Semana 71

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great Christmas!

We had transfers today and I`m staying here in Ambato and my new companion is Elder Reynolds from Idaho. He has about 6 months in the mission. I`m really excited to work with him in this change.

Christmas was great! On the 24th, we had lasagna with the ward mission leader for lunch and that was really good, then at night we went to a member`s house to have a Christmas dinner with turkey, potatoes salad and ice cream and thesse cake balls that my companion made. On the 25th we had a district meeting then ate tacos with the zone and did a gift exchange game. In the afternoon we talked to the family on skype which was really great!

I`ll be completing 18 months in the mission this week. The time has gone by way fast. With these last 6 months, I want to put in all my effort and do the best I can.

We had an investigator in the church yesterday. She is the mom of a recent convert. She is from Peru and will be here for a few  months and then go back to Peru. She`s really interested and like the church a lot.

Well that`s about it for this week. Hope you all have a great week and a happy new year 2015. Stay safe and happy and I can`t wait to hear from you all next week. Have a great week! Chao!

-Elder Gomez

Amo ser misionero! :)

Semana 70

Hi everyone! I hope you´ve all had a great week! We´re doing great here in Ambato.

Our investigador M assisted church yesterday. He really enjoyed being in church. We´re going to work a lot with him so that he can progress and get baptized. 

Well as we get to the Christmas it makes me think a lot about the true meaning of Christmas. I know that Jesus was born and lived and died for us so that we can all return to live with Him and God. I invite you all to think during this Christmas week about this and about what Jesucristo has done for you all. If we turn to Him and trust in Him, he can help us. He can help us change to become better people and help us resolve the chalenges of life. 

Espero que todos ustedes tengan una feliz Navidad y que Dios les bendiga mucho.

-Elder Gomez

Amo ser misionero. Se que Jesucristo vive.

´´Ñuca cai Alli-Mushuc Huillai-mantaca mana pincanichu, Pachacamacpac sinchicuimi can, tucui iñiccunata quishpichincapac, judiocunahuan callarishpa, quipaca griegocunahuan.´´                                 -Romanocuna 1:16     (It´s in Quichua)

Semana 69

Hi everyone! I hope you`ve all had a good week! We`re doing great here in Ambato!

We had the Christmas dinner with Presidente on Thursday. We had to leave to Quito at about 5;30 in the morning and got back the same day at 9;30 in the night. Before the dinner we had a zone conference and I was able to learn a lot. It was super cool and after the dinner we played games and a little talent show. I played the guitarr with an Elder who played the piano. We played oh holy night then I played carol of the bells alone. It was chevere. After we did white elephant and we all receive a gift bag from the mission. It was a lot of fun. 

We don`t have very many investigadores right now. The majority work on Sundays so that makes it kind of hard. But we`re all very animated and excited for this week. We should never get desanimated because that`s when it gets hard to work. We`re very excited to work this week and I know that this week we`ll find a lot of new investigadores this week.

Well that`s all for this week. Have a great week this week and I can`t wait to talk to you all next week!! 

-Elder Gomez

Amo ser misionero. Se que Jesucristo vive. :) 

Semana 68

Hi everyone! Good afternoon! I hope you all had a great week! We`re doing great here in Ambato!

We went to a park and cooked hamburguers today for pday with the zone. It was a lot of fun! On Wednesday, we go to Quito for the Christmas dinner with Presidente which we will have on Thursday, so we`re excited for that. 

Right now we don`t have very many investigadores and those we have aren`t progresing so this week we need to focus a lot in finding investigadores this week. We`re focusing on the `He is the Gift` program that the Church is doing for the Christmas. We`re giving out cards inviting people to watch the video and share it with their friends. We`re really excited for this and I know that we`ll be able to have  lot of results becuse of this. We all get caught up in the comercial aspect of the Christmas and don`t realize that we celebrate Christmas to remember a Jesus Christ and His birth. I know that Jesus lives and that He is our Savior. If we follow Him. We can have the eternal life. 

Well that`s all for this week. Have a great and stay safe. I love you all very much!

-Elder Gomez

Amo ser misionero! :)

Semana 67

Hi everyone! How are you doing? I hope you`ve all had a great week and a great Thanksgiving! We are doing great here in Ambato.

This week I reach 17 months!

I got kind of sick last week. That was bad!

