Adversity

So this week could have gone a lot better.

On Tuesday we had all of our baptism interviews and almost everyone passed their interview, but Julio was having a few difficulties and we decided to wait another week, but it was great to see his testimony and that he has had a true conversion. Then we got everything ready for our three other baptisms on Saturday and we go to pick up Stiveen Arevalo and we took him to the church, then we went to go pick up Avelina and Nicole for the baptism, but they ended up telling us that there was an accident in the family and that wee nided to come back in about half an hour, did that and they were still saying to wait. I ended up dropping more than 10 dollars in taxi going back and forth from their house to the church. in the end we found out that they just felt like they were not ready to get baptized and we explained that they did not need to lie to us. So that was a great day. The good news is for this week  Julio Espinoza will have his baptism and if we can get permission form the mom of Jesus Anzules he will also have the opportunity to get baptized this week. Wish us luck and hopefully two more members will be added to the church this week. (that's just too bad Satan doesn't want people to find the truth and is working so hard against them, they had 9 baptisms planned a few weeks ago and people keep backing out...please pray for these people.)

In my studies this week I have almost finished Mormon. It is sad to see that all the people have turned their hearts from the Lord, even in their trials and hardships where before they turned to the lord now they curse him. it is sad to see how hard the hearts of some people can be and it just made me think of how happy I am to be able to teach and know such great people. I love everyone and hope they have a great St. Pattys day and an even better week.

Funny story of the week, as a zone we have 30 baptisms so we decided to get t-shirts made.  I learned that even though you have zls that you know and always do splits with you, might not know how to spell your name and you should write it down for them, because now I have a t-shirt that I will never forget that say's E' Mc.cannon.  (He left his camera locked up at the church so he doesn't have pictures, but that's funny!)
(I asked if he was happy and doing well, mothers worry about this you know!) Of course I am happy have you ever really seen me sad? 

Love
Elder McCammon

Waiting on Baptisms

Well i got stuck in my cinder block oven of a house Sunday Monday and Tuesday because carnival is supposed to be crazy and dangerous outside and it did not even seem that crazy outside, we were asked to study the entire time so that is what i did and it was ok but it was not to fun being cooped up all day. i am also in the same area with the same companion, we did not have any changes the difference is that our ward received two missionaries more so we are looking for a new house because our house is really small. sadly the baptisms we had this past week did not get baptized but two of which are planing on baptizing this week with two more for sure and a 3rd if his mom gives him permission. so we will see how that goes. this week has been really tiring we have been looking for more people with out too much success. i feel that this next week will be better though and we will be able to find a lot more people. Our mission goal is to reach 600 baptisms for a month, so far we've only reached 400.

in my studies this week i finished 4th Nephi and that really was a cool chapter. you see the opportunity the people had to see so much peace in the land and it was great to see that prosperity that we can also have if we are obedient to the commandments of the lord. it is great to be able to see the great progress that this ward is making as well it now has the opportunity for four missionaries and the church attendance is skyrocketing it has gone from 60 to almost 100 in 3 months which is a great change. we all need to make sure we are heading to the commandments of the lord and we can receive even more blessings.

love Elder McCammon

Question and Answer:

Mostly we talked about what he wants in his next package and he has been concerned about me and the politicking I get myself into here!!!  I asked if he'd been reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish?  He said it was hard at first but it has gotten easier. (is that a yes, or a not really but I try?)

These are a conversation with him and his dad.

Have you been able to see any cool things on your P-days lately?  Any hikes or sites that you have been to?  no i am in the city in the city for p day here there is not too much that you can do, but go to the mall. all the museums and stuff are far so there is not to much excitement in finding those, it is mostly sleep and study that i do here.

Well make sure you get out and do some cultural things.  Are you still collecting the banana stickers?  Work hard, but make sure you take advantage of the culture.  You may not get an opportunity to return, so make some memories.  Good ones, but memories. i am still collecting banana stickers but there are not too many that are here in Guayaquil the majority are in Machala because that is the world capital of bananas.

I liked your picture you sent of the big banana stalk that you bought for a few dollars.  That is the type of pictures that you want to take.  Make sure you are in the pictures as well as scenery.  How are the sunsets?  I thought the sunsets were cool in Japan because the smog and buildings made for some cool colors and angles. There is not to much of sunset here it goes from light to dark almost like a light switch there are some days with sunsets but not all, but i will make sure i start taking more pictures and send them since i have stopped carrying my camera every where i have almost forgotten it a little. but i have to go dad i love you lots. chao

pray for 

Avelina Alarcon (Girl, baptism 15 March, 14 years) needs to be more animated for baptism, she is not 100 percent sure yet

Nicol Alarcon (Girl, baptism 15 March,  13 Years) needs to be more animated for baptism, she is not 100 percent sure yet

Steven Arevalo (Boy, baptism 15 March,  9 Years) his grandma is member of the church and is excited that he will be able to be baptized like her

Julio Espinosa (Boy, baptism 15 March,  26 Years) he is very smart and knows a lot and is very ready for his baptism

Jesus Anzules (Boy, baptism 15 March,  14 Years) needs permision from his parents

Tamara (Girl, 19 Years) that she can have the ablility to come to church

Ariel  (Boy,  9 Years) that his parents will give him permission to keep coming to church.

Carnival

This was the extent of my letter this week.

