Semana 35

Hi everyone! I hope all is well for your all!!

We´ve got transfers next week and I think I´ll probably be going. I´ve been here four months in Pelileo and my companion has three months here so he´ll probably stay and I´ll probably go. Even though we haven´t had the type of success that we wanted, I know that we´ve really helped out the Branch here. The members are a lot better and helping and more people are asisting church, so I know that we´ve really helped out here. In my time here in Pelileo, I´ve learned the importance of putting our trust in the Lord. My faith has really increased. I´m really grateful that the Lord has put me in Pelileo to learn these things. I really love it here in Pelileo, and if I go, I´ll be sad to leave behind all of these great people, but I know that wherever the Lord needs me to go is where I need to be. 

The Family G has their baptism this Friday!! We have Stake Conference in Ambato this Saturday and Sunday so we had to move the date for Friday. It´s been a challenge with them. There´s been a lot of opposition, but I know that if we do all possible they can do it. They´ve had problems with their testimony. They always say that they haven´t received an answer that this is true. But then we found out that weren´t praying! If we want to know if these things are true, we need to pray! There´s no other way to know. We need to read, pray, and asist church. If we do ALL of these things we will receive the answer through the Holy Ghost. Anway, the Family G started reading and praying again and they said that felt a huge relief, that a lot of their stress went away and are feeling a lot more at peace in their lives. I know that they´ve received their answer through the Holy Ghost. I´m really happy for them. It will be a great way to end this transfer, especially if I´m leaving to see them finally get baptized. The Lord often holds his blessings for the end. Presidente Henry B. Eyring talked about that in the Saturday session of Conference:

"If we choose the right,we will find happiness—in time. If we choose evil, there comes sorrow andregret—in time. Those effects are sure. Yet they are often delayed for apurpose. If the blessings were immediate, choosing the right would notbuild faith. And since sorrow is also sometimes greatly delayed, it takesfaith to feel the need to seek forgiveness for sin early rather than after wefeel its sorrowful and painful effects."

-Presidente Henry B. Eyring

If we can press forward with faith, the Lord will always give us the blessing we deserve, in His time. 

The Sisters had two baptisms on Saturday and I was able to baptize them. We´ve been helping the Sisters a lot with their investigators. As district leader, I´ve been doing a lot of baptismal interviews for them and we´ve gone with them to visit their investigators to try to help them. I really enjoy serving. That´s what the mission is about. Christ didn´t come to this earth to be served, he came here to serve others, and that´s how we should be as missionaries. 

Well that´s about it for this week. I´m really excited to hear what´s going to happen for the transfers. I´ll be sure to let you all know next week. Well, until then, I hope you all have a great week this week. 

-Élder Gómez

Semana 34

Hi everyone! I hope all is well for you all. Things are going good here en Pelileo.

Conference was amazing! We had to go to the stake center in Ambato to watch it since there`s no satelite in the chapel en Pelileo. Ambato is about a 30 - 45 minute drive from Pelileo. We were in Ambato all day Saturday and Sunday. Since Ecuador is an hour ahead of Utah, the Priesthood Session ended at 9:00 pm here I watched some of the sessions in spanish and some in english, and I think I honestly like it better in spanish. I can understand it in spanish and I just don`t really like listening to english. The American Elders that were there think I`m weird for that, but oh well.. haha

We were able to visit a less active that we`ve been trying to find for quite a long time now. She lives in a place called Pingue which is on the way to get to Baños and Baños is in another zone. We got on the bus to Baños hoping to get off at the right stop. We got on and since Baños is a huge tourist site, there were Americans on the bus which was kind of weird. Since we`ve never been to Pingue before, we didn`t know where to get off and the bus only makes stops if you ask them so we accidently left the zone and entered Baños! Luckily we got off before getting too far into Baños and were able to catch another bus and get off at Pingue. We found the less active. She got baptized about 4 years ago but her husband abandoned her and her two kids about a year ago and so she stopped going to church since she had to start working a lot more. She has a really strong desire to start coming to church again and she wants the blessings in her life again. She came with us to Ambato on Saturday to the morning session of General Conference.

The husband of the Family G came with us to Ambato for the Sunday Morning Session of Conference and he really liked it! They are progressing well. They have a baptismal date for the 19th of April. The only problem is that they refuse to have an interview with the counselor of the mission president. If they don`t have this interview, they can`t be baptized. 

The Branch is really changing. There is a lot more excitement in the members and a lot of them are inviting people to listen to our message, and help out the less actives. I think some of them are doing it to get food from us but enough though they want the food they`re starting to see that`s there`s blessings from participating in missionary work. Soon it will get to the point where the food is just a little side blessing and they`ll do it regardless of getting food or not. 

Well that`s about all for this week. Have a great week everyone! 

-Èlder Gòmez

Semana 33

Hi everyone!! I hope everything is great for you all!!

