Happy Happy Birthday Elder Duzett!!!

Hola Familia, This week was a very great week. It was great to get to talk to all of you. I was very happy to see all well. I hope that you all had a wonerful week of Christmas!! I hope that you all have had a wonderful week. This week was super awesome because of Saturday. First of all the Baptism of Hermano Andres was amazing. The spirit is so strong. He is so awesome. He gave the closing prayer in Sunday School yesterday and did a great great job. He came in a white shirt and tie for his confermacion. In his baptism when he came out of the water the spirit was so strong. He said he just wanted to stand in there because he felt so good. After he came out of the font he was so happy. He is awesome. The other great news is that our Investigator that had the interview had a miracle. He has been wanting to get baptized for like three years but the missionaries always told him he had to wait for his situation but never talked with the mission president. When he came out of the interview with president, President said, ´¨We have a little problem¨¨ I was confused for a second until President said, ´¨we have a baptism this SATURDAY!!!!¨¨ Hermano Segunda Dacto also got baptized on Saturday. He was so happy!! The spirit was so strong in the baptismal service. It was amazing. I was so happy!! It was the best baptismal service I think I have had! They will be great help to the branch here.  Well I talked to President about the card with my mission dates and he said that he has not been told anything and that it is probably just a mistake so we will see don`t worry about it. Everything under control. Well I still have not gotten my packages yet but the other elders in our apartment had changes and they had to go to Guayaquil so I told the one that is coming back here who just went to pick up his new companion to look for my package so hopefully I will have it soon. Well I love you all so much and I hope that you all have a wonderful week. Happy NEW YEAR!! 2014 will be awesome!! I love you all so much and I loved talking to you. Thank you so much for the testimony journal!!! Les Amo Muchisisisimo!!! Elder Duzett

Christmas Burgers and Fries!!

Feliz Navidad From the Ecuador Guayaquil South Mission Santa Rosa Zone!!

From December 24, 2013:

Dear Family and Friends of Mission Ecuador Guayaquil South,

 At this special time of the year we express our sincere gratitude for all your prayers

and sacrifices on behalf of your missionary.  We love each and every one of them. They  are as our own and wish each the very best blessings of the Lord.

Just as you yearn to be with your son or daughter, our Father in Heaven desires all of his children to return to HIM. Your missionary is striving to ensure just that, that each of our Heavenly Fathers children can return to him by inviting them to come unto Christ and participating in the ordinances of salvation. “ And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, …, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” He is the only Way in life to return to our Heavenly Father.

May the Lord give you the peace you desire of knowing your missionary is in the hands of HIM who indeed gave His hands in service, in devotion, in sacrifice for each and every one of us. May God bless you for your prayers and sacrifices in this great work of salvation.

With our love and appreciation,

Sister Torres and President Torres,

Misión Ecuador Guayaquil Sur

Where's Elder Duzett? Can you see him hiding on the back row?!

Feliz Navidad!!

From December 23, 2013:

 Hola Familia!!! Como Estén? I hope that all is well. I am excited for the chance that we have to Skype. We are going to Skype on the 25th at 11 a.m here which is 9 a.m there but we are still working a few things out. We will call to verify everything! But this week has been a pretty good week. We were able to have a little bit of success this week. We are super excited because we are going to have a baptism on Saturday. Andres is his name. He read the whole Book of Mormon in three weeks and he has a strong testimony!!! I am excited for his Baptism. He is also super excited for his baptism. We are still looking for more families to teach. We have found a lot of great people but they are having a few problems progressing. I hope that we can help all of our investigators to gain there testimonies!! I am so happy to be here serving a mission. I still have not recieved a package yet but I know that they will come. I know that with faith everything is possible. I know that when Heavenly Father is helping us we really can do anything. I am so grateful for this gospel and the opportunity that I have to help people realize that. Thank you so much for sending me your testimonies. They will help me out so much. I don`t know if you could possibly send me the whole testimony journal if it is not too much trouble. If it is to much trouble don`t worry about it. Well thank you all for so much that you do for me. I hope that all is super well with you guys. We will talk in 2 days!! Have a wonderful Christmas!!!!!!!!! Well I am almost out of time but I love you all so much!!! I was reading in Ether 12 today and it was super awesome!!! I am going to finish the Book of Mormon tomorrow which I am super happy about!!! Well I love you all so much!! Have a great great Christmas week!! Les Amo Elder Duzett

Hola Familia, How are you all. Sounds like you all had a great week! We had a pretty great week here in Pasaje! We were able to bring 8 investigators to church which was pretty awesome. Our investigator Andres came to church and shared his testimony about the Book of Mormon with everyone that he met. It was pretty awesome. He also told everybody that he is going to get baptized on the 28th. We are super excited for that! We hope to be able to help the others with baptismal dates. We will see! The rama had 80 in attendence which is awesome. They had 50 two weeks ago. We are working with a lot of great inactives who are really great. They are progressing a lot. We are really excited for them. My companion is  in his 11th week which means he has two weeks of training left but he is super smart as a misionary which is really great. We are working really hard to be able to have more success. Hopefully that zls will have my packages tomorrow in the district meeting but we will see. We were able to have a great week because we had a Christmas Devocional on friday. President put together a devocional with a group of missionaries with musical talents travel to all the stakes and districts to do a devocional. There were three hermanas that sang one that played the violin and an elder that played the flute and an elder that sang. The funny part is that one of them was singing was Hermana Whitmore and the Hermana that played the Violin was Hermana Murri which was super weird seeing them but it was cool. We also recieved a christmas gift from President which was super awesome. We had a pretty great week. We are hoping to have a better week the next week. When I went to Guayaquil I just got to see a little bit of Downtown in the night from the bus but it was super awesome. Downtown is on a port which is pretty cool. Go UTES!!!! Hopefully they will be able to keep it up! Anyways I love you all so much and I miss you all greatly. I hope that you all have a wonderful, wonderful week!! Oh and the other great news is that we get to Skype for 1 hour!!!!! We can Skype the 24th or the 25th but both of those days we have to be inside our houses at 6 p.m because it can be dangerous. But I am excited!!! I will try to let you know all the details next week but if there is a time that is better for you guys let me know! I will see what we can do!! Anyways have a wonderful, wonderful week. I love you all!! Feliz Navidad!!!!!

