Email 10/20/2014 CH-CH-CHANGES

Well this week we had changes..... And nothing happened for us here in Iluman.

     Anyway I can't  say too much happened here this week. We are still here working very hard with our investagators and this coming Saturday we have a baptism of a young kid named Jhon.

So that's gonna be awesome to start my comp off with a baptism. He's an awesome kid who goes to seminary and church everyweek by himself.

    Then this week we had some divisions for the day. So I was working in my area with Elder Guild (Wyoming USA). I was so excited for that day because I had scheduled meeting all day, unfortunately just like during every single division I have ever had all the meetings failed.............

    Then to top that off our mamita practically gave us the volcano that we live on in the form of rice. After the lunch we were sharing some lesson and I just ran into the bathroom. (WARNING) This next part might get gross (WARNING) So I run in there and just fill the whole toilet bowl with the food that I just ate, in the form of puke...........Sorry about that. Anyway I felt better right after unloading a bit. 

     Okay but besides those parts that day was really fun and after all of the meetings failed we prayed together so that the Lord would show us where we were needed. So after praying we found a little old lady that told us her husband just died about 3 months ago. So as missionaries we talked to her about why we are all here and where are we going after. She was so over joyed that she began to cry. So that day was horrible but we felt great after being tools in the Lords hands.

     Then this week my companion and I had to go to Quito for his verifications and that was really boring for me because they insisted on teaching us stuff we already know and do everyday. 

Fortunately on the bus there we got to see the new Transformer (it was too long) and Guardians of the Galaxy (it was awesome but we didn't finish it). Then while we were in Quito we got caught in a terrible storm. It was hailing so hard, with lightning and we were all soaked. Fortunately while there I bought some church movies so on P-days I'll be enjoying those.

      Well that's all for now folks. Oh shout out to Grandma Bev and Aunt DeAnn for the package, I already eat everthing and I'm enjoying the cloths. THANKS

     THANKS to all of you viewers out there, just stay tuned for next weeks issue! 

PEACE,

Elder Rodriguez

My minion from Esmeraldas with the matching hat. 

Email 10/13/2014 A little more than a Year

Helllllllloooooo here from valcano Imbabura Ecuador.

   Here it's rather wet due to the ridiculously cold rain but all is well. Oh and I don't know if you all know but I passed that one year mark. I know I know, I'm a stud. Thanks.

  Anyway this week was great. We had the opportunity of having an invasion in our sector. So all the missionaries came to our sector and just found people for an hour. It was a lot of fun just receiving names of people to go and teach. In that time we found a young kid named John who has been attending church and seminary for quite awhile. So at church he walks up to us and just asks, "When can I get baptized?" So now we got a baptism lined up for the 25th. So that was cool, especially when we asked, "what do you know about the book of mormon," and he responded, " only that its true". SWEET.

   So that was fun. Then the bad luck continued with my companion on one rainy day. So we were just walking back to the house at night in the rain and I feel like I should just stop walking, so I stopped. Unfortunetly he continued in front of me and falls in a huge hole, invisible to the eye because of the rain water flooded it. I laughed so hard, and he laughed, then I checked if he was alright........ He was.

   Just glad that somebody up there is looking out for me. 

  Then that brings us to today, well I lost my plak (name tag).  Then the zone leaders were on a bus and a little girl gave them my plak. So that was good. Then to celebrate the finding of my plak I made some cheese empanadas. 

  That's all for now kids. Thanks for listening.

PEACE! 

Elder Rodriguez

For my one year mark I burnt one of my messed up ties. Enjoy my hat and sweater, it's cold outside.

One Year Out in the Mission Field 10/09/2014

Email 10/06/2014 Being Sick Of it

So lets start this thing off with a bang........ Oh sorry I meant to write barf.

    My newbie of a companion got terribly sick.  It all started out with us eating some questionable food at one of our mamitas. She prepared us a plate full of river weed. Like you know when Nevel Longbottom gives Harry Potter the Gilly Weed.... That's what it looked like on our plates, and suprisingly it was good. I liked it alot. Then more in the afternoon I felt a terrible pain in my stomach and so did my companion Elder Valentine. 