Things are going great here. It´s been almost 9 months since I left on the mission, and the time has gone by way fast. They all say that it goes faster once you get one year but I already feel like it´s been speeding by. The time goes by way fast and there´s no time to rest or goof off. 

The new thing I learned to cook this week: Churros. I´m really loving to cook. For our district meetings our zone leaders want the ditrict leaders to cook something each week to give to the missionaries after the meetings to help them feel moer welcomed and more excited to work. So last week was my turn and I made churros and brownies and my companion made monkey pull apart bread. It was so good. Everyone loved it. 

The sisters had two baptisms and we were able to baptize them. It was a miracle that they were able to get baptized. They were scared but went to visit them with the sisters the day of the baptism and were able to help them feel good about their baptism. My companion shared something about faith that really helped one a ton. 

Our tiny chapel is filled and doesn´t have much room anymore!!!! When I first got here there were about 70 to 90 coming to church. Last week we had 115 and yesterday we had 105. We can´t even go into the class for investigators now since the room is so tiny. They´re going to have to make the chapel bigger soon. It´s really exciting to be here in Pelileo. There is a new wave of enthusiasm for mission work among the members. They´re starting to help us a lot more. Everyone is excited to see the chapel filled up. A year ago I think there we´re only about 30 people or so every Sunday in church. Everyone is so excited for this branch to finally become a ward after 40 years of being a branch. Yesterday, we taught the third hour and we taught the members about sharing the Gospel. This month of April is going to be the month of fellowshiping and inviting new people to hear the Gospel. We made a challenge that every member that can invite 15 people to hear our and message and if they get 3 to asist church, we will give each one a cake, cookies, and bake them monkey pull apart bread. Everyone is really excited now. One member said ´´I know what I have to do and I´m going to beat everyone.´´  So we told him that if he invites 50 people and 15 come to church, we will give him two cakes, cookies, bake him churros and monkey pull apart bread and two bags of chocolates. He accepted the challenge saying that he would do it. They´re all really excited now. I think most of the members here feel like they need something in return to participate so if this is what we´ve gotta do, we´ve gotta do it! I´m more than willing to bake all these things if means more support from the members and more people to teach!! By sharing the Gospel they will come to learn that the greatest prizes are the blessings and happiness we receive as we share the Gospel. 

Well the Family G didn´t get baptized as we planned. They had their interview with the zone leader and there´s some issues so they need some more time. We´re going to try to visit them tonight and tomorrow and give them a new date. They´re such a great family and we´re going to do all possible that they can be baptized. They feel a lot of love and support from the members so that´s helping a lot. 

We also have another family that came to chruch!! The Family C. They were former investigators from a year ago but since they aren´t married and didn´t want to get married I think the missionaries stopped visiting. We´ve come back and it´s been a miracle!! They used to fight in the lessons, but now they say that they aren´t fighting as much and have more desire to improve their relationship and get married. When they came to church yesterday they received a huge wave of love from the members. The wife R felt so happy to be in the church again and listen the Elderes again. We´re really starting to see a lot of miracles here. 

Well that´s all for this week. I´m super excited for General Conference. I hope you can all watch all the sessions. If we listen atentively with the Spirit with us we will be able to learn truths of the Gospel that will help us in our everyday lives. 

¡¡Tengan una buena semana!!

-Élder Gómez

Semana 32

¡Hola! How are you all doing? I hope everything is going well. Well it´s been almost a year since I got my mission call and I almost have 9 months in the mission. Time has gone by way fast.

Every Monday now we´re baking cookies and brownies for the members to help gain their trust and show that we appreciate them. We don´t get very much support from the members but the cookies are helping. We gave them to the Branch President last week and then he called us the next day just to tell us thanks and now he´s invited us and the sisters to his house for lunch this Saturday. If we can get to the leaders first then the rest of the members will see it.

Well the work is really starting to pick up here. There´s been a Branch here in Pelileo for 40 years and the growth and progress has been slow. But now the work is really picking up. There´s a new excitement in the members and more people are coming back to church and more investigators are coming too. In order to be a Ward, they need 15 men who hold the Melquisedec Priesthood and are faithful and active. Right now we have 14 and there´s a few that are going to get sustained to received the priesthood in the next stake conference this April!! In about a year there should be a Ward here. It´s a really exciting time to be here. There´s a new wave of enthusiasm and the members are starting to help us a lot more now. Yesterday we had 115 people at church which is the most I´ve ever seen it. normally there are about 80 to 90 coming. They´ve been running out of bread and water during the sacrament lately and have to bless more. There´s also not very much room in the classes now. 

Well the Family G came to church yesterday and have their baptismal interviews with the zone leaders this Thursday!! The only problem is that the wife doesn´t think she´s prepared for their baptismal date for this Saturday. Their big fear is getting baptized without preparation because the same thing happened to them in another church a few years ago and they don´t want to do the same thing. We´re going to pray a lot for them and help them feel prepared. They´re prepared, they just don´t realize it. 

