Semana 41

¡Hola buenas tardes a todítos! How are you all? I hope you´ve all had a great week.

This week has been good. I can´t believe how fast this change went. We´re already in the last week. Next week are transfers and I also reach 11 months in the misión!! How fast the time goes by...

J came to church yesterday! Saturday night he was in a lot of doubt of whether or not he should come to church. In the end he decided to come because he sincerely wants to find out for himself if this is true. He came and had an amazing experience in church. The Spirit testified to him that this is true. All of the members were really friendly to him and he felt welcomed by everyone. At the end, he was super excited and wants to come next week. He´s also really excited to get baptized on June 14th. The Lord is really blessing us. 

We found a less active family this week in which we spent an hour looking for them. The missionaries who filled out their record filled out the address badly, so it took a while to find them. We were up in the mountains climbing up lots of steps until we found the house. It was a miracle that we found the house at the end. We also found ot that they have a daughter who´s about 25 years old who isn´t baptized but wants to get baptized. All the family wants to come back to church. 

Well that´s about it for this week. I´ll be sure to let you all know what the transfers are going to be. Hope you all have a great week!! Love you all!!

-Élder Gómez

The best birthday present I could ask for!

Semana 40

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a great week!

We had the baptism for N on Friday!!! It was really good. She`s really happy and even though she doesn`t get support from her family and friends, she`s received a ton of support and love from the ward. We know that she will be able to stay active and faithful in the church and progress a ton. 

On Saturday morning, we had a multistake service project. We up in the mountains and planted trees. Me and my companion with another member planted eight trees. There were a lot of missionaries and members, and even our mission president and his wife came. It was a lot of fun. 

We`ve been finding a lot of new investigators. The only problem is that a lot of them can`t come to church. A lot of them work on Sundays and it`s hard for them to get Sundays off. Even though it`s a sacrifice, it`s so important that we asist church on Sundays. It`s there, where we renew our convenants and learn more about the Gospel. The Spirit can be felt so strong at church. Once you can get investigators to come to church the first time or at least do a tour of the chapel, it`s easier for them to keep coming because they`ve had spiritual experiences and want more. It`s just that first time though, that`s the most difficult. 

We found a new investigator named J this week. We were looking for an unknown member and located the house, but found out that the member didn`t live there anymore. J answered the door and let us in. He said that he has been studying a lot of churches and religiones for a long time, but says that he still hasn`t found the truth. We`ve taught him a few times and he likes it. He was really excited to pray to find out if this is true and he knows that he needs to be baptized. We gave him a baptismal date for the 7th of June but because he didn`t asist church yesterday, the date fell through. We`re going to visit him today though to see what happened. 

Well that`s all for this week. Sè que Jesucristo vive y ùnicamente mediante Èl podemos salvarnos. Hope you all have a great week. I love you all and stay safe. Hope to hear from you all soon. 

Èlder Gòmez

Amo ser misionero

Semana 39

Hi everyone! I hope you`re all doing great and had a great Mother`s Day! I really loved being able to skype my family and grandparent`s yesterday! :)

N has her baptism for this Friday!!! She had her interview yesterday and everything is all good to go. We are super excited for her. She`s had a lot of trials in her life, but she`s really come a long way and is super excited as well. All the members are supporting her and everyone is looking forward to her baptism. 

The Bishop and the members are really starting to trust in us a lot.  With the trust and support of the leaders the work should start progressing rapidly now. 

Well sorry for the short letter. Not too much happened this week. A lot of people went out of town for Mother`s Day. This week we`ve got a lot to do and there`s no time to rest. The Lord is Hastening His Work. Pray for missionary oportunities every day! Sè que Jesucristo vive y que la Iglesia es verdadera. Have a great week and hope to hear from you all soon. Love you all!

-Èlder Gòmez

Amo ser misionero

Semana 38

Hi everyone! How are you all doing? I hope you´ve had a great week! Things are going good here. 10 months in the mission!! The time has gone by super fast. Focus on the mission and don´t be trunky and it will go by fast!!

