Merry Christmas!

    Hope everyone had an awesome Christmas! We had a great one! I got my package from my family, and I was super happy about that. Beef Jerky!!! All of my latin companions always me to ask my family for the "carne seco", and I think my companion was more excited then anyone when he saw that haha.We also had the baptism of Marco this saturday. He was super excited for his baptism, but pretty nervous for the confirmation in front of everybody! He`s super awesome and it was great to be able to teach him. 

    Right now I`m with other missionaries waiting for the new missionaries to arrive fresh out of the MTC. I`m going to train a new missionary here in this ward. Hopefully I can give him a good first impression of the mission and help him learn well. I love it here in the mission and in this ward! I`m doing well! I`ll send pictures and write you guys the next week!

Gracias,

Elder Pollock

Merry Christmas!

    This week I had transfers again!! It´s how mission life is alot of times and i´m pretty used to it. I was excited to see the baptism of Mariuksi and her daughter whose baptisms were for this Saturday, but the Lord knows where we should go and why so I don´t have any problems with it!

    My new ward is very small. We´ve met some young people who are awesome and want to get baptized. In that picture I sent with me, my companion and a bunch of teenagers, only 1 of them is a member already and almost all of the rest want to get baptized. We´ve got lots of work to do! We´re preparing them for that now here in this ward. I´m very excited because it´s awesome working with the teenagers. Here they can get caught up in a lot of bad stuff, but these have decided to follow the example of Jesus and avoid all of the things the world offers. As they come to church an take part of these ordinances they will have much more happiness in their lives and examples for others around them. Many of them want to go on missions as well! They are mostly the investigators we have for the moment.

   My new companion is awesome! He´s from Peru, has 6 months in the mission and is an awesome missionary. This weekend there was a ward christmas party, I played piano for that and a few of the photos I sent are from that. We were able to find some new investigators there as well. One we met there is the wife of a young guy who just got married recently. Someone told us she wasn´t a member and we basically ran to meet them. We taught her and she accepted to be baptized soon. She came to church on Sunday as well and loves the church!

   I love being here on a mission! I´m super grateful to have this opportunity. I know Christ is our Savior and it´s an awesome time to remember him. Hope everyone has a feliz Navidad!

Elder Pollock

   

  

 

Hola!

    We´ve been having a white Christmas in Ecuador! Not snow, that´s basically  impossible here, it´s like 80-90 degrees everyday. This week we had the baptism of an investigator we´ve been teaching, Roy. He´s a teenager that has loved the church and has been fellowshipped into a group of friends very quickly here. We´re super happy about that, because we know they´ll help him keep coming to church after his baptism alot! He´ll avoid alot of stuff the world might offer with this new group of friends and with becoming a member of the church. He absorbs the lessons like a sponge which is awesome! He has learned alot very quickly in the time we´ve taught him.

    The baptism was awesome! Roy´s Mom, brother, and niece came to support him. It all went well and the spirit was strong. At the end we gave him a new member package with new scriptures, a hymn book, etc. He was super happy to get that. We´re hoping the mom can get baptized as well, and that when the brother turns 8 he will follow the example of his brother!

   I´ve recieved a testimony lately that the when we put our part the Lord helps us in ways we don´t expect. This week we noticed a family in church that has been coming to church regularly, but we found out that the parents aren´t baptized. There was some complication with that the Dad needs to be divorced from a prior engagement in order to marry his current wife. If they´re living together and not married they can´t be baptized! 

    When we talked to them, they expressed to us a grand desire to be baptized. They´ve been coming to church for 5 years! For the dad to get divorced to his prior engagement from 15 years ago, the lawyer will be a big cost that is impossible for them to cover. The Mom of Roy happens to be a lawyer with lots of experience! We set up an appointment to for the family to meet with her. She veery generously offered to help them without charging any more than the base costs of the process, and in small payments (the laywer not recieving a salary for her). When that process is over they will finally be able to be married, baptized, and their goal is to as soon as possible be sealed in the temple.

   When we do all we can to do what the Lord commands, he´ll prepare the rest. We recieve many blessings for obeying the commandments. Sometimes it takes a while to see the results, but if we are dilligent we´ll recieve many blessings for our efforts. I´m super grateful to be a missionary in this work!

Gracias,

Elder Pollock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey!

    I´ve been very excited for the work lately. This saturday we had the baptism of an investigator we´ve been teaching, Selena. She is an awesome convert. It took her a while to decide to be baptized, but when she did she was super sure of it and nothing would have stopped her. We´re now working on helping her mom to be baptized. We had a few investigators come to the baptism as well. One will be baptized very soon. His name is Roy. We´ve been teaching him for a couple weeks. He picks up every thing we teach super fast, and puts it in practice. It gets me super excited to teach him. 

