Semana 7

Hi everyone! It´s already been a week since transfers and this first week went by really fast. I said in the last email that we found another apartment, but no new missionaries came here so it´s just going to be me and my companion here and missionaries should be coming into the new apartment in five weeks when we have transfers again. It´s different not being in a trio but we´re doing very good. Me and my companion have a goal of getting 15 baptisms this month and I think we should be able to make it. We have at least one this week and possibly one or two more this week. We had another planned for this week but it fell through beecause the investigator didn´t attend church so we´re going to try to set another date. But whether or not we reach the goal, what´s important are the people, not the numbers. When we think about these goals more as individual people and not just statistics, we grow a greater love for these people, which makes us want to work harder and harder to help these people and to continue helping them after baptism.

The baptism we have this week is an investigator named J. He is living with his cousin CR who is a member and has been supporting him and teaching him. He had some problems in the past with drugs and stuff but he´s completely changed and is really happy. I remember the first time we met him, he had piercings in his lips and crazy hair and clothes, but now he´s taking out the piercings, cut his hair and wears a white shirt and tie to shirt. He just seems a whole lot more happier to; more friendly and he always smiles when we see him. It´s just amazing to see how the Gospel can change peoples lives and can make them happier. We can find happiness and joy in entertainment and things of the world, but it´s only through Jesus Christ and His Gospel that we can find true and eternal happiness and it´s just so amazing to see this happen in peoples lives as a missionary. 

Yesterday, we had an interesting experience. We were just walking and this guy wants to sit down and talk to us. We sit down and find out that he was really drunk and asked for help with a problem then he would randomly start talking in French to us then he called one of his friends on his cell phone and made me talk to them. He repeated himself a lot and so we were sitting there for a while and were finally able to go. It was really interesting and it just makes you think that the world is a lot different from where you live and everyone has different personalities and different ways of life.

I´m still teaching English on Saturdays and it going really good. We have two people that show up often. One is a manger at the grocery store we shop at on Mondays so we always talk to him when we see him at the store. They´re all really good and are open to hearing about the Gospel. I even offered to teach them the missionary lessons in english and they thought that would be really great. 

As a missionary you really learn the importance of using time wisely, setting goals, and planning. We do these things every day and without them, we wouldn´t be as successful as we are. I know this is going to help me too after the mission to use time more wisely in college and all other aspects of life. 

Spanish is coming along really well. I´m not fluent yet and I stumble every now and then but I can understand they majority of things and it will just get better and better. I´m going to set short term and long term goals for myself on where I want my Spanish to be and then how to achieve it.

Well I´m really excited for General Conference this weekend. On Saturday we´re going to watch the sessions in the Stake Center and then on Sunday we´re going to watch the sessions in our ward. It´s going to be exciting to hear what the prophets and apostles have to say. They always give us guidance. I know that if we prepare for conference and pray, we will get more out of it and it will be a better experience. 

Well that´s all for me this week. Hope everything is okay at home wherever you all are. Have a good week and hope to hear from you all soon!

-Elder Gomez

Semana 6

Hi everyone!

Well it´s already been six weeks and time for transfers. I´m staying here in Conocoto with Elder Navarro but Elder Christensen got transferred to Riobamba. He was kind of sad because he had been here for four months and he loved it here and the people. Once your in an area for so long you get attached to the people and the members and the investigators. It´s possible that I might be moving into a new apartment and opening a new sector because we found a new apartment down the street from the church and really close to us and our area is going to be split. So I´ll probably find out within the next day if I´m going to this new apartment.

We had my first baptism this Saturday! We were originally planning a few more but they fell through and we had to move the dates, so we had one baptism. I got to do the baptism too and it was really cool because it´s the first time I´ve ever baptized someone so it was a really cool experience. The spirit was very strong and it was really great. The baptism was for one of our investigators named AC who is blind. He´s had some problems with family and health and we´ve really worked hard to help him. He always says how good he feels when we teach and when he goes to church and takes the sacrament. We also made brownies for the baptism and they were really good since I haven´t had brownies in a while. We should be having a few more baptisms this week too. One fell through because the investigator didn´t attend church this week and in this mission we can´t baptize people unless they´ve been to church at least three times. But we have a baptism interview for an investigator named EC who is 10 or 11 and his mom is inactive but his grandma is active. We have trouble finding times to teach because he is always so busy and gone playing or doing sports so it´s hard sometimes to find time to teach him so we´re hoping he can make it to the baptism interview today.

