Hola familia and friends! This week was one of the hardest in the mission. We had to earn the two baptisms that we ended up having. Everything is all good now, and we won even though it was hard. This week Nina Isabel Pichamba Fichamba was baptized. She has had a lot of problems in the past, and we have had lessons for an entire month making sure that everything is in order to get baptized. Well this Tuesday we found out she was about to go to Colombia which was we like to call in the Spanish un delito grave. Which violates question four for all those missionaries who have done baptismal interviews. So we had to run all over creation to get into contact and have a very urgent and serious lesson, but everything checked out and she was baptized. She bore her testimony after and it was powerful. It was absolutely nuts. Some members were judging her and us for the baptism, but when she bore her testimony any doubt was swept away which was really good. That was the first battle that was won. Now for the second. Well, our ward mission leader is a great guy and does good work, but he's a little power hungry, and he just got a stake calling. He was feeling pretty good these last two weeks if ya know what I mean. Well, we have been teaching another guy who lives outside of our ward but we had a stake exception allowing us to teach and baptize him. Even more than that, we had authorization from President Richardson, the stake president, and the Bishop. Our ward mission leader persisted saying we couldn't baptize him for a week and a half to the point where the investigator said he was thinking about not doing it. Well it all got settled Wednesday. . . so we thought. We get to the chapel Saturday and the wife of the investigator comes up to us almost in tears and points at a room and says the ward mission leader is in there talking about the border thing and my husband is debating getting baptized later. My comp and I, hotter than pistols, shot into that room so flippin fast it wasn't even funny. The ward mission leader flips back to look at us and he said not another word about the subject. We didn't even say anything but there was a message communicated through the atmosphere saying if you say one more word we will have people with lots more authority on the phone. So we won the battle. His testimony was also was incredible. The service was super good. Everyone left happy and on good terms. They got confirmed on Sunday and the ward mission leader continued talking about it Sunday but the Bishop relieved him early of his responsibilities with us so the problem got solved. Now the third battle that I failed to mention was cleaning the font. The drain had not been cleaned since the day that chapel came up and let me tell you, I bear testimony that eye hath not seen nor can word describe what came out of that drain. Like God said to Job, we girded up our loins like men and fought the good fight of faith to take that what could have been living, object out of the font. Although pictures were not taken of the actual object,(for the good of young viewers,) Pictures were taken at the scene of the valiant soldiers who took on that monster. No injuries were recorded. Apart from that it was a tough week. We still have three people that will get baptized soon but the zone had a tough week. We are hoping for a better week. This week I had a thought that came to my mind in a zone meeting. I've told many that the day when I gained a desire to really come on the mission was the day my brother left. I've always wanted to be like Matt. Well I had thought, that I have another older brother who I'm also trying to become like. In these two years I have the opportunity to do what he did, say what he said, and teach what he taught. It truly is the best experience ever. This is the best work you can be in and there is no better place to become more like Christ than on the mission. I know for that reason also that I have passed through many trials in many forms but I absolutely love doing it and would keep doing it all my life if I could. We are happy though. Everything is going well. I love you guys. Ill send pics right now if the computer works. See ya later.
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Hola familia and friends! This week was bacanisimo! It was awesome. We just had so many blessings. First off a little about the zone. We have missionaries from 8 different countries which is cool: U.S, Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador. We had a great month. We improved in every form possible way which we are super happy about. This week President Ulisses Soares of the Presidency of the Seventy is coming which will be awesome. I'm super excited for that. It's gonna be awesome. This week we also were able to put 5 investigators with a baptismal date. Two will be getting baptized next week so we are stoked. We have Hugo Moya, Nina Pichamba, Jonathan Valdivieso, and Flia Aguallo. WIth Jonathan Valdivieso, he's been to the temple twice with his mom, but he hasn't been able to go inside. He went this time and he couldn't handle it anymore. He came back and said "Elders I went unsure but I came back with the decision to get baptized, so he was a miracle. We were stoked. Also with Flia Aguallo, they had been waiting on marriage papers for months and they came this week, so we are getting all set to go with them. It was a great week though. The Zone is doing well. We had a pretty tense visit to a companionship this morning, but it's all good now. I'm glad to hear the Bof M challenge has been taken by mom and dad. My testimony of what that book has grown so unbelievable much recently that i don't even hardly know how to say it. If we could realize what that book is doing we would not let one single day pass without reading it. That book is the most powerful object in the world. There is nothing that will have greater influence in these last days. The president's wife told us some crazy stuff this last week and among it, she said we are living in historic times. We truly are and that book is the center of it all. I love it so much, I love you guys. Ill talk to ya next week. Hola familia and friends.
