COTOPAXI!

FYI, Cotopaxi is an active volcano in the Andes Mountains located about 30 miles south of Quito.  It is the second highest mountain in Ecuador, reaching a height of 19,347 ft. It is one of the world's highest volcanoes.


So today for pday I went to COTOPAXI!!!!!!!!!!! It was pretty cool not gonna lie. We just went with our zone leaders no one else and one of them is super into hiking rapelling and climbing and stuff like that. Its so funny bc he will only speak spanish but when he starts talking about that he gets to excited and switches to english. So the whole time he was quizzing our tour guide and afterwards he told me all the errors the tour guide made. haha pretty funny. I was a little bummed though bc i never got to actually touch cotopaxi. I was maybe about 50 yards away from toucing it. Its because it just recently went from a red to a yellow and so we got permission from President bc of that. They only let you on though when its lower than a yellow. So, if i come back, I want to come when its lower than a yellow. Then i will get to touch the snow! Thatll be cool

So as far as work goes its been pretty slow. we had a lot of time outside of our own sector this week so we didnt get very many full days working in our sector. We had a Zone Conference with President on Wednesday, my zone is over an hour away from our sector, and then we had some meeting thursday morning so we just spent the night in Ambato with the Zone Leaders. It was good though because i went with Elder Furner, old companion, for about a two hour divisions. Fun to teach a couple lessons with him again. Especially since last time I was with him i was just out of my training so nice to show him I can actually speak and teach now haha

Investigator wise, Galo Mullo got his baptismal interview yesterday and will be baptized this saturday if all goes to plan! WOOOOOOOOO!!! We have been working so hard with him and so has satan so im so glad that its finally going to happen! Pray that all goes welll!!!!
 

The fam molina has been a struggle to get ahold of. We only have the dads cell number and he works for the police and has such a weird work schedule that its hard to plan for him. We just try to pass by him everyday though so we can at least teach him a couple times each week. We were only able to get one lesson with them this week. Normally he isnt home right when he says he will be so we usual play soccer with their kids, I dominate, then he comes home and we get super spiritual lessons in with them. He just has weird work schedules so its frustrating. I know eventually theyll get baptized, but its hard to know when. I would love to be here when it happens though!

Anyways week has been good! I read a quote that i really loved and thought I would share it with yall "We can not fully enjoy or practice our religion unless we have our testimonies anchored and founded in Jesus Christ" It really made me think about how much my testimony is anchored on the Savior. I have a super strong testimony of our Savior but is it as strong as it should be as a missionary is what I've been asking myself. We belong to the church of Jesus Christ. We need to be anchored in Him. I love you all! Thanks so much for the emails! It means a lot! Talk to you all next week! 

GREAT WEEK!

So nothing too interesting happened this week that I would like to start out my letter with so I'll just get into the letter. 

So as you guys may have noticed from my past couple letters, the works been a bit slow here. After a 3 week drought of not finding a single new investigator, IT HAS OFFICIALLY ENDED!!! So this week we finally were able to get a cita with a street contact. The past 3 weeks have been a lot of sorry I'm catholic get out of my face or I'm too busy but we finally got a good family! They're the Molina family. They are so awesome! They got a super sassy 11 yr old daughter that just cracks me up! I honestly love that family so much. So the other day we go to teach them and the husband wasn't home yet and the wife said he would be home soon so we started playing soccer with their kids, don't worry i destroyed those niños! Reminded me of schooling Boston and Nixon in low hoop. Good times. So that was a lot of fun. He didn't end up coming home so we came back the next morning and taught them and the lesson was so powerful! They loved it and accepted fecha! Unfortunately that fecha already fell due to not coming yesterday, but the lesson was on Saturday and they already had a compromise in Quito for Sunday so they tried to get back in time but they barely missed it. I'm so excited about this family! Hopefully this family will progress super well! They are so awesome!

Galo came to church yesterday which means hes all good for his interview next Sunday. Hes really awesome and we taught some really powerful lessons with him this week. Its just hard because his wife doesn't like the church at all and so he gets no support but he told us he knows this church is true. His wife just sometimes threatens him withseparation if he gets baptized. We have still yet been able to get a hold of her, but we are trying. We gave him a couple good ideas that he can say to his wife. Hopefully they work.

I had a spiritual thought i wanted to shared with you guys i jut forgot cuz they were written down in my agenda and I accidentally left it on my desk. Anyways, hopefully everyones reading the Book of Mormon. Even tho I'm reading it in spanish and obviously missing the deeper doctrine of this book, I still know every word in there is true and there for a reason. Keep reading it!

I love you guys a lot! Thanks for the emails! I'm doing great and love my time here in Ecuador and love the new families that we have found! They really are a blessing of the Lord! Talk to you all next week! 

The Power of the Book of Mormon

Yeah so not much new happened work wise. We are working super hard but not seeing the fruits. Yesterday in consejo our bishop gave a powerful talk about a personal experience on the mission when the gospel arrived too late for someone. He then made everyone commit to bring 5 references for the missionaries and that they have to bring at least one of the 5 to church this Sunday. Then he made us commit to bring a NEW investigator to church bc if they are going to be doing their part, we have to do ours. I'm excited for this week! 

