Week Four in Ecuador!

Good evening all! I hope everyone had an awesome week!

 

Overall I´m doing well. I still REALLY want to spend a few days with yáll, but like that song "But then again, I know what it would do/it´d leave me wishing still for one more day with you." I really do love this work, I love sharing the Gospel with those who haven´t heard about the church before.

We had "Verificaciones" this week, which is a meeting to see how all the greenies are doing. There I asked "How can I focus on the work to stop feeling so Homesick?" President Barlow shared a quote from Neil A. Anderson saying "to take their sorrow out of death, would be like taking the joy out of life." He told me I should be celebrating the fact that I miss home, because it means I love you guys.      I´ve only been her for four weeks, I can be a little homesick. Apparently 6 months is the magic number. hahaha.

So the work is slow here in Pelileo. Nobody can come to church because they work seven days a week. we had an experience where a family used their ability to chose not to want to listen to us. that was fun... But everyday we find new people and we keep working.

Today we hiked to a town called "Patate" and stopped by what we thought was gonna be a call waterfall but it turned out to be not that the hike was fun though and the people in Patate were nice as well.

 

Weird things: There´s this fruit called "Tomate de Árbol (Tree Tomato)" that literally everybody grows here. I thought Tree Tomato was a joke until I ate one (or tried to). Turns out it is only good for juice, and even then we have to dump tons of sugar into it. Another weird thing is breastfeeding. so many times have we been teaching a lesson or walking down the street and the woman will just start breastfeeding her kid. It´s normal here, but the first time it happened I stared at the sky for a good while, hahaha.

 I´m learning a lot about how Satan works with me and how I respond to certain pressures. I´m growing as a person, and I´m only just beginning! I thank God every day for this opportunity and can only hope to become the man He wants me to be.

 

¡Nos Vemos!

Élder Sharp 

 

 

 

 

Ambatombatombatombat​o

Hello again!

This week went fast up until Friday. Friday and Saturday literally all of our appointment cancelled for one reason or another. But this Sunday we actually had someone come to church! Other than that, my week wasn´t super eventful, we talk to everyone we can in the street, which is awesome for getting me out of my comfort Zone.

We went to "Ambato" today for P-day and went to a place called "Mr. Joy". they had a lot of fun stuff to do. We played Billiards and Laser Tag. We met a couple that were missionaries from another church. they were from Idaho and were pretty nice.

Weird thing for the week: so they have this... sauce? it´s called "salsa de tamate". when i first saw it i thought " that´s funny, it´s ketchup." Then I tasted it and thought "That´s funny, it´s not ketchup." It tastes... kinda like if you made jelly out of a tomato.

I´m happy to be here, even though there are times when I want to force people to believe. I´m learning how cool it is that our Heavenly Father gave us the ability to choose what we want to do.

Thank you for all the support!

¡Nos Vemos!

Elder Sharp

 

 

Yogur, Sopa, y Pan

Hello once again all. This week was cool. We found a lot of new people and o realized i can understand Spanish. Speaking is still a pain, but the people can actually understand me! That´s been cool and I can teach, which is why I´m here. The amount of times I´ve heard "Soy Católico" is actually laughable.


Everyday for the past two weeks I have eaten yogurt, soup, and bread. They use American currency here and I can´t believe how cheap somethings are. They eat soup and rice for every meal here as well, and bread is a very normal thing to eat as well. If we didn´t walk so much I´d feel very big hahaha. They also sell milk in bags here.


New month means a new stanza for my Monthly Poem. here how it is so far:
 

"Hurrah for Israel! My work has begun!

I'm ready for trials, bring on the fun!

I give these next two years top my Lord! 

I wield the Holy Armour, shield, and sword!

Hurrah for Israel! What more can I say?

May the Refiner's light my way!

Awake my soul! Rejoice my heart!

My Lord, please make me as thou art!

Hurrah for Israel! The field is white!

The world is dark, but our light is bright!

Temptations run rampant, the natural man is strong.

But my God is with me, Her leads me along!

Hurrah for Israel! Have faith in Christ!

For when we fall he helps us Rise!

His Atonement is there and His love is unchanging,

He can calm any storm that´s raging!"

I´m happy to be here, and i know there´s great things on the horizon! I just need to keep my head up to see them coming!

¡Nos Vemos!

-Élder Sharp

 

 

GREETINGS FROM ECUADOR!! 09/03/2018

Hey! Greetings from Ecuador!

I´m finally here!  So much has happened already. The people here are really nice and everyone believes in God! The Church isn´t very big here, so our work feels more worth-while. The town I live in is called "Pelileo" and it is actually pretty cold here. But, we walk all the time, so I get warmed enough hahaha. My companion´s name is Elder Mora (which is funny because that means blackberry). Nobody can pronounce "sharp" here, and so many people have said "Casi Tiburón." I underestimated how much I stand out here. Literally EVERYBODY else here has black hair and tan skin. I need to get used to everybody looking at me.

Today we went to "Baños" which is a tourist-heavy city, so naturally everybody must have thought I was a tourist. We ate KFC there! I didn´t even know that was outside the States! It was muy chistoso. We went to a river and saw people bungee-jumping off the bridge nearby. I really wanted to do it, but I couldn´t (mission rules). Everything is super cheap here. It´s amazing! But the drivers here are so crazy! I don´t think I´ll ever complain about bad drivers again. We either take a bus or a taxi when we need to get someplace, and the taxi drivers are really cool.

I´m very grateful to be here. I haven´t had culture shock so much as just literally nobody speaks English. That and I really miss my family and friends. But, I know this work is important, so I´ll just keep praying.

Love you guys!

¡Nos Vemos!

-Elder Sharp