Les Amo,

Elder Duzett

Picture From Pasaje!

Transferred to Pasaje!

Hola Familia!!!! Hello from Pasaje!!! This week has been a pretty crazy week!!! Tuesday after the District Meeting I got a call from the Zone Leaders and I thought they were just asking me about an interview that I had to do but no they told me that I had transfers!!!! I actually thought he was joking for a second! We then had to rush to Azogues from Cuenca to pack my bags to travel to Guayaquil. We then stayed the night in the mission home! The next day, wednesday, I traveled to a city named Pasaje with my new companion Elder Ulloa, from Chile!! He is pretty cool. Pasaje is like 30 minutes from Machala and like 45 min out of Santa Rosa. We are in the Santa Rosa Zone. There was some problems with the Rama the Rama 2 here in Pasaje before changes, so there had to be changes so I am excited for the chance that I have to help the people here. We are working with lots of less actives and we were able to see about 6 less actives come to church that we visited which we were super excited about and we had 3 investigators in Church. We have and investigator named Andres who we found last week and he accepted a baptismal date for the28th of December!!! He is super excited. He has already ready up to Mosiah 21!!!!! Wow!! We just have to get him to church. I know that with this week, an entire week of work we will be able to get lots more done!! I am so grateful for the opurtunity that I had to be in Azogues because I learned a ton a ton there. We are hoping to be able to work with the Members a lot more. We had a great Family night last night with the Branch President. Hopefully we will be able to make a difference here. I am a little sad that I now dont get to talk to Elder Condori but you guys will have to keep writing him! I am grateful for Elder Bohorquez and the chance that I had to work with him. He was a great companion but I am excited to be working with a great new companion. Sounds like you guys have had a great week, but a busy one. Sometimes the meetings are long but I am grateful for what we learn from them here to. I also need to repent and not complain about meetings. The picture of the river is in Cañar where we went to do and Interview and that is the path that you have to take to the house. It was super cool there. It is pretty hot here on the coast. The first few day I was dying but now all is good. I still have not recieved the packages but we will see!!! I hope Elder Condori recieved them well too!! I know he will be grateful for whatever!!! Anways I am excited to be working in the work of the Lord and for his help that I recieve everyday. Tell Parker and Spencer congrats from me this week. Well I hope that all is well with you guys. I have not heard anything about christmas but we will see!!! I love you all so much and miss you all!!! 

Les Amo

Elder Duzett

Pizza for Thanksgiving!!

Hola Familia, Espero que tuvieron una Thanksgiving cheverisismo!! We had a pretty good week. We were not able to see to much success this week but I know that the Lord will help us extemely this week. I know that this is the work of Lord. The family that we had last week did not come to church because they were in Cuenca but we have a family night planned with them for tuesday. We are going to watch a church video. I know that we will be blessed by the Lord with his spirit so than can continue to progress!! Sounds like you guys had a prety good week and thanksgiving. We celebrated thanksgiving here to en la noche porque tenemos 2 gringos en nuestro departamento! We bought a giant pizza for the night! It was pretty awesome!!! We had a pretty good time. I was in Cañar on tuesday with Elder Condori. It was pretty great. We were able to save three baptisms that got baptized on Saturday. It was pretty awesome. This week they are starting to celebrate Christmas. They put up trees thoughout the city. There is one right out side of our apartment. It is pretty awesome. I have not heard of any more tradicions yet but it will be interesting to learn about them. I do know that they eat Turkey on Christmas. Maybe we will get some pavo!!!! This week we hope to find the people that are ready to here the gospel. They are hiding pretty well but we will find them, they can not hide forever!! I know that this week will be better. I thank all of you for your wonderful examples that you guys give to me everyday. I hope that you guys have a wonderful week!! We aregoing to have a great week I just know it!!! I miss you all but I know I am in the right place!! have a wonderful week!! Love, Elder Duzett
 here are some sweet fotos!!

So Grateful For Our Missionary!!

