Week 65 - October 27, 2018

Dear Family,

Well my time here in the offices came to an end... I can't even believe it.  It went by so fast.  It was one of the best learning experiences and five months that I have had in my life.  I was able to learn so much from being here in the offices.  But to be honest, I'm excited to get back in the field and find more children of God.

This week, honestly, went by so fast so I'll try and see if I remember anything... First off, we had a lesson with Ximena Ponce, one of our investigators with a baptismal date!!  We went and taught her the Plan of Salvation, and it went well.  She loved it and was able to show a little more progress which we are super excited for.  She is working hard.  We are hoping that she will continue to read the Book of Mormon everyday.  She is super awesome though.  She is so excited to go to church this week so that she can see all of her friends again.

As well, we were able to pass by Sofia's house which ended up being great.  We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited her to accept the Prophet's invitation and finish the Book of Mormon by the end of the year!  She accepted and is still doing awesome and staying on the covenant path.

But most importantly, this week we had the baptism of Jhonny Pico!!:) ,We were able to see some little miracles with Jhonny this past week. ,Last night, Friday, we got a call from Jhonny's daughter. ,She lives in the Coast about 6 hours away from Quito, maybe more.  And she told us that she wanted to surprise her dad and come up to his baptism but that she needed a place to stay.  We were calling everybody to see where they could stay, and basically the end of the night, we walked upstairs to our neighbors and they said yes!!  Such a miracle, they were able to witness the baptism of their father/grandpa!  Honestly, a big testimony builder for me that a member of the Church would take in some strangers into her house so that they could be a part of his baptism!:)  The baptism went super well though, but wow it was stressful... We got a call at 9 in the morning saying that the font was barley working... So we booked it over there to try and see what the problem was and we couldn't figure it out... So basically we just grabbed every bucket in the chapel and went to a little water storage and started filling up the font as much as we could... Haha such a pain.. But it was all worth it.  I think one of the most memorable moments of my life is when his daughter and her family walked in and surprised him... He had no idea they were going to travel up to see him be baptized.  And when they walked in he just started crying and gave them the biggest hug ever.  Honestly, such an amazing experience.  I am so happy for him. Thanks for all of your prayers back home!:)  He was super prepared for his baptism and everything went great!!

As well, this week I read a lot in the Book of Mormon, basically the last three books.... But I find it interesting to see the difference between the Jaredites and the Nephites.  In the book of Ether, we learn about the Jaredites and their time here in the Americas.  In the rest of the Book of Mormon, we learn about the Nephites and their time here in the Americas.  Basically in the time of the Jaredites, they were a wicked people most of the time.

They were so wicked that every one of them was taken off the earth.  And we see the Nephites that they prospered in the land for a very long time. They were a little more righteous people.  They kept the commandments of God and when they didn't keep the commandments, they would start keeping them two is that the Nephites had the Brass Plates, or in other words they had the Scriptures.  The Jaredites did have a little scripture but not too much.  They had more Prophets that were teaching them.  But I believe that the Nephites were able to teach, live, hear, and apply the Gospel because they had more scriptures. Today, we have even more than the Brass Plates. We have the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, living Prophets... We are so blessed today.  I know that like the Nephites, if we live, teach, hear, and apply the teachings of these scriptures, we as well will prosper in the land!:)

Also, I just got changes.  I'm going back up to Otavalo, in Imabaya.  I'm going to be the Zone Leader with Elder Fernandez!

Fotos

Saying Bye to Elder Soto

Elder Copeland