Week 62 - Ibarra - Cumpleaños Enfermedad y Verificaciones

This week was a great week to celebrate a big Two-O. However, the entire day, I was pretty sick. It actually started in the morning, before eating cake. But, we have some awesome missionaries and members that made it still a special day. We had two districts together this last Tuesday, and it just so happened to be one hermana's birthday as well. We got a double birthday! That's the picture with a bunch of people in it. Cake and brownies. Well, that didn't help my sickness. Then after a while, some members wanted to join us for the appointments we had that day. When we showed up, they also had a birthday cake, and a present, waiting for us. Second cake. They gave me some cuff links and a tie clip. It was super nice of them to give and I enjoyed them very much. However, that didn't help even more so with the sickness. And to top it off, almost literally, some members gave us a third cake (different because it was homemade). Well, I didn't eat the third one because I knew there would be no way. It rained for most of the day which honestly was so great! It has been too perfect these past couple of weeks with just nice sunny skies and beautiful days. It was nice for it to be rainy and gloomy (I know how weird that sounds but it isn't fun not having seasons). I know many of you may be wanting that as you are going into fall, but trust me, here it is nice to not have good days.

We also my companion's first verifications. I don't know if I have explained it before, but basically we just make sure that they can teach lesson one, that they are progressing, and have them go sightseeing (to the place where President Kimball dedicated Ecuador for teaching) while us trainers got to sit in a three hour training. How fun. But now everything is settling down and we'll have a calmer week this week, I hope.

Love you all. Thank you for the birthday wishes. Hope you all enjoy the cold and wet season!!!

One of the cakes

The awesome members 

The gift they gave

Week 61 - Ibarra - Conferencía y Enfermedades

So this week was kind of a slow week, missionary work wise. Three lessons throughout an entire week is not that great, but we keep going! My companion ended up getting pretty sick during this week, so he had to (by doctors’ orders) stay home for the day. Well, it gets really boring being stuck in a house as a missionary. SO one tries to make the best of it. I was very happy however to get back to work. 

This last General Conference was so awesome and super-fast! I loved the new change that we will have as a church and a re-focus on the name of Christ's church. How happy and lucky I am (and you are) to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Through this church and the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, we are able to find peace in trials, enduring and lasting happiness and joy, personal revelation, the love of God and all blessings accompanying that, second chances, etc. Isn't that just great! And that's not even all of the things that wait for us! How grateful I am to know that we are guided by a true and living prophet, Russell M. Nelson. He is called of God. He has all the keys needed for the salvation of mankind. The Book of Mormon is true! The very simple steps of salvation (known as the Gospel of Jesus Christ) is the only way we can make it back into the presence of God and receive the glory we are able to receive. 

I love you all. Thanks to those that sent birthday wishes! I hope all of you have a great week! 

The Missionaries in Ibarra

Our Gringo room. As you can tell it was a very poorly done shot...

Our foggy morning this morning. We got caught in a huge rain storm. 

Pictures from Facebook of Zone Conference:

Week 60 - Ibarra - Nuevito y Servicio

This week my companion and I had companion exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I was with Elder Aquino (Elder here no). He was a super fun guy to work and learn from. There was one point that we were going to the only lesson we had that day. I had told him that I was going to pretend to be a new missionary. It was super funny. I kept looking at him to "make sure" that I was saying the right thing. People than told me that my spanish wasn't that good but that I should keep working on it. It was funny, because at one point in the lesson, one of the people asked if I knew Kichua (the language of the natives). So I replied "Ñuca shooti Elder Ogden. Ima shoota kangi?" (My name is Elder Ogden. What is your name? One of the only phrases I know in Kichua). The people were super surprised, and that is when Elder Aquino lost it and laughed. It was so great. I then explained that I have more than a month in Ecuador. 

We had an opportunity this week to do a District Service. It was a blast. We cleaned up this plaza that had a bunch of trash and rocks. While we were cleaning, we did get to contact quite a bit of people. It was so much fun. And of course, we got ice cream afterwards. Yes, a picture will be included.