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

Élder Gómez

Semana 31

¡Hola! How are you all? I hope you all had a good week. Things are going good here in Pelileo!

Well the Family G didn´t asist church yesterday since a family member of them had a baby so their baptismal date fell through. We were going to have the zone leaders come down yesterday to do the interviews but we´re going to have to do it next week. We have a lesson with them tonight and we´re going to give them a new baptismal date for the 29th. 

The sisters had a baptism Saturday and we invited the Family G to come. Unfortunately they came about 10 mintues after the ordinance was already performed. We were at least able to show them the font and talk about baptism and they are starting to feel a lot of love and support from the members. 

A has a date now for the 5th of April!! She couldn´t come to church because of college classes but yesterday was her last day of classes so now she´ll start being able to come again. It´s been a real miracle!!

Our new zone leader actually in this area so he understands how it is here and the challenges in Pelileo so he´s been helping us a ton. We did exchanges on Friday and he helped us a ton. It´s cool because he´s also one of the few missionaries in this mission that´s not from the Americas. He´s from England. So when he talks in Spanish he has an Enlgish accent so it kind of sounds funny. haha

Other than that not much has happened this week. We´re working hard and tyring to get more support from the members and I think the members are going to start helping us more than they have. All of you back home....Help the missionaries as much as you can. Go on visits with them, give them references. Because missionary work doesn´t work if the members aren´t involved. It means the world to the missionaries when they feel the support of the members.

Well hope you have a great week!! Stay safe have fun!!!

¡¡Cuidense!!

-Élder Gómez

Semana 30

¡Buenas tárdes a todos! Espero que todos ustedes hayan tenido una buena semana. Tuvimos cambios hoy día y Yo y mi compañero Élder Ercanbrack nos quedamos aquí en Pelileo por un otro cambio.

okay now in ingles. haha

We had transfers today and me and Elder Ercanbrack are staying here in Pelileo for together for anotehr transfer. This will be my third transfer here. I´m really excited and happy to stay here since things are finally starting to happen here and want to be here to see it happen. 

Well a lot of people are getting sick and going home. Even the nurse went home for being sick. It´s too bad that so many are getting sick and having to go home. Luckily I haven´t gotten sick in a while and I don´t plan on getting sick anytime soon. I don´t want to go home early over being sick. The Lord is hastening His Work and there´s no time to lose. 

So the Family L didn´t get baptized on Saturday as we planned. Even after having an interview with the zone leaders they´re still saying not yet and that they want to learn more and keep going to church. Since we´ve taught them everything and they know everything we can´t do much anymore. 

Even though we´ve had our difficulties, we´re starting to see the fruits of our labors. We have a family named the Family G who came to church yesterday. They have a baptismal date for next week on the 22nd!! They really are a miracle. They told us that before we came, they´ve never really had much enthusiasm for praying and reading the scriptures. But now they´re reading and praying every day and have a ton of enthusiasm to be baptized and learn more. 

I´m really excited for this transfer. I know that we´re going to be having a lot of success here. The Lord really does bless us if we press forward with faith and humility and dilligence. 

Thanks for all your prayers and support. I hope you all stay safe and have a great week this week. Hope to hear from you all soon!!

-Élder Gómez

Semana 29

Hi everyone! ¡Espero que todos ustedes hayan tenido una buena semana!

We have transfers next week. I get the call from the Zone Leaders this Sunday night telling us what happens. I think I`ll be going and my companion will be staying here. I`ve really loved being here. Even though we`ve had our challenges here and it`s not the most successfull area, I`ve really come to love the people here and this area. If I go, I`m going to miss Pelileo. I say this every transfer, but this transfer has been the fastest one ever.

Well today for P-Day I finally decided to make no-bake cookies. I`m surprised they turned out pretty good. We don`t have any measuring cups so I had to guess everything but they actually taste pretty good. I think we might make a few more and give them to our zone leader this week since this is his last week in the mission before he goes home to Chile.

Well we`ve been working really hard and we`re starting to see the miracles and fruits of our labors. The Zone Leaders came here yesterday to give the Family L a baptismal interview and we have a baptism for them for this Saturday!!!! We`ve pushed through with a lot of faith this transfer and thinkgs are finally starting to happen. It just goes to show you that it doesn`t matter how good or bad an area is, if you have faith and look at it with a positive attitude then everything works out in the end.

This weekend is Carnaval with tomorrow being the last and most crazy day of Carnaval. The peple here do a lot of crazy things. They throw water balloons and flour at people. We`re supposed to be working normal no matter what during Carnaval, we just have to stay away from groups of people. We`ve already gotten wet and gotten hit by flour.

Well I`m really excited for this week. With this being the last week of the transfer I want to finish off this transfer good, especially if I get transfered to a new area.

Tengan una buena semana! Cuidense y nos vemos el pròximo lunes!

-Èlder Gòmez