Week 73

Crazy Week

So this week a lot has happened and the truth is that I have forgotten a lot of it because there is so much that has happened. My new companion, Élder Solórzano, is from Machala Ecuador, but he lives in Quito. He has 2 more transfers than I do in the mission. He was in my first zone in Puerto Nuevo. He is 21 years old. Just a little fun fact: When we were in the same zone we were in general conference, and we both had 6 months in the zone Puerto Nuevo. He told me ¨Elder Black, we are going to have transfers together to Cuenca.¨ Well that didn´t happen. He stayed in Guayaquil and I went to Machala. However, when he came here we remembered that time, and now we are indeed both in Cuenca, and as companions. How crazy is that? He is great. We are working really well together and we are getting along very well. It has been a good week.

Anyways, this week was pretty insane. On Thursday we got a call from President Moreno. He told us that 2 sister missionaries just got their visas in Brazil and so we needed to send 2 sister missionaries from Cuenca to Guayaquil to train them. When that happens we have to go to the micro bus station ahead of time to buy the tickets because they sell out and they needed to leave the next morning. So we took a 45 minute bus from our sector to go buy the tickets. Then we headed back 45 more minutes. While we were 1 bus stop away from our sector president called us again and said that we had a leadership council in Guayaquil the same morning and so we needed to go back and change the hour of their tickets and buy 4 more tickets for us and the sister leaders. So we got off the bus, walked across the street, and got on another bus to go 45 minutes to the bus station again. Then we had to return in taxi to make it to an appointment. It was crazy, and we spent the whole day traveling. Then on Friday we went to Guayaquil at 6:15am to the leadership council with the 2 sister leaders and the 2 sisters that are going to train. We got back to Cuenca at about 7:30pm. It was weird being back in Guayaquil for a while because it is way more hot and humid there, and the accent is different. It made me laugh, but it made me grateful to be here in the cold. Then today we got a call from President and there were emergency transfers and we had to send a sister to Guayaquil at 11 who is having problems with her health, and we had to receive a sister here at 3. So we haven´t had a super long p-day, but all is well. Things are just super crazy, and we haven´t had much time to work in our sector. However, with little time this week we have found new people to teach, we have a baptism next week, and we put 8 new baptismal dates. I don´t have time to talk about them all, so I will talk about just 2 experiences that we had this week.

So we talk with 20 people every day now, because that is what president wants, and Elder Ballard has asked that we do the same. It is great because we talk more and are more attentive to the people around us. This week we contacted a man who can´t walk. He accepted us, and told us of his struggles with family and his other situations. He is lonely and passing through hard times. We were able to answer all of his questions thanks to the Holy Ghost. Then in the next visit we started talking and asking a few things. He told us that in the last visit we had he felt at peace. He felt a calmness in his life that he hasn´t felt before. He accepted a baptismal date, and his name is Daniel Araujo. We even got to help him put his socks on haha. Then we visited Fernando Morocho. He has been to church once, and I think I´ve told a bit about him. At first he didn´t want to read the Book of Mormon and had a lot of doubts. However, we started asking inspired questions and he told us how many of his questions were answered through us. He told us how he has never accepted missionaries. At first he even rejected us. I knocked his door and asked to bless his house. He said no. However, I had an impression that I should bare testimony and ask for an appointment. I did so, and he accepted an appointment to return. We returned and he accepted us. This week he told us why. He told us that we had such enthusiasm and such happiness that he felt to let us in. I remember in the blessing when I was set apart that President Pugh blessed me that people would hear our message because of my kindness. I have seen it fulfilled many times, and Fernando Morocho is another example. He then started to share how he has felt as we had visited him. This happened the same day as the experience with Daniel. My testimony grew sooo much that day.