I wanted to share a video of me bearing my testimony, but the video was too long to send. So I'll just write it here. Being out on my mission, I've learned many things about prayer. Prayer is such a huge gift that I have come to love even more during my mission. I have come to grow a profound love as well for the scriptures. I know the scriptures are the gateway to knowledge and answers. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, saved for us at this time to learn from and to share. I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, prepared to come to the Earth to open up the dispensation of the fullness of times. I know that President Russel M. Nelson is a prophet of God. I love him. I'm excited to hear his counsel this upcoming weekend. I know Christ lives. He is our Savior. He died for us so that we might live. He is the reason why there is hope, joy, and peace. I know that what I'm doing is the Lord's work. Not mine. Not President Murphy's (mission president) or President Nelson's. The Lord's. I love you all so much. I miss you all so much. But I know that God is protecting you. Love you all and remember me when watching General Conference! 

Mi hijito

  

Servicio

VR (yes, we got permission from President) 

Thai Book of Mormon

Ibarra

Bagel breakfast (they don't have bagles here so this was such a wonderful surprise. 

Week 59 - Ibarra - Mijo y Mas Elderes

So I now have a new companion. Like, brand new missionary companion. His name is Elder Ellington, from Ohio. He is an awesome guy. He has had a rough way to start the mission losing a lot of things (I know how that is), but it is getting better. He has some really great and new ideas which I always enjoy to have in new companions. He enjoys music and can play the ukelele, which I'm sad we don't have one to hear him play. I'm really excited to work with him and learn from him!

We also got a new companionship in the ward, and, because they are new, they don't have a house. For that reason, they are chilling at our house until there is a house that comes up. I'm really excited to have two other elders in my district. However, these past couple of days have been interesting with two more elders living in the same house. We've already had some pretty funny moments.

So, the craziness of this, the first week of the change. Monday we were stuck in the bus terminal in Otavalo waiting for a missionary to come. I was with an elder that was the district leader. Tuesday we had half of the day here in Ibarra and the other half in the other Elder's sector called Karabuela (grandma face). Wednesday, we had a training for the district leaders in the mission. Thursday started in Karabuela, then to Cotacachi (to talk to the missionaries there. It was so cool to see everything again), and back to Ibarra. Friday we went to pick up our trainees. Saturday we went to a zone council in the morning and had meetings in the afternoon. 

I'll tell you what, it was a hard week to go to work. Very stressful. Still is a little bit with new elders, but I hope things will start calming down. I think that is about all that happened this week. Love you all! 

Me with a ukelele before my companion got here

Table tennis (mini)

The elders didn't take pictures of my companion and I. Sorry! 

Week 58 - Ibarra - Sorpresa y Tristeza

So, surprise! This was the end of changes and now I'm in my 11th change (not like anyone's counting). However, I didn't leave my sector, but my trainee, Elder Leighner. I'm actually pretty sad I was only with him for six weeks; it went by too fast. The other surprising thing is that I'm actually going to be training again. The new group that is coming is going to come late because they just recently received their visas. Now, I'm waiting for my companion to come with an Elder Choque, because he is also training. We still don't know when they will be getting here, so it'll be a fun, interesting week. 

We did have a great week to end the change. We got to meet some new people that have new problems that I haven't had to help with before and I was relying a lot on the Spirit this week to help me out just to know what to say and how to go about things. I'm greatful for a good companion that we could walk and talk about investigators and how it is that we were planning on helping them.

We also got caught in a big rain storm. It always seems to be near the end of the change. It was fun because all we were doing was passing by different people we are teaching and inviting them to come to church. That was really fun.

That's all for this week. I'm preparing to travel to Quito a lot this week again. Love you all!

A cool Jarassic Park jeep

Yes, Pizza Hut again. We felt so sick after eating all of that.

Week 57 - Ibarra - Los Milagros

This week we felt the power of the Spirit as we worked harder to make it a good week, but it can't go as we always want.

