Week 81

This week was pretty good. The other day it was raining super hard and we went to teach Carlos Tigua and water was entering through the roof like crazy. So we helped him get the water out of his house with brooms and buckets. He has a 3rd floor balcony that has an overlook to the ocean, and so we took a picture. Then we started to teach him and I saw some super dense black smoke in the air but we didn´t pay much attention to it. I told elder Franco but we just ignored it. As we were finishing the lesson elder Franco started freaking out and pointed out the balcony. There was an incredible black smoke cloud. We went out onto the balcony to look and a boat/ship was on fire. It was a big cruiser that tours the islands and it was on fire. It burned like crazy. Come to find out they had just filled it with gas. It was insane. I know that I am telling you that there was a fire in the ocean during a huge rainstorm and that sounds super weird and hard to believe, but it happened I promise. Other than that the church was closed off by the police this week. There were elections for a mayor here and the place where they count the votes is in the same block as the church. Anyways so the police and the army had the whole block on lockdown to count the votes because sometimes the people are crazy and riot and try to destroy the votes and so it was pretty insane. They let our group leader in just to get the stuff for the sacrament and then we held sacrament meeting in a nearby member´s house. Only 12 other people were there other than us, and many didn´t know that we had the meeting there. Anyways, super crazy.

Our investigators aren´t doing very well. None of them came to church and almost 10 of them said that they would go. We will have to drop a lot of them this week. The devil is working really hard here in the island and it is hard because there aren´t many strong members. There are like 3 members that pay tithing, and 2 of them are husband and wife and our group leader. We are fighting to help the group grow. Every day we pray to find a family and the future leaders here. We find a lot of people that are really kind and accept us but they don´t progress. We have done all that we can think of but they just aren´t progressing. We are bascially starting from zero except for the people that we found this last week or so.

My thought for this week is from the come follow me for this week. In the lecture there is a part where Christ does the miracle giving little bread and fish to 5,000. He turned something little into something incredible that filled everyone there. I love this because he can do the same with our lives. He can turn our weaknesses or our small attempts into something incredible or a strength. He has the power to make even the weakest person strong. He is the Savior and Redeemer of the world and of our souls. He redeems us in our weaknesses and our small offerings that always come up short. I know that He lives. I have seen and continue to see how He has the power to change lives. He has the power, and we have the potencial, but we must act. I love you all tons!!! Have the best week ever!!

Love, Elder Black

Week 80

¡Bautismo! - Emilia Lisseth Yanzapanta Masaquiza

So this week has been a pretty good week....

First of all the last couple of weeks I haven`t had a lot of time and so I haven`t written very many people. However, today I might have a bit of time but if not please forgive me. To start off with, this week we did indeed have a baptism. I`ll try to upload the pics. So here in Galápagos we have the baptisms at 6:00 in the morning because any later than that and the beach is filled with turists. So we woke up at 5:00 to go to the beach (La Lobería). When we got there we got changed into our white clothes in the weeds (she asked that I baptize her) and then as we were getting ready to take the picture at like 6:00 we saw a group of turists coming over to the beach. So we hurried and took a pictures, and just before we started singing the hymn the turists walked by and said hi and asked me in english if we were having a baptism. I told them Yes and they said ¨Oh thats cool, we´re members of the church from Ohio.¨ It was pretty awesome. It was a huge family. There were like 15 people there, but in the baptism there were only 3 members, us, and Emilia. The group here is super weak. But anyways, then I baptized her in the ocean and we changed our clothes in the weeds again. Then we finished the service and 2 members came up and started talking with us and he said that he took pictures and asked for my email to send me the pics. He hasn`t sent them yet, but we will see. While we were in the water a little rock cut my toe, but all is well haha.