   This week we were walking to see if a member of the church could come visit a family with us because we needed member (man) for sure. We were basically at our last hope going to a member that we knew probably wasn´t home, but we decided to go anyway. On the way there a lady stopped us on the sidewalk. She told us she was a member and said "Just who I was hoping to find! I´m from out of town, but I´m on my way to visit my friend and I want you to come meet her!" We needed to go find a brother from the church to visit someone that was preparing to be baptized, but we felt strongly that we should go. We came to meet a single mom with 3 kids, a 10 year old girl, and a 9 year old and 5 year old boy. We found out her 9 year old boy was autistic (I believe is the term). 

    The next day we came and felt we should start out teaching the plan of salvation, which is a little out of the ordinary, as we usually start out teaching the restoration or the gospel of jesus christ. The day after she accepted to be baptized soon with her daughter, and came to church with all her kids to church yesterday! I´m super excited to continue teaching this family, and happy for the opportunity God has given us to teach them!

   I know God has a plan for all of us here on Earth. He wants us to be happy. I love being a missionary and being able to spread the happiness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone I can.

Elder Pollock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey!

 

    Just a quick email this week to tell you guys that I had changes again! `My companion and I, Elder Meza, moved to a new sector and got another companion, Elder Calanche! We`re in a trio now, which apparently will be just temporary. It`s a little different but we`re doing the same thing, preaching the gospel! There are a few families here that we`re teaching right now. 4 investigators came to church this sunday who are way awesome. I was able to meet the members of my new ward here as well. I`ll tell you more about them next week because I got here just recently and haven`t gotten to know them much yet!

     I`m grateful for this opportunity I have to be a missionary. I know this church is true and this gospel brings the blessings god has prepared for us. The savior has suffered all for us. He knows us and all of our problems and challenges, and will help us if we look to him.

 

Gracias,

Elder Pollock

Hey!

    We had companion exchanges again this week! My new companion is Elder Meza (Elder Table) from Quito. He`s way awesome. He came to the mission almost 2 years ago but had to leave because of knee problems. He did rehabilitation and is back in the mission again! He has 2 months in the mission field. We get along super well. He can speak English basically fluently as well which is way awesome! We`re still here in the same ward I`ve been in. The members here are very supportive and for that i`m grateful.

    This week we were going to have the baptism of Vanessa, but she had health problems this weekend again and couldn`t get baptized. I guess the timing wasn`t right yet! If everything works out well she`ll be baptized this week! She really wants to be baptized. She`ll be an awesome convert in the church.

    I`m super excited to work in the work of the Lord! We`re finding people who are listening to the message. I`m happy to be here because I know this is the church of Jesus Christ and that the teachings of him can help in the lives of everyone. As we keep the commandments, God blesses us, and I know that to be true. Obedience to the commandments will bring us joy in this life and in the life to come!

Elder Pollock

Hola!

    Just a small story to start.. The other Monday after writing we went to the apartment (We live there as 4 missionaries) In the store I saw an almost open coconut packaged with a flexi straw and thought it was interesting, so I bought it. When I went to open my coconut I noticed that it was cut almost to the inside, and I thought I just needed to put the straw in. I tested it at first and noticed that it was soft, so I punched the straw in. The coconut pretty much EXPLODED haha. It got me pretty wet. We had a good laugh from that and I enjoyed some coconut water. 

   We had an awesome week! We`ve been finding lots of new people that have desires to listen and change their lives with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We`re teaching one family of 7 (the parents and 5 sons.). 3 of the sons have accepted to be baptized and have already come to church! The parents couldn´t come because of work and the older 2 are working as well and already have an engagement. They`re awesome and I`m excited to work with them.

   Another investigator is a neighbor nearby. She couldn´t come to church this week because she went to the hospital! She wants to be baptized and is an awesome investigator! We have lots more that are all way awesome as well!

   I`m super excited to work in the work of the Lord. I know this church is true and that this gospel blesses the lives of everyone who accept it. I know this is the church of Jesus Christ.

Gracias,

Elder Pollock

Hey Everyone,

    These 2 weeks were very busy but very happy! Last Saturday, the 19th, we had the baptisms of Andrea, Pola, and Angelo! They`re the young mom and grandma to the left, and the black kid to the right in the picture with lots of people in white. It was an awesome day and an amazing baptism. The 2 other Elders in our ward also had 2 baptisms. A ton of the ward came and it was a great experience! Andrea, Pola, and Angelo were VERY excited to get baptized! Andrea was a evangelist missionary when she was younger, and gave her testimony during the baptism that this church is true. Angelo came to church early by himself this Sunday which was made me super excited! 

   Monday after that baptism we had companion exchanges. My new companion is Elder Castillo. He`s from Bolivia and has 2 months in the mission. I`m a trainer now for his 12 weeks (the training program in the mission field), but I think he came way prepared and doesn`t need much training. He`s an awesome missionary and has a ton of excitment to work! He always says "Lets just tract this entire street, every door!" haha. I`m super excited to work with him! 

