Email 07/21/2014 Weird week in Esmeraldas

So lets start this baby off in the beginning with Monday.

I got a haircut Monday......

Okay on Tuesday I had divisions with the famous Elder Kerby (from Arizona) and we had a small but cool day. We got free oranges then we had to travel to some other Elders because one of them was practically on his death bed hahaha. It was a fellow Gringo named Elder Dalton (from Utah). So that was our day in short for Tuesday, which ended with Elder Kerby having emergency changes to San Rafeal because one of the Elders there went to the beach...... It was my old pal Elder Rojas who went to the beach and got on a horse. So he got sent to Quito to be close with the president for a while.

  And that brings us to Wednesday when all the new things came in for the houses. So that meant that we were carrying heavy things up alot of 3 story buildings. Well you know how much I like moving things right? Fun stuff. So my companion and I finally got fans in our house and a new Fridge also. We just a bit too lazy to move the fridge to the kitchen so as of now its plugged in and sitting in the middle of the house.

  Thursday we had meetings with the President. Not to much to say there.

  Then Friday we had Divisions yet again. I went to a new area and spent the day with Elder Dalton. He's a cool guy that knows way to much about cars and how to build stuff. But it was a fun change and we even set a baptismal date for one of their investigators that has been investagating the church for years. I heard in all this time, that was the first time he accepted a date. Ahhhhhhh Yeah PODEROSO

  And Saturday.... Oh Saturday was a long day for me. First we had 4 baptisms. WHAT? Oh yeah you read correctly. We baptized 3 of the children from the Zamora Family and a studd named Jose. They will all make faithful members in the church and the boys already are looking into serving missions. Then that night I got sick.......... Really sick. Like it was coming out of both ends. It was horrible. I almost felt like walking myself to the hospital. And that night I didn't sleep at all. Pity Party.

  Then Sunday we watched our new converts recieve the Holy Ghost and become priesthood men. It was awsome for me and my weak stomach. So yeah that's all for this week. I'm fine now. 100%. Hope you all had a good week love ya lots and remember my birthday. Remember to donate to the childrens fund, all proceeds go to Elder Rodriguez.... I'm kidding. Thanks for all the support family and friends.

Enjoy your week.

PEACE

Elder Rodriguez

Email 07/14/2014 it's going GOOD!

Well I have to say that this week was awesome. We worked our butts off but my companion and I are feeling great. 

Lets start with talking about the people i'm serving first. This week we are expecting the baptism of 6 people. One family and a young man. For the family they need to get their papers first to be married so we have been praying hard for them, but they are super great. The young man is a golden investigator who found us and wants to be a missionary.

   The Elders in my district are all having success now. Oh also the Elders who weren't calling me are calling me now. Its because I had to unleash the machete on them. I went to there house super early in the morning one day and woke them up. Told them to get ready with all their stuff and said lets go. So then we walked to the nearest phone booth and I made them call my cell phone. With that I showed them that my cell works and thier phone works so no excuses. And thats how you machete someone. BOOM. Haha anyway everyone is doing super great. Its kinda annoying because I always have to travel to the other sectors to interview people for baptisms but its alright. Oh so this week I interviewed a 10 year old and one of the questions was if he had ever committed a serious crime. He told me one time he went to the river to swim without his mothers permission but he feels bad. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. 

   Okay okay what else. I don't really have much else to report. And no pictures. But I do have the announcement that my BIRTHDAY is coming up so feel free to show your charity and love for me.

Oh and a Shout out to Ryan James and the goon squad for what they wrote this week, Thanks.

Well thats all folks love ya all

PEACE

Elder Rodriguez

Email 07/07/2014 Happy 4th

Well this week was a tough one for me here in Esmeraldas. I have to say 4th of july brought a littly home sickness for me to add on the real sickness I was suffering this week. I don't know what was happening but my stomach was in pain the whole week. But I have learned here in the mission when something is getting you down its better to work even harder. 

  It feels great to go to bed every night just utterly exhausted but knowing that you did some good. 

This Sunday we had a really weird experience in church. The Lord just gave us someone to baptize. A guy who I thought was a member came up to us and asked "so when are you guys gonna baptize me?"....... What kinda question is that. Anyway that was really unexpected but really awesome. He only needs the lessons and he's ready to go. 

   Then this monday we had a BBQ with all the missionaries in the zone. Elder Kerby and Elder Dalton made some good old American hamburgers and hotdogs. We only needed some fireworks to bring independence day to Ecuador. It was a good time. We also played some hardcore Futbol here in the zone. I'm getting better, I still suck but I'm getting better. 

Well thats all for now. I'll send pics of my Joseph Smith moment or as my companion says the 2nd vision, and pics of a kitten.... Oh also the BBQ and my shoes.   