Hola Familia!!!! Como Esta? I hope that all is well. I did not have changes and neither did my companion Elder Bohorquez. Elder Condori did not either but his companion did. We also got two more missionaries in Azogues. Elder Condori now lives in Cañar! We have a new new new missionary in our house from Washington and sometimes I have to translate which means my english might be a little better this week. It is thanksgiving!!!!! That is pretty crazy. 40 people!!!! Saludos a todos!!!!!!!! I hope it is a great day!!! Ali went to Denver, that is pretty cool!! I am grateful for all of your testimonies and all that you guys do for me. I am so grateful for the oppurtunity that I have to be serving a mission here in Ecuador. I hope that I can keep improving as a missionary in all aspects of the mission. Sometimes I find myself falling well short but I know that with the help of our Heavenly Father I can be better and we can reach our goals. I am so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ. I feel so blessed that he has called me to be one of his servants!! I try to live up to that calling! I am so grateful for all of our family. I am so grateful for the prophets and there sacrifices that have made for all of us. I am so grateful for our family and that we know we can live forever. Olivia, I wish I could have been there to see the Primary Program. We had the Primary Program here it was awesome!!" We have had a pretty great week. We had a family that just showed up to church because one of thier little daughters had a homework assignment to get to know 4 religions. Sunday was the Primary Program so it was super special. We made a appointment that afternoon to help the daughter with here homework to get to know our religion but we just taught them and now the Mom and the Daughter who is 12 have baptismal dates. Super Awesome!!! Miracles Happen. We are also finding new people that are accepting. I hope we can see more and more families progressing!!! I know that we will have more success here this week!!! I was super happy for that miracle because I was super down before that. We were not having a great week but Heavenly Father is always there to help us. Well that is pretty much everything for the week. Anyways I hope all is well. Have a wonderful thanksgiving!! Say hi to everyone!! I love you all so much and I will talk to all in 1 Month!!! No se precupen!!! I love you all and miss you all!! Les Amo!!! Elder Duzett

Still in the Mountains!

Hola Familia, como están todos, espero que todos estén muy muy bien. We had a pretty great week this week. We were able to have a baptism on Friday. Unfortunately I could not attend because I was doing 3 baptismal interviews in Cañar. But the baptism went really well. We also were able to activate the mom on the young man that got baptized. I think that she even has a calling now. We are pretty excited for that. We were also able to bring 7 people to church but unfortunately those 7 do not want to progress. We have not heard anything about changes so far and so I don´t think we will be changed. Which is actually good. I just want to explode this ward with lots of great families, we just need to find them. I know they are here we just have to find them. The Stake Conference was pretty good. The Temple President spoke and President Torres gave a great great talk! Then we heard from Elder Calderon a Seventy from Colombia. It was pretty great. This stake is huge. They need to devide it. There are 2 missionaries in our stake at home, here in this stake of Cuenca there are like 40 missionaries and more coming, pretty crazy. Thanks for helping out the sisters in our Stake. Here we don´t eat arepas, quiero pero no hay!!!! Here we eat arroz y pollo with mote which is corn that is big and they put it in the soup. It is pretty good. Well I hope that all is well with you guys. We are going to have a great week this week I just know it. I know we are going to find some great, great families. I love you all and I hope that you all have a great week. Good luck with school!!!!! Mom good luck with you new job. I hope all goes super super well. This week I was studying more about the 2,000 stripling warriors. they are super awesome because they put there confianza in the lord and no importaba nada mas. I hope that I can be like them and put todo todo todo mi confianza en el Señor! I am so thankful for the mision and all that I am learning!!! I love you all so much!!!! Con mucho amor Elder Benjamin Duzett

From Our Stripling Warrior!

Hola Familia, Espero que todo esta bien con ustedes. Wow Ali is coming to Ecuador!!! That is going to be pretty awesome. Cuenca is pretty awesome. You will love it there!!! Sounds like you guys had a pretty good week. Wow mom you are going to substitute teach!!! That is pretty crazy. I know that you will be great. I know that is will prepare you for other things to come! We had a pretty good week here!!! We are seeing some miracles! We are going to have a baptism this friday because it is Stake Conference this Sunday! We are super grateful for this baptism. We also had a contact that we had like two weeks ago just showed up to church and accepted a baptismal date super quickly. It was super awesome!!! We also had 4 investigators in church which is not great but it is not bad. I know that this week will be better. Changes are this Sunday so we will see what happens. I am so grateful for the things that I have learned here in Azogues. Too late Dad I am already folding my pajamas and my dirty clothes! This week I have been studying in Alma about the 2000 stripling warriors. They are super awesome. I also gave a talk about them in Sacrament meeting. We can learn a lot from them. I love how the reason that not a single one of them died was for their exact obedience. I know that exact obedience brings miracle to us as well. It also talks alot about preperation. I know that we always need to keep preparing for whatever comes our way!! I know that we are prepared and we will keep preparing. I also was studying in Mosiah 3. It is a great chapter. I love how it says in verse 13, i think, that because we have a prophet we can have so much almost the same as if Christ was here with us. I know that that is true. I know that this church is true and that we have a true prophet. I am so grarteful for that knowledge. I hope that all are well. Saludos a todos en la familia!!!! A todos los abuelos y primos y tios y tias, todos!!!! I love you all so much!!!

Love, Elder Duzett

Happy Birthday Dad!!

Hola Familia! I hope all is well with you guys! Happy Birthday tomorrow Dad. I just finished reading your letter to Elder Condori. Your español is still pretty amazing. Creo que esta mejor que mio. I hope that you have a wonderful birthday. Sounds like you guys had a pretty good week. It is good to be busy, stressful at times, but it is always good. I am grateful for the mission and all the things I learn. As District Leader I am learning how to keep a super organized notebook. I have learned a lot about how to be more organized! District Leader is cool when I get to do interviews to see if they are ready to be baptized becasue when they are ready it is an awesome experience. This week we had a pretty great week. Unfortunately the baptism of Hermana Maria fell. Someone told her the day before her baptism that we are demons and devils and no se que and now she is scared to even leave here house. I was pretty sad but hopefully she will change her mind. She is super awesome. This week we did find some more awesome people. We were able to have 5 people in church which was pretty awesome. I hope that we will find double or triple the amount of people. I know that it is possible. I know that this is the Lords work and I know that he will help each and every one of us. That is super awesome that our ward is stepping it up. I know that our ward will be stronger. Tell Parker congrats from me and give him my best. Well I hope that you all have a great week. I love you all so much. A verse that I really like is Marcos 10:9. I know that nothing can seperate our family. I hope you all know how much I love each and every one of you. Sigan con fuerza!!!!!! Con Mucho Amor, Elder Duzett

Esta Bien!!

