Okay first, the devotional with President Nelson. That man is a chosen prophet of God, no doubt in my mind. In the few months that I have been here in Ecuador, I have noticed some things that the members of the church could strengthen, and President Nelson addressed pretty much all of them. Tithing, Sabbath day observance, the basic commandments. He knew exactly what the people of Ecuador needed to hear because he received direct revelation from God, it was so awesome. He also spoke in Spanish and that made me so happy to hear his gringo accent haha.
The day after our devotional with President Nelson, we had Zone Conference, it was super, super good, one of the best I´ve had on my mission so far. One of my favorite things my Mission President said was, "El camino del Señor es fácil; El mundo so lo hace complicado." If you don´t speak Spanish, this basically means "The path of the Lord is easy, the world is what makes it complicated." I really like this perspective because if we think about the commandments that we have been asked to follow, they really aren´t all that difficult. The only thing that makes it hard is the influence of the world and of things that aren't as important, so when we get rid of the things of the world in our lives, life becomes simpler. I would invite all of you to take a look at your lives and see what things are making the path of the Lord complicated, and then try to replace those things with things that will help you become better.
In regards to the subject of my email; There is a dish here called Encebollado, and it´s probably like the most famous dish among missionaries. The best way I can describe it is fish and onion soup, but it´s not as gross as that sounds. The other day we were at a member's house for lunch and I mentioned that I still hadn´t tried Encebollado and they were so shocked. They told us they were going to take us to breakfast the next morning so I could try it. What they didn´t know is that I hate fish with a burning passion, so I graciously accepted this offer to try this soup. We got to the restaurant the next morning and I was trying to psych myself up for it, but in the end, it didn´t work. I enjoyed the flavor, I thought it was really good, but something in my mind always says "You´re eating fish right now, you should be disgusted." When I explained this after choking down the last few bites, the member said, "Oh so you´re basically traumatized." Seems like a valid diagnosis. If anyone has some tips on how to get over this trauma, please let me know because this won´t be the last time I eat fish soup on my mission.
Some sad news; Anthony and Nereida, two members of the Venezuelan family, went back to Venezuela yesterday, so they won´t be getting baptized next week. Hopefully they come back before I leave La Concordia, but who knows. Please keep them in your prayers!
Well, that´s all folks. Everyone have a superb week and try to keep life simple!
Love and miss you all!!
Elder Spangler
I´m not sure of the order of the photos, but:
The devotional
4 of the 6 members La familia Contreras
a cool street
my shoes get super dirty every day
Encebollado (fish & onion soup)
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