Dear Crestwood Ward,

On this dear and happy day i must write thee to express my sincere love and desire for the salvation of souls. I am coming up on a year very closely and in fact a birthday as well. I have seen many miracles on the mission and have experienced much happiness. There is no sweeter taste nor flavor other tan working for the Lord. ¨He that wants to be the greatest among men shall be his servant no?¨ The Lord has always said ¨Sed de buen animo¨ or be of good cheer.  WIth the many experiences I have had I have learned to love the people and love the church. I am currently training down here in Ecuador and want a pleasure it is. Knowing that a new Elder comes to Ecuador with the same purpose as many others: To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Oh what sweet joy it brings upon my heart to see this! A golden missionary. The lord has placed many revelations upon my plate of supper through studying the scriptures daily and kneeling with a fervent prayer. One of these special revelations in which I would like to share is success. What is success? How to we obtain it? Well it breaks down into a simple formula :

We must first believe we can achieve success. In the scriptures it always says ¨Be believing¨

Look for the Lord to help us obtain success.

Make the sacrifice : Not meaning animals but studying more, talking to everyone you know about the góspel, pushing yourself to your limits.

Expect miracles.

Recieve the miracles with a humble heart.

I promise that whomever Works with this formula shall obtain success through diligent and strenous effort. I promise everyone can achieve success if the purpose and cause are righteous. The Lord has said ¨Even as I can do ye can do¨. Brothers and Sisters, what more can we do to come unto the Lord? Are we willing to sacrifice and work for him? Are we applying our faith and waiting for the miracles? Are we recieving them humbly?

The formula is written all over the Book of Mormon, Bible, and canonic sequence of scriptures and I testify that when proven, results happen.
To a good day and always positive mind, heart and spirit.

Your diligent servant and brother

Elder Piedra

Wow well what a change.
New companion, got changed from Guayaquil. I´m now in Babahoyo otherwise translated as spithole. The land here is like a village. The people don’t have much but live as they do. Its been humbling once again being moved from the grand city. Honestly I am kinda sad I got moved but that’s how life is and im here for a reason. So my companion is Elder Cordoba. He has 3 months on the mission. I am kinda training him and he is Costa Rican. He´s very ´pilas´and motivated to work. It’s a pleasure to work with him. In our house we have an American! Elder Briggs. Hes from Utah and was in the MTC with me. Its so cool because now I can speak English and about the states. Its pretty fun too. The Lords work keeps moving forward as I get use to this new change and city. I didn’t get to see the Guevara family get baptized but I did hear that it happened and all was well. That brings to me a grand joy in my heart and makes me want to keep working hard. I love the Lord and thrive on the work and happiness he gives me.

Sincerely,
Elder Piedra

We had Gloria´s baptism. Todo Bien. We are focusing this week on Lucy a mom to be baptized this sat. We have to work harder now because the program is shrinking due to the people that we are baptizing. We are now in the process of looking for more people. The lord has blessed the sector tremendously!

Sincerely,

ElderPiedra

This week has been somewhat of a journey. I was struggling along with my companion organizing who was going to get baptized and when. Originally we had 4 baptisms for this Saturday but then after a while the baptism candidates changed their minds or had details change like usual. However during the week we had a grand surprise, 2 young girls decided to be baptized on a Thursday and then changed their mind on Friday, but decided to be baptized Saturday. The whole family came, and it was a very wonderful experience. My stress level moved up a little bit, but got over it. Now we even have baptisms for the 26 of this month, and for the 3^rd and 10^th of next month {July}. The zone is doing well overall with baptisms. It is still very surprising for me to see my own emails from the beginning in this sector how my companion and I were struggling to find people to even listen. Now it’s hard getting them to the baptism fount! I have 4 and half months here in this sector and 9 in the mission. The time has flown, as has my experiences. My companion and I are working with members and references to be able to find people to teach. So far so good. Its cool to understand that even my friends are all around the world preaching the gospel even as I am. It’s a deep blessing. My companion has improved a ton in his work as a missionary. At times he wasn’t even focused, but now he is working hard and motivated with the pleasant run of baptisms we have had in a sector that once ran 0 baptisms in a year. The Lord uses us as his instruments, and we just play the wonderful music that the Maestro wants us to play.

