Email 09/29/2014 When we GIVE, we GET

Let start this week out with the boring parts first.

   This week we had some meetings with the mission President. Well as a leader here I had to go to 2 full days of meetings but I feel like I learned alot. So that's the boring part. 

   So lets skip to Wednesday when my companion almost died. Our mamita gave us some rice, potatos and some fried eggs. They were deliciously covered in a peanut sauce too. My companion is allergic to peanuts.... Deathly. So yeah he had to use his epi pen again. That was the second time in 2 weeks, I don't know if I'm a good trainer if my companion is almost dying every week here hahaha. 

    So this past week as a zone we saw that we weren't going to have a baptism this month and it would have been the first time in this zone to end with no baptisms. So as a zone we prayed and fasted for a miracle. Well out of no where a man came in one of the other sectors asking if he could get baptized... Oh and he had all the requirements. Then on Saturday the day of his baptism hedidn't  show up..................................... But like all the underdog stories that we love so much he redeems himself by being baptized on Sunday. Miracles happen everyone. So we were all happy about that.

    My comp & I celebrated in our house by grilling some weenies in the fire. 

     Then on Sunday we went to a members house to congradulate him on being married. He wasn't there so we talked with his brother who is a cool guy. Well he served us up some dinner which was a soup of intestines, potatoes and rice. It was good. Then he gave us about 20 eggs and 6 liters of coca-cola to take home. Can I just say how much I love the people of Ecuador. Sometimes after giving all your energy and heart to the people, they give some back. I'll send picks everybody, don't worry.

     Well thats all for now Love ya ALL.

PEACE

Elder Rodriguez

Eggs & Coke-Cola.

Grilling some Weenies. In one of the pictures my hotdog just fell of the hanger...I was sad. 

In Quito with New Missionaries from the MTC

New missionaries with trainers and President & Hermana Richardson.

Elder Ivan Rodriguez is right behind Hermana Richardson. His new companion Elder Valentine is standing next to him.

Email 09/22/2014 Dog Days

  Well I think I have knocked on every door in Iluman this past week.... Twice. 

Elder Valentine and I are working like LOCOS here in the rain. But we are doing great. I have been leaving all the contacts to my companion so he can learn super fast. And for the most part he's doing great, I just step in when he doesn't know what to do. 

    This week we had the bright idea to pray then go to the church in hopes that someone would pass by to give them a tour. We stood there together in the rain and in the mountainous cold for 2 hours and nothing. So you can all imagine that we were feeling a bit discouraged. So we went to look for some one to teach. Then we ended up knocking on a door when this old lady answered. She invited us in to get out of the rain and we taught the plan of Salvation (which answers the questions, Where do we come from? What is our purpose? and Where do we go after this life?) It was an awesome lesson with all of her family. They told us how blessed they were that God sent us to them. Then they took pictures of the little diagram that I use to teach it because they were so impressed. It was interesting especially for my companion. 

  Oh and my companion  is super allergic to nuts so the other day he ate a cake ball that had absolutely no nuts but had a reaction. So we rushed back to the house for his Epi-pen. He almost died..... It was super cool. 

   Anyway this P-day we went as a zone to a lake near-by. It was cold and wet but we had fun together. 

Th-Th-Thats All Folks

Thanks for watching, tune in next week for more...

Love ya all

PEACE

Elder Rodriguez

Tarantula that just walks around here like no big deal. 

My sexy baby and I.

Weird fruit which you suck on the seeds. They are like apricot...Super Good.

Throwing me into the lake.

My companion Elder Valentine & I. 

On top of one of the members house. The edge was about a 7 story fall to the ground.

Oh I forgot to tell you what Cuiy (Guinea Pig) taste like. So this last Saturday 09/20/2014 I had some Cuiy in a soup. At first it was a little weird seeing its little paws but it wasn't half bad. To me it just tasted like a chicken with BBQ dry rub on it. It was actually delicious.

Thank you that is all continue with your day.

