First couple of days in the field!!
I'll start first with our 29 hour trip from SLC to Guayaquil and honestly it felt like I was never going to get to the mission field. It was pretty boring since all we had to pass time was the scriptures and sleep. I attempted to read my scriptures but could only read them for so long on a bumpy airplane ride. Our redeye from Phoenix to Miami was pretty bumpy and I only got about 1 or 2 hours of sleep so all day Thursday was really fun. I also for some reason had a pretty bad stomach ache, not sure if it was stress related or not, but when we got to the apartment and was sitting there I wasn't sure if I could do it for much longer. But the next couple days were much much easier.
I'm in an area called Sedalana, it's just a little suburb from Guayaquil and it's really chill. Just a bunch of cars passing through honking at every chance they can get and letting you know that you're in the way or finding any reason to honk. I think it has rained every single day here, it's not that bad though. I've heard in some areas the road will flood and you're just walking through water up to your ankles. But gratefully that hasn't happened yet.
Understanding the Natives is pretty hard, they talk really really fast and it just sounds like gibberish, but I'm starting to kind of pick out some of the words that they say and can kind of keep a conversation and know what they are talking about. Most of the members say that my Spanish is pretty good and clear so that is encouraging.
Other than our little apartment being hotter than outside, it is pretty good here. I'm going to eat very well in Guayaquil, there hasn't been a dish that I haven't liked or after one bite didn't want to eat anymore. The members are all so nice and are always asking us if we want Coke, or something to eat. I think my favorite dish so far has been something called Arroz con menestra y horneado. It was just rice with sliced pork beans and some vegetables. At first I was a little unsure but wow it was awesome. We also had some cookies that were almost macaroons. They were 2 cookies with Dulce de Leche in between the middle and that was pretty good too.
This weekend there has been something called Carneval which is just a big celebration where everyone throws water on everyone else and the work has been kind of slow because of that reason. The funniest experience this week was having someone call us over and the guy has eyes so read all you could see what the color of his pupils. I still don't have any clue what he was saying.
Miss you all
Elder Roper
