2 Crazy Weeks!!

Here is Ben's email from July 13th:

Hola Familia, Wow you have all had a pretty busy week. Wow Dad that is crazy. Obispo! Don´t worry Dad you will be great. Well Dad you are more than prepared. I am so glad that everyone is back home safe and sound. Well Ali basically is home safe and sound because she is Ecuador. Well today was pretty crazy because we had to change houses because the landlord wanted to sell the house. We changed house all day and it was pretty tiring. Well because we were changing house all Day I don´t have much time to write. Sorry hopefully next week I will be able to have a normal Pday to be able to write more and to send some pics. Well this week was pretty crazy. We are still looking to have more success but I am so happy to be here in Loja en la rama Jipiro. Well sorry I don´t have time to write more but I hope you all have a wonderful week. Good luck to everyone this week. I will be praying for all of you. I will be praying for you on Sunday Dad!! Well I love you all so much and your great example that you all have been to me throughout my life. Have a wonderful week.
Con mucho Amor Elder Duzett

Just When I thought we couldn't get a shorter email, here is the one from this week (July 20th):

Hola Familia, It has been another crazy pday. My companion got transfered so I just got back from Guayaquil to pick up my new companion. My new companion is Elder Sanchez from Mexico. He is pretty awesome. Well I don`t have any time left to write but I love you all and give Spencer I giant hug from me I wanted to write him but I have not had anytime the last 5 pdays but it is all good! I love you all and hope you all have a great great week.
Con Mucho Amor Elder Duzett

Here is some bonus news from Ecuador. Ali has been in Ecuador on a HEFY trip building an orphanage in Cuenca. Here is some of what she said:
Hola Family!!
 How are you all doing? I am doing wonderful here in Ecuador! I love it here! All of the kids in my group are really nice!the Galapogos was one of the most amazing places that I have ever been to. I swam with sharks and sea lions. I also went cliff jumping in this slot canyon it was so much fun. I also bumped into Elder Condori, he was really sweet. He has such a strong spirit. The whole time we talked he wouldn´t stop saying "I´m so happy! I´m so happy!" He said to ask how all you guys were doing and to say hi. I talked to Ben´s last companion for like a second because I was playing soccer and everyone that knows him loves him. Our tour guide David is from Azogues and he said that Elder Duzett is his friend! Church here is really great. I have no idea what anybody is saying but you can feel the spirit very strong. For family night we went to a family´s house that was from the states and they fed us American brownies and they were so good! The food here is actually really good except for when it makes you sick! The work has been going really good! We get to volenteer in the orphanage every other day for half of the day. All the kids have special needs or they have a sibling there with speacial needs so they don´t split up families. This one orphan named Manuel with down syndrome loves me so much. Everytime he sees me he comes and gives me a big hug and he wants to play with me. It is nice because he can´t talk and I can´t speak spanish so we just laugh and have the greatest time. The orphans have the stongest spirit and you can´t stop smiling when you are around them. I know that they are all going to the celestial kingdom and they are choice spirits. The orphanage is actually an LDS orphanage and they all love the prophet and their favorite song is follow the prophet. The work on the new housing facilities is slowly moving along. For most of the week I have been mixing cement and chiseling into the brick so they can put pipes to run wiring through for light switches. I have never been so grateful for light switches and outlet plugs in my life. The work is really hard power tools do not exisit. All the work that is done is done by hand except for the welding. It is a little scary because every single nail that we have used has been a rusty old nail that we have pried out of old boards. The workers are really nice and patient with us when we don´t do something right. I am actually enjoying the work and I have never worked so hard in my life. When I come back from work I literally get brick out of my ears, nose, clothes, hair, you name it there is chunks of brick in there. I cannot wait to come home and have a warm shower. If you get a warm shower you are lucky and I haven´t had one yet. Being on this trip has made me so grateful for all the little things that I take for granted. We kind of scare people when we are walking down the street. Suddenly they see a sea of white people and they kind of get really freaked out and it is super funny! Too much has happened to fit in this one email. This has been an awesome expirience so far and I definately have had to face my fear of stray dogs! Have a good week I will see you guys at the airport! Ciao, Ali

Here is a picture of Ali and Elder Condori:

Just a quick note!!!

 

Hola Familia!! Sounds like you are going to have a crazy crazy week!! Ali everything is going to go great!! Don´t worry you beat me to Galapagos!! I have another new companion!! Pretty crazy!! I don´t know why but it is all good. My new companion is Elder Castro de Quito Ecuador. He was in Galapagos por 4 meses and he says it is so awesome. You are going to love it Ali!! Cuenca is awesome!! Just stay with the Group!! Well I don´t have much time to write because today we had leadership council here in Guayaquil. We had to travel 9 hours in bus and our bus back leaves soon!! Well I hope you all are doing amazing!! I will be praying for you all this week that all will go well. Next week I will write more!!! If you can pray this week for Elder Johansen who was in Pasaje with me, he is now in the office so I saw him in consejo and he told me that his Dad is in bad health. Thank you so much. He is pretty awesome but he needs the prayers. Well I love you all so much!! Thank you all for your love and support!! Tenga una semana buenísimo!!! Les Amo

 

Elder Duzett

y felicitaciones a Emily y Brent por su nuevo Bebé!!!!! 

Off to Loja!!

Hola Familia!!!

