This week was awesome! Almost the entire family of Jesus (see past emails if you don't remember about that family) came to church! The Dad finally came! The only one left was the son this week, but he did come the week before. A friend of the daughter of that family also continues coming to church and is preparing to be baptized soon. We also found another family of inactives this week and they also came to church! It was a happy week for us to see them all there.

   Other than that we also had Christmas! We did a study in the house and took pictures. We also got some great food for christmas eve night! We ate alot of the treats our families sent us, and then were able to skype later in the day which was awesome! 

   

    In other news, I had changes! I am now in.... Piñas! I returned to my first sector! I started here and it's probable that I will end here which is funny (Be "born" and "die" in mission language). I just recently got off the bus to write here and haven't seen any familiar faces but will soon. It's gonna be interesting returning to a sector, as I haven't returned to any sectors so far in my mission! I'm happy to be here though as it's a great area, and the climate is definitely alot cooler haha. My companion is Elder Sorensen from Utah. I'll probably have some good stories and pictures next week!

Have a great New Year!

   Elder Pollock

Hope everyone has been having a Merry Christmas!

   This week we had the baptism of Marilyn! She is the daughter of Monica, sister of Scarlet and the Mom of Justin and Briana( the two littler kids in the photo I sent). I am very happy that we were able to be part of it as it was a great baptismal service! The Mom gave a great message in the baptism, and Marilyn bore an awesome testimony after being baptized. Marilyn used to go to church with her Mom when they were investigators 10 years ago. Now the only one left in the family of Monica to become a member of the church is another daughter, Angie, and her husband! We continue teaching and encouraging them with the help of Monica to go to church. We also taught The Restoration to Monica´s sister who came to visit for a day.

   My package from my family arrived for Christmas this week! Yes!!! I was wayyyy happy to see some AWESOME gifts inside like lindor truffles, beef jerky, chocolate christmas calenders, a USB with mission music, shirt, even a tree and a stocking! Plus a bunch more awesome stuff!

   We found actual cheddar cheese this week in the store(a little rare) instead of the usual mozarella that we always eat, so we couldn´t pass up the opportunity to make homemade mac and cheese. We´ll be eating VERY well this week as the members here are awesome about making sure we eat well for the holidays. I remember the feast we had last year for Christmas and think I might gain a couple pounds this week haha. I sent a picture of our Chocapic Christmas Display, the accumulation of the boxes of a couple months of Chocapic. My companion and I love that cereal.

   I´ve been having a very happy Christmas season and I hope you all do as well! I love being a missionary in the service of God, especially in this season celebrating the birth of the Savior.

Christmas.Mormon.Org

Merry Christmas!

Elder Pollock

P.S. The Monigotes are looking awesome! I´ll try to take some pictures of them throughout the week if I can. They are the paper mechet creations people make around here for new years eve that they put fireworks in and burn. I´ve seen a GIANT Goku, ¨Alien¨, and Ghost Rider

This week was great! We found an awesome family this week. There are a bunch of people living in the family: aunts, uncles, grandparents, grandkids, etc. and they are very receptive! We found them when we felt to come to their house and talk to them. Many commited to come to church next Sunday, and some have already accepted baptismal dates. We also have been teaching another partial member family we found. The mom of the family was baptized 20 years ago and hadn´t gone to church in a long while, while the daughter, Amy, is now 10 and recently came to know the church this week with her Mom. The Mom wants her kids to learn English so we include a little bit of English teaching in our lessons with them. We are also teaching her 14 year old son, Alexander, who doesn´t know the church, but he couldn´t come to church this week because he works to help support the family.

    Monica (the recent converts of about a month ago) has continued very well in the gospel, including taking family history classes! She attends church with her daughter Scarlet who is member, and her other daughter Marilyn who is not member with her two kids. We are currently teaching, along with Monica and Scarlet, Marilyn and another older daughter of Monica who hasn´t come to church because of work. The bishop has the vision of Monica as a seminary teacher for the ward very soon! So we are helping her strengthen her testimony and knowledge for that!

   As for food, today we had homemade macaroni and cheese thanks to my ¨son¨ Elder Brown. It turned out way good! (Though the only familiar cheese they really have here is mozarella so we used that) I continue eating Chocopic daily along with the other missionaries in the apartment. We have been saving the boxes to take a cool photo with out favorite cereal, which i´ll send next week!

   Hope you all have a great week and a Merry Christmas!

Elder Pollock 

   This was one of our busiest weekends in a while! We had the mission Christmas Devotional/Music Program on Friday which was awesome! We the missionaries sang I feel the Savior´s Love and I Stand All Amazed. There was also an entire music program prepared by the mission choir (almost all sisters) that was way good! Jesus´ family attended along with the recent convert Monica´s family. All of Friday was dedicated to that.

   There was also the Saturday´s sessions of conference and we spent that day inviting people to that session and Sunday´s. It was fast Sunday so when we got home at 9:00PM Saturday we did our planning, got ready and went to bed a little early, since our time after planning is usually used eating popcorn or cereal haha plus we were exhausted that day. On Sunday we had the main session of Stake conference. It was an awesome session that I liked alot! The stake had all of the return msisionaries sing in a choir. 

   On Sunday night we had the baptism of Jesus!! I was way happy to see him being baptised. He´s a way hyper and funny kid. The story of how we found him, though I think I´ve already told it in another email... While going to an appointment we felt the impression to turn into a street and knock on a door. We knocked on it and invited the lady that answered to church but she wasn´t interested, so we decided maybe we needed to knock on the next door. For illustrative purposes, that meant taking 5-6 steps since the houses are built right together. On the next door a lady came out and greeted us happily ¨Hermanos¨! She told us her name, Gardenia, and asked us how we came to her door as apparently nobody including missionaries had visited her for a long time. It turned out that she, with her 2 kids and their stepfather that lives there, are all members that haven´t gone to church for almost 10 years! We invited her to church and she came with her daughter! In that next week she introduced us to Jesus who is a nephew, but who she raised and who had been with another uncle for a couple weeks. We have been teaching that family and the Mom and daughter have come back to church! The daughter also has the goal of going on a mission, possibly in spring. We are trying to help the older son and Dad to come back as well. The baptism was a great experience and I´m thankful for the spirit guiding us to that family.

