Email 12/29/2014 Casi Feliz Navidad

  Merry Christmas everybody. I hope everyone had a great Christmas filled with good food, good friends and lots of family time. 

  Here in the mission it was an almost Merry Christmas.........As in it was super great, but it's never the same far away from the family. But it was great that I was able to talk to all my family this Christmas! Especially my Mom, Dad oh and my Grandpa and Granma Rodriguez (who I haven't seen forever).

  So anyway this Christmas was spent for the most part with the Cortez family, who are just super awesome. They gave us a great feast. Then once it was getting late we headed home and had a bit of a game night, playing cards, poping balloons filled with talcom powder (don't try that it hurts your eyes) and eating junk food.

  So thanks for all those who were able to gather around for my Christmas calls, it really meant alot for me. 

  Here we too were able to give to a family. Last week we found a family of 3, which consists of a single mother, her 12 tyear old daughter and her 4 year old son (who is speacial needs and could die at any second). This Christmas they had only each other and no gifts. So we pulled some money together in our little trio and we able to bring them some toy cars for the son, a Monopoly set and a bunch of sweets. You should´ve seen the happiness in there faces. And the happiness in ours.

  Then that brings us to today. The Cortez family took us to the center of Quito to a bunch of Museums and to the house of the President of Ecuador.... Pics to come. 

Well that's all folks.

Love ya all

PEACE!

Elder Rodriguez

Oh P.S.: Shout out to the Half Blood Beckham for having his birthday this week.

Myself and the lonely street dog.

The Cortez Family on Christmas Day.

Our home made Christmas Dinner in our house "fried rice".

Zone Leader action (oh and we bought Pizzas for Christmas to share with the Zone).

Some missionaries from our Zone. 

The center of Quito, Ecuador. 

A selfie of me.

Sometimes ya gotta be a man and guard stuff all day.

Remember that Angel that I went to my very first week in Ecuador, well there it is again!! 

Here are some HUGE live "grubs" that my companion ate. I didn't want a raw one cuz I know for a fact that they usually eat them fried. (Definition of Grubs: the thick-bodied, sluggish larva of several insects, as a scarab beetle) 

That's pure gold behind me.

Email 12/27/2014 Navidad

Here we are with the Cortez Family on Christmas with my 2 companions.

Pictures from our Christmas Lunch with President Richardson.

Our Zone decided to buy scarfs to wear to the party.

12/25/2014 Second Christmas in the Mission Field

Elder Rodriguez Skype his family on Christmas Day. It was fun to see and talk to him. We were able to say hello to his two companions and to the family that feed him Christmas Dinner. The Sanders, his Aunt DeAnn and Uncle John were at home so we FaceTime them and held the cell phone to the screen so Elder Rodriguez could talk to them as well. 

We miss him but know that he is doing important work in Ecuador. We look forward to talking to him come Mother's Day. Elder Rodriguez also told us that his release date is 09/22/2015. Let the count down till he comes home begin.

Email 12/24/2014 Feliz Navidad

First off MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  Now I want to make a shout out to my mom, Thanks for the package.

Now for a shout out  to my Aunt LaVonne for my new camera, it didn't just make me happy but also one of my companion's that didn't have a camera. I gave him my old one so he can hold on to some memories on his mission. 

  Now this past couple of days haven't been filled with to many new things. Not many people have had time to listen to us but we have been doing a bunch of services. We helped one family move out of there house because their property manager kicked them out by surprise then we helped a family do some cementing again......The biggest thing that has happened is Christmas. I bought a new camera so you all can see me better, my companion got my old/new camera, then I bought my other companion Bopit....He's super happy now, I just won't have any food for this coming week hahah..... Seriously. But I'm super happy here and everything is going well. Oh one missionary that I haven't seen for about 6 months sent me a new name tag.....It's white for baptisms. I'll send pics to everyone.

Thanks again! MERRY CHRISTMAS 

PEACE,

Elder Rodriguez

New Camera (shock proof & water proof) 

My White name tag

Black & White

Jenna bridge at a members house

Where the studies go down

Email 12/15/2014 The Gift

 Well this week was really hectic for us here in Quito. This week we had a bunch of reunions  and also we had to go to the center of Quito for the Christmas lunch with President. 

  2 zones went to that lunch and we had to prepare a messege to present at the lunch. So we got together with the other zone leaders, the district leaders and all the Sister leaders in the 2 zones and prepared a skit.  We performed a skit off of the night before Christmas story..... It was my idea.... It made the mission President cry.... I was actually surprised he didn't send me home hahah. I´ll send some pics of the lunch. It was really good we had turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and green beans with a delicious gravy. I couldn't get enough of it. Oh also as a zone we all bought scarfs to wear at the party. Each companionship wore one red one and a white one. But since we are a trio we looked like the Peru flag.

