Giant In A Land Of Small People-Machala Week Nine

Another week is done and in the books. Thanks for all the letters and continued support!

Food

I knew life was too good the past couple of weeks when it came to food. All the food I had was great. This week however I had a couple run-ins with not so great food. First, I had these tamale type things except they werent even close to tamales. I had to choke them down and the last bite I was pretty sure I was gonna throw up. However, with lots of water I was able to hold down all the food. Next, just last night we went to a sisters house for dinner. When she brought out the plates I saw noodles and was thrilled. I took a bite and practically spit it back up. It was noodles covered in mayo. For anyone that doesnt know I hate mayo. So what did I do? Gave half to my companion and then put the other half in a paper towel and took in on the road and gave it to some dogs later. (

This have become a Shanklin missionary trick!)

American Ecuador

I am pretty sure that lots of countries try to be like America in some way. Here in Ecuador, there are many American themed restaurants and tons of American fashion stores. The funny part is that if anyone in  America wore the clothes that they were selling I am pretty sure they would get made fun of. They are like 15 years old in fashion, at least that's what it feels like to me. For example, Do-Rags. Also 50 cent the singer is big here in Ecuador and he wears do-rags. So all the kids think that they are in fashion in America. I am pretty sure I broke a kids heart when I told him that nobody wears them in America. They do love American basketball tho. However, they are the biggest fair-weather fans. They like Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers, and Chicago Bulls. I don't think that they know Lebron plays for Cleveland yet.

Weird Things I Have Seen

Everyday here in Ecuador you never know what you are gonna see. It has become normal to me so I don't even recognize it, but here are a few things I have seen:

-A computer mouse used as a leash for a human

-More Ferrari's than I have ever seen before. Heads up, they aren't actually Ferrari's. They are cruddy cars and they put the Ferrari sticker on them.

-Nike everything. I didnt know this but I guess in Ecuador Nike sells flower pots and all sorts of stuff. Nope. People just put Nike stickers on everything and sew Nike on clothes. It is quite funny.

Giant in a Land of Small People

Nothing and I mean nothing was made for tall people in Ecuador. I have to duck to enter every door, and on the bus there is no way my legs will fit. People look at me like I am an alien. It is like they have never seen a white person before. The weird part is there are people here that are whiter than me. 

Investigators

L-Still progressing super well. Loves the gospel we just need to get him to read every day or more. Everything is a go for the 18th for his baptism. 

W- He is having doubts about marriage. Because here in Ecuador it costs lots of money to get married. However, we are trying to get the ward involved to help them.

D-Reading and praying and looks to be a go for the 18th of October for her baptism as well.

Working with these people has been a blessing in my life. Seeing how the gospel of Jesus Christ helps others to learn and change their lives is remarkable. 

Last Thought

I hope nobody takes offense to this but listening to Ecuadorians sing is like listening to a tone deaf cow sing. I mean that in the nicest way possible! 

Thanks for all the love and support!

Life is a sport. Make it count!

Elder Shanklin

A Work In Progress-Machala Week Eight

A big thank you for all the prayers that are headed my way. They are and always will be appreciated.

Karma Stinks

Let me first say that I know my mom will get a kick out of this. Whenever my mom made Rice and Chicken I would complain. Now guess what I am having for every meal. You guessed it...Rice and Chicken. It honestly never changes. I dont know how they do it, but for every meal rice and chicken. I think sometimes that the Lord has a sense of humor with me.

Elder Shanklins Casa

Drunk Experiences

Nobody ever watches them but we all know those TV shows about out of body experiences, or experiences with aliens and what not. I would like to relate or create a TV where I share my stories about what happens with drunks. For some odd reason drunks love me or should I say white people. I have been hugged multiple times, asked if I knew my country was at war and ask how come I wasn't serving?, and forced to write some random drunk dudes name down. Also, I would share experiences with these super weird dudes. They dress up like with balloons...and you get were I am going but they love missionaries too. They will yell at us and run up to us. Plus, little kids love me too. I am okay with that because I can sorta speak with them. They are amused that I can speak English. 

Elder Shanklins area is on the coast of Ecuador

#GringoProbz

There is a twitter handle called @mormonprobs and I would like to change that to Gringoprobs. I know my spanish isnt terrible but for some reason I think that just because I am a gringo some peoples minds just turn off when I start speaking spanish. It is all good tho because I have hope that eventually I will learn...maybe. I have decided that I would take a bullet in order to be fluent in spanish, under certain conditions. No future problems and I am good a couple days after surgery. Also on a good note I am starting to actually comprehend what people are saying.

