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