Hola Familia, 

Sorry I am writing late, we were in Cuenca all day! We are doing pretty great here. This week was pretty great. I am grateful for the miracles that our Heavenly Father always gives us. Friday a member called us and said that her daughter was not in the records of the church as baptized and the Stake President said that we needed to baptized her. We were like esta bien!! So we had a baptism saturday. It was pretty great. We also are going to have a baptism this saturday. It is an Hermana Named Maria Sarmiento. She is 85 and she is blind but she is super awesome. She know us by how she feels! She calls us hijos de Dios. She is awesome. We are going to have like thee people in the font to baptize her!!! We don´t have much time to write this week but that is pretty much it. I did get a dearelder and it said that the Grandmas were worried about a foto where I am wearing a motorcycle helmet. Don´t worry it was the helmet of an investigator that let us put it on only to take fotos! The foto of morp is pretty awesome!!!  I am sure Ali talk was great. Well I love you all so much and I hope you all have a great week!!

Love, Elder Duzett

The Lord's Hand

Hola Familia, Como Estan. Espero que todo esta bien con ustedes. I hope you are all doing excellent. I am so grateful for the example of each and everyone of you. You all have helped me greatly. Wow Mom and Dad you guys are always in farewells. That is awesome actually because that means lots and lots of missionaries. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be a missionary. I pray that I can be a better missionary everyday. I know that the Lord is always helping us. Mom you are right the time really is flying by. It is amazing how time works when we are on the Lords time. I know that this is the Lords work. I do see the Lords hands in my call. It is a little bit tougher here in Azogues but I know that we are going to make it much better. I know that this is the Lords work and I have been called to preach the gospel to the people here and I know that we are going to find more people to teach. I am grateful for all that I am learning here in Azogues. I am grateful everyday for the things that I learn. I know that I have many things to learn. I know that this week is going to be great. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and the strength that it always gives me. Today I was reading about the Standard of Liberty. I am grateful for the opportunity that I have to defend my religion. I know that this church is true. I know that Christ lives and loves us. I know that he is always there to help us. We are doing pretty well here. Our program is growing which is great. We are still working to have a super great program here. This week was pretty much normal. Wednesday all of Cuenca had interviews with President Torres and I saw Hermana Whitmore there. It was kind of weird. She started to talk to me in English and it was super hard to respond. It was different to see a familiar face.  The mission really is awesome!!!!! The things we learn in the mission have eternal worth. I hope you all have a great week. I know that we are going to have one too. We have an investigator named Jorge Guillermo who is really awesome. He has problems with Alcohol but we are helping him get rid of it. He is preparing to get baptized on the 9th of November. I know that he will be ready. I am so grateful for the changes that I can see in people through the power of Christ. This really is an amazing work. Thanks for all that you do for me. I still have not been able to get new pants yet but I took the money out of the account and hopefully I will be able to go to Cuenca next week. Anways and love you all so much and I hope you all have a wonderful semana. I love you all muchisimo!!!!
Love, Elder Duzett
p.s I did not take any photos this week but I will send some next week and Elder Condori manda saludos.

Working Hard in Azogues!!

Hola Familia, Espero que todos están excelentes. I hope that all is well. All is well here in Ecuador. Thanks for all of the news. I am excited to go back and read all of the talks from conference. They always give me animos, sorry I don`t remember the word in English. Way to go Utah!! That is the Utah I am used to!!! That is crazy that another person I know is coming to this mission. That is kind of crazy. This mission is pretty awesome. I have not seen Hermana Whitmore yet but who knows. 

Ecuador is pretty awesome. We are working hard to build a stronger program. This week the program fell but I know that this week will be better. We are going to work like locos to baptize every person here in Azogues. I know that the Lord will help us to have more success. I know that this is the Lords work and that we are the Lords servants and we need to help everyone here. To answer your question Mom we take buses sometimes but it is a lot of walking!! It is pretty awesome. The mountains are pretty awesome. I am excited for this week and the oppurtuntiy that we have to mejorar esta programa. 

I know that this church is the only true church. I know that this is the church of Jesus Christ. I know that Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that it always has all of the answers. A cool chapter is Mormon 8. I know that when we look for the anwers we are given them. I know that Heavenly Father loves each and everyone of his Children. I hope that you all have a wonderful week full of blessings. I love you all and miss you all!!!

