Nothin Beats Baptisms-Cuenca Week Thirty

Not gonna lie this week was a great week for the us here in Cuenca. We are seeing the fruits of our hard week every week.

Carnaval Days

While everyone in Cuenca, or like Ecuador was out in the street having parties we where in our house. On Monday and Tuesday we were told that we had to be in our houses all day as a safety precaution. So basically we watched church videos and slept the rest of the day. Quite boring but it was nice to get a quick rest in. However it was a little difficult to get back in the swing of things after those two days but it was good. 

Visits from the Assistants

We really don't ever know when the assistants are coming or what they are even going to do. We got a call like Thursday telling us the assistants were here and wanted to do a quick interchange with us to visit some of our investigadors. We went the 4 of us to a couple and then they bounced. Altogether it lasted like maybe 1 hour but I did learn a lot. Anytime I have the opportunity to learn something from the leaders of the mission I take the opportunity. Always good to get a visit from them.

Elder Shanklin and Elder Thomas (his MTC companion and Elder Calanche

Baptismsss

Nothing beats a baptism in the mission. Literally makes everything that we do worth it. On saturday night Robert, who is 20, got baptized and asked that I baptize him. He wants to serve a mission and that was one of the main reasons he wanted to get baptized. He wants to go to the USA to serve so we had been helping him out with his english. We even gave him some books in english to help him out with his studies. Also when we got to the church we found out the church has a heating system to make the water hot. We had no idea about that so the water was freezing. It would have been alright with me and Robert but also a member of the ward asked me to baptize her daughter that same night. She was like spazzing out in the water because how cold it was. I felt actually kinda bad for that. Something really awesome that happened was after the baptism Robert was so excited that he went up to the bishop to ask for a calling. That might be the first and last time that that happens in the mission.  If everything continues the way it is we should be having another baptism this saturday. Her name is andrea and she literally is so awesome. She has been threw so much in her life. Things that dont happen to just everybody. She wants to change her life around and get it in order. Her sister is also going to church with her and should be getting baptized in march. 

Elder Hunt, Robert and Elder Shanklin

Elder Shanklin and his sweet little baptism

Elder Shanklin and his little baptisms family.

It has been awesome to see the blessings that the lord has poured out. Everyday it is something new. Thanks for the continued support and prayers!

Life is a sport, make it count

Elder Shanklin

Carnival and A Ten Foot Belly Flop- Cuenca Week Twenty Nine

So Im just gonna jump right it...

Carnival

This week started  carnival. Not officially because it doesn't start until today,but it began like last Wednesday. I know you all probably think that Cuenca turns into sin city and that we are all hiding in closets during this time. Practically carnival here is people just throw water and silly string. It isn't even that fun, because people literally throw like 5 year old girls. Well some people are pretty good- the ones that hit us. Most of the time we can just walk through the streets without danger but occasionally people drive by in trucks and everyone in the back has water guns or water balloons. Then we run. For safety reasons we are in the house today and tomorrow. So basically we will be really bored for the next couple days. Lots of eating and sleeping.

Fall of a lifetime

Before I share this story. Everyone know that I am alive and fine. Nothing came of this. On Saturday we were climbing a mountain to get to the top to visit one of our investigadors. As we approached the house we saw like 20 kids in the street playing with water. The first time that they came after us we just ran back down the hill. The second time I ran up and my companion ran down. First mistake. All the kids followed me. I ran into a lot of grass like 5 feet high and they still followed me. So I ran. By the way they are chasing me with water. I am hauling. I think if Nick Saban was there he would have recruited me for my 40 time. However, the little kids out smarted me and I was then running and saw I cliff. I looked back at them and they continued to chase. The drop was a good 8-10 feet. I felt like superman so i decided I would jump.The rock in front of my right foot had other ideas and lets just saw I feel. As I am falling I swear I can hear my companion go "oh crap"and a chorus of angel singing " I believe I can fly." Lets just say I belly flopped a good ten foot fall. Then I bounced right back up and continued running. Not until I stopped running did I see the damage. My hands were pretty banged up as well as my shirt. I am grateful that was it. It could have been like 10 times worse. The first thing I said after was, "Dude I have to take a picture, my mom and dad will love this." So there are pictures attached. And the kids still managed to get me wet. I learned it is just better to get wet from the balloons.

The result of the fall

He looks pretty happy for the fall he took!

Investigadors

Things are going great. Our two awesome investigadors were in the church Sunday and one is getting baptized this week and the other the next week. Things are really looking up here as we start putting our trust in the lord and working as he wants. Time is short so we have to go all in during our time.

Thanks for all the support and prayers.

Life is a sport, make it count

Elder Shanklin

Blessings Like Raindrops-Cuenca Week Twenty Eight

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOM AND CARTER THIS WEEK. Shout out to them and some president who i think shares a birthday with them. 

