Hating Buses. Loving Ecuador. : This is What Missionaries Do...

This Email is mostly dedicated to the sending of photos. Because I love photos and I think they can describe the things I've experienced a lot better than I can. First of all, There are a lot of typical questions that people here ask us as missionaries, some of them are really funny.

Question:
Where do the missionaries live?
What people say when I ask what they think:
In the church
My favorite answer:
In a box down by the river or segunda estrella derecha y adelante hasta mañana
The Truth:
An apartment in centro

Question:
How old are you?
What people say when I ask what they think:
23
My favorite answer:
Greengos no tener endad
The Truth:
19

Question:
Do you have a family back home?
What people say when I ask what they think:
...I really don't know what people are thinking when they ask this...
My favorite answer:
No, actually greengos are born from trees like orcs
The Truth:
DUH

Question:
Can you have a girlfriend while on you mission? (A question generally asked by 16-20 year old girls or "Dollys"
What people say when I ask what they think:
I hope so!
My favorite answer:
no
The Truth:
NO

ANYWAYS! On to the photos. I hope this cyber doesn't freak out when I try to upload them.

Yo y me Companaro

My Breakfasts are getting more and more complex as the days go on. I'm getting the feeling that Ecuador is starting to make me fat.

August in Buena Fe is like the Forth of July back in the states... except it's parades and parties ALL MONTH LONG. and it's only for the town's anniversary... Our house is on the main street here, so we get a pretty good view of everything that happens from our 2nd story apartment. WIN.

This Was the Military's float in the first parade, it made me laugh super hard!

These are TricyMotos. One of the best means of transportation here in Buena Fe

The Second parade was ALL dancing. I think I enjoyed it more than anyone. AH...dancing... culture.... music......

A Latin ballroom team performed in this parade. Made me miss dancing a little... They were super good!

The Local Bike Gang-- I mean... Police Force was in this parade.

The Parades seemed to be themed and lasted for about an hour and a half to two hours. This is the Forth or fifth parade that's passed in front of our house...

This one was all about political figures and marching bands

Sometimes Elder Vidal and Elder Suitor from across the street come over during language study to watch. Because honestly... We can't study very well with all the noise. You can also see in this picture how well we all sleep at night with the parties going on.

One night a bunch of funky cars packed on either side of the street. These two spit fire out of the tale pipe when the reved. Also notice that their trunks are open: this is because they were showing off their sound systems. This went on until about three in the morning.

The Church ran out of water again, so we called the firefighters to help us out with the baptism for the second time.

People Sometimes ask: "Elder Howell, do you baptize?" My answer is: "Why yes, why yes I do."

-and this is my eigth! Her name's Naomi.

This Family is awesome, we've been teaching them since I got here. They seem to only like being baptized one by one though...

Carlos unfortunately is not married or baptized yet. We've been working with them and the ward to make it happen because him and Gissela both want it. The problem is that they need $200 to make it happen. We do however still meet with them from time to time. They are my favorite couple here! For awhile they'd call and cancel appointments because they were in the "finca" and not in their city house.After awhile Carlos invited us to learn where the finca/farm house was. We figured out it wasn't was and was in our area. So we hopped on the bus and it took us into a beautiful rural part of Buena Fe that I've never been to before. Gissela and Carlos were waiting far us by the side of the road and then we walked for a few minutes through the Jungle to their beautiful wooden house.