Date: November 24, 2014
Week: 22 Ofelia, Ecuador
Companion: Elder Macalopu
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One of the hermana's investigators was baptized and she asked Elder Macalopu to baptize her.
I conducted the baptism.
Ofelia Ecuador, November 2014 |
I´ve been dreaming of a white christmas. NOT
Wow, time has flown by. This is the last week of the transfer. Seems like I just started here. I highly doubt President will move me again, but there is a good chance Elder Macalopu could go. It would be very sad if he went. I have actually grown to love him. He treats me like a normal person now and I think our difficulties have made it so easy to teach together. Honestly, this last week was full of success.
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I thought this passage in my Spanish study guide was funny
Ofelia, Ecuador November 2014
English Translation: The chicken rice is a dish best served in almost every country in the Hispanic world. Varies from one country to another or from one region to another in terms of the other ingredients and seasonings. |
Tuesday: So a couple weeks back a couple of women (girls) contacted Elder Macalopu and I asking for an interview with us about our church. I didn´t think anything about it because they were women and its hard for us to be able to teach them. Well they called Elder Macalopu and set up an appointment for today. We met in the church and brought Stalyn with us so it would be more comfortable. Turns out their whole class (12 people) showed up and just asked us questions. Most of them live in other sectors so I highly doubt any of them will progress, but we got to send a ton of referrals to the offices.
Stalyn loved the whole thing cause they would always ask why missionaries couldn't do certain things and Stalyn would have to explain and it made him look good. By the way, he changed his name to Jonathan for the lesson. Why? I do not know but he just did.
Wednesday:This day was odd. We have a member in our ward that called us and asked us to come and bless his neighbors house so we said sure. We showed up and he wasn´t there. We called him and he showed up. We went to the house which was really just a shop for some sort of work. Odd. We blessed the house, and then the family of three asked us to bless them so we were like okay. And then we went to his other neighbors house which again was some sort of business office. He asked us to bless that. And then some of the workers wanted blessings and it was just odd, the whole thing.
Thursday: Had a reunion in the morning with the ZLs. And then headed over to Victor's. He really is doing great. He has actually started reading the Book of Mormon which is great.
Friday: Divisions! Elder Macalopu went with Elder Perry to the hospital because he was sick. Elder Marshall and I worked in my sector. The day was awesome. We had the opportunity to contact a man named Javier. We invited him to come to church and he said sure. We got to teach Victor again. Elder Marshall was able to help him to understand more about the Book of Mormon. The Hermanas had a refrence for my sector so we went with them and a member to teach Ana Lucia. We put her on date for baptism on the 13th of December but she didn't come to church so that already fell through. But she really understood everything and I could definitly see the Lord had prepared her. We have a cita with her tonight. (Fingers Crossed).
Met up with Elder Macalopu and Elder Perry at night. Elder Perry had a stomach infection and turns out his has lost 30lbs in just 5 weeks of being out here. Wow!
Saturday: We had the baptism of Hermana Patricia. I had the opportunity of conducting it, and Elder Macalapu got to baptize her. It was amazing. Even though she wasn't our conversion we had taught her enough times with the Hermanas to know her well. At night we had the opportunity to visit Vanessa (Converso Reciente/recent convert). She just got her wisdom teeth out so she couldn't say much but she told us she was having some hard times with members and I was going to read
Matthew 5:44 but Elder Macalopu took over and basically told her sometimes we have problems with members, but the Gospel of Jesus Christ is absolutely perfect even though the members are not. He then told her how he and I had had problems and how he realized it was his fault because he thought he was better than me, and he was sad because it took him four weeks to realize how "alegre" I was. Boy did I need to hear that! It was a miracle. It really was. I couldn't believe what he was saying and the amount of change I had seen in our realtionship that week. He really trusts me now and the mission is just a Blast! My challenges with Elder Macalopu really helped me understand what Hermana Vanessa was feeling. Elder Macalopu and I now teach so well together is just awesome!
