Bautismos!

Well another week down south or up north? I don't know... Stuck in the middle of the world right now haha!

Well, last Monday my companion and I left after writing to our families to go and teach a lesson with our ward mission leader.  So we were just walking (kinda in a sketchy part of town) and BAM!  Like legit 20 cop cars just pulled up on us along with a bunch of the News Cars and I kid you not, there were like 100 cops just all around us searching for drugs in the trees along the road that we were walking on.  Well, we didn't try to walk around it and they didn't tell us to stop where we were going, so yeah we walked right through a 3rd world Drug Bust and I am like 100% sure that if you were watching tv in Ecuador that day, you saw the Mormon missionaries on the Ecuador news haha!  Afterward, it was super funny but also by far the scariest thing that has happened to me in my little adult life! 

Well, we had another great bautismo!  It was awesome!  Ella se llama Baneza!  Her kids are members and she never really wanted to get baptized.  We had been teaching her but she just was not progressing.  We went over about 3 weeks ago to visit with her and felt inspired to throw out an invitation to get baptized in a few weeks and she said no.  But she told us she wanted to get baptized sooner, so last week was her bautismo and it was awesome!  She has a great testimony!  This week we are going to have another bautismo.  El se llama Junior and he's such a cool kid!  He's 10 years old and a really great kid.

 

We have been planning a lot with our zona and in 5 weeks we are going to have an activity like Alma!  We are having a White Night or a Noche Blanca.  We are inviting all of our investigators in the Zone to be part of a special baptism night and baptize them all on the same evening at the stake center!!!  Our goal is to have 40 bautismos that night or more! 

All is well right now for me!  Almost Christmas!  I gave a talk yesterday in church.  I read Mosiah 5:8 and talked about the covenants with God that members of the Church have entered into and that there is great responsibility with that.  It was a call to the members to start to perform their church callings and help out more!

Things are good!

Con amor

Elder Hoole

 Our zone tie!  The lighthouse of Guayaquil.

The Zone!

 The baptism last week

A Great Baptizme!

Well, this week was a pretty awesome week!

First off, we had another Zone Conferencia with Presidente and it was awesome. We talked about how we can make the baptizme service more of a spiritual thing and how we need to take the baptisms more serious in our wards with the members. It was a great meeting and it even made it better because a couple of days after our meeting, we had a baptizme. It was so awesome.  It was probably the best baptizme I have ever been to!  Well, first off Presidente Moreno came to our baptizme with all of his family and we were super stressed out, so we spent the whole day Saturday cleaning the church and making sure everything was going to work out as planned. The reason that Presidente Moreno came was because our investigator invited him to come and baptize her!  Narcisa de reyes Loma has been an investigator for the last 24 years!  She has a daughter currently serving in the mission in Brasil and her daughter has been a huge help for us!  If you remember, last Monday Narcisa got married and then on Saturday night she was baptized finally after 24 years!  It was awesome and it was so great that her daughter serving in Brasil got to watch it on Skype!  So great!

Last Monday in the nighttime, we decided to go and teach an investigator who hasn't been progressing really, but her 2 kids are members in our ward.  Well, last Monday night we went over and the first thing she told was that she's ready to get baptized so we invited her to get baptized on the 25th of November and she said to us, "No I want to get baptized this week!"  So it turns out that this Saturday we are going to have another baptizme! 

The work here in Guayaquil is picking up and it is so fun!  We are really working hard and I'm seeing so many great milagros!  Fun fact: we walk a lot and all my pants are getting sunbleached.

Yesterday after church, we went back to our house to change our clothes and break our fast.  Well, as we left the house my companion and I took a turn and BAM a drugged out guy who looked just like a pirate was right there just chilling. There was nothing we could do.  We couldn't turn around because he would've just chased us so we just walked right up to him.  When he saw us he started shouting, "BLESSINGS! BLESSINGS!"  And then he looked right at me and was like, "Give me your phone and money and everything you have!!!" (low key I had a lot of stuff on me) but I just turned to this guy and said, "Dude we have nothing."  And he just said, "Oh ok."  And then I said "Oh yeah, haha, don't worry about it."  And tried to be chill.  But yeah, this dude was really huge and scary but we LIVED!!!!  GOD IS REAL, MY FRIENDS!!  The story sounds a lot funnier in person, but man right then I was so scared haha! 

But yeah, really all is well here in Ecuador!

Thanks for the love and support!  I have been out 13 months!!!