This week once again is filled with news!! I got transfered!! I am now in the Zone Loja Este (east)!! My new companion is Elder Herrera from Colombia. He is pretty cool. We got here on the mission the same day. I just have a little more time than him because of the C.C.M!! I am super happy to be here in Loja. I am in the Jipiro Branch. It is a super small branch that needs help which means there is a lot of work to do. I am very happy about that and the opurtunity that I have to work here in this branch. I don`t know why I had changes so quick but I thinks I was with Elder Westover for a week just to show him the sector before I got changed but it is all good. Tuesday we had district meeting but President Torres was not able to come but it was all good. Loja is such and amazing place. It is even a lot more beautiful than Cuenca!! It is so awesome. It is a small valley with beautiful mountains!! I am very happy here it is very peaceful which I am so happy about to work with peace!!! I hope to be able to help this Zone more than the last one! I feel like I could not accomlish what I wanted in the last zone but I know that everything happens for a reason!! I know that Heavenly Father has his purposes for everything that happens here in this world, especially in the mission! I will do my best to be better everyday and to be a better missionary to be able to meet my goals! It was definately a crazy week as I had changes on thursday which was really diferent. Almost all of the Zone Leaders got changed around, kind of crazy. Today was a diferent Pday because we had to help the hermanas in our zone move houses. It was pretty fun but after lifting we are a bit tired now but it is all good. It was good to get the excercise. Well it sounds like all is going good at home. I am so excited for Ali to get to come and see the cierrra de Ecuador!! It is so awesome. I hope that all goes well with all that is going on there!! I love you all so much!! I am so grateful for your prayers and support, I feel them!! Thank you so much!

Con Mucho Amor

Elder Duzett

P.S.  Loja is in the far south of Ecuador!!

Here is a bonus picture from another missionary's blog!! Thanks Elder McCammon!!

A New Companion!!

Hola Familia, 

First of all Congrats on the anniversary Mom and Dad. That is soooo awesome!!! I hope it was great. Sounds like you guys had a wonderful vacation. I am so grateful to hear that. This week was a crazy week. The craziest part was that my companion got changed. He went to Cuenca. My new companion is Elder Westover from payson utah!! He was sick and had to go home to get better and he got back to the mission two weeks ago. He is pretty awesome. He is a great example. He is so humble and has a great spirit. We are working hard here in the zone and stake to try to get the stake more excited about the work. We had a good meeting with the stake president yesterday. It was pretty awesome. We talked about goal setting. It is something that we learn here in the mission. We have to learn how to set goals and how to accomplish them. We had a few changes in the zone that are turning out to be a little tough but we are working through it. This week we are going to make good plans to help the zone go up! This week we did not see to much success in our ward but this week I know that with my new companion and his spirit we are going to have fullllll exito!!! This week is going to be great. President Torres is coming to our Zone Meeting on tuesday that I am in charge of so that is kind of stressfull but it is all good. We are going to plan it out like crazy so that everything turns out great. I am learning mucho about plans and really how important they are. It has also been crazy with mundial. The world cup. Friday there was wo much noise that it was hard to sleep, but it is all good. It was hard lessons during the game but we kept trying to find people but it is a bit tough. We just have to baptize all the people that dont like soccer this month!!! Yellowstone Sounds awesome. All good for me!!! That is crazy that Ali is coming here in two weeks. I am so excited for her. She will meet some amazing people in Cuenca. It is a wonderful place. I am so grateful for the time I got to spend in Azogues. It was awesome. Ali will have a great great time!! With the packages I got I think I am doing pretty amazing!! If it is not to big of a trouble I would like a new pair of bed sheets, that do have the elastic fitted for a twin bed. If it is too big of a hastle dont worry about it. Well I love you all so much. I hope you all have a wonderful wonderful week. Hope you all keep having a great summer. Dad thank you so much for the work you do for our family. Thank you mom and Dad for you love and support!!! All that you do for the fam!! Love you all so much!!! Con mucho mucho amor!!
Elder Duzett

Title of Liberty and Fotos!!!

Hola Familia!!!!! Feliz Dia de Padre Papa!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you had a wonderful day. It sounds like it was pretty cool up there in Oregon!! Dia de Padre was pretty crazy here as Ecuador was playing!! We could hear all of the screaming and cheering form inside the Church which did not help things but it is all good. The people here are so great. They love Ecaudor which I think is really awesome. They are very proud of their country!! It is awesome. We were able to have a pretty good week. I have been feeling a lot better which was great this week. We could work like crazy again!!!! I have been learning a lot about follow up and the importance of it. I was also very happy to receive my other package and a whole bunch of Dear Elder Letters. It was really awesome. I love the DearElder letters. I am so grateful for all of your love and support. We are still working hard here in Malvinas!! The ward has its struggles but it is a great place. I am happy to be here and to learn from everyone here. Everyperson that we meet has something that we can learn from them. We have the responsibility to find out and learn what that is. That has helped me out here in the ward. This week I was reading in Alma 45 when Alma is talking to his son and I love when he talks about how if we believe in Christ or if we have faith and we are obedient we are going to prosper in the land. I think that is great insight into our lives. If we have faith and obey, God does the rest! I know that to be true. We also did something different this week with the Zone. We read the Title of Liberty and we made our own title of Liberty tie, where we wrote what we are going to defend on the back. It is pretty awesome. We are going to pass it around the Zone. It is kind of and ugly tie but it is all good. It will remind them throughout the day of what they are going to defend. Well I hope you all have a wonderful vacation. Have some fun for me. Tell everyone hi for me!!! I love you all so much!!

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Duzett