Elder Alexander Piedra

So this past week i was changed to Guayaquil. I am surprised that i was transfered but thats how things go. I miss chone sincerely. I love the people and climate minus the mass amount of dirt in the air. My new sector is very wealthy and everyone has gates for their house. THis leads to a problem. Noone opens their door to talk to us. It is frustrating to talk to an intercom and try to explain something that can change someones life yet they deny us over a voicebox. Nevertheless we will keep working. BY the way, my new companion is Elder Morataya. He is a complete goofball, a Little crazy at times, but is always happy so its all good. He keeps me motivated. He finishes his misión this change. So for now we are knocking doors..or in this case gates. However we are praying and hoping to have more references to keep the work going strong and having more people come unto Christ via baptism. The only door that God has given us for salvation.

Sincerely,

Elder Piedra

SO this week was grand. 2 Baptisms, plenty of people being taught and keeping the work of the Lord going. I had a talk this Sunday, and it was on confusing necessity with love at times. Sometimes we say its necessary to work, but if we can think more in the line of –I work because I love my family- then we see its in reality not a necessity but an act of love. Its so weird to think and know that I have been gone 5 months and tons of my friends from the University are getting married! Wow, hope some young gal will want to me this missionary once I return. Which in fact is about 19 months haha. Time flies but I still have tons left! My zone leaders are really getting on my nerves at times but I am being patient and making the best of my zone while im here. My other mission right now is to find a new house, because the house we currently have blows! Nevertheless we are on the way to find a new house. I pray for the Lords help in this work and I thank him for the many people I have taught and been able to baptize along the way. We are instruments in the Lords hand, and I testify of that with all my heart.

Sincerely,
Elder Piedra

Crazy week, doing the work of the Lord, and keeping my head up high. At times it seems like my world has been collapsed, but then I look into the eyes of strangers,strangers whom want to and will come unto Christ. Honestly that feeling of someone else hearing the still small voice of Christ and receiving the light of Christ makes my life, my world so much happier. This week we had a visit by Elder Gavarret, a general authority and counselor to the Area Presidency. He is from Uruguay and a great Elder. He is very punctual, direct, and speaks with conviction and clarity. It was great to hear and learn from him as well as his wife. Also I had an interchange with Elder Fonseca in Andres De Vera. It seems like they don’t have much to work with at the moment but I was pumped to go to that sector because I love the people so much! We did well in the two days that I was there, while Elder Walke was in Chone. Chone is also progressing, Elder Cruz and I has a baptism sat of a little girl named Graciela, and we are baptizing her 2 older sisters this coming Saturday. I want to end this change well! I am almost done memorizing scriptures and continue to strive to do well in the mission. Also I have received my glasses from Elisa, Elder Enciso´s cousin! She sent them to me, and they are way better than my old 1970´s glasses. Haha. The mission is awesome, I love teaching and all! Hope that whoever reads these type of blogs may learn and feel something towards the gospel. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is so true and I cant deny it. I invite all the people in the world to come unto Christ and learn more about this gospel and come unto the waters of Baptism. I think I am leaving Chone march 7^th to another sector..well I kinda hope so because the water and light are hardly ever working in that house!!! Also my grandpa wrote me.. a grandpa ive never met or seen in my life. First time in Ecuador and now the whole family finds me haha. What a blessing!! I love god, family, and the mission. Persevere through the trials and ´fail forward´!

Sincerely,

Elder Piedra

So this week was intense as usual. I have been diving into the scriptures memorizing everything I can. No baptisms this sat but future sat we will have 1. It has been raining hard in Chone so hard that the city flooded…Water ran up to my knee it was pretty crazy since ive never experienced that before. I got sick friday and that was no fun and now am super tired and weak. Chone is progressing as a whole even though this week is carvival week and everyone goes to the beach so we had an assitance of 30 members… Oh well we have to fail forward I say. Never let something put a missionary down because in reality the chain effect affects tons of other ppl as well. I love the mission and will continue to work hard and bring souls unto Christ for I know this is the true church!

Sincerely,
Elder PIedra

Times change completely on the misión. I have been out for 4 months now and everything at home has changed, everything. My new companion is still hard to get along with and I don’t know it seems like everything is getting hard. However I am so use to leaning on my heavenly father now that I know he will help me. This past week my companion and I had a baptism and a family we are trying to baptize. The father is an alcoholic but now after yesterday he cried and says he wants to change his life. This was because he felt the spirit. He knows that wickedness never was happiness. The desire to change is a light lit upon a candle. The candle lights the whole room and his desire will light up his whole life. The gospel we preach is indefinitely true and there is no way to deny it. I have such a strong testimony in it. Besides teaching that family Chone has been flooding somewhat, and with my companion I am getting annoyed because of his personality we bump heads a lot. Also I had a day’change with Elder Walke. Small world right.. He is very non talkative despite his blog that he created which is full of imagination of the mission. However with time I was able to help him open up and talk more. He seems to be like a good guy and so far as Zone Leader I have no complaints. The mission is progressing as is the rain here. It pours cats and dogs and I already have a cold because of it. Oh and did I mention that we have been out of light in our apartment for 3 days already! I hope we get that situation settled. Love the mission and enjoy it!