Elder Hoole

Narcisa and her family 

 Presidente Moreno and Narcisa

 Presidente and Narcisa speaking with Narcisa's daughter 

who is serving a mission in Brazil.

Cute little ward member wearing my name tag

Halloween in Ecuador

Well...HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  They don't really celebrate Halloween here because they think it's from the devil, but they all buy Halloween stuff for their houses and decorate....Oh Ecuador...

So this past week was a good week!  A lot happened!  First off, Elder Falabella who is a member of the Seventy in our Church, came down to Ecuador and talked to our mission!  We were all super scared that he was going to come and just hit us hard with scriptures, but that didn't happen.  He just talked to us and told us how we can be better missionaries and how we can find more people to teach and baptize!  It was super cool and I got to see a bunch of my friends who are here serving in the mission in other parts!  Then the very next day, about 15 of us had to go and renew our visas and that took the whole day.  Honestly, it was super boring but we got to chill in the Guayaquil North mission the whole day and yes, there's a GOLD'S GYM in the Guayaquil North Mission!  Super cool!  But yeah, I am legal again to be living here in Ecuador! 

Last Saturday, we had another meeting with Elder Falabella, but this time just with the leaders in the mission and yeah, this was when he really hit us with some scriptures!  haha It was a really good meeting and part of what he told us is that if we want to have a mission with success, it starts with us!  So other than that not much has been going on in my life.  Funny thing, our mamita here who cooks for us is now telling us that she wants more money so that's cool.  Going to talk to her today and find out what is going on!  I guess the most interesting news is that this morning we went and were the witnesses for a marriage today!!!!  She is this great lady se llama Narciza that has been an investigator for 25 years!  It was super awesome and her bautismo is this Saturday and her daughter that is currently serving in the mission in Brazil is going to watch it!!!  ESO!

Anyway, hope all is well!

Elder Hoole

I miss this so much!

Getting some papers signed before the marriage!

Getting married

All married!  Baptism on Saturday!  

Sharing Talents in the Ward

This week was a lot of fun!!!

This was probably one of the funnest weeks I have had in the mission.  First off, we got a call this past Tuesday from the APs that we had to run over to their house and get all the luggage for the missionaries that were leaving because they had forgotten it. So at around 2pm, we had to run over to the AP's house and get Elder Roberts' luggage and another missionary's luggage and take it to the temple, all before 4pm.  It was awesome because we not only got to go to the temple and take some pictures, but we also got to take like a 3 hour break from working!  Pilas haha!  We also were lucky enough to see some of the new gringos who just got here and it was so funny to see their eyes!  Yeah, I guess I have forgotten that Ecuador is a 3rd world country. 

During this past week, the ward put on a talent show with members performing talents, so of course my companion and I were like, "Yo, we gotta do something good for this!"  So we had a member in the ward stick some music on a pen drive and then got to work and we made up a dance in like 1 hour!  Here in Guayaquil, there are 2 huge soccer teams, Bacalona and Emelic.  For costumes, we both put on the team jerseys and then yes, we danced to a song in front of the Stake President, the Bishop and like 50 ward members and it was awesome!!!  So we took 5th place but it was so fun!  And yes I have the video!

Later after that, our investigator called us and told us to come over to her home for dinner.  So as we walked into her house, BAM her whole family was there and they were all eating crab!  I have never eaten so much crab in my life!  It was delicious and so awesome!

So yeah, this week was just a lot of fun down here in Ecuador!  I'm really excited because also this Wednesday we have a member of the 70 coming down to talk to us!  I can't wait for that too!

All is well with me down here! 9 more weeks til Christmas!

Elder Hoole

Baptism!

Well, this week seemed super slow!

This week had its ups and its downs!  First, it was my first week in the mission with a gringo companion and it has been awesome!  (But we talk too much in English together haha) (it's so hard not to).  We have been killing it and have been talking to everybody and just inviting everybody to get baptized on the first approach!  So it has been super fun and tiring!  But we did end this week with another great baptism.  Se llama Juriel!  He has been an investagatore for 8 months and is 14 years old!  He finally got baptized and it was awesome!  All of the young men in the ward came and supported him, so that was pretty cool!  Also, we had to help all of the church leaders during the baptizme and I had to lead and conduct it and I was a little nervous haha but it turned out good! Super awesome! 

