11/9/2015
Well, Elder Chambi has regressed to his home in Bolivia. He did go home on Saturday and I now have my new companion. My new companion is named Elder Lopez. He is from California and has Latino heritage and has 18 months in the mission so it has been a little interesting with him.
We have done well in the sector and I believe we could have some baptisms this change. We just need to make sure the costs for their marriage are low or non-existent so as to ensure that they can get married quickly. The weather can vary depending on the days but we have had sunnier days.
Yesterday, we did have kind of a weird food day. We had ceviche (a type of soup made with tomatoes and other things) of mariscos (seafood) among that seafood was octopus I believe. I am not sure if this type has octopus but I have had this type of ceviche before. It also had fish and other sea food. So that was weird food. I am still in the same area to answer your question. I am confirmed to stay in this area until the end of this change but I have a feeling president wants to transfer me out I just don't know to were. So next change I might be in a new area for Christmas. But I do get to stay in this area for Thanksgiving but I don't think Latinos celebrate thanksgiving. Still Christmas is next change.
I am definitely looking forward to the Skype home but of course I don't know how that works. It will be nice to have the Skype home right after my 6 month mark as I should have a better accent in Spanish. Apparently, I am improving and I don't know if that was from 3 weeks straight of Spanish and or the fact that I keep trying to learn more in Spanish every day. Trust me I never knew what pluperfect subjunctive was (as in French we only did subjunctive) but I got here and found out that not only is there subjunctive but there is an imperfect subjunctive and a pluperfect (imperfect subjunctive of the Spanish word haber with the past participle) so I learnt quite a bit. So that was what was interesting.
We didn't have any activities for Pday so slightly boring but restful. On Saturday it was hectic with Elder Chambi packing his bags and during the mornings on most days he was in his bed because of how sick he was. Well that was my week and look forward to next week.
Elder Throop
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Daily schedule, Elder Chambi going home?
11/2/2015
That's cool to hear about Halloween there. We do sometimes get the Liahona but it's not like the missionaries get a regular subscription. You just have to ask for one that isn't going to anyone in particular. As for a normal day I will give you the rough layout.
We get up 6:30 shower, eat, exercise and at 8:00 we start studies. We start with personal study one hour. Then 9:00 is companionship study one hour. Then if we can one hour of language study. With me and Elder Chambi its 30 minutes English and 30 minutes Spanish. That lasts til 11:00. Then we leave. If we can we try to get citas (appointments) at 11:00 and 12:00. 1:00 is lunch which can last a while. Then we have citas between 2:00 - 2:30 and 6:00 which is merienda (that means afternoon snack its like dinner) then we try to get two more citas at 7:00 and 8:00. At 9:00 we have to head home unless we have a cita then the latest we should be at home is 9:30. Occasionally it can happen where we arrive a little later than 9:30 but not often. Then we do nightly planning. Do things we need to do in the night (like fill in the area book) and at 10:30 at the latest we sleep. Now this doesn't always happen. On Thursday we have district and zone meetings were we recieve different trainings. That starts 10:30 (in the morning) but we have to leave around 10:00 to get there on time. That lasts til lunch. On Friday is weekly planning which can vary in time depending how many people you have and how many problems happen between you and your companion. That starts at 10:00 and can last til lunch depending on what you are doing. If you are used to weekly planning it can take less time. Sunday is church which starts at 8:00 so that day is weird as well. Then you can have conferences with 70's and other random things that mess up your schedule. P day itself is studies until 10:00 then Pday until 6:00 then you have citas. That is what our normal week can look like. This pday we went to Mr Joy again which was funny as our ward mission leader came with us. That was basically our Pday and we ate lunch together as well.
I do have some unfortunate news. It looks like Elder Chambi might be going home early for health reasons. I don't know when exactly but it should happen during this week. It has been hard for him and it has stretched my patience sometimes. I kind of am worried as this means I have to teach someone else the sector and the people as I don't know if I am gone at the end of this change and that gives me 3 weeks. That was really the bad news.
We have some investigators really close to baptism but oh no marriage and paperwork. Quite honestly I am ready to tell them to lie about the kids and say all the kids are from one man so they can just pay and get baptized. Abraham lied (for a good reason) just an idea of course but maybe. So that was really what is important. I'll try to ensure to talk about weird food to freak you out and man I can't believe how close Ben is to his mission.