On Saturday we had the baptismo of our investigador M. He was really happy. We asked him how he felt after the confirmation yesterday in the sacrament reunion and he said he felt alieved. That was really special to hear that there`s been a burden taken off his back and he`s really happy and animated to press forward in this path. 

On Saturday morning we had a service with the zone. We went to Pelileo to clean the street of the chapel. All the zones in the mission had to do a service before the Christmas diner that we have in the house of the Presidente. Next week we go to Quito for our dinner and they will be showing the fotos of the services in the dinner. 

Well that`s about all for this week! Hope you have a great week and stay safe. Love you all!

-Elder Gomez

Se que Jesucristo vive. Amo ser misionero en Ecuador! :)

Semana 66

Hi everyone! I hope you´re all doing well! We´ve had a great week here in Ambato!

This saturay we have a bautismo for an investigador. His name is M. He can´t read and he´s losing his hearing, so we pretty much have to shout in his hear every time we teach him. He´s a really great and humble person though. We´re really excited for his bautismo. 

Today for p-day we were able to go back to Pelileo, since it´s in the zone. It was really cool to be able to go back after so long. After that, we went to the house of the liders of zone and cooked and played Uno and Monopoly. I made churros. 

I really love it here in Ambato. It´s awesome here and the people are so great. I know that we will be able to have a lot of success here and we will be working hard and trusting in the Lord to have that success. I know that God lives and that Jesus Christ is his son and that through this plan, families can be together forever in the presence of God. 

Well that´s about all for this week. Have a great week and stay safe and I hope to hear from you all next week!

-Elder Gomez

Amo ser misionero :)

Semana 65

Hi everyone! I hope you´re all doing great! We´re doing great here!

We had changes today and I got changed to Ambato! I´m with Elder Potter from Huntington, Utah. He´s from the group of Elder Havell so he just finished his training. I´m still leader of district as well. It feels weird after being in Quito for 7 months and seeing the valley of the south of Quito and Panecillo all the time, now leaving and coming back to Ambato. Pelileo is in this zone, which was where I was three sectors ago, so it will be cool going to back to Pelileo for a p-day and seeing all the people I taught again. 

This was probably the hardest change I´ve had to do in the mision. I´ve come to love so much the people here in Asistencia Social that it was hard to leave them all. I know though that the Lord needs me here in Ambato and that here I´ll come to love the people as well and help a lot of people. 

M was able to get baptized on Saturday! It was a very special service. His mom even came, who isn´t member, but she´s seen the example of her sister and niece who are coming back to church after many years of being inactive, and when M got baptized she was crying. She asisted church yesterday tambien to see the confirmacion of M and stayed for the classes. She really like the church and wants to keep asisting. I really hope that she can get baptized. It´s amazing the changes we´ve seen in this family. I know that God lives and He loves us, and that He can change the hearts of people and help them follow the straight and narrow path. :)

Well that´s about it for this week. Hope you all have a great week and stay safe and I hope to hear from you all next week!

-Elder Gomez

Amo ser misionero! :)

Semana 64

Hi everyone! How are you all doing? We are doing great here in Asistencia Social!

(I realized that I was writing this in spanish then changed to english. Ya no soy gringo jajaja)

We had a miracle this week. M on Friday told us that he wasn´t going to be able to asist church because of something he and his family had to church. We were sad because that meant his fecha for the 15th ws going to fall through. But we got to church yesterday and boom! he ran up to us. Turned out he and his aunt got to the church an hour early at 7:00 am before anyone else. We were so happy to see him there. He was also able to participate in the primary program so that was really cool. After the church he had his interview and all good for his baptism this Saturday!! We´re very exited for him. We also brought a new investigator to church, named S. She came then found out that one of her good friends is member and was there and helped her have a great time in the church. 

We´re starting to find a lot more new investigators. We´ve been finding families that seem really interested and want to know if this is true what we are teaching, but the majority are not married and just live together so that makes it kind of hard. We´ve also been randomly finding less actives in the street. We found one who was drunk in the street who had gotten baptized in Chillogallo and his son is a return missionary who served in Mexico. At first we thought there were very few members in our sector, but we´ve been finding less actives so hopefully we can start bringing them to church.

Church asistance was over 180. Normally it´s about 140, and maybe it had something to do with the primary program but we´re hoping that asistance can keep increasing and that we can strengthen the ward. President Christensen said that successfull missionaries need to help strengthen the ward and help that asistence can increase.

