Season 9 Episode 1

So this past week was pretty good. I finally got a companion after 2 changes without one that likes to contact like me so I'm happy about that. We did a lot of it and although we didn't find a single new from contacts, we did get some news from references. I don't know if that's a sign we should stop, but based off the fact that our mission is baptizing a lot more from contacts then references I don't think it is haha. But It was a pretty decent week. 

Monday we taught a reference from a bishop in Spain. They are his cousins and a family of 4! Awesome huh? especially since our mission president said "every companionship should baptize a family of 4 every change." Really is awesome! Anyways they are the familia molina andrade. They are super cool and way welcoming. They told us on our first visit that we need to feel like a part of their family and I really do. They rock. So the husband is a bit stubborn but that's okay because hes allowed to be cause he has his agency. Its just he doesn't want to stop believing in the virgin. Its actually crazy how true the Book of Mormon is. Right now I'm reading in Alma and its talking about how Satan has such a grip on these people. So during that lesson i was just thinking of that. Its like why do you believe in the Virgin? Where does it say anything about that in the Bible? He said its how he was raised and doesn't want to change yet. So he denied our invitation to church. His wife is super awesome though! She accepted our invitation and said she would come but sadly didn't. I really have a lot of high hopes for this family. I think they will get baptized! They just need to come to church. 

Well since my companion left and took his MP3 player with all the talks and devotionals on them, I haven't had too many spiritual insights this week. Ive been reading a lot of the book of Mormon and I capacitated (translation: trained) on a successful missionary since it was the beginning of the change. Over all i think it went pretty well.

Week one down, yet the struggle to understand my companion continues! Haha hes such a goofy kid like he mumbles so much and its so funny because he just says stuff and starts laughing super hard and I'm laughing cuz his laugh is super different and funny, yes weirder then mine, and i have no idea what he just said. A lot of the members don't even understand him. Its okay though I'm getting better and i know its the Lords blessing of the gift of tongues. Ive never prayed so hard and much for that gift haha. 

I'm happy about this change. Although there has been a lot of awkward silences due to my speaker cord breaking and it being dead so having no music to cure the silence, its been good. We are working hard and got some people to work with but of course there is always room for more! 

Tomorrow I complete 11 months in the mission and next monday i only have exactly one year left in the mission. Its crazy how fast the first year has gone by and with the second year coming up and not having to face the hardest struggles again, language, mtc and homesickness, I know its going to go by even faster. I only got 372 days left to bring as many souls to the truth in Ecuador as i can! LESSSSSSSSSSS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! 

My comps birthday was Tuesday. This is the sweet cake they got him cuz they couldn't find one haha 

Choose Happiness

So this past week was a little crazy and not too much work was done due to a lot of travels and stuff like that. Also my companion was a little burnt out after 4 changes in this sector haha. But anyways we still worked!  

So the other day, saturday to be exact, my companion stated to not feel that well. So after lunch we tried to go visit Galo. WE ALMOST HAD A LESSON!!! literally so close to his house, then my comp just starts throwing up like crazy everywhere. So we ended up going back to the house for the day. After about 3 hours of just sitting in the house my comp finally wakes up. I was deathly bored and was just sitting at my desk. SO I'm of course wanting to leave so i was like how about i give you some oils to help you out. Well little did i know that the doterra book would entertain a bored missionary for about 2 hours. I couldn't quite figure out what he needed based of the symptoms he gave me, but i read about 100 pages of that book, including how to do the aroma touch therapy. No i did not do that to him cuz I'm not gay, but i do know how to now. hahah I know way too much now about diseases. Probably wont come in handy either. But one thing i did love about that day is i listened to maybe about 6 byu devotionals. My favorite that stood out to me was called "choosing happiness". It really is such a good talk! It made me think a lot about my own happiness. He said besides the obvious answer of living the gospel brings happiness, its when you thank others for everything when you realize how happy you are. He said i recommend counting the number of times you say thank you in one day, then beat it. Thank the lord for everything in your prayers. Not only for everything that's awesome and going great, but even for the trials. I thought that part was so cool. Never have i thought about thanking the lord for a trial that i have, but based on the fact that the past 10 months have been a huge trial and I'm happy proves that we should be thankful for them. Learning to be happy especially when you get homesick and just hate life at times bc its too hard and i literally cant sometimes is so critical. Learning to just say thank you to the people that make your life a little better! I suggest to you guys to start being a little more appreciative to what you have and saying thank you more. This also means being more positive!  I'm learning so much right now on my mission and I'm just happy about this gospel!  