 So that was fun. Well besides that we didn't do much. Literally we didn't have time to work.

Oh we have a new mamita who washed our clothes. She's amazing. She ironed all of our clothes and she repaired rips and tears in my companions clothes. Only one problem..... She stole my pants to my suit....... But I'm not sure if she stole them or she was nice enough to send them to a tailor to get them fixed, cause they did have a huge tear in the crouch.

 Well besides that all I am really grateful. All of the missionaries here are happy with Christmas coming up. For the 24th we will have a P-day instead of that monday but we have to enter the house at 6 and then we can't leave. Then on the 25th we will have a normal work day but we will end it short at 5. So it looks like we won't be having a spectacular dinner but the three of us will find something to do in the house to keep us entertained.

Well that's it. Merry Christmas to all.

And try to do some service this Christmas and feel the joy of the holidays.

Love ya all PEACE,

Elder Rodriguez

Email 12/08/2014 Inner City Pressure

Well how y'all doing out there? Me? Well I'm doing just great out here in the city.

  Well let me describe my area to ya so you can get an idea of where I am. Here in Carcelen it's dirty, it's the poorer area of Quito, the food is alright, and the people are a little tough. I'm actually loving it alot.

  We haven't been contacting to many people this last week but every single person we talked to has become an investagator or completely acted like we don't exist.    

  My companions are really cool too. The other Zone Leader is named Elder Artero from El Salvador. He's a good guy with lots of experience. He came from a Peru mission where he was an Assistant to the President of the mission over there. This is also his last month in the mission then he goes home. So you can imagine that i'm just trying to learn the most I can from him. I also have another companion right now, Elder Quintana from Peru. We call him the Secretary Leader. He's here with us because he was flirting a little to much in the coast, but he really is a good missionary. Anyway I'll send ya some pics of my companions.

  So as a Zone Leader I have to tell ya, it's a lot of teaching other missionaries, filling out paperwork and looking good. (joking on the last one, that's just me). Also this Tuesday we have to go to the center of Quito for the Leadership council. That means an 8 hour meeting with all the Zone Leaders in this mission..... Fun stuff.

  Anyway I'm doing great here. Don't worry about me, just send money 

   I hope everyone is ready for Christmas coming up soon I know we are.

Well that's all folks.

Love ya all PEACE,

Elder Rodriguez

P.S. Shout out to Abigail and the Rubster having their Birthdays and stuff! 

Well when ha gotta mall in your sector ya gotta hit up that McDonalds...especially since it's been a little longer then a year since I've had some Mcdees!

A bit of my sector.

My companion Elder Artero

Other companion Elder Quintana

 

Email 12/01/2014 Zoning Out

Well first off I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

 We sure did here. Elder Valentine and I decided to make a family pancakes.....They liked them so much they were eating like monsters, well that's what it looked like when people have never tried pancakes before. They were so grateful that they gave my companion and I bugs to eat, they made us beanies and they made me a suit....out of pajamas. (I'll send pics). 

  Anyway changes came today and it caught me by surprise. I was made Zone Leader and now I'm in a part of Quito called Carselen, Ofelia. I finally made it to the big city y'all. And the weird thing is, is that the President usually calls the people to make them Zone Leaders the night before....Not with me. My new companion is Elder Arteros from El Salvador and he's about to end his mission. I also heard he came from a Peru mission where he was the assistant to the President, so I have alot to learn. 

  The last night I was in Iluman the members were telling us how much they loved us. And that there had never been missionaries there before that they trusted more. That made it really hard to leave, but I know the Lord needs me in other places. So as a district Leader I was in charge of 5 missionaries, now as a Zone Leader there are 24 missionaries on my shoulders that's all. Wish me luck and pray for me.

  Well thats all FOLKS 

PEACE

Elder Rodriguez 

P.S. Congrats on the graduation mom!! 

It's a Waikís Pony Tail beanie that I designed.

Second beanie that was handmade and given to me by the De la Torre Family.

Me looking good.

Chicken Foot soup.

My pajamas suit. 

My son Elder Valentine waiting for some missionaries.

Chubby cheeks Antony making his mean face.

Email 11/24/2014 Fighting the Lord of the Flies

Well this week was good. How was it for you all?

First off I wanna give a shoutout to my Papa Jim and baby Daphne for birthdays.

