WEEK 16: DIA DE ACCION DE GRACIAS (Thanksgiving)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you guys all enjoyed yourselves. Judging by the picture of Hannah and Calvin you sent me, it looks like he ate too much haha. Glad there was someone to fill my empty space. Honestly I totally forgot that it was Thanksgiving. We didnt have time to do anything special or cook anything, and we also dont have the money haha. Out here in the field its just another day of work and it was a great day. Elder Diaz and I have been putting in work contacting and knocking lots of doors to find new people to teach! 

A few things I learned this week. Our mission president is a Harvard graduate. And we are the literal best mission in the world in terms of numbers and statistics. This is great too because all of our leaders are always so motivating. We always put high goals and work all day to reach them. Elder Diaz has about 8 months in the mission and he is from Peru. He teaches lessons so well I learn a lot from him everyday. And at this point my spanish is decent enough I can always understand what he is saying. He always gives a lot good advice during comp study and lets me know ways and tricks to speak better in Spanish. I was not able to get any pictures but I can describe what he looks like pretty well. Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite. Just with the missionary haircut. And I am not even joking. He has been putting me to work this week. 

Nothing too crazy happened this week. I did run into Elder Barba one night! There was a leadership meeting so a bunch of the missionaries came and stayed in our houses from the far away parts of the mission. There was a two day conference and his comp was a zone leader in a small district somewhere. So that was pretty cool. We also got a new zone leader. He was actually in our sector maybe 6 months ago and I always used to hear the members here talk about him. He is going to bring us around and show us to some of his older investigators. 

The mission president was at stake conference yesterday and we got to sing the hymn our mission wrote at stake conference! So that was cool. The Huancavilca stake is kind of struggling with a lot of inactivos so the president of the mission came out to help solve the problem. We will see how it goes in the next few weeks. Ill have to get you guys a copy of the hymn of the mission one of these days its such a great song.

It talks a lot about the Atonement. Which is the most important doctrine we have to teach the gospel. It helps us to change lives, and it gives us the desire to share the gospel with everyone we know. I promise every single one of you that if you spend this week and just focusing on studying the Atonement, that you will have a desire to share the gospel with everyone you know. And you will grow so much because of it. Because if you think about it, its the Atonement that makes everything possible. Without the Atonement there would be no plan of salvation...no repentance. Treasure up the Atonement this week. It really is the most important doctrine we can share with other people. 

WEEK 15: NEW COMPANION, SAME SECTOR

Hey family! You guys enjoy your Thanksgiving this week! I want to see pictures of the feast and all you guys!

This last week was good! We worked hard and got some new baptismal dates set up for December. We have just been getting through references and have some good leads. We are teaching a family with our ward mission leader who now have a date to be baptised the 19th of December. The funny thing is that the wifes mom is super catholic so we cannot ever pass by their house because she would not allow them to be baptized. So we have been working with them a lot lately. We will have a baptism this week as well. Either Saturday, or Sunday before stake conference. 

Funny story of the week;

This last Tuesday, we were just finishing lunch with our mamita about to share a spiritual thought. So out of nowhere appear our zone leaders, they were out of breath because they were running so hard. Apparently our phone is not functioning right because we were not receiving their phone calls. So they told us we had to go to the mission office IMMEDIATELY. So of course being new, I had no idea why we had to go to the office because it sounded urgent. So we run to find a taxi and get to the office which is about 15 minutes away. So we get to the office and are sitting in the waiting room for the president. He comes and gets us both and tells us to go wait for him in the office. So he comes in and talks with us for a few minutes, and my comp asked him why we were there. So he tells my companion to sing the first verse of hymn number 120 in the spanish hymn book...and then he tells me to sing the second verse. So this is without music...and I had no idea I was going to sing at all. So I murdered it in the worst way possible. And after he told us we sang because that was his favorite hymn and he wasnt motivated (which we later found out was a lie). Today we found out it is because there is a special mission christmas choir that travels around all the stakes. And my comp made the cut so he was tranferred to a different zone!

As of today I have a new companion! His name is Elder Diaz and he is from Peru. He does not know english so my spanish is going to start getting really good. He has about 8 months in the mission so far. Elder Tomlinson was district leader so they are going to call a new one tomorrow at the zone meeting. I am also senior companion for the time being because Elder Diaz does not know the sector yet. So thats pretty cool. Ive got the phone and the keys and all that right now. 