So changes happened yesterday and i stayed in my sector in Latacunga. I received Elder Espinosa. He's from medillian colombia and has about 5 months in the mission. He's really cool. Its just he really mumbles a lot and I'm having a hard time understanding haha. I haven't had this problem since my training understanding people. At least this lady at this cyber I'm at right now doesn't understand him either. Makes me feel a little better about myself haha. Anyways, positive mode, my Spanish is gonna be of the charts after this change once i learn to understand him! please pray for me haha  

Anyways I'm really happy about how changes went and about the things I've been learning! I'm excited to get working this week and find more of Gods children. This church is true and I'm super happy to be here. I'm almost on the back 9 of my mission and so times running out to enjoy serving others! I love you all! Have an awesome week! Thanks for the letters! Ill talk to you all next week! 

Baptism = Success

So as you can see with the subject, the baptism went through! FINALLY!!! Let me tell you what, it was not an easy process.  After last weeks disaster of there being no power, there was this weeks disaster. We got the font going and it was cooking, warm water and coming fast with an easy fill after about 2 hours. Sadly, the water shut off again after 15 minutes, so we went to the hose again. That lasted about another 30 minutes. At this point we are on stair number two of the font. Nothing was working. We finally said a prayer and we got buckets and went to several restaurants looking. One giving us about a third of a bucket each, so yeah we ditched that one and tried some others till we found a good one. We each had a bucket and did about an hour of 50 yd farmer carries from the restaurant back to the church to the font. Tell you what, if I'm not ready for the crossfit games now, I don't know what I lack. After an hour we still only filled up half a stair. Then the bishop FINALLY shows up at like 7:15 and unlocks the lock to the huge water tank underground and we used that up until 7:30 when we were supposed to start the baptism. So we started late due to the difficulties. Then the baptism happens with FREEZING COLD WATER! But I expected that. There was also very little water, about 3 stairs to be exact, and our bishop was a witness for the ordinance. Right when Galo was about to go under the bishop told him to drop to a knee. Galo goes to one knee. Have you ever baptized someone like that? If so, why? If not, don't. It will be the hardest push to get them under in your life and he will go into a corner and it just looks weird. Why the bishop said to go to a knee to him, Idk. It was a very LONG and tiring process this baptism, but it is done. Now Galo Favion Mullo Wanalouisa is officially a member of the true church! WOOOOOO!!!!! Although the process was long and very tiring, I know our Heavenly Father answers our prayers! I was really happy, but very tired at the end of the night. 
After we went to say thank you to the restaurant lady, Nancy, and she is going through a lot of difficult times and was very receptive to have us come teach her! I feel like the Lord wasn't preventing us from having the baptism, but wanting us to go to this restaurant to help Nancy. If it wasn't for this font I don't think we ever would have found her. Its really crazy how the Lord works, but He does talk to His children and guides us! I'm excited to teach her tonight.
 

Other than that headache of a night, the week was ight. Im super ready to go out and just go all out this last week of the change cuz my comp has 4 changes here and is probably leaving and I don't wanna be left without a program and also because its my calling to do so! Please pray for our success, cuz these people need what I's got! I love my calling!

Thanks for the emails! I love you guys a lot! Have a great week, go cavs, and I'll talk to you all next week! 

Fitness?

So this pday we were pretty bored and we heard about this huge burritos in Ambato. So me and my companion decided we would go drop about all our apoyo on these $10 burritos! THEY WERE HUGE!!!! 50cm! Filled with beans meat, chicken, cheese and all that good stuff. You know I went to town! You know this new 170lbs Elder Welch was not going to let it defeat him. You know I went in there and bought it and when that puppy came out to me I'm not gonna lie, I was a little intimidated, but with a phrase Ivy has once taught me I said "Fitness? Fittin-nis whole burrito in my mouth" and I took it like a champ. You know Elder Rhees couldn't hang.