Love you all and look foward to next week,
Elder Throop
That's cool to hear about Halloween there. We do sometimes get the Liahona but it's not like the missionaries get a regular subscription. You just have to ask for one that isn't going to anyone in particular. As for a normal day I will give you the rough layout.
We get up 6:30 shower, eat, exercise and at 8:00 we start studies. We start with personal study one hour. Then 9:00 is companionship study one hour. Then if we can one hour of language study. With me and Elder Chambi its 30 minutes English and 30 minutes Spanish. That lasts til 11:00. Then we leave. If we can we try to get citas (appointments) at 11:00 and 12:00. 1:00 is lunch which can last a while. Then we have citas between 2:00 - 2:30 and 6:00 which is merienda (that means afternoon snack its like dinner) then we try to get two more citas at 7:00 and 8:00. At 9:00 we have to head home unless we have a cita then the latest we should be at home is 9:30. Occasionally it can happen where we arrive a little later than 9:30 but not often. Then we do nightly planning. Do things we need to do in the night (like fill in the area book) and at 10:30 at the latest we sleep. Now this doesn't always happen. On Thursday we have district and zone meetings were we recieve different trainings. That starts 10:30 (in the morning) but we have to leave around 10:00 to get there on time. That lasts til lunch. On Friday is weekly planning which can vary in time depending how many people you have and how many problems happen between you and your companion. That starts at 10:00 and can last til lunch depending on what you are doing. If you are used to weekly planning it can take less time. Sunday is church which starts at 8:00 so that day is weird as well. Then you can have conferences with 70's and other random things that mess up your schedule. P day itself is studies until 10:00 then Pday until 6:00 then you have citas. That is what our normal week can look like. This pday we went to Mr Joy again which was funny as our ward mission leader came with us. That was basically our Pday and we ate lunch together as well.
I do have some unfortunate news. It looks like Elder Chambi might be going home early for health reasons. I don't know when exactly but it should happen during this week. It has been hard for him and it has stretched my patience sometimes. I kind of am worried as this means I have to teach someone else the sector and the people as I don't know if I am gone at the end of this change and that gives me 3 weeks. That was really the bad news.
We have some investigators really close to baptism but oh no marriage and paperwork. Quite honestly I am ready to tell them to lie about the kids and say all the kids are from one man so they can just pay and get baptized. Abraham lied (for a good reason) just an idea of course but maybe. So that was really what is important. I'll try to ensure to talk about weird food to freak you out and man I can't believe how close Ben is to his mission.
Love you all and look foward to next week,
Elder Throop
Still have a Gringo Accent, Potential Investigators, Weird Food
10/26/2015
Well this week was interesting with my latino companion. We are doing pretty well and he is pretty funny. I am still waiting on a camera to take a picture of him to send to you guys. We had a slightly harder week in terms of those we taught but we have to endure to the end and keep trying to find new people. I am speaking about the same amount of Spanish (maybe a bit more) with Elder Chambi then I did with Elder Goodfellow. Towards the end and really all of last change to be honest I spoke lots of Spanish. I still think my accent is the same which is disappointing really. I know quite a bit of the vocab and am doing better with conjugations but all the time I still have an accent I believe. I mean I speak it so much but still accent. I don't know why I can't get the accent. I mean I had a good French accent towards the end of French claswhen I was still taking French. Still with practice and time hopefully I will get it down.
Today was a little harder as we had to go to the offices as Elder Chambi had a medical cita and so we missed the zone activity of football and I just wish I had had the opportunity to do that activity. Still life goes on. We have some investigators doing well and I believe we could have a baptism or two this change. There is this couple that we have been working with that lack marriage to be baptized. The man of the house had a word of wisdom problem but he is doing a lot better. We talked to them about a marriage date and they are considering the middle of November around the 12th.We will verify that today and help them get to this goal and then baptize them. They will be awesome members. There is another lady that has the chance to get baptized. She just needs to obey the law of chastity and then she can get baptized. She has a powerful testimony. Those are people with lots of potential we have.
Well I guess its time for weird food stories to gross mom out. First really strange thing I had here was chicken liver. Not too strange but it tastes weird in my opinion. I have had that twice. Then there's chicken head. It actually has quite a bit of meat to it and doesn't look too bad when there are no eyeballs. It was hard to tell it was head but when I saw the bones afterwards I realized I had just eaten the meat off a chicken head. I've had that once. I probably might have more stories about stuff like that as this really rich lady has offered to give us food basically every Sunday (one Sunday per month a lady from the coast will give us food) and this rich lady who is a recent convert likes giving us lots of food and nice food (for Ecuador) so that should be fun.