   As for food, this week we went to Carls Jr and had bbq burgers. Way good! Plus Chocopic as always.

  Hope all have a great Christmas this year! Visit Christmas.mormon.org to see a cool video.

Elder Justyn Pollock

This week we were concentrated on finding new investigators to teach. We went out to visit with a member who used to be branch president and he took us to a few inactive members who haven`t come to church in years. When we got to the house of one of them, we found his family which are almost all nonmembers. We taught them the restoration and they recieved it well. It is a cool family! Then we contacted next door and found they are also family of the inactive member, but have never talked to missionaries! Surprisingly, when we said hi through the door, they immediately said ¨pasen!¨ (come in) without even knowing who we are! We taught the restoration there with them as well. A few investigators that live there will be able to come to church this week (though a couple no for work), and they are also a great family!

   I continue to recieve a testimony of the importance of reteaching the 5 lessons to the recent converts and to keep passing by them as the first presidency indicates us to do as missionaries. We continue passing by Monica, who was baptized a couple weeks ago, and this week Marilyn (20), one of her older daughters , came to church! She recently moved back in with her Mom and wants to be baptized in the church as well, which should happen in this month of December!

   Jesus, a 10 year old investigator of a recently reactivating family, came to church with Melissa this week again! The Mom family was feeling sick so they didn`t come today. Jesus came with a small scar on his face from a fall learning how to BMX with his brother. When he first saw me at church the first thing he said was ¨look at this! I got it doing BMX yesterday¨ We are still working on helping the older brother and the Dad of that family to come back to church as well. Jesus should be baptized soon.

   Paul came to church again, and also should be baptized soon this month, though he may have problems with coming to church this month for having to go work with his Mom. 

  For thanksgiving we didn`t do a big dinner or anything as they don`t celebrate it really here haha. So my companion and I went and bought a popular snack here, salchipapa. It`s just french fries and cut up hot dog in a bowl with sauces. We don`t usually eat it because it`s not exactly healthy, but atleast we enjoyed for thanksgiving! haha

   I`m happy to be a missionary! Hope all have a great christmas month! 

Elder Justyn Pollock

 

Salchipapa

Feliz Dia de Accion de Gracias!

Hey!

    If I remember right, last year they didn´t celebrate thanksgiving here in Ecuador, but the mamita made us chicken, mashed potatos and gravy! We´ll see how thanksgiving is here this year! 

    This week has been great! We have continued teaching some of the investigators I mentioned last week including Paul and Jesus. Jesus came to church again this week with his Mom and sister, who have recently come back to church. Paul couldn´t come to church, though he is still preparing to be baptized within the next coming weeks. Vicente, who seems to be the great grandpa of Cesibel, did come to church this week! He loved it, and after church he offered us some watermelon to thank us for inviting him! He is pondering the invitation to be baptized. 

   This week we spent alot of time looking for new investigators and we talked with LOTS of people, but the majority we have needed to ¨filter¨ as they do not show a commitment to come to church which is vital to us being able to help them come unto Christ. We visited what we call an ¨eternal investigator¨ . She is the Mom of a member who recently came back to church. She was investigating the church a while while her son was active before. Her husband recently passed away, so we taught her the Plan of Salvation. It was a very spiritual lesson, and I know it will help her towards the decision of being baptized (which at the moment she still does not accept). We also visited many recent converts and invited many of their non-member family members to church. 

   Despite all our finding efforts throughout the week, we hadn´t found anyone to accept a baptismal date. Our last hope for that was in a member´s aunt who came to church yesterday. We taught her and she accepted a baptismal date, along with her 14 year old son, in the last 30 minutes of proselyting time of the week. My companion and I were able to go home happy after our weeks effort!

   I´m thankful for the blessings the Lord gives us in his work. I´m thankful for the blessings of the gospel and the attonment of the Savior. I´m very thankful to have a great family. I´m thankful for the chance to be a missionary and help other´s families come closer unto Christ. Hope all have a great thanksgiving!

   Love,

Elder Pollock

This week we had the baptism of Ginger! She is the sister of Juliana who was baptized about a month ago (see the past photo I sent which has a picture with Ginger and her sister in Juliana´s baptism). She was very hesitant at first of being baptized or no but from the week before her baptism she became very decisive about being baptized. It was in good timing that she became so decided, as she actually moved to a new house inside of the ward boundries. The challenge came in that the owners of her new house are die-hard members of another religion. That created problems with being able to teach and visit that family efficiently to say the least. It didn´t prove to be a discouragment to her though! The moment of her baptism she was very happy. She bore a great testimony. Many members came in support of her (or maybe just to eat cake haha just kidding). It was awesome!

   Another awesome occurance was with one of the family of inactives we are ¨rescuing¨ (One of our duties our Mission President has giving to the missionaries here, according to President Monson´s talk a while back on ¨going to the rescue¨). We actually found this family a week and a half ago when we felt inspired to knock on a door (not something we casually do, only when the spirit indicates). When we knocked on the door, the Mom of the family happily began talking to us, and after conversing for a while we found out she has been inactive for years. Last sunday she came to church with her daughter. During this past week as we´ve been visitng them. One day the Mom introduced us to Jesus, a 10 year old kid who just recently moved in with her. She is his aunt and she had raised him since he was little, and now recently he moved in with her! She told us she wants him to be baptized, and we instantly set a date for the first week in December with him. Jesus came to church with his sister-cousin this week, as the Mom was sick on Sunday. We went to visit them after church on Sunday and found the Dad there as well with the older brother, Sam, who are also inactives and are hard to find in their home. We were able to talk to them and they commited to coming to church next week as well.

