Cousin Missionaries and Church Attendees

Hello friends and family!

This was a busy week! right after emailing last week, Elder Brown and I got on a bus to Quito (around an hour and a half north) for Verifications. it's for the recent arrival missionaries basically just seeing how we are doing and going over the health and safety stuff again. it was good, but we didn't get back home until tuesday night! One really cool thing, I got to see my cousin Elder Mooney while we were there! He goes home in a a couple weeks so we only had a this one chance to see each other before he left!

Wednesday afternoon, Elder Brown, Pugmire, Medina and I headed into Ambato (about an hour and a half south) for our interviews with the president and my first zone conference! The conference was really good, lots of awesome things. this last month, the mission got 96 baptisms, and before that we have never been able to get above 70! so so cool to be here for that! 

Something that Hermana Barlow (Mission presidents wife) said is "Be the missionary that your mom thinks you are" so dont worry mom, I'm doing my very best! 

Yesterday at church, Elder Brown and I were waiting for a family of 3 to show up, who have said for the last few weeks that they were going to come to church. but they didn't show up. during sacrament we were both a little down, but after it finished and we looked around the room, we saw them in the back! we were so excited! we went and talked to them and while we were talking to them, another one of the families we have taught came over to us! we were going to drop both of these families this week because they haven't been coming to church, but such a miracle that we had 6 people at church yesterday! 

Other highlights of my week:

Today I bought two sweaters all by myself. I know, I am such a big boy.

Today I also ate a meal that is supposed to be for two people to share.

I had to make a new hole in one of my belts because I guess I am getting skinnier

Love you all!

Elder Roberts

Here I am with Elder Mooney

We got to sleep at the house of a couple Elders in Ambato for zone conference

Elder Pugmire and Elder Roberts slumber party round 2

 The meal for two (two burgers, two drinks, chicken leg, chicken wing, curly fries)

Fashion show in one of my new sweaters. also, we rearranged our house. the table is for us to eat meals and stuff at, but we only have two chairs so we have to pull them over from our desks

Volcanos and Eating Normally

Hello everyone! 

This week went by so fast, I am so surprised how quickly times goes by when you get into the swing of things. this week I was finally able to eat pretty normal again, eating 2 or 3 plates of food. ya know. 

I dont have a ton of time today, so this email might be shorter than normal. but I have lots of pictures!

Today we went up to a (inactive) volcano called Quilotoa which was way way way gorgeous. It's crazy to think how it all formed. in the middle of the volcano is a big lake. 

This week I went on divisions with our district leader, Elder Pugmire. he goes home in a couple months and it was awesome to learn from him and hear all of his cool stories! He is so nice and super funny, and he is an amazing teacher for me and for the investigators.

I had the typical "missionary humbling" experience when it comes down to tracking the other day. after around 6:30, nobody wants to talk to us, especially if we knock on the door. it was about 8:30 at night and I was thinking about how inefficient it is to knock on doors so late, but the very next door we knocked on, this man let us in. a couple minutes later, his wife, their daughter and her 5 year old son showed up and we taught them the restoration. they asked us a lot of questions and it was so awesome. we are going to go stop by later this week and hopefully teach them some more, but the spirit in the room was amazing! 

I am getting more comfortable with the language slowly, today I bought a backpack by myself, so you could say that I'm pretty much fluent... right?

Love you all! Thank you for the prayers and love!

Elder Roberts

House of Elder Pugmire and Elder Roberts #SlumberParty

 We are surrounded by volcanos here, the one behind me is "the illinesas"

 These are some pictures from today, the hike is beautiful and not too long at all, but definitely on the cold side! we were so high up in elevation!

Week 2 in Latacunga!

I got a lot of questions about Latacunga and my companion, so I will answer those first. I dont know exactly what the temperature is here, but its a little bit on the colder side. I usually wear my raincoat most of the time, but otherwise it isn´t too bad at all! If you are ever wondering where all of the US dollar coins went, well they are all here! Ecuador uses american currency and everything is super cheap so we use change to buy basically everything. when you pull out cash you just get dirty looks, but I do that a lot lol

Elder Brown is really fun, he loves talking and loves food. which is a good opposite for me because I dont like talking and I dont like food, so I just let him talk and I respond with my best "mhmmm" and "yeah!" all the time. its a good balance. 

I had my first sick day! friday morning I woke up at 1:30 and was up until probably 5 or so vomitting, it was quite the morning. we are sure exactly what caused it, but it passed and all is well! otherwise healthwise, I´ve been doing really good.

The baptism! Friday night I had to opportunity to baptize Ariel Chacon, an 11 year old boy that has been seeing the missionaries here for awhile. on the first night I met him, I had barely said anything at all, and when we asked him who he wanted to have baptize him, he pointed at me! it was such an awesome experience. Elder Brown and I are hoping we can start teaching his mom and siblings. they are all much older than him, but they all went to the baptizm and confirmation so we are hopeful!

Fun factA gecko is the only lizard that can chirp like a bird. or so Elder Brown says.

I love you all! thank you for your prayers and support, they have really been needed and helpful this week!

