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

Semana 50

Hi everyone! I you`re all doing good. We`re doing good here in Chillogallo! This week I`ll reach 13 months. The time has been going by way too fast.

This Satuday we have the baptism of L. She is super excited. Her uncle, who is the one of the counselors in the stake presidency will be baptizing her.

Elder C. Scott Grow in the South America West Area Presidency will be visiting us this week on Saturday. That will be really fun and exciting to hear from him.

Well for now it`s been a challenge finding new investigators to teach.I know that the Lord gives us these challenges in the mission to test our faith and make us stronger. i know that though all the challenges that I`ve faced in the mission, they`ve made a better person and a more devoted and faithful servant of the Lord.

If you haven`t seen it, there`s a video on the church website called "Because of Him." It`s a short but powerful video that talks about what`s possible because of Jesus Christ. It`s a very great video and I invite all of you to watch it and think about how Jesus Christ has helped you in your lives to overcome the challenges of life. Here`s the link:   https://www.lds.org/youth/video/because-of-him?lang=eng     You can probably find it on youtube as well.

Well that`s about all for this week. Hope you all have a great week and be safe. Hope to hear from you all soon!

-Èlder Gòmez

Amo ser misionero :)

Semana 49

Hi everyone! I hope you`re all doing well! We`re doing great here. 

Today we went to the Panecillo. It`s a big hill in the Historic Center of Quito where there is a giant Virgen Mary. We can see it from our sector but it was cool to see it up close in person. The Virgen statue is based on the book of Revelations where it talks about a women with a crown of twelve stars conquering the dragon, which is Satan. On the same site is where Spencer W. Kimball came many years ago to dedicate Ecuador for the preaching of the Gospel.....kind of ironic haha. You can see all of downtown Quito and see pretty much all of the south of Quito from the view of Panecillo. It`s a really popular tourist site so we saw a lot of Americans and other foreigners. Then we went to the Basilica which is really close to Panecillo, which is the second time I went there since the first time I went about 9 months ago. The time has gone by super fast. In the Basilica you can climb up to the top of the towers and it has an excellent view. 

We`ve been receiving a lot more references from the members. The Elders Quorum President (who just reached a year as a member and went to the temple this weekend to get sealed to his wife) and his family presented us to the owner of the apartment he lives in. Her name is B and she is really great. She has a lot of desire to learn more about the Gospel and wants to change her life. 

L didn`t come to church yesterday. She should still be able to have her baptismal date for the 2nd of August if she comes to church next week. She`s still progressing very well. She will have her baptismal interview soon as her baptismal date comes closer.

We`ve been assisting church in the stake center for only three weeks now, but they just announced that we have to go back to our previous chapel due to maintenance that will take place. They are going to add another room to the chapel and fix some things. So we will be going back to our previous chapel for about 2 or 3 months, until they finish the renovations.Our previous chapel is a lot farther than the stake center so hopefully this doesn`t have an affect on the less actives and investigators and members.

Well that`s about all for this week. Hope you all have a great week and be safe. Help the missionaries in your wards. They need your help. They can`t do this work without the help and support of the members and ward leaders.

-Èlder Gòmez

Amo ser misionero :)

Semana 48-Transfer Week

Hi everyone! I hope you`ve all had a great week! We had transfers today and me and Elder Batista are staying here in Chillogallo for another transfer. This will be my third transfer here. In all of my sectors, I`ve stayed for three transfers and I think it`s safe to say that I`ll be in every sector for three transfers for the rest of my mission. haha

Well L is still good for her baptism on the 2nd of August. She is progressing very well and her family is giving her a lot of support. 

We`ve been looking for the less actives in our ward and this week we found four less active families. They all live far away and some in the mountains. A lot of them went inactive a few years ago because the chapel was too far away and cost too much. But last week we moved to the stake center, which is a lot closer for everyone in our ward and costs less to get there. A lot of less actives are coming back to church and it`s really exciting to see them coming back. In our mission, a reactivation is the same as a baptism. To hasten to the work, we need to not only baptize, but also rescue the less actives.

Well that`s about it for this week. Hope you all have a great week! Hope to hear from you all soon. 

-Èlder Gòmez 

Amo ser misionero :)