Well that´s all for this week. Next week we have changes, but I hope I can stay here. I really love it here. Have a great week be safe and I hope to hear from you all next week!

Chao!

-Elder Gomez

Amo ser misionero :)

Semana 63

Hi everyone! I hope you´re all doing good. We´re doing great here in Asistencia Social! Today I complete 16 month in the mission. The time has passed by super fast.

The Family C asisted church yesterday and the mom was able to have an interview with the bishop and she´s doing a lot better and happy to come back to church. Her nephew M came also and he has a fecha for the 15 of Novembre. He´s really excited to be baptized and will also be participating in the primary program next week. 

After a long time of working with him, we had a less active finally come to church yesterday named R. He´s the only member in his family which makes it hard for him to do what´s right, especially to asist church. But yeterday he came and I was really happy. It´s always special seeing less actives come back to church and renewing their covenants. We are all special children of our Heavenly Father, and He wants all of us to return to His presence. I testify that God lives and Jesus Christ lives and came to this world to die for us that we may all return to live with God.

We found a large family this week named the Family C. There´s probably more than 20 in this family. So far, we´ve only taught 10 of them. They´re all really good and a few of them asisted church a long time ago. The mom felt really frustrated because she couldn´t find a church that has profets and 12 apostles like in the Bible. Then we came and she was super excited! They all have sincere desires to know if this is true. They want to asist church next week with us. They didn´t come yesterday because of Day of the Dead and almost everyone went on vacations or visit the cementaries. 

This weekend was Day of the Dead and today the streets have been dead. We went to the offices, about a 45 minute bus ride only to find it closed because of the holidays. A lot of people went on vacations for the weekend. Here the tradition for Day of the Dead is serve the colada morada which is a special drink with berries and fruits and herbs with bread called guaguas de pan which is bread shaped as babies filled with jam. It´s really good. They only serve it at this time of year. 

Well that´s all for this week. Hope you all have a great week and stay safe! Can´t wait to hear from you all next week!  Chao!!

-Elder Gomez

Amo ser misionero! :)

Semana 62

Hi everyone! I hope you´re all having a great week! We´re doing good here!

We went to Panecillo again for a distrit actividad. As distirct leader I had to plan it and make a purpose out of it. I shared the dedicatory prayer that Elder Spencer W. Kimball offered in 1965 on the same hill of Panecillo. It was very spiritual and cool seeing a lot of the things that Elder Kimball said in the prayer are being fullfilled here in Ecuador. The work has grown a ton here in Ecuador, but there´s still so much to do. There are many people that have never heard the Gospel and that´s what animates so much is to be able to bring the Gospel into the lives of so many people. It doesn´t matter how hard you "think" the mission is. There´s always someone in every sector that needs your help specifically. You just have to be patient have faith in Jesucristo and work diligently to find those people. 

Well this week our investigators weren´t able to asist church. We´re going to have to drop the majority of them this week. We need to spend more time looking for those who are prepared. We´re still going to be be working with M though. We gave him a fecha for the 15 of Noviembre and he has a lot of desire to progress.

We had zone conferences this week with Presidente Christsensen. It was very spiritual and uplifiting. He´s really trying to change the vision of the mision. We need to dedicate 50% of our time to investigators and the other 50% percent to the less actives. There are a lot of less acitves in Ecuador and the wards are struggling because of it. Every soul is valuable to the sight of God, so we need to help as many as we can enter in the fold and as many possible to come back. 

We also had the stake conference yesterday. Presidente Christsensen and his wife spoke as well as the Presidente and his wife of the Guayaquil Temple came all the way here to speak. It was very special. They were trying to stream it to the other chapels in the stake but there were technical difficulties so a ton ended up coming into our chapel and it was super full. haha

Well that´s all for this week. I hope you all have a great week! Stay safe and I can´t wait to hear from you all next week!!

-Elder Gomez

Amo ser misionero. Se que Jesucristo vive y que hemos sido llamados por Dios para participar en esta gran obra. :)

Semana 61

Hi everyone! How are you all? We´re doing great here!

We went to a place called Molinuco for pday today. We went on hike to see a lot of big waterfalls and there was a mini zip line that we used. It was a lot of fun. Molinuco is in Los Chillos so to get there we had to pass through Conocoto, which was my first area in the mission. It was cool seeing Conocoto and seeing everything again after leaving there 10 months ago. It was very pretty seeing the wildlife and nature. (pictures next week, sorry)

The Family B.C. asisted church yesterday pero they can´t have a fecha because they aren´t married so we need to help them so that they can get married and so they can get baptized. M wasn´t able to asist yesterday because the stairs in their house collapsed last week and they all had to stay in the house while the workers were fixing it. But this week he´ll be able to asist with his cousin and aunt who are less actives. 