   This Saturday the 26th we had 2 more baptisms! Priscilla, and Nadia. Priscilla we found just contacting doors. We talked with her for about 5 minutes 2 weeks ago and left the door with her having already a strong baptismal date for the 2 of november. It ends up that the Elders used to rent in that same 3 story house! Also that she had a ton of friends that were members. We kept teaching her and she decided to be baptized a week earlier than we initially said, this saturday! It was way awesome and she was very excited to be baptized! The other investigator, Nadia, was an investigador for a looooong time, about 5 months I believe. We were persistent in inviting her to be baptized about everyday! Even just in casual conversation. She had been going to church every sunday, and participated in all of the activities for those 5 months! The other sunday she spontaneously accepted to be baptized when we invited her! She got baptized this saturday and it was an amazing baptism.

    This is the work of the Lord and I`m excited to be an instrument in his hands to help the lives of others. Many of these people were prepared to accept the gospel beforehand by the examples of members of the church and seeds of sharing the gospel. Every member is a missionary and we should all share the gospel as much as we can! I love the gospel and being on my mission. I know that is the church of Jesus Christ.

Gracias,

Elder Pollock

 Hey everyone,

    We had a great week this week. Yesterday we brought 6 investigators to church. The investigators we are teaching right now are awesome! We´re teaching a 25 year old single mother, Andrea, along with her grandma who accepted to be baptized soon! They´re both really awesome. Andrea has looots of questions! It reminds me of Jenny from when I was in Pinneaples. For example we told her we would bring her a magazine of The Liahona, and instantly she asked what Liahona means! Her 6 year old daughter got up by herself to bear her testimony in sacrament meeting! We were like "No way! Heidi is going up!" She did it perfectly too, which surprised us even more.

    We´re also teaching a kid named Angelo and his older sister Dulce. Angelo came to church but we haven´t encountered his sister the past couple days. They´ve both accepted to be baptized as well. Nearby them we´re teaching Priscilla (17), Jerry (19) and Samantha (10). Priscilla and Samantha came to church and loved it. The members fellowshiped them alot which I was really grateful for. Jerry will come this week. He and Priscilla accepted to be baptized as well.

     I´m super excited to be in the work of the Lord. I loving helping people here and seeing the changes in their lives. I´m teaching people who are sincerely trying to change their lives for the better, and I´m glad to be here because I know the gospel of Jesus Christ will help them alot. I know this is the true church of Jesus and that we can find happiness following him.

Hasta Luego,

Elder Pollock

Hola!

    Well since I last wrote to everyone I got a little sick! I had hepatitis A, which they say must have come from something i ate or drink, not sure what! Luckily it doesn`t have any long lasting effects or anything. For the next month I just have to be careful about what I eat and wash spoons/cups well so I don´t give it to anyone. Within a month I should be perfectly fine and not have to worry about any of that. Not sure how I got it when I had the vaccine! I got a priesthood blessing and know that helped me to have a quicker recovery.

   I spent about a week or so resting and this week I was able to go back to work! This week we have been teaching a few investigators we have. Almost all our investigators are references from the members, which is always really awesome! We brought 8 investigators to the church to watch conference Sunday morning. I was super happy about that! I know that from those 8 many will progress and some get baptized! Two who came already accepted to get baptized soon, and we`ll talk to the others in the next couple days! 

    I loved the conference! I was super excited to listen to the prophet and the apostles. Preaching to the people every day that we have a prophet and 12 apostles, the same as the original church of Jesus Christ had, makes me even more excited to hear from them! I know that this is the church of Jesus Christ, and that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God. Jesus Christ lives today and directs this church. His gospel helps us in all parts of our lives.

-Elder Pollock

   

Hola!

     I´m guessing it´s cooled down there in Washington lately, while here in Guayaquil it is still suuuuuuper hot! It has to be around like 90 almost everyday here! We had a good week this week. We´ve been going to teach with an 18 year old here that´s leaving for his mission this wedensday. It really helps someone to prepare seeing what we do! This week we had 4 investigators in church. One guy will get baptized soon! He wants to change his life for the better leaving alcohol and everything behind. I´m super excited for the work of the lord here! I love being a missionary. I´m really grateful for the awesome people here. They´re really receptive to hear the gospel. I know it can bless their lives!

Elder Pollock

Dear Everyone,

    This week was interesting! We were able to meet alot of new people in our new sector, alot of receptive people too. We are 4 missionaries in this ward. We`ve been teaching a few people. One guy accepted to be baptized, but didn`t come to church this week. We found out after we had already taught him and he had accepted to be baptized that he has a ton of family that are members! We are also teaching another guy who`s wife and children in law got baptized about 6 months ago. He also accepted to be baptized.

