7 months -29 weeks - 215 days Eden has been in Ecuador :) Who's counting !

Hello!  I don`t have much time, so I gotta write fast!

THE WEDDING LOOKED SO GREAT!  I wish I could`ve been there, all the pictures were fantastic!  So many, from the Temple,  to the reception, to my sisters  in Mom`s wedding dress, and even the pie!  And what`s this... Is Steve getting married too?  WOOT!    (and oddly enough, I do miss the Joy Luck restaurant)  And It`s great that Ashylne, Meikayla and Madison are giving Family Home Evening lessons, how great indeed!  And also thanks Madison for you letter, Adventure Time sure is fun!   And good luck in your home teaching Dad, the families will be there!     And during Sacrament meeting, I think I can interpret the majority of the talks, but not 100%.  

As for this week, we did some service with members by helping paint their house and making pizzas.   I also gave a talk this Sunday, along with my companion and our ward mission leader.  We all spoke on the topic of the Missionary work, and it went very well!  I spoke on why we do mission work, how we believe that this is the Restored Church that has the only authority to baptize, which we need to enter the Celestial Kingdom.  Good living can`t do it, and other churches can`t do it.  Just like it says in Acts 5:4,  that no one can take this honor upon themselves, unless their called of God.    We do missionary work because people can only enter into the celestial kingdom with the restored gospel,  it`s true!

Sorry! I am out of time, we arrived late because we got to play laser tag today, a reward for a month and half`s hard work.  And after running it at Trafalga for over a year,  it was a dream come true to do it here in Ecuador.

¡Hasta Luego!  

-Elder Sanders

PS I did receive A package!  Part 2 from the stuff from our ward.  Very much appreciated, thank you to all, (and also to Bro. Dellergo).   But not the big one!  Where could it be?

Hello one and all!

 This week was rather swell.... do you know why?   Because after months of fallen baptismal dates, we´ve finally had our first baptism in Guamani! WOOT!   Sister  P finally is now a member of the Church!  The service went great, her family came, and all was well!   We´re just hoping that her husband will be next to be baptized, and after the rest of her family too, there are 3 more family members that are investigators too, but we shall see.  2 of them aren´t married yet, and they need to in order to be baptized, but we´ll see what happens.  

Also, this last Saturday we also had an open house at Our stake center.  It was planned to be right after the baptism, and all the members were ready to go!  But as the time to start loomed forth, the elements turned against us!  The gates of heavens were torn open, and cascades of water pounded the city of Quito as large bursts of lightning blasted across the sky!  (It was quite dramatic if I may add, good thing we were inside!)  The roads turned into roaring rivers, and there was absolutely no hope of trying to contact people to invite them to attend, because, well, no one was outside!  So, our open house just consisted of all the people who attended the baptism:  The family Cwano, and a handful of other investigators.  In one way, it wasn´t quite as successful as we were hoping, but later, the next day, our bishop shared a scripture from the book of Moroni about how much joy it is to just bring one soul unto Christ.  So, it was still good.

And thanks for your letters!  Sounds like this week shall be swell.   I also received Ben´s wedding invitation in the mail, and although I´m not going to be there, I´m way excited!  And congrats to Bik in his new job, I bet it´s going to be great! And lastly to Zander!  A baptism in Ecuador and a baptism in Utah, in the same day!  How neat, eh?   (And I missed the Superbowl?  I sure do miss chip-dip...)  BUT! I´m excited to read that article about Ecuador, I gave the Spanish copy to my companion and he´s really enjoying it.  After I write this letter I´ll need to read it too.  

And I´m also always praying for for you all, my family, my friends (including those serving missions) and am sure to do so every day.   

Also!  As for other news of the week, this last Friday we had divisions with the Assistance of President Ghent!  A surprise for us too!  I got to go with Elder Casky to the center of Quito, while his companion went with Elder Hernandez in our sector.  Essentially, it was rather refreshing and felt like a mini-vacation, although we were contacting for half the day.  We started in a huge park, one about 4x the size of a mall parking lot but with a skate park, jogging track, dirt biking trails, and a giant pool-river thing with foot operated boats.  With the heat of the day it felt just like Lagoon. :)  We had some good contacts, actually found some members selling fresh coconut-milk-juice (SO GOOD!), and continued on.  The day went well, we taught a few members and a family, and returned to thier home, where the secretaries also live.  (I think it´s the only or one of the only homes in the mission where 4 missionaries live in the same house)    The whole exchange was rather like a restart, to re-kindle my desire to find new families and serve.  So, this week I´ll definitely have to make like a squid and get Krakin!  (Yes Erik, I just had to use it too!)  