This week I´ve come to comprehend better the atonement of Jesus Christ and how important it is. I know that Jesucristo lives and that only through Him can we be cleansed of sin and become more like Him and be able to live with Him and our Heavenly Father again. It doesn´t matter the mistakes we committ in this life, if we truly repent and stirve to follow Jesucristo, we can be cleansed of our sins. 

Well that´s all for this week. Stay safe and hope you all have a great week! 

con amor,

Elder Gomez

Semana 60

Hi everyone! I hope you´re all doing good. We´re doing great here!

Elder Havell has been sick a lot so we haven´t been able to work too much. The nurses said he has altitud sickness. But now he´s a lot better, so this week we´ll be able to work a lot harder and help a lot more people come unto Christ. 

We brought a less active family to church who were asisting years ago in the ward Guamaní in Chillogallo. The husband died and they moved into the ward Asistencia Social. Since they didn´t know many members and didn´t know where to find the capilla, they stopped asisting church. Some members told us about them and showed us where they live and we found their house last week. They were super excited and happy to find the missionaries again. They came to church yesterday and felt so great to be able to come back to church in so many years. They also brought their grandson M who isn´t a member but he loved the church and wants to learn more.

S had to work yesterday, but he says that yesterday was his last Sunday of work. He says that from now on, he´s going to get Sundays off to be able to asist church. We´ll be working with him a lot. He says the situation in his family has improved a ton. That he feels the influence of the espirit more in his life and that he´s not fighting with his family. He´s recognizing the blessings of God more in his life. I know that the Lord has blessed him a ton. God loves us so much and want to bless us. When we strive to live the Gospel, He blesses us. We´re hoping to give him a fecha for the 25th of Octobre. 

If you haven´t heard the movie Meet the Mormons seems to be having a lot of success. It´s not here in Ecuador but it seems really good. You should all see it. 

Well that´s about it for this week. Stay safe and I hope you all have a great week. Pray for oportunities to share the Gospel this week. Can´t wait to hear from you all soon!

Elder Gomez

Amo ser misionero. Se que Jesucristo vive y Él es cabeza de esta Iglesia. Se que Él es nuestro Salvador.

Semana 59-Transfer Week

Hi everyone! I hope you´ve all had a great week! We´re doing great here in Asistencia Social.

We had transfers today and me and Elder Havell are staying together for another transfer! I´m really excited for this transfer. I know that we will be able to do a lot of work together and help a lot of people come unto Christ.

My trainer Elder Christensen just finished his mission today. It makes me feel old. haha

General Conference was great!! I watched every session in espanish. One of the most espiritual and powerful conference I´ve been to. It´s true, that when we come to conference with questions, that we can receive the answers in the talks through personal revelation. I know that personal revelation is real and that God does want to answer our prayers and questions. It was awesome to hear the speakers in their native language especially the espanish. 

S asisted the sunday morning sesion. We weren´t able to talk to him much after, but we want to give him a baptismal date for Octobre. Hopefully for this week or the next week. He learns kind of slow but he has a desire to learn more. The espiritu has touched him and I know he´s a confirmation that this is the truth. 

Elder Havell was sick this week with a stomach infection, so it made it kind of hard to work this week. I remember when I had a stomach infection a year ago and also parasites in January. But now, my stomach is used to all the bacteria and food here so I don´t really get sick anymore. It will probably take some time for me to get used to the food and bacteria in America when I come back. 

Well that´s all for this week. Hope you all have a great week and stay safe! Can´t wait to hear from you all soon!!

-Elder Gómez

Amo ser misionero. Se que Jesucristo vive y que es nuestro Salvador. Se que tenemos un profeta viviente que nos guía y nos ayuda.

Semana 58

Hi everyone! I hope you´re all doing great! We´re doing great here in Asistencia Social! I´m already reaching 15 months in the mission this week. It´s gone by really fast. It´s getting close to the end. I don´t want it to end...