I had the great opportunity, and a little intimidating chance, to have companion exchanges with the Assistants to President. I went with Elder Lopez, who has already been one of my Zone Leaders. I actually enjoyed a lot being with him. He had an excitement about everything that it was actually a little contageous. We turned out having very little time to do anything, however, due to the excitment to work and the guidance of the Spirit, we were able to talk with about 26 people and teach two new people within two hours. It was amazing and it made us both really excited to keep working. However, I did have to travel back to Quito and travel back to Ibarra within the same day. Still recovering.

We had a really awesome miracle this week. We've had some troubles lately trying to find new people to teach. It makes it that much harder to teach people, have people progress, and eventually get baptized. We felt like we weren't completing our purpose. So, we went to work. We knew we would have an entire day without any work in our sector; we had to work harder to find new people to teach. It was 8:00 and we had only found one, we needed at least two more. We knocked the first block and we couldn't teach anyone. By this time it was 8:20. I thought, alright, we will contact all the way back to the house if we have to. We then knocked the next door and a family opened up to us and we could teach three sisters. We were so happy with that, we thought, let's just keep going. We knocked the next door and met a youth that doesn't have much of a belief in God or in Christ but was really interested in the Book of Mormon. Another one. I thought, we'll maybe we'll just go to the end of the block if we keep having success. We knock the next door, and a mother and her daughter came out to talk to us. They were interested in having an eternal family, considering the whole family is 13. We taught two more new people. I thought about being out after nine, but we couldn't. It was just that the Spirit was with us and was blessing us with so many blessings that we wanted to just keep going. However, if we disobeyed, we wouldn't have the Spirit. So it was better to return home. That day we found seven new people and were able to give out all the Books of Mormon that we had. It may seem like a little miracle, but it was a miracle we definetly needing to keep our Spirits up. I know I am greatful we endured to the end so as to receive the help that we wanted and needed.

We heard the exciting news that a new companionship will be coming to our sector as they prepare to split the ward and make a new stake this next year. I'm super excited for the progress we are seeing in this ward because of all the sacrifices they make for the missionary work. I also hope that the YSA watched the powerful face to face with Elder Cook. It was amazing. You can think that you were watching it with your favorite person in all of Ecuador! Love you all! 

Quito

Just chilling with the Elders in Cayambe (for the third time!)

Just a casual picture

Beautiful

So, we had to cram one truck of eight elders and another truck of four sisters and my companion and I. You can't see them, but that is why he is practically sitting on me. 

Week 56 - Ibarra - Crazy Week

Happy Labor Day everyone, (that is, in the states it's labor day)

We had a really crazy week with a lot of different things and events that took place. This email shall describe some.

First is we had our First Verifications for my companion Elder Leighner (more to make sure that I'm teaching what I should as a trainer). It went really well. There were some things that I need to work on better, but Elder Leighner is doing great. His Spanish is just growing and growing everyday. We did, however, have to travel to Quito for these verifications. Another. Travel. But, it was nice getting to stay in the secretaries' house. Funny thing is, the two secretaries we stayed with are in my group! We had a blast with them. They also just so happened to have tennis raquets in their house. Yes, I did play around for a long bit.

We also had an interesting experience. This last weekend was the temple trip for our ward. They ended up coming back here Sunday at three in the morning. What does that mean? We had to start church super late because a) lack of members, b) lack of bishopbric. It was interesting as five minutes till church and only ten members were seated and ready. I can understand why everyone showed up a little later. 

This week, one of our people with a baptismal date showed up to his interview and found he didn't remember something and wanted to delay his date. It was actually pretty hard for us. He was progressing really well and had gotten over his addiction to smoking. However, as we were focused on that, we didn't realize that he didn't understand a core doctrine within the church. I do, however, admire him for admitting to that and taking the initiative to say something so that he could truly be ready for his baptism. It was sad, but a good moment. I know that we need to do the same. If we are unworthy for something, let us fix it so as to feel the healing power of the Atonemtent in our lives. 

I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!

Yes, tennis

Just playing a minature trumpet. No biggy.

Just two guys in a cave above a waterfall

Boo

Cascada de Peguche (una otra vez)

Modeling

A little wyoming fun

Really cool mural