Waterfalls

Well if you are wondering if we went to a waterfall. You are wrong! But to waterfalls I am refurring to emotions and tears (Girl talk, haha)

Well I am soooo happy and so excited for this christmas season. Well as my other missionary friends around the world are "Lighting the world" with their nice Ipads and expensive blessings (They know who they are ;)) I get the chance here in Ecuador to share it in cards and song! So I went back to Guayquil this week to sing "one last time" in the same mall. Little did I know when I got there that I would be going to a meeting with my mission president to coordinate with the OTHER missions here in Guayquil for a Huge event that is happening in Guayquil. And guess who is going to try and orgainze our mission´s part? HAH, well God answered my prayer when I said "Thank you for giving me responsabilities, I think I am happier when I have many things to worry about" Then God laughed at me and said "You have no idea" 

So if you happen to throw a prayer in for me, maybe you can ask more for my companion Elder Vieyra while I am gone and our Zone Machala. It will be a little hard not to be here to help our investigators. We have soo many that our sooo close. 

But CHOIR! I love singing Christmas hymns and songs! Oh Holy night was fun to sing again! What blessings! (Do you see the waterfall of emotions?? Choir, work, investigators, blessings, miracles, "Wait do I have clean clothes?") Remember my companion and I´s phrase "The work is awesome!" Especially during Christmas! 

Miracle of the week that I want to share. Fast and testimony meeting! (We have stake conference next week) (Here is where the tears come in) The members here love the church and love to see people progressing so everyone cried and there was a great spirit in the room. Then the third hour and man was standing outside looking at the church. We invited him and he was a little nervous because he was never entered a church before. He came in and told us how he wanted to know for a long time God´s purpose for him. Good thing we had a Book of Mormon.

I love this work! So full of love! Let´s be that Light to this World and put Christ in front of us!

Love you all

Elder Alder (I don´t remember what pictures I attachted!)

Two Loves, One Alder

(Pat on the back for Elder Alder, good title I think) Hey cold world! Here it´s getting hotter and hotter while in Utah it´s snowing! What does snow even look like?? haha

Well this week there was even less room to recieve blessings because I was in Guayquil almost ALL week. So here are the two loves, music and working in my sector. Don´t get me wrong I would sing "Mary did you know" in front of a couple hundred of ecuadorians eating overpriced Carls Jr. even though they won´t understand me, ANYDAY (It was so fun, No one was paying attention until I sang high and BOOM the spirit helped me on that one!) But how am I going to leave my companion a whole week so he can help our investigators progress and have the baptism interviews and prepare everything just so I can get there on Saturday and enjoy a wonderful baptism! So my heart was torn in two because we are doing so great here in machala but when else am I going to be able to sing Christmas songs in a choir! I had no idea! So there is the title and I think it´s less funny to the world but I will move on with my mission life.

So the zone got a lot bigger this week! We now have 12 missionaries instead of just 8! (I know that is small for the world of zone leaders but I like it!) We also got a visit from our dear Area President Elder Godoy. And it was amazing, he kind of gave us the bridge to help us with the change of presidents! Absoluetly inspiring! 

Elder Godoy said something that I really liked, he said "These are the best two years, why? Becuase you are closer to Christ, Why do you think EFY was so great? Because you spent a week closer to Christ. Take advantage of the two closest years to Christ" 

That´s why I am so happy!! That´s why I almost burst into tears when Joseph (One of the guys that got baptized this week) got up to bear his testimony and said "I hope my sister (Who came) can follow my example and that I can prepare to go on a mission. And I know this is the True church, In the name of Jesus Christ Amen." Or how I can´t even explain how the Lord prepares people to come to His church through His members (We went to go pick up a refural that said was going to church and when we got to his house he came out in a shirt and tie) I got a little bit of an idea during Conference, I am closer to Christ and I want to be EVEN closer! That´s why it happens becuase He is my God and my Song. 

Oh how I hope we can "Light the world" with His light! There is nothing better!

