Yeah yeah yeah I’m Old-ish I get it... thanks to everyone
for reminding me that... but just to let you all know, I’m still a 10 year old
kid at heart.
Anyways this week was awesome and FLEW by!! So lots happened
I guess I’ll go by day:
Miercoles. We finally got out of the house and into the street
to teach. But as you already know it was a half p-day after all of our studies
so we didn’t end up doing much. But it felt soooo great getting out of the
house and back to preaching the gospel! And yes I did celebrate Valentines Day
by buying a pineapple and chupe la piña!! (Only some of you will understand
that reference ;)
Thursday: MY CAKE DAY WAS JUST THAT!! A DAY OF CAKE!!!! I
had 4 different families give me a cake for my birthday and then the Zone
leaders surprised me with a birthday watermelon with candles ha-ha!! (They
asked me what I wanted to eat for my birthday and I just decided you cant beat
a good ol birthday watermelon) I got to celebrate my birthday with several
families and converts and the bishop and couldn’t have been happier to celebrate
doing the Lords work!
Friday: my district (of 10 missionaries and 6 of them are
sisters....) decided to go clutch and made me "papa a la huancaina"
ohhh baby I love that goodness!! If you haven’t tried it I strongly suggest
getting on the next plane to Peru to go get yourself some!!!
Saturday: we had a super long Multi Zone conference, which
lasted 7 hours!! We were spiritual fed by our President Moreno and his wife for
hours and then we were physically fed dinner and went to work! We were
super inspired to have the Divine Companionship of the Holy Ghost with us in
every hour of every day. Man I learned sooo many things and have really been
trying my hardest to apply them in my life! Who knew you could have the Spirit
with you as you jogged or worked out in the morning?? We ended the night celebrating
my birthday with another family of converts/investigators and ended up placing
2 baptismal dates with the parents and they are super excited!!!
Sunday: well I have spent almost 5 months here in Machala,
diesiocho de octubre ward and I was assuming I would be having transfers this
upcoming week..... But no one called me and told me... so I got extremely
excited and figured that I would be staying even longer! WRONG. I got a call at 4:30
pm on Sunday and learned that I would be going to Guayaquil again serving
in sector Los Rios, of the Huancavilca Zone!
But tbh I was kind of upset and super bummed that I would be
leaving the sector... and worst of all I had almost no time to say goodbye to
the 9 converts that the Lord has blessed me with!! I spent the whole afternoon
trying to say goodbye to them and the ward and the other 4 investigators who will
be baptized next week... and of course as luck would have it there was a stake
meeting tonight so none of the converts were there...
But as you all know I only look on the bright side of things
so I knew that I would be coming back in December with the family so it didn’t
get to me. HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK: ANDRES AVILA GOT CALLED TO BE ELDERS QUORUM
PRESIDENTE (and he’s only been a member of the church for less than 3 months!!)
Monday: long and early bus ride back to the good old hot and
wet Guayaquil! My new companion is Elder
Santa Cruz (holy cross) and he is from Quito, Ecuador!! He is my 15th companion
in the mission and broke the tie of 7 North Americans and 7 Latino compañeros!
(Now its 8)
Besides being dead tired from late night surprise packing
and a long early bus ride there’s not too much to write about...
Just wanted to end by saying thank you to all of you who
sent me happy birthday wishes!! It meant the world to me!!
Ps. want to know why I’m so happy all the time?? Read Mosiah 2:41 and
you’ll find out!!
Chao!
Familia Cabrera knows how to throw a party for elder Stidham
ha-ha!! And yes they found my name by stalking me on Facebook ha-ha
Celebrating our last district meeting! Even though 2 of them
weren’t there.
Idk where I’m looking but this is the only good pic of celebrating
with the bishop....
