Kaden in Quito : January 2015

Man made flood!

We had a good week. There were two baptisms on Saturday. I'll send a pic. It's been a good week though. We had a Christmas dinner with the President this week, which was really good. We also did a ward Christmas dinner as well. There seemed to be a lot of activities. Everything is going good though. This week starts the last week of the change. It should be interesting. Saturday after the baptism we forgot to turn the font off and we came back hours later and the chapel was flooded! Not good! We just started pushing water out the front door with brooms and mops. Then we used about 8 rolls of industrial size paper towels and cleaned everything up. No one has any idea what happened haha. So, disaster avoided. Anyway, we´ll talk Thursday, so I will leave you with that for now. Love you.

New Baptism

This week we had a baptism. He had been listening to the missionaries for four years or so and we finally got him to get baptized. Now that family is complete and can go to the temple together, which is special. We are teaching a lot of people right now as well, which is good. We had a few people in church on Sunday also.

I've been studying the book of Nephi and Luke. I always get something more out of the scriptures every time I read them. I've also been trying to apply them more to me.

Things this week have been a little different. Right now is when they have what they call Fiestas de Quito. Well I think they ended the 6th, but there are a lot of parties and concerts. There was one outside our house this week and it was loud and going on till 2 or 3 in the morning. But it doesn't keep us from working.

Basilica

This week was good. I learned a lot as always and we were able to find people and have people in church this week. My comapnion is great! We get along good and we teach really well together. So we always have really spiritual lessons which has been something hard to do with some of my past companions.

This week I started my study of the Book of Mormon over and I've come to realize how amazing the stories are and how to make them come to life. I think we have it easy comapred to some of the Book of Mormon prophets. I've gained a lot of respect for Nephi. He wants to know what his father saw so he prays and is taken away in the spirit. During that vision he sees the destruction of his people (1 Nephi 12:19). Returning from having this vision he finds his brothers fighting. He just saw the destruction of his people!! Talk about no hope. It was written in the Heavens! You can imagine it might be hard to get up and keep preaching and keep being obedient. But, the first things he does is try to help his brothers understand. The same brothers who he saw would never actually accept his words and who's posterity would eventually destroy his. See 1 Nephi 15:5,6. Notwithstanding everything he still loved them and did everything he could to help them. See 1 Nephi 15:25 and 1 Nephi 16:3,4. His whole life he dedicated to service of others in spite of knowing the result of everything he would establish. Also, we have the Book of Mormon, thanks in part to Nephi, it's not easy to insribe words on plates but he did it with a purpose: 2 Nephi 25:23. see Jacob 1:9,10.

In these days have a better hope. People are prepared and we need to find them!

Today we wenrt to a place called the basilica. It's a giant catholic church. I'll send pictures.

Bon Appetit!

Well, this was a good week overall. We had our ups and downs, but it was good. We have been working hard. That's for sure. We found 10 new people this week, and 2 new families which was awesome! We fasted twice, once for our goals for the change and the second time so that our investigators could come to church. We started Saturday. Saturday turned out to be a horrible day. We didn't have a single lesson. Then Sunday, no one came to church. We did everything to get them there as well, so it was a big disappointment especially since we were fasting. Anyway, I am sure that the blessings will come. It is a trial of our faith. Our sector is pretty much flat. All my other sectors have been mountainous. The ward here is really good and the members are very friendly. My companion is awesome! We get along really well. My companion wants to work, which is nice also. We are hoping to have a lot of success this change.

We had some interesting meals this week. We had 4 different types of pig intestines for one meal. Then we ate what we now call chicken butt. It was basically every part of a chicken that we take out before cooking in the US. But Sunday a family here gave us a Thanksgiving dinner and it was delicious. It's a tradition they started with an American missionary. That was pretty much our week. It was good overall. I am working on being the best missionary I can be. I'm excited for the future. Hope all is well at home. When is Thanksgiving? Tell everyone I love them. Have a great week!

The church is true! Never forget it. We are all in our own process of conversion. Ether 12:27 is my scripture for the week. And 2 Nephi 4. Nephi, even as a prophet was so upset because he realized he still had a long way to go before reaching perfection. That is what the atonement can do for us. It pushes us to be better and work towards perfection. We should always try to improve and be better and share the gospel. We are not only preparing the world for the second coming but we are and should be preparing personally. Procrastination is one of Satans most powerful traps. No one knows when the Son of man will come, but it will be when we least it expect it.

Love you all and miss you! Have a wonderful week!