We have gotten some rain here although it is a little infrequent. I really don't know when the rainy season proper will hit.
Well I hope you all do well and wish you all love and a Happy Halloween,
Elder Throop
Well this week was interesting with my latino companion. We are doing pretty well and he is pretty funny. I am still waiting on a camera to take a picture of him to send to you guys. We had a slightly harder week in terms of those we taught but we have to endure to the end and keep trying to find new people. I am speaking about the same amount of Spanish (maybe a bit more) with Elder Chambi then I did with Elder Goodfellow. Towards the end and really all of last change to be honest I spoke lots of Spanish. I still think my accent is the same which is disappointing really. I know quite a bit of the vocab and am doing better with conjugations but all the time I still have an accent I believe. I mean I speak it so much but still accent. I don't know why I can't get the accent. I mean I had a good French accent towards the end of French claswhen I was still taking French. Still with practice and time hopefully I will get it down.
Today was a little harder as we had to go to the offices as Elder Chambi had a medical cita and so we missed the zone activity of football and I just wish I had had the opportunity to do that activity. Still life goes on. We have some investigators doing well and I believe we could have a baptism or two this change. There is this couple that we have been working with that lack marriage to be baptized. The man of the house had a word of wisdom problem but he is doing a lot better. We talked to them about a marriage date and they are considering the middle of November around the 12th.We will verify that today and help them get to this goal and then baptize them. They will be awesome members. There is another lady that has the chance to get baptized. She just needs to obey the law of chastity and then she can get baptized. She has a powerful testimony. Those are people with lots of potential we have.
Well I guess its time for weird food stories to gross mom out. First really strange thing I had here was chicken liver. Not too strange but it tastes weird in my opinion. I have had that twice. Then there's chicken head. It actually has quite a bit of meat to it and doesn't look too bad when there are no eyeballs. It was hard to tell it was head but when I saw the bones afterwards I realized I had just eaten the meat off a chicken head. I've had that once. I probably might have more stories about stuff like that as this really rich lady has offered to give us food basically every Sunday (one Sunday per month a lady from the coast will give us food) and this rich lady who is a recent convert likes giving us lots of food and nice food (for Ecuador) so that should be fun.
We have gotten some rain here although it is a little infrequent. I really don't know when the rainy season proper will hit.
Well I hope you all do well and wish you all love and a Happy Halloween,
Elder Throop
Empindas de verde, New companion, Finished with Training, Investors issues
10/19/2015
I don't have any photos for this P day unfortunately but once I can I will get you some pics. I just need a camera (Preferably mine). As for my favorite food one really good one that I like is called empinadas de verde (a type of banana if I remember correctly) con queso. Those are really good. They are kind of small and a little harder for people to make but so good. They are a favorite here and you won't find them in America. I still have a gringo accent (I think) when I speak Spanish but I know quite a bit which is really fortunate considering what has happened.
Now for the big news. We got changes and Elder Goodfellow is gone. He went to the north (as district leader). I recieved a Latino named Elder Chambi who is from Bolivia so for the next 6 weeks I get to speak lots more Spanish and also help him in the sector. He is the compañero mayor but the problem is that he doesn't know the sector too well. I will help him learn the sector and the people in the next week. So for a while I get to be like the compañero mayor (senior companion). Our district didn`t have too many changes except another Elder, Elder Leonard is now district leader. He will be starting his fourth change now so after this change he will most likely be going as his trainee is finishing training this change.
I have now officially finished my training which is a little strange but it is nice as now study time will be different (unless I ever train) I will try to get you a photo of my new companion sometime. In case you were wondering we still are in the same sector so I know everyone that I need to know. As for last week we did pretty well. I have some personal goals for the sector for things to do in this next change.
