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 :)