I finally got the hole in the shoe fixed. They replaced part of the soles on my shoes with soles made of car tires, so I´m assuming that that should hold up really well for the rest of my mission. haha 

Today we had a zone activity. We played soccer and a few of the companionships made food. I made churros again and everyone ate them so fast that they were gone before I knew it. haha I think I´m sunburnt too!

Well the work is progressing here in Chillogallo. Sadly, N didn´t come to church so won´t get baptized this Friday. We don´t know what happened to her. We´ve been calling and going to her house every day, but we haven´t seen her. We hope she´s okay. Even though we didn´t have success with investigators this week, we´re seeing a lot changes in the ward. For such a long time the bishopric and some of the leaders in the church haven´t had any trust in the missionaries. I think there were some disobedient missionaries here in the past so the bishopric  and leaders lost trust in the missionaries, up to the point where they would try to monitor the missionaries. But in these past two weeks they´ve changed! We did service for the 1st Counselor on Friday. We removed the tile on his house so he could paint it and then had a family home evening in his house that night. We´ve developed a close friendship with him. Then yesterday we finally got the Bishop´s trust! He told us that he trusts the missionaries a lot more and he wants to invite us and the other companionship in the ward to his house for dinner next week. So I think the work is going to start progressing a ton in these coming weeks. In order to have success in an area, you have to have unity with all of the members in the ward. If there´s contention problems then the work won´t progress. The missionaries have to work together with the members and leaders to hasten the Work of Salvation. 

On Saturday morning, we had a really cool meeting where some of the stake leaders talked to all of the missionaries in the zone. A member of the stake high council told us that we need to be talking to as many people as possible every day. He gave us a statistic that if we contact 20 people every day and if these contacts are effective, then we should have 1 new investigator every day and 7 every week. Then we should have 28 new investigators every month. Of those 28, at least 14 should progress, then 10 should have a baptismal date, and then of those 10, three should get baptzed. It made us all excited to start talking to as many people possible every day so that we can get to the point where we´re baptizing every week. The counselor of the stake presidency gave us some good advice too. He said that often the missionaries only work with their feet and hands, but that need to also work with their heart and mind. He also said that what he saw in his mission is that so often missionaries only work hard just so they can become leaders in the mission like assistants or so they can look good infront of the leaders. He said that´s something that we need to change. Our only motivation for working should come from our love for our Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the people that we teach. If we work with that attitude then we will have more success in the mission. We need to love these people. If we love them and truly care for them, they will recognize that love and the Spirit will be able to testify to them more easily that these things are true. It was a really good meeting and are things I really want to apply in my mission to be a more effective missionary. 

Well that all for this week. I know that Jesus Christ live. He is our Savior and He is always there for us in our times of trials. He´s always ready to help us, we just need to have faith in Him and accept His help. Hope you all have a great week and I can´t wait to hear from you all next week!!

-Élder Gómez

Semana 37-first week in Chillogallo

Hi everyone! I hope all is well in all that you`re doing. Things are going well here. I`m getting used to my new area in Chillogallo. We live about 45 minutes or so from the mission offices. I forgot how loud Quito is. Pelileo is really calm since it`s not so much city and a lot of farming. In Chillogallo (Quito) it`s nearly all city. I really like it here though. The people are very nice. The members help out a lot here.

I`m really excited to work here. My companion Èlder Tzun and I have set some goals tohelp us have a vision and work hard every day. We have a gaol to have 7 baptisms and reactivate 4 inactives this transfer. We repeat these goals to ourselves a lot as we`re walking to help motivate us. As we put our trust in the Lord and work more diligently and effectively every day, we`ll be able to reach these goals.

We have one investigador with a baptismal date. Her name is N.M. She came to church yesterday and another time two weeks ago. She has a baptismal date for May 9th. She`s super excited to come to church and to be baptized on that day. The ward is working to fellowship her and make sure she feels good here. We have a lot of other investigators who have church attendance but don`t have a baptismal date. 