This week we´ve been working really hard and it´s paid off. Seven investigators came to church today and that´s the most we´ve ever had so that was really good. We have a lot of investigators who are progressing really great and it feels good to see all our hard work pay off. We have a few though that I´m worried for since they´re kind of starting to fall through so we need to work really hard to help these people stay on the right path. 

I´ve been really feeling the spirit work through me more in lessons and I feel it more throughout the day. I´ve been working really hard to stay focused and positive here. One thing I´ve been doing a lot is keeping a prayer in my heart to help me keep the spirit. So whenever I feel discouraged or annoyed or whatever I try saying a prayer and it really helps in every situation. You guys can try it when your faced with a problem or stressed or just need the spirit more because it really helps. 

Well this week has been great and went by super fast. With this new transfer I hope to be even more successful than I was in the last. It´s gonna take a lot of effort but I know I can do it with the help of the Lord and I know the harder I work, the faster time goes by. 

Well stay safe everyone and I can´t wait to hear from you. Have a great week!!

Week 5

Hi everyone! This is my 6th week here and I can`t believe how fast it has gone by. When you work hard time goes by way fast. Next week I`ll find out if I`m staying here or going to a new area. I really like this area and would like to stay, but if I`m needed somewhere else that will be alright.

Well today for P-Day we went to Quito with our zone and saw some really cool historic Catholic cathedrals and we went to this place where I think everyone was there waiting for the President of Ecuador Rafael Correa to talk. We didn`t stay for it all but they had this big opening ceremony thing with a marching band playing and royal guards and stuff so it was pretty cool. Then we went to two historic Catholic cathedrals and they are huge! We were able to go to the very top of one and you can pretty much see all of Quito and it`s really windy there. It`s way cool. Ecuador has a lot of rich history and culture and it`s really cool to see it all. The city is huge and there are a ton of people. I really like it but I like where I`m at because it`s smaller and not so crowded. I kind of think of where I`m at as the Riverton of Ecuador. 

We had zone conference on Wednesday and President Ghent and his wife and his assistants came and they talked to us and gave us some training. One thing I really liked that Hermana Ghent taught us was that our missions are not only going to bless our families back at home but they`ll bless our future families and kids and that we should keep pressing forward and serve the best mission we can so that we can bless are families now and to have these experiences to tell our kids in the future to help them. 

Well we got five investigators to church this week. Not as much as we were hoping for but it`s still good. We have a few investigators that are having troubles but we have a few that are progressing very well. We have two or three baptisms planned for this Saturday and three the next week. Our mission has set new goals and our goal is to get at least five baptisms a month and I really hope we get it. We have one investigator named VZ who loves to talk and always makes really long comments in lessons about doctrine and stuff. At first I thought that he really just wanted to learn and had no intention of progressing or being baptized, but he is probably one of our best progressing investigators. He`s been reading and praying and has come to church twice now. Our last lesson with him was really good too. I could see that what we were teaching is having a change on his life and I feel like he really wants this. We also have an investigator named AC who is blind and has been having problems with family and physical pains. We`ve been working with him a lot and he is doing very well. We burned him a disc of the Book of Mormon so that he could listen to it and we wanted to try to find a braille version too that he could read. He`s doing very well and we have a baptismal date for him this Saturday. I really love having investigadores like this who are accepting the Gospel and it`s changing their lives. This is what makes mission so great is seeing the Gospel touch peoples lives for the better. 

Well we`ve seen some good progress here and I hope for even more this week. I have been opening my mouth more in lessons and trying to contact more in the street and it`s working very well. This is what I want to focus on more this week is being a more effective missionary.

Well hope to hear from you all soon and have a great week! Take care.

-Elder Gomez

We asked him to send us a picture of his apartment.