We had a very interesting week in terms of investigators going to church. We had an old lady and her son who we have been working with. They have gone before but they go infrequently. This time they went on their own after we invited them which is awesome. Her daughter didn't go and her daughter, Lupe, is someone that needs to obey the law of chastity to get baptized. What was really neat was her sometimes really drunk brother showed up. He has major problems with the word of wisdom but we told him you need to go to church. And he went. He looked unwell but he seemed to get a lot out of it and he might be baptized someday. Another really strange thing happened. We had this investigator family who are golden. All between them now and baptism was marriage. Like he had a word of wisdom problem and didn't want to get work. Then he got work stopped drinking smoking both read the Book of Mormon daily went to church as a family accepted the message well etc. Well we had a cita with them on Friday. A cita fija as we say (a cita guaranteed to happen more or less). They didn't show. Next day we meet him semi drunk smoking in the calle. He seemed off. What was weirder was her. She was acting different and was dressed inmodestly and just watched him. So we set up a cita to see what happened. No show. They didn't go to church and it was a nightmare more or less. Then today he called me to set up a cita and give me his number. So obviously they fell and want to repent which is great.
Well today was a little longer. Elder Goodfellow had to pack last night which was funny as his bags were basically empty. I have some stuff out with what I need but it wouldn't take me as long as he did (I hope) to pack. Then we left at around 8:00 to head to a nearby terminal called Quitumbe where transfers happen with missionaries (they receive companions coming in or head out themselves) It is the spot in Quito where you go if you are getting a non new missionary (training) or heading out. I ended up being there until like 1:30 because my companion came in from Riobamba which is far south and also he left around 10:00. Elder Goodfellow actually got his companion before I did and his came in from Santo Domingo. I think that guy left earlier. But I basically spent most of my day sitting in a terminal talking and getting really bored. Still now I have him and we still managed to buy a few things and he managed to unpack. That was my day and the important things that happened. I hope you guys do well and wish you all love,
Elder Throop
I don't have any photos for this P day unfortunately but once I can I will get you some pics. I just need a camera (Preferably mine). As for my favorite food one really good one that I like is called empinadas de verde (a type of banana if I remember correctly) con queso. Those are really good. They are kind of small and a little harder for people to make but so good. They are a favorite here and you won't find them in America. I still have a gringo accent (I think) when I speak Spanish but I know quite a bit which is really fortunate considering what has happened.
Now for the big news. We got changes and Elder Goodfellow is gone. He went to the north (as district leader). I recieved a Latino named Elder Chambi who is from Bolivia so for the next 6 weeks I get to speak lots more Spanish and also help him in the sector. He is the compañero mayor but the problem is that he doesn't know the sector too well. I will help him learn the sector and the people in the next week. So for a while I get to be like the compañero mayor (senior companion). Our district didn`t have too many changes except another Elder, Elder Leonard is now district leader. He will be starting his fourth change now so after this change he will most likely be going as his trainee is finishing training this change.
I have now officially finished my training which is a little strange but it is nice as now study time will be different (unless I ever train) I will try to get you a photo of my new companion sometime. In case you were wondering we still are in the same sector so I know everyone that I need to know. As for last week we did pretty well. I have some personal goals for the sector for things to do in this next change.
We had a very interesting week in terms of investigators going to church. We had an old lady and her son who we have been working with. They have gone before but they go infrequently. This time they went on their own after we invited them which is awesome. Her daughter didn't go and her daughter, Lupe, is someone that needs to obey the law of chastity to get baptized. What was really neat was her sometimes really drunk brother showed up. He has major problems with the word of wisdom but we told him you need to go to church. And he went. He looked unwell but he seemed to get a lot out of it and he might be baptized someday. Another really strange thing happened. We had this investigator family who are golden. All between them now and baptism was marriage. Like he had a word of wisdom problem and didn't want to get work. Then he got work stopped drinking smoking both read the Book of Mormon daily went to church as a family accepted the message well etc. Well we had a cita with them on Friday. A cita fija as we say (a cita guaranteed to happen more or less). They didn't show. Next day we meet him semi drunk smoking in the calle. He seemed off. What was weirder was her. She was acting different and was dressed inmodestly and just watched him. So we set up a cita to see what happened. No show. They didn't go to church and it was a nightmare more or less. Then today he called me to set up a cita and give me his number. So obviously they fell and want to repent which is great.