So something cool is we went to Baños today as a zone. We went to this huge waterfall named pailon del diablo. It was NUTZZZZZZZZZZZZ it was so crazy awesome! If we ever come visit Ecuador we HAVE to go to baños and visit that waterfall again and do some other cool things that we cant do as missionaries like zip-lining! It was awesome and i got SOAKED!! It was super fun and cool! I didn't take too many pictures of it because i didn't want my camera to break! But i took some!

So a couple people wrote me about the Book of Mormon this week. Its weird because i was planning on writing home about that. So not only am i reading the book, but I'm reading another book called a witness and a warning by Ezra Taft Benson. (my comps great grandpa) It is such a good book! If you haven't read it i recommend it! It talks basically about what Elder Holland talked about to us about how we need to use the book more. it is the key stone to our religion and so we need to treat it that way. One of my favorite quotes from this book is by Elder McConkie "The Book of Mormon will convert and save more people tens of thousands more times then the bible will" Why do so many people teach so much about the Bible if the Book of Mormon is so much more powerful and will save so many more lives? I really want to become a great teacher with the Book of Mormon. I do not wanna treat it lightly and still be under that same condemnation that the missionaries were when they came home from their mission. He talks a lot about that in this book. God gave us this book to teach and it is NOT to be treated lightly. It is another gift from God and it is His words. We need to use it better! I love this book. I know its true! I know this book is the most correct book in the world. Everyone needs to read it more and if you get missionary opportunities, talk about this book. Don't treat it lightly. Use it more.

I love this church. I love my mission. I'm super excited for another week and to find this new investigator and get them to church! I love you all! Thanks for the letters! Ill talk to you all next week! 

I Got My Hur Did

Yeah so I got a haircut, neat. 

Anyways this week was pretty rough. These past two weeks have been. We havent found any news in the past 2 weeks and we are contacting a lot now a days to show that we want more investigators, since we only have TWO! So this week consisted of 5 lessons to investigators. Not so good at all. Its really tough but I want to be here in this sector and get it going again. There has been lots of success here and I know there is still more to find and to have. Its just gonna take work.

So we did have one CRAZY experience this week. SO on friday we get this phone call at like 6:45 in the morning from a member that me or my companion didnt recognize her name and asked for a blessing for her cousin. (i dont know if its like this in all missions, but im pretty sure all of Ecuador thinks only missionaries can give blessings. Cuz we give LOTS) So we were like yeah of course and so we meet the member at the bus terminal and get on a bus for about 35 minutes. Then we get off at another terminal and get on ANOTHER bus for like 40 minutes! Then we get dropped off in the middle of no where and we get in a taxi truck and she has us get in the back, this parts cool, and we drive for like 30 more minutes in this taxi truck. Me and my companion and a member just standing in the back holding on to the bars around the bed and just driving in straight campo! It was so cool i thought i would have the opportunity to film it on the way back but i didnt. so i have a lame picture to show you what it was like. So anyways we are out about over 2 hours from our sector in the absolute middle of no where. I thought like some crazy indigenous lady was gonna come kill us. So we go into this house and this old guy as skinny as can be is just lying in his death bed, literally, and hes so tucked in with blankets that all you see is his head. I was like what in the world are we doing here. So he starts talking to us for like 45 minutes (which is normal for blessings with the people here. They just love to talk) and finally he lets us start giving the blessing. I go to start the blessing and he just starts like crying this catholic prayer and i was like what in the world is going on. First time this has ever happened to me luckily i havent started and im just standing there like as shocked as can be just looking around as his family starts calming him down. Then we finally got the blessing done. Im not kidding that was like top 1 craziest experiences of my whole mission. It was locisimo! We finally got back to our sector around 8 and everything fell so we just had to contact for the next hour. Super crazy but cool experience! 

Anyways yeah nothing much happened work wise. Just contacting a lot over here. I read something I really loved this morning that hit me hard "In measuring success, we recognize the profound truth underlying all else- that our lives belong to God, our Heavenly Father; and to Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Success means living in harmony with their will" -Elder D. Todd Christofferson

It hit me hard bc i havent had the most success in my mission if you talk about baptisms or finding new investigators and all that. I have been working hard for the past 9 months doing the will of the Father and the Son and that means im being successful. Im offering people the happiness, what Heavenly Father and Christ want me to do. Its their decision if they want to be happy or not. The mission isn't only about baptisms. Its about helping others. Im here and i feel like im doing my best to help others!

Im excited for this next week and to find more investigators. I LOVED the skype call and talking to you guys! Thanks for all the letters. I love you all! Talk to you next week! 

The Suit:

Skype with Matt

Matt got permission from his mission president to call his mom a week before Mother's Day since our mom was going to be out of town and traveling on Mother's Day this year.  The whole family was able to Skype with him and it was great to see his face and hear that he is doing well!