Abide with me

Well even though we got the 3 Guayquil Missions together to see Elder Christofferson, I still, by chance, just happened to be the first person to shake hands with the Apostle of the Lord. I almost had a heart attack!

This week was one of the busiest, greatest weeks ever! Exchanges on Wednesday. Friday with our Easter Missionary Activity. With Singing, balloons, candy, choirs, a christian band, and 10 missionaries contacting like mad. Traveling to Guayaquil that same day. Practicing with the missionary choir (Love those missionaries, didn´t take a picture, oops, but I can say that we had a wonderful spiritual experience together. Saturday, 500 missionaries in one stake center. and me flinging my hands around in front of all those missionaries, the area presidency and Elder Christofferson (Don´t forget his wife!) I felt the spirit so strong leading that song. Why can´t I sing like that every time? I didn´t see the Apostle´s face during the performance but as we sat down (I was on the front row to the left) Elder Christofferson looked at me with such a smile. His smile reminded me of Alma 5. Have you recieved the light of Christ in your face? (I know that`s not the quote but I don`t know how to translate it in English) He mentioned how we are companions with the 12 in their mission to spread the world His truth. His main messaje was that the highest honor form God is to hear "in whom I am well pleased" And that the Lord was pleased with our efforts. What a strong spirit. I would just like to follow the 12 around the rest of my life.

Not to mention we had 2 baptisms in our branch this Wednesday too. The other elders and us. There we A LOT of people in that baptismal service that I have 4 inches to stand and see I like to Look for Rainbows. 

I love this work! I love this Church! I know it´s true and it doesn´t have to be a cheesy thing that we say to people. We can mean it. Last quote from Elder Christofferson: The Lord can only bless us to the level that we are prepared. 

Prepare well and the blessing come like rain and heat here in Santa Rosa :)

Love you all :)

Elder Alder

Miracles and singing for ¡Elder Christofferson!

Let´s just meditate for a second. Take a minute and step into my shoes as you read this. Okay, so we head to Guayquil for Leadership Council. We are feeling the spirit. Learning how to get better at being misisonaries. We finish the first half and my mission President calls me. Shows me the order of the meeting with the Apostle D. Todd Christofferson that we are going to have THIS SATURDAY. Just to THIS mission! and then says: "Elder Alder I need you to organize a choir to sing a special number to sing in the meeting" 

I think I couldn´t sleep that night... I am serious, I was SUPER nervous! This saturday we get to hear from a special witness of our Lord Jesus Christ and if the musical number is a wreck, on whose head is it on?? MINE. But I guess if it turns out good, props! I can not describe in words how excited and humbled I feel to have this amazing oportunity! I live in Utah but the first 2 apostles that I get to see are in the mission! What an honor! And I am scared out of my mind! This week will definitely be the best week of my life!

And we are just getting started! Not to even mention the miracles that happened this week. Our mission president has asked us by revelation that everyday we contact and make an appointment with that person 3 times! And to be honest at first I thought it was a good idea. But with the help of president, my companion, and the example of Nephi (3:7) I made it personal goal this week and we started talking to everyone! In the bus, on the street, while eating hamburgers, everywhere. During the last two weeks, we hadn´t found any investigators that were progressing at all and I was kind of worried. But the Lord shook His head and thought "Devan thinks he can do it all" and one night while we were waiting for the bus to go home (This was actually last Monday) after talking to everyone. A man called us from the other side of the street. (Usually when people want to talk to us, it is beacuase they want money or they are drunk) Well we crossed the street to talk to him and "Hey, I need to go to a church. I need to change my life around and I have always wanted to talk to you guys but I was afraid." Young guy with his wife and 8 year old daughter, ALL went to church yesterday and they are progressing super fast! The Lord blesses us when we are obedient to HIS commandments. (Sometimes it´s fast like this wonderful family or sometimes it comes a long time after) The principle is that we have to work hard and in the Lord´s time, He blesses us.

Or I could mention the sister who has been coming to church for the last two months with her daughter and her wife that are active members and she is the only one who isn´t a member. And we go to eat lunch with them this Sunday and at the end of the lunch the daughter asks: "What does my mom have to do to get baptized?" We invited her to be baptized and she said Yes! 

I feel like Alma, Ammon, Amulek, especially when they fell to the ground with such joy! Sometimes I don´t understand the blessings that God gives to His missionaries. Or the trials. But someday I will understand.

Speaking of understanding, the first picture is of members from a previous sector (Huaquillas) that I happened to bump into. 2 OF THEM I got the amazing chance to start teaching them and see them go to church twice and then TRANSFERS. They got baptized shortly after that and I will always hold them dear in my heart.

And not to mention the brownies I made this week,haha

Love you all, wish me luck!