Well today was a little longer. Elder Goodfellow had to pack last night which was funny as his bags were basically empty. I have some stuff out with what I need but it wouldn't take me as long as he did (I hope) to pack. Then we left at around 8:00 to head to a nearby terminal called Quitumbe where transfers happen with missionaries (they receive companions coming in or head out themselves) It is the spot in Quito where you go if you are getting a non new missionary (training) or heading out. I ended up being there until like 1:30 because my companion came in from Riobamba which is far south and also he left around 10:00. Elder Goodfellow actually got his companion before I did and his came in from Santo Domingo. I think that guy left earlier. But I basically spent most of my day sitting in a terminal talking and getting really bored. Still now I have him and we still managed to buy a few things and he managed to unpack. That was my day and the important things that happened. I hope you guys do well and wish you all love,
Elder Throop
Monday, October 19, 2015
Some Good News, Possible Baptisms, District Changes Coming
10/12/2015
That is cool with the conference quotes and thanks for those. I understood most of the talks but some parts were harder to understand due to idiomatic phrases or things like that. For our investigators there is some good news. One of our investigators recently found work so he and his wife can get married. They are planning on getting married at the end of November so they will get baptized. I just don't know if I will be here when they get baptized which is sad as the next change ends on November 30th and I don't know when exactly they want to get married. It would be nice to see them married and baptized but I know they will progress magnificently. It just might be that another missionary gets to be there at the end of their process. Still that would mean I played a great role in their progression which is important. And quite honestly the numbers are not what are always important, it's the people that those numbers represent.
Another investigator of ours gave her testimony in the testimony meeting which was awesome as she had a very powerful and heartfelt testimony. She says she wants to get married with her husband in December which is in the change after this coming up one. The changes in the mission are coming this next Sunday so we will see what happens. Most likely Elder Goodfellow will be sent out and I will remain here and receive a Latino companion. That is most of everyone's predictions. I don't know who could be the future district leader but it will most likely be someone in my sector as the other two sets of Elders are in training. It is possible a district leader could be called among them but it might be easier for the district leader to be in a companionship not training as that district leader has many responsibilities if they are training.
We did have a rougher week and we are struggling to get lessons taught with members present. Our ward has members (not lots but still has member) it's just the people we try calling almost never can help us or always have an excuse. Sometimes to me it seems the Ecuadorians are the best at making excuses. Still we do our best. We also have had a lot of our plans fall so it ends up that we sometimes have a hard time finding someone to visit. Also since I have started leading it is a little harder as I am not perfect with the sector and I still have things to learn. Still I hope we can finish the change strong and also I will be finishing my training soon which is really exciting.
We didn't have the opportunity to do anything too exciting today due to the fact that on the last P day in the change missionaries can't have district or zone activities so it is often hard to figure out what to do. Also the first P day in the change can get fried as it is when changes happen so that P day can be hectic. So today we hung out at the house for awhile and just going to a few places and not doing too much. So hopefully we have an exciting week.
I probably will read the talks in English or listen to them in English. That will take me some time but I do look forward to it. Well I wish you all love.
Love
Elder Throop
That is cool with the conference quotes and thanks for those. I understood most of the talks but some parts were harder to understand due to idiomatic phrases or things like that. For our investigators there is some good news. One of our investigators recently found work so he and his wife can get married. They are planning on getting married at the end of November so they will get baptized. I just don't know if I will be here when they get baptized which is sad as the next change ends on November 30th and I don't know when exactly they want to get married. It would be nice to see them married and baptized but I know they will progress magnificently. It just might be that another missionary gets to be there at the end of their process. Still that would mean I played a great role in their progression which is important. And quite honestly the numbers are not what are always important, it's the people that those numbers represent.
Another investigator of ours gave her testimony in the testimony meeting which was awesome as she had a very powerful and heartfelt testimony. She says she wants to get married with her husband in December which is in the change after this coming up one. The changes in the mission are coming this next Sunday so we will see what happens. Most likely Elder Goodfellow will be sent out and I will remain here and receive a Latino companion. That is most of everyone's predictions. I don't know who could be the future district leader but it will most likely be someone in my sector as the other two sets of Elders are in training. It is possible a district leader could be called among them but it might be easier for the district leader to be in a companionship not training as that district leader has many responsibilities if they are training.
We did have a rougher week and we are struggling to get lessons taught with members present. Our ward has members (not lots but still has member) it's just the people we try calling almost never can help us or always have an excuse. Sometimes to me it seems the Ecuadorians are the best at making excuses. Still we do our best. We also have had a lot of our plans fall so it ends up that we sometimes have a hard time finding someone to visit. Also since I have started leading it is a little harder as I am not perfect with the sector and I still have things to learn. Still I hope we can finish the change strong and also I will be finishing my training soon which is really exciting.