     We recently had a training meeting by the mission president, the doctor of the area (peru, colombia, Ecuador, etc),the secretary of health, the Peru MTC president and the 2nd counsoler of our mission. Health is super important for a missionary that walks all day every day, and I was glad to learn from them how I can stay healthy here! Of course we didn`t talk about just that though. We learned how we can be better missionaries, teach better, etc. It was an awesome meeting.

    I`m doing well here! Still melting in the sun everyday: I drink tons of water and use sunscreen. I`m super happy to be here and love being a missionary. I know this gospel helps people and is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Gracias,

Elder Pollock

Dear Everyone,

  Thanks for all the birthday wishes! I`m super old now. I hope I don`t lose my hair anytime soon. I had a great birthday. I`m living with 3 other missionaries. They were pretty excited to go buy a cake haha. The member that gave us lunch made chicken with gravy! Random American food haha but with fried plantains (non-sweet bananas) and rice. That was cool. She also made flan and put a candle and they sang happy birthday. (They all know how to sing Happy Birthday in English which kind of surprised me haha. I guess they sing it in English for all the birthdays here too!) 

     This week was awesome. The ward here is way awesome. We went and visited a couple investigadors with the bishop. We found one teenage guy who had already talked to the missionaries recently he`s going to be baptized this saturday already! He came to church yesterday along with another guy and his 7 year old daughter (just out of baptismal reach the daughter! haha). He`s a man about 60 that has been having alot of economical problems and is looking for help from the Lord now. He said he thinks we knocked on his door for a purpose he has from god! We visited a ton of other investigators as well but they couldn`t come to church this sunday. 

    More news, I had transfers again! I`m still living in the same apartment but I`m opening up a different sector nearby. I loved my old ward I had for 2 weeks but i`m always excited for the work wherever they want me! It`s really exciting how the lord is pressuring his work! I know this is his church and that he directs it. I love being able to help other people come to Christ. It really helps alot of people in their lives.

Gracias,

Elder Pollock

Hey!

     I had transfers this week! The first time i´ve moved into a new sector. I moved from Piñas (pinneaples) to open a new sector in Guayaquil. I´m super excited to be here! It´s definitely alot different here. I´m now in a ward of like 120 instead of a branch of like 60! The members here are awesome. They all are really excited to help in missionary work. We are going to have alot of success here with all the help we get from the members. We´ve found a few investigators already that we are working with. A couple of teenagers and a couple families. They are all way awesome. We´ll see how accepting they are of the gospel.

    My new companion is Elder Saenz. It´s funny because I always ran into him since a came here in meetings and training. I even have a picture with him the first day in Ecaudor. We were talking in the bus terminal in Guayaquil waiting for them to tell us who our companions were and where we go, and they said we were companions! Haha pretty awesome. He´s way cool. We´re working hard to find good investigators and bring them to church. He´s been on his mission for 13 months and is from Nicaragua. I love being on my mission. It´s awesome teaching people this message. It´s awesome to see the change in people too. 

Gracias,

Elder Pollock

Hey!

     This week was awesome! I got my birthday package from my family! I was suuuuuper happy to get it, and my companion too haha. My family thought of everything I would want! They even included some ranch dressing powder! haha. I think I´ll just celebrate my birthday early, someday this week, and eat all of the treats at once. Haha probably not, but yea it was awesome to get all of this.

     We´ve been searching for investigators (knocking on doors and such) alooot this week. We felt inspired to small town nearby, portovelo, to find investigators there. We found two who accepted to be baptized in September! One is just about to have a baby though so it´s a little complicated; hard to come to church from that town to the church in Piñas (Pinneaples). Portovelo is where they do a lot of the refining of gold, and there are also mines. We found one investigator who is a miner that accepted to prepare to be baptized in september also! He´s 27 and way awesome. I´m excited to teach him.

    In Piñas we´ve found one investigator who accepted to be baptized also. She´s the daughter of an inactive member. We´re trying to activate the member to encourage the daughter to attend church. We´ve been working hard this week. This saturday we were knocking on doors with a member and he mentioned that it´s hard to find people to teach in some places (because no one was wanting to listen to the message). I told him that there is always somebody waiting to hear the gospel, we just need to find them. Within the next half hour or so we found 3 awesome familes that all accepted to listen to us and come to church next week (all 3 had to travel this sunday!). That was way awesome. We´ve been praying to find specifically families that we can teach and I feel that that prayer was answered. I know God is always listening and answers our prayers.

    I hope everything is well for everyone at home! Go Bishop and Austin Vach in that Bear Grylls program my Mom has been telling me about! 

