Hola a todos,
I am going to try to recap last week a
little better than before and then I will get into this week.
Last week we went to a lesson with our
Elders Quorum President, President Romero.
We talked about faith and he encouraged
them to set a date to get married and they agreed to.
On Wednesday we went to Mama Avilas
referral named Betty. She has been through some hard times and wants
peace in her life so we shared a bit of the Plan of Salvation. She
seems super solid. Then went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders so
one of them could interview Nancy and Shirley for their baptism.
While in Ambato with Elder Cloward, I
met two of their recent converts. One was an old man who forgot a lot
of the things he had been taught so we went over the Restoration
again. The other was a family who said that the people in our church
don't know how to preach the word of God and lack faith and ganas,
and on and on. It was a little frustrating trying to teach them our
church is the way it is. They wanted a preacher shouting at them but
we explained the spirit doesn't work that way. It is a quiet still,
small voice, and that is the voice we should be listening for, not
just the words of the person speaking. They still didn't like that
answer so we told them to read the Book of Mormon to gain a stronger
testimony so I hope they can! After that lesson we went to one of
their investigators who Elder Cloward was planning on dropping. We
got in the house and shared a scripture. After wards I felt like I
should challenge them to get married and be baptized and set a date.
They accepted and I was so happy! The spirit was so strong.
On Thursday we had district meeting and
that is where our exchanges ended. When we got back to Latacunga we
stopped by Nancy and Shirley to see who they wanted to baptize and
make sure they were ready. Shirley picked Elder Dorsey to baptize her
and Nancy changed her mind to have Reuben (a member that came with us
to lessons instead of me). She had picked me the last time we went
over.
Friday we took Mama Avila to a lesson
with Betty and she invited her to come to church. We couldn't really
have a lesson with her because her boss was there. That night we had
a Father's Day party and the ward asked us to do some sort of skit so
ours was making fun of gringo and latino companionships. Of course me
and Elder Dorsey were the gringos and had to act stupid. The ward
loved it but we are still getting made fun of to this day haha.
Saturday started off good with an
amazing dinner with Mama Avila. Super rico! Then went to another town
called Salcedo to teach a lesson. She gave us choclo that later we
gave to Mama Avila and picked up Elder Dorsey's suit she was fixing
for him. We went home and got dressed for the baptism and started
filling the font at 6 and finished at 7:30. Everything was ready and
we were just waiting for Shirley and Nancy to show up. Long story
short, only Shirley showed up so she was baptized and then confirmed
on Sunday.
Sunday found a daughter and her mom who
seemed super cool so can't wait to go teach them. Also a random past
investigator showed up to church so we are going to try to teach her.
Also had a noche de hogar with Paulo and his wife which was super
fun. They made good food.
Monday, pday, we played a lot of soccer
so I was so sore this week.
This past week, Tuesday we contacted
some people while at Mama Avilas which was awesome. Then this guy on
the street stopped us as we were walking to a cita and asked what we
do. We told him we would come back later and teach him more. When we
came back he was super receptive and he read the book of Mormon right
there in front of us. He could be a real solid investigator. Then we
went to our cita with Betty and while we were talking we found out
she had talked to her friend from her church who told her we were
false and had false prophets and our book was false and stuff like
that. We told her that no man, us or her friend, can tell her the
truth and it stand as truth for her. The only real way to know is to
ask God so we asked her to read the Book of Mormon and pray and ask
God if it is correct and if this is His church. She said she felt
really confused and unsure about it all but we really hope she does
it.
Afterward we met up with Ruben and went
with him to visit Nancy. She still doesn't have her kids and so she
feels like she can't be happy and not have them so she doesn't want
to be baptized until she gets them. Super stressful day full of up
and downs. I've come to realize that I really do love these people
and when things come in their way from progressing it makes we really
sad for them. Satan is real and working very hard against us, but
because we are on the Lord's side we will win!
Wednesday we taught William again. The
guy we ran into on Tuesday morning. He had like 10 questions for us
just from reading the intro to the Book of Mormon. We were able to
answer all of them and he said he would continue reading. We taught
him the Restoration and he was super receptive. After that we went to
lunch with Obispo, but he lives in Belesario which is like 20 minutes
away in bus. After lunch we did some studies and bought Bonais which
is frozen yogurt and then headed to a cita with Dario and Patricia to
teach them about faith and baptism. Then after went to English class.
On our way home Mama Avila bought us papi pollo, super rico!
Thursday we had District meeting and
celebrated the fourth of July. We had lunch with Mama Avila and then
took the long bus ride to Quito where we got on another bus to take
us further into central Quito where we took another bus. We went to
Chilis with the secretaries and while we were there some borrachas
from the states came and talked to us. Two were behind me so I didn't
see them but from what the other elders say, they were all staring at
me so that whole night they were calling me the lady slayer and stuff
like that.
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| Celebrating the 4th |
The next morning was verifications or
trainer follow up. We had french toast in the morning and Papa Johns
pizza for lunch. Then afterward we took the long travel back home. We
got back around 6 and began to contact. These last two days kind of
dragged because of our travels but we managed to pickup one person
and contact a few others along the way.
Saturday we had a few lessons and they
went ok. One fell through and it just wasn't the most successful day.
Sunday William came to church but no one else showed up. Later in the
day we had noche de hogar in Mama Avilas casa and it was pretty good.
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| Pday Adventures - Hiking Cotopaxi Volcano |
Les
quiero mucho, cuídense!
Elder
Tolman
