Serving the Lord in Quito, Ecuador: 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