Buenas tardes a todos,
So these last few weeks have been super super crazy here in Ecuador… A few weeks ago the whole country shut down due to massive increases in gas prices, causing a multitude of items and transportation to rise as well. Long story short the whole country revolted which cause a huge civil unrest and basically people went crazy rioting in the streets. All highways and roads were shut down, and stores eventually ran out of food. The military were in an all out war with the population and many people died. It was a big disaster for the people here in Ecuador.
Finally, after 12/13 days, the president had a conference with the massive group of indigenous that made there way to the Capitol. The president, having no other choice, lowered the prices again, and everything went back to normal within a day or two. It was crazy to see the cities here get destroyed and the people in such terror.
Thanks to the mercy of the Lord, however, all missionaries were kept safe, and many great members aided all of us with our food. We are truly grateful for all the prayers from home. There are, however, more rumors going around that another paro will start up again on the 30th of October. Please keep praying that this doesn’t happen, as we have rescheduled multiple baptisms for that same weekend. It was a really hard time for us especially being stuck in the house for 9 days. It was hard to keep a good mindset and keep positive, but we pushed through it.
We were super happy to finally be able to leave this last Tuesday! That p-day we mostly spent gathering up food because eating rice nonstop for 9 days was not very fun. Since then, we had interchanges on Wednesday with our zone leaders, which was super fun. On Thursday we had a multi-zone devotional with our president… He shared some good things, and we shared what we learned through the experiences we had in our houses for so long.
My favorite part was finally getting my first package from my parents here all the way in Ecuador! I also bought some pretty sweet ties that day here and a case for my scriptures. The last few days have been really, really great! We have been able to gain back all of our appointments that we lost while the country was shut down, and we even found an awesome new family! This week we should be putting a lot of dates!!!! We have 7 people who are ready to get baptized and should hopefully be ready to go on the 2nd of November!
I’m so grateful for the support I have been getting from home! I am always greeted with a lot of emails from family and friends and it always makes me happy to see that!! I love all of you so much!
Elder Curtis
Dad’s Note: We were finally able to Skype with Bryant this morning for the first time. It was nice to visit with him since he has arrived in Ecuador. He is doing well, is in good spirits and is enjoying his mission thus far. Thanks for everyone that prayed on his behalf. We appreciate your collective prayers. Please see his latest pics for more news on Bryant.