  Anyway I'll go ahead and talk about this week. It was good. This week the stake had a huge mini mission experience for the youth. We got a young Brother Chisa. And it was so funny. We just went to go knock on some doors and I told him to do the first one. He freaked out with fear. So we taught him how it's done. Then later that day we contacted this lady who had a Jesus shrine with a whole bunch of paintings. So we added to her little collection with another Jesus painting we just had. She was so happy she jumped and hugged our little newbie. For the rest of the day we just teased him a bit about his oldtimer girlfriends. Anyway it was a good day and He said he learned alot. 

  At church we also held a movie night as missionaries. So we invited 3 different wards and a whole bunch of people showed up. My companion and I ended of buying 3 kilos of popcorn to feed everyone.  Also my companion and I and another Elder from the states named Elder Guild were incharge of the popcorn and sodas. It was an awesome night and all the members were super thankful. They all said it was a miracle that 10 missionaries did all that for all those people.  It was a good week to help people here in Iluman.

  My companion and I also experienced another miracle with one of our investagators. so we haven't met with this lady for a long time and we were planning on what we should teach. We both decided that we should teach about the Godhead so we planned that, studied it and went to the lesson. As we were walking we both felt that it wasn't a good idea so we decided together to talk about prayer. When we get there we start the lesson with a prayer as usual. Then as we were asking her if she read the things we gave her to read, she answered yes but with question in her voice, so we ask her if she had a question. She did and it was about prayer. We had a real breakthrough that lesson with the Spirit working through us. 

Well thats it.

Love ya all

Hope for the best and keep the faith! 

Enjoy the Turkey

PEACE 

Elder Rodriguez

Here are the funniest little girls here in Iluman.

From the smallest to the biggest - Sijuri, Eva & Nusta

Here is a picture in one of the little girls school books. 

Email 11/17/2014 View from a Archangel

This week went rather well here on the Volcano.

On Sunday we had a super old guy that we invited to church, thinking he wouldn't show. It was amazing because right then and there he said he wants to join our church because the Catholic church are a bunch of thieves..... I don't know about that part but we started to teach him.  

 Anyway for the most part this week was just alright. We had a missionary invasion in which we went to help out some Sister missionaries in their sector. While there we had some pretty amazing contacts. I contacted one guy and he tried arguing with me. He kept saying I was mistaken talking about God. Then he kept asking us which God I was talking about, whether it was Alla, the jewish God, the Catholic God or the Mormon God....They are literally all the same God. Anyways we ended up just walking away with the lasting words that, "Dios le mostrara el camino cuando esta listo a escuchar."<------ Translate it. 

 Then we visited the old lady Maria again and I got a picture. I had to tell her to stop cring for the picture. She is just always over joyed to see us, and she always tells us to return. 

 Then this p-day, today, we went to Ibarra (about 30 minutes in a bus) to visit the Archangel Michael. It was really cool and I'll send some pics.

 Anyways love ya all and hope you all take care of yourselves! 

Elder Rodriguez

P.S. Eat alot of turkey for me.....I won't be eating any! 

The Gringos

Selfie 

My companion & I 

Archangel Michael and I

Maria

Lunch

Email 11/10/2014 Party in the Park

Well HELLOOOOOO everyone. It seems like there is alot of things going on for everyone back home. This week has been full of.....meetings.

  So we started it off with some surprise interviews with the President of the mission. I was all good and for a plus he gave me some cookies. Then that same day his wife was checking our Area book (all of the work we have been doing while here in Iluman). And my companion was stoked for her to check itbecause he has been updating it everynight. And when she looked at it she just crushed us. It was a humbling experience for sure haha. But we´ll do better next time.

  Anyway the rest of the week was filled with other meetings that I always go to as the District Leader. Nothing fun there. Then one night all of us missionaries hosted a family history activity with all the wards in the area..........4 people showed up so you know it was a success. 

  The rest of the week was filled with me being a bit sick, due to allergies, and rain. Alot of Rain.

Oh and also the Waikis and Panigus have been parting it up here in the park. It's a celebration for the 125th anniversary of the Catholic church or something. The music that they have been playing is sooo cool, I'm missing the music of the states. But I'm a missionary!

  Then later in the week we made an old lady cry with our kindness. So the story is, we always visit this old lady that looks about 900 and she walks at a 90 degree angle. Its sad because she has no family that visit her and her son is literally her neighbor. But we shared a little message with her and she began to thank us with tears filling her eyes. Then she tried to pay us but we obviously denied. If you want to feel good in life, do good in life. That has been one of the best lessons I´ve learned here in the mission. 

  Well that brings us to P-day. We ended up playing more dodge ball but safely outside. It was a good time then we ate some pizza....I haven't had pizza for sooooo long. 

Well that's all for now folks.