Elder Rodriguez

Ivan's Art work.

Give this boy a blank canvas and you never know what he is going to draw.

Elder Rodriguez with his companion

With Elder Sumare from Peru

BBQ and his favorite Pepsi 

The 2nd Vision

Bloody Eye Jesus Church

Elder Ivan Rodriguez with a Kitten

Email 06/30/2014 The Mission & Mistake of Last Weeks Email

Well this week was pretty good if I do say so myself.

   I thought I would start with telling about an Elder who went Haywire. So its Tuesday morning and Elder Kerby (zone leader) calls me. ¨hey are you in your house¨, obviously I was. ¨Oh okay well can you meet us in the park and help us find Elder Blas¨. Hahaha this Elder was in a trio with the zone leaders and after a bad haircut went off on his own to buy a hat. So about an hour later of us looking for him my companion and I find him wearing a bucket hat and walking with a member like nothing was wrong. I couldn't believe it haha. So thats a bit about how that Elder went haywire and looks like a Jehova´s witness now because he won't take off the hat.

   So weird story for the week, my companio and I were buying sandwiches and talking to the guy who works there. Turns out he was a member as a boy but his father died and has never been back. Its crazy because he doesn't remember anything about the church so he's like a completely new person. He then told us that he always saw the missionaries passing but felt he should talk to us. AWESOME. Missionaries to the rescue. 

   As a District leader my responsibilities are only starting. I did my first 2 baptism interviews this week and I was about as nervous as the 2 people. They were only kids but still. I'm just worried if someone tells me they killed someone before hahahaha. 

   This week was especially cool since I recieved a package from my dad. The mother of all packages. Full of all sorts of candies, twinkies, beef jerky, sunflower seeds, shoes to draw on and cool T-shirts. So that was great. I kinda went a bit over board on the candies but its all good.

   This friday I also had my first divisions as a District leader (change companions for a day) which was really weird. The Elder I was with was just trying to impress me the whole time but just making himself look dumb. All he was talking about is how many baptisms he could get. Thats something I wish all missionaries knew, its not about baptisms, but rather, conversions. Plus all his investagators are children.... not to hard, just saying. 

   All right well that's all for now. I'll update on the T-shirt and shoes I'm making next week. Thanks for writing.

Love ya all.

PEACE

Elder Rodriguez

PS: I just realized that I wrote last week the Nephi and Lehigh were mediocre missionaries....They were the consecrated missionaries. I just hope I don't get struck by lightning for the one!! 

Photo's

Delicious Food!! Your average portions. 

Stairs

My new born puppy

Package from my dad

Email 06/23/2014 First week as District Leader

Well this week went alright for us here in the Esmeraldas Zone. My companion & I have been working super hard to Find some new people to work with and we have some promising results. We even went to this one part of our sector were the super rich people live. Not too many people listened to us there hahah but some which is better than none. 

   On Thursday I had my first District meeting as a District leader. That means that I stand infront of about 6 missionaries and teach them how to be better missionaries. I talked about the Module of Ammon. I based it off of the experience of Ammon in the Book of Mormon. Its a way for us to contact a new person, discern their needs and teach them according to those needs. It went fairly well.

Well for the most part the district is doing well. There is a group of missionaries that work in the most dangerous area who never call me at night so.... That has me a bit worried. Especially since about every week there is a new murder over there. Hahahah no joke.

    So on the bright side I have a cell phone now, on the down side people are constantly calling me.

  Anyway this sunday was terrible. Nobody went to church. At the time of sacrament I counted only 10 people and none of our investagators assisted. So that's something to work hard on. Anyway I'm devoted here to being a consecrated missionary, because two consecrated missionaries is better that 100 mediocre missionaries. By the way those 2 mediocre missionaries were Nefi and Lehi..... Look it up.... I read that in a talk. 

Love ya all

PEACE!

Elder Rodriguez

Email 06/16/2014 Changes!!!!

Well I'm going to start by leaving the changes part to the end. Let me tell you all about my week. 

   So this week the World Cup started so we can't really work when there is a game going on. As missionaries we are not supposed to watch the games, but rather get to work as normal. Just one problem.... Who do you teach when everyone is watching the game? I don't know yet but me and my companion are going hard knocking on every door possible. This week we found a couple of new people that have dates to get baptized so thats super good. Oh then there was Father's Day (Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there, especially my Dad) On Father's Day everyone and there mother was having a party with huge concert speakers. That night three different neighbors of ours partied all through the night until the morning. I'm not joking when I tell you my bed was shaking because of the base of all their giant speakers. So that was cool. Then my companion had a surprise talk on sunday. Everyother word of my comp was cut out because the microphone was having problems. I was laughing my head off hahaha. It probably wasn't good to laugh especially since I sit in the front stands were everyone is looking. Then last night some teenager tried robbing us with his hand in his shirt, pretending it was a gun. I just told him, we don't have any money and I know thats only a hand. He just ended up walking away with a pamphlet that we gave him. 