Also!  This week we have a zone conference, and then a training meeting.  I´m way excited!  I don´t think we´re expecting people for baptism this week, but we do have 1 possibility!  Jorge, so we hope he´ll be ready.

  First, read Moroni 7 and then follow the invitation at the very end, and then read The Family: A Proclamation to the world.   They both are passages that we shared the family Cawanois when we first met them, and it helped them a lot.  I think it could be a faith builder for you too.  In fact, everyone who reads this should follow the same invitation. It is powerful!

Well, I believe that is all for the day, and I shall definitely be writing again in 7 days!

-Elder Sanders

¡Hasta Ver!

Hello!  This week was rather swell indeed! We had many fun stories this time, no new spiritual experiences since my Book of Mormon revelation,   but first!  To answer questions from your letters!  (Which, by the way, thanks to all who wrote!)   Ben is getting married next week!  And Zander`s getting baptized! CRAZY TIMES! We`re also going to have a baptism this weekend,  AT LAST!   Sister  P,  she is ready, and will have made powerful covenants by the end of next week!  We`re quite excited.       And yes, transfers have passed, (2 weeks ago, I wrote about it...)    And we have not changed! Yes!      And I did make the Pasta Sauce.  Apparently I don`t quite have the same magical motherly touch that can transform any raw ingredient into a delicious wonder, but I shall keep working at it!   (and yes, all that random stuff you found on the porch was from Erik`s Mom, neat!)      Oh, and as for Spanish, I definitely am not fluent yet.  When it comes to gospel principles, yes, but for everything else....   lets just say that I`m sufficient at the moment.  :)

So!  This week was quite well, although we definitely had a low on people with a baptismal date.  It just seems as if our investigators are getting lost in sub-space.  (for example, we haven`t been able to find Mr Fas or Humberto because of dreaded work!)   We only had 1 investigator attend this Sunday, only one!  ACK!   But, as for fun stuff, we were leaving our Mamitas house on Thursday, and walked half a block only to encounter a gigantic parade.  Kids dressed in indegenous attire, fireworks shooting off, candy being thrown into the sidewalks.  After standing in awe for about 10, wondering if it was a holiday or not, we decided we needed to run and grab our cameras (luckily our house was 2 blocks away).  It was a sweet surprise.

And then, Saturday we had a lesson with the family Caisawano, and lo and behold:  it was their daughter`s birthday!  We brought her some ice cream with a card, had dinner, had delicious Ecuadorian cake, and then a small lesson afterwards about families.   It was a jolly time.   

We also had an open house at our Stake Center in Chilloguillo.  Our zone (Chilloguillo) and my old zone (Atahualpa) joined forces to turn our church into a master  knowlegde center for investigators of all kinds.  Of course, the members were teaching inside and all the missionaries were spreading outside, bringing all in the street into the Steak Center.  Elder Hernandez and I contacted 40 people in the space of an hour or so, and only 5 attended, but that`s pretty fruitful from my point of view, especially if there are also about 9 other companionship roaming about.    It was essentially good.  

Anyways, right now we have 4 people with a baptismal date, Sister Caisawano and a new family, la familia Peña.  We hope that we may also be able to give a new date to those that missed church and us essentially.  We`re excited!  

Alas, I shall write you all soon!  Stay mighty!

-Elder Sanders.

Hm... and as for a spiritual thought....      You should re-read The Family: A proclamation to the world.     It is just oozing with doctrine and family organization, and how we can build more strength in our individual families.    While teaching the family Cai, we were teaching this principle and about our priorities.  Then, while we were discussing this, the grandpa said something to the extend of we should put God first, and then worry about our families later.  A mini argument ensued, and then I said something to the extent of, ¨we don`t need to do that.  When we are keeping the commandments, and blessing our family, we really are serving God.  Essentially we don`t need to put one over the other because they are the same priority.¨   And the arguing ceased.    It`s true!  The strongest happiness we can attain in our families is when they are build upon the principles of the Gospel.        Read the Proclamation together, and if there are others that haven`t read it before, go online, find it and read it!  It has power!