     So we headed home at the nomal time which is about 9, and my companion just empties his stomach in the bathroom. Well I thought he emptied it out but he comes out and begins puking every-which-way. So I played nurse for that night helping him and cleaning up the nastiest stuff, but he's my companion. Then the day after he was feeling a bit better. Then BAM, right in the middle of a district meeting he pukes again. So that day we just stayed at home. He slept from 12 in the afternoon until the next day...... I thought he died.

     Well now he's all good and we are working hard. The day after we even found a huge family. It wasweird  because we just walked in a dark alley and found like 5 different houses and all of them are family.... Oh and they are all investigating the church now.

     So that brings us to conference. And for missionaries conference is like the Super Bowl, so it was a good time. Especially since our whole zone dressed like the Waiki´s (indigenous people here). Oh and Waiki means brother. I'll send some pics of that.

    Anyway so even though my companion might not have had the best week it was a good one for me. Plus I found a Coca-Cola with my name on it.

Well thats it for this week.  Hope I didn't scare you with the title! 

Welp Love ya all and hope for the best. 

PEACE,

Elder Rodriguez

Elder Valentine & Elder Rodriguez dress as indigenous people.

Zone 

Coca-Cola with Elder Rodriguez name on it. 

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

Email 08/25/2014 Living on a Volcano

  Well..... How's everyone doing? I'm doing great here living on a side of a volcano.

Haha the other day a member told me that if the volcano explodes all the lava will flow directly into this part of town.... And as if that wasn't bad to hear, my companion had a dream that the volcano exploded and we were evacuated to the nearest church.....

But don't worry.... I'm fine.

  So for the most part this week was kinda slow for all of us. Especially me I think. Its really tough to work in my area in a trio. So as of now I don't have anyone lined up to be baptized. Hopefully the Lord with find a way to put them on my path.

  Here on the volcano its getting a bit more warm. We still have to wear our sweaters but in the mornings we aren't exactly freezing anymore haha. 

  I decided that I'm going to learn Quechua. (the language of the Inca civilization, presently spoken by about 7 million people in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina) As of now I only know about 2 words but I'm making progress. It will make it easier to talk to the people here. There are alot of people here who only speak Quechua  or if they speak spanish too, they don't really understand it. 

  Oh wow I almost forgot to tell you about this little tiny old lady that we contacted. She was a tiny thing and was about 90 years old. Everyone in her family is dead so we taught her about the Plan of Salvation and how she can see them again. Then Elder Chub invited her to be baptized and she just started to laugh and hit him with the pamphlet. It was so funny because she just kept saying, "I'm too old." Yeah so I think that might not work out hahah. 

   This week we also had a service project in which we helped the sister missionaries. I had to stand knee deep in freezing mountain water and heave giant buckets of water to the sisters and Elder Chub so that they could soak this guys crops. It took about 2 hours but at the end I couldn't feel my legs and I was eaten alive by mosquitos. Fun stuff. The good thing was that the guy gave us hot soup after. They always give us soups here but I'm not complaining. When they don't give us soup they give us a plate full of rice and potatos as big as the volcano.

    Well that's all for this week folks. Sorry it wasn't more interesting. 

      

Love ya all PEACE!

Elder Rodriguez

Here is a picture of a fruit thing that you suck on the seeds.

Email 08/18/2014 Me and my Companion, The Holy Ghost

  Well as of yet I have not recieved a new companion. It's kinda tough because Elder Parra he has to take an hour after lunch everyday to rest a foot injury that he has.

 Fortunately I have been working in my area with Elder Chub and Elder Parra works in his with the Bishop's son. So I'm working flippen hard here to find people. 

  But here it's going all good. The other night I was working with Elder Chub and a drunk guy walks up to him and shoves him. So me being bigger than Elder Chub and the drunk guy step in front of the 2 and shove the drunk guy to the ground. Then he just walked off and we started to laugh. I swear the people here are like hobbits.

  Then Sunday we were at church and a guy from the States comes in. His name was Chris from Utah and he knew spanish from serving in spain. Unfortunately for him our church isn't in Spanish....... I told him that it was all in Kitchua but he didn't believe me. So I just watched as he sat looking super confused. Hahahah he was a cool guy. 