This week once again we only had about 20 people come to church. All of our investigatores failed us this week, and Emilia showed up like 30 minutes late and gave us a heart attack. Other than the baptism not much has happened this week. However, that same day we saw a miracle. We went into a small store here to buy something to drink and we started talking with the lady who owns the store. We talked to her about how the gospel blesses families and we asked if we could visit her one of these days. She basically said no because she is so busy, but then she told us to sit down and that we could talk to her about it for a few minutes. We started to teach about the family and the restoration. She became super interested and started asking a bunch of questions and didn´t want us to leave. She told us how she had just separated from her husband and has 2 little girls. She said that she has been praying for about 5 months for an answer. We were able to share with her how God works and how He sent us there. We are going to visit her again on Tuesday. Her name is Rocío Jerez.
Not much else has happened this week. Other than the fact that today we were washing part of our dirty clothes and the washing machine broke. Hopefully we can get it fixed on Friday. Oh and guess what... a rich member here named Ivan called us one night and said, ¨Elders I´m going to swing by your house. I´m going to install an air conditioning unit.¨ So he came over and installed air conditioning for our room. It was awesome. It is so much better because here is an oven. I am sweating like crazy just writing this. Today for p-day we didn´t do much. We just went to the beach and took a few picks and drank a smoothie haha. It is pretty sweet being able to relax and enjoy the beach for a bit on p-day even though we can´t get in the water. However, when I got in on Saturday to baptize it was pretty warm. I am trying to upload 2 pictures, but the internet is SUPER slow today and it says that is still lacks 50 minutes. So if there aren´t pictures today sorry but its the internets fault haha.

My thought for the day comes from the Come Follow Me material that we had this last week. In Matthew 11 the last few verses Christ invites us to come unto Him so that He can make our burdens light. The analogy there with the yoke is very interesting. If we come unto Christ and we are trying to walk in the same direction as He is than He will be making our burden light because He will be carrying part of the load. However, if we are yoked with Him and we aren´t walking in the same direction that He is then it will because much harder because He won´t be able to carry the weight. We will be walking against Him. Let us all walk in the same direction as Christ by keeping the commandments that the Father has given us through Him. I know that He is the Savior of the world and that he really does make our burdens light when we walk with Him. When we come unto Him. I love you all tons!!! Adios.

Love, Elder Black

Week 79

Galápagos- P.S. Slow internet

Hola. Just a note to start off with... The internet here is incredibly slow. We must be on an island in the middle of nowhere haha. When I found out that I was coming to Galapagos it didn´t really feel real haha. I was excited but it didn´t seem like reality. I love it here. I get along really well with Elder Franco. He is from Medellín, Colombia. He hits his year mark in the mission on the 14th of March. He has been here in Galapagos 3 weeks longer than I have. We will both be leaving in May. I am really only the 56th missionary to serve in San Cristóbal. Of all of the islands here only 5 are inhabited. We are the only elders in all of Galapagos and there are 2 sisters on the island Santa Cruz. The people we are teaching are doing ok. The big problem here is the sabbath day. Everybody who has been baptized here has gone inactive. The island opened to missionaries 5 years ago. At church on Sunday there were 24 people. 2 of them were people we are teacing, 2 of them were us, and about 5 is a family that we are reactivating. It is a bit rough. We don`t have a chapel here. We meet in the 2nd floor of a hardware store haha. It is pretty crazy. We are only here for 90 days because it is a turist thing. The law here is that turists can only stay for 60 days, and as missionaries they let us stay for 90 days.The flight to get here was about 2 hours. The food is the same, but obviously there is a lot of seafood here, because almost every other food has to be shipped in on a big ship. Life here is much more expensive. Our living conditions are about like they were in Guayaquil. The people here are poor. They aren`t rich. They live very humbly. We live in an apartment. It is small, but fairly nice. The weather is super hot and humid all the time. One day I set my thermometer out in the sun and it said that is was 124 degrees. I know that it wasn`t right, but all the time in the house it is around 85 degrees. The humidity is crazy. This month is the hottest time of the year. Today I forgot sunscreen and I got really burned. We do not have A/C, but we do have fans. We don`t have hot water, but it isn´t needed because we get out of the shower and start sweating like crazy. The nice thing is that here we have a washing machine to do all of our laundry. There is a ton of wildlife here. There are tons of birds, iguanas, sea lions everywhere, etc. Transportation here is on foot. We walk everywhere. There aren`t buses. If you go far you must take a taxi. Very few people here have cars. The population is about 9,000. Quite a few speak english here. Carnaval was crazy. We were locked inside the hot house studying.