Roberto and Alexandra didn´t come to church this week and we don´t know why, and they went to the registro civil to find out what they need to do to get married. Now they have to go to a lawyer and do a few things and then they can put a marriage date. They want to be married the 14th of February. They both have obtained testimonies of the church and of the Book of Mormon. They are INCREDIBLE. I sure hope that they get married and baptized before I am transferred. This week with all that has happened it has been stressful, but great.

My thought for the week is just my testimony because of how much it has grown this week. I know without any doubt that this is the church of Jesus Christ. He directs it, and of that I am sure. I know that God works through His servants to bless the lives of those in need. He is a loving Father. I know that God will always accomplish His work, and if we are spiritually and physically prepared, He will work through us to do it. I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real. The Spirit testifies of it. I have seen it change many lives. I know that God is a God of miracles. I am absolutely sure that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world. God has a perfect plan that will one day allow us to be free from the struggles of this life, and that provides a way to return to His presence. I know all of this because of the Holy Ghost. He has testified the truth to me, and I have seen and bare witness that He testifies to all who are willing to listen. Maybe for these experiences God left me here in Cuenca. Only He knows. But never forget that this is His church and He is in charge. One thing that I have felt and learned in the mission is that Jesus Christ is my Brother and my Friend. I love you all tons and hope that you have an amazing week! Don´t forget to study the scriptures every day. Say your prayers, and ¨the Lord thy God will bless thee and take thee by the hand and give thee answers to thy prayers.¨  Love you!!!!

Love, Élder Black

PHOTOS

 elder Solórzano and I making Ceviche de Pollo (Chicken Ceviche)

Week 72

Por eso te quiero Cuenca

Hola! This week has been pretty crazy. I will start off with transfers. Well we got the transfer call, and elder Kalina who just got here a little over 2 months ago got transfered. I will be staying here in Cuenca. I will complete more than 7 months here in Cuenca. Next transfers will be sometime in March. It is a bitter sweet feeling. It is almost unheard of to be in one place for so long, but I know it is what the Lord wants, and He sees the big picture. However, it is also good, because I really want to work more with Roberto and Alexandra and see them be baptized. They are so awesome. This week we have been doing good with talking to 20 people every day. It is hard and it is really stretching us, but it has brought us some miracles this week.

So Roberto and Alexandra did indeed make it to church on Sunday. Roberto has a testimony of the Book of Mormon, and they decided to stop working on Sundays. What a blessing. They are excited about being baptized. This week we talked with them about the family proclamation and a few other things. They are having a hard time putting a marriage date, and I am afraid that if they don´t put one soon that I won´t be here for their baptism. We are trying sooo hard. And before Elder Kalina left he told them to put a date and not to forget what they have learned. Juliana is doing ok. We haven´t had much contact with her. A man named Fernando Morocho came to church yesterday with his daughter. We contacted him trying to bless his home. He didn´t commit himself to read the Book of Mormon, but we were super shocked when he showed up to church. I hope that he can progress. We found 8 new people this week, but I won´t mention all of their names, however there were so many tender mercies. One day we were talking with a drunk guy and he gave us a reference of a woman who is having struggles with her husband. We visited her and she said that her uncle is looking for a church. We were able to go and find him. His name is Manuel Zumba. It is crazy how we found him, and while we were looking for him we knocked a door and a man (who I think was doing drugs) opened the door with a giant kitchen knife in his hand haha. It was actually pretty funny. Quite the experience.