Just some great views

Cool little boats

This picture was for Ryker

Investigators

L is still moving along great and we have a baptism planned for him on the 18 of October. If things keep going as they are it could be sooner. This week we came in contact with W. He has 2 kids and his girlriend who is a member of the church. Well we starting taking to them and he has a strong desire to turn his life around and get it in order for his kids. They came to church on Sunday and have a date for marriage too (story later). Both are super awesome. We are going to visit him tonight to see how everything is going.

Ecuadorian Scripture Case
The first of many treasures from this great land!

Sunday Funday

This Sunday I was asked to give the closing prayer in church. I think I did good because people told me they could understand me. So thats good, right? Also now for a story. W and E are not married. In the middle of Sunday School our ward mission leader ask them why they weren't married. They both said they didn't know. He then left, came back with the Bishop, and told him or ask him if we would like to propose. So yea there was a proposal in the middle of Sunday School yesterday. Never would have expected that.

Elder Shanklin and his Zone in Machala!

Another great week. Wish I had more time to tell you all about it but I dont. This defintely isnt a easy thing to do but I am having a great time out here. I think when I know the language it will get even better. Thanks for all the love and support

INSERT COOL SAYING LIKE BRADY

Elder Shanklin

Chapter 1: Life In Ecuador-Machala Week Seven

1st week is officially in the books. I think you will get a couple good laughs out of this letter.

From Minors to Majors

Let me relate this experience to baseball. The MTC is the minors. I was doing good there so now I am in the majors. Lets say I was batting .400 in the minors with 25 HRs, and 80 RBIs. I am now in the majors batting .001 and am the kid that cheers when he makes contact with the ball. It is like they dropped me off in a foreign country and I dont know the language. Oh wait....

From the Minors

To The Majors

Travel

We left to go to the airport at 10:30 on Monday evening. I got to Ecuador around 11:00am the next morning. I successfully made it through all the countries with my American Flag suitcase. Success. When we arrived in Ecuador I found out that my luggage had ripped mid flight so now I had to lug around broken luggage (don't worry mom i fixed it). Many of you know that I get motion sickness quite easily. Imagine me being on a bus for multiple hours for 2 days. It wasnt fun.(mom note: He did take many bottles of dramamine!)

A view of Ecuador

Area Assignment and Companion

After we settled in at a local church in Guayaquil and had lunch we sat down for area assignments and companionships. Pretty cool experience. The called my name and then my companion, Elder Quispe. He is 24 years old and is from Argentina. He only has 2 months until he completes his mission. Awesome missionary. However, we were originally assigned to labor in Guayaquil but right there on the spot the mission president changed it to Machala, Vencedores. That is about 4 hours from Guayaquil. Come to find out later the mission president said he felt that he needed to do it, and that rarely happens. When I got to the area I was informed that I was the first new missionary ever to be assigned there for their first area. Looks like I have something to prove now, maybe. They said usually zone leaders, and people who have been out for a long time serve here.

Elder Shanklin and Elder Quispe

Getting ready to leave to their new areas

Death by No Sports

My mission president has a rule of no sports. When they put my in Ecuador without a knowledge of Spanish they like shot my foot. I could still get around just it would be tough. When they told me I couldnt play sports it was like they took a .50 caliber to my heart and pulled the trigger. It is okay I need to be obedient so no sports for me. I will never get hurt though so that is a plus.

Story Time with Elder Shanklin

I have a couple of stories I would like to share.

1) Weed Man- I saw a man wearing a USA jersey so I thought it was appropriate to talk with him about it and his life. Not exactly sure how this came about but I found out that he has killed someone and been to jail for 6 years. He then proceeded to tell me in English "I like to smoke weed". Slowly I started to end the conversation. Before I could walk away he gave me a little polar bear. So I now have a polar bear from a killer.

Polar Bear from "The Weed Man"

2)Gringo- Not really a story but all the kids learn english here so they always say "Hello friend" to me and Im not really sure how to respond.

3)English Teacher- I met one of the English teachers and let me tell you. What a relief it was to speak english. It was so awesome. I didnt have to think about what to say it just came out. Wow.

4)Pina Colada Milkshake-If you are ever in Ecuador and offered a milkshake dont accept. We bought one and it was awful. 

5)Age- People have guessed my age anywhere from 18-28 and when I tell people I'm 18 it is like that have seen a ghost.