So we had a few miracles, and we have a 17 year old girl that should be getting baptized this saturday. Here sister is a member. Her name is Emilia Yanzapanta. I hope all works out well! Also, I was inspired one day to ask Erick Endara (a member) about a man that was walking down the street. He said that he knew him but he was a drug addict. I asked him where he lived and we went to visit him. His name is Carlos Tigua. We visited him and he is awesome. He accepted a baptismal date, is reading the book of mormon, and came to church on Sunday. He is 18. Other than that we are teaching Marcelo Salazar. He is 12 and his family are members. We are reactivating them and hope to baptize him. Also we are teaching another part member family, the familia Segobia. There is a lot of potential here, but we have to work a lot to reactivate people. We are the counselors in the group presidency here because the only other man in the group who is endowed is the leader. We saw tons of tender mercies this week. One day we knocked the door of a recent convert and he wasn´t home. It was a super hot day and so we were leaving and right as we left we found him in the street headed home. He said that he always works at this time but for some reason they sent him home early. Also, we found 5 new people to teach. We are really hoping that we can find a family to baptize, because we need somebody to strengthen the group.

Anyways the work here is great, but hard. Not a lot of help from members because only 20 are active. Erick helps us a ton. Not much else to say. The beaches are great. Today we went to El Junco, which is an inactive volcano with a lake on top. The island has a lot of volcanos, but all are inactive. I don`t have much else to say because I can´t remember much. Anyways, life here is great.

My thought for this week is just an experience because I forgot my book of Mormon. So as we met Carlos Tigua many people know him because it is a bit like blanding here, and they have been telling us that he won´t get baptized and that he is a drug addict and a lot of things like that. In short they have been judging him unrighteously. My thought is this... The Atonement is real. I know it. Jesus Christ payed for the sins of all men so that all men might come unto Him. I know that Christ can change even the darkest heart into the greatest person. He changed Alma the younger from one of the most vile sinners to a prophet. Jesus Christ is our Savior. He can deliver us from the hardest addictions, and he can deliver us from our weaknesses. I know that He lives. He is our King. He is indeed the Prince of Peace. Oh how my testimony has grown as I have seen repented souls come unto Christ and countless souls tell us of their spiritual experiences with the Book of Mormon. All who read it with real intent really do know that it is true. I know it is true. I personally know and I have seen many others come to know. I love the Lord with all of my heart. What a priviledge to serve him. Love you all tons!!! Keep up the good work. Keep the faith.

Love, Elder Black

Week 78

Crazy Transfers & Carnaval

Oh my gosh you will not believe what has happened this week. I would love to call and tell in person, but it is impossible. So to start off with I will tell you about transfers. I have very little time to write today so forgive me because I have like 14 minutes so yeah. Also, I forgot my adapter for my camera so I can't send pictures today. We will have to stay in our house all day today and tomorrow. After I send this we have to go home. Anyways, I have tons of pics to send tomorrow.

So transfers..... On Tuesday at about 12:00 president Moreno called me. He told me that I was going to have transfers and needed to go to Guayaquil as soon as I could either that same day or Wednesday at 4:00 am. So I got my bags ready really fast, and headed to Guayaquil in micro bus all by myself. I couldn't say goodbye to anybody. I left them pictures with a small note. Anyways, later I got another call before I headed out and guess what??? I'm in the Galápagos Islands right now!!!! I had transfers to the island San Cristóbal in Galápagos. Here I am the 56th missionary, and the church here is small. Only 20 people came on Sunday. It is a family group. I flew here and arrived on Wednesday. It is super hot and humid here. It is the hottest time of year here in March. In our house it is like 88 degrees all the time. But we are inside all day studying because of carnaval with fans.

I have to go now, but I will send much more info next week. I have been here taking pictures of the beaches and the ocean. It is awesome. This week was full of miracles. We put like 5 new baptismal dates and found 13 new people to teach. That is amazing for anywhere in the mission, but for Galapagos that is a pure miracle. Here there are a lot of tourists. My companion is Elder Franco from Colombia. We are the only elders here in Galapagos. I will be here until the 27th of May. By law we can only be here for 90 days and then we have to leave. Anyways, my thought for the week is a small testimony. I know that this is the church of Jesus Christ. He is the Savior of the world. I love Him and He loves me. He guides missionary work because it is His work. He is the boss, the Great Eternal Head. The work here is great. We won't be able to go out to preach until Wednesday but I am so excited to work hard here. Sorry for the little info. Love you all tons!!!!

Love, Élder Black