Naranjito (The Little Orange)

Family and Friends

The Old Style of writing letters is OUT. I haven´t really decided why... it just is.

Shout Out: Spencer Robinson! This kid is starting his papers this week. CRAZY! I am really excited for him. Especially for the fact that he will be here in Ecuador in almost 7 months (give or take). Good luck Padowan!

I have received algunos preguntas sobre mi sector nuevo de Naranjito. Entonces lo debo explicar.

Naranjito: Is excelent. This place reminds me a lot of Cokeville Wyoming. It is roughly 1.5 hours outside of Guayaquil (so as of yet I have NOT served in the city that contains more than HALF of the missionaries). Practically everyone works in the Sugar Cain industry. There are sugar cain fields EVERYWHERE. All the roads are cobblestone or dirt. Our sector is HUGE (see next paragraph). The people are great. The branch is... moderate. The nicest looking church in town is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (this chaple is a Stake Center that is nicer than my Stake Center in Utah). This town has no "downtown" and no bread-shops (apperently Pasaje and Santa Rosa are known for having 6 bread shops for every street). As such cheep dinners of 50 cents are no longer possible. Entonces = No dinner! The food is great. Also I will return home with a tan. Naranjito is HOT! HOT! HOT! SUN! SUN! SUN!

 I really don´t know why I am in this sector... and neither does my companion. The first night I was talking to my companion and he told me how tired he was of this sector, how hard it was, and how he was looking forward to being moved out of it next change (he hopes). Hmm... I love that speach right before I start my next 6 months in a small town. The town right next to us (from the edge of our town we can see the edge of the other town, a really pretty picture) San Carlos had missionaries a few months ago. The sector was closed because NOBODY was progressing. San Carlos is now apart of our sector, this is why this sector is HUGE, because we have two small towns, but we mainly work in Naranjito.

My Zone is Milagro/Truinfal. We are 30 minutes outside of Milagro but we are in the Truinfal District. That means when this area becomes a stake Milagro and Truinfal will split and Naranjito will be the Stake Center for Truinfal. This day should happen anytime in the next 10 years. The Milagro district is special, we have bikes! I am now a Bike Missionary. No, I don´t have a helmet. No, my bike is kinda trashy. Yes, I am loving riding around on dirt roads getting from one end of town to the other with realative ease and cost. (though I might add that: Por cierto, por cierto, os digo que pienso que mis nalgas tendran para siempre la imprección de la silla de una bicicleta, ya pues, necicitaré visitar un doctor despues la mision para ayudar mis nalgas. pobrecitos.)

My Companion is Elder Dardon. Elder Dardon is Excelent! Part of his speach to me the first day was that he often suffers from depression. But I have not seen one sign of depression in him since I have been here, so I think we are on the right track. He is from Guatamala and is an absolutely amazing teacher. He has been in Naranjito for 3 months and has only 4 months left in the mission. I think he thinks Naranjito is hard because he had the really easy sector of Arenillas (a sector in which he baptised roughly 25 people in 6 months). Todo estará bien. Elder Dardon and I get along great. Our goal is to have 2 baptisms this change but I think we can pull through with a few more than that. Only time will tell.

Our House: This is a specail section for our home. Yes it is a house, not an apartment. But I was informed that it is the cheepest living space for the missionaries in the entire mission. I can understand why and I hope you will as well.

1. Tin Roof= This makes sleep difficult when:

a. There are cats on the roof.
b. It is raining.
c. The sun was shinning durring the day. (litterally we will return to our house at 9:30 at night and our house, thanks to our tin roof, will feel like an oven.) This Thanksgiving I am grateful for Fans.

2. Lights. We have two for the entire house. This makes cleaning the Kitchen, with candles, an experience that everyone should have.

3. Doors. We have them, but the bathroom does not. Well, I guess it is kindof like a door... but nope. Not a door.

4. Mosquitoes. I love bug nets. I get to sleep in one.

5. Water. Water is cold, not hot. And we have to turn a key in another room if we want to take a shower, then turn off the kew when we are done. Not that this really helps during a shower, the little drizzle that comes out of the head is hardly enough to shower with.

(I love this house, it makes life interesting)

I am also really grateful for Mototaxis. Naranjito does not have Taxis, it has Mototaxis. Motercycles that have been transformed into 3 wheeled taxis. This not only makes transportation fun but cheep.

Sorry that this email is comming a whole day late. We were at the Temple today. Milagro never gets to go to the temple but the Zone Leaders begged the President to let us go. He did, on the same day as District Meeting, and if we changed our PDay to Tuesday. Thanks to the wonderful bus system here in Ecuador Elder Dardon and I missed our session and District meeting.

Oh! I should mention that I love the month of July! I have decided to live it the next 6 months. Tell me how the snow goes!

Os Amo!

Elder Robinson