We didn't have the opportunity to do anything too exciting today due to the fact that on the last P day in the change missionaries can't have district or zone activities so it is often hard to figure out what to do. Also the first P day in the change can get fried as it is when changes happen so that P day can be hectic. So today we hung out at the house for awhile and just going to a few places and not doing too much. So hopefully we have an exciting week.
I probably will read the talks in English or listen to them in English. That will take me some time but I do look forward to it. Well I wish you all love.
Love
Elder Throop
Monday, October 12, 2015
Rough week, Conference Dubbed, but Still Good, Meeting with First Missionary in Ecuador
10/05/2015
Well I got a soso cyber again. This time the mouse is kind of horrible. We spent some time looking for a cyber because we wanted to be with the other companionship as they wanted some of the photos that Elder Goodfellow had. We had a rough week as conference destroyed our Saturday so we visited no one that day. Sunday we did get some visits. We had a lot of visits fall which was sad but we did work hard this week. We have no one progressing at the moment which is really disappointing as it would be really hard to get anyone baptized right now unless they do what they are supposed to. There is this one couple with a lot of potential and if they get married we could baptize them before the end of this change.
We did some pretty cool things this week. On Saturday we went to a nearby hill called the Panicilo to see the first missionary that served in Ecuador. His name was Elder Robinson and he was really cool and humble. He kept making a point that what he did was really no different then what other missionaries do. He talked with us and the other companionship and seemed interested in us. A lot of people wanted to take photos with him as he was kind of the main interest. It was a special event right before conference and it was in celebration of the church being fifty years in Ecuador. So we got to do that before conference on Saturday which was just awesome. I do have some photos of that so I will see about sending you some as that was really cool.
We listened to conference in Spanish which wasn't the worst as I understood what they were saying. It just wasn't the same to not hear the prophets voice. Still the cool part was when we heard Elder Christofferson as he translated his talk into Spanish and we got a recording of his voice. So I got to hear (and understand) Elder Christofferson in Spanish. His Spanish was amazing and a lot better (in my not so humble opinion) then the other translators. That was cool. I did notice Thomas S Monson looked more tired then normal and his age might be affecting him. Also considering the stress of being a prophet. I just hope he lives for awhile. The three new apostles were cool but again Spanish translations. Hopefully in April we will hear it in English because I don't know what the new ones sound like. I did like that talk from the seventy about memorizing and studying the scriptures. I can't remember what word it was in Spanish but I was like huh? That talk was funny as well. Here are two methods that will help you. One will help financially one spiritually. Then he said can you imagine. So that talk was really cool. It definitely was a great experience. I felt that conference went really fast and I don't know if that was because I was really excited for conference or really ready. I definitely enjoyed it.
There were a lot of talks about day of rest (in Spanish día de reposo, thing is I can't remember what it is in English exactly because I teach it in Spanish so much) and the importance of sanctifying the day of rest. I guess some people don't get it. Elder Holland`s tribute to mothers was awesome and I really enjoyed hearing that. Hearing an apostle talk so much about love and mothers was great. This conference definitely was great. There was one talk from the Priesthood Session (I know it is for men but I recommend it anyways because it was epic) was him talking about obeying the commandments. He said, I am going to make my theme very simple and clear Obey the Commandments (more or less if I remember correctly) and he gave this magnificent talk about obeying the commandments. There was another talk from Carol something that applies to our investigators and can help people. I definitely enjoyed conference.
Today we had a zone activity were we basically played games as a district and played different sports. Then President showed up from no where and everyone was just panicking and acting just a tad better. I think his purpose was to talk to one specific missionary but he greeted us all and talked with different people. It was nice to see him. He could also have been there to encourage us as the zone apparently had a rough week as well. I don't know the reasons but it was nice to see him. The activities were fun. We did a variety of sports including Ultimate Frisbee Ecovolly (a type of volleyball played here. Three on three with a soccer ball and different rules) sharks and minnows and other things. So we had a fun time. We then went over to our pensionistas house and they gave us lunch which was really nice as they don`t have to feed us Monday at all. We then watched our pensionista make brownies (which we ate later) and now I have a recipe for brownies! We did some shopping then came here to write home.