Chone has progressed nonethe less. Leaders are now more capable of doing the work and the missionarys are continuing to teach. I have a new companion, Elder Cruz. He is a cool guy, very smart with the scriptures. I hope we can do great things together. My other companion Elder Enciso left to Quevedo. Sad day really, because I was with him for 3 months. However changes and transfers happen in the mission so I am not too surprised. Also my favorite Zone Leader ElderRojas left. He was my pana. However he is not too far, just in Manta so I will see him this Zone conference. I have learned a ton on the mission and would like to leave with a short scripture.

In Proverbs 14: 29, 17 It states that the angry do the foolish things. That those who are SLOW to wrath have great understanding but those that hasty of the spirit exalteth folly. So tip of the day. We can all be better with tempers and help others as well for we know that getting angry does not resolve anything but it can destroy everything.

Sincerely,
Elder Piedra

This week was weird haha. So last week when I asked one of our investigators Victoria to be baptized she was very very timid. I asked her 7 times if she wanted to be baptized with conviction and the spirit. Normally im a timid guy around her because she has gone through alot and kinda hard headed. Nonetheless we baptized her sister as of a month ago, and we were sure we had lost Victoria to the JT´s. However after I asked her 7 times to be baptized she finally opened her jaw with a yes. Surprise? yes. After that visit i was sure she would bail. Nonetheless the greatest miracle happened and she was baptized. I was so happy this week just because we have taught her for 2plus transfers-3 months- and she has not wanted to be baptized although she attended church with her baptized sister etc. Therefore not giving up and being consistent does work! That was the greatest joy this week. However I got and still am pretty sick. Im pretty sure i have a virus or parasite but not to sure yet. We will see what happens this week if i get worse ill need to head to the hospital 6 hrs away in Guayaquil. Also my mexican trainer Elder Enciso is due to transfer the 24th of this month. So that means new companion for me. Everything moves so fast when your working! Well we cleaned our house a ton today because it was super pday and we dont get to leave till noon but o well, our house needs help anyway. DId i also mention that there was barely water this week so we had to shower with jugs of water gathered from a hose? A life of a missionary right? I really do enjoy the mission..i just dont like being sick! All is well and im gonna keep working and trying to get 2 more baptisms with my companion by the 23rd.

Sincerely,

Elder Piedra

This week has been intense. I was sick with a fever, stomach problems, and I had to stay at home for a couple hours to rest to bring down the fever. However the stomach problems continued. It thankfully all worked out, and it just happened to be an infection from food I ate here so no big deal. My companion and I keep teaching and we have 3 baptisms for the 16^th. One of those baptisms was a doozy to receive. There is a girl who we have been teaching for 2 months, her sister gets baptized, and the other sister loses interest. SO this week we go to her house, and we ask her if she wants to be baptized. She says nothing..but after a short period of time she says yes. So that was a blessing to hear her say that. Now may I say this publicly..that our house in Chone is the worst house out of the bunch. No joke. Yesterday it rained, quite hard, which actually reminded me of home ‘rainy´seatte´ . So I was in my bed sleeping away..then we heard boom boom boom. Not the song played on the radio, but actual clanging and falling of something in our house. And it happened to be the roof. Yes the roof. It had caved it, and started to leak water..in our wood based floor. So we now have tons of ants and COCKROACHES in our home. For the cockroaches love the humidity, water, and dirt. They thrive on that stuff, and the ants..well I dunno why there there. Ironic that I happen to hate bugs! Oh well, sucking it up and am in the process of seeking and destroying any critters who wants to eat and bite me to death. Some other good news was that my ward from home sent me some letters and notes. The notes were compositions of ‘way to go! Keep the faith!´ very uplifting for me to hear especially this week haha. I miss the snow! And the rain! And the cold! Haha. Oh well, im getting use to the climate here anyway. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger right? Well im keeping the faith, working hard and loving the lord with all my heart. He is who I depend on in this life, and whom all should depend on. I am growing spiritually everyday through efficient scripture study, and prayer. Like President Monson said 2 General Conference ago during Priesthood session.. Study Diligently, Pray Fervently, Live Righteously.

Sincerely,

Elder Piedra

Well this week has been good. The new year went off with a bang…literally. At 12 midnight Chone has a siren that goes off and it basically sounds like the worlds gonna end because its so loud. After the siren you hear bombs exploding constantly because they make paper dolls here and they light them on fire and its just really loud and sounds like a warzone going off. We live off the center street so basically i couldnt sleep all night. 2day is my companions birthday, so i think we will have some cake today! Well I am dang hoping so haha. I miss treats! Its pure rice and chicken here every single day,. Luckily my parents prepared me at youth not knowing that I would embark on this mission, yet they fed me tons of rice with other things as well so now im all accustomed to the rice. Other than that my companion and I keep teaching and attempting to baptize. Our baptisms that we had planned for this month are falling through because of stuff like word of wisdom and the law of chastity that the people dont want to follow. This therefore is a test of their faith. However it is hard for missionaries seeing that and knowing that so many blessings await these people in darkness, yet they can practice their faith. For faith without works is dead. 2010 is a new year, and as of now more good things than bad can happen. I hope that all of you use this new year to rejuvenate the body mind and spirit in order to make this the best possible year that you can! It really is a blessing to be on the mission and im so glad to be here. Chone is progressing bit by bit, more members are now helping us to activate the ward, and actually yesterday we had somewhat of a full house in the chapel! It was great! I love seeing an active branch. Its awesome for me to see people come unto Christ and that makes me way happy! For anyone who reads this, just start off the new year with good works, and with good faith. Write down goals for the new year and work to achieve them. I send my blessings to anyone who needs them and will need them this new year 2010!

Sincerely,

Elder Piedra

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