Email 09/15/2014 The Son of the Morning

   Well I went to Quito for my new companion who I will be training for the next month. When I got there I realized that there were about 24 new American missionaries and only 1 new latin missionary. so obviously I wanted the latin so that there would be no problems if I didn't understand anything.........

   It doesn't always work out how you plan it. I was paired up with an Elder Valentine (from  Sandy Utah). He's actually a really cool Elder and now I'm glad that i'm with him. He's horrible at spanish but I think he's better than I was. It truely is awesome how much success we are already having here in Iluman, Imbabura. And I'm actually surprising myself at how much spanish I actually know.

    For example I had an experience that I never had before. The owners of our house rented out the room below us to some hippies (the girl is from Austalia and the man is from Denmark). It turned out that they don't speak any spanish so I translated for them and the owner of the house. It was very impressive for me to be able to do that and kinda weird. These people are doing some kind of hippie diet were they only eat vegetables and fruits. So that was awkward to explain.

    So anyway my companion and I are working really hard to get a baptizm under his belt in his first change. So we have been proselyting like crazy and one of the days after alot of failures I see a dog. 

So I did a little prayer in my heart that the dog would guide us to sombody. So we follow the dog. It led us to a women and after a lesson, my companion did his first baptismal invitation. She now has a baptismal goal for the 11th of October.... And that is how it's done.....

I'll send pics of my zone and my new companion

Love ya all.

PEACE

Elder Rodriguez

New companion Elder Valentine from Sandy, Utah USA. 

My district consist of the two Elders in the back who are the Zone leaders. On the top left Elder Chub (from Guatamala). The top right Elder Guild (from Wyoming, USA). And also the two sister missionaries more towards the left. The red headed Sister Smith (from Washington, USA) and her companion to the right Sister Stevens (from Utah, USA)

Zone being funny! 

Zone being serious.

Elder Rodriguez wearing a hat he is sending to his little brother Beckham.

Email 09/08/2014 Bad News

       So this week we had changes........ I'm going to be in the same area as District leader still but this time I'm going to be training a newbie. I don't want to train another flippen missionary. In the mission when you train a missionary he becomes your son, so I have been telling everyone that my first son was great like Jesus Christ, so that means my second will be like satan.....................................

      Anyways that's the bad news. Now I'll tell you what happened in the week. At the beginning of the week the Zone leaders, who I was with for a long time, went to Quito for a meeting so I was stuck with 2 other missionaries for a while. I was with Elder Luque (who trained me in the mission) and Elder Garcia (from Honduras). The area that they work in is terrible.... It's the side of the volcano so its just nonstop uphill walking. Fortunately that only lasted for 3 days untill the Zone leaders came back. 

    Before the zone leaders where terrible to be with but when they came back they were all happy and easy going, weird.

     So then came the changes and everyone thought that I would become the new zone leader but I need to train some kid first. So right now I'm with Elder Garcia until Wednesday when we go to Quito to pick up the newbies. So that will be fun. Just hope he's not American so I don't have to teach him spanish. Anyways thats all folks.

Not much sorry, but I'll send a pic!

Love ya all and PEACE,

Elder Rodriguez

Email 09/01/2014 Just a Little Lava

Well this will be short because honestly this week has been alot of nothing going on. 

   I have to say being in a trio of missionaries that don't get along whatsoever is a bit difficult. This week has been full of tension in the house and its not working.

   So let me tell you about some of the exciting stuff. So one day in the night while were walking we all look toward the volcano far off. And it just happened to be on fire........... The volcano was leaking out a bit of lava and it was a huge fire over there. I took a pic of it but because it was night it didn't come out so well. But luckly it lasted a bit into the next day as well so I have another pic during the day...........

Just hoping the volcano that we live on doesn't set off........................................

    And after that I bought some of the indigenous shoes they got here. They look ridiculous but I feel like a ninja. I don't have pics of the shoes, but don't worry. The following Sunday I'm gonna rock the traditional clothes to church.

   Well for this week that's all. Sorry there isn't more, but there are pics coming.

Love ya all. PEACE

Elder Rodriguez

Here is some cool graffiti too...with some indigenous ladies to the left