Happy Birthday to my Waiki Jordan, I´ll send a package next Monday.

(I tried sending it today but the post office was out of stamps)

So be on the lookout for some good things! 

PEACE!

Have a nice day.

Elder Rodriguez

Here I am eating some delicious Cuyi (Guinie Pig) with Brother Alejandro and Sister Estella Tuqueres.

We live in their house upstairs on the 4th floor.

This is a rare Giant Blurry Beetle.

That's my hand next to it for scale.

Email 11/03/2014 Dayz of the Dead

Happy Halloween to all those ghouls reading this.

   This week went rather well for us here on the Volcano of Imbabura. While the weather is getting colder for all of you up there in the states, its getting hotter here. I actually like it. 

   So this week we are still working hard to bring the Lords work to the Lamanites once again hahaha. No but we are working really hard here. Right now we have some teenagers that are preparing for their baptismal dates ( and Iker). Also one of Tupok's friends who always goes to church came up to us and said he wants to be baptized too................. Ugh alright if you want pshhh. Anyway then this week while looking for a reference that we had we found a family of 7 who were almost baptized about 5 years ago. They weren't baptized then because they had their doubts whether or not Christ's church had Prophets and Apostles. I was so happy I knew what is in Ephesians 4:11-13 to respond to that question right away. So now we are working with them now. Its all good here.

   Oh update on my cooking skills... I learned how to make some Empanadas which I'll send some pics.

   Also this week we were able to invade a sector of some Sister missionaries which was legit. The whole zone came to help them find some new people to teach. During that invasion my companion and I found a guy who told us he died twice in his life and has no idea why he's still around. So we taught him the Plan of Salvation (which answers the time old questions: Where do we come from, What is our purpose in life, and Where do we go after this life).

   So that brings us to this monday P-DAY. So we decided to go to the church and play some broom hockey. Which by the way I decked out our broom to be the Nimbus 35 sponsered by Nike, Vans, Aki  (shopping center here), and  Deja (a detergent).......... It ended with one Elder almost killing me when he broke his broom, me almost breaking another Elders thumb and my companion body slamming a wall..... So we stopped doing that and played some dodge ball with taped up toilet paper rolls....... That ended with an Elder breaking a window in the church..... So we stopped that too. Then we ate some mexican food. 

 Well that all folks. 

Thanks for all the support

Love ya all.

PEACE! 

Elder Rodriguez 

PS: Shout out to my Brother Jordan who is about to have a birthday.

Kill it our there Waiki (brother in kitchua)

Cool Graffiti during the invasion. 

My world famous Empanadas.

Email 10/27/2014 A Walk into the Waters

  This week here on the volcano of Imbabura we were blessed to see one of our investigators enter into the waters of baptism and then recieve the gift of the Holy Ghost.  His name is Jhon and we had his friend Wilson baptize him. It was great and also the Zone leaders, who serve in our ward  had a baptism of 2 other kids. It's cool because they are all friends with each other and they are super excited to pass the sacrament. (I'll send pics). But the baptism was a tough one. So Elder Valentine and I went early to fill up the baptismal faunt. Then when we came back, the water was super low. And to make it worse the water pump wasn't working to pump more water into it...... So they were baptised really really close to the ground.

   This week we also found a young teenager named Tupoc De La Torre who we thought was a member. He has been attending church for over a year and we just recently gave him a baptismal date. He's  super awesome and really knows everything already. Only one problem, his parents are really against the church. But his older sister, who is about 22 or something, is a recent convert of the church so we are gonna work really hard and pray that the Lord softens the hearts of the parents. Cuz Tupoc really wants to be baptized....It's weird.  

    So then on Sunday we started out with a heart breaker.  One of our best Investagators, who we had the highest hopes for, dropped us........ So we were walking to the church all bummed when out of nowhere I find $5.... It was amazing cuz pretty much everysingle person that was walking to the church had to have walked past that bill. Lucky me. 

   This week we also found a super old lady. She looks about the same age as Yoda from Star Wars. She also walks about at a 90 degree angle due to hard labor her whole life. So we talked to her about prayer and she begins to tell us about one time when her grandson (Joey Diaz a return missionary) prayed and she didn't like it. He did one of those lazy missionary prayers where your on your bed praying in a fetil position. And then she showed us how, I mean she got on the ground and demonstrated. My companion and I could not stop laughing and I think she realized she is crazy because she started laughing too. 

    Well that's all of the things that happened this week. Hope all is well.

Love ya all PEACE,

Elder Rodriguez

Double Rainbow on Volcano Imbabura

Jhon's Baptism 

Zone Leaders Baptism