OH! And as for the Christmas package, I heard that for any package normally it takes this long.  So, I shall probably be receiving it in the next week or so.  It`s not lost, just floating in Ecuadorian mail-space.  

PICTURES!

 Pictures of the parade!

 Our happy Italian pasta.

 A picture requested by my companion. 

 

Pictues

This is the Italian in him coming out ! LOL

check out the propane tank !! AHHHHHHH!

ward mission leader and his companion ! Eden looks like a giant !

beautiful mountains !

Eden drew this in some ones hymn book.

Baptism day ...

Eden and his companion made scones !

Week #27

Greetings one and all!
   Thanks very much for your letters, comments, and other goodness!  It was nice!   (And we´re going to the offices this next week, so I shall see if my packages have arrived soon!)

Ah, and to start... this week was....  CHANGES!  *ensue organ overture*   And my new stats are:  Guamani with an Elder Hernandez.   Wait.... that´s where I am now the companion I have now...  WE DIDN¨T CHANGE!  HAHA!  we´ll be able to see our baptisms through after all!  Happy day!

Alright, so here are some other stats of the week.  This last week we had a grand total of 15 people with a baptismal date.  (We had a GOOD finding week.)  The only downside is that out of that 15 people only 4 were able to keep their date by attending church and following up with commitments.  JS  had a  baptism date (which was planned for this Saturday, but he has a work trip and now it´s a 50/50, I hope it works out!)  and we just need to find a time to visit the family Lui.  Their date is for this Saturday too, and they are just never home!  I hope they´ll be ready in time too!    All in all, we´ll have to get the rest of our investigators to start progressing!  They are all so good!

And it sounds as if things at home are well too!  I can see that as I am growing spiritually, so are you guys!  It´s great to read how you scripture studies and Sunday lessons are going!  (And you´ve gotta send me a picture of Tristan´s new Sunday Suit!)   I´m always praying for you all.

And today was great too!  Why?  This last Wednesday Elder Hernandez and I set a list of goals to try to accomplish this week, such as finding 6 new families, arriving early to lessons, planting a baptismal date for new investigators, etc etc, and decided if we could complete them we would make a ´Mega-Meal´  this Monday.  And what happened?  We did it!  And after seeking knowledge through my mission-mom-cookbook, we made a heaping plate of scones with honey-butter!  I´ll say, after having a lack of ´Sanders´ food for 6 months, today was a real slap in the face, but in a good way!  

So, my companion is doing good, my Spanish is always fluctuating, and we are striving to study every day.   All in all, the mission field is well.  We just need to invite the members to come out with us more often...perhaps soon!

I always have you all in mind, and here is a spiritual thought for the day-

The Sabbath day is a day of rest, where we depart from our labors and worldly things.  And we also have fast-sundays, where we skip out on food to easily become more humble and receptive to be more in tune with the spirit.  Then I thought, we do a kind of fast every Sunday.  I see the Sabbath Day as a fast of worldly things.  We skip out on movies, video games, and work to be more humble and more receptive to the spirit. And just as we wouldn´t dare eat one piece of bread during a fast of food, we also shouldn´t dare to take a minute at doing something ´worldly´ during Sunday.  It´s just that important.  And the blessings promised of the Lord is we obey this day, are an increase of peace and joy in our lives.  Not to mention the renewing of our covenants during the sacrament.  

Well, that is all for today it seems, may your days be merry!  

-Elder Sanders

Pictures! (I´m attaching more in  seperate letter)

1- View from in front of our church (zoom in on the mountains!)

2- Us with our ward mission leader, Hermano Casco!  One of the finest old men yet to live!

3- A picture I drew in the Hymn-book of our zone leader

4- Eden trying to learn how to make scones

5- Eden finally discovering the secret of how to make the dough as soft as a dream