   The other invesitgator we have mostly been teaching is a 14 year old investigator Paul. He came to church again with his neighbor who is a counsler to the bishop, and loves it. He´s preparing to be baptized soon and is excited to do so. He came with a nonmember freind this week as well!

  Another random occurance, yesterday we contacted an old guy sitting on the street. He told us he´s from Piñas, which is my first sector, and I asked his last name he said Robles. I asked him if he knows Cesibel and he said he does, and we found that she is his great grandaughter. Small world! Cesibel was the first person I baptized here, and I met her great grandfather in another city!

   I´ve pretty much come to write mostly about the people we teach and the food we eat for P-days haha.

   As for food, so that I don´t break the tradition, we bought a roasted chicken and ate bbq chicken sandwiches which was delicious. I continue eating the great cereal here everyday as well, chocopic by Nestle. (product sponsor unintended)

Hope you all have a great week!

Love

Elder Justyn Pollock

This week we had the baptism of Monica! She is the investigator I had told about who used to go to church in another city but was never baptized. She was very content to be baptized and bore an awesome testimony after she was baptised. She always tells us that she has already felt a change in her life and that everyone in her home is happier in general. Those are the blessings of the gospel! While we had ward council meeting after church in the afternoon on Sunday, my companion and I noticed her coming to church for the Eternal Marriage class. It was very ironic, as I remembered she has the manual of that same class from 10 years ago when she used to go to church in Duran!

   This week we decided to do something a little different in the teaching and use the videos of the church alot. I´ve carried around a CD full of mormon messages, the restoration, and finding faith in Jesus Christ to show to our investigators. 

   As for invesigators we are teaching, we are still teaching Ginger, Juliana the recent converts sister. Also, we are teaching Diego and Paul, a couple of teenage freinds of members of the wards who try to look out for them and help them stay on a good path. This week we found another investigator, Jose, who is a 25 year old guy that we started to talk to walking to an appointment. To our surprise he started to talk in pretty good english! He told us he studied for a year in Harvard! We scheduled an appointment and taught him the restoration, and realized he studied in Hartford, not Harvard haha. While trying to find the address of Jose, we met another Jose, another young guy and married. We talked to him and have plans to teach him with his wife, grandma and cousins.

  That´s about all that happened of notice his week! I am happy to be a missionary! Hope you all have a great week.

Elder Justyn Pollock

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

    They don´t really celebrate halloween here, but we have gotten some way good food this week anyway so I´ll call it good haha. Speaking of food, we just got done eating one of our favorite easy lunches or night time snacks, hotdogs with mayonese (forgive me if I spelled that wrong, forgetting english), crushed up doritos and barbeque sauce. Not exactly healthy, but it´s tasty and fast!

   This week we had the baptism of Scarleth! She is the daughter of Monica, another investigator we are teaching. They attended church and listened to the missionaries in a city about 2 hours way more than 10 years ago. We found them asking directions for the hosue of Juliana when she came to church (who was baptized 2 weeks ago). They didn´t know where Juliana lived, but we invited them to church and they accepted. The next day we went by and taught a lesson, invited them to be baptized and they accepted. Scarleth came down pretty sick a few days before the baptism, but she got better in time for it and it was a great experience! My companion and I got a small cake and we went to the house of Monica with the bishop and a few members. They served us some Colada Morada which is a mix of a bunch of different fruits boiled together into a juice. Way good! 

    Their family loves the church and I´m happy to teach people like them. Monica and Scarlet come to church with the grandkids of Monica who she takes care of, Justin (7)and Melissa(4). Monica told us that Justin was walking the house the other day with a book of mormon pretending to be a missionary which was pretty funny.

   On sunday the mamita gave us homemade cream of mushroom and asparagus soup. It was the best soup I´ve had in Ecuador so far, as I love cream of mushroom soup!

That´s about all the news I have for this week. I love being a missionary and am grateful to preach the gospel. I hope all have an awesome week!

Elder Justyn Pollock

Baptism of Scarlet

 

The hot dogs we have made like 3-4 times already in the last couple weeks.

This week we had exchanges! My companion Elder Foerster went to another part of Ecuador called Loja, and I have another son! (A son in the mission is when you are the first companion of a brand new missionary and you train him) My new companion is Elder Brown from Utah. He´s a way awesome guy and picking up pretty fast on the spanish. It has been really cloudy and breezy this week actually, so he hasn´t quite got a taste of Ecuador heat yet! He likes all the food, even the rice, which is not bad but I don´t enjoy it that much haha. He ate one of the delicacies of Ecuador on his first day here! Ceviche de Camaron (A shrimp dish with an onion and tomato soup/Sauce. WAY good) He was also surprised today that the chips he were eating were fried bananas which was also hilarious. It has been fun learning and teaching with him. We have been finding alot of new investigators and getting a ton of teaching in!

   This week we also had the baptism of Juanita and Karolayne. The baptismal services turned out really nice! Alot of members came and supported, and the investigators being baptized were very happy. I was happy to see them take this decision and to be part of their experience of accepting the gospel. I am always very grateful for these experiences and pray that they continue.

   Other investigators we are teaching are Monica and Scarleth, Ginger,  and Jazmany who are all preparing to be baptized soon within the next few weeks. Diego, and Maritza are also preparing for baptism next month! 

   I´m loving the time I have here and working hard to make the most of it! I know this is the work of the Lord and that this gospel blesses lives!

Have a great week!

Elder Pollock

Baptism of Juanita, with a friend who is member who she has known since she was little

Baptism of Karolayne

 

Baptism of Karolayne with the bishop of Bananeros

Hey Everyone!