  Well I don't have to much more to report because this week has kinda been slower. Oh I taught a lesson with the mission President the other day. It was really exciting to teach that family because they are the parents of an Elder Tituaña that I served with in Esmeraldas. He was the missionary with the ponytail.... But anyway the last time I saw him he told me to teach his parents. It was great to have that opportunity to tell his parents what he is doing and why he does it here in the mission. 

   Okay so that's all for now folks. Oh I'd like to thank my Aunt Bianca for the package it was awesome... Especially the socks. I forgot to report that when I left the coast one of my mamitas stole all but 2 pairs of socks. Its been a real stinky struggle here with only 2 pairs of socks. So thanks again and the ties are slick! 

  Okay love ya all and I send my best wishes your way. 

PEACE

Elder Rodriguez

P.S. 

If anyone wants to send me another package.... send me SOCKS!!!

Photos - my companion sitting in the sun because it's cold!! 

Email 08/11/2014 Among the Lamanites

Well this week has been fairly well. How are things with you?

 Lets start out with what happened at the beginning of the week. So my companion Elder Leong got moved to Quito in emergency changes. I feel bad but I am so relieved that I can really start working in this area. As of now I'm working in my sector and another sector with the zone leaders. So now I have 2 companions Elder Chub (from Guatamala) and Elder Parra (from Chile). They're pretty cool and I know I can learn alot working with them because they both have alot of time in the mission. Oh also Chub served in Guatamala, Peru and now here in Ecuador. Parra served in Chile, Venezuela and now here in Ecuador also. 

  So yeah its all good here, the only thing that sucks is that in their house they don't really have hot water....... We are in the flippen mountains and the water is like ice. 

   Oh and the people that live below them always come up with food for us. Its sweet. So that's really all the news for now. I also received packages from my Aunt Deann and Grandma Bev & Aunt Ninnie so thank you for that. 

Elder Rodriguez

PS: The tie was especially awesome. The Lord knows I need more ties. And I freaked out all the missionaries when I demonstrated the water proof thing on the tie. So thank you Aunt Ninnie. 

My New Companions

Elder Parra is the TALL one. Elder Chub is the shortest one and I'm in the middle if you forgot what I look like.

Pictures - Esmeralda's

Pictures that the members of the Church in Ecuador sent of Elder Rodriguez & his companion Elder Nogales. 

Email 08/04/2014 I'm Alive "Happy Birthday to Elder Rodriguez"

Well I'm sorry for not writing last week but with the new changes I had absolutely no time. But lets talk about my last week in Esmeraldas.

   Okay so I finished my last week almost crying to leave our converts the Zamora family. They were awesome and I hope I can visit them again. That last week was really a good time. I baptized 2 kids of a family I only taught twice..... And I don't remember there names its terrible. I feel bad. It was a baptism of an Elder Dalton (USA) and an Elder Valverde (PERU). I interviewed the family for their baptisms and they all asked me to do it. But I couldn't do that to the Elders so I baptized 2 of the kids Valverde one of the other kid and Dalton the mom it was really cool and I was honored. 

   Now for the changes. Right now I'm teaching among the Lamanites here in an area called Imbabura close to Otavalo. Its super cold here and it reminds me of the Shire and old world spain mixed together. So I love it. The only problem is that here are alot of people here that speak Kichua or the language of the indigenous. So that means sometimes we work with translators. Here I'm still the District Leader and my companion is Elder Leong (UTAH) from my group. I was wondering why President put me with someone in my own group but now I know..... He talks nonsense alot during lessons. So I'm working with that but I'm just glad to be here. I already love the people here. Alot of the people who are here have Book of Mormon names.... And they are not members. Oh and the church we assist is in Kichua also so I have no idea whats happening half the time. Well I'll send some pictures of the baptism and my new area. Thanks for all the Happy Birthday and Happy Birthday to all thoses new borns out there also.

Oh and our house is on the side of a volcano....... And the otherside of our house is another Valcano....COOOL

Elder Rodriguez

My companion Elder Leong

New area Imbabura