This next week, the ward has a talent show and yes we will be involved in it!  I will send a video of our great talent for you all to see.  Also, this week was the last week with Elder Roberts here in the mission!  Super bummed and sad!  Gonna miss this kid!  A member in my ward invited him to come and eat with us on Sunday so I got to have the last supper with him what before he left to return home to Utah!  Super dope! 

Also, we just found the best news!  We found out that Hma Narzisa who has been an investagatore for 25 years and whose daughter is serving on the mission is going to get married 30 de Octobre and then get baptised the 4th of Noviembre!  We are so happy about this!

That's about all that has happened this week!  We have a member of the Seventy coming to our mission this Wednesday and also a whole bunch of new missionaries!  We will have 4 people training in our zone!!!  There will be so much to do for me!  

Hope all is well! 

Con Amor

Elder Hoole

Preaching the Good Palabra

Well, this week has been super crazy!  Well first off, on Thursday I hit my 1 year mark in the mission! That was awesome! (Mom I did it, haha).  Got me thinking a lot though again on the things that I have learned this last year in my life... and I've learned a lot. 

Exciting news!  A member here bought me Dunkin Donuts!!!!  YES DUNKIN DONUTS IS HERE IN ECUADOR!!!! I think there's like only 1 in Utah haha!  And it was awesome because y'all know that America Runs On Dunkin!

Also this past week we bought matching ties for the whole zone!  They're awesome!  And also...we had a Bautismo!  Finally!  We have been out one for awhile!  She's 9 years old so the Primary in her ward is very happy haha! 

So right during the bautismo the APs called us and told us that we all had transfers!!!!  WHAT???!!!  The transfer was supposed to be the next week but it came a week early!  My companion left me!!!  And now I'm with Elder Boyack from Spanish Fork, Utah!  We have the same time in the mission and he's dope!  So finally I get to be blessed with a gringo companion! 

On Saturday morning, President Moreno gave my companion and me permission to go to the hospital to give a blessing to a member but the rules here are that only one of us was allowed to enter the hospital.  President told us it was okay and so my companion dipped into the hospital with the member's son who lives in Las Vegas and yes, I was left alone for 30 minutes or so in the crazy Guazmo Sur de Guayaquil!  I was only a little scared but all is well! haha!  

Things are good here and not much else has been going on!  I hope all is well back home!!!

Read the Book of Mormon this week!  Read Alma chapter 56 and Moroni chapter 9!

Gracias por todo!

Elder Hoole

maxwell.hoole@myldsmail.net

1 Year Down!

Well, this week hits my 1 year mark in the mission!

If I wrote down everything that I have learned in this past year, I would never finish this email.  But I thought I would share a few things that I have learned so far in the mission field:

1) God knows me personally.

2) Love everyone you meet. 

3) God gives us trials so that we can find strength.

4) Faith is super powerful!

I could keep on going with this list, but this past week a lot happened!

1) We had a zone conferencia with 3 other zones here in Guayaquil with Presidente. As a mission, we are going to read the Book of Mormon together! We started Sunday morning and we will finish on May 31st next year!  It's super cool!  We always hear about the importancia of reading the Book of Mormon so it will be cool to do it as a mission!

2) Wednesday all the Zone Leaders had another meeting to figure out why we have been lacking in baptisms as a mission! We have had a difficult time lately, and need to figure out what is wrong. We need to do a better job with teaching the doctrine to the people we are teaching and also working more with the members.

3) In our zone last week, we got some super sad news. An elder's dad passed away. It has been super sad and hard for all of us. This particular missionary is a stud and from Peru.  He has 8 months in the mission and is going to stay here and finish serving.  Super sad for him but it is such a great act and example of faith to all of us.

4) I loved watch general conferencia this past weekend! Got me super trunky with seeing home.  It looked like it was raining a bit in SLC! 

This has been an awesome time out here in the mission!  I have truly learned so much! Thanks for all the help with first year!  This is the Church of Jesus Christ!  If it wasn't, I would've dipped back home in week 4 of this thing haha!  I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that we have the fulness of the gospel here on the earth!

Thanks for everything.

Elder Hoole

If you want to read the Book of Mormon along with us, 

here is the schedule our mission will be following. 

 Our zone!

 Encebollado with the APs and my companion today

It is a fish soup made here.  Yum!!!

 I love granadillas!  They are so delicious!!!

 This is so yummy!!!  Very sweet and delicious!!!!

 One year down in the mission!  

 The traditional one year shirt burning.  

 There it goes...

And it's done!