I testify of that

Sincerely

Elder Piedra

So this week was rather interesting. People have gotten changed and moved all around town. Aguirre moved from Zone Leader back up to assistant, and my very good buddy Elder Walke came as the new zone leader. Excited? Time will tell. Some new Elders came but my friend Elder Marroquin left, he was a good missionary. Elder Romero came to replace him in the house, and i cant really complain much about him being my district leader and all. Anyway thats what has happened. We have 4 ppl being baptized the 19th of this month, and honestly its been fun finding and helping ppl come unto Christ. The ward hasnt had a baptism for a year, and then we come in and help that change. I understand that all of the mission is with revelation to know who to assign in a sector and others to be leaders. I have 9 months out, and at times my patience runs with all the work and stress that comes with the journey. Its awesome being a missionary and the blessings i have felt and seen truly testify of that. Also Gabriela is a new convert that we baptized as of last week. She has 19 years old and suprisingly told us that she wanted to get baptized. Her dad is inactive as of many years and the rest of her family arent members. We are trying to help everyone become reuntied with the church again so that they may have blessings that the Lord has prepared for the family. We took the family saturday to a baptism of another ward and they liked it alot. This Sunday Gabriela  came with her whole family ! That was an awesome experience and thing to see! I hope her whole family get baptized soon.

Thats all for now and looking forward to see how the change ends up

Sincerely,

Elder Piedra

ps. i passed the scripture test called the MAESTRO-

it was awesome!

So this week was interesting. But then again every week is interesting no? This week Gabriela and Marilyn had their baptism interviews. It was all went well except for a minor flaw. Marilyn didnt get permission from her Dad to get baptized. THe dad at first was all for the baptism, but then changed his mind. Their baptism is for the 29th, and we are praying that the father ends up letting her be baptized. Soto and I are still working and have found 2 other people interested in the Church, one being the mother of a member. I still have no idea if I will get changed this week, or if my companion will get changed but we will see what God has in store for us. My sector Samanes is progressing a ton! The members are working, the reunion starts on time now, and the members are working on plans to bring more ppl to the church! It is all inspiring. This week I have also worked on something called the Maestro. It is a scripture memorization that we can do in order to better ourselves in the mission. It is 120 scriptures memorized with references and the Living Christ and Proclamation to the World. Therefore obviously its kinda a big deal. I am looking forward to passing it off. I have learned many things in my 8 months here on the mission. The first major thing is to have patience. It has been a struggle for me at first but now my patience has grown a ton. It is really awesome to look in the mirror and understand my purpose on the mission, and to let time do its thing. THe mission is hard but definately has its perks. We have been doing well here, and have been working and walking hard. A few new blisters here and there but nothing out of the normal. Elder Asay a new companion in the house got visited from a friend from Provo who works for Porta here. It sounded like he had a blast with the visit, and he got the Ensign from General Conference and it was so good to read it in english haha. All the things ive learned in life from mowing lawns, selling door to door, and even working in an office at the water district has definately shaped me into a well rounded person. It is a blessing to be able to help people out on my mission in finding Christ and establishing homes where happines arises. Truly the happiness lies in serving others, collecting the good from past experiences and learning where to grow and what to do to progress. Almost at 8months on the mission, time has flown quickly. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true and is a church based upon what God has given us. The Family.

Sincerely,
Elder Piedra

Well the time has flown and I have been working on my Christ like attributes! My sector en La Orquideas has been a wonderful time. A lot of walking, but a lot of happiness as well. Its been a while since I have been able to write a lot, but now I am going to try my best to portray what has been going on. Since my last change with Elder Morataya, I received Elder Soto. 3 Months back I was moved up to senior companion and that has been a wonderful experience. Elder Soto is from Chile, right where the earthquake happened in Concepcion. He is a cool guy, we always play kicks the can on the street and teaches well together. At times he is a little rebel, but he always straightens himself out. We are teaching the Guevara Family. This is a family composed of a mom, daughters, and a son. Their father or husband is a member as of 30 years inactive. It came as a surprise to us because it was a street contact, but this week they assisted the church and came to a mother’s day activity. They seem to be progressing and we are going to put a baptism date for May 15^th. We are also teaching the Rocio family, consisting of a mother, daughter, and grandmother. The family was progressing but the grandma is super Catholic and does not want her family to progress whatsoever! It is so frustrating. We also have Sister Carmen, whom lost her husband to death and wants to know how she can be with him again. Therefore we are teaching her and helping her progress with a lot of the Plan of Salvation. We have other families as well, but for the most part those are the people whom will most likely get baptized. Here in Samanes, everyone has a job, and works a lot. Almost no one is home during the evenings. We have been doing a lot of walking, and now I am on my second pair of shoes! My feet hurt everyday when I get home, throbbing and super red. I usually heat up some water, soak them then hit the hay. My companion and I have been praying hard for miracles to come in this sector; at times I get discouraged but remember why I am here and that if I continue to work hard everything will work itself out. Crack a few jokes here and there, and bam, the worries leave. Also I have been working on the famous MAESTRO. A compilation of scriptures and preach my gospel that we have to memorize. It is about 200 scriptures including Proclamation to the Family, and The living Christ. Believe me, I have never ever tried so hard to memorize in my life. But its been paying off with little revelation and reflection that I get every time I review the scriptures. Speaking of speaking, my Spanish has been improving, and I was recently promoted from the community from Gringo Spanish, to portugese-italian Spanish haha. So not the Castillano that they speak here, but getting close. Today for PDAY we went to the mall. It was horrible, haha. Everything was so overpriced seeing that it was imported from USA, and my head hurt from seeing all the people, colors, and clothes. I basically decided that I would not return until when I get home. After that went to sleep a little bit. The mission is doing well with baptisms. The people of Ecuador are lamanites generally, and have the greater motive and spiritual connection with the gospel, and feel the spirit and come to Christ. Unfortunately that conversion is not happening a lot a lot in my sector, but we are hanging in there. I keep seeing the good in things, work on my patience, and work on understanding the hardships that are brought upon us in the mission. Nevertheless, we are the missionaries or soldiers that help people find hope and happiness, and what a joy that is. Hope all is well in the States and the Church is true and there is no doubt of that in my mind.