Sunday: Okay... was this week not jam packed or what?! Well the fun is not over people! Elder Macalopu got called like 5 minutes before church to give a talk. HA! And than the most amazing thing happened! Guess who walked through the door! Javier! Remember I contacted him on Friday? I went to sit with him in the back. During the second hour we left him in Gospel Principles and taught Angie for the first time.
Okay quickly, Angie is the girl I found using the "Jack Goodwin Bautismo". She doesn't live in our sector but we have permission to teach her because she has certain issues in which she has to attend our ward. Well, its hard to find her during the week because she lives so far away but now we know for sure where she lives. We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ and asked her to be baptized, she said yes as long as she recieves an answer. We asked her to prepare for the 13th of December and she said yes. So now we have someone with a fecha!(date).
I then found Hermano Javier and he seemed to really be enjoying himself. He ended up staying for all three hours. So we had two investigators attend church (Angie y Javier). We have appointments with both of them tomorrow. I am excited for the coming week.
Wow, didn't know that much happened. Oh, and one of those days there was a parade and it was cool so that's why I have pics of that.
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The cool parade that happened just outside of our apartment
Ofelia, Ecuador November 2014 |
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More parade pics
Ofelia, Ecuador November 2014 |
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Parade
Ofelia, Ecuador November 2014 |
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Not too impressive but still fun to watch
Ofelia, Ecuador November 2014 |
The miracle I had the opportunity of witnessing this week was the 360 degree change in the relationship of Elder Macalopu and I. I really feel as though our challenges have helped us understand the problems of the people we teach, and that's why I really feel the Lord put those challenges in our way. Really I felt as though I was in the refiners fire for a couple of weeks. This is a cool video about the refiners fire.
http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3897359657001
I know that the Lord refines us. I now have a certain testimony of that. I know that my Father in Heaven knows me and loves me. With my experiences in my mission he has refined me into the missionary I need to be. I used to be afraid of the Area book because I was afraid I would mess it up, but now I know it like the back of my hand. I know how to communicate with a person I thought I would never have the opportunity of knowing so well. I never thought I could speak Spanish and study it everyday but now instead of dreading every step in my mission I have come to love every step because I know He is with me every step of the way. I feel blessed to be out here in Quito and working with such an amazing ward and companion. I really hope I don't get transferred. I highly doubt I will, but I will be really sad if Elder Macalopu goes.
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Having fun with Elder Macalopu at Hermana Patricia's baptism
Ofelia, Ecuador November 2014 |
Bailey! Thanks for writing! I hope you are enjoying Florida! Hows Reagan football? How's schoool and driving around?
Clay! That video you sent was pretty funny! Hahahaha I am still laughing from it! How's basketball going! Go Go team!
Lexi! How's the beach in Florida!? How are you feeling being 15! You are growing up so fast!
Leah! How's the bicycle kick coming! How's school? You miss seeing me in PALS? If you see a PAL tell them Colton Kimball says hi.
Bella! Why you so cute?! You keep getting cuter and cuter! And why does it seem like our whole family now wears glasses?
Collins! You are getting bigger. Ha. Teased you for the first time. You are one blessed child because you haven't been teased by the Oldest. I guess I can tease ya when you're two.
Mother! Thanks for all the packages really! I am thinking about buying a little ten dollar christmas tree and putting my presents under them. Keep sending me stuff! The latest package I recieved was sent 10th of November so that's pretty fast. Like 2 weeks fast! How's traveling the world with the hubby? You and Dad have been alot of places these past two weeks. And thanks for the obedience talk. Didn't really need to hear it but I'll keep it in mind (Insert rolling eyes face, and than a laughing winky face with tongue out and then a kissy face with a little heart emoticons).
Father! Remember a couple years back and we were driving to Lake Powell after Philmont and it was Sunday so you only let us listen to BYU Radio? Remember the story we heard and we both looked at eachother and were crying. Not the first time we were crying over the samething but it will be a moment I will cherish forever. If you don't remember it I am pretty sure
this video was it. I love you Dad and hope the Cougars pull through tonight against our old foe SDSU. It should be a good match up! I call it BYU:83 SDSU:78 Love you dad at have fun in Florida!
Ciao Folks!
Elder Kimball
