Semana 44

Hi everyone!! Hope you`re all having a great day and that you all had a great Father`s Day.

I can`t believe that tomorrow I turn 19 years old and in two weeks I`ll have a year in the mission. How the time goes by...

Well it looks like I don`t need rabies shots!! yay! We went to the Health Center and they said that we just need to watch the dog for 10 days and if it`s still alive and healthy after the 10 days then I don`t need the vaccine. We even showed them the dog the and someone from the healh center examined it and said that the dog is healthy. How lucky, because the vaccine is 10 shots in the stomach! Ouch! Other than that, my leg is healing well.

Today for P-Day we went in the mountains as a zone and hiked a trail to a water fall. It was really cool! It was a lot of fun but now I`m sunburnt. Haha

Well J didn`t get baptized on Saturday. He realy wanted his family to be there for his batism, but because they couldn`t come he wanted to do it the next week. So this Friday will be his baptism. He`s super excited to get baptized and to share the Gospel with his family. We taught his friend and she wants to asist church, but didn`t come yesterday because of Father`s Day. 

We taught an investigator named L who has been asisting church for quite a while now with her aunt who is the wife of one of the couselors in the stake presidency. Her dad is a return missionary but went inactive and she never got baptized. She was living in Colombia with her mom for a long time but just few months ago decided to come live here with her Dad and her aunt has been teaching her about the church and she wants to get baptized. Her Dad remaried also and his wife wants to get baptized too. It`s going to take some time though because we want to reactivate the Dad but he works so much and hardly gets time off and he wants to make sure that his daughter and wife have a firm testimony before they make the decision.

Well, it`s World Cup time and I think this is going to have an affect on the Latin America missions and everywhere else where soccer is huge. In our ward, church attendance is normally about 180. But yesterday was Father`s Day and also Ecuador played (they lost) and attendance dropped to 120. Elder Dalin H. Oaks came down here last week for a YSA conference and talked to President Ghent and told him that under no circumstance are the missionaries allowed to watch the World Cup. That`s good, because I think the World Cup is distracting some missionaries.  But we`re still working diligently and are focused on our work. We know that we`re here for a reason and a purpose to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive His Restored Gospel.

Well that`s about all for this week. Hope you all have a great week and stay safe and happy. Can`t wait to hear from you all next week!

Happy Father`s Day to all you fathers!

-Èlder Gòmez

Amo ser misionero

Semana 43

Hi everyone! I hope you`re all doing great! Things are going great here!

I got attacked by dogs on Saturday. One of them bit me on the upper leg and it was bleeding. Thankfully everything is all good now, but I`m probably going to have to get rabies shots because the owner said the dogs aren`t vaccinated. The owner of the dogs are the parents of our mamita, so we`re gonna have to go back everyweek. Everytime we go, I`m going to come prepared with rocks, ready to defend myself if it happens again. Don`t ever trust dogs! 

This Saturday we`re going to have the baptism for J. He had his interview last night and everything is all good to go. He`s progressed a ton and we`re excited for him. We`ve seen a great change in him, and that`s the most rewarding thing to see as a missionary; seeing the mighty change of heart in the people that we teach. That`s what the mission is about: it`s about changing lives and helping people come unto Christ by receiving His Restored Gospel. J is nervous to tell his family though because he`s afraid they`re not going to support him. I know though that they will support him. When we have the desire to live the Gospel, the Lord prepares the way so that we can do it. Sometimes there are sacrifices, but there are always blessings by living the Gospel. 

My new companion Elder Batista is really good. I miss Elder Tzun but I really enjoy working with Elder Batista. He`s really humble and diligent and I know we`re going to have a lot of success this transfer. He`s really funny too, especially his accent. Sometimes I don`t understand what he says because he has a Portuguese accent and mixes in Portuguese words sometimes. 

We`ve been trying to work more with the members and it`s been working. The members always help a ton. If we`re working diligently but not with members, then we`re not working effectively. We need to work with not only our feet, but also with our brain. We`ve been trying to put that into practice more here and we`re seeing results. We`ve got more people progressing and we`re gaining the trust of the members. 

Well, that`s about it for this week. Have a great week everyone and watch out for dogs!! 

-Èlder Gòmez

Se que Jesucristo vive y este es su obra. 

``Recordad que el valor de las almas es grande a la vista de Dios.``

Semana 42-Transfer Week

Hi everyone! I hope you´re all doing good!

I´ve got 11 months now!!! Almost at the top of the mountain, as they say. Then in two weeks I´ll be 19 years old. Unfortunately in this zone, when someone has a birthday or finishes their mission, all the missionaries in the zone whip them with their belts. One Elder turned 21, so we all took turns giving him a whip until we got to 21. Then two Elders finished their missions this transfer, so we gave them 24 whips. So I´ll probably be getting 19 whippings....

Today we had transfers and I´m staying here with Elder Batista. He is from Brazil and speaks Portuguese, so he´s been learning Spanish but he speaks very well. He´s 25 years old and has 3 months in the mission and just finished his training. He´s really good and has a great attitude about working hard so I´m really excited to start working and I know that we´ll have a lot of success this transfer.

We were in the bus station for a few hours today and while we were waiting we were able to see a lot of missionaries. I was able to meet up with some of my companions that I haven´t seen in a long time, including some of the companions that I trained. All of them are doing good and it was great to hear that. I also heard a little what´s happening in my last area; Pelileo. A lot of the people that I started teaching there finally got baptized, including the Family G!!! That made me really happy to hear that. I´ve learned that a lot of times, we work really hard and are diligent and obedient, but sometimes we won´t have success or baptize. That doesn´t mean we´re doing something wrong or not working. Sometimes the Lord gives us times of difficulty in the mission to test our faith and it allows us to become more converted to Him. Also, many times we´re only there to plant seeds and to prepare the area for future missionaries to have success.

J came to church yesterday! He has his baptism on the 14th of June and he is really excited for his baptism. He´s progressing great. Even though he has epilepsy and also was in an accident years ago that affected his brain, he still understands everything we teach him, and the Spirit has been working through him, testifying that these things are true. The only problem is that he drinks coffee every now and then. He knows that he needs to stop drinking and even his doctor is telling him to not drink coffee because it´s messing with his nerves and can cause problems with his epilepsy. He´s trying to stop and he´s made progress. We just need to give him a lot of support and help and daily visits to help him to stop drinking.

We have another family that that came to church named the Family C. We´ve taught them a few times, but they always say that they just want to learn more and don´t want to get baptized and don´t want to find out if this is true. We told them that if they never pray to find out if this is true then what they´re learning is just information and won´t help them at all. After that they realized that needed to find out if this is true, and showed up to church on Sunday! My companion sat with them and I wasn´t able to talk to them after, but I really hope that the Spirit was able to testify to them in the fast and testimony meeting. We have an appointment with them this week and we´re going to see if they read and prayed and invite them to baptism. If we never read, pray, or asist church then we´ll never know if this is true. You can´t learn for yourself if something is true unless you live it. You can´t say that pizza is delicious unless you eat it. That´s how the Gospel is. You can´t say it´s true or not unless you live it, then ask God if it´s true.

We´re really excited to start working this transfer. We´ve been working hard to have success, and even though we haven´t had all the success we wanted, I know that we´ve been preparing the area and that Chillogallo is ready to be harvested. ´´The field is white and ready to harvest.´´

Sé que Jesucristo vive. Amo ser misionero y amo servir a mi Padre Celestial y a Jesucristo.

¡Tengan una exelente semana!

-Élder Gómez

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