Con mucho Amor

Elder Duzett

Conferencia General and a New Companion

Hola Familia, Espero que todo esta bien con vosotros. I am doing pretty great here. The conference was pretty great. We talked the stake into letting us have the conference here in our ward so we would not have to bring all of our investigators an hour away. I was able to see all of the conference Sunday and the second half of the priesthood session. We had to get permission to go to the priesthood session. We had to run down a mountain to make it to the second half though. We went to visit a family up a mountain. The conference was super awesome. It was awesome because this conference I could understand what they were saying without too much difficultly. This week was a pretty crazy week. Wednesday we got a call at 11 at night and they said that Elder Castañeda was getting transferred. They said that I had to travel to Machala the next day to bring my companion here to azogues. I was in a bus for like 12 hours on Wednesday. It was not that fun. They also said that I am now District Leader. It is kind of crazy because now I am senor companion and I have the responsibility of the companionship. It is kind of stressful!!! My new companion is Elder Bohorquez from Lima, Peru. He is pretty cool. He has 3 months in the mission. I finished up his training. It was interesting being able to study an extra hour in the mornings. I was able to learn a lot. We had a pretty good week. We were able to bring 8 people to church was pretty great. We will have to work with these eight people to help them get baptized. We are still working hard to find more people that can get progress and get baptized. I am grateful for this opportunity that I have to be working here in Azogues. I am grateful for the ward!! I am grateful for the conference. It was awesome. The spirit was so so strong during President Monsons talk. I loved the talk from President Uchtdorf in the Priesthood session about helping people up. I can see that every day. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to help people get up and the opportunities that we have to have trials that we can stand up as well stronger than ever. I know that this is true. I know that Christ suffered for every trial that we have. I know that through our trials we can stand up stronger. There is a verse that I really like in The Book of Mormon that says are trials will be consumed in the light of Christ. I know that this is true. And Mom HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FELIZ CUMPLIAÑOS!!!!!!! I hope that you have a great birthday tomorrow. Keep your eyes on the mail next week!! I love you so much Mom!!! I hope you have a wonderful week. I hope that you all have a wonderful week full of super cool experiences. Thank you all for you prayers!!! We are going to use that power to bring a super strong program here!!! Anyways I hope that you all have a great week. I love you all and pray for you all continually. Love, Elder Duzett

8 Months in the Mission!!

Hola Familia,

I am glad to hear that you guys had a great time en la playa!! Congrats to Will for being ordained a teacher. I am sure it was an awesome experience. The Aaronic Priesthood really is something very amazing. When talking about the Sacrament and the importance of the Aaronic Priesthood I like to read 3 Nefi 18 1-7. This power to give the Sacrament to those that are of Christ’s church comes directly from Him. I am so grateful for the opportunity that we have to be members of Christ’s church. Yo se que esta es la Iglesia de Jesucristo y que el dirige esta iglesta y esta obra. I know that the teachers have a great opportunity to do what Christ taught them to do in preparing the Sacrament. I love the opportunity that I have to help others to attend church and to see that it is the true church. We are still looking for more people. The hardest part is finding new investigators! I know that this week will be awesome because we are going to be inviting everybody to the conferencia. We are hoping to have at least 12 investigators in that conference! I know that we can do it but we have to work super super super super hard!!! We will do it. I am so grateful for my companion. He is super awesome. I am learning a lot from him. He is super loving and humble!! Unfortunately the husband of Gabriella went crazy again and she could not get baptized but I know that the Lord will bless her for her desire. Being a missionary is awesome. We are excited for the conferencia. We have to bring investigators to Cuenca but we are trying to find a projector here in Azogues so we can have the conferencia here. Well I am glad to hear that Grandma had a great birthday lleno de bebes. Tell everyone that I say hello. Cuy this week was actually pretty good. It tastes pretty good. It is like a sweet chiken type flavor. It tastes good but my stomach was not used to that meat so the next day it came out a little quick but it is all good. The next time that I eat it, it will be good. Anyways I hope that you guys all have a wonderful week. Dad, have a wonderful first week of work. I will be praying for you that all goes well. I know that you will be great. Thank you for all that you do for our family!! I love you all so much. I hope that my English is not too bad. I hope that it was not too bad in the ward newsletter! I hope you all have a wonderful, wonderful week. I love you all so much!!!!

Love, Elder Duzett

p.s a scripture that I really like is John 14:26 y 27

Cuy!! (Roast Guinea Pig)

Can't Wait for Cuy!!

Hola Familia, Como están allí en Cali! I know that part of San Diego pretty well!!! We were a couple blocks north of the rollercoaster. I hope that you are all having a wonderful time!!! That is what I am talking about Utah!!! This week was a pretty good week. We were able to find some more people to teach. We were able to have 4 people come to church which is an improvement. We just need to work off that and have more and more every week. We did have a pretty cool day yesterday. We had planned to travel up this mountain to visit an investigator after church but she did not come to church two weeks in a row so we decided we were going to make different plans. We thought maybe we will go visit Gabriella to see how she is. When we went she said that her husband had an accident and had to have surgery on his eye. She said we could go in and talk to him. We were talking to him for a while and he said that that morning he prayed that we would come visit him. We were like WHAT!!! It was super awesome. He then sort of gave permission to his wife to get baptized!!!!! Hopefully he will stick to his word!! We are super excited. I know that this is the work of the Lord. This is not our work. Esta obra es la obra del Señor!!!! He really does cause miracles. Through our faith anything is possible. We are preparing everything for the baptism on Saturday! We had another mom and her daughter in church. We are hoping that they will accept a baptismal date for the 12th of October! We also a man named Josè Arevalo. He really enjoyed church. Hopefully he will be getting baptized on the 5th. To answer the question about the Cuy ya mismito!!!! On Wednesday we are invited by an investigator to eat Cuy!!! Should be great!! Mom that would be a great idea to send new razor heads!!! Thanks for the money for the pants!! I am going to ask permission to go to a mall in Cuenca next Pday where I can buy pants!!! Elder Christensen is still in my Zone. They just split the Zone Cuenca into to and they are opening up full new sectors!!! We are in the new zone!!!! There were Sisters in Machala with us and they just took Elder Christensen and I out to be in this new zone but they just took the sisters out because they came to Cuenca, they are going to put Elders back in! I am doing pretty great here. We are still looking for new investigators but I know that we will find them. We just got to keep working!! If you are with Grandma, Hi Grandma!!!! I hope all is well!!! Thanks for your DearElders!!!! Thanks for everything!!! Well I love you all and I hope that you all have a great week in San Diego! Have fun, be careful but I know you guys are in the Lords hands!!! Love you all!!

