Opening Sector

Hola mis amigos y familia,

This week started off super crazy.

So, Sunday I left Tena right after church to travel to Quito so I could receive my trainee.

Monday is the day I received Elder Mora from Costa Rica and we went to our new sector in Chillogallo. We are opening it so we don’t know anything. We arrived and the other Elders left 5 people on date.

Tuesday, we helped the Zone Leaders get to Quitumbe which is a big bus station. Then we got our stuff in our house and looked through all the investigators we have and all the past records. We did planning and studies and also had pday for the first part of the day because we didn’t have it on Monday. Also bought a whole bunch of food for the week. Later the zone leaders helped us to get to know some members. On our way it was pouring rain and two taxis came by and drenched us with water!

Wednesday, we went out to get to know our sector boundaries. Got lost a whole lot and for lunch a member gave us 5 dollars, so we then had to find a restaurant. Later we had correlation meeting which is a meeting so the ward can help the missionaries. Later we had a lesson with some people who have a date to be baptized.

Thursday, we had district meeting and then ate lunch and dropped off clothes at a member’s house since we couldn’t on Monday. Since I have started training, we have been doing soooo many practices! Later we had a lesson with another person on date. She is 8 years old and super cute to teach. They are Venezuelan and made us empanadas!!! Super good. Also, we had no gas for our showers and the water here is colder than in Tena, and it is also colder here in general, so I didn’t shower, oops.

Friday, we spent an hour chasing trucks down to buy gas. Here we have to by propane tanks for gas and they are sold by trucks driving down the streets, but they never passed by our house, so we ran everywhere trying to find one. Then showered and right as I got out, we got a call saying we had a medical appointment for my companion in 2 hours. He has an ingrown toenail and it is so bad he can’t walk. So, we left as fast as we could and went to his appointment. The doctor said he can’t walk a lot so we studied and practiced lessons a lot more. Later we had a lesson with Byron who is on date, but he talked the whole lesson about all his problems in life so didn’t do a lot of teaching.

Saturday, we had a zone activity where we helped the hermanas find new people by all of us going to a park to contact. There were 22 of us in a small park with very few people. It didn’t go super well but they got like 2 references from each companionship. I went with Elder Erickson who is also training and our companions went with each other. There were also some drunks there which was funny until one tried to punch a missionary. Later we ate pizza with some of the elders because our lunches with members fell through. I don’t have any money so eating out didn’t help. Later we visited Camila, the 8-year-old Venezuelan and helped prepare her for her baptism.

Sunday, we met a whole lot of members at church. I don’t know any of their names, but I shook a lot of hands. This ward is huge, and I love it. We only had one investigator come to church and one went to the other ward. Later we had 5 lessons planned and all, but one fell through. The one we could teach has read almost all the Book of Mormon and prays a lot but isn’t sure about attending church, so we tried helping her find her answer. Other than that lesson, the day was super hard to stay positive.

Monday, today we had to go back to the hospital for a follow up visit. Everything is looking good and the doctor said we are fine, but my companion still doesn’t feel ready to walk as much as I would like to.

This ward is awesome, and we should be able to find a lot of success despite the difficulty we are having right now. I know that as we trust in the Lord, He will show us miracles and provide a way for us to be happy and have success!

Les quiero mucho,

Elder Tolman

Elder Mora getting his ingrown toenail removed

Elder Mora

Playground for people with disabilities

I have a son

Hola mis amigos y familia,

This week was a little crazy and I don't have the time I normally do. President Barlow left for Peru on Monday for a meeting and so we received changes earlier. We got the call on Saturday that Elder Florian is going to stay in Tena and that I will be leaving to Chillogallo in Quito to open a sector and I will also be training. So Sunday we went to church and I ended up being asked to give a talk. Later we took pictures and then I took a super long bus ride to Quito where me and another elder got lost looking for the secretary's house where we were suppose to stay for the night. We were looking for two hours until we finally got there. Slept the night and the next day we had orientation where we received our new companions. After that we traveled to our sector where once again we were kind of lost. Slept the night at the ZL's house and then the next morning which is today, Tuesday, we get to start. I am super excited to train but nervous at the same time. Our sector is call Mariscal. My companion is from Costa Rica and knew Malcom West who is currently serving his mission there. His name is Elder Mora.

Have a good week!

Elder Tolman

Hermana Molina

Charcoal Mask

Zona Oriente menos las Hermanas

Nuestro Distrito

Snake we killed

Chapel in Tena

Familia Mamallact. The 2 sons are on date to be baptized.

Familia Guijin

Familia Aguierra

Familia Aldas

Pinchos with Elders in Chillogallo

Elder Venegas aslo training

Estoy Vivo

Hola mis amigos y familia!

This week was super boring so this email will probably be super short.

Tuesday through Thursday we were locked up in the house and still couldn't do anything. Our days consisted of sleeping, eating, reading, playing the ukelele, and watching church movies. There were a lot of moments of complete boredom and other times when we had some good laughs, but I'm glad to say it is over.