Well that`s about it for this week. I`m really excited for this week and I know that we will work hard and will have success this week. Hope you all have a great week and I hope to hear from you all soon. 

Have a great week!!

Semana 36

Hi everyone! I hope you`re all doing well!

We had transfers today and I left Pelileo and I`m going back in Quito. The area is called Chillogallo. I`m here with Elder Tzun from Guatemala. I`ll be finishing his training. My companion Elder Ercanbrack will be staying with Elder Nielson. I really miss Pelileo and Elder Ercanbrack a ton, but I`m excited to work here in Chillogallo. It sounds like it`s a really good area and they`ve got some really good people that are progressing.

On Saturday morning we did a service project at 6 in the morning for a member where we cleaned and dusted out the computers in his internet cafe. Then after we had an activity in the church. It was for the youth where they were going to be missionaries for the day. We taught them about our purpose, some of the rules in the mission and how to teach. After that we went out and visited people with the youth. It was really great. The youth in Pelileo have very strong testimonies and are going to be great future missionaries. 

It was pretty sad to leave Pelileo. The ward mission leader and other members were crying. Even though we didn`t have the most success in Pelileo, I really loved being there and all the people there are really special to me. We were able to help the Branch a ton. The members are stronger in faith and have a lot more confidence in the missionaries. The Family G has their interview with the mission president on Thursday and will be getting baptized on Saturday. I was kind of sad that I wasn`t able to see them get baptized, but something important to learn is that the mission isn`t just about baptizing, it`s about serving and helping others come unto Christ, including yourself. My zone leader told me that there is a missionary who finished the mission this week and will be going home and the missionary said that in all his mission, he only baptized one person, but at the end of the mission he could say that he knows his Savior. The investigators aren`t the only ones who need to change, but also us. I`ve learned to be a more faithful and more humble missionary and rely more on the Lord, and in my time in Pelileo, my testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has grown and I have a more solid testimony as a result. 

We had a really special Stake Conference on Sunday. It was a satellite transmission for all of Ecuador coming from the Conference Center in Salt Lake where Elder Jeffery R. Holland and Elder Richard G. Scott spoke to us. It was really powerful. They all talked about how the members in Ecuador can be more rooted in the Gospel and strengthen their families and their ability to resist temptation. They even spoke in Spanish which was cool. Elder Holand at the beginning was speaking Spanish but then he said he was going to start speaking English because his Spanish is ¨horrible¨, as he said it. It was funny. Then they just had a spanish translation dubbed over his voice. In the end he shared his testimony in Spanish which was realy powerful. You could really feel the spirit in that meeting. Elder Scott gave a really powerful talk on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and Easter. It was really great. 

Easter here in Ecuador is a lot different. Since most are Catholics they celebrate the Holy Week and not only the Sunday of Easter. On the Thursday and Good Friday (Holy Friday as they say here) they make a special dish called the fanesca which is a soup with fish and pretty much all grains and cereals. A member family made it for us and it was really good. On the Thursday, starting in the afternoon they people walk to Baños, starting from Ambato and Pelileo. They walk all they way to Baños to see the Virgin of Holy Water (La Virgen de Agua Santa) and pray to her and then I think they celebrate in Baños. The walk takes all night long, usually starting from 5 to 6 and it can take as long as 6 in the morning. All the main roads were closed off so we couldn`t take taxis to get around we just had to walk. On Friday, everyone got school off and most people got the day off for work, so most people were in their homes or visiting family in other parts, so the streets were pretty empty that day. It`s interesting how they celebrate Easter. I`m thankful for Easter because it`s a reminder of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for us. Because He suffered and died, all of us may have eternal life with Heavenly Father again and our families if we live and obey the Gospel.

Well I`m really excited to be starting this new transfer and to do my best here. I know that the Lord will help us and guide us here to find success and find those people who are prepared to received the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

That`s all for this week. Stay safe and hope you all have a great week! Hope to hear from you all soon!

-Èlder Gòmez

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