Semana 4

Hi everyone. I can`t believe it`s already P-Day again. These weeks go by way fast when you`re focused and working hard! A lot has happened in a week. I got bit by a dog and hit my head on a metal box, but I`ll get to that later.

Well this week was pretty successfull for us. We had five investigators attend church and that was really exciting. We have a lot of people who say they`ll go but don`t show up and when we go to pick them up, a lot of times they aren`t there. So it was rewarding to have that many investigators show up. Let`s make it 10 this next week! :D I really want to set high goals for myself, because it makes me want to work harder to reach the goals and then I`m more focused and not as homesick and time goes by faster. 

One thing we`re going to be doing now to find new people to teach is we`re going to start teaching free English classes every Saturday at the church. We had our first class this Saturday but I don`t think it was advertized at all so no one showed up and we just taught our Bolivian companion and ward mission leader. I`m hoping this week as we advertize it better that we can get a lot of poeple to come and hopefully find people to teach. 

We`re pretty busy here with appointments and finding new people. We`ve taught the first lesson a whole lot because we`re always finding new people to teach. The thing we have to do now though is get these people find out for themselves if this is true. That`s something we try teaching a lot that we can say whatever we want but they shouldn´t believe just because we say so, but they should pray and find out for themselves if this is true or just another church.

I really love the investigators that we teach. Most of them are progressing very well. A lot of them go to church on their own without having us have to remind them and their faith is really growing strong. I feel like the more sincere love you have for these people, the harder you`re going to work for them and that`s what helps them progress and develop a testimony. We probably have about 5 potential baptisms for the end of this month, but we have transfers the week before and I don`t know if I`ll stay here or go to a different area. 

So last Monday I got bit by a dog. Luckily it didn`t break the skin or leave any mark so the nurse said I`m all fine. But then the next day it was raining and I was bending down with my face down to avoid the rain. But I didn`t notice that there was a metal box on the fence next to me. So next thing I know, I get hit in the head and fall down. It cut my head and was bleeding a bit, but luckily it wasn`t a deep cut and wasn`t bleeding much. We called the nurse again and she said that since it wasn`t deep and wasn`t bleeding much that I`m okay and just need to clean it and put neosporin on it twice a day. I just need to be more careful here which I am. :D (Good thing we sent him with a first aid kit)

I`m really enjoying it here. There`s so much to do and so many wonderful people here to teach. I`m so excited for this week and can`t wait to tell you everything that happens next P-Day. Stay safe and hope to hear from you all soon. 

-Elder Gomez

Well we don`t really make a lot of food in our apartment. We do make popcorn a lot. I got these mini frozen pizzas one time, but we don`t have an oven so I cooked it on the stove. The pizza was kind of gross though. But I don`t really spend much money. Everything here is so cheap. Like I can buy a loaf of bread for about 1 dollar then big thing of yogurt for 2 dollars and everything else is cheap. Today I spent about 20 dollars on all of my groceries and the week before I only spent about 7 dollars. But since there are a ton of bakeries on almost every street, we buy a lot of bread that we snack on throughout the day since the bread is like 12-18 cents each. 

Week 3 in Quito

Hi everybody!

It´s been three weeks since I got to Ecuador and we´re half way through this transfer. It´s also been two months today since I left for the MTC. I don´t think summer has ever gone by this fast for me. 

We´ve been working hard this week and it´s nice to have P-Day today. Today we had to go the mission offices in Quito to get some Book of Mormons and afterwards since all the American restaurants are in that area we ate at KFC. It´s really nice to have American food every now and then. A lot of the food here is really good though. There are bakeries everywhere and you can buy bread for only like 15 cents each so we always get a lot of bread.

Well we´ve got a whole lot of new investigators this week but only a few are actually progressing. I´ve noticed that there are a lot of people that who want to learn more and have us teach them but they have no desire to see if this is true. They just want to learn just to have the information. One of our investigators who has been progressing very well and had a baptismal date told us yesterday that he doesn´t want to continue with the lessons anymore. But that´s okay because there are still a whole lot more people who are accepting the Gospel and there´s more to be found. 

