Tribes

Hola Amigos!

This week was great!

We visited a 94 year old widow this past week. She is one of the first members to get baptized here in Azogues. She is super funny and sarcastic. She told us,¨People need to leave their problems and sadness at home and lock their doors so they don`t escape!!  She is my best friend. 

This past week we only almost died two times from dogs atttacking us. My heart almost can`t take it anymore. They are getting angrier I think, because now when I throw rocks they don`t run but turn locos and start running at us. I think it`s the adversary trying to keep us from contacting on the outskirts of the town where the people are more receptive. 

This morning we were able to do a mini service project leeeeeeeejjisimooos. A lady taught us how to plant beans and corn. They were tilling the ground using oxen and it made me think about how long it`s been since I`ve gone to the temple. Ya mismo!

Mystery Food

Hey amigos!

This week went great. Everyday I´m trying to write in my journal all the small miracles that I see. If we look close, we can see God´s hand in every detail.  This is especially true in missionary work. Everyday God blesses us with tender mercies. There is a reason for every good and bad thing that happens. God is perfect and His timing is perfect.

Yesterday we had all our people with baptismal dates go to church and then some.  The family that I was talking about last week was one of them. The mom was participating like crazy, she is not shy at all and that´s why I love her. I´ve really gotten close to her and her family. Her daughter draws me about a hundred pictures every time we go to visit them, my wall is absolutely covered.
I love the mission and the work. I´m sad to see time passing by so quickly.

Here´s some pictures. The one with the plate of food is me eating something that i´ll tell you guys what it is after the mish.  I took my comp to Turi in Cuenca today too.

Teaching and Tranquilo

Hola amigos!!

This week has been a weird one again!! We were not allowed to leave for a couple days due to the strike. But yesterday, the president lowered the gas prices again, so everything is tranquilo again.  We will finally be able to work normally again, it´s time to get to work!!

We are teaching a family currently. The mom and the daughter are progressing well. The daughter (who is 10 years old), told us that she prayed to know if the Book of Mormon was true. She said she saw a light all around her that reached up to her neck. I wish we could all have the faith of a child! We would see miracles like that everyday. That´s why God invites us to be more like children. Not in the childish sense, but be more submissive, kind, and loving...as described in the Book of Mormon:

19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a jchild, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.  

I love the Gospel and I love this work!

Ecuador Strike

This week went great, but was weird. The people of Ecuador are in a strike because the gasoline prices went up. The gente went bazerk and started burning stuff.  Consequently, we`ve been trapped in the house for a few days. Saturday, we had to watch conference in a cyber, because the police was watching people that were meeting in large groups, so we couldn`t meet with the members in the church building.  But i think the guy running the cyber (and the little kids playing calll of duty)  enjoyed us blasting the tabernacle choir music. 

The work is going well, Azogues is a little more difficult because the people are very traditional, but there are still people waiting to hear the Restored Gospel.  We had a little bit of time yesterday before we had to go inside, so we knocked on a door and the guy came out shouting, ¨You guys are Latter-day saints, but I`m an ALL-THE-LIFE SAINT!¨ Okay, man, take it easy, Sometimes I would like to respond to people like that in the way of my grandpa, saying ¨coolete hombre¨

I hope you all got a chance to watch conference. I think my favorite talk was by Terence M. Vinson. He said that if we put our hardest into something, it will be more enjoyable. We won`t always have success, but we will always have joy.  That`s true in every aspect of life, not just the Gospel.  Various leaders also repeated the scripture found in Alma 41 that says, ¨wickedness never was happiness¨¨ The world is full of distractions, things that try to offer us a false sense of happiness. True happiness, or every lasting joy, can only be found in the Gospel. 

I invite you all to review your favorite conference talks. I went to conference with about a page full of questions. I found my answer to every single question that I had. We should always have a question in our mind before we listen to leaders of the church, attend sacrament meeting, or before our daily scripture study. If we go in prepared, we will be more spiritually sensitive and receive more inspiration. 

Chao for now