Week of Blessings

Well this week was full of blessings because we had about a couple of days of work. We had the blessed oportunity to listen to Elder Hugo Montoya. 2nd counselor of the seventy in this area. Poderoso! I had the opportunity to sing Poor Wayfaring Man of Greif again for him and all the zones of Guayaquil. And then two days later we all traveled to Cuenca for a picture with him and some more counsel. What a week! Powerful! Just loved the spirit, the change that we experienced in that meeting! "Love your neighbor, who is your closest neighbor? Your companion" 

I felt such a love for the work. And a love for my companion and the companions that I will have. This work really is amazing! We just have to put our whole soul in to find out!

And to explain the baptism in the river. I just have so many great experiences with the baptismal interviews here. (Have one today!) And after this man`s baptism, we asked, "So who is going to baptize you!" he said: "Well I don`t know many other brothers of the church, mmmm, You Elder Alder baptize me!" So great and an expierence that I will never forget!

Well I told y´all who my new companion is. Elder Montalvo from Colombia. He has 3 going on 4 months in the mission and he is just a power house! We are working like crazy and inviting ALL to come to Christ. We had the grand opportunity to meet a family from Chicago! They are a family very humble and had acpeted to be baptized the first visit! We are finding lots of persons that just have the desire to come to Christ. 

It just testifies to me that this isn`t our work. It´s the work of the Lord. We do our part and the Lord fulfilles His promise. D&C 82:10. SO happy to be here in Ecuador! The Lord is really just filling my heart with peace and love. 

Pray for the North of Ecuador. We are fine here!

Elder Alder

Earthquake! (First! Among, other first things)

Well got 5 minutes to write :) I have a new companion from Colombia Elder Montalvo. He`s got 3 months in the mission! Lots of crazy things happening! Get to sing soon! And from the picture you can guess the rest! 

Well I am fine! Felt the quake but Guayaquil felt it a lot more than we did. Pray for them please. And those who are in the Quito missions! 

Love you guys! doing just fine!

Elder Alder

NARANJAL...Cocoa!

"Elder Alder, thank you for all that you have done in the zone, do you have something to write with? Elder Alder, you have changes (or transfers)" 

Recieved that call at 6:20pm Wednesday during our meeting with the ward missionaries and missionary leader! Had to be in the bus terminal at 8 that night! Pretty crazy! Took a bus alone to Naranjal with was about an hour and a half. Tada! 

A little people just outside of Guayaquil, little branch that was started 3 years ago and is just wonderful! It´s going to be hard to memorize where things are and such because the majority of the streets have no names ("Streets that have no names" MOM) And the address of the houses are: "Do you see the white house on the corener? My house is over there a little bit by a tree." Crazy right? 

Well the whole city smells like vinegar Becuase this little city produces... Cocoa! All of your chocolate starts here! A little plant that they throw the seeds on the ground to dry and then they sell the dry stuff to America! You´re welcome!

Well my  new companion! (see picture with our little bananas) His name is Elder De La Cruz (Of the Cross, sure would be great no?) Well he is from Lima, Peru and has a little bit more than a year in the mission. 

So crazy thing here is now I am a District Leader! Wooo! Not too important but I get to take out the daily report every night and do baptismal interviews! Have already done two! And that was my spiritual experience this week, Every interview, there was such a strong spirit in each one and it really helped my faith in every aspect of the gospel from the Godhead to Law of Chastity! 

Love you all and hope the best!

Elder Alder

Elder Alder and Elder De La Cruz

Devan's favorite dish in the new area...Seco de Pollo

Last FHE with members in Pradera

GOOOOOOAAAAALLLL

Well what a packed full week! We certainly busy helping people get to Conference! What an amazing spirit that we felt!

Just a shout out to embrass myself for not remembering the date. GO MUSTANGS. This week Herriman is headed for NYC! Super excited for them! Good luck, work hard, and enjoy victory! 

So we were so lucky to have a baptism this week! Her name is Joselin Sabrina Vargas Vargas (Two last names would be awesome for us! Elder Alder Stephan) It was quite a miracle for us to help her be baptized! Her name is so great and I think we will be working with them for the coming weeks! (Had a family home evening with them and as we were leaving one of the aunts tells us, "I want to be baptized!!" Oh blessings) 

Now the email title! So not sure if you listened to the Prophet´s talk but the first temple he announced was Quito Ecuador. Everyone loves to listen to the Prophet announce something, so when he mentioned temples, everyones ears went up. And then..... 

As missionaries we remembered walking the streets and hearing Ecuador score a point during a Soccer Game.

"Quito, Ecuador" WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. Sure sounded like GOOOOOOAAAALLLL. The feeling was so strong. The spirit filled the room and brought some to tears. We aren´t in Quito but what a blessing to have another temple in Ecuador. I will always remember that moment for the rest of my life. "Come to the Mount of the Lord" One of my favorite scriptures. 

You really don´t appreciate the temple until you can´t go to it everyday. Take advantage of it! The more we do now, less to do in the Millenium (Hahah gospel humor)

Love you guys so much!

Elder Alder