   I love my mission! This week I gave a talk in sacrament meeting about missionary work. I´m on my mission because I love the Lord and all of God´s children and want everyone to be able to experience the blessings of the gospel. As members of the church we´ve been really blessed and should help other´s to recieve those blessings and the happiness we recieve from the gospel.

- Elder Pollock

Dear Everyone,

Hola! I had a great week this week. We´ve been working hard, and have been seeing results recently! We´ve been working with one investigator, Jenny, alot for about 5 or 6 weeks now, and she finally made the decision to get baptized! She went through alot making that decision, including that her family was really against it and wanted her to wait alot longer to make her decision, having to drop coffee, and contention and being basically laughed at by all her friends at work. She must have a strong testimony and I´m really happy for her to have made this decision and that I was able to help her make this decision. Her family ended up going to her baptism too! I know she was really happy about that.

Right now we´re working mostly with a family that acepted to get baptized in august. They didn´t come to church this week though cause they all got sick! We´re trying to focus on working with the members to find more people to teach, especially with those that got baptized recently because they´re excited about the church being baptized recently! I´m super excited for the work and love being on a mission, because I know this gospel is true.

Today we hiked a small mountain too for PDay with some members. That was way fun.

- Elder Pollock

Baptism!!!

  We had an awesome week this week! On Saturday I had my first baptism! and I also did the confirmation on Sunday! I was so excited, not for me, but to see someone´s life get blessed with the gospel. The baptismal service was awesome and the spirit was super strong. I felt super happy that day and I´m really excited for the work right now. The person that got baptised is Cesibel. We´ve been teaching her since late May and she decided to make this important decision. I´m really excited for her brother and sister too, who also want to be baptized soon. I included some pictures of the baptism too. This was a huge blessing from the Lord. I know he gives tons of blessings when your obedient and follow the spirit.

    I also recieved a package from home that same day, which was awesome. I´m super thankful for my family and was really excited to get that. I can´t wait to make some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We made Tacos today for P-Day too which were way good. I love being here and teaching the gospel. There is a happiness that comes from serving a mission that make me want to help people more every day. Your feet and legs are sore but your happy anyway. I know the gospel is true and that this church is the Church of Jesus Christ.

Elder Pollock

This is last weeks letter 7/8/13

Hey,

    It´s been a great week here. I got to meet my new mission president and he´s awesome. He´s from the USA! Something I´ve been learning recently is the happiness that comes from missionary work. At the end of the day I´m tired and my feet are a little sore, but it´s surprising how happy I feel knowing that the people I´m teaching are really making changes in their lives for the better. It´s awesome to see them  make those changes and find the truthfulness the gospel holds. I can feel the sprit strongly and I´m really excited for the work here. We´re working hard and with the spirit and starting to see success. This week we brought 7 investigators to church with us. I was really about that.

I love my mission. I know the gospel is true and that it helps people´s lives. I know that when we are obedient, God will always bless us. I know that he loves us and for that he sent his son. I´m happy to know that we can all live with him and with our families again in heaven some day.

-Elder Pollock

More photo's

Photo's in Pinas

Hi!

    Sorry I couldn´t write last week! It was a little complicated because we had companion exchanges again! My new companion is Elder Ortega. He´s from Argentina. I´ve already met one missionary from Argentina and tried the traditional drink from there. They call it Mate (I´m sure you remember what that is Dad). My companion didn´t bring any though, dang! It´s way good. Anyway his last sector here was in the gallapagos, and my other companion went there! 

     I feel great here in Piñas! The work is tough, but we work really hard and are obedient, and I´m confident we´ll see good results soon. The members here are awesome as usual. It´s a small branch but they help us with everything. My spanish is going really good. I have very little trouble speaking and understanding everyone.

     Something really awesome is that you really develop a love for the scriptures when you read them alot. We only have an hour of personal study, and I sometimes i find myself opening my eyes while my companion is praying at the begining of companionship study so I can read something really interesting I was reading haha. The scriptures are an awesome blessing though. I know that they have answers to the questions we have about every aspect of our lives. 

 

 

-Elder Pollock

 

 

 

Hey! This was an awesome week! We taught one guy named Alonso. He's 74. We taught him about the gospel and we're excited to teach him more. We had companion exchanges for a day too. We went to teach a store owner I met with my old companion. When we went she had a friend over and we taught them both about the restoration. The friend is really open to listen and we're excited to teach her more. We met her daughter the next day too who is really receptive to the gospel and wants to get baptized! Yesterday we met another guy named Luis. He was a reference from a member. He's almost exactly my age and paints for a living. We talked to him about the gospel and taught him a lesson. He also wants to get baptized! We're excited about the investigators here. Something I think is really funny is how all the latino missionaries use english words they learned from their companions like.. Fetch! Crap! Freakin! What the heck man! Another thing that`s kind of weird is how everyone here, not just the missionaries, have made the english word "full" spanish vocabulary, but it means ALOT. For example "FULL plata!" (Lots of money!) I know the church is true. I know the book of mormon is the word of God. I know that god answers our prayers, and that we can recieve guidance through the scriptures. I know Jesus lives. I know he atoned for our sins. I love the gospel and I love my mission. - Elder Pollock