Well you may have heard already but the Cotopaxi volcano has had several explosions this last week. We can see the volcano and we saw how dark everything was that day but the only effect we really had was ashfall for about 5 minutes. We really aren't that close but we can still see everything haha. It's awesome. Also this week there were some government protests in my sector, so we had to avoid that. A lot of people are not happy with the government here. Thus there have been some pretty strong protests. We actually were told to be careful with that and buy water and stuff but ya, no pasa nada. We have three people with a baptismal date and they all went to church yesterday so that is cool! We are working hard when we can and the Zone had a decent week. We improved, but we could still reach a lot higher, so we are working with that. My sector is pretty small. Its kind of nice, the people are cool. There is one guy that makes super good barbecue wings. I was impressed. I'm in one of the best wards in the entire country so the people are legit. Plus a bunch of them are fluent in English. Actually two members grew up in Utah. They played football and everything. They are pretty much gringos, just from Ecuador haha. That is cool that the baby got here! I can't believe that there are three that I haven't met haha. It's nuts. Well I just hope that everything is going well and that everyone is doing well. I really hope everyone is reading the BofM everyday. There is no reason you shouldn't be so ya. Read it Love it Live it and everything will go well. I love you guys a lot and I'll see you next week. Hola familia amd friends! Well I had a change. I got moved to ZL and I'm in Calderon with Elder Wyatt Agnew from Arizona. He is a super cool guy. I've known him since the day I got to the mission, so I'm very excited. My zone has 27 in it so it is big, but it should be good. I was pretty sad to leave my last sector. We had a less active named Marco Antonio Cortazar Crespo and we found him contacting. He is 73 and lives alone. His wife left him and he felt really alone when we found him. He has always told us that we are his only friends and it was super hard to leave knowing one of his only friends got called away just like the rest of them. The gospel changed and keeps changing his life, so I was sad about that, but the Lord needs me elsewhere. I love the calling of being a missionary, but it is hard to get called to different parts after growing to love these people so much. But with new sectors brings new surprise miracles and people, so It should be all good. I'm happy with what I did in my last sector. It wasnt easy, but I gave it everything I had and now I get to do the same in a different part. I would like to someday leave Quito. I'm about to complete 9 months there so I'm good. I know it like the back of my hand and I'm ready to go but it will be good. My email is pretty short today but I do have some pics. I love you guys. I'll talk to ya later. See ya next week.
Hola familia! Bienvenida al mundo Bostyn. How's it going back home? Can you believe we are already in August? I sure can't. It's going by way too fast. This week was a pretty rough week. We thought we were going to have a baptism this week but she didn't pass the interview, so we were sad about that. Our investigators didn't come to church. It was that kind of week, diga! This is the last week in the change. Next Sunday we will see who goes and who stays. Could be anyone of us so who knows. It made me happy to see Matt is raising Future missionaries that are die hard Red Sox fans. That's awesome. Another good thing is we found some cool Cuban guys that make super good salchipapas. That was a win. I'll be puttin on weight in no time now. We are just going to have to keep on working super hard to find the ones who are prepared. We are super good at finding those who arent prepared. We are really good at that. Now the ticket is finding those who are prepared. Well on a more serious note, I read a scripture in 1 John 5:3 that says," For this is the Love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous." It's super important to always keep the commandments, they set us free, they dont restrict us. I like to look at them as open doors to the blessing we need in our everyday lives. I also have come to know that the best way to gain a personal relationship with god is keeping the commandments. In Mosiah 5:13," How knoweth a man the master whom he has not served.?" We know from Mosiah 2:22 that "All that he requires of us is that we keep his commandments." I know the world is tearing them apart right now and making it look awfully good and easy to break them, even it be just once or twice. But I know if we do we will be blessed abundantly and his commandments trully are not grievous. I love you guys, I,ll talk to ya next week. Hasta luego!
Hola familia & Friends!