We´ve got a really good ward and a lot of them are really strong active members who always love helping us. It´s a pretty small ward compared to back at home but still really good. There are a lot that are inactive though so we´ve been working with some inactives to try bringing them back to church. It´s kind of funny though because it´s just like how it is in Utah where there´s not very many people that show up at first but then a ton of people come at the same time like 10 or 15 minutes after the meeting has started.

I´ve heard that with the mission being split, a lot of missionaries got switched to the new mission and so like 90% of missionaries here are pretty new and there are a lot of people who are trainers even though they are new. There´s a first 12 week program that the new missionaries are supposed to do but a lot of them have become trainers after their first transfer of only six weeks. I was told that I´m probably going to be a trainer after this transfer, so that´s kind of exciting and a bit nervous since I´ve only been here about three weeks. 

I feel like my Spanish is improving too. I can´t understand everything and every now and then the people can´t understand my Spanish but it´s getting a lot better. Just a few nights ago I had a dream in Spanish which is kind of funny. 

One of the things I really like here though is seeing families and investigators progressing and working towards goals. We have a family who wants to get baptized but they have to get married first and the husband was previously married but got divorced and so it costs more money to get married again here. But they´ve got a goal to get married at the end of this month then get baptized the same week then get sealed in the temple a year from now. They really want to do this. They always seem excited to go to church and progress. We also found this one girl who´s been accepting all of the lessons and commitments and has a baptismal date for the end of this month. We have a lot more that are progressing but are just having trouble getting to church because of work and stuff but we´ve been teaching that the Lord wants us to be able to keep the commandments and that he´ll provide us a way to do all that he wants us to do. 

We´ve also been giving people a lot of blessings and it´s really powerful but I haven´t actually said the blessings, but yesterday I did the anointing part in Spanish. It´s good to help people and we should always be prepared for when someone asks us for a blessing or for any help like that. 

Well I hope everything is going good back at home and I hope you to hear from you soon. Enjoy your week!

-Elder Gomez

I asked him a few questions about the food he is eating, how clean the city is, safety, and his apartment...

I haven´t gotten a sweater yet but I might soon since it gets pretty cold at night. The city is pretty clean and not very much trash on the ground. Most people throw it away in a trash can. There´s not very many bugs, but I´ve seen a few in our apartment every now and then. Yeah there are a ton of dogs everywhere that just wander the streets. Most of them leave you alone but a lot of the ones behind fences bark at you when you walk by. There´s also this dog that always whines and sounds like it´s dying all the time. Remember how you didn´t like that one dog that always barks? This is just as bad if not worse, but at least it doesn´t do it everyday. I think the dogs back at home are a lot nicer and not as annoying. I haven´t gotten sick yet either so that´s good.

Well for all of our lunches with mamitas we have soup first then we have rice and chicken or meat then sometimes beans. There´s also this really good thing we have that´s one of my favorites. They´re called patacones. It´s like fried banana but I think it´s a different kind of banana that´s green but I think you can use regular bananas though. But it tastes really good and almost tastes like french fries sort of. I haven´t had guinea pig yet but I heard there is a restaurant here that serves it. I´ve heard that it´s pretty expensive though.

There´s a lot of people that give us really good fruit juices too and the watermelon here is very good and sweet. There´s also this herbal tea that we can drink that a lot people here like and we get it a lot from members and investigators. I think it´s called manzanilla but I´m not sure. 

Well I think the area we are in is pretty safe since we´re not in Quito or any big downtown areas but one thing they told us is that if someone tries handing you a card or paper to not take it since it could be covered in drugs. Another thing was to make sure you only use legitimate taxis since there are some that aren´t and they say some of those can be used for express kidnapping. But the area we are in is very safe I feel. Not as much people as there are in Quito and the people are nice.

Week 2 in Ecuador

Hi everyone!

