Still working hard

So this week was pretty good, Ronald and his baptism went well, this week is Jordans baptism so keep praying that everything goes well. John is also working well for his baptism on the fourth of October. if this week you can add Jesus Menuscal to your list of people to pray for we are trying to help him so he can accept a baptismal date. he is looking for the true church in his life. also pray that we can find more people to teach. but we are working hard and excited as usual to do the work of the lord.

A trainer, a greenie, and a baptism!

This week was great. Leonardo was baptized. I also have a new companion. his name is Elder Evershed. He is from Toronto Canada. he is 21 years old. and he has just started the mission. we get along great and he is such a great person he just loves everyone and wants the best for the people. it is so great. and the ward is great and we are finding a lot of new people. how cool that he gets to start with some baptisms. this week is also the baptism of Ronald Zambrano. he is really a great person, he left with the ward members to do home teaching visits yesterday it was really cool. then next week is the baptism of Jordan Mite. John was not able to attend church this week so pray for him that everything is okay. we will see for when we put the next baptismal date for him. also keep praying for Erik Bravo. we have not seen him at all this week.

Love you all.

Elder McCammon

and i found crabs.

Waiting in Guayaquil for his new Companion

These are the people we are teaching:

Leonardo Aviles 16 years old,  13th of septiember

Ronald Zambrano 14 years old 20th of september

John Mendoza 15 years old 27th of September

Jordan Mite 9 Years Old 27th of september

Erik Bravo 19 years Old Maybe the 27th

My week was good me an my comp worked hard and we had a lot of people in church. we have a few people that are working towards baptism so if you can pray for them. my comp got changed as well, do not know who my new one is yet. I am in the same sector, but my companion left, so right now i am in a waiting stage for my companion with another elder who is going to train, i do not think i am training, i am with him until three when he goes to pick up his companion and have a training meeting with the other missionaries who will train, the new missionaries, and president, but i do not know what i will be doing. 

I only read 150 pages this week in the bible, next week I am going to kick it in the butt though. I am in the 2 book of Kings chapter 15. Eliseo, in spanish i think its elijah in english, just died. and someone touched his bones and lived again. so that was kind of cool act of faith type deal. Solomon was a cool king i love his conversation with the lord when he asks for wisdom. that was cool

i would recommend reading it.

(when asked about his area) i am right on the outskirts of the city, but to the south i am right by the ocean, but where i am it its the ocean it just looks like a river, because there are trees about 150 yards out, so you cant really see anything. right now it is not too hot i have not had too many problems adjusting to the climate change.

i wish you all the best elder mccammon

UPDATED:  when a member posted pictures of Jesse's birthday I also found other pictures of Jesse...this was from a Missionary Prep Class...apparently on 2 people showed up so they ended up messing around a little I think!!!  Cute pictures though.

A new week a new transfer!

So i am now in a new ward in Guayaquil, it is Calderon and it pertains to the Puerto Nuevo stake. Is the very south of Guayaquil, in an area called Guasmo Sur. It is pretty close to the 25 de julio ward so i know a little where i am at. Also the limits to our sector are cool we only touch one other ward and then the rest is river.It is pretty hot so that is sad i would rather have cold. Oh well still some time for other changes. here we are doing pretty well with investigators we are teaching Ronald Zambrano who is 14 and loves the church. he is going to seminary and even went with the ward Saturday to the temple so he could at least walk the temple grounds. He is preparing for a baptism this 20th of September. Also for the 20th we have Erik Bravo who is 19. He likes the church and loves the spirit he feels as we teach him and he attends church. We are also teaching Leonardo Aviles. He is 16 he is very apt to learning and loves what we have to share he has a few problems with work on Sundays but he is trying hard to make sure he can come, he is preparing for a baptism on the 13th of September. We are also teaching Jordan Mite who's family are members but have been inactive for a while, so he was never baptized, he is 9 years old, his parents are excited to come back to church and he loves attending. and we are also teaching John Mendoza who we just recently got to know he is 15 he loves to hear what we have to share and he is very excited to be able to come to church and his family is thinking about attending as well but they want him to be able to be there.

That wraps up my week i hope the letter was larger than usually and you all enjoy the read and pray for each  and every one of these people.
Love Elder McCammon

Its a good thing to be able to write back and forth, because I wouldn't know anything from that letter!
They moved him to Guayaquil and he's a district leader, but there are 33 new missionaries coming in this week, so he imagines he'll possibly have another change this week...but who knows.  Bill asked if he know his come home date and he said not for sure he said but please don't call the church offices asking, its been happening a lot and I don't want the mission president to think I am getting over exited. (I think he's telling us to be patient!)  He said his new companion is from Peru and he knows him from when they were in the same zone in Machala, but he didn't tell me his name![Elder Saldaña] We asked if he was sad to leave Loja... I will miss Loja though it is a very beautiful place, but i am pretty sure i will have another move next week. with all the new missionaries who are coming, but i do not know we will see. I do not have pictures this week. the next week i will, i do not think all the transfers are that bad. it makes it so i can see more of Ecuador. In the parts of my mission I almost know all of the mission there are only a few i have not been to, there are others that
only know Guayaquil, so i feel blessed.
Then he said this...Just an update, one fourth of the way done with the bible i am shooting for 500 pages a week. so i will be done in three more weeks. but it blows my mind how the lord always chooses people but then they sin. like the life of Saul, he was chosen to be king of Israel in Samuel but he sinned and lost his right to be king and did not feel the spirit anymore, so David came and was the next to be king and at the start of his reign is a very very very righteous king very righteous, but then he fell due to temptation. Then i was reading in DC, about John Covill in section 38 or 39 i would like to say and the lord set him apart for a divine calling, but then it says in the next section that he fell to temptation and did not want anything to do with the church anymore. i do not understand why in all of these circumstances the same thing happens, if you have insight and can help me understand why these were all chosen of the lord that would be great.