6)Soccer- Soccer is a way of life. Last night there was a soccer game on TV. The streets were empty and after they won everyone got on their bikes honked there horns and cheered down the streets.

The empty streets of Machala

Church

The church here is the nicest building in the city. Small,but it is a ward. We had 5 less actives and 1 investigator attend. The investigator is Luis. He is 14 and has a baptismal date for October 18. The ward has about 150 people but not a lot of youth. There are two young men who love to go out with the missionaries so that is cool.

Ecuador VS USA

USA 1 ECU 0- USA has stops signs

USA 1 ECU 1- Everything is cheap in Ecuador

USA 2 ECU 1- In america dogs and cats actually live in houses

USA 3 ECU 1- We speak English

USA 4 ECU 1- Hot water. I step into the Artic Ocean every morning

USA 5 ECU 1- Everyone has cars in America

USA 6 ECU 1- We eat dinner in America. In Ecuador I guess a big lunch is enough. 

USA 7 ECU 1- In America we use trash cans instead of the street

USA 8 ECU 1- Girls shave their armpits in America

It has been a great week. I can already tell this is going to be a special experience. One that I will treasure for my entire life. I dont want to make Ecuador look bad because I love it already but I thought I would have some fun.

Thanks for all the love and support

Elder Shanklin...In Ecuador

Adios Mexico; Hola Ecuador-Mexico CCM Week Six

Crazy to think that my time has come to a close here in the Mexico MTC. I want to thank everyone for all the love and support. Time is flying by and next time I send a letter it will be from the lovely country of Ecuador. 

Flight Plans

On Tuesday I recieved my flight plans to leave to Ecuador. I will be boarding a plan at 2:15 on this next Tuesday morning. We have a layover in Colombia Bogota. So if I dont send a letter that means I probably died and my American flag suitcase is lost. But anyway I am super excited to leave here and finally get to choose what I want to eat. 

Power Outage

On Tuesday night around 9 oclock all the power in the MTC went out. It normally happens but immediately the power will turn back on. This time the power stayed out. We went outside and everyone was out there with their flashlights just looking around. Everyone joked that since the power was out the cameras didnt work so we should jump the fence and hit the city. As you all probably have figured out we did not do that. Instead we just chilled in our houses. Then about 11:30 the power came back on and woke everyone up. It was rough but pretty awesome.

Homie from Atlanta

This week during one of the devotionals I was talking with one of Elder Thomas´s friend. Then all of a sudden his companion turned to me and asked me if I had family in Atlanta. I told him I did and that they were just at my house before I left. Come to find out he is practically neighbors with my cousins and that they go to his house from seminary (or something like that). The people you met in the MTC is ridiculous. I would have never imagined that happening. Cool stories from the CCM. 

Elder Shanklin and Elder Baker (his little brother is my Nephews Best Friend)

If You Like Pina-Coladas, and Getting Caught in the Rain

I am pretty sure in Mexico they have everything flavored Pina-colada. From candy, to water, to yogurt, and probably anything else you can imagine. In case you are wondering it isnt that good either. The weather in Mexico is ideal minus to the rain. It hardly ever gets above like 75 and there is always a nice cool breeze. However, just like Springfield, it can go from sunny to rainy in about 5 minutes. This week me and my companion got caught in the rain atleast 3 times. We forgot our umbrellas so we would just sprint back to class and by the time we got back we would be drenched. I guess it is good practice for Ecuador tho.

Elder Shanklin and Elder Thomas with packages they received in the CCM.
(Notice all the water bottles in the background!)

Adios Mexico

These past 6 weeks have been some of the hardest but most fun 6 weeks of my life. Of course I miss home and all but I realize the importance of what I am doing. These past 6 weeks have gone by so fast and from what I have heard from others is that when you get to the field it only goes faster. Maybe one day I will come back and visit Mexico City and instead of being trapped inside a ten foot concrete wall I will get to see what it is really like. Here at the CCM I have met great people, had great teachers, and I think I have learned Spanish. The Lord has called me to serve and I now he wont let me fail. The language will be a struggle, it will be like a foreign language when I get off that plan. However, that has been a moment I have long dreamt about and I am so excited. 

Sorry the letters have slowly gotten shorter. There is only so many things to write about it week. Days are repetitive. We did teach our last investigator here at the MTC so it really has hit me that me time here is over. (Not that I am sad or anything). Best of luck to everyone! 

Elder Shanklin