Goldens

As a companionship we were working really hard but just weren't not seeing the fruits we were hoping for. We were teaching a lot of people and they were all coming to church. The only problem is they couldn't progress. The aren't married which is a huge downside here. Lots of people in Ecuador and in South America just live united without the legal marriage. It is a struggle to find married, like literal married, people. After some time to think we decided we would continue to do our part and leave the rest in the hands of the Lord. After a couple days still nothing. Then this past Wednesday we got a call that there was a young man who attended missionary prep class, and wants to be a missionary but isn't a member. That wasn't the end of it either. We ended up receiving another from our zone leaders saying that a member of there ward has a sister that wants to meet with us. It a matter of hours we received calls that finally put us in chartered waters and we would end the day pretty happy and with 2 baptisms in the making.

Elder Shanklin and Elder Fa Asa

Sketchy Market

So for some of you this isn't really a blessing but for me it was. Today we went shopping to buy a ton of souvenirs because we are in Cuenca and so there a tons of stores that sell awesome things. Today we walk into a store with a couple other missionaries and one of the missionaries tells me to follow him . He goes and talks to a lady and then we all enter a fitting room. Then there is  another door in the fitting room and she opens it and it opens up into a huge room with tons of cool things that are reasonably cheap. It was kinda sketchy at first but then it was awesome. We then went to a door in that rooom and entered into a small passageway big enough for one person, then climb 3 floors of stairs and entered into another awesome room. Lets just say I bought some pretty cool things today.

Elder Shanklins Zone in Cuenca

Investigators

We are teaching some families but like I said they aren't married but we are working with them so they can hopefully get married. The family Zumba and San Martin Campoverde are the families that we are teaching and are at church every Sunday. We then are teaching a couple people like Robert who wants to serve a mission, Andrea who has a extreme desire to change her life around for her kids and herself, and Fabian who has a killer testimony of the Book of Mormon and its truthfulness. Hopefully there are lots of good things to come as we work hard with what we had and then look for others.

Overlooking Cuenca

Elder Shanklin taking in the view

Not that much stuff that is super interesting happened this week. We did have another funeral as a couple missionaries are headed home this week!

Thanks for all the support

Life is a sport, make it count

Elder Shanklin

Party Week-Cuenca Week Twenty Seven

So first off I would like to give a shout out to my boy Tom Brady and his amazing victory over the Seahawks. As miserable as I was knowing it was going on as a walked the street I recieved score updates from some members that I made friends with.

Moving Party

This past couple weeks we have had the opportunity to move some of the sisters. Not exactly sure for what reason but all I know is that we had the opportunity to use normal clothes so I was all in. Basically we moved everything as the sisters "helped".  By that I mean they watched us carry up other the furniture four flights of a spiraling staircase. Lets just say the walls were a little dinged up. It was fun tho after all was said and done. After we had a little lunch together with some sandwiches and soda. Then we got to work.

Taking a little break while moving

A job well done.

Nice packing job Elders

Elders and Sisters showing off their packing job.

Baby Party

It just so happened that when I showed up to this ward there were like 3 women that looked like they were going to pop. The reason I share this is because they all had there babies and one (the awesome gringo from last week) wanted us and the sisters to be the babies first visitors. We got permission and headed over. I dont want to brag but us missioneries brought them a gift and we actually made the baby book with the card (picture attached). They were extremely appreciative of everything.

Baby Card

House Party

Yours truly completed 6 months in the mission so yours truly threw a little party in the house. By that I mean we had pizza and soda. In the life of a missionary that is a party. There are pictures attached. But other than that time is passing super quick and everything is going great.

Do you think he ate it all himself??

Celebrating 6 months in the mission.

Rats...and it wasn't a party

So I have like the worst of luck with rats. Before the ate some of my food in the house. Now they ate some food before it even got to me. Thanks to taylor for the cosmic brownies and the shirt but the rats got to the brownies first and like 3 of them were eaten. I ate the other ones that didnt have holes in them. I don't know why but rats just seem to hate me a lot.

Attack of the Nunchucks

So this wasn't a party either but it was interesting. We were walking in the street and an older man stop us and began to bash us and the united states in general. I just began to tell him that we needed to go and we began to leave. As we were leaving he stepped up on the ledge and whipped out a pair of nunchucks and just started swinging them around. I am pretty sure that he was drink but it made for a pretty legit story.

Cuenca

District in Cuenca

The work is moving along here in cuenca and in Ecuador. It is a privledge to serve the lord for two years and to also see the fruits of my labors. The experiences I am having are unforgettable and will make great stories some day. Thanks for all the support!

Life is a sport, make it count