Hey, It was a great week this week. My new companion Elder Arcos is awesome. We´re working hard and talking with everyone. He pushes me to talk more during lessons and when we talk to people which helps alot. I still have a lot to improve on in spanish and lessons. I feel like one more month here in Piñas with Elder Arcos and I´ll have it down well. We practice alot. Something I´m not sure I´ll ever get used to here is walking up and down hills allll day. 3 of our investigators are waaay up high, and 3 are all the way at the bottom of the hill. We can never manage to find a time to visit all of the ones up high one after the other, so we end up walking up waaay high, and then we go back to the bottom of the city and repeat. Today was PDay and we didn´t have anyone scheduled for lunch so we made hamburgers and french fries in our apartment. WITHOUT RICE. I was pretty happy about that. I know that this is the Church of Jesus Christ and that he directs it. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know we have a living prophet to help us in our lives today. I love my mission. -Elder Pollock

Justyn and his companion at the temple in Equador

Justyn's neighbor is a monkey!

This is how the mountains look in Pinas where he lives.

He said this is what some of the people do for a living there. They pan for GOLD!!

Umm.....another companion??

Justyn with the Mission President

A fly next to a quarter. He says they are MAMMOTH FLYS!!! HUGE!!

Hey everyone, I hope everyone had a good mothers day. I got to skype my family for mothers day which was awesome! We also did service here helping make mothers day presents for the mothers in the branch and we had a fun mothers day activity. This Sunday I played the piano for church (really an old electronic keyboard). I enjoyed playing but it´s definitely not as a good as a real piano. This week we did alot of contacting. We spend alot of our time getting references and contacting them. We spend alot of time doing stuff for the branch too (since my companion is branch president) like filling out forms, checks, counting tithing, interviews, etc. We gave a book of mormon to one guy on Saturday. So far I´m understanding spanish more everyday but still don´t get all of it. To eat we usually go to a member´s house. Usually the Cabrerras. They´re awesome about making sure we´re fed and everything. Alot of the time at Sister Monica´s too. The insects here are HUGE. Enough said. I´m not feeling to inspire about what to write about haha so with that I know the church is true, and that it is a blessing to have in my life. I love my mission. -Elder Pollock

Dear Everyone, ECUADOR!! I'm in Ecuador now. The last few days in the MTC were really antsy because I really wanted to get here. It was sad saying goodbye to the friends I made in the first 6 weeks of my mission, but ALL of us were really excited to get out here. The plane trip went without much incident. The guy next to me was asking about the church, but then he moved. (I don't think it was cause I was bugging him haha he just moved to sit next to his son up front more because there was open seat). The latinos in my district in the MTC started calling me Elder Chicken-ck the last couple days because pollo in spanish means chicken. I thought it was funny, it was all in good fun and we were all friends haha. Ecuador is HOT! Colombia is not nearly as hot as Ecuador. I don't know how many degrees but yea it's like a constant sauna here. I arrived to meet some other American Elders that are about to leave in a couple months. We went to the mission home in Guayaquil and heard from the president all day. There was "cola chicken" for lunch (and of course beans and rice). It was delicious. They really do eat rice every day here for lunch and dinner. Without exception so far. Anyway that day we met our companions. My companion is Elder Ortiz. He's way awesome. We took a bus to the temple and all slept in the visitor center there. Then my companion and I started the 7 hour bus ride to our zone. It took all day. We ate Mcdonalds for breakfast and KFC for lunch (2 of the few approved restaurants to eat at haha). On the way there lots of street merchants (some 11 year old-ish kids!) would get on the bus at one stop to sell coconut juice and water in the aisle, and get off at the next stop. It's all pretty different here from the USA. The buildings are alllll made of cement. The towns seem pretty... ghetto (for lack of a better word). On the way there were banana plantations. It was ridiculous! MILES and miles of banana trees with rows going back as far as you can see on both sides of the bus!!! I don't even want to try to estimate the number of banana/plantain trees there were. Closer to my zone is a more mountainous area. It was really cool. It reminded me of Emperors new groove were there are hills fading into the distance with the sun shining on them. Muy chevre (very cool). I live in a city called Piñas.( It means pinneaples in English) It is AWESOME. I love it here! My companion has been here 5 months and already wants to live here after his mission haha. The best way to describe here is tranquil. There is little to no crime. I'm still careful about showing money and stuff but my companion insists that there is no need. Everybody is really cool here. They are all really nice and the atomsphere is just laid back here. It's actually a little bit more of a rich town too. There is tons of gold around here, so alot of people own gold mines. Even still nobody has a nice TV or car or anything like that really. It's still a humble place and everybody is happy. The members of the church make sure the missionaries are fed, which is nice. The food is pretty good too. Lots of chicken, rice, beans, and soup. My companion is the branch president here. It's interesting being the companion of branch president. There are alot of duties associated with that on top of missionary work. He's a great trainer and helps me with my spanish. I'm not sure how much English he knows. We only speak in spanish. He's from Mexico. He has visited seattle before and thinks it's awesome. We have taught some lessons to some investigators and members. We gave a blessing to a nice old lady yesterday who is sick. Nobody here speaks English. There are some who speak a little but yea I am in full spanish right now. I love my mission. I know the church is true. I know the savior loves us and the book of mormon is the word of god. I know we have prophets on the Earth today. I know god blesses us when we do the right. I love you all! Elder Pollock justyn.pollock@myldsmail.net