Sincerely,
Elder Piedra

ps. mothers day was good! appreciate your mothers!!

So this week was pretty eventful. Just kept working with my new companion Elder Soto from Chile. We are trying to bring more families to the church and are having success. We understand that affliction and trial comes, but there is always success on the other side. We are grateful for the opportunity to work for the Lord and cherish every moment of it. As of a week we baptized Cesar, a young man whom we never ever thought would get baptized. But he did, and we are so very happy for that opportunity to have seen him enter through the waters of baptism. The lord will always bless us if we do our part.

Sincerely,
Elder Piedra

This week was brutal. Changes and i recieved another companion. Before we had a trio Marroquin from Guatemala, Hansen from Usa, and myself. Morataya went home to Guatemala and finished his misión. I was therefore waiting for a new companion, but I recieved an old one. Elder Soto from Chile, 10 months. Still working in Samanes and teaching many families. We had 3 families at church Sunday, and all is well.  I am working extremely hard to get people to listen to us but the people are pretty wealthy and at time, with wealth comes pride. However  even if they deny us continuously I continue to invite everyone to church and everyone to come unto Christ. I dont want anyone to tell me ¨Elder Piedra, you saw me on the street and you didnt invite me to church, or hear your message¨. That would break my heart! Therefore to avoid that conversation I continualy invite everyone. Its a plus that I use to sell door to door because I am not shy at all. However my new companion doesnt like talking on the street to people very much, he is more of a reference guy. Nevertheless we both work one upon the other to give a good message to anyone that comes our way. I have 6 months coming on 7 and the time sure flys. I am willing to go up against whatever assignment President gives me in the great work, or whatever companion he places with me. I know the church is true and strive to follow the example of Alma and Amulek teaching diligently and clearly to whatever person that they find (Book of Mormon Alma ch. 11-14). They struggled on their experiences and perservered and in the same way I continue to humble myself unto the Lords Will. At times we struggle and think ´why me´. However God has a reason for everything and he knows that reason better than I do. We just have to accept his will, he will not give us any burden that we cannot handle. He will always be by our side guiding and supporting  us in life.

Sincerely,
Elder Piedra

Conference was great. A new experience nonetheless. The talks were wonderful but it was weird hearing it in spanish! THe talks in spanish at times are prerecorded. However by looking at the apostle and Prophets eyes I could feel the conviction and voice speak out to my soul. Although there is not much tone in the spanish translation, the eyes and the way for example Elder Holland looked at me pierced my heart. It was a wonderful 1st time experience. I already have 6 months in the misión. I cant believe it. Furthermore my companion Elder Morataya is getting ready to leave to his home in Guatemala. He just about finished his misión. He has 2 weeks left! Its hard to cope with at time because it makes me somewhat homesick that I still have tons of time left but he is done. However I know that when he was beginning his misión I was eating in Red Robin or something haha. But thats how it goes. I have memorized over 100 scriptures, all in spanish. My next move is to memorize them in English as well! Scriptures help ALOT in lifes struggles. My sector is struggling but I am hoping something will happen. We keep finding families that say they are interested but then stray from Christ´s path. In General Conference Elder Uchtdorf said that patience is perservering doing everything posible to accomplish a goal even if it doesnt turn out instantaneously. I am working really hard in my sector doing everything I can and trying to stay focused and happy.  I am doing the Lord´s will and will be patient for whatever blessings he has in store for the people in my sector.

Sincerely,
Elder Piedra