       
Anyways, enough about that amazing burrito, this week was a little rough. Let me explain why. So remember that baptism that was supposed to happen? Well it didn't. Let me explain why and hopefully I don't get to fired up. So Friday night we had consejo and the bishop now knows 24hrs in advance that not only do we have a baptism, but there is no electricity in the building. Saturday morning we see the bishop at the church, still knows there is no electricity in the building. Saturday night we start trying to fill up the font around 4:30 and the water is TRICKLING out! Like It would take no joke a year to fill that font up at the speed it was going. We call the bishop and say "there is no electricity in the church, no water. What do we do?" He says ill be there. Shows up around 5:30. At this point my companion is like punching walls and I'm just trying to laugh it off and stay happy and we have a hose in the font with buckets in all the sinks to help speed the process. After Bishop shows he does the same things I've already done about 100 times and says exactly what I've already known. So he leaves and calls me around 7 and is like elder i called the electricity company they should be there soon. Its like well thanks bishop but why didn't you do that last night when you knew there was a problem cuz the baptism starts in 30 minutes. I'm starting to lose my happiness at this point but Its still some what there. We had about a foot and a half of water and only lights where the font is. We didn't know what to do, I got instructions on the "rules of baptism" as in what is valid as going under and stuff and me and my comp debated it and called president and hes like you could do it, it just wouldn't be too spiritual of an experience in freezing cold water of a total of 18 inches. I, no lie, wanted to do it thinking it would be cool to baptism in water so low haha but i realized it wouldn't be too spiritual with the circumstances and i complied with the orders. I was so upset. Then to top it off, galo wasn't at church yesterday so it was probably better we didn't baptize him and now we need to decide if we do it saturday or wait. Lots of prayers will be said this week to know.

        
Crazy story of the week part 2. So wednesday morning we taught Galo at 7 AM and he doesn't live close byany means, and after we taught his brother. Then we were asked to go give some blessings to his sisters son. So we go into there house and he is just SURROUNDED by virgin Mary pictures. I thought he was dying and then i just felt really uncomfortable. We give the kid a blessing, then we had to give the rest of the family comfort blessings, then we left. About 15 minutes later on the walk home, Cesar, Galos brother, calls us and goes hey my mom wants to talk to you guys. And so we go back and shes like "the spirit got me i almost passed out" meanwhile she was holding a cigarette and a bush was burning in the family room. I was like, "whats this bush for" and they said the smoke takes out all the spirits. So i went "okay take this bush outside. youre only making your grandkid sicker, put that cigarette out. that's why you almost fainted. There is too much smoke in this house." It was just such a bad vibe in that house. so glad that's over with. Its just so sad to see down here how much more people believe in the virgin Mary than in God. Its honestly ridiculous. I hope the church buys the land the huge virgin statue is on in Quito and puts the new temple there. i would be so happy.

        
Right now in my mission I feel like I'm in the highest spiritual growth I've had in my whole life. President Brown and elder McConkie really have strengthened my testimony along with the book of Mormon. Its just so awesome and I just love being a missionary now more than ever, and especially being a member of this church. This church is true. Everything we learn as kids is true and the teachings of the scriptures are all true. I love it.

         
The new fact I've learned this week is that the Lord and his prophets always go hand in hand. They are always together. Especially how important Joseph Smith was as a prophet. If you guys want an amazing talk to listen to listen to "Joseph Smith, a Revelator of Christ" Its honestly such an amazing talk. Highly encouraged. I love listening to talks now. Its what I listen to at night as I get in workout number 2 for the day. they are just so uplifting and spiritual i love it! 

Thanks so much to everyone who has had a spiritual impact on me growing up. I truly am happy here. I'm happy that I've been learning so much and able to help so many come unto our savior! This church is true! BOOM! La verdad! (such a lame quote haha) Anyways thanks for all the emails! I love you all! Talk to you guys in a short 7 days! 

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!