Dear Friends, It is my last week in the CCM (Missionary Training Center)! Sorry I haven't written emails for everybody every week! We didn't get a whole lot of time to email. I get extra time this week though. My mission started out with a very long flight to New York and then to Colombia; over 5000 miles total. I didn't meet up with any missionaries on the way. When I found the MTC drivers at the airport I was cautious to make sure they were really from the MTC and not a Colombian gang haha. They didn't speak much English at all so that took a little bit. I was worried that barely anybody at the MTC was going to speak English, but to my relief I found when I arrived that all my roomates were North Americans. My first week was spent mostly on learning Spanish and teaching fake investigators. I thought my spanish was pretty good, but almost 2 weeks now with a latino companion (you get a latino companion at the end of your MTC stay), I realized I've got awhile to go before I can understand full speed spanish. The teachers spoke slow for us when we were an all North American District. I am doing well with the language though. I've been studying hard. My 3rd day here the MTC cooks brought out granadillas (or maracullas depending on what country you're in I guess). We call them brain fruit. You just have too look them up to understand why. They are delicious. The food here is pretty good really. It's usually rice, soup, meat, potatoes, and fruit/vegetable, or some combination of that. I'm not too picky and I usually love it. There is a street merchant on a bike that comes around here multiple times day yelling "MASAMORAAAA!" Masamora is some kind of corn soup. We thought it was hilarious in our north american district because he's just on a bicycle with a big thing of soup on the back. We want to try some. We have fun showing American culture here sometimes. It was pretty hilarious telling the "why did the chicken cross the road?" joke. They didn't think it was funny (because it's not, really). They thought the chicken died. Pretty hilarious to us. We also taught some "American" culture. As in not really American. For example we had hard boiled eggs one day, and all the North Americans cracked them on their heads to convince them that's how we do it in America. We get to go to the Temple every week. The traffic here is insane! And the city is HUGE! I've heard between 12 and 15 million. Someone said there are more people in the city than are in the state of Utah. There are seriously multiple people selling merchandise and candy in the middle of the road to people stuck in traffic. We also get to do service every week which I enjoy. Usually cleaning up the streets, the CCM, etc. We have physical activity in the morning 6 days a week. We usually play basketball, run, play ping pong, volleyball, etc. As for the classroom we study preach my gospel alot. We do alot of practice missionary discussions as well. Our day is from 6:30 to 10:30, with most of that spent doing some kind of study or class. This next week I go to Ecuador for my mission! I can't wait to get there! I know the Gospel is true. I know the savior loves us. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I love this gospel. Elder Pollock

This is an e-mail I got today from the Mission Presidents wife at the CCM (MTC). I so needed this today. Brought me to tears. Tears of joy! I could just picture Justyn among these missionaries, singing as they worked. Ronda 4/9/2013 Dear Family of Elder Pollock, I often think as I look out over the missionaries, "I wish their parents could see through my eyes, what I am able to see." Since that is not possible, I would like to try to describe a little of what I saw and experienced this last Sunday morning before the first session of Conference. The President and I have the responsibility of serving breakfast on Sunday mornings when we are not fasting. That allows our kitchen staff to attend their wards. The meal is simple: cold cereal, rolls, and fruit. When we arrived at the kitchen however, we found that it was not as clean as it should have been. Tables needed to be wiped off, trays and silverware needed to be cleaned. Without any requests on our part, a group of Elders appeared offering to help. I was trying to rinse off trays and one Elder said I'm an expert at that, that is what I have been doing for two years at Cafe Rio. He quickly took over and started directing others in the project of washing and drying. Others were out front wiping off tables and sweeping the floors. After everyone was finished eating, they were back to repeat the process of washing, drying, sweeping, and wiping off. I'm not sure the kitchen has ever been so clean! The thing that touch the hearts of the President and myself the most was the fact that they had come all on their own, with a genuine desire to serve. No one had to ask them for help. Then to make the experience even more sweet, they were joyfully singing hymns and Primary songs as they worked. As they sang "We are as the Army of Helaman" we knew truer words had never been spoken or sung! Elder Pollock was a part of that heavenly army. We love him! Thank you for entrusting him to us for this short period of time. Love, Sister Lynda Dyer

