Arroz con Que

Another week in La Toma 1! It was a pretty solid week but nothing too crazy happened. This week we did quite a bit of service. Wednesday we started the week off with trying to help a hermano build a pillar of concrete in the middle of his house. We made a complete mess in his house since we were just tracking in all of the cement that we mixed up right in front of his house. We also did some service that helped an older hermano organize all of his Liahona collection that he had from 1997. It was quite a bit of magazines and stuff but it only took like an hour to do. 

This week we also put 2 people on date for baptism for the 13th of July. Then the next night they texted us saying that they didn't feel quite ready for that day to be baptized. I think we still have the fecha for them on the 13th of July but we will see if they feel ready to take this step in their lives. We also have quite a bit of potential in the sector too. There's quite a bit of people that have a lot of potential to progress but it seems the trick is getting them to come to church and not just listen to us. But I'm learning a lot from Elder Francom on how to run and guide the sector so it can progress better. We have been working a lot with members and working a ton with inactive members and really trying to get them active in the church. 

On Wednesday I also hit 6 months on the mission! It has flown by and I have already learned a ton ton of how to be a better disciple of Christ and how I can rely on Him for so many things. My testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ has grown so much in my short time here. 

In Elders Quorum this past week it was just a full machete session. The teacher was out for souls but something I learned from that class is that the love of Christ is always there for us and we just have to look for it. We hardly find something we are not looking for. He also shared a really great scripture in Romans 8:38-39. I can testify that the Love of Christ is always there and we just have to go looking for it in our lives and we will find it. 

But yea kind of a boring week nothing too crazy has happened but miss all you guys.

Elder Roper

 

La Toma

Welp this past week was Transfers and I got transferred out of Sedalana and out of the Puerto(Muerto) Liza. I was kind of sad to go since we had a baptism Saturday but knew Elder Bundy was going to keep the sector going. Also transfers ended up on my birthday so that was kind of cool to see a few of the Elders I know in the mission. 

But I got transferred to La Toma. It's allllll the way down south. I think it's the southernmost part of the mission and it's a pretty big zone. We still cant take the phone out in the street so i still won't be able to take many pictures but in the last zone we couldn't take it out. But the new area I'm in is a little bigger than Sedalana but not too much. 

My new comp is Elder Francom! He's from Lehi, UT. So that'll make it the third straight gringo comp in a row. I'm now really sure what president is thinking of putting me with gringos but I thought for sure I would have been with a Latino. But he has 23 months in the mission and will finish this transfer. So there's a lot of stuff to learn from him and ways to just get better at being a missionary. He was AP but if i didn't know he was AP i wouldn't have known. 

This past week before transfers I just said goodbye to a couple of members and they both gave me ties that I probably won't wear much during the mission but they are pretty funny ties. But then just said goodbye and got all packed up for transfers. We headed to transfers and waited for a while until they called transfers. But they finally started and called all of us up by zone and said the transfers. I also got word that the baptism of Sandra happened on Saturday! That is pretty cool to hear, I kind of wish I was there to see it but knowing that she got baptized is a great thing to hear!

This past week in La Toma we did some service which consisted of pulling weeds for an hour and a half. The hermano we were doing service bought is a whole chicken to share. But after doing service it was a pretty much normal week trying to get to know the ward and members. All the members are really cool and are open to coming out with us and helping with the work.

That's pretty much all for this week though. Excited for the new area and new comp!

Miss all you guys and hope all the fathers had a happy Fathers Day!

Elder Roper

Transfer Day

Elder Roper was transferred to a new area today.  He was transferred to La Toma.  He also was assigned to a new companion - Elder Francom from Lehi, Utah. 

Keaton was able to call home and tell us the news because it was his birthday!

Happy 19th birthday, Keaton!

We love you!

Grateful for Hot Water

Yup, so as you can read we have hot water for our shower. We got it Tuesday morning and I honestly forgot how nice warm water was for a shower. But this week was a pretty solid week with nothing too crazy going on. 

This past Sunday our friend Sandra passed her interview to be baptized this upcoming Saturday so that is very exciting. We were a little scared since she answered yes to a couple of questions and had to get interviewed by one of the counselors to President Suarez but we heard yesterday that her baptism had been approved. Hopefully I can stay to see it and see the progress and success that this sector will have in this next transfer. I have been in Sedalana for 3 transfers and that is usually the time that Elders get switched out to a different setor. This next transfer this sector will have quite a bit of success and it seemed like when Elder Bundy got here we were able to start to figure out a way to work the sector and really apply the vision to baptize. Ive been able to learn a lot in this sector and learn a lot in this past transfer. Ive been able to learn how to start to apply that vision to baptize and kind of how to work the sector in a way that will help in progress. 

This past week we also had an intercambio or exchange with the Elders from Colmena. On our way to their house we got completely lost. We told the moto trici driver to go down to the 25 and the L but we were completely lost and the moto trici driver had no idea where to go. We decided to get out and just pay the trici driver. Elder Bundy decided to say a prayer and as soon as Elder Bundy said Amen, we saw a member who goes out with the Elders a lot and said he knows exactly where they live. It was really cool and was an immediate answer to our prayer. I feel like this past transfer with Elder Bundy Ive been able to see the Lord's hand helping us out with the many little things throughout the days during the week. 

But yea so transfers are this next Thursday and I think I'm out of the sector but we will have to see if I get transferred out. That's pretty much it though not a whole lot going on or stuff that has been too crazy this past week. 

Miss all you guys

Elder Roper

Summertime's Close

Some of you may wonder why this email is called Summertime's Close since summer is just starting back in the states, but it's surprisingly been getting cooler down here in Ecuador.  Don't get me wrong it's still pretty hot during the day, but it's been getting pretty cool during the night. Usually both Elder Bundy and I wake up in the middle of the night since we're cold and turn off our fans. It's been nice to wake up to a cool house rather waking up and going back to sweating all the time. 

This week was another pretty solid week as far as the work goes. We again had 4 people come to church and they were a different 4 people from last time too. The 2 brothers who are on baptismal date haven't come to church since we've put them on date so that fecha is probably dropped but we have 4 or 5 showing a lot of potential and are progressing very quickly. This weekend was a holiday, Día de Niño or Kids day. Not sure why we don't celebrate that in the States but you already know everyone was gone and drinking in the streets. So we had to contact quite a bit of people this week. We found some people that seem interested but we'll see how far they progress. 

This past Wednesday we didn't have any lunch to get from our pensionista. She had an emergency and had to leave from her house so we went to an asadero or a place to buy grilled chicken and we both asked for a 1/4 of a chicken with rice and beans. I'm pretty sure they gave us 1/2 with a ton of rice and beans. Elder Bundy and I were full for the next 2 days just because of all the food we had eaten. 

Another thing with it being a holiday weekend is that there have been a ton of fireworks. Sunday morning we woke up at 2am to fireworks going off right outside our window. There has almost always been fireworks going off this week. 

That's pretty much it though nothing much happened this week. We had house checks with President, his wife and the senior missionaries that we have in the mission. We spent all morning cleaning the house just for them to be there for about 20 minutes. 

Miss all you guys 

Elder Roper