Love, Elder Duzett

Another Week in the Andes!

Hola Familia, This week was pretty normal. Unfortunately Gabriella did not get baptized. Her husband will not give her permission. The men in this country are a little frustrating sometimes but it is all good. We are working hard to be able to find some families that we can teach. Right now we are looking for new investigators. I know that this week we will find them. Thanks for the money. I will find the best place to buy them. In the World Cup Ecuador is not looking like they are going to qualify. They had to win like two matches or something and they lost. People here are pretty sad about that. But that means we be able to teach a little more people during the world cup. Azoges is a pretty small ward. We just got a new Bishop so hopefully that will mean that we will get even more help from the ward. I hope that we find some families to baptize that can really help this ward grow and move forward. The ward is pretty big because it goes all the way to towns a couple hours away. There is another city named Cañar in our ward but the mission is now opening a new sector there. The two missionaries that live in our house are working there. One of them is Elder Condori from Peru. We got here in Ecuador the same day. We have been in the same zone like our whole mission. He is super awesome. He is a great friend. They are helping the work move on. I know that with the Lords help we can help this ward grow to a super strong ward. It is kind of like Park City here but we are going to turn it into Alpine as far as number of members! I hope that you all have a wonderful time in San Diego. That is too bad about the Utes but anyways this week they will get them. Anyways I am doing pretty great here. I am loving the mission. It is going by way to fast!!! I love you all and miss you all greatly!! Love, Elder Duzett
 Mosiah 23 verse 21 y 22

Happy Birthday Will!!

Hola Familia, FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS Will. 14 years old! Wow!! The time since your last birthday really has flown by. It seems like yesterday you just had a birthday. I hope that you are having a great birthday. Azogues is pretty cool. It is a little bit of a tough sector. We are trying to find new people to teach. We have a baptism this saturday. A lady named Gabriella Navas. She does not have permision from her husband but she is doing everything possible to get baptized. We are the only two missionaries in Azogues. There are two others that live in are house for now as they are in Cañar a city an hour more up in the mountains. They have to travel there and back. Are sector is all of the city and the towns that surround it. It is pretty huge. We are always having to go up and down mountains. That is pretty sweet. We go to Cuenca every tuesday for district meeting. It is pretty sweet there in Cuenca. Wow 70 to 7 not bad! As far as a package goes, my razor is not cutting very well. I may just buy normal razors here. I think my hair is just super thick. As far as clothes go my pants are not doing so well. The sun has basically changed to color of all of my pants. Most of them are still usable but a couple of them are pretty bad. I am going to see if I can find some to buy here. Mission Beach sounds pretty awesome. Should be great!!! Anyways I am doing pretty great here. We just need to find new people!!!! We will find them I am sure! Anyways, I love you all so much. I hope that you all have a wonderful day on Wills birthday. Wow he is getting old. Will I miss you my man but I know that this is the work of the lord and that it is the greatest work there is. It won`t be long before you are here in my position! Happy Birthday! Love you all so much!!!

Love, Elder Benjamin Duzett

Greetings From Azogues!!

Hola Familia,

Wow that is amazing news!!!! That is so awesome. That is huge news. And now the house is looking sweet and we are living in it! I have some pretty sweet news also. I got changed to the city of Azogues. It is like an hour higher than Cuenca. My new companion is named Elder Compañeda. He is from Otavalo. Chevere no. Our sector is huge. The hymn Ill go where you want me to go definately applies. We have to go up and over mountains like every day. It is awesome. Today I don´t have much time because we went to see some ruins here in a small town named Cujitamba. They were super sweet. They are opening up a bunch of news places here. It is super awesome. We also had a baptism here on Saturday. We baptised the daughter of a nonactive family and we are trying to activate them. Well sorry I am basically out of time but anyways I love you all so much. I will right you guys more in a letter. I hope that you all have a great. week. A scripture to read is when Abraham was called to sacrifice his son Isaac.

Love you all so much!!

Love, Elder Duzett

 

                   
                                                   

The House on the Banana Estate

Todd's translation of Spanish in parentheses.