Elder Devan Alder 

Conference and Easter Excitement

I don´t think I could describe my excitement for Conference last week and I sure will not be able to explain the Spiritual strength that I recieved during conference! There were a couple of impressions that came to my mind that kind of made me want to run and cry like a girl but then the Mulan "Be a Man" song came into my head and I held back the tears, haha, no I am kidding, kind of... We just have a wonderful curse and blessing in the family; we cry when the spirit touches our hearts. I`M SORRY

But how can you not cry with a Les Miserables reference and a Choir reference! We are all in the CHOIR! I will forever use that! This Church is a big choir! And I am part of it, singing with all my might! And when I get to the parts that I don´t know I have to listen hard to the expert next to me singing!

This is the true Church!

I especially loved Cook´s talk at the end. "The purpose of Conference is to strength the faith of the Saints in God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ" WORKED. John 17:3 I have to come to know God and if I even want to get close to that, I have to talk to Him with all my heart AT LEAST twice a day. I have to get to know His son and become like Him. 

Well as you will see in the photos we had a great meeting of the Elders in Santa Rosa. They are great people! 

Also this week, we got to paint a house! One of our investigators is a widow. She is a young mother with 3 children. Her husband died in a car crash and now her children don`t even want to enter the house. We told her that maybe she should change the house up a little bit so that her children will come back to live in the house. She got super excited and asked what day we were going to paint. We went right to it and I ended the day with yellow EVERYWHERE. It was so fun and her house looks great! A wonderful experience that I will never forget!

This place is soooo blessed and I hope we can take advantage of it this Easter Season. We are going to be working extra hard and there might be some Choir plans to find some more investigators!

Love you all and hope that you know that I know that there is no better place to be that in the Service of our God (but as Bednar said, that can AND SHOULD be anywhere)

Elder Devan Alder

Noah`s Flood Take 2

Well I probably should`ve taken some pictures of the AMAZING amount of rain that it poured this week. I am convinced that Santa Rosa would be WAY hotter than Machala if it weren`t for so much rain! We are living on the third and last floor of our buidling and I thnk 3 nights this week, the rain came down so hard that we couldn`t sleep. IT WAS GREAT! Sounds crazy but when am I ever going to see rain like this again! I love the rain and the only reason I don`t want to get wet is for my ties, but other than that I would go out to sing in the rain everyday! It really comes down SO hard! The river overflowed with 3 days of constant raining!

Well I am super excited to work with this wonderful zone! Out of the 14 missionaries that we have in the zone, 3 of them have more than a year on the mission. WHAT... A BLESSING! I`m serious! Great missionaries who are fresh ready to learn and be molded by the spirit. I couldn`t be more happy acutally! They are some great missionaries and I hope I can do my best to help in anyway that I can because if there is anything that I have learned here is that working alone doesn`t work. Working just with your companion works great for your area. Working with the zone with one objective is even better! 

We had a great experience in our district meeting this week. We talked about 2 Nephi 31. Doctrine of Jesus Christ. The "Why" we are here as missionaries and the "How" we help our investigators come unto Christ. I got to share what the spirit was telling me and that was that as missionaries (espeically when we are just starting the mission) are SO focused on how the doctrine can help those investigators and everyone that ISN`T a member. And the time goes on and "WOW, I need to share applying this to MY life". The Father doesn`t just say "Repent, Repent and be baptize in the Name of my Beloved Son". He is also saying "Devan repent, repent PLEASE and participate of the Sacrament so that you can take upon you Christ`s name and become like Him"

Well sorry I didn`t have enough time to even tell you that we had a baptism this week! His name is Edilson and he is awesome!

Love you all!! 

Pictures: THE ZONE

Baptism! 

It`s so hot that we had to buy a bigger fan! hahahaha

Hamburgers with the Guys 

TRANSFERS

Well I may or may not have cried but after almost 6 months, the Lord wanted me to go to a different city. As I said in my final testimony on Sunday, I will always have a family in Machala. I really love that ward and I really love all the people that I got to get to know. There are some amazing memories that I had there and I am really grateful for the time that the Lord gave me there. A dear ward!

Well 45ish mins later I am in Santa Rosa (Holy Rose) in a new zone, new companion, new missionaries. There have been a lot of transfers in the mission, so Pday (today) has been us in the Terimnal of Santa Rosa helping everyone to their sectors. 

But for some reason, in the bus here to Santa Rosa, I was really all of your letters and a feeling came over me of all the things that the Lord has prepared for me in the city. I felt so overwhelmed with peace and joy to know that this is where the Lord wants me to be. And if I listen well, I will be able to know exactly what I need to do. I love being a missionary and listening to the Spirit. 

Well for those who want to know. My new companion is Elder Cordero (Elder Lamb), this is the first time in a while that I have been the missionary with less time than the other. He was astistant to president and now here with me as zone leader. He has got a little time left but I know that we will be working really hard without letting go. 