Anyways, one day our appointment fell with Roberto. We left to go visit other people, and an hour later we returned and they were home. Well after we finished teaching them we left the house. We had to get a bus to go home because it was really late, but as we walked in the street we found a little 60 year old lady on the side of the road. She had a gas tank and blanket by her side, and we could tell that she had been crying. She asked us to lift the gas tank up onto the blanket. She intended to carry the gas tank like a backpack with the blanket. We told her that instead we would carry the gas tank to her house. She denied, telling us that her house was far away, but we insisted and so we started carrying it as we walked with her. (Just so you know the gas tanks here are very large and super duper heavy. It would be about 3 or 4 times the size of a normal propane tank in the US.) We walked taking turns carrying the tank because we got tired in the process because it is a big tank. We started to talk with her about who we were and what we do. She kept insisting that we let her carry it because her house was far away. She told us that she had carried it almost a mile when we had found her. She has no husband and her children are young. She has a 13 year old son. She had no way to get the gas to her house to cook, so she carried the gas on her back. It was such a humbling experience. God put us in her path to help her. As we arrived at her house she thanked us as she cried. She told us that God had sent us. We are going to return to visit her tomorrow. I hope that she accepts the gospel, but if not then at least we were able to help her. We found a young married couple blessing homes as well, Marlon and Isabel Briseño. We also found a young single mom who is struggling and who wants us to visit her. Her name is Irene Mendez.

This week a dog almost bit elder Kalina as well. We were walking down a very narrow side street and a dog turned the corner and started running full speed at elder Kalina. He wound up to kick it and the dog got scared and backed down a bit. I can´t remember very many other stories from this week, but it was a week of miracles.

My thought for the week comes from 2 Nephi 4:15 ¨... For my soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them, and writeth them for the learning and the profit of my children.  

I love this scripture that I read today. We must delight in the scriptures. We must desire to learn from them and to get the strength that comes from them. We must ponder the words of the scriptures to uncover the misteries of God and to be able to receive the personal revelation that the Lord would have us obtain. Later we must write those things upon our hearts. We must apply and act upon that which we learn so that we profit from the scriptures.

I love the scriptures with all of my heart. I know that the Book of Momron is true and I love reading it every day. I know that God lives. He knows the desires of our hearts, and according to His will, he will grant us the righteous desires of our hearts. I love you all tons!!!!

Love, Elder Black

Week 71

Mission Life
Hola! This week has been pretty good. The sad thing is that today there are no photos. Sorry... Life here in Cuenca is good. Transfers are next week and so who knows if I will have another p-day here. Transfers are always bittersweet. The sisters are doing well after what happened with the gas. Today we had interviews with president and they talked to us about how we should talk to 20 new people every day. Friday I will be headed to Guayaquil for a leadership council meeting. It should be good.

Anyways, this week we taught Roberto Gutama and Alexandra Juca a few times. Roberto has gone to many different churches, and they all wanted to baptize him. However, he never got baptized. This week we taught them about the gospel and the plan of salvation. They both accepted baptismal dates for the 16th of February. They aren´t married so later we taught the law of chastity, and they said that they would get married before their baptism. We taught about why they should get married by teaching about eternal marriage, and they want to get married in the temple. They are awesome. However, they didn´t come to church because they work on Sunday, but it is their own business, so it shouldn´t be too hard. Other than that not a lot has happened. We taught a few other people, but nothing incredible. One of them I found in the bus stop. One of them we found trying to bless homes to start the new year. I presented us as representatives of Jesus Christ and said we wanted to bless his home. He didn´t accept, but I felt impressed to ask if we could come back to teach, and he accepted. We taught him the plan of salvation. He is a good man, he is going through a lot of things and told us that he is spiritually dead. His name is Fernando Morocho.

So this week 2 crazy things happened. So one day we were walking in the street. There was lightning and thunder and then all of a sudden it started pouring rain. We got pretty wet, and then out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning struck right next to us. We felt it, and my companion jumped pretty good haha. Then yesterday it was also raining super, super hard. We had an appointment super far away, and we had no money on our bus cards to go in bus, and the bus stop was really far away. We also didn´t have much money to pay a taxi. Well then Roberto found us and he had a giant beach umbrella haha. He saved us from the rain a little bit and then one of the members that lives a few miles away drove by because they were ministering looking for a less-active. One of the members just happened to live where we had our appointment. They picked us up and took us there and so we were able to teach a new investigator named Yuliana Luzuriaga. She came to church today and is living with those members. It was a miracle.