Friday, our Branch President called our Mission President and told him that Tena is super calm and there aren't a lot of problems here, so we had permission to go out and work. The only problem was that there weren't any buses and we had planned to go to Archidona. Instead we stayed close to our house and visited some less actives and then later went to see if we had references like any other Friday. We also downloaded the new Book of Mormon video so we have one more new one to watch. We had to be in our house at 6pm, so not everything was back to normal.

Saturday we were also able to go out, so we went searching for a less active, but couldn't find him. We went to go contacting and the first house we knocked on let us in! We had a lesson with them and afterward we ate lunch. We decided to go to a family we are teaching which was kind of far and we had to walk through the more center part of town which could be dangerous because there were suppose to be people marching. Luckily there wasn't, and we had the lesson. Later as we were returning my companion said we should go home because the people marching should be coming back so we got to the house a little bit earlier than six. Later the Elder's Quorum President came and told us that the Area Presidency announced that we will not have church meetings due to the protesting so we were told to bless the sacrament by ourselves.

Sunday, we got ready for church like normal and held our own Sacrament Meeting which consisted of an opening hymn, the Sacrament, and then a closing hymn and prayer. We were told we couldn't go out so we stayed in the house once again.

Today the Branch President stopped by and said the protesting has stopped in all of Ecuador so we are able to leave now!

Sorry if you found this week boring, I did too, jaja. Until next week!

Elder Tolman

House Arrest and General Conference

Hola mis amigos y familia,

Tuesday we went to San Antonio in Archidona to teach Erik and Manuel who are on date for the 19th. We got there just after their parents left so we waited there an hour for them to come back. Then started teaching. During the lesson the other bus passed by which means that we had to wait even longer for the next one. We got to the lesson at 3 and left at 7. After that we stopped by another family we are teaching. The wife wants to be baptized but they need to get married first and the husband doesn't see the importance in that, so we promised him that if he wrote his question about being married in the Temple down and brought it to General Conference he would receive his answer.

Wednesday I met a part member family that Elder Florian was teaching before I got here. They are all less active except for Victor, who is not a member yet. We talked about the Book of Mormon and showed them the new videos and then he gave us some small alfajores that he made and later was going to sell. He showed us some more of his recipes and we planned to have a noche de hogar on Monday to share some recipes. Later we stopped by some people we recently contacted and one talked to us for an hour or more about her life story before giving us a day we could come back, but I am super excited to help her come closer to Christ. She has a lot of potential but she is strong in her other religion, but I have faith that when she hears the truth she will accept it. Later we stopped by familia Aldas and the news came on that there wouldn't be buses the next day, but we didn't pay too much attention to it.

Thursday we went to take a bus to district meeting in Puyo, but half of the bus companies were closed. The next one left at 9 and we arrived at district meeting late. Afterward we ate lunch and a few minutes into eating we got a call saying that there are no buses and that President Barlow has given everyone directions to stay in their houses and not to leave. I think our zone was the only zone to get this news late, about it. Two groups of six. Six in one house and six in the other. we were told we could proselyte but a few minutes later we got a call saying we couldn't. We did nothing all day. The elders had three mattresses in their house so we took them all and combined them to have a bigger place where we could all sleep and not on the floor. I didn't sleep very well.

Relaxing on the roof

View from roof

 Friday we woke up and got a call that we could go out but only for lessons. We had two lessons planned but right after we got a call that people were protesting in Puyo and that we couldn't go out. People in all the country of Ecuador were rioting and causing problems, people were dying and basically it was dangerous to go out so it was a general rule that we couldn't leave. We were able to go to the other house for the day to all hangout and play games together. We had money sent so we could eat lunch because we all brought enough money to travel to Puyo and back to our districts. We got sent 300 dollars to last us until the next Tuesday because that is when all the panic and stuff was supposed to end. Also 70 of that 300 went to pay for the hotel for the hermanas every day, so we didn't have a lot. We had to be in our house at 6 and so we left a little early, on our way it started to rain super bad, we were all drenched in the only clothes we had, and we had forgot stuff in the other elders' house so our district leader and I ended up making three trips back because we kept realizing we forgot things there. The owner of their house saw us drenched and offered to wash our clothes which was a miracle. The other elders had just enough clothes to let us borrow so we didn't have to walk around naked. I made salchipapas for everyone which took me until 9. We ate and then went to bed but this time two people to each mattress. I didn't sleep any better.

Sleeping arrangments

Saturday we got a call early that said we should all leave as early as possible to get buses to our houses because people had stopped blocking the roads for a little bit. We waited at the stop for an hour or more when we finally got a bus. We got on it and left when we realized that we left our cellphone at the stop. Later we found out someone stole it and answered when our district leader called but quickly hung up, so now we need to buy a new one! The bus took us halfway where we had to take another bus to the chapel. There we made it just in time for General Conference. General Conference was super awesome and spiritually uplifting. It was hard to understand in Spanish but I downloaded the talks in English and listened to them later because after the Conference we still had rules we couldn't leave the house.

Sunday we went to General Conference, both sessions and they were super awesome. Had multiple confirmations that the people speaking received revelation from God to talk to us and that Russell M. Nelson is a prophet called of God in this day to guide us. We also found out that we won't be able to leave for a while because people are continuing to group up.

It's been a crazy, fun week. Can't wait to talk to you all the next!

Les quiero mucho,

Elder Tolman