 This is the gate to someones driveway here. The line between wealth and poor here is very very easily to tell sometimes, and this guy seems to be a big fan!

 they build every building here out of cinderblocks or bricks, and its actually pretty cool what designs people can come up with. my inner construction nerd really came out when I saw these two houses being built! I was so stoked!

  Ariel´s baptism, can you tell why poeple here call us the twin towers?

 Our P-day activity today was monopoly with the other elders in our district. (elder brown, Elder Pugmire, Elder Medina)

and this huge burger was my lunch today! its seriously as big as my face, which is so so cool.

Howdy from Latacunga!

Hello and howdy from Latacunga! 

This place is gorgeous, in 2 years when I get back to Utah it will feel like there aren´t actually mountains there! 

I forgot to bring my journal with me to tell you guys about all the fun things that happened this week. but from memory, this is what I got.

Elder Brown, my trainer, is from Kaysville, UT and has been here for 1 year. He knows what he is doing and is an awesome teacher to the investigators and for me. He plays football and after the mission he is going to play for Utah State. 

It´s weird for me to think that I am in a foreign country, it really doesn´t feel different to me. it´s definitely not Provo, UT but I do feel right at home here.

The language definitely sounds different coming from native speakers. When my companion and other white guys speak spanish, I understand pretty much everything. but when a native starts talking, I just look at them really confused. but the members are super nice about it and are just fine repeating themselves and saying stuff slower for me! 

The bishop in the ward we are in is learning a lot of english so he basically only talks to me in english which is soooooooo awesoooooommeeeeee. 

I have been so blessed this week. It has been a tough week starting to get settled in and figure out whats going on, but I know that I have an awesome support group around me and I know I can do hard things.

And this is pretty cool. I get to baptize someone this friday! 

Photos:

 Blurry picture from Miami about to board our flight to quito

This is our little travel group from the MTC to Quito. Hermana Earnest, Elder Hammond, and Me

 this is the view from the balcony of the secretaries apartment in Quito where I spent my first couple nights

 This is where elder brown and I live. we got our desks and a little kitchen and our beds are in the room in the far corner

and this is the outside of our house! We live below a guy that apparently is really high up in the military and our house is surrounded by like an 8 ft concrete wall with an electric fence above that. We sleep very very safely.

I took this picture on the way just barely to drop off our laundry and send emails. this is definitely a mountain town!

Letter from the Mission Pres

Dear Brother and Sister Roberts-

We are letting you know that your son has arrived safely to the Quito Ecuador Mission.  We can tell that he is a wonderful young man and we are so happy that he has joined our army of missionaries.  He was assigned a trainer yesterday, Elder Brown, who is a great missionary and who will train your son well.  You will hear more from him next Monday, his P-day.  

We would like to introduce ourselves.  We have been serving as President and wife since July 1st of 2017.  We have five children - two married, one on a mission in Texas, and our youngest two (ages 15 and 17) are here with us in Ecuador.  With our son on a mission, and our older son serving in Indonesia a few years ago, we are aware of the wonderful blessings having a missionary brings.  

We have a facebook page for the mission, Steven-Christina Barlow.  We also have a blog with the same pictures, quitoecuadormission.blogspot.com.  A few pictures are also posted on Instagram under scbarlow1.  

Just another quick reminder about sending packages and letters that was given to your son when he received his call:

"Sending Letters from the U.S. to Ecuador 

Use the same address as for packages. 

Sending Packages from the U.S. to Ecuador 

Packages sent from the U.S. to Ecuador may not exceed 8 pounds and must carry a green sticker, even if the post office workers suggest you use a white one. It must have this customs declaration on the package, or it will not be accepted in this country. 

The packages must be addressed as follows: 

Elder/Sister: Full name 

Misión Ecuador Quito 

Calle Robles E4-151 y Avenida Amazonas 

Casilla: 17-03-078

Quito, Pichincha 

Ecuador

Do not send packages by Priority mail or FedEx or UPS. These will automatically go to “mail jail”, requiring a special trip to the post office and payment of a large fee. All of which, will cause a long delay for your missionary to receive their packages. Also if packages are over the limit the country starts charging for overweight and what the package contains(incoming taxes charge) which means you have to pay to send it and then to receive it (generally $30-$80 to take it out of ¨mail jail¨). The church does not cover this cost. The time and money the church spends on postage is enormous in order for the missionaries to receive their mission mail and personal mail, your cooperation in this issue is highly valued, thank you for your help.” 

We are finding that letters and packages take about 1-3 months to arrive.

Some parents  have also used “mission on the fly” for packages (you can google it to find more info).

We know it is fun to get packages, but it is VERY expensive to send and receive them. Another option is to just deposit some extra fun money into their personal account. Almost everything can be bought here that we find in the states. 

Attached you will find pictures of your son's arrival, welcome dinner, with us and with his new trainer.  

We thank you for sharing your son and we know that the Lord will bless him and your family for his service.   

Sincerely, 

President and Sister Barlow

MTC Experience

Hello all! 