Last year in the World Transmision with ALL the missionaries. Elder Oaks said that the Atonement (or repentance process) doesn´t just wipe away the sin. It also gives NEW STRENGTH to keep going. I feel that right now. I feel new stregnth to keep going everyday. There are people here ready to hear the gospel and all we have to do is find them, teach with the spirit, and watch the miracles of the Lord. (Simple right? haha, not exactly but it´s still fun!) 

Tip of the week: Hey read your scriptures with the intent of learning God´s will for you, it works a lot better

Love you all and hope it´s colder where you are all at :)

Elder Devan Alder

(Pictures: the "sunset" on my time in Machala, a couple of Good bye photos I don´t know why I didn´t take more, and my new companion!) 

President's Week

Well if I remember correctly this holiday already passed in the US, but it´s never too late to celebrate! Well the title is because this Friday President and his wife came to Machala for a MultiZone Conference. It was absoultely amazing and I always love when President comes. I felt really inspired and it is also kind of sad because these are the meetings were the missionaries that are finishing give their last testimony. A lot of missionaries that I have known for awhile are headed home and in these next 6 weeks even more, kind of scarey and it was the first time anyone called me an "old missionary". I am just starting! (Why can´t missions be 3 years?) 

We also got to go House shopping with President and his wife and do something that hasn´t been done in this mission in a long time, President entering the house of the missionaries. Everyone was scared out of thier minds. My companion and I reflected on the first couple of months of our missions when we were scared to even see president, but traveling and working with him every month has helped us act normally and not so scared with president. The best thing is contacting with President and talking about the gospel with others with him. He is so excited to talk about the gospel so it makes you want to do even more excited!

As you will see from the pictures. Monday, Maria Echeverria entered in the waters of baptism and on Saturday, two adorable children as well, baptized by our favorite future missionary (Adrian Lopez, whose aunt lives in West Valley Utah, kind of cool) It was also an amazing experience watching Eduardo baptize his mother Maria. What an amazing baptism and we organized a little diddy with a violin as a muscial number, also a success! 

We are teaching a wonderful young couple that live SUPER far away but they come to church every sunday and they are so ready to become members. But a missionary´s favorite question here in Ecuador "So you guys are married right?" and the answer 9 times out of 10 is "No we are just living together for 20 years and have 5 children" So this young couple needs to get married first. I am hoping they can do it soon because I´m not sure if I will be here to see their baptism....

But that´s okay! what the the Lord wants right? 

News of the week: We got 2 older missionaries in this mission! They are so sweet and are working hard in Naranjal! They are from california and this is their 3rd mission! Amazing people! 

Love you all and hope for the best! 

Elder Devan Alder

(The last picture is of Elder Barum (Our district leader from Las Vegas) and our amazing lunch by the sea.. that you can´t see...play on words :)

We are Free!

It`s so great to smell the air again, feel the heat of the sun, and sometimes the rain! This Carnaval certainly went by a whole lot faster than it did last year! But as is well! No one threw any eggs at us! 

I have had a couple people as about the weather here in Ecuador so I will tell you. There is summer and winter here. Summer is the so called "Cold season" where the clouds come out and you feel a slight breeze at night (But the missionaries still sweat all day long so I don´t know why it´s the could season) Right now we are in Winter (Invierno pero mi compañero lo llama infierno jajaja Spanish jokes) where everyday is either hot or hotter. This week on Friday you could literally feel the heat burning. It was so great! I don´t know if it´s because we are in the center of the world but the Sun here is WAY different! Got to love it while you can! Oh and don´t even get me started on the random rains! Yesterday it was overcast and the clouds weren´t dark enough to say that it was going to rain but BLAM! after lunch it came down! We ran to the house and the streets were already filled, we couldn´t believe it. It rained hard for like 4 hours too. I will also miss the rain too! 

Changing topics, I would like to personally (in a general letter... silly Alder) thank everyone who writes me and reads these letters. I know you all have a thousand things to worry about and sometimes I don´t answer but I can tell you that week after week, YOUR words have helped me be a little happier. YOUR words have helped me skip a little higher. I thank Him to know so many wonderful people and I thank you for helping a little missionary like me fufill his calling. You are all amazing!

Well sorry for the random pictures. The eye of my companion and dinner with a future missionary that leaves here soon! The good pictures will come next week because in an hour we get the chance to see Maria baptized (she has been coming to church for almost the same time I have in Machala) and this Saturday another baptism! I will give details next week but what a blessing and miracle! I love Machala! 

Also two things that made me cry this week. One, seeing Cristina (recent convert that you`ll remember... maybe) bare her testimony in fast and testimony meeting as the Second Counselor in Primary! What a joy! And two, reading confernece talks and Liahonas! Now I am really treasuring the words of our Prophets and I am SO excited for Conference.

Keep going! Keep fighting! Life is hard but there is always a reason to smile! ALWAYS

Love you and wish I could thank ALL of you! 

Elder Devan Alder