This week has been great! We had the baptism of one of the investigators we have been teaching, Juliana. She is 13 and has been coming with her cousin. She wasn´t sure about being baptized this week, but decided to and is very happy about her decision! She was baptized with her freind who has also been investigating the church who the other missionaries who live with us have been teaching. Her older sister also came to church for the first time this week and has a baptismal date for the 15th of November! Her family all supported her well! Her whole family came to the baptism; Her Mom, cousins, sister etc. (Like four 4-5 year old cousins! It was a little crazy after the baptism with them running around!)


We also have the baptism coming up of Juanita, the grandma of a family of less active member. She has been coming to church regularly. Out of all the people I have taught in my mission, she has probably been one of the most prepared. She accepts every commitment like church attendence, tithing, baptism, the word of wisdom, so quickly and willingly that it is actually hard to believe! It will be a great baptism! Karolayne may also be baptized this Saturday as well!

Other than that, not much more to tell this week! There might be changes this week but we don´t know yet.

Hope you all have an awesome week!

Elder Justyn Pollock

Baptism of Juliana with her freind Dorothy

Baptism of Juliana

This week has been great! We have met some new investigators who came to church and have a desire to be baptized. They are Omar and Jazmani, 17 and 15. They made friends in the church and loved it. Last night their family invited us to eat fried fish with rice and beans which was way good and we showed some mormon messages to all the family. We met Omar and Jazmani when they were walking their TINY dog around and we started talking to them. We are also teaching Monica and Scarlet who came to church again and loved it. We went and visited them in a group lesson with 4 members of the church. We went to the sector of Elder Hammond and Elder Johnson as well to meet their investigators and teach them. It was a great lesson and we felt the spirit strongly there.

   I´m happy to be here as a missionary! Not much more to tell this week! I love preaching the gospel and helping others come closer to Christ!

Elder Justyn Pollock

Conference

This week for conference we strived to bring as many investigators to conference as we could. Hearing from the apostles and the Prophet is an opportunity for those investigating the church to answer a question I have heard many times: ¨What is the difference between this church and the rest?¨ We believe in modern day revelation and this week the investigators got to see what that really means. One of our investigators, Karolayne, went to 3 of the sessions of conference! I also got to see Harold (Robofoco who was baptized in my last ward) in 3 of the sessions

    To help us out, the bishop rented a 28 person capacity school bus for Sunday morning. It helped us out ALOT and to the bishop´s and our happiness it filled up with investigators, recent converts and less actives. It was a fun and a different sunday experience than the usual bringing investigators by foot or public transportation. 

   Some of my favorite talks were Henry B. Eyring (if I remember right it was him) about Joseph Smith, Elder Carlos Gadoy and another seventy who both talked about decisions, and of course Elder Holland´s.

   We have a few baptisms scehduled within the next month inlcuding Karolayne who is a members girlfriend, Juliana who is the cousin of an investigator that invited her to church as well. 

   Also, a single mom named Monica who has known the church for a long time, but apparently didn´t know there was the same one around here as she attended church in another city. We found her asking for directions, taught the restoration, and to our surprise she brought out an institute book she already had on eternal marriage! She didn´t get baptized in the other city where she used to go to church becuase she was living with her husband but not married, but now she is a single Mom and can! We thought she was not going to go to conference when we passed by in the morning and she said she wasn´t going to be able to go, so we didn´t pass by her house in the rented bus. To our surprise 2 minutes after we had gotten to conference in the bus, she walked in the door with her kids! It was an awesome blessing to see them there and they loved the conference.  

   I´m loving it here and happy to be a missionary. I hope you all the best!

Elder Justyn Pollock

 This week we had companion exchanges. I haven´t been so good about putting where i´m at and with who and all that in my emails, but last week I was with Elder Saavedra in La Toma, a ward of the stake Puerto Nuevo. I´m now in Bananeros ward in the stake of Puerto Nuevo still in Guayaquil. My new companion is Elder Foerster! I´m finishing his in-field training of the first 12 weeks (I´m not zone leader anymore, Trainer), as Elder Zamorano, who was his trainer, just finished his mission and went back to Argentina. It´s awesome as we spent alot of time in this sector helping Elder Zamorano and Elder Foerster, who had grown to be good freinds, and now I´m Elder Foerster´s companion teaching investigators and converts who I´ve already met! It´s been alot different only having to focus on this sector and just the investigators and members here instead of a zone.

   Karla, Sulay and Rosa were baptized this week in our sector. I had met them about 3 weeks ago and am happy to be able to be in their baptisms and be part of that! Karla was baptized on Saturday and we made some ham sandwiches she asked for for the baptism, as she didn´t want cake. She is the neice of a the counsler of the ward, who baptized her. Sulay and Rosa are Mother and Daughter, and were baptized and confirmed Sunday night because they weren´t going to be able on Saturday. In that baptism we did have cake, and at the same time we celebrated Elder Foerster´s birthday! Their family, around 10 in the family, is very receptive to the gospel. Rosa and Sulay are the first to be baptized in that family, but all of them have gone to church except the Dad who is busy alot of the time. Another of the sons, Alexander, can be baptized soon depending on his decision!

   I also got to see the baptism or Wonderley, one of our investigators in La Toma, and a freind of Pedro, though it was not a baptism of my sector now. It was awesome to see him be baptized! He was very happy to do so and I was happy to be there.

   Some investigators we have are Carolayne and Juliana, who came to church with member freinds and are preparing for baptism. We are hoping that conference will help them to be more excited to be baptized very soon!

    This week to motivate ourselves to do more exercises we´ve been doing pushup competitions to decide who does what in the morning (1st place cooks, 2nd place irons shirts, 3rd place washes dishes, 4th place showers first in the colder water). Steal and apply the idea if you´d like haha. We have 3 rubix cubes in the house and we´ve all learned how to do it now. 