This was such a good week! it's crazy to think that I will be leaving here in just a couple days! 

This week we got to host the new missionaries again! It especially fun when I met one parent that spoke spanish and we were able to talk in spanish for a minute! way cool and definitely a good little spanish confidence boost! 

Yesterday morning we had our last class with our morning teacher, and tonight we have our last class with our night teacher, which is definitely sad but we are all super excited to get out into our fields and serve! 

Speaking of getting into the field, apparently getting a visa for Ecuador takes forever. last week we all got our flight plans for Ecuador, and there were supposed to be 13 people in my group going down to Quito, but because a bunch of people don't have their visas yet, about 10 of those people got temporarily reassigned stateside! So I only know of 3 people (myself included) who are actually flying to Quito monday morning. pretty crazy. 

The MTC. I know that the MTC gets a lot of criticism and some people absolutely hate it here, but I know that I have been blessed and put here at the right time, with the right people. The MTC has been an amazing experience full of the spirit and opportunities to learn and grow every day. I know of a few people that are getting ready to come here in the next few months or so, and if I could give you any advice about it, I would say that your experience here is entirely dependent on your attitude and spirit. Strive everyday to keep yourself busy and focused, its really hard to think about home when you keep yourself busy. Your district becomes your family very very quickly. During one of the devotionals this week, the speaker said "There are more prayers per square foot here than anywhere else in the world." This is holy ground, it has been dedicated for learning. 

I've got pretty much all of my stuff packed up now and we are all ready to ship out this week. Thank you everyone for your love and prayers!

Heres another picture of our district! starting  tomorrow we are going to be flying all over the place! 3 of the hermanas got temporarily reassigned. 1 is going to New Hampshire, 1 is going to Tempe, AZ, and the other is going to Seattle. but after the first transfer they should all be flying down to Quito! Also, my companion Elder Sharp got temporarily reassigned to Riverside, CA.

 Everyday that I have been here, I have always sat in the same chair and written in my journal before going to bed. 2 other elders joined me and we called ourselves "the Study Circle." this is us

I dont know why it wont let me turn this picture the correct direction. I decided to get one of these super cool mission shirts.

This is our morning class teacher, Hermano Silva and all of us missionaries

4th of July and Travel Plans

Hello all! 

first, I'll start off with the knee, cause I guess thats everyones biggest question right now! My knee is fine, sometimes it hurts but most of the time I am totally fine. Unless it somehow starts hurting again for real in the next couple days, I am not concerned at all! 

This was such a good week! We had our last TRC practice lessons this week, which was sad but it was also so good to look back and see how far we have come since we started them 3 weeks ago! Our "investigator" was really sad when we told her that Thursday was our last time teaching her. I'm like 98% sure that she is a member. Elder Sharp and I were able to teach the word of wisdom and all sorts of fun stuff, which was a big confidence boost in Spanish. 

Our teachers have been having us practice teaching the lessons in 3 minutes so in case someone in the field says "oh no, I am leaving in a couple minutes!" we can just say "That's all I need!" which is actually smart. I feel like I am a week behind on my spanish, but I know I am still learning which is all that really matters to me. I can teach a lesson but having a normal conversation with someone is still hard! I'll get it though!

Last Sunday, Elder Sharp and I taught priesthood which actually went really well. we had a lot of good participation. and it was nice that it was all in English too. our lesson was on keeping the sabbath day holy and the commandments. Tomorrow we are teaching our district meeting for like 20 minutes on patience.

Elder Howe (One of the elders in my district) decided that my name now is Bob the Builder. Because people shorten Robert down to Bob and I am a construction worker, so, Bob the Builder it is! 

4th of July! almost forgot about this. We got to stay out late and watch the fireworks which was so nice! my district and basically the entire MTC wore red white and blue which was awesome. We had a great view of the fireworks from the stadium of fire which was definitely a plus! 

Yesterday I got my travel plans! I am on a flight with 13 other missionaries! leaving very early in the morning on July 16th!!! the hype is so real! 

Love you guys! next time you hear from me I will be packing up for the field!!

Elder Roberts

Here are some pictures! 

This is one of the views we have basically every day, we walk down that path on the right into the far building where we have our classes on the 4th floor

some good lookin fellows reppin the red white and blue on the 4th!

left to right Elder Anderson, Elder Sharp, Elder Howe, yours truly, Elder Hansen, Elder Cogswell

 A super blurry picture of some fireworks

 From left to right, we have Elder Giles (from Las Vegas, going to Argentina) Elder Redd (from spanish fork, going to Peru) and Elder Sharp (from Tennessee, going to my mission)

this is our beautiful window sill. We have some pictures of some of our families up (mine is the far right) the little yellow paper we have underneath Jesus is our weekly room cleaning report. On a random day of the week our rooms get inspected. you probably cant see it, but we got all of the highest scores possible on it. we are pretty proud of it. its happened a couple times, NBD 

This is where we do laundry 

Our whole zone got together and did a weird talent show this morning​​There were some pretty weird and some pretty cool talents in there! 

this is from just now while typing our emails

Elder Redd, Sharp, Howe and me