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