This is has been my second week in Ecuador and we are pretty busy. I feel like the days go by faster than they did at the MTC. Well we didn´t have very many new investigators to teach but we did find a few. We met this guy who let us into his house and he had these big coconuts that he got from the coast and cut them open with a machete for us to drink and eat. There was a ton of water in it. I felt like I was going to get sick if I had anymore! But he was a very nice guy and he said he used to be some sort of pastor in Peru a while ago and he seemed very interested in our message. We also found this one guy whose parents received the missionaries twenty years ago and he really likes our message and we´ve taught him a few times. We also found this really great family last night. We had to walk through this building and past these little houses to find this house that I doubt hardly anyone knows about, but we were trying to find someone who lived around there and when the family said that person lives somewhere else or something we just started a conversation with this family and they let us in. They have just one son and live in a very small house but they were very nice. They seemed like they´re very prepared. They told us that not many people come to there door and a lot of people aren´t very nice but that they liked how we went out our way to find them and they want to hear more from us. I also gave them an invitation to be baptized which was the first time I´d ever done that and it was cool because I felt like the spirit was putting the words in my mouth. They didn´t say yes though, because they were baptized Catholics when they were younger and weren´t sure but they said they would pray about our message and baptism and we told them that they would receive an answer if they did. Most of the people we try talking to are nice. Most of them will at least listen to us and tell us they´re not interested in religion or don´t want to change their religion, and only sometimes are there people who will just ignore us or be a little less friendly. But that´s okay because no one shouldn´t have to do anything they don´t want to do and we should always be respectful to all people no matter their lifestyle. There are a ton of people here who we´ve taught who live very different lives than we do but they are still good people. They´re all children of Heavenly Father and we should be nice to everyone. 

I feel like we eat way too much here though. Almost every house we go to they almost always give us food and I always feel so full even if we were fasting earlier or if I hardly ate that day. On Friday we visited a member and gave his mom a blessing and they gave us a full lunch with soup and rice and chicken. But then we were supposed to go to the mamita who was preparing us food and we got the whole meal there too. We´re supposed to be nice and finish the entire meal no matter how full we get. So when we were eating I felt like I was going to throw up and so my companion helped eat some of it, but then I couldn´t eat anymore so I wrapped up the last little bits in my napkin and hid it and waited to throw it away. I don´t know if that was mean, but we did tell them before we left that we had eaten before and they completely understood. Their fruit juices are very good though and so is their bread. It´s all very fresh and tastes amazing. 

Well I feel like as we work hard and are faithful we´re seeing really good results. Even though there are some days where no one listens to us or appointments fall through and no one is home, you just have to keep on working because there´s always that one family or person who will listen and their lives will be changed for the better. That´s what I love is when we´re in lessons and you can see that the Gospel is starting to make a change in their lives and you can see it on their faces. It´s so real and it´s so rewarding to see this happen for real and just hear about it in stories from others. 

Well I really hope to hear from all soon! Have a good week!

I asked him about the water and what they drink...if you didn't know, Alex does not like soda pop.

Yeah I mainly just drink water and juices, but a lot of times when we do family home evenings and my companion will buy pepsi and other sodas and I have to drink it because the members or family serve it to us in their nice cups so I`ll usually try to just drink it as fast as I can to get it over with.

Week 1 in Ecuador

Hi everyone!

So you all probably know that I made it to Ecuador on Monday night. When we got there we were picked up by two sister missionaries who drove us to the church. When we got there the senior missionaries made us dinner. Then I went to stay with the Mission President´s Assistants that night. Some more missionaries came the next day so I stayed with them until I got my companions on Thursday. They were all Peruvian with a few from Chile and Ecuador and most of them went to the Colombia MTC. Until we got our companions we just had a ¨Mini MTC¨at the church. They fed us really good. We got Papa John´s one night then we had McDonald´s for lunch one day. 

I got my new companions on Thursday and I´m in a trio. One is named Elder N and is from Bolivia and has been in the mission field for 2 months. The other is named Elder C and is from Boston and has been out for 10 months. 

I´m in an area called Los Chillos and it´s a really cool place. It´s about 45 minutes to and hour away from the mission offices in Quito. There are a ton of dogs that wander the street and some that just sit around that look like they´re sick or something. I was told in the MTC that if a dog starts coming up to you that you just bend down and touch your shoe and they´ll leave you alone so that´s worked so far. Most of the time you can walk by the dogs and they usually don´t do anything; they´ll just wander around minding their own business. 