Elder Alder

New Zone...growing in numbers

Because the power was out...

"Not Enough Room to Receive it"

So I am kind of guessing the words from Malachi and I know it´s talking about tithing but I feel like the Lord is just blessing us SOOO much that we barely have room to recieve it. 

I really have no idea where to start.... So last week we didn´t really achieve what the Lord wanted us to do. So we had a little change of heart my companion and I and we hit the ground running. (Weekly planning is the greatest) And the first day we found ourselves with a couple of members that have been talking to their friends about the gospel and we went with them for the whole  day and found a whole lot of prepared people. 

Next blessing, I got a call that day saying that I would be directing a small missionary choir to perform in a famous mall in Guayquil this week. So I have actually been in guayquil this whole week leaving my companion to teach all the wonderfully prepared people and he sure did see those blessings while I made a program for our little choir (picture below) THANKS YOU FOR PEOPLE WHO CAN PLAY PIANO.

Next blessing was when I got back, and we were in church, a lot of these new investigators got to church. One of our investigators will be baptized this week (The one walking around early before church in a shirt and tie) AND while we were in Gospel Principles class a member pulled us out and said "Hey, my son has 10 years old, can you guys baptize him this week or next week" In that moment I wanted to cry. (The story is that the kid was going to be baptized a while ago but the mother didn´t want to and somehow the spirit touched her heart and will be baptized this week) 

So the Lord is sending me the whole week long to Guayquil to go Mall singing (Christmas music, by the way, I AM SO EXCITED) and He decieded to leave my companion here to see if we can recieve all of these blessings. Are we ready? Are we worthy? My companion and I have decieded that we have no idea how to thank the Lord, the only thing we can do is fast and work harder.

I Love the Lord

I Love His church

I Love His Work

I Love my companion 

I love the Lord

Thank you for all you do for me! I hope the best and hope your testimony grows a little more this week!

Elder Alder 

(Other picture, Sometimes you don´t know where to sit for a lesson so you have to do it in a tree :))

Choir Practice

Teaching in a tree...

Sunday Teaching

Too late for Halloween

Well I just realized that I didn´t tell anyone about how halloween is here in Ecuador. Well it´s call the day of the dead (A couple days after) and right after it was Cuenca´s 4th of July so baiscally the whole country went on hold for a whole weekend. So almost NO one was home but we enjoyed our purple milkshake of every fruit you can find and AMAZING bread in the shape of babies (first picture) And that is halloween :)

Well this week we enjoyed eating TOO much seafood (second picture) I really can´t describe how much I ate this week... it´s quite embrassing. But the most important part is the miracles that we saw this week. 

First of all, I don´t know how to describe the feeling here to watch your investigador walking down the street 30 minutes before church starts in a shirt and tie with his friend to go pick up others for church. Amazing.

Next, the comment of Justin in Gospel Principles Class responding to another question to an investigator "I just tell my friends, if you lived when Christ lived you think you would follow him? Well now Thomas S. Monson is here, will you follow him?" I about cried.

And last off, please pray for Pedro and Ana. Pedro and his son want to get baptized  but they aren´t married yet so we need a miracle here! 

Well funny story time. So I gave a couple of tips to our ward choir and they decieded that I would be playing the piano in their songs last sunday. So I was nervous as heck because I can´t play. I said a little pray before we performed and BOOM He blest me. But not how you think or I thought. We started to go and the piano would sound a little bit and then it would go out, little bit of volumen and nothing. But the show must go on! So I kept ´playing even though no one heard anything. The comments after were funny "Elder Alder? were you mimicing the whole time?" "I didn´t hear anything but here was Stevie Wonder just playing away" "Elder Alder, can you really play piano or were you faking it?" "Oh silly Elder Woody"

The Lord´s blessing are really great!

I love this work and I am learning everything I will need to know in the "life to come" It´s going to fast, don´t remind me. There is nothing better than being a misisonary.

Les quiero bastante!

Elder Alder