   I´m loving the mission and having a great time here in Ecuador! It´s an extremely special experience to be an instrument of the Lord in helping others accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. }

Elder Justyn Pollock

Union de Bananeros ward as a trainer with Elder Foerster

29 September 2014

 This week was awesome! We had the baptism of Pedro on Saturday which was an awesome experience. Photos coming soon, as we don´t have a way to connect the memory card today in the cyber. He was baptized by one of the members of the ward who always comes and does visits with us. A ton of members came and supported him in his baptism, around 30 or 40. His grandparents, who are members, came as well to support him. He bore his testimony afterwards as well! He was very happy to be baptized. He then came in his suit again on Sunday for the confirmation. The parents made us tacos as well which was an added bonus to pedro being baptized haha (tacos is a very uncommon but deliciously made dish here)
   Harold (Robofoco) came to the baptism as well and also went and did visits with us. Sweet! He blessed the sacrament on Sunday (with only one attempt, as he spent all week memorizing it haha. He seemed a little nervous which is normal).
   The member who brought his freinds to church last Sunday brought them again this Sunday! We have been teaching some of their families, one of who is a girl, her sister and her mom in the house who all came to church this Sunday! They have been passing for some family difficulties, but loved the church and are happy to accept the invitiations we make them.
   I am very happy to be here as a missionary of the Lord. I know this is his Church and his work.
Hasta la proxima,
Elder Pollock

This week we have been teaching Pedro (who´s 13) on a regular basis. This week we mostly taught him the plan of salvation and the commandments with his freinds who are also investigadors. He came in a suit this week again which is something I think I left out in the other email. Last week on fast sunday he came in his suit, bore his testimony as an investigator, and did home teaching with the deacons after church! The next day he went to a family night with Aaron to a membrs house. He loves the church! His dad is an inactive member who we are trying to teach as well. Pedro has a baptismal date for this Saturday which is exciting! His freind Aaron has come to church regularly as well and has a baptismal date for October.

    We also found 2 new investigators this week, Eunice and Anaí, who are twins! Their parents are both inactive since they were young. The Dad sells encebollado on Sundays (which is like an onion fish soup type like dish (WAY good)). That will be his challenge for getting back to church.We had a lesson with the twins and their parents this week and are working with them to get the back to church. The twins have baptismal dates for October. Apart from them, a member of the church preparing to go on a mission brought 3 investigators to church this Sunday! They are Brigit, Melisa and Jonathan. We have appointments with them today and hope to be able to teach those families.

   I guess I wasn´t able to tell completely how my birthday went last week cause I was still mid-birthday! haha. After we went teaching investigators, 3 future missionaries here that always come with us to teach investigators had made a cake. They gave some words which was hilarious, we sang happy birthday in english and spanish (which is actually the tradition here even for the birthdays of those tha tlive here) then we ate cake, after they pushed my face into it while I was trying to eat it haha (another tradition in south america) Atleast they let me take my glasses off. When we got home we bought pepperoni pizza and soda which was a good finish to everything.

   I got a birthday package from home as well which was awesome!! Yeaa beef jerky! Along with many other awesome things my family included in the package (tie, white shirt, etc.!) Thank you everyone!!

   I´m very grateful to be here in the mission as a missionary and to have the chance to spread the gospel. I´m loving it here and I know this is the work of the Lord!

Love,

Elder Justyn Pollock

21!!

Hey!

   Thanks for all of the birthday wishes everyone!!! I loved the slideshow with all of your pictures! It means alot! I´m having a happy birthday! I went over to spend pday with some other missionaries. We ate some interesting food for lunch that the mamita made haha i guess she didn´t know my favorite food. I can say this is the first birthday I´ve had eating Chicken liver and cooked plantians! (I actually love plantains though, thanks Ecuador!) Hahaha I laughed and thought it was funny though. I have a good dinner coming up soon though with some members, who say they have a surprise as well (I imagine cake). Yesterday some members cooked me hamburgers for dinner as well! Sweet! We played some chess and I bought some cookies too. I have some ice cream in the freezer waiting tonight as well and I might buy a slice of pizza on the way home haha.

   This Saturday we had the baptism of Harold!!! He finally decided to get baptized this Saturday and asked me to baptize him. That was an awesome birthday present (though he didn´t know my birthday was coming up) to be able to witness him being baptized. He is an awesome convert who loves the church, and the bishop is already talking about plans for a callling in the young men and melchezedik priesthood in December! Harold is 19 and we met him when I first got here. He studies in the university and learns SUPER fast. He had lots of doubts, the first of all if he feels the spirit, not feeling prepared yet, etc. We kept reading the book of mormon and having spiritual lessons with him and at last he felt strongly that he felt the spirit and decided to be baptized. It was an awesome baptism. Lots of members showed up and are very excited for the new member in the ward. 

  I´m super happy to be a missionary. I love what I do and I love helping people take decisions to live the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know this is the church of Jesus ChristThanks to everyone! Sorry if I don´t respond all the emails! Love you all!!

Elder Pollock

This week Pedro came to church again! Hey!! Exciting as it is another important step towards his baptism the 20th. We have been awhile without baptisms here and learned to be thankful for the small steps in the process of the investigator´s conversion. He loves the church and stayed for all 3 hours with his freinds again. He is 13 year old who´s grandparents are active members and Dad is less active. This week he had all sorts of "deep-doctrine" questions he wanted to know like "what type of fruit was the forbidden fruit?" and "Who is God's Dad?" "Jesus' Grandpa" I told him jokingly.

   We are still teaching Harol, though infrequently. I feel he is close to baptism and may any of these days make a decision. He attended church again this week all 3 hours.

   Today we had a leadership council with the President. We watched an inspired talk in an MTC address by Dieter Uchtdorf about preaching the gospel with courage. He talked about the transformation of the Apostle Peter in his testimony which I had read about alot recently. Before the ressurection of the Savior, Peter denied the Savior 3 times for fear of being recognized as one of his followers. After seeing the ressurected Christ, he becomes a courageous disciple who before threats of death and imprisonment etc. boldly testifies of the ressurected Savior. President Uchtdorf then turned that example to how we should boldly proclaim the gospel with as many people possible. 

