First Email from the MISSION FIELD

Okay I finally arrived in Ecuador. All the new missionaries stayed in Quito for three days just for an orientation type of thing. I really liked the city of Quito it was actually really nice. Then I met my new companion. Elder Luque is a nice guy from Peru and he speaks English (which is really good for me right now). Our area is about 8 hours away from the city of Quito by the coast. The area is called Esmereldas. I can't really see the coast from here though. Now when we drove here on a bus it took us 10 hours instead of the usual 8 hours. I still don't know why that is. So my area is known to cause a lot of missionaries to go home early. Now let me describe why that is. Well this area is the most dangerous part of Ecuador, it's hot here, and the people don't wear alot of clothes. Its actually really gross. Like yesterday we went to teach this new investigator and a little kid walks up to her. I'm still not even sure the kid was hers. Anyways during the lesson she just popped out her boob and started feeding the kid. I was just like "What the heck!?" If I were to describe this area I would describe it as a Spanish Africa. This area is known to have all the black people and it's dirt poor and freaken hot, like I said before. It's so wierd because there are dogs everywhere. Like the people don't even notice. Seriously random street dogs and cats walk into peoples houses and the people dont even care. But then again they do have random chickens in their house as well.

Ha but its actually pretty neat here. Very humbling. Alot of the houses that we visit are either made up of cinderblock walls or thin wood walls and then usually just sheetmetal for the roofs. The people here are really nice to me and I'm like a teacher to the little kids. I help them learn english and they help me learn spanish. Just the other day I did this girls english homework. Her family was so amazed at how fast I finished it but I didn't tell them that it was 1st grader level.

The food here is known to be the best in Ecuador. Ive had some good food. Like the other day when I was eating in these members shack of a house I had the best chicken and rice. with evey meal you can expect to have a full plate of rice. Some of the foods are hard for me to swallow but I have no choice. If you turn down anything here it is a big diss to the families. 

Me and my companion live in this apartment on the second floor. It's pretty nice except for the fact that there is no hot water. I never realized how lucky I was to always have hot water. Seriously it hurts me that it is so cold to shower in. But I must endure. 

The people here don't have much. There is only one paved road in this city. i haven't seen any houses with windows and some houses don't even have doors. But the members are all super friendly and willing to help the missionaries. And of course i have to explain to each person why I don't already speak spanish and why I'm not Mexican. 

But everything here is good. I don't really have any pictures of the area right now but you can expect some next monday. 

My old district was split up when we all got our new companions but I still see and Elder Lindeman. Its always cool to see him and see what crazy things we have experienced here. 

Everday here so far feels like an eternity but at the end of the day it feels like it was just an hour. Its the wierdest thing to wrap my head around. 

Anyway what else should I talk about???

I don't really know.

Elder Rodriguez