Well that sums up my week and I hope you guys have a good time.
Love,
Elder Throop
Here's some pics
Well I got a soso cyber again. This time the mouse is kind of horrible. We spent some time looking for a cyber because we wanted to be with the other companionship as they wanted some of the photos that Elder Goodfellow had. We had a rough week as conference destroyed our Saturday so we visited no one that day. Sunday we did get some visits. We had a lot of visits fall which was sad but we did work hard this week. We have no one progressing at the moment which is really disappointing as it would be really hard to get anyone baptized right now unless they do what they are supposed to. There is this one couple with a lot of potential and if they get married we could baptize them before the end of this change.
We did some pretty cool things this week. On Saturday we went to a nearby hill called the Panicilo to see the first missionary that served in Ecuador. His name was Elder Robinson and he was really cool and humble. He kept making a point that what he did was really no different then what other missionaries do. He talked with us and the other companionship and seemed interested in us. A lot of people wanted to take photos with him as he was kind of the main interest. It was a special event right before conference and it was in celebration of the church being fifty years in Ecuador. So we got to do that before conference on Saturday which was just awesome. I do have some photos of that so I will see about sending you some as that was really cool.
We listened to conference in Spanish which wasn't the worst as I understood what they were saying. It just wasn't the same to not hear the prophets voice. Still the cool part was when we heard Elder Christofferson as he translated his talk into Spanish and we got a recording of his voice. So I got to hear (and understand) Elder Christofferson in Spanish. His Spanish was amazing and a lot better (in my not so humble opinion) then the other translators. That was cool. I did notice Thomas S Monson looked more tired then normal and his age might be affecting him. Also considering the stress of being a prophet. I just hope he lives for awhile. The three new apostles were cool but again Spanish translations. Hopefully in April we will hear it in English because I don't know what the new ones sound like. I did like that talk from the seventy about memorizing and studying the scriptures. I can't remember what word it was in Spanish but I was like huh? That talk was funny as well. Here are two methods that will help you. One will help financially one spiritually. Then he said can you imagine. So that talk was really cool. It definitely was a great experience. I felt that conference went really fast and I don't know if that was because I was really excited for conference or really ready. I definitely enjoyed it.
There were a lot of talks about day of rest (in Spanish día de reposo, thing is I can't remember what it is in English exactly because I teach it in Spanish so much) and the importance of sanctifying the day of rest. I guess some people don't get it. Elder Holland`s tribute to mothers was awesome and I really enjoyed hearing that. Hearing an apostle talk so much about love and mothers was great. This conference definitely was great. There was one talk from the Priesthood Session (I know it is for men but I recommend it anyways because it was epic) was him talking about obeying the commandments. He said, I am going to make my theme very simple and clear Obey the Commandments (more or less if I remember correctly) and he gave this magnificent talk about obeying the commandments. There was another talk from Carol something that applies to our investigators and can help people. I definitely enjoyed conference.
Today we had a zone activity were we basically played games as a district and played different sports. Then President showed up from no where and everyone was just panicking and acting just a tad better. I think his purpose was to talk to one specific missionary but he greeted us all and talked with different people. It was nice to see him. He could also have been there to encourage us as the zone apparently had a rough week as well. I don't know the reasons but it was nice to see him. The activities were fun. We did a variety of sports including Ultimate Frisbee Ecovolly (a type of volleyball played here. Three on three with a soccer ball and different rules) sharks and minnows and other things. So we had a fun time. We then went over to our pensionistas house and they gave us lunch which was really nice as they don`t have to feed us Monday at all. We then watched our pensionista make brownies (which we ate later) and now I have a recipe for brownies! We did some shopping then came here to write home.
Well that sums up my week and I hope you guys have a good time.
Love,
Elder Throop
Here's some pics
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| Close up of Virgin Statue |
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| Companionships with husband of the Pensionita |
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| Companionships and the ward mission leader (beard) and Elder Robinson |
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| Being silly with the statue |
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
2 weeks (updated) Elder Scott, Ward Council, Got the Contact Message Down, Rain (Finally), Marriage is A Rare Thing, Visiting Waterfalls
I did here about Richard G Scott's death through our pensionitas. It was really sad to hear about and I think you are right about the fact that the year 1906 was the last time it happened where they had to call 3 new apostles. I am looking forward to conference immensely. I believe we get the opportunity to watch some if not the majority of the sessions in English. I think at least one session we have to go a little ways away to watch it because our Bishop scheduled ward council for like 515 that day and conference ends at 5. He also made a big point of watching conference in the capilla (meeting house) and not in your homes. Quite honestly that just is dumb. In America our meeting houses are empty in conference with the exception of priesthood session. I think that even the missionaries aren't there.