   I´m super happy to be here as a missionary to preach the gospel. Hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Pollock

Hey!

    This week there were exchanges. I had to say goodbye to Elder Betanco, my freind from Nicaragua. I´m now here in the same sector in Guayaquil with my companion, Elder Saavedra from Bolivia. 

   We found some awesome new investigators this week! Before Elder Betanco left, we found a married couple who accepted a baptismal date in September and they came to church this Sunday! We found them feeling an impression to knock on a door and happily, we obeyed. The guy is working and the girl is studying in the University. When we found them we invited them to church there at the door and then to be baptized and they both quickly accepted. We also found Pedro, the son of an inactive member. We found him 3 blocks from the church on Saturday and he came with member friends nearby the next day. He´s 13 and extremely excited about the church, finding his place with friends at church immediately. He stayed all 3 hours, then stayed an hour after to see a baptism, then came back in the afternoon for a meeting with the youth. His parents agreed to him being baptized in September as well, and we´re working on activating the Dad. We continue meeting with Robofoco infrequently and he continues coming to church, but has not accepted a date for baptism yet. 

   I made some more sweet and sour chicken this P-Day as it turned out well last time, and it´s nice to eat something a little different from the typical chicken, rice beans, soup and plantains (or some combination of that) every once in a while haha. The chicken turned out perfect but I burnt the rice, and I´m pretty sure my companion was thinking "How did he burn the rice?!" Maybe I´ll get some tips from the people around here as they are VERY experienced in cooking rice haha.

    I´m happy to be in here in the mission and to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that thoughtful study of the scritpures will help us to face the daily challenges that all encounter. The Gospel changes the lives of those who live it. I´ve seen the hapiness grow of those who begin to live the commandments and can testify of that myself. I hope all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Justyn Pollock

This week we´ve been continuing with some investigators we have that still do not feel ready for baptism. It is sometimes hard to stop visiting an investigator who continually comes to church every Sunday and fulfills the commitments to read the book of Mormon and pray, but doesn´t accept to be baptized! We are visiting less frequently those investigators now to let them "ripen" spiritually, to put it in fruit-terms.  Many are called but few are chosen. Some investigators are ready for baptism from the first contact, others take longer, and some take VERY long. I´m blessed to be in a mission where there are many who are prepared and it is mostly a matter of finding those people! I´m trying to write this in a more spiritual sounding-gospel language, but my gospel language is for now, Spanish.

   Not too much to report this week but that I´m happy to be here as a missionary. I have been reflecting about preparation in my studies this week, as there are many future missionaries in the ward in which I am serving. As one begins the mission there is in-field preparation involved. Before that there is the MTC. Before that there is preparation in one´s youth. Before coming to this life, we were preparing for this life on Earth. Everyday we should be in active preparation for the future: immediate and long-term. The promise of the Lord given by Henry B. Eyring is that (páraphrased) "the Lord will place his prepared children with his prepared servants. How often that happens depends on the preparation of our minds, and of our hearts." I know that the Lord will provide to us opportunities to serve and preach the gospel as we prepare ourselves diligently and on a daily basis. 

Elder Justyn Pollock

P.S. I made Chinese food today for PDay. Sweet and sour chicken! It turned out pretty awesome but I filled the house with smoke (no fire, just burnt chicken) at one point due to a long time without cooking (good excuse Elder Pollock) and we were scared there were going to call the firefighters haha. We turned on the fans though and it turned it out all good with stomachs satisfied.

Planting Seeds

This week I gained a testimony that some plant seeds, and some harvest (not sure exactly how the phrase goes in English). An old investigator and good friend I had back when I was in Calderon 7 months ago, John, suddenly decided to get baptized last week! He´s the brother of one of those who I had the opportunity to teach and see baptized when I was back in Calderon. I was blessed to be able to go see his baptism, and to be able to give a message in the baptismal service. It was a fulfilling of the fact that some reap, and some sow. When I was back in Calderon the Lord planted a seed of faith in him, and now 7 months later other missionaries were able to get him to baptism. I was extremely happy to be able to see him in the water! Present was his brother Jordy, and Marco who are converts from when I was in the sector.

   As for in our sector we have some good investigators who have been coming to church, but who still don´t feel ready for baptism. Harold comes to church continually and participates actively in the 3 hours, reads the book of mormon frequently, prays, and is very receptive, but doesn´t feel that he has recieved a testimony of the book of mormon yet and is waiting on that. We are applying what we know to help him recieve that witness and praying hard for it! I have faith in the promise that is made to us by Moroni and in the intro of the Book of Mormon.

   I´m grateful and happy to be spreading the gospel here in Ecuador. I know that those he recieve it are happier and recieve blessings in their lives. This is the work of the Lord and everything is on his schedule. Our part is to work in his work as if it all depended on us, and he will direct it how it needs to be and do what we can´t. 

Have a great week!

Elder Pollock

Zone photo of our current zone



"Live Guayaquil"

 "Say no to Drugs" (with a pamphlet of Word of Wisdom)

2 new missionaries

Hey!

   This week was interesting as it usually/always is in the mission. In our zone we have 2 brand new missionaries! They are 2 gringos who came from the MTC in Mexico, at the same time that my brother left for the field! We spent alot of our time this week helping out the missionaries in our zone, so I had a little time to talk to the new guys and see how they`re doing which was fun. Their spanish is actually not too bad! One of them happens to have seen my brother around at gym time at the MTC! It is fun to see their excitment to have the chance to teach real investigators.

   We had a leadership council with the Mission President in which we learned many things that will help us have more succes. There was a focus on the Book of Mormon, and he encouraged us to always have a Book of Mormon at hand, literally, while we are preaching all day. 

   As for our investigators, we are teaching ¨Robofoco¨ who came to church again this week! He is very excited and has a baptismal date for the 16th! He surprised us this week, as I found that he speaks English! He`s actually really fluent as well. We are teaching some other investigators as well, some who have accepted baptismal dates and others no. 

