5th Area, Emergency Changed (Again), Special Assignment by MP, Training to be a District Leader?, Helping "Dying" Companion

9/26/2016

Well I am doing well enough. In our sector in Vargas,we got some work done and we were able to find some people that were rather open. They seemed interested and I won't know too much more. The family that we were working with weren't able to go to church which stunk. We don't know why and hopefully the missionaries there are able to find out what happened.

We had divisions with the zone leaders on Saturday and I went with one to my sector and it went pretty well. The only real goal that I was able to get due to circumstances afterwards. We did well and the goal is to work hard on patience and love and having faith with people. We separted Sunday night and I was headed back to my sector with my companion. Then we got the call from the zone leaders. I got emergency changed! It was such a huge shock as we are starting week 3 right now.

I got sent to a part called Los Chillos which is a valley next to Quito. I am in a sector called Vista Hermosa. Even weirder about these changes is that President gave me a special assignment here. Basically I am to learn how to be a district leader in this sector and to also work hard with my companion so that he can finish his mission well. My companion ends in four weeks (his last change will be with me). His name is Elder Adams and he also comes from Arizona from Gilbert.

The goal they have for me is that we can work hard every night and that we can go above and beyond to give it his all at the end of his last change. That is my assignment with him. He also received instructions to help give me capacitation (Training) as apparently there is a possibility that I will be assigned as district leader soon. They say it is not certain but that is apparently their goal with these whole changes. That I can learn as much as possible.

I don't know everything it will involve nor how it all works. I don't know all the details but I do understand that these changes had this specific purpose. I got a few photos and I will try to get some more later. That is what happened with these emergency changes but I still will be expecting changes at the normal time in four weeks. That was really the craziness of my week.

My district leader was rather surprised when I told him I was leaving.  He said "No" and I said, "Si" he said "Noooo!" and I said "Yup". He was a little upset but well that is what happened.

So it will be interesting as I have never seen this sort of thing done. Normally when someone receives an assignment there is no real training they just give it to you. I am not in that current assignment right now. My current assignment right now is to help my companion and learn as much as I can from him and to help him work until the end. That is the plan right now. When the assistant called he explained but it was a little confusing how he explained it. That and bad reception.

I hope you do well.

Love,
Elder Throop


Mom's Note

Here's a map of the mission and the Los Chillos Stake and the Vista Hermosa Ward

Companion has a Different Accent, Potential Baptism, Dog Bite and Rabies Shot

9/19/2016

Well this first week went pretty fast for us. I am still learning a bit about my new companion. Our internet connection was a little slow which is unfortunate. Still I got into the mail. As I mentioned my new companion is from Honduras. His accent is a lot different from a South American accent. Not like huge but there are differences. Colombians and Venezuelans are different from Ecuadorians as well as Argentines and Uruguayans.

We did have a good week with the investigators. They are super animated for baptism and to hear the general conference. Even with everything that has happened she says well the people might not be perfect but the church is correct. When we asked about a baptism date she jokingly asked 'Well is the water cold?' We said hopefully not. So we are working for the 8th with her. They weren't able to go last week due to a commitment they had to help a family member in the morning. Still they are super animated and progressing well.

We have had trouble finding people and this week was a little rough as we invited some people to a baptismal date and they weren't ready for date. Hopefully we can help them overcome their fears. Today I had to go to the hospital real quick to get a rabie vaccine. A little while back a dog bit me drawing blood (which is just the worse that could happen to you with a wild dog) and then it went off.  And we haven't found it since. That means as a precaution I had to get the vaccine. The vaccine is super tiny and comes in a few doses which is nice. I always heard it was a stomach shot. So much for my love of animals.

We do get conferences and we get all Liahonas in all months. Since spanish is used by more than a million members they give a priority to spanish. We also got the version of the scriptures that had the modifications that the english scriptures got awhile back. They changed translation on a few words and corrected minor errors. Everyone when we got that (it was a little while ago) commented what is this? They changed the scriptures. But it was fine and now we give those copies out.

