A Visit From Elder Bednar

 

The Great Ecuadorian Suburbio Scene

Welp another week in La Toma and once again another week of miracles that we have seen in the sector! 

Most of the miracles that we have seen this past week mainly have been happening while we have been finding people. Last week I wrote about Cristian and how he said that we were guided by God to knock the door and share with him. Well, this week we were able to find his wife and share with her too. Then going back Friday and he told us that we could share with his whole entire family when they all better from being sick. I swear everyone is sick because of the "cambio de clima" when it has dropped maybe 10 degrees lower in the nights. It drops to 75 degrees and the people are dying of cold. 

The next one happened after last p day. We were in the street and we felt to knock a door and a joven answered it saying that missionaries have passed by 3 months ago but said he felt like he was missing something when they left. We were able to have some lessons with him and we let him finish the lesson with the prayer and he always asks that "que los Mormones puedan seguir pasando" which is really cool. 

The next one we were knocking doors and felt to knock door and opens a older man that said if he and his family wasn't sick he would let us go in and share with his family. Once again being sick because of the "cambio de clima" but turns out he is a member of the church and will let us share with his whole entire family. We also talked to his wife and he seems really open to learn more. 

A couple of p days ago we went to a mall where they sell American things, I found some Sriracha which sounded good since I remembered Jack saying it was amazing and I have been putting that stuff on any little thing. We have rice with EVERY MEAL so putting the sriracha makes it tons better since rice with chicken or beef gets old after awhile. 

But that's it for this week, pretty tranguilo week nothing much going on. But a couple weeks ago they told us that... ELDER BEDNAR is coming to visit the 4 missions of Guayaquil! He comes and visit this Friday so we are ready to get macheted by him. 

Miss all you guys

Elder Roper 

Multi Zone Conference

 

Thought You Should Know

Wow, what a week!

Its been quite a week in La Toma 1. We have been able to see quite a few miracles this week along with the others we have seen in weeks past. I think these last 2 transfers I have really been able to open my eyes and give credit to the Lord and see the miracles He has given us. To start off we had 8 people... 8 people showed up to church this past Sunday. I think that is the most I have ever had so far and there were a few people that showed up that we were not really expecting. It was really cool to see them funnel in with all the members and know that they were feeling the spirit too. 

Along with 8 investigators going to church, some inactive members were able to come to church. A little while ago I wrote about the hermana Yolanda that came for the first time in 30 years or so. After she went to church the first time she kind of fell off and we weren't really able to contact her or find her in her house. Saturday morning we were walking to a lesson and she was just in the street. We asked her how she was and she told us that she is going through a really hard time and she came to church this Sunday!

Some other miracles that have happened is that we were guided to find an hermano that literally told us that we were guided by God to his house. His name is Christian and works in Communications entonces he gets up at 3 or 4am and gets home really really late at 6pm. So it really is a miracle that we were able to find him at his house and able to find him again! We have quite a bit of hope for him and he also has a family that we can hopefully share with this upcoming week. 

We also did some service this week with the Elders of Puerto Nuevo or the Elders we live with. We helped their Bishop move and clean some rooms of his house or areas he owns. He told us that his phone was hooked up to a speaker and that we had free reign to listen to music. So we listened to the new Post Malone song with Morgan Wallen and some Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs, and you guessed it Zach Bryan. 

Anyways, this past week we have been studying the war chapters in the Book of Mormon and this past week probably the best verse in the whole entire chapter was included. Alma 48:17!

Anyways miss and love all you guys!

Elder Roper

Seeking What's Good

What's up everybody, another week in Ecuador. Honestly this week was probably the coldest, well "coldest" it's ever been here. We were walking in the streets with a member and I felt I needed a jacket because it was dusk and pretty windy and chilly. It was a very weird feeling. 

We are still seeing miracles left and right this week. Sadly, not at church but finding people and talking to people in the street. I'm very grateful that people are open to talk about God and the Savior Jesus Christ. We talk to a lot of people who at first may or may not have been very interested but talking about the Plan of Salvation are very interested and want to learn more about the Plan God has for everyone, and our families. 

This week was a rough week for people coming to church. We invited what seemed like a lot of people to come to church and they said they would then come Sunday morning that no one came to church. Well we had some show up, but the ones we were really expecting didn't come to church sadly. We were still able to see miracles and have our eyes opened to see the Lord's hand in this work. 

To start we found Alan, a younger 14 year old kid who was interested in learning more about Jesus Christ. We went back Thursday, weren't there, but then we passed by Saturday and his brother Elkin opened the door and was pretty nice to us. We saw his big scar on his forearm and asked him what happened. He then tells us about his moto accident that happened in the middle of the night on his recently deceased father's birthday. We both didn't really know what to say or how to help but we gave him a very brief message about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and thanks to His sacrifice that he did for every single one of us we can have the hope of seeing family members again. We also were walking around and a man came up to us asking about the Book of Mormon and asked if it was written by Joseph Smith. We started talking to him and he showed us his house and invited us in. It was a pretty funny experience because he was talking all over the place and talking in English, Spanish, and Italian. 

We were also able to go to the Temple this past week which is always a very cool experience to go from the streets of Guayaquil, cars and dogs being super loud. To then enter the Lord's house and feel the Spirit of the Lord. The temple is always an awesome experience!

But that's all for this week, there was a lot of contacting or finding done this past week and probably much ahead!

Love and miss all you guys

Elder Roper

A Temple Trip

Keaton had the privilege of going to the Guayaquil Temple with his area and President and Sister Suarez.

 

Walk

Some of you may wonder why the title is walk, but that's because this week almost every single day, almost every single lesson we had fell through which means we just went knocking doors. It's fine though because it was getting to the point where we needed to find some more people. I think this is the most I have ever walked or been on my feet in a week. But it's been good because we have still been seeing miracles. 

To start a few weeks ago we were knocking doors and we found an excommunicated member out of the blew. I'm not sure if I have written about him or not, but he told us he has the desire to get back in the Church. But this past week he and his pareja came to church! It was pretty awesome to see him came along with his pareja!

Then I think it was Wednesday we found a younger kid just knocking doors and then we went back Saturday. We asked if he could go ask his mom to see if it was ok if the missionaries could teach him and he said my mom is coming. I thought she was going to yell at us and tell us to keep going. But she told us she loved the folleto we left and wanted to hear from us. We taught her half of L1, and left the restoration for the next time so we'll see how the next time goes.

Everything is going good "training" Elder Gonzalez -  if anything he's training me in the mission. He has a lot of ideas to try and help out and a lot I've never tried before. It's definitely interesting being in this young of a companionship because we are both trying to figure out missionary work and how to work a sector but . . . we're figuring it out. 

Elder Gonzalez is pretty funny too, I think he thinks we are in a middle of a war zone and when people ask us if we are scared to be put in the streets he just kind of looks at me, it's pretty funny. Gratefully I know that the Lord will keep us protected as long as we are doing what we are supposed to be doing. 

That's pretty much it for this week, kind of a boring week nothing much going on. Just a lot of walking and knocking doors this past week. The mission let us know that we will be going to the temple this Wednesday so that is hype and will be super fun. We went in May and now we're going again in August before the temple shuts down for maintenance. 

Miss all you guys 

Elder Roper