Elder Stanley Ogden - Called To Serve: Week 16 - Cotacachi

Buenas!

This week just absolutely flew past. We have been working very hard so it makes sense. We were able to contact 35 different people, and a lot of them have real potential. We also have a lot of work cut out for us. Hermano Javier isn't able to have his date because he hasn't attended church this past two weeks. But, we were able to help the daughter in the Reinoso Family to have a baptismal date. Things have been going better with them because we shared scriptures. Scriptures really are powerful. So study them and apply. Like Elder David A. Bednar has taught, "If we don't apply what we study, the scriptures and just another book with markings". So practice what you read. It helps your love of the scriptures increase.

We were able to give a tour of the church to one of our investigators. We, at the end, invite them to pray and ask if the church is true. He did and he felt a stong feeling that it is true. I know it is true as well. We have spent a lot of time in a community here called Imantag. It is very high up in the mountains and is about a half an hour drive from Cotacachi. It is so pretty up there. I'll have to take pictures to send to all of you. We have been traveling to a lot of different communities of Cotacachi that I nor mi compañero has been to.

Two Sundays ago, we had an activity for obtaining references from the members in our ward. This worked really well. We were able to recieve about 90 different people and the majority of them live in our area which is great! Help out the missionaries! The only difference between us missionaries and you missionaries is we have a plaque and are full-time. I liked one of the teachings of Elder Enrique Falabella. He said, missionary work doesn't have to be, what doctrine am I going to teach. It is simply "Invita a..." (Invite to...). That is all you all need to do. Invite someone to something. The worst thing that could happen is they say no. I also liked how you can then share them to listen to missionaries. Usually a lot of people have questions about the chruch, the principles, etc. So, all you as members need to do is say "I have two really good friends that can answer all of your questions. Would you like me to give them your name and number?" That is literally all. It sounds and is easy. So help us out!

We had two really cool experiences this week. The first is this last Sunday we were invited to attend the birthday of a member's grandmother. The member wanted us to share a message about the family. So that is exactly what we did. There were probably 30 people that weren't members (that number is not included in the 35 new investigators). The cool part was I think that was the first time I was applauded for giving a spiritual thought. The other is my companion and I decided to fast twice this week (because we forgot the last two months). I firmly believe the success we have had this week was from this time of fasting. There are blessings from fasting. One has been very important to me. For those of you that don't know, I have low blood sugar. Like, really low blood sugar. This makes it hard to go long periods of time without eating. However, every time I do a 24 hour fast, it has never, NEVER, been a problem. I know that there are blessings in fasting.

Today for P-Day we played fútbol (notice the difference in spelling). We usually always play in the morning with members in a ward in Rumiñahue, in Otavalo (I needed help from my companion to spell it). This day was no different. The only difference is we then joined our zone and two other zones to play a tournament of fútbol. It ended up not being to big of a competition, thankfully, and we all ended up playing football (this might help with the spelling beforehand). It was so weird to hold a football again.

I hope you are all doing well! People have jumped right into Christmas here. We sang a Christmas song this last Sunday. But, enjoy your Thanksgiving first!

With love,

--Elder Ogden--

Old Pics, lo siento

I had fun with my panoramic