Well this week was a little better than the last one. Narcisa got confirmed which is fantastic. We were super happy about that. We had a busy week with lessons and everything but not a whole lot is progressing. New investigators are hard to come by here, but we are trying to build the sector back up. Today in the bowling match of the mission, literally the mission because it's possible there is nowhere to bowl outside of my sector, I pulled out another win with a 138. We only had to use 3 lanes for technical dificulties which is better than normal, but despite the distrations and challenges I stuck it out with some clutch spares. It was good. Apart from that we have some less actives and people progressing which is good. We are happy about that. Not a ton ever happens in this sector. Just on a spritual note, in a training with the president this week, I had an impression about Moses and the serpent on the stick. All the people had to do to be healed was look at the serpent but many didn't. Why didn't they look? It says in the scriptures,"Because they didn't understand and didn't believe it would heal them." I thought about how we do the same thing. We are exactly like them in many ways. We know that if we read the scriptures everyday for a few minutes, pray and go to church, we will be protected from many things. We know if we pay tithing we will ALWAYS have sufficient to live on. We know if we attend church as a family and keep the Sabbath Day holy that are families will be strengthened and will overcome the worldy attacks. So why is it that often times these things aren't the first priority? Work, sports, and money are cool but that all ends someday. Why is it that so many times we don't understand the power that comes from doing small and simple things? "For by small and simple things are great things brought to pass." Alma 37:6. Little wonder why in the same chapter Alma tells his son not be lazy in keeping and doing these things. If we do them the Lord has told us. "I the Lord am obligated when you do what I say but when you do not what I say ye have no promise." To my family and to anyone who reads this, put the Lord to the test. Try him; do it, and see if it's true. Look at the serpent and see if you're healed. I know you will be. I love you guys and I'll talk to ya next week. Hey family, what's up? Well this week was rough. We can start with the good. Maria Narcisa Alvarado Moran got baptized this Saturday which was good but that's about it because there were complications Sunday and she still isn't confirmed. Also there were a whopping 4 members at the service and the bishop wasn't there. I was not thrilled about that. . . None of our investigators went to church. None of our less actives went to church. Our investigators are starting to fall through, and it was just a discouraging week. I havent been too discouraged very much in the mission, but this week beat me to the ground pretty hard. Everything we had basically came crashing down. But, we just have to keep on working and good things will happen sometime. I might only have 3 weeks left in the sector so I'm going to try to make it good. My comp and I are super good. We are just hoping for a better week. I got my visa renewed, so i will be able to finish my mission. That's good news. That's all that really happened this week. I do have some pics that I'll try to send. I love you guys, talk to ya next week.
Well this week was awesome. It took a good long time to get this point, a lot of trials and a lot of patience, but I'm happy to say that we are starting to see fruits in this sector. Narcisa Alvarado is getting baptized this Saturday, and Magdalena Pusda has a date for the 25th and Marleni Brito has a date for the 1st. We are super happy about the success we are starting to see. It hasn't come quickly but it feels good. We also have a lot of less actives progressing, so it's looking up. Today we had a zone activity. We have a Mexican sister in our zone who loves to cook, and she made us like 5 big tacos. It was super delicious. We all enjoyed that a lot. We played some volleyball and soccer as well. It was super hot though so the food was by far the best part. So I almost saw the Pope. I saw where he was at, and about a million people, but that was it for those who are wondering. This week not a whole lot happened. We worked like crazy; a lot of people went to church; and we are super happy. That's about all that happened. I'll send pics. I love you guys. Talk to ya next week. cayacama!
Hola familia! This week was an awesome week. We had a fantastic week, and we were super happy. We worked like crazy, and it payed off Sunday when we had 6 investigators in the chapel. We have three investigators that are progressing super well. Magdalena Puzda, Lola Salgado, y Narcisa Albarado are all progressing super well and very soon we hope to have baptisms. The 18th we have two of the three set to go and it looks pretty good. It appears that Magadalena and Narcisa are gonna make it, so we are super happy for the success that we have had. My new companion is a great guy, he's a super hard worker and he is going to help out the sector quite a lot. All in all we are feeling good about the week we had and the future that could happen. Well like many have heard the Pope is in Ecuador right now and the whole world is going nuts and asking us what we think about the Pope. Even though I'm in downtown Quito, I doubt I'll see him in person. People have been waiting for 4-5 days in tents to get good views and to see him and ya, it's pretty crazy. The Copa America also ended this week. Chile won in case anyone is wondering, I'm super happy about that because now we won't have to worry about all the soccer games ruining our days. Our days are always harder when there is a soccer game. Nobody wants to listen; it's nuts. It's been a fantastic week for us. We worked hard, and we know the Lord will bless us with success. Good work Matt on the hole in one and I love you guys. Talk to ya next week.
In an email to his parents, Easton made the following comments. Thought I would share: "Its hard, because the mission grinds you to the ground. Mine has beat me and hit me and tried me in many different ways, but I learned a very important lesson, those who fight the will of God pridefully and rely on themselves and are worried about themselves don't progress and aren't happy in the mission. Being the best missionary doesnt come by a title; it comes by what you give to the Lord every single day, and if you hold something back, you know it, God knows it, and no one is happy. It's been crazy to see from like, my eight month mark to now the change that has taken place. It's like I found out who I am and what I live for. I've absolutley grown to love the mission, and I'd do it again in the first moment I could." Well, I don't have a whole lot of time this week, so I'll feel you guys in on what's going on. Changes came in, Elder Green went to Esmeraldas. I was super sad to see him go. We literally didn't have even one issues in the last change. It was fantastic. I'm now with Elder Briggs Dalton from American Fork, Utah. He's got about 20 months in the mission, so it should be a good change. This week was hard; our investigators didn't attend so we are just going to be trying to build up the sector and to have some success. We have built it up a lot so now we have potential for success, but it's gonna take some serious miracles so that's where we are at right now. That's about the update for this week. Changes have been crazy, so its a little short, but I love you guys and I'll talk to you guys next week.
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AuthorThis blog is dedicated to Easton Nielson's mission to Ecuador Quito North Mission. Archives
March 2016
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