Week 13: My FIRST BAPTISM! 3.25 Miles

The rain has begun. That pretty much describes Ecuador for the week! The "first" rain came on Saturday night, and lemme tell ya, when it rains, it POURS. It's blisteringly hot out here, and as two guys walking around in white shirts, ties, and slacks, at first the rain came as a welcome surprise. But there's something they don't tell you about the rain. When the skies clear, the beating sun evaporates the water from the streets, cooking us in a thick layer of unimaginably hot, wet air. AHH. It definitely hurts!

Christmas was... interesting. First of all, here they don't really celebrate Christmas, but Christmas Eve is a BIG DEAL. People go absolutely crazy! Fireworks, fires, music, dancing... it's insane. What's better- we were locked in our house! I guess it can get pretty dangerous with all the "celebratory" behavior, especially combined with fireworks. Elder Avila and I stayed inside playing ping pong and bean-boozled! Not gonna lie, that was really fun!

Something really cool here is for New Year's, they have these paper statues that are super sick, and at midnight they light them on fire! They're called "año viejos," or "old year"s. Below is a picture with two small ones, but some are ENORMOUS! Like bigger than most buildings!

Saturday morning was my first Baptism! It was really amazing. Not to mention someone brought cake! But it was a really beautiful meeting, and I had the opportunity to baptize her.

I miss y'all! But don't worry, Elder Jones is thriving in Ecuador!

Love you all!

Elder Jones

Photos: Some of the Elders from my district, the baptism(!), Me with two little año viejos.