   I`m happy to have this opportunity to be a missionary in the work of the Lord. I love being here and preaching the gospel! The Book of Mormon is the word of God, and those who read it will come closer unto Christ.

-Elder Justyn Pollock

Puerto Nuevo - La Toma

My companion is Elder Betanco

 

PS  Serving the missionaries in other sectors I had the chance to go to Calderon, another sector in Puerto Nuevo where I was in around January. It was awesome to see some converts again and active, as well as others who had baptismal dates when I left who have been baptized and are active! The converts that had those Motor Taxis (Motorcycle with a rigged on metal cart behind to make it basically a car) were especially excited; one of the guys basically tackled me with a hug. Fun to see old faces again!

Service Week

This week a foundation for Ecuador came to do service here in Guayaquil, and it happened to be in my new zone! The foundation has the initials ECY if I remember right. If I understand it, it is a foundation set up by return missionaries who served here in Ecuador 20 years ago to help the people here. There was a free dental clinic set up for some 4 days in the stake center with return missionary dentists, etc. They also were doing many other things that I didn´t catch exactly what they were. They built a few houses for some members here that really needed it. We got to help them as missionaries which was awesome! We also got to help them in the dental clinic teaching dental hygeine and the Word of Wisdom while filling out patient forms with the people that came.

   At the end they had an event in which many people came to recognize their help, with a dance afterwards. 3 other missionaries and I went to recognize their service and present them with the pins of Ecuador Guayaquil Sur Mission that we all wear. They had to invite us to be baptized in a mini practice lesson to recieve them! It surprised me to see they remembered how to do it in spanish! We then got of there quickly before the dance. 

   We are at the moment teaching some investigators preparing for baptism. One is a 19 year old taller than me which is a first. They call him "robofoco" here, which means lightbulb theif. (because he can easily reach up and steal the porch lightbulbs) Another is a mom of a few kids who were baptized a few months ago. She came to church and is excited! Another is a christian lady who has come to church a few times already and is also preparing for baptism. 

   I´m loving the mission life and helping people come unto Christ! Very happy to be here, and inspired by the large group that came with the foundation who came to Ecuador. They have had a big impact here! There are some 5 teenagers who will be leaving on their missions soon. Something way awesome the foundation did was provide brand new suitcases with a TON of ties, nice white shirts, pants, and basically everything they need to be set for their missions and many other future missionaries nearby. They are super excited to be set for their missions! I´m grateful for this chance to be serving here in Ecuador. Hope you all have a good week!

Elder Pollock

 

(This was an e-mail from the guy that came from the foundation ECY)

Had a great day yesterday working along side this amazing group of Elders.. Our group is in the middle of building a poor family a new house, these elders showed up yesterday to lift the load.. Thank you for having them here and engaged in the Lords work!
Dan

Back to Guayaquil!

This Saturday was the baptism of Melissa, a girl we`ve been teaching who lives with her aunts that are members and hadn´t been baptized yet. The baptism was awesome! Her aunts, cousins and even her sister who isn´t a member came! The young women of the ward sang a musical number in the baptism as well. We were a little nervous as at the hour of the baptism she hadn´t gotten home yet and the aunt who she lives with didn´t know where she was at! It has happened to me before where an investigator at the last moment decides not to get baptized so that was going through my head as we waited outside the house with the aunts. To everyones relief she ended up getting home some 10 minutes after baptism was supposed to start and so we started a little late. She had gone to eat with her freinds and lost track of time! She was very happy and excited for the baptism.

   Today I was changed to back to Guayaquil, back in the Guasmo! My new companion is Elder Betanco, a missionary from Nicaragua who I met around the beginning of my mission. He has 1 or 2 months less than me in the mission. The zone I`m in is Puerto Nuevo, sector La Toma. That`s the same zone I was in with Elder Chandler in January, but in a different sector. Back to a few familiar sights and places but with new faces. I love being here in the mission. I know this is the work of the Lord, and I`m grateful to be part of it. 

Elder Justyn Pollock

PS I recieved a package at home!!!! The contents of which I am currently enjoying. It`s definitely a booster to get that beef jerky, candy, church music and other things i love. Thanks family!!! Love you!

 

 

PS This week we had the baptism of Paola, a ten year old girl who is here for a few months from Italy. Her Mom didn`t want her to get baptized there because she wanted the grandpa of the girl to baptize her, and he lives here! Sorry missionaries in Italy! haha. Her grandpa is a convert who has baptized his whole family, kids, grandkids, and everyone. The baptism was awesome with the whole big family, cake, a musical number by the grandpa and his grandsons, and it was the grandpas birthday the day of the baptism as well!

Leadership Council

Highlight: Today we had a mision leadership council, which we have every month. I always love the mission leadership councils, as I always leave with much revelation on what I need to do to improve and better serve others: the missionaries, investigators, and members. I also have grown to like traveling in the mission (I can´t complain about a 4 hour bus ride to guayaquil every once in a while in an airconditioned bus with comfortable seats). The temple hotel is also airconditioned, which translates to sleeping like a rock which is very enjoyable. Also, the council takes place in an airconditioned building. I´m very grateful for airconditioning. Haha but the real blessing is to hear from our mission president, who always has topics and teachings very inspired for what we need to hear.
    In terms of proselyting, we didn´t have as much success as we did last week, but I am always grateful to God for any blessing he gives us. Our Branch changed schedule from 9:00 to 3:00PM. It´s a change that we have to get used to, as never in my life have I had a church schedule so late! A few couldn´t come because they went to the city and didn´t come back in time to go to church (those preparing for baptism specifically: a single Mom, Rosa, with her 2 kids, and another family of 4, Carlos, Carlos, Mercedes y Anita ). Some that are preparing for baptism did come however and for that I am grateful: a cousin of a family of church members, Melisa, and two teenagers Raul and Gabriel who came with their freinds and whos parents commited to coming next week.
    I love the mission. I learn and improve myself everyday. I love the opportunity to serve others in their lives to be happier and to trust in God. I know this is the Church of Jesus Christ. I love you all and wish you all the best.
Love,
Elder Justyn Pollock
Santa Rosa 1st Branch
7 July 2014

My companion is Elder Gomez from Nicaragua

Transfers!

