Well Hello!

July 9, 2012

Dear Family, Well, Hello!

We are finally having a lot of success. This week we had four baptisms and this next week we will have more:) Finally, all the hard work has paid off for the past two months. Oh guess what? I WAS MADE ZONE LEADER! Hahahha, I'm pretty stoked. Today, we traveled to Guayaquil to zone leader counsel with President. We discussed stuff about the mission and how to better it. The only down side is that I will never have another p-day. Today at the counsel, he bought us Kentucky Fried Chicken for all the zone leaders. That was pretty cool. I just write on the run now for the next year of my mission and lose all my nights and mornings taking calls and being the zone leader but, I am not going to be that jerk that just wants numbers.

My new companion is Elder Savage from down by Richfield. He went to Snow the year before me. We are both rednecks and are always talking about the dumb stuff we did before the mission. It's so funny now to look back on the times before the mission.

I would like to tell you a small accomplishment. I have not bitten my nails for 2 weeks, haha. That's pretty cool. Elder Savage is pretty cool. He's helping me stop and I'm successful. Oh, also, another thing, you guys don't need to send me a camera. Mine started working again so we'll see how long it lasts. Don't worry, I am taking pics. I just haven't been able to send them today, as we are running very late.

I love you all very much.

Love,

Elder Profaizer

July 2, 2012

                                                                        July 2, 2012

Dear Family,

            Hey everyone, I’m still alive, haha, last week was soooooo nuts.  We haven’t stopped 10 seconds to even think about home. It’s better that way really.  I’m worrying a lot about some things.  I feel at the point of rage at times but I’ve been praying for patience and God is helping me keep a cool face and a cool outside when inside I’m dying of pressure.  Our sector is SOARING and we have tonnns of people.  We had a baptism Saturday and the familia Moreno and Mieles are getting married this week so we will have 6 baptisms for this next Saturday.  This is incredible because in the whole year before we came here, they only had two baptisms.  We are working like crazy and Monday we got a call and we had to go to Guayaquil to meetings.  We were gone all day so those of us who had p-day that day didn’t have a p-day, that’s why you didn’t get a letter. Today we aren’t having much of a p-day either because we are so worried for these marriages.  The leaders are on my butt like crazy but now it’s not because the sector is low but because it’s high and they are watching us like hawks trying to figure it out.  I may be next in line to be  a zone leader. We’ll see.  We gotta have baptisms this week!  I want success sooooo bad, I’m going crazy but I can’t stop myself. Haha.  I’m getting old also, back pain, knee pain.  I’m going to come back a cripple but we are having success.  Last week my companion and I had a record for 17 people in church and 26 lessons with members present and 13 baptism dates.  This week was a little lower but it was still the high for the week in the whole mission with 13 people in church and 24 lessons with members present, so we are being watched pretty good.  There are 210 missionaries in our mission.

            I’m very happy to hear the good news that the truck still runs.  I hope to repaint it when I get back and throw a high speed rear end in it.

            Thank you for the package.  The socks were badly needed and the camel:)            I still haven’t celebrated the 1 year mark because we haven’t had time but I hope to relax a little today.

            Well, I hope you all have a great week.  I love you all so much.  Thanks for your love and prayers.  I’ll keep praying for you guys.

                                                                                                Love,

                                                                                                Elder Profaizer

P.S.  Mom this is for you,

            God knows what needs to happen and he loves you.  If you get released from your calling it’s because God wants it to be done.  Don’t worry about the legal thing.  Just remember this person will be judged before God for his acts on the earth.  

Pictures from 2 July 2012

Almost all of these people are investigators

who came to the baptism

 Heidy Moreno Baptism

Pictures from 18 June 2012

Familia Mieles - New Members to be

These Horses just roam the streets.

Better watch where you step.

