, that’s the news!

Te quiero,
Elder Walke