We found a new family this week, called the Family B. C.  The J the husband is the brother of S, who was going to be baptized this week, but didn´t asist church because of trabajo. They contacted us in the street asking if we teach bible classes. We said yes and visited them in their house later that day. They told us that they aren´t married but have a desire to get married because they want to keep the commandments of God. They loved hearing about baptism because they want to have that feeling of being clean and pure. As we were teaching them, I realized somethings really important. I realized how important is the repentance and our purpose as missionaries is to help people gain faith in Jesus Christ and help them repent so that they can be prepared to make covenants with God that will help them come closer to Him and to Jesus Christ and to help them return to the presence of God. It made me think of what I need to do to in my life to be a better person and missionary. We need to repent everyday. 

Well right now, we don´t have anyone progressing. We may have to drop some investigators soon. This week, though, will be a great opportunity to find new investigators, inviting them to General Conference to hear the words of the living prophet. I´m super excited for general conference. We will be in the stake center for all of the sessions. We need to help as many people come. 

I hope you all can watch the conference sessions. They truly are inspired by the Lord. If we prepare ourselves beforehand with questions, we can find the answers in conference and receive personal revelation.

There´s a video that I´d love you all to watch. It´s called Missionary Work and the Atonement. This is a great video about the Atonement and teaches us the importance of understanding what Christ did for us. Here´s the link. It´s in English just with spanish subtitles no more. 

Video: Missionary Work and the Atonement

Well that´s all for this week! Hope you all have a great week. Stay safe and I hope to hear from you all next week!

Élder Gómez

Amo ser misionero. Se que Jesucristo es mi Salvador. 

Semana 57

Hi everyone!! I hope you´re all doing well! We´re doing great here in Asistencia Social!!

We went to the Government Palace on p-day today. Every Monday is the ceremony of the changing of the guard. This was was my second time, the first time last September. This time we were able to see the Presidente of Ecuador, Rafael Correa. That was cool to see him. After that we went to the Basilica de Voto Nacional, which is now my third time going there, but it´s still fun to go there. 

Well, W has been struggling with the word of wisdom so he won´t be able to get baptized this Saturday, and Segundo didn´t asist church because his daughter had a baby, so he has a new baptism date for the 4th of October. We brought a new family to church yesterday, named the family P. They´re really good and receptive. The dad A is a musician and plays a lot of instruments and sometimes plays in rock bands in Christian churches. They have a lot of interest and liked the church yesterday. I beleive they can progress.

We´re looking for new investigators to teach. We´ve been fasting a lot and our faith has been put to the test with the setbacks, but I know that if we always put our trust in the Lord, He will help us. We always need to have faith. This week, I´ve learned a lot of things about the Gospel. Especially about the commandments and the importance of the family in the plan of salvación. When we teach the lessons, I learn new things. As we live the Gospel and keep our covenants and work hard, the spirit will not only testify to the investigators, but it will also reveal new things and concepts to us. 

We´ve finally got mamitas for lunch! Until then, we were just eating with the zone leaders at their mamitas and the sisters in the ward. But now, they´ve assigned us mamitas.

It´s been great training Elder Havell. He´s learning Spanish great and has progressed a ton in his teaching and everything. As I´ve been training, I´ve been learning and improving as well. In the studies together,. I come across things in the 12 week training program that I never realized or understood before.  

We´re getting back into winter now in Ecuador. Quito is in the rainy season now, and it´s gets cold and rains a ton! Last week, it was raining a ton and we got my rain jacket and then it cleared up about 30 mintues later, then it got super hot. I was sweating, so we dropped off my jacket in the house. When we went back out, the clouds came back, and it started raining again. The weather in Quito is loco!!

At night before we go to bed, I´ve been watching the DVDs of Preach My Gospel (the district training videos), but I´ve been watching them in Portuguese and I´ve realized how much I understand Portuguese. It´s similar to spanish and Elder Batista taught me a little bit. I want to learn Quichua also. It would be cool to be able to use it with the indigenous people here. As missionaries, we have the gift of tongues, and I know it´s true! Right now, my english is suffering though. haha

I´m really animated for the general conference next week! It will be great to hear from the profets.

Well that´s about all for this week. I hope you all have a great week!

Amo ser misionero! :) Se que Jesucristo vive

Semana 56

Hi everyone! I hope you´ve all had a great week! We´re doing good here!!

W and S assisted church yesterday! They´re progressing very well and they both have baptismal dates for the 27th of Septembre. 