We have had some success with less actives and the ward does seem animated to help. They said they know the ward is hard and so they have to work to help us out. The ward mission leader is doing well enough . The slight problem is he still doesn't want to be ward mission leader. I guess he is really discouraged about some things so really doesn't like that part. We will see with him. We are seeing some progress despite all the difficulties and we are hoping for a baptism on the 8th.

Thats crazy they are making a new stake that doesn't happen all the time. Is there an apostle coming? That sounds fun with everyone coming in from the mission. I hope they have great experiences. Well that is everything from this week. I am alive and well and I keep working,

Love,

Elder Throop

Good week, New Companion-Trio For a Day, Potential New Family

9/12/2016

Well this last week went great. We had divisions recently and I was talking with one of the zone leaders asking for a little help. He gave me some great advice and also placed a few goals on improving. I tried applying it but it didn't work out perfectly. Still I tried my best.

To mention changes, Elder Choque got transferred out. He went to Turubamba. I am with someone from Honduras. His name is Elder Zelaya. He has like 8-9 months in the mission if I am doing the math correctly. The changes were pretty tranquil. We are in a trio for today as an Elder in our district is training and so he doesn't get his trainee until Wednesday. So I am still in the same part but with a  new companion. We had to write early because someone had a medical cita and we also have to drop off some stuff.

I worked hard with Elder Choque trying to help him out. He seemed a little nervous as someone mentioned his next companion is a little inicuo (unrighteous) so he did seem nervous. We did get people in church with one family. They are a part member family and they are married. The husband has been a less active for a while and the wife is not  member. They enjoyed it but apparently one of the counselors to the bishop offended the sister a while back pretty bad. I do hope we can get them to go to church and reconcile. I explained forgiveness very clearly to help her be able to understand the importance of letting go. She seemed a little calm. The hope is that we can help some more people out and that we can get a baptism by October.

That is everything.

Elder Throop

Love you lots.

Elder Zelaya, new companion

Hardest week yet, Some Small Success, Zone Conference

9/5/2016

Well that sounds like a lot of fun. I am glad that you could enjoy your weekend. Our last week was quite honestly one of the hardest weeks we have had. I do not know if we suffer for disobedience or if it is God testing us. Still we did have success in small ways as we found a family from Venezuela that are looking for a religion. They were really open and they do seem to want to progress. They were open and hopefully next week they go to church.

No one went to church again which wasn't really fun as we have been trying super hard with some families and we are working on working a lot with members to get members to go to church. We have been striving with that but we still encounter a lot of opposition. I have placed goals for us to work on having shorter and more efficient lessons as sometimes we can have trouble staying a tad longer then we should in an appointment. That is one of the goals we have.

I still am trying to love my companion and help him out. I still feel there is some things that lack with respect etc. Still I will have to be patient and loving. The changes come this coming Sunday so we will see what happens with us. I am not entirely sure but I do feel that Elder Choque will go to a new sector. I am not completely certain. I believe we have divisions with the zone leaders next week.

We had a zone conference with our mission president last week and he talked a lot about obedience and also the need to be diligent and firm. We had some great capacitations (training). This week is the last week in this change and well it is possible to see some changes ere. I am not certain but I feel it could happen. The ward is improving gradually. The ward mission leader had a 180 from his old attitude as he didn't want to work with us and now he is extremely eager to work with us. That is extremely good for us as I was extremely worried as he seemed to be on a path that would not have helped us. Now he seems very eager to help us. I do feel happy as I wanted the ward mission leader to work and now he is helping so hopefully we can see some progress in the ward.

Still it has been really hard in this sector and it has been hard to get people to progress or for that matter to find the people. Most contacts we have to do are door contacts which are not super efficient as people reject us all the time. We had one day where we went down one part of a street and we had 10 contacts but with no one that wanted to listen. But the unfortunate part is that there aren't many people in the streets. So we do have to encounter a lot of opposition. Still we continue with hope and the hope is that next change we can see fruits of our labors here.

I hope you had a great time and continue enjoying yourselves.

Elder Throop