Our apartment is really nice...other than the bathroom. :D It´s really small and the shower head is fried because when I was using it on Saturday and was turning off the shower, the water started getting really hot then steam started coming out of it then the shower head lit up red. I was really scared that thing was going to blow up or light on fire, but luckily nothing happened. We just have no hot water and have to shower in cold water. :D 

Since we only have two beds, we´ve had to put the beds together and I had to sleep in between with my head at the opposite end of the bed. This morning though we got bunk beds so now I finally have my own bed. 

The weather is pretty nice. It does get pretty cold at night though so I usually wear thermal socks to bed. I do get sweaty but not too bad. 

Since the area that we are in built on the mountain, there are a lot of hills and some of the streets can be pretty steep, so it´s almost like hiking in the mountains every day. But we take the buses and taxis too so we don´t have to walk too far since a lot of the places we have to go to can sometimes be a long walk from our apartment.

The food is very good. I love the fruit here. It´s very sweet. Also a lot of the little stores have rolls of bread that are sooo good. We went to the store today and I bought frozen pizzas, yogurt and chocolate milk powder. We have a mamita who is going to be feeding us lunch and we´ve gone once so far. Some of the members have also fed us and the´ve given us some good food. 

We´re really busy here, and it feels like the days do go by faster than the last few weeks at the MTC, and those went by pretty fast. We´ve street contacted a lot of people and have had a few lessons and we had 2 baptisms on Saturday. We´ve also gone to some family home evenings. This mission gets baptisms every week and we´ve got I think one or two planned for this week. Most of the investigators we have though had been starting taking lessons before I got there so I´ve only taught the first lesson once, which was a cool experience. We found this family and we taught them on Friday night. They´re very faithful Christians and go to a Evangelical church. When we got there, we found out that they have all their family (some cousins, aunts, uncles, etc) come over on Fridays to read the Bible so the first half of our time there was one of their family members reading teaching a short lesson from the New Testament. There were more then 10 people there. When it was our turn to teach, they received it very well. The family member who taught the lesson earlier knows about the church and so then he gave a summary of the Book of Mormon and its origins. He said good thing about it. He said that he knows this book compliments the Bible in being another testament of Jesus Christ. The family seemed to agree with everything we said and found it interesting and really liked it a lot. I really felt like this family was prepared to hear our message. We teach them again on Friday and I´m looking to see how they´re going to progress since they´re a very strong family and I know this can bless their lives since they´ve already been blessed with Gospel and are prepared to receive more. 

We have an investigator whose husband is a member of the church and is from Mexico. and he actually went to UVU for college and he says that he loves Cafe Rio. :D

We met a new a family of investigators who went to church on their own this week because a friend told them about it. It´s cool because they´re the Gomez family. We´re going to teach them the first lesson this week. 

I feel like the Spanish if different here. I think I´ve gotten used to the Spanish of Mexico and I need to get adjusted to this Spanish. I think I like the Spanish in Mexico better. One member told me that I do speak Spanish like a Mexican so that´s cool. A lot of people here and in South America speak kind of weird Spanish to me so sometimes when we´re teaching or talking to people like members or my companion I don´t really know what´s going on. But I can still understand the majority and I just need some time to adjust to the dialects and stuff. 

Well this is a lot different from the MTC and a whole lot different from Utah but I know that if I´m busy and working hard it will go by fast and I´ll have a good time. We had a family home evening yesterday and I was able to play guitar for it and that made me really happy because I´ve missed being to play guitar and music. 

I really can´t wait to hear from you guys and how everything is going back at home. Hope to hear from you all soon! :)

I think that for Ecuador this is a pretty nice place. A lot of the people have nice homes and some have nice tvs or ipads and stuff like that. There are some though that live in really small places. We have one investigator who is supposed to get baptized this week I think who is blind and lives in a very small house. But all of these people seem to be happy with what they have and most of them are nice and humble. It´s weird because in the United States we have so much and huge houses and we still act like we don´t have much but these people here have less than us and live happy lives.

I think these are the missionaries that arrived in Quito last week.