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