Kyle left 8 1/2 weeks ago to serve the Lord. Letting go of my 24 month hug from him on the curb of the MTC in Provo, Utah was one of the hardest things that I have done. As you can imagine with my son serving in a third world country, my e-mails to him have included questions about his living quarters, the community he is living in, etc. Yesterday, 12/2/16, a Fed Ex package was delivered to the house and inside of the package was an envelope containing 4 hand written letters with a return address of Guayaquil, Ecuador. My son wrote Aspen, Morgan, my mom and dad, and me heartfelt letters. As we silently read our letters from Kyle, tears streamed down our faces....each one of us cherishing every word written. In his letter to me, Kyle answered my questions, in detail, that I had been asking him about regarding his living quarters and the community he is currently serving in. I thought that I would update his blog with a few of the details that he included in his letter to me in an effort to paint a clear picture in your mind as to how he is doing, what he is experiencing, and how he continues to choose to find the humor in the most challenging situations while, at the same time, strengthening his testimony of the gospel. Below are a few of the excerpts from the letter Kyle wrote to me, dated November 25, 2016:
"I hope this letter gives you a better picture of what my zone looks like."
"The area that I am in is so poor it is crazy. Pretty much the size of people's houses are the size of our garage. My house is the nicest part of this city. We don't have warm water or lights and our AC is the windows being open or shut. My house is super dirty too...it has bugs all over the floor and in the shower. I swear the toilet is made for little people. I tried sitting down and my knees literally press against the wall. I feel like Elf in numerous different ways. Haha. Oh! Also the mirror we have is about 3 to 4 feet off the ground...that might be a little over exaggerated but you get my point.
"In the mornings, I squat to see my hair, brush my teeth and so no. I have had a few bugs sleep with me a few nights ago and got some awesome bug bites. Don't worry. I don't think that I got the Zika Virus. Not Yet."
"I did not expect Ecuador to look like this. The houses are just forts and there is like 15 people living in each of them. I seriously can't tell who lives in each house because they literally all go into each others houses! I can't tell the difference between a store and a house because of how run down it is here. To describe how poor it is here, imagine walking into our garage when it wasn't organized at all, had all our boxes everywhere, add old food sitting out, walls that are metal slabs, or in this case, they are concrete bricks, a 'couch' that has a piece of plywood as the cushion, and then have about 15 people living in it."
"The church has about 6 rooms, the chapel, and two bathrooms. There is no AC so you just open the windows and hope for the best. The church is also covered and surrounded by a barbed wire fence which is super pretty! Also, I forgot to mention that there are chickens in every house and so that makes for a great air freshener! Haha."
"I am having fun and I love it here but I am not able to express how I feel 100% in Spanish. I study the language an hour a day, and it is helping, but I think the hardest part about this is that my companion doesn't speak any English so it is hard to ask clarifying questions or know the rules or what to do at certain times of the day. I just say, "Si" and go with the flow. It is hard to understand people here because they slur their vocab and sentences. If Spanish wasn't hard enough as it is!! In the missionary lessons we give, my companion talks pretty much the entire time and I bear my testimony...but I know the Gift of Tongues is real and that in order for me to receive that gift, I have to struggle."
"We did commit one person to baptism and he is such a nice guy. I love him!! I love the people here and some of them are trying to learn English to understand me more which is so sweet of them! I have met some awesome people and I feel great serving the Lord."
**Kyle ended his letter to me by bearing his testimony in Spanish.**
"Love Always,
Elder Sorenson
3 Nephi 13:7-8
D&C 132: 49-50"
No comments:
Post a Comment