Hola Familia, Como estan. Espero que tuvieron una semana con muchas experiencias buenas. (Hello Family, How are you. I hope you had a week with many good experiences) Espero que escuela, colegio, todo fue excelente. Esta semana tuvimos una buena semana. (I hope that school, high school, all was excellent. This week we had a good week.) Fuimos lejos contactando un dia. Fuimos caminando casa a un finca de banana. (We were far away contacting one day. We were walking by a house on a banana estate) Allì encontramos una investigadora muy buena. Ella tiene 22 anos. Se llama Anna Gabriella. (There we found an awesome female investigator. She is 22 years old. Her name is Anna Gabriella.) Lo siento allì es un poco de mi espanol. Todovia estoy aprendiendo! (I’m sorry there is a little of my Spanish. I am still learning!) But we found this girl with her mom. We helped them carry a big jug of water to their house. We then taught her the Restoration. Afterwards, she started talking about how she was looking for more peace in her life. She started to cry about her past experiences. She then said she was for sure coming to church with us yesterday. On the second visit she told us that she believes the Book of Mormon is true. Then on Sunday she was sitting waiting for us to take her to church. She said she had read a chapter of the Book of Mormon every day. It was awesome. She is preparing for her Baptism on the 14th of September. I hope and pray that everything will go well for that. I am not sure if I will be here for it though. Tonight is when they are calling for the transfers. Most likely I will get transferred but we will see. I will go wherever Heavenly Father needs me. I have met some great people in this ward. The mission is definitely awesome. I did get my music this week. Thank you guys so much. And thanks for the Hectors sticker. It made me laugh. Health wise I am perfectly fine. My anxiety is not really too bad at all anymore. A couple weeks ago I did get sick. I woke up in the middle of the night and threw up 10 times. It was kind of horrible but really it was a blessing because now I am not really scared of throwing up!! It had to happen eventually and now hopefully I have got it behind me!! But now I am totally better, no pasa nada! (nothing is wrong) Well I love you all very much. I miss you all very much but I know that you are all in the Lord’s hands. Mom safe travels this week. Saludos a todos en Denver! (Hello to everyone in Denver) I hope you all have a wonderful week.

 Love, Elder Benjamin Duzett


Baptism pictures from last week

Another Week in Machala!!

Hola Familia!!

The pictures of the first day of school look great!! I hope that they all had a great day at school!!! Just wait till the first day of the mission! Now that is much more of an experience!! Give them all a hug from me!! They look so old in their pictures!! When I show people pictures of earlier in my mission people always tell me that I look so much younger! Apparently I look pretty old! I guess that is what stress does to you, it makes you look old! And sometimes I feel like it but it is all worth it when we see the changes in the people that we teach. We were so blessed to have our 4 baptisms this last Saturday! It was super awesome to see. It was awesome to see how excited they were before their baptisms and it was super super awesome to see Adilen finally take that step that people have been telling her to take for a long time. We were talking to her family and they live in the house with the grandma. They said that the grandma normally doesn't like the missionaries very much and neither did Adilen or her mom. But they were saying that they and especially the grandma are going to cry when we leave. The grandma really is the coolest lady!! I am so happy to have met the family. Dad we will be visiting them when we come back!!! Other than the baptisms this week was pretty fine! We hope that we can have a better week this week and that we can find more people to teach! I am hoping that we can find a sweet family to teach. I hope to find a family like ours that is just searching to find this happiness. I hope that all is going well with you guys. You guys will have to send me pictures of the house when it is all done!! I pray for you guys everyday and I can feel your prayers everyday!!! I still don't have my music but I am sure it will come soon. Thank you all so much for your love and support always!! Love you all so very much!!

Love, Elder Benjamin Duzett

The computer is not letting me send pictures so I will try to send them next week, Sorry!!

Another Awesome Week!!

Hola Familia, Espero que todo esta bien con ustedes!! This week was pretty great here! On saturday was had 2 baptisms and on Sunday the 2 confirmations! It was pretty awesome. Cristel was so excited. She is super happy! We stoppped by her house today and she was reading the Gospel Principles Manual and she is almost read the whole thing. She will be super awesome there in Italy. Eunice is also super chevere. She is from Spain but lives with her aunt and uncle her. Her mom lives in Spain and told here that she could not get baptized. She went and told her mom that she was getting baptized because she wants to and not because anybody else wants her to and that she was getting baptized whether she likes it or not. She is eight and super awesome. The baptisms went pretty great! Yesterday we were only able to help 6 investigators to church which is not great but not horrible. We were glad that the 4 that have baptism dates came to church. We have an investigator named Adilen Mendoza. She is the niece of the Ward Mission Leader. The missionaries have been working with her to get baptized forever. We found her in the area book when I was with Elder Oneill. We invited her to go to church and she went and she has been going to church since with her mom who is inactive but she kept telling us no to baptism. For like two months she has been saying this. Yesterday we had a miracle. She came up to us and said that she is getting baptized this Saturday. I was like what!!!!!! It is so awesome. She is 19! We have been working with her family for ever. Her Grandma is the funniest lady ever. She always gives me bones whenever we are shaking hands to leave. Adilen will be a super strong member. She received an answer and is taking a step of faith. I am super excited for her. It was a super happy day!!! Also three of Kevin's siblings are also getting baptized this Saturday. The mom still does not want to have anything to do with us but she wants us to teach her kids and that her kids go to church. Kevin will have to be the dad and take to church. Their dad passed away like two years ago so hopefully we will be able to help the mom realized the plan of salvation. I am super excited for the baptisms on Saturday and the confirmations on Sunday. It will be a great week. We are doing great here. The mission is pretty awesome. The time goes by super super fast here. I got an email from Elder Burns today which was pretty awesome. He says he is going to take me to New Zealand someday. That would be sweet. Anyways, I am loving the mission. I am learning new things everyday and learning to recognize the spirit! I know we can feel the spirit always if we just look for it. I know that this church is true. I know that this is the Church of Jesus Christ!! I know he lives. I know that our Heavenly Father is guiding our lives! I am so thankful for this gospel. Les amo muchisismo! Nos vemos ya mis mito! I love you all so much!! I hope you all have a great week!!! 

