October 9 2017 - A Baptism and Malls

This week was super amazing.

I had my first investigator have a baptismal interview on Saturday and it was super dramatic. So we asked her to come at 2:30 to fill out some paperwork and the zone leaders were going to come at 3 for the interview. But she did not show up. We waited with the zone leaders until 3:30 and tried to call her but her family would not answer their phone. We decided to try another number and they finally picked up. She said she could not come to the church because her baby was sick. So we asked if we could do the interview at her house. She said yes and we went over there. Elder Pontón and I were nervous about the interview because she seemed to not be sure if she was ready for baptism. But miraculously she passed the interview. She said one of the reasons she wants to get baptized is that she wants to raise her child in the church.

Her name is Mishel Vega and she is 21 and has a kid. Her mom was baptized 3 months earlier and her cousins and aunt were baptized by Elder Williams so he knows Mishel very well. The service is going to be held on Saturday and we are super excited. My first Baptism!!! Elder Pontón is probably going to baptize her which is cool because I am nervous about doing that.

I still have moments where I cannot believe that I am a missionary in Quito Ecuador. So the rainy season has begun in Ecuador which means it rains every day here. I love it. The best is the lightning. It takes me back to North Carolina every time I hear it. 

But anyways on Thursday at district meeting, we received 21 hardcover copies of the Book of Mormon, which was a huge blessing. We used my backpack and a box to bring them back to the house. But during the bus ride back to the house it started to pour. Like Hard. So Elder Pontón and I ran off of the bus and started sprinting to the house, taking brief refuge in covered places along the way. Our personal comfort and safety did not matter. All that mattered was our new copies of the Book of Mormon. We are just soaked and sprinting and the whole time I am just laughing because I cannot believe that I am in Ecuador, sprinting in the rain, with my only care being my backpack. Super awesome moment and the books are okay.

The toilets were not made for Gringos. I clogged our toilet again but luckily I fixed it that night. Just wanted to keep you updated.

Also Quito is in the middle of the Andes mountains. The Andes are tied with the Appalachian mountains as my favorite mountains (Sorry Utah your mountains are just brown and ugly). This means everywhere we walk is either up or down. It has gotten easier but every day here is leg day. I really want to hike Hanging Rock after the mission just because I know it will be so much easier than it is here.

If you ever run into people from Venezuela, ask to have dinner with them. We have a Venezuelan family in the ward and they are the best. They talk super fast, have crazy stories, and have the best food ever. Oh, and the Coke here is better than it is in the US.

For Pday today we went to the two malls that are in our mission in Quito. It was super awesome and attached are pictures from the malls. The malls here are super nice and probably as nice as the malls in the US. One thing weird here is that the malls here are bumping. In the US going to a mall is sad because all of them are getting drowned by Amazon. There are only old people walking around and little kids riding those annoying animal cars. They have those animal cars here as well which is super funny. But we had fun at the mall and bought some cool stuff.

In Ecuador, the American conglomerate-of-choice is KFC. There are so many KFCs here it is insane. Literally there were 7 KFC's in the same mall. Chic fila is so much better but the people here are crazy for KFC. Also I ate at McDonalds today which was tasty. I had the classic Big Mac meal. Everything at Mcdonalds is the same price as it is in the US which means it is a high class restaurant. But the large meal here is the size of a medium meals in the states. What a rip off.

The Spanish is progressing as always which makes being here easier. I have been able to converse with Elder Pontòn about Colombian politics (he is from Columbia) which is very interesting. I love it here and every week I get more situated.

We have another investigator who is golden. She has a child on a mission and when we gave her the first pamphlet to read for her commitment. She not only read the pamphlet but also read the Book of Mormon verses that go along with it. She is super prepared but works every Sunday in October which sucks but we are definitely going to baptize her.

Quito is a weird city. Sometimes I feel like I am in the capital of a nation and in a metropolis of 2 million people. But other times if feel like I am in El Campo con cuartos. This means the country with some rooms (it sounds better in Spanish). The other day we are walking along a major street with a median strip of grass and four lanes with buses, a major hospital, shops, and sidewalks, and there is just this random cow eating grass in the middle of the median. How it got there and who owns the cow are beyond me but it was just the funniest thing ever.

This was an awesome week and I love Ecuador minus the dogs. They keep me on my toes.

Love,

Elder Tucker

 Question: So this is now the rainy season? I have been checking the weather every week since about February and Quito has shown rain almost daily. Those from California or Arizona serving there would not be used to the rain like us.
Bryce: Yeah the first transfer it would rain once a week but now it rains
almost every day starting at about 2. Usually pretty hard.