Kaden in Quito

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

New Pictures

Lunch with new companion

Caught in a rain storm

One of the rivers

A bridge

View outside of apartment

Breakfast for the next few weeks!

Pretending to fish on Pday.

Up close with local monkey

This week has been good overall. We spent the first days trying to get to know the area. We got to meet a few members that live in the ward. There are two active member families in our sector, and two or three that are inactive. The ward had an attendance of 60-80 over the past year as an average. Right now it has been more like 30-50. There were 39 this Sunday. So obviously the branch is struggling here. We don't have a chapel. We hold meetings in a building. It has been a physically tiring week. We walk a lot because our sector is really big. We cook at home sometimes. My companion likes to cook a lot so that's cool. We've been doing a lot of contacting, and serving people where we can. We helped a bunch of people move the other day which was fun. We also had an interesting talk with a family. They told us a lot more than we needed to know. I realized that the world is a very messed up and disgusting place and that we are so blessed as a family. So very blessed! By the way, we have an awesome family if you haven't figured that out yet. We have so much fun together. I'm so grateful for the wonderful life you guys have provided for us.. So grateful! The mission has put a lot of things in perspective for me. It's going by so fast. I have set a lot of goals for the new year, but overall as an unsaid goal I have the goal and hope that 2015 will be a year that I never forget, that changes my life a lot, where I become a true disciple of Christ. That's what I'm going for though. I've also realized that that is only accomplished through obedience. I've realized that obedience plays a big role in what we will or will not accomplish in life.

btw my favorite scripture right now is Alma 27:18

Tena

We had changes. I'm in a place called Tena now. It is super hot here. It's like the farthest place out in the mission. It was a 5 hour trip today from Quito. I'm opening a sector here with Elder Cruz, from Guayaquil. I'm senior companion. They just took all the missionaries out of these sectors so there are 6 of us now and we are all new. There hasn't been baptisms here for the last 3 months. It should be fun. They are starting from scratch though. I'm sweating so hard right now. Oh and we baptize in the river here which is awesome!!

Our apartment was disgusting when we got here. We spent the day cleaning all day, because we couldn't leave the house that day. It was a mission rule. It still smells bad, and water always leaks from the toilet, so we need to get that fixed somehow. The street doesn't have a name. It's on a dirt road.

Tuesday, January 27, 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!