Love, Elder Benjamin Duzett

 P.S i still dont have the music but I am sure it will be here soon.

 Oh and Machala is a lot cooler than Guayaquil. It is a lot cleaner and it is also a lot safer. Also Machala is the place in the mission with the most baptisms!! It is awesome here!!

Happy Monday!!

Hola Famlia! Como estan? I hope that all is well with you guys. It is still kind of hard to believe that you guys are getting ready to move. I hope that all is going well with everything there. I was thinking about that you guys were moving and our theme scripture from seminary in my senior year came to mind. Proverbios 3 verses 5 y 6. ´´Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths´´. That is so true. We are going to have a lot of things happen in our lives that we don’t know why they happen but really if we just put our trust in the Lord everything will turn out fine. That is something I am definitely learning more on the mission. As really I have not had as much success as I would like as far as baptisms go. But I definitely have had to trust more and more in the Lord. I know that if I trust him I will end up where I need to be. Here we were very excited to have our baptism. Kevin Holguin was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday! It was pretty awesome. He is only 14 yrs. old but he was super happy after his baptism and his family came to his baptism which was super awesome. We are working with the family to hopefully get them all baptized. We were also very excited to have 10 investigators in church on Sunday!! It was pretty awesome. We also are very blessed to have 2 baptisms this Saturday. The young woman from Italy named Cristel Hall is getting baptized. She is 17 and is super awesome. She definitely received her answer from Heavenly Father and will be a great member there in Italy!!! We also found out that a girl who is 8 who is getting baptized this Saturday is not registered in the church. She was never blessed or recorded by her mom that lives in Spain. She is living with a family in our ward. So the Bishop told us that it has to be a baptism of the mission. We are more than happy to teach here and to help her with her baptism. I am super excited for this Saturday! I know that patience is something that I am learning on my mission. I know if we wait patiently on the lord he will give us the success we are looking for! I know this church is true and I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to help others come to the knowledge of the truthfulness of this gospel. I am so grateful for the experiences that I am having here on the mission. They are definitely once in a lifetime experiences and I will never forget them. I continue to pray that all will be well with you guys and that the Lord will guide our families to where they need to be. I love you all and I hope you all have a great week. Remember Proverbs (I think that is how you spell it in English) 3 5 and 6.

Love, Elder Duzett 

Six Months in the Mission!

I do have some good news. I sent a letter today!!!! I hope that you guys will get it. We are doing pretty well here. We have a baptism this week. His name is Kevin Holgin. He is a youth that is 14 yrs old, I almost said a youth that has 14 yrs, This week I had a pretty cool experience with a family named the Espinoza Family. I told you about it in the letter but basically what happened is We got a reference from President Torres to go visit a family Espinoza. When we went we found that family waiting for us and the dad was in basically his last moments. They wanted us to heal him. I gave the blessing and I felt super strongly that Heavenly Father wanted him home and that his suffering in this world is almost done. We then taught the family the Plan of Salvation which was pretty awesome. These past 6 months have really flown by. Much has happened and we will see what more will come in the months to come. It is crazy that Spencer is over the hill. It won´t be long now. Today we made pancakes that were pretty good. Yesterday we tried to make brownies in a family night but the oven did not really work very well. It was good though! We watched some Mormon messages which were pretty awesome. We are still looking for more success here. Hopefully we will be able to find a family that we can teach this week. That would be super awesome. Anyways I am so grateful for you guys and all that you do for me. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve a mission. I am grateful for the blessing that the lord has given me especially my family. I know that the lord will lead us in the right direction if we are obedient and listen to him. I thank you guys for listening. I love you and miss you all greatly. Have a wonderful, wonderful week! Love, Elder Duzett Leer, 1 Nefi 3

Elder Mario

Hola mi Familia,

Como estan todos? I am doing pretty great here. We did not have very much success this week. There used to be 4 elders here in this sector but they closed the other one so we got their program. The investigators they had were not really interested at all so we are kind of just starting over from scratch her. Pero va a ser chevere! We have a goal to put 24 baptismal dates this week. It is a number that is very unlikely but we are going to do it!! We do have one investigator that is progressing. She is from Italy and is here visiting her dad for two months. I am pretty sure she will get Baptized in a couple of weeks. That will be sweet I will have a convert from Italy!!! We have not been able to contact Cecibel but a member said she said something awesome on facebook about how Heavenly Father is there for us through all of our challenges or something awesome like that! We are still trying everything to help her out. We will see!! Today was a pretty interesting day. We went to get haircuts and it took forever to find a place that was open. We went to talk to a member who has a haircut place next to her house. She was like ya my son cuts hair so we were like ya and well He or she cut our hair. It was a little awkward if you know what I mean. Then they gave us lunch and my lunch had the best of the chicken in it if you know what I mean. It was a very interesting morning! Anyways everything is going good here. We are working to build a program here! I hope that everything goes well with Ali’s birthday!! I am excited for Maren. She will be great! I do have some great news!! This tie that I am wearing right now is pretty sweet!! And the dulces and the beef jerky and the cherry heads and the pirate booty and the cards were all pretty sweet!! And a mountain of dearelder letters!!! Anyways I hope all is well with you guys. I am glad the funeral went well. Hopefully next week I will have more to report on but I think this is all for now!! I miss you all and love you all greatly!!! Some scriptures that I really liked this week are Alma 17:11 and Alma 27:26 or 26:27 I am pretty sure it is the first but they are pretty awesome!! Anyways love you all greatly!

Love, Elder Duzett