Love you mom, no time to write because its carnival and they have only given us 20 min to write so we can get back to our houses (cinder block ovens is what he wrote Bill) fast.  Please keep praying for our Baptisms 3 on March 8...Avelina she's 14, Nicol who's 13 and Josue who is 9, and then 6 on March 15...Steven who is 9, Julio who is 26, Jennifer 14, Jesus who is 14, Tamara 19, and Ariel who is 9.

Love you lots mom, goodbye

40 Weeks and Counting!!!

Wooooh!

Sorry I got on so late we were at a member's house and they were having their door fixed and we got shut in, so that was not fun.

This has been a fun week besides. We had 10 people in church yesterday, five of which are preparing for baptism and we have seven people preparing for baptism all together. For the 8th we have Avelina Bonilla, Nicol Bonilla, and Josue Pereyra. and for the 15th we have Jenifer Jurado, Steven Arevelo, Jesus (i do not have his last name with me), and Julio Espinoza. These are a great seven people who i have loved to have the opportunity to teach. this has been a great week for the mission work for me and my companion we have been having a great week and i am really excited for the baptisms of all of these people.

In my studies this week i have been finishing off 3rd Nephi and where Jesus does the blessing of all the children and the prayers for everyone and all of the healings and he cries for his love for these people and their faith and it just gives me a lot more  realization to how much our Saviour loves each and every one of us and how he just wants the best for us. i know he is our Saviour, i know that he loves us all and that he gave his life for us so we can all be saved. i hope everyone knows that and those who don't need two. and they need to pray for this knowledge because it really is a great knowledge have a good week. and i love you all

Elder McCammon

I asked if he was getting used to the heat; he said I don't think you ever get used to the heat, but right now it is starting to get pretty darned hot here. I don't like that there are two hot seasons because the sun passes the equator two times...oh well.

I asked him when transfers are and he said next week...that's gonna be too bad if he's transferred after having so much success the last few weeks and having so many preparing for baptism!!!  Its all the Lords work I suppose!!!

Good Week

So this week has been pretty good, we have 5 people preparing for baptism. Avelina and Nicol Bonilla, Josue Pereyra, and Rosa Bermeo for the 8th of March and Jenifer Jurado for the 15th of March. When we were on an interchange it was funny our zone leader ran into someone he knew in a previous ward and she showed us the houses of a bunch of her friends and almost all of them accepted baptismal dates. It is really cool because they all live on the streat of our ward mission leader. Tt is just kind of fun to see. Becuase this is a streat that has had missionaries contact it for years but when you have a member that knows people it always helps. The missionary work is always easier when you have the members helping you. I love seeing the way people can be animated as well when they see their friends investigating the church. it was also cool because one of the people we have preparing for baptism loved the church and i just remember thinking when i was his age i was never that excited for sacrament meeting, but he was, as well as others i love seeing the spirit testify like that. if you have a friend who has never been to church or heard of it, invite them so they have the chance to know it. 

i love you all have a great week chao

Elder Jesse

Pictures in the home of a member.  I can't believe how sweaty he is...he must get so tired of it!!!

Well I think he's just amazing!!!

So this week went by pretty fast. Karina was able to get baptized on Saturday so that was pretty cool. also i officially have one year hear in the country of Ecuador. i had to go to the consulate to renew my visa and while i was there i got to see Elder Larson and Elder Jeske. it was a pretty fun little reunion, until the plane ride back to the united states in ten months (hey how far away is that plane. i dunno a mile or two? nope ten months.) Insert thumbs down.

Any way this week has been pretty good but we have happened to baptize those who we were teaching so it is time to start looking again. Starting with the people who are going to church. Speaking of church, church this week here was kind of fun. In priesthood we talked about the plan of salvation and the importance of the atonement in the plan.  In my reading of the Book of Mormon i have just read the part where Jesus has died and we see all the destruction and you read all of the people start being sad because they did not repent earlier... repent now don't wait, and if you need to, get baptized that helps with repentance.

We have also been limited in our music to only hymns, but the hymns are cool. I like listening to them. I will miss other songs though. But read the prologue in the hymn book it is really cool and then after reading start listening.

love everyone hope you have a great week bye.

Picture of Karina's baptism...she looks very happy!!!  The Gospel of Jesus Christ will do that to a person!!!

Giving Thanks

This has been a really good week and a week i have been able to give a lot of thanks to the Lord. This week a lot of other missionaries have had interviews that i have needed to do which means i have not been in my own area too much. I did get to learn a lot from other missionaries when i was on splits with one of my zone leaders and we did house inspections. there were a lot of other missionaries having a lot of problems and even had thoughts of going back to their house. i am thankful for the good companions i have been able to have and the ability of not having problems like that. So it has also been a good week because we finished the week off with the baptism of Michael Figuaroa. he enjoyed it and it was a pretty great day. this next week we should also be having the baptism of Karina Ceja. She is very exited loves the church and is very happy that she has the opportunity to be baptized. so keep praying for her and we hope that everything in the end will go well. 

this week my studies have been in 3rd nephi when everyone sees the sign of the coming of christ. it makes me sad to see how fast people are to forget the miracles of God. everyone saw the sign everyone knew the profecies but after a few years people forgot and questioned the knowledge they had and fell away from their beliefs. it is sad to see that we can see miracles and forget the importance of them. i invite everyone to keep praying to keep thanking the lord for all that they have and all that god has given them so they never forget.

 

I love you all

elder mccammon

The baptism of Michael