We´ve been finding a lot of people and are working a lot with the members. On Saturday, we helped the Bishop move to his new apartment, and loading everything onto the truck. We´ve been visiting the members and a few have references for us. There´s a lot of former investigators in our area that asisted church a few times but never got baptized. We´re going to be looking for them as well.

The work has been progressing a lot here. We´ve set the goals for the month of October for baptisms and reactivations. I know that we can achieve these goals. If we always have faith and never let complaints or desanimation (not sure what that is in ingles...discouragement?) enter our mind and always work to our fullest, then we can achieve any goals.

Well that´s about it for this week. Have a great week everyone and be safe and I hope to hear from you all next week. 

-Elder Gomez

Amo ser misionero. Se que Jesucristo vive y que este es su Iglesia verdadera. :)

Semana 55

Hi everyone! I hope you´ve all had a great week! We´re doing good here.

We played futbol with the zone today for P-Day and then made tacos. That was fun.

It´s been good opening sector here in Asistencia. We brought an investigator to church yesterday. His name is S.B. He has a baptismal date for the 27th of September. He is really excited and has a strong desire to change his life. Also for the 27th, we have W.N. who everyone in his family is member except for him. He was going to get baptism last year, but there were some challenges and he never got baptized. But now, he wants to start asisting church again and wants to get baptized on the 27th of September.

The members have been helping us a lot. The ward missionary, Joseph, has been helping us a ton. He was with us all day Thursday and Saturday. He´s 18 and is preparing to leave on the mission in the next few months. He´s super excited to get his call and when he was with us, he contacted a lot of people and committed to bringing people to church. He helped us bring a less active to church yesterday. Yesterday, he was ordained a Priest, and he asked me to ordain him. That was cool. I had never ordained anyone before and it was a good experience. It´s a blessing to be able to use the priesthood. We should all strive to be worthy and ready to use our priesthood to bless others when the situation asks for it. 

Well that´s about all for this week. Hope you have a great week and stay safe. Hope to hear from you all soon! 

Chao!

Elder Gomez

Amo ser misionero

Semana 54

Hi everyone! I hope you´re all doing well! This week marks 14 months in the mission. The time has passed super fast!!!

I got my new companion on Thursday that I will be training. His name is Elder Havell, from Salt Lake City, and is 18 years old. He´s really good and speaks good Spanish. It makes me feel old that more than half the mission has less time than me and that Elder Havell is my first companion in all the mission that is younger than me hahaha

From my house I can see Chillogallo in the distance. It´s weird seeing my old sector so close by, haha!

So we are opening a sector, which means that we are starting with almost nothing. In our ward, we have the companionship of the zone leaders, a companionship of sisters and us. Our sector originally was part of the sisters sector, but they split their sector when we came, so we´re working in the part where they haven´t been working much. The Sisters gave us a lot of records of people that missionaries in the past had taught in our sector, so this week we will be looking for those people. A lot of them are former investigators so maybe we can help some of them get baptized. 

The members here are really great! They´re all friendly and we´ve already been able to get the trust of them. Right after sacrament, the ward mission leader told me to teach the Gospel Principles class and teach the chapter on the missionary work and to animate them all to participate in the missionary work. We were able to teach it well and I got them laughing and everyone was excited to share their missionary experiences. Then in the 3rd hour it was combined and all the missionaries had to give a capacitation (I don´t know what that is in english) about missionary work and everyone was excited to help us find people to teach. 

I know that we are going to have a lot of success here in Asistencia Social. 

That´s all for this week! Hope you all have a great week! Stay safe and I can´t wait to hear from you all next week!!

Elder Gomez

Amo ser misionero :)

Semana 53-Transfers

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great week! We had our changes today and I left to Asistencia Social in Turubama which is about 20 minutes from my last sector, Chillogallo. I will be training a new missionary so I won´t receive my companion until Thursday and I´m also a district leader again. I´m going to be opening a new sector so we´re going to be starting out with nothing and will have to find our way around. I know that we will have success here and find a lot of people who will be receptive to hear the Gospel. If we put our trust in the Lord, anything is possible.

I really miss Chillogallo. It was sad to leave all the people and places that I came to love there. We were able to help a lot of people and gain the trust of the ward leaders and a lot of the members. 

M.C. came to church yesterday and he has a baptismal date for the 13 of September. He is progressing well and really enjoyed being in church yesterday. 

Well that´s about all for this week. Hope you all have a great week and next week I´ll let you all know about my new companion. Stay safe and hope to hear from you all soon!