Dear Family

June 18, 2012

Dear Family, Wow, what an incredible week:) Your prayers are sure making it here. I am so happy to be out here. Tuesday we went to the Moreno family’s house and told them they needed to get married and they said, OK. They said that they wanted to but they didn’t have money to do it and they wanted to get married next month. I asked them how much they had saved and the mother, during the last three weeks of not talking to them, had been scrimping and saving little by little and brought out $40!!! I was so impressed because that’s a lot of money for them. Today they are going to see if they can get married at once because they have 3 kids. When the kids were born, the Mom didn’t put the Dad’s last name on the birth certificate cause she was upset at him. Now it might cause them ALOT! Like $300 to pay to fix everything. Anyway, they are going today to see if they can get married. Please pray for them. They have worked so hard and Alfredo, the Dad, went from smoking a pack a day to 1 or 2 cigarettes a day. They are really trying so hard to change their lives. If they get married this week, they get baptized Saturday!!!!!!! Also, we are teaching another family, the familia Mieles. They are so great also. They are going to get married the 5th of July and then get baptized on the 7th. Ahh, God is blessing us so much with everything. We absolutely blew allllll of our goals for lessons, new investigators, and baptism dates right out of the water this week. Our goal was 10 lessons with a member present and we got 18, which is incredible. I’m so happy to be out here. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM and TAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I sure hope you guys had a good one. Dad, HAPPY FATHER’S DAY also. Yesterday, the ward bought a small cake and cut it up into small parts and gave everyone a piece. It was so good but wasn’t a chocolate cake, haha, that almost doesn’t exist here and I can’t cook one because of fact that I don’t have an oven. I barely have a stove that 2 burners work on. Lol, the mission is just a blast.haha Oh, good news, my camera started working again so I’m just gonna hold off on buying a new one until it really dies. I just can’t bring myself to spend that kind of money. The electronics here are so much more because they come from the “USA”, haha, so much do they know, we get our stuff from China, lol. Oh a little bit of exciting news. I had parasites this week. I guess I ate something and for 4 days I couldn’t eat anything without getting sick so I called the nurses of the mission and they gave me “The BOMB”. It cleaned me out good. I’m all better now and back to eating mountains of rice and beans again. I love you guys so much. Thank you for the package. I’m loving the new socks though I haven’t used them yet. I’m gonna put them in storage for when I have 18 months and all my clothes are trashed. The mission kills clothes. Oh and Gracious for the camel. I’m hitting hump day on Friday, so crazy. In your next package to me, could you send a couple of sharpie markers? Just black ones. I can’t find markers here that are actually permanent. They all say they are but they aren’t. Oh and a small buck pocket knife. I can’t find a sharp knife either. Just a little one. I love you guys. Love, Elder Profaizer

Hello Family

June 11, 2012

Hello family,

            Well thanks to you guys.  We did have some wonderful miracles this week.  We found a whole family….they went to church….We found another couple and they were at church also.  Oh and the familia Moreno?  I don’t know if you guys remember them.  She told us she didn’t want to get married so we dropped her 3 weeks ago and haven’t gone back. Yesterday, out of the blue, we were sitting in church and guess who comes walking in?  SHE DID!  I couldn’t believe my eyes.  I was soooo overwhelmed with happiness.  (I didn’t cry) but I must say, I was very very happy.  She told me after, that she had never felt the same since we dropped her and she knows the church is true because of how the members act and the example they set.  We have an appointment tomorrow at 3 and we are going to put a baptism date with her again.  But, they are still going to have to get married.  The only problem was that before, she didn’t want to be married but the husband did, but if she knows the church is true, she will.  AHHHH THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS!!!!!!!!!   We had 7 people in church and that’s like nobody to you but for this ward it is a record breaker.  In fact, the most they have had all year is 5.  The bishop was very pleased and thanked us for our work.  It doesn’t matter if the people thank us really, because God will bless us, but it still feels good to know someone sees what we are doing.

            Yesterday at 7:30 in the morning, we went on a mission to get pictures of the sector and we went out and took some hidden pictures.  That’s what my sector is like in the back part….all dirt roads and they call them cane huts but they are made of bamboo.  I hope you like the pics.

            So this morning we had changes and my new companion is Elder Espinoze.  He is from Quito, Ecuador and he has been out 5 months.  From what I can see, he is really sharp and will be an asset to the ward.  I’ll miss Elder Valenzuela from Mexico.  I told you guys I was going to break him in and I did.  He is a hard worker and doesn’t complain.  When he’s sick he keeps going and is obedient now.  I’m so happy he changed.  He’ll have a successful mission.

            Guys I love you so much.  Thanks for your prayers.  Please keep them up because we still need more miracles but just so you guys know.  I’m seeing the answers to your prayers here and it sure is a great blessing.  I love you so much.

            Love, Elder Profaizer

P.S.  You guys have got to come to Ecuador…I don’t know if it’s possible for us to go back after I get home and get released but you guys would have a heck of a time.

Pictures from 11 June 2012 Letter

Matthew got to baptize this wonderful family in his district

 This family is so great

 Snuck into the dangerous part in the morning and

took pictures of the real world of Ecuador

 Bamboo Hut

 It is really pretty back there but very dangerous

 Matthew is so cool