So if you have insight for Jesse, write him a letter!

La Virgen Del Cisne! (Our Lady of the Swan)

this week was crazy.

some top news of the week

there were a bunch of changes in the zone, some of the sisters missed their bus, had to buy more tickets, then sisters left, then elders got to the terminal for their changes, in other news we were in the terminal from 6 to 12, fun day not to mention that every inhabitant of Loja left because they wanted to walk from Catamayo to Loja with their idol the Virgen del Cisne, so every one was buying tickets for the bus to go to Catamayo and there was no breathing space in the terminal. I was tired and stressed.

In other news we are not teaching too many people so if you can pray that we can find more people to teach that will come to church that would be great.

Jesse said If you want to know more, Google it, but here's the gist of what I found out! He said she's a giant barbie doll that they worship that represents the virgin Mary. Basilica of the Swan is in Loja which is the Swan Province. The Catholics there say the virgin Mary appeared there in 1594. Apparently they make a pilgrimage...the section from Catamayo to Loja is 38km which it sounds like most people from Loja go to. Jesse didn't send a picture of the doll but check out the one below! The second picture of the people converging on Loja he did send.

Also today we went with a member to visit some of the waterfalls in the road to Zamora, so that was pretty fun i sent pics of the waterfalls.

Love Jesse

Praying for Progression

my week was okay. the people we have been teaching have not been progressing like we would like them too. they only seem to stay as investigators for one week and a few days and then they do not really want to hear anymore. i do not know why it is kind of weird, but we will keep working hard to find those that are really ready to have to gospel in there lives. this week we found a single adult of 24 years of age, his name is Edison Salcedo, he is having some problems in his live with his girlfriend, but he has been praying for help from the lord. and he told us that as he was praying we knocked on his door. so we are really praying that he will progress. as well we found someone who is 28, married, with a daughter, her name is cristina paute. as we were talking to here she invited us in to share more about the message we have with her. she wants to come to church, but was not able to make it this week so we are hoping for the best in this week to come. As for other good news in the week i was able to finish the book of mormon again. i love reading it especially the book of ether. i love reading about the faith that many of the people had. it really makes me look for ways that i can improve my own faith.

i hope everyone has a great week.

Elder McCammon

The work presses forward even in the night!

To clarify...last week Jesse said they got to sleep in the temple when they were in Guayaquil...that's not exactly accurate.  They have a "temple square" which has the temple and a hotel and such and he slept at the hotel, but people always say they are sleeping at the temple when they stat at that hotel.  I was trying to figure out where you sleep when you sleep in the temple and would it be spiritual or a bit unnerving!!!  He is enjoying his time in his new Zone but is finding out that being a zone leader during transfers makes for not a lot of sleep.  His zone is half of Loja and Zamora and there is not a ward but a few branches, and there are 14 missionaries including Jesse and his companion. He told Bill he didn't think being a zone leader would be so busy, they don't even have very much time to do stuff (I am assuming stuff to him is actual missionary work!) especially when there are changes...we are constantly at the bus station (Read below!) but then he said its a great chance to serve.

Here is his letter...

so this week was pretty fun. 

we got back to loja tuesday morning at four o clock am and had a fun 9 hour bus ride. then in the night we had two new sister missionaries come to the zone at 11pm, but they needed to go to Zamora, so they stayed the night with the sisters in Loja and we dropped them of at the bus terminal at 7 in the morning. Then later we had to got to Zamora to drop of boxes of BoM and pamflets for the sisters.  I got to stay in Loja with Elder Gonzales and my comp went to Zamora. Thursday, I went to Zamora again for an  interchange so i got to spend the day in Zamora and the night there. Friday back to Loja in the morning. Then in the night we found that elder Herrera had changes. So he had to come to Loja from Zamora and then to Guayaquil. He left at about 11 at night. Saturday was finally a normal day of work. We went and contacted the few people we had found in the week and re-commited them to church.  Sunday morning at four the missionaries came back from Guayaquil so we met them at the bus terminal and then sent them to Zamora. Then we go back to the house and sleep for a bit and then off to get people for church.

This week the people to pray for are

Katy Ortiz 26

Santiago Becerra 27 they are husband and wife

Griminesa Galvez 72

santiago ramon 13

lisbeth ramon 26

these are the ones that are listening for right now.

Elder Jesse

He said the pictures of the scenery are of Zamora and on the bus ride to Zamora. I didn't get any more details than that!!!
[The City pictures are of Loja from Jesse's new apartment]

 He didn't say, but I am assuming this is Elder Sanchez, Jesse's new Companion.  He has 17 months in the mission and is from Mexico.
[This is actually Elder Herrera from Columbia who had changes]