-Élder Gómez

¡Amo ser misionero!

Semana 53

Hi everyone! I hope you`ve all had a great week!

Next week we have changes and I`ll probably be leaving. I`ll let you know what happens. I`ve been here in Chillogallo for four months and it`s really great here. If I go, I`ll miss it a lot. 

That`s really sad to hear that Robin Williams died. he was a really funny actor. 

We had a few minor tremors this week. The big earthquakes were in the north of Quito, which is out of our mission, so nothing happened here. We just felt the earth shake a bit. 

This week we found a new family named the Family C. They first heard the missionaries 20 years ago and listened for 2 years. They assisted church all that time in the stake center here. They never got baptized. They moved to a new house and lost contact with the missionaries. We taught them this week and they want to learn again. The message of the Restoration is coming back to their memory and they know it`s true. Even though they didn`t get baptized they said that the principles they learned we`re what helped them raise their children successfully and they credit the teachings of the Church to what`s happened to their children. They all have children and successful careers. That was a testimony builder to me, seeing how the Gospel helps families have happiness and success.

We didn`t get anyone to church this week, but with this being the last week before changes, we`re going to be work hard, staying focused and animated to find new people. 

Hope you all have a great week! Help the missionaries in your ward. Get to know them and support them with every person that they teach. Go on visits with them and don`t be afraid to open your mouths to proclaim the Restored Gospel to your friends.

-Elder Gòmez

Amo muchísimo ser misionero. Sè que Jesucristo vive.

Semana 52

Hi everyone! I hope you´ve all had a great week. Tomorrow marks a year since I left the MTC and arrived to Ecuador. The time has gone by way too fast!

Well L is still doing good after her baptism. If she doesn´t have exams she will be going with the youth to the Guayaquil temple this week to do baptisms. That will be able to help her a lot to stay active. It´s so great to see converts go to the temple. That´s the goal we want.

The work should start progressing a lot more here soon. In ward council, the counselor in the bishopric talked about the things we need to do to improve. The majority of our ward council and coordination meetings are ineffective and a waste of time. The leaders have been reluctant to work with the Work of Salvation and the new vision we need to have. But now, it appears that they´re more willing to work with it. Yesterday I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting about how can we hasten the work and our responsibilities as members. In the meeting we had with the Seventies last week, they shared a scripture in Ezequiel 34 that talks about some members who only care for themselves and the other active members, and that we need to care for all. I shared that in my talk. We all need to open our mouths and share the Gospel, whether we´re missionaries or no. We need to invite everyone to come unto Christ. The vision of our Heavenly Father is that all of His children can return to live with Him. (Moses 1:39). He has called all of us to fulfill that vision. 

Well, so far we´ve been looking for new investigators, but haven´t had very much success. We´ve been helping a lot of less actives come back to church, and we have a lot coming to church every week. We´ve had success with the less actives, but not with investigators. Despite the challenges I´ve faced in the mission, they´ve helped me a ton to grow. In these last two weeks I think I´ve gained my conversion. I can now say with more surety that I know my Savior Jesus Christ and that this is His true church. A lot of things in the Gospel are making more sense and I seem to be learning new things almost every day. I still have a lot to grow and a ton to improve, but I know that if I hadn´t served a mission, that none of this would have happened.

Well that´s all for this week! Hope you all have a fantastic week! 

-Élder Gómez

Amo ser misionero. Sé que Jesucristo vive y Él nos ama a todos.

Semana 51

Hi everyone! I hope you`ve all had a great week! We`re doing good here!

On Saturday L got baptized! It was very special. Her uncle baptized her. Her Dad came and also to see her confirmed in Sacrament meeting. It was very good because he hasn`t been to church in many years, but he has the desire to come back to church.

On Friday we had the zone conference with Elder C. Scott Grow from the South America North East Area Presidency who is also in the 1st Quorum of the Seventy.Then that same evening we had a special meeting with him and all of the Ward Councils in Quito from our mission. It was a very spiritual meeting and Elder Grow talked a lot about how we can hasten the Work of Salvation and how we can work more effectively in ward council.

Well that`s all for this week. Right now, we don`t have very many investigators, so we`re looking and working hard to find new investigators. I know that if we put our trust in the Lord, He will guide our path and help us in all that we need. Hope you all have a great week. 

-Elder Gomez

Amo ser misionero