I am still not 100%  sure if we will call or skype. But again I will let you guys know. I can only talk to my family and its for only an hour. The mission is pretty strict about that part. 

Keep working hard back there in the states! You can do everything through Christ who strengthens us. Christ is our rock and we need to have complete faith and trust in him.

Love you guys! ELDER SOLARI

WEEK 14: GRAFFITI

Hey!

Everything is going well out here! This last week was a little slow because my companion had some ingrown toenails we needed to get taken care of. He got one completely ripped out and the other cut down. It was pretty cool to see! So the mission nurses made us take a day off so he wouldnt be limping around all day in the streets. 

That is so cool to hear that Jacks team won the championship! And they did it against his old team...that must have made his old coach feel really bad haha. Twice in a row and Jack also pitched? Sounds like he is getting really good at baseball! I miss playing sports but the work out here is more important! I only have 2 years to serve the Lord and the rest of my life to enjoy sports! 

Yeah so in Ecuador there are a bunch of smaller provinces run by governors. Guayas is the province that we are in right now. We are pretty close to the coast. Just a few sectors over is a Zone that is all on a big island right next to the mainland. Guayas encompasses all of the city of Guayaquil. And to expound on the almost being attacked by a dog...We were almost running home one night because we have to be in our apartment at 9pm sharp. We took a shortcut and there were a bunch of dogs barking. So as we get closer because the street we were going to take was a block up, they start barking and becoming really aggressive. There are a ton of stray dogs but most of them are nice and will leave you alone. So for the mean ones, if you bend over and pretend to pick up a rock theyll run off because they think youre going to throw it. So that worked on these dogs the first time but not the second. And right when one was about to get me a car came by and we were able to get away. It was a pretty cool experience. It made me miss Buster hahaha. 

Anyways this week was slow. We dropped a lot of our investigators because they were not keeping committments and were not able to go to church. So we have been focusing our efforts on finding again. More specifically we are working with less actives to get references. We have some new investigators we have citas set for this week. So keep praying for us! We are going to do everything we can to help them get to church and enter the waters of baptism and accept Christ in their lives! 

We have kind of dropped Gaston and Rosio. They enjoy going to church, but he does not want to be baptised until after he retires from his job working in politics this next year. We are going to pass by and remind them about church every week, but some missionaries next year are going to get to baptise them! Sad but we have to focus on the people that are ready to accept the gospel. Sometimes all we get to do is plant the seed.

So I got a flashdrive in a package a week ago from Alison and we can listen to hymns during study time and at night. If everyone could send me their favorite hymns so that I could download them, that would be awesome! Childrens and regular hymns work, and any artist will do. Motab, BYU Vocal Point, etc. 

About the photo - there is graffiti everywhere here!

The great thing about Christ is that he is always here for us. Even if we are in the world and surrounded by bad things, bad standards, bad people...Christ and the Gospel are always constant. And he will always be there for us no matter what weve been through. Jesus te ama = Jesus loves you. He loves all of us.

Elder Solari

WEEK 13: 3 MONTHS IN!

Hey everyone! I did not get transferred this last week. I am still here working in Las Acacias with Elder Tomlinson! We did end up getting new zone leaders that we like a lot! This last week was pretty interesting! We had all the water in our city cut off for 36 hours or so this last weekend! I think they were cleaning out all the tanks. So we showered with big jugs of water yesterday morning! It was definitely a cool experience. Because hot water doesnt exist out here, so our showers in the morning are always freezing cold. 

We worked hard this last week. We have a goal every week to have at least 30 lessons with a member present. Members are so important to the work out here. Every night we get back to the house and I am too tired to even write in my journal. I am also super tan from being out in the sun all day. We have so many investigators so we keep busy. The hardest thing ever is to get them to come to church! We always go and committ them to church during the week, and then Saturdays we pass for everyone again to remind them. And Sunday mornings before church because we meet at 3pm. Everyone here believes in the Bible and so we always teach them about Dia de Reposo and they just dont go to church. We have members pass by them Sundays and everything. Most of the missionaries say the hardest part about here is getting them to come to church and I believe them. The people here love to give excuses. But were working through it. 