My thought for the week comes from 1 Nephi. Nephi is a great example. He was commanded to build a ship. His brothers didn´t believe he could do it. They opposed him. The same happened when they went to get the brass plates. However, Nephi didn´t care about what they thought because he knew what the Lord wanted and he had the faith that it was possible. As he strived to keep the commandments the Lord put Laban into his hands, and he was able to build a ship that could not only travel across the ocean, but withstood great storms for 4 days straight. I know that as we strive to do what the Lord expects of us that He will provide the way. He will help us achieve what we desire and what we need. He knows best and His ways are higher than ours. However, it is nothing passive. We must do our part. I love you all soooo very much!! Have a great week.

Love, Elder Black

Week 70

Starting 2019 with 2 Baptisms

It is officially 2019! Crazy! This will be a quick email because the church sites were down and so I don´t have a lot of time to write, but I will do my best. It has been a good week because we had 2 baptisms, but we weren´t able to find many new people and some crazy things have happened. It was one of the most intense weeks of the mission for sure.

Anyways, this week we were stuck in the house at 6 on Tuesday, and on Wednesday during our personal study we got a call from president Moreno. He told us with a paniced voice that we needed to leave immediately and go to the sister missionaries house because there was an emergency. He told us to take the other 2 elders. We left running with my shoes half-way on and got into a taxi. He called us again and told us to do divisions and that elder Kalina needed to go to the hospital with Elder Loveland and I needed to to go their house with elder Jimenez and talk with the firefighters or whoever was there. We had no idea what was going on or what had happened he just told us that and we kinda went into it not knowing what in the world was happening. We got to the house and found out that the sister had passed out because of a gas leak in the house. Anyways she was taken in an ambulance to the hospital and she had carbon monoxide poisoning. Then the firefighters did an inspection and basically said that they were lucky to be alive. We were dealing with this for about 5 hours. Elder Kalina had to fill out paperwork in the hospital and then we ate lunch, had a visit, and went back to the hospital because she had to stay the night in the intensive care unit. Visits in the ICU are only allowed at 6pm for 5 minutes and they wouldn´t let us both go in, so I had to wait in the hallway. Anyways, that was pretty insane.

Right after all that crazy stuff in the only hour we had left to preach we found 2 new investigators, Roberto Gutama and Alexandra Juca. They are a young couple and have a little boy. They sell orange juice in Ricaurte and we went and visited them and they accepted us. They cried during the lesson. It was very powerful. Then they offered us coffee haha. We of course turned it down. I knew by the smell that it was coffee, but it looked a little bit like hot chocolate, and my companion took a big drink. They aren´t married, but I hope and think that they will progress.

This week Marlene Elizabeth Calle Coronel and Yajaira Lizbeth Barbecho Calle were baptized. It was an amazing service. Yajaira has such a testimony of the Book of Mormon and was very happy to be baptized. The uncle, Claudio Coronel, baptized Marlene, and we tried to get a family member to baptize Yajaira but she wanted me to baptize her. Afterwords, Yajaira shared her testimony in the baptismal service and it was great. She knows that the church is true. Her aunt is really, really catholic and is opposing a bit, but she doesn´t care haha.

Anyways I´m out of time, but my thought for the week is from the Book of Mormon. Today I was reading in 1 Nephi 12:1. I learned that to resolve our problems and recieve personal revelation we just need to have the desires, the faith, and meditate about it. I know that if we do this that the heavens are opened. I have seen it. My mouth has been filled by the Spirit. We have seen the Lord´s guidance, and I know that He is willing to guide us. Not only is He willing, He wants to, but it all depends on us. Love you all tons!!!

Love, Elder Black

photos

nascar collection of a part member family

Baptism

Marlene is the mom and Yajaira is the daugther

I baptized Yajaira and Marlene was baptized by her uncle, Claudio Coronel