This ward council we got the side entertainment of one of the Bishops counselors trying to catch a fly for about an hour then pulling out a pen and making lightsaber noises and swinging it around. Evidently we could improve. Still it was funny to see one of the counselors to the bishop doing that. Quite honestly there is a lot of internal conflict in this ward among the Bishop and the ward mission leader. Our ward mission leader decided that we should see if the Bishop and the other ward counselor members would actually do something and made us a plan to call them every day to go with us to citas. I hope they actually help because we have not done so well in lessons taught with members present.
Our week went fairly well. We had divisions with the Assistant to the President which was unusual but helped a lot because we have greatly increased our contacting. I am actually pretty good at making a contact. We made a joke about making recordings for contacts to make it more efficient. We thought it would be easy to just have recordings for morning afternoon and evening for families individuals and drunks. For example "Hola buenas (tiempo de la dia). Somos represantes de Jesucristo y tiene un mensaje sobre (familias, como Dios puede ayudar usted, ahhhh... chao tenemos cita)" We didn't actually do it but it was an idea we had. The divisions went very well and we have been trying to continue with what we learned and continue acting like we have the assistant at our sides.
Today we went to the offices to pick up the pouch for missionaries and copies of the Book of Mormon for people in our zone. We also planned on buying soccer jerseys but none of the good shops were open which was a bummer. Still one day. We're planning on helping the Hermana out today as they had emergency changes so we have decided to help them move their stuff. I hope you have a good week and enjoy conference.
Love,
Elder Throop
09/21/2015
Well in terms of weather we have finally have gotten rain, so I got to pull out my umbrella and rain jacket. We normally get rain in the afternoons so we can plan for it but often we have to just bring our rain gear because it can get really miserable if you are not prepared. Sunday was really crazy and was more like a monsoon in Phoenix instead of just raining as it came down in buckets.
As for our investigators, well let me put it this way, it would be easier to find the gold plates then to find a couple living together who WERE married before you found them. Every single couple that we have found so far have been living together unmarried. Our investigator that finally revealed in the interview with the Zone leader that she wasn't married is having more problems. Apparently the man she is with has two women so he is completely unloyal to her. He had 4 kids with her so she really doesn't want to get married (for obvious reasons) and doesn't want to get separated which would be the best for her in this situation as her youngest kid is 17. Another family that we found and that went to church we also found to be umarried. They were in their 50`s and they were unmarried!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This country really has some law of chastity issues. Still they have desires to get married but they are really occupied over their menos active son who has quite a few problems. Another family that we are working with actively has problems as well because the man doesn't have work and has some word of wisdom problems so he can cause some strife in the family and that has caused some stress and sorrow for the women. So people don't get married here and often have problems. Perhaps they have so many problems because they aren't married.
Still it isn't all bad as these people do have desires to change. It just means we have to make absolutely sure that people are married and ask them directly as we often seek families (as you get more people in families and there can be union) the problem is that most are unmarried and not all of them want to get married. Still I hope we will see some progress with these people.
Today was another cool day. We had a zone activity were we went to see some nearby waterfalls in a place called Los Chillos. We saw Cotopaxi again and it looks more active. The ash was coming out a lot so we will see. This activity was great though. We got pretty close to the waterfalls and got some photos. I will see if I am able to send you some photos because this activity was pretty awesome.
This week was a nice week although we struggled a bit and especially with me learning what I need to do to improve. Thank you for sending me that email about that other missionary as it is cool to hear about how other missionaries are doing. I hope you have a good week and look forward to next week.
Love,
Elder Throop
Here's some pictures.
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| More activity from Cotopaxi |
Our Entire zone (lots of missionaries, but one guy looks like a Jehovah Witness with his hat as all the Jehovah Witnesses wear the same hat.) I'm in the back, as usual.
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| Zone Missionaries |
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| Tall Waterfall |
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| Standing at the base |
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| Looking good |
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| Tyler and Elder Leonard at a smaller waterfall |
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