There is saying here in the mission called mango bajos. These are the people who are ready and willing to accept the gospel without much effort or work necessary. These are the people we need to find and teach because we can bring in much more fruit that way. A lot of the people we have been teaching are mango altos. They are in the tops of the trees and take a lot more time and effort to teach. So we might have to focus more of our time this week and finding people who are more ready to accept the gospel and attend church. 

Gaston and Rosio are going well, theyre able to make more time to visit with us so we need to get them to church this week. His work always keeps him busy. He is always on call so sometimes he leaves last minute for work and cant make church or appointments we have with him.

As far as what you guys can do to help, just keep praying for us and for our investigators. Pray for us that they will be able to keep their commitments and attend church this next week. Pray that their hearts will be softened while we are teaching them. 

Yeah the victory pizza was great. It was just a little family owned place here, so nothing special. And no I wish it was as good as it is in the states. One thing that is better here is the bread. They have the best hot, fresh bread they sell in little tiendas on the streets. 10 cents and you are in heaven. 

Also, if any of you have not watched the video of the history of John Tanner in the church, I would reccomend it. You can find it on youtube and it is about 19 minutes long. Watch it for FHE this week! 

I know the church is true! It is for everyone and when sharing it, share according to their needs. Especially with the holiday season coming up. Share and talk with people about the birth of our saviour! I know Jesus Christ is out saviour and was born into this world as a baby just like we all are. And we may not know it but we too can have an impact on the world in a way like Christ did. I love you guys! 

WEEK 12: HALLOWEEN

Hey family and friends! This might be a little late but Happy Halloween! 

This last week was good. We got a lot of things accomplished. We were able to get some new baptism dates set with our investigators, and I am now halfway through the 12 week in field training program for missionaries. Today we got to go to the office and most of our zone had interviews with the President so that was good! Tomorrow is actually transfers, so if we get the call tonight, either my comp or I am going to leave the sector. He has been here for over 3 months, which is pretty long, so I might have a new companion come this next week! I will keep you guys posted! The thing about this mission though, is that every week you could be transferred! A lot of times the President will call in transfers weeks early. And the Mission President told me today that whoever my next companion is going to be, he is going to be a latino so my Spanish knowledge is going to grow so much! 

We had a competition this last week on Thursday with the other companionship in our district. The companionship that could put the fewest baptism dates had to buy the other companionship pizza! And we won! So sometime in the next day or two we are going to get pizza! This is great because pizza is kind of expensive and there are no places in our district to buy it so we are excited! 

Gaston and his wife Rosio could not make it to church today so we are going to be pushing back their baptism date a week or two. The hardest thing about Ecuador so far is the people. When they commit to something they dont follow through with it very much. They like to lie to get out of things, especially since were both gringos...which means they think we cant notice when theyre lying to our faces hahaha. Its been a little tough to get used to but we are starting to know how to work through it so its been going well. 

Cool story of the week: We are teaching this guy, his name is Carlos. He lived in the States for 20 years or so because he had his papers. So he lost them and got deported here to Ecuador. Then he tried getting back into the States through Mexico and he got caught and served 2 years in Jail. So he is here in Ecuador now. He is almost fluent in Spanish and he has totally turned his life around. He is working on a book he started while he was in jail all about self motivation and discipline and he is honestly a great guy. He works so hard to have the best life for himself out here. His family is all still in the states and they have totally forgotten about him. We are teaching him the lessons and are going to get him a baptism date soon. 

One thing I love about Ecuador. Everybody, no matter who you talk to, believes in Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father.

I know that this gospel is for everyone. Every single person, no matter how far from the path they are, are never to long gone to be able to return and accept the Savior. His Atonement is for everyone, and everyone needs to use it everyday to be clean from all the sins, big and small we commit. I know that Christ is our Savior and understands every problem we have, and through him we can become strong and steadfast in the faith and in our work as missionaries. Dont forget it. We are all missionaries, you dont have to have a plaque to be able to share the gospel with others. Dont be afraid to open your mouth or help others in need.

I love this gospel and everyones support for me out here. Keep being strong and praying to our Heavenly Father, and everything is possible!

(Sorry again for no pictures)

Love you mom!

Elder Solari