3/20/13 ¡hola! I'm going to write to the whole family right now because we only have limited time to write and I have alot to tell! I already read your emails. I'll email individually if I have time. The CCM is awesome! My spanish is going great! Sorry if I freaked you out with the story about when I arrived, and that I couldn't write on Monday! Apparently Wednesday is our PDay. When I arrived after being freaked out on Tuesday Night at the airport they took me to a room of all Americans and I was like "PHEW!" haha. The CCM president is a really nice guy. I have been really surprised just at how necessary it is to be able to speak spanish. I thought that alot of people would speak English, but it's really just us gringos (we all use that name haha), the president and his wife. We talk to the latinos often in Spanish to practice and to meet them. I love speaking to them because they are way funny and super nice. They're really patient with our mediocre spanish and speak slow so that we can understand them better. The food here is great! It's not just rice and beans. It's just rice. Haha not really, but really they serve rice with like every meal but breakfast. The rice tastes awesome though'. I don't know how they do it. My favorite meal has probably been chicken. They use chicken alot. Lots of chicken soup, grilled chicken, etc. We have also had carne asada and LOTS of bread. They have some type of bread with every meal too. The Ice cream here is delicious. We had it once so far. It was like a popsicle and I think it was condensed milk flavor, which sounds gross, but is delicious. They give us Dulce de Leche (i think it's called that) with every breakfast. It's like a hot chocolate kind of drink and it's way good. They have plenty of fruit here too. They serve fried plantains sometimes. They have green mandarin oranges. The most interesting food I've had so far is the granadilla. You HAVE to find a picture of the inside of that fruit. It's so weird. It tastes like jello. To eat it you basically suck it out of the fruit. It's delicious though. Probably my favorite fruit of all now. Our district is pretty funny when it comes to interacting with the latinos. One thing we like to do is try to tell American jokes in Spanish. They've never heard "why did the chicken cross the road?" They were so confused when we said that joke. At the end of it they asked "did the chicken... die?" (because it crossed the road) Also, we sometimes do weird stuff to make them think that's what we do in America. Like when we had hard boiled eggs for breakfast: One guy cracked his egg on the side of his head and said "Se hace en America!" (that's what we do in America) So now whenever we have hard boiled eggs we'll do that. Also, some guys drank carbonated water from the soda machine when it wasn't working and convinced them it was an American thing. I'm not going to be looking forward to having to keep up that facade myself haha. As for what we do here, we do aloooot of studying. We get up at 6:30, exercise, eat breakfast, and go to class at 9:00. Then we eat lunch at 12:00, and then have personal study from 1:00 to 5:00. Then, we basically just study from 6:00 to 9:00. I work really hard and I know that's why I'm learning the language fast. This isn't going to be worth my time if I don't work as hard as I can. At this point, I can, and have, listened to an entire devotional and understand 90% of it or more if they don't speak to fast. I'm running out of time. I love you all so much! Sorry I can't answer your individual emails! I might be able to better after the MTC. Can you please get me Mark, daniel, and Kyle's mission addresses, and maybe send their parents mine? I don't know if you can but if you can try thanks! Love you all! Miss you alot! You're in my prayers! Love, Elder Pollock

3/14/2013 ¡Hola! They are giving us a little time today to email you and let you know that we got here safely. I got here safely, but had some difficulties when I arrived. I thought some people at the airport atleast would speak English, but I was wrong. I didn´t end up meeting with other elders, so I was alone when I arrived. I exited the airport to a giant crowd of taxi drivers wanting me to take their taxi to their hotel, but I couldn´t find the MTC driver! I walked around trying to find a way to call him (I had the phone number) for about 15 minutes. I could not get coins for the telephone! Nobody would give me change in coins, and they ALL couldn´t speak English! I was just barely able to communicate with anyone. It was a pretty scary 20 minutes, but finally someone approached me who knew English well. They helped me to find someone with a cellphone, and call the person who told me just to wait right there and I would be found. I tipped that person well because I don´t know what I would have done without her help. When the MTC driver arrived I was skeptical of everyone at that point (people kept approaching me talking in spanish)and tried to make sure they weren´t going to kidnap me haha. I finally did get to the MTC (CCM here). I have to go so I´ll tell you more on Monday! I am not in dire need of anything at the moment so don´t worry about me! I hope all is well at home. Love, Elder Pollock P.S. I totaled over 5000 miles of travel in one day yesterday. Crazy.

Seattle Temple