This week we had transfers! I am now with Elder Gomez from Nicaragua (I´m still in Santa Rosa) who I met before when i was in Guayaquil. This week we`ve been working in a small town we noticed near outside of the city we`re in. I believe missionaries have never visited there as no one there says the had talked with missionaries. I`m gonna do the email a little differently this week so you can see the successes and dissapointments of being a missionary:

   Success: We`ve had the opportunity to teach alot of lessons this week which was awesome! Many familes have been very receptive and at first meeting us they tell us to come in! We´re being very blessed in our sector! 

  Dissapointment: We went to the house of one of our investigators, June who was going to come with all his family but he wasn´t able to come because of work!

   Success: He sent his sons and daughters, also invited his brothers, and nephews who ALL came to church!

   Dissapointment: One of our investigators, Melissa, that was preparing for baptism soon was not able to come to church because of work as well. 

    Success: Another investigators, Jimmy, who is preparing for baptism came to church right after the sacrament (we thought he wasn`t going to come!) 

    Success: He also brought a nonmember friend!

    Dissapointment: Another family, Daniel and Diana, we were teaching was not able to come to church, ALSO for work.

   Success: A teenager, Raul, came to church, accepted to be baptized, and through him we were able to teach his whole family who are now all investigating and very willing to come to church!

   Success: The same as above happened with ANOTHER teenager, Angel, that came.

   Dissapointment: The sun has been HOT this week!! (normal haha, but more than usual this week)

    Success: Between a baptism in the zone, a missionary celebrating his birhtday, and a missionary who ends her mission this week, we ate cake 3 times this week!

   I love being a missionary. I know that this is the work of the Lord and where I need to be right now. The missionary life is a great experience and I love it here. I know that those who live, and share the gospel recieve happiness and joy that is worth the effort.

Love

Elder Justyn Pollock

Baptism!

This week we had the baptism of Anthony, the 16 year old brother of our convert from last week. There was a ward activity during the day that ended right before the baptism, so there was pretty good attendance to the baptism. Plus there was food! Everything has been going great here as usual. I love being here in the mission and know this is where I should be.

   Right now we are preparing a 10 year old girl who grew up in Italy for baptism. She recently moved here last week and we started teaching her right away. Her Mom is an active member and her grandpa is first counsler of the district here(stake). It`s interesting teaching her because spanish isn`t her native tongue, and sometimes she doesn`t understand. We`re teaching another 18 year old, jeferson, that we found contacting who comes to church with his mom who we are also teaching. The others we are teaching are melisa, who lives with her grandma and comes to church with her aunts and cousins, and Jimmy a 15 year old who came to church with a friend. 

   I know this is the church of Jesus Christ and that those who live the gospel find hapiness. Love you all!

Elder Pollock

 

 

                                         Baptism of Anthony

Great Week!

This week we had the baptism of one of our investigators! It was an awesome baptism, and the next day when a member went by her house to bring her to church, she was already at the church! One of the first one`s there as well. I`m super excited for this baptism as she understands the lessons very quickly, reads the Book of Mormon daily, and asks good questions. She wanted to go to the temple this Saturday when the District here went, which is awesome as a convert that goes to the temple very likely perserves to the end. Her brother will be baptised this Saturday if all goes well!

   On Monday we had a family night with the Vicente Family and another family of the ward, which was also the birthday of one of the daugthers of the viecente family. The whole family, 2 of which are my converts, all went to the temple this Saturday! At church they bore their testimony of the temple, which was an incredibly happy moment for me. They are counting the months until they can get sealed!

   It was the birthday of one of the missionaries that lives with us, so we ordered pizza (much preferred over cake). We`ve been working really hard and been seeing the success that comes with that. With the World Cup it is a little different preaching, including Ecuador played this Sunday right during church! With lots of prayer and diligence it hasn`t affected our success.

   I love this gospel and I love this work! These are some of the best times I`ve had in the mission. I`m very happy to be here. I know God blesses as we live his gospel and keep the commandments. The Temple is the house of the Lord, and the place where every convert, and all members, should end up getting to and continue visiting. Hope you all have a great week!

-Elder Pollock                            
                                         
                                           Iguana was listening in on one of our lessons
                                                

That family I talked about about a month ago that got baptized last week. I went to do their interviews and took a photo there

 Baptism of our investigator

 

 

Training!

This week we had the opportunity to have another leadership council meeting with all of the zone leaders and sister leaders. It is definitely one of the perks of being a leader. I definitely can´t complain about staying in the hotel next to the temple with air conditioning. I love recieving training from the president as well. The evening after the council meeting we went and worked in some of the sectors in Guayaquil, where I had been for 8 months, so we were able to visit a few of my converts to invite them to a special stake conference. I was very happy to find them active! Including one single mother I had taught has already entered the temple and 2 of her friends were also baptized after I had left that sector! The next day there was another training meeting (another night in the hotel with air conditioning!) by a seventy, Elder Wadell for the 3 missions in Guayaquil. His talk was inspired and I learned a ton of things very specific for our mission.

   We are teaching some awesome investigators. One investigator that will be baptized this Saturday already wants to go to the temple this Saturday! All of the invesigators we have right now are reading the Book of Mormon, going to church weekly and praying daily. Those are the three indicators we can use to see if they are really being converted to the gospel. 

   I`m very excited and grateful to be a missionary in this time. I really love it here and try very hard to help others come unto Christ and recieve the hapiness that comes from that. 

Have a good week all!

Elder Pollock