    Okay now the good stuff..... CHANGES.... I received the changes in the morning and me and my companion are staying in the same place. But something did change. Now I'm a district leader. That means some missionaries have to report to me every night. Oh also I have a cell phone now. I was kinda bummed about it at first because now a whole bunch of missionaries look up to me. I need to interview people for baptisms and every Thursday I have to teach all the missionaries something. Then thinking more of it, I know I have an opportunity to serve that much more. And heck it's a bit more job experience. 

So thats the news. Oh and my companion finished his training. Yaaaaayyyy. 

Love ya all and I have pics coming. 

Elder Rodriguez

The last Zone meeting before the changes. The Elder with a llama on his tie just finished his mission.

This is the bird of the Samora family. And their neighbors small house.

Some of our adventures with the Samora family. The food is Plantains with some Cheese and the drink is some plantains with some milk...plantains are not sweet. The youngest son Mattias. One of the daughters Curly in the blue with the hate and her older sister Britany.

Email 06/09/2014 2nd to Last Week of the Changes

Well this new week is going to be the last week before changes. Not sure as of yet If I'll be going or not. At this point I'm not even sure that I want to go. This week we have a family that is going to be married so that in the following week they can be baptized as a family. They are a family of 7 but only 5 of them are of age to be baptized. Sincerely I love this family they are just a bunch of goons.}

  So that's why I'm not sure that I want to leave yet. I really want to see this family get baptized. One day I had a prompting to knock on a door that I pass everyday. That's when I met the mother of the family. She had once listened to the missionaries and was at the point of baptism until her father died. So that's were it started. From that point on everyday we visit them and we see great changes in the family for the better. The mother told us that since we have been visiting them every aspect of their lives has been better. A story for the Ensign (Liahona) right there.

  Anyway the rest of this past week we have been working really hard, knocking on doors and such.

 Oh so yesterday something really weird happened to me. This random hippie guy walks up to me and in english asks me if I've ever heard about the New World Order. So with his English and his crazy look, he got my attention. Then he tells me a whole bunch of stuff about conspiracy theories and that he was once a scientist but they kicked him out because he made a machine to control the weather but now the military is using it. Hahah. The best part was he told me he was from Egypt and a scientist. He was no older than 24 and had a perfect Californian surfer accent. So anyway that was weird.

  So that's it, hope it was interesting.

Love ya all,

Elder Rodriguez

Nachooooooooo

And my Llama!

One of the investigators of my District leader had a birthday. So us missionaries surprised her.

We are all trying to set a date for her to get baptized, so I drew her a card of Jesus, we all signed it, then Elder Blas sang the mission song to her. The Elders are Elder Rojas (from bolivia), Elder Tituaña ( from Ecuador, he has a pony tail because of his culture its okay), Elder Blas (from Peru) and my companion Elder Nogales (from Chile). This family and these missionaries are great! 

This is a profile picture for sure. 

Oh by the way this is part of the island in our sector.

Email 06/02/2014 Paraiso!!!!!!!!

So Let's start this little letter here. This week was really good. My  companion and I worked super hard all this week and sweated durisimo (really hard) working our butts off. And it truelly bore the fruits for our labors. This week we found 10 new investagators which is awesome. So everyday we have a bunch of lessons while knocking on a bunch of doors too.

It was super funny this week because we knocked on one door and a little kid answered. The little kid literally didn't say anything except no. So we kept asking just rediculous questions like "can you hear me (no), are you even alive (no), can we go now (no)". A little jokester this niño.

Anyway today is P-day and our awesome District leader bought just the 2 of us pizza for having the best numbers this week. So we are feeling really good here. 

Well I'm happy here but I still kinda want to leave the coast. Everything here is awesome, the food, the people, the other missionaries, just one thing I don't like..... The heat. Especially here in Esmeraldas when water isn't a thing you have everyday. Anyway that's my email for yall this week. Love ya all.

Elder Rodriguez

Me standing in some Radiation! I'm going to turn into the Hulk.

My companion Elder Nogales & I 

Email 05/26/2014 Mission News

OK hey there everybody!

This week was a bit of a change to the norm. It started by all of our zone traveling by bus to Quito to hear the wise words of the area 70, Elder Waddel.

Traveling to Quito is always super cool because we get to watch movies in the bus. This time we watched the new Captain America movie, good stuff. Anyway the lesson that we had with Elder  Waddel was truely awesome. He truely is an inspired man. Also in Quito I was able to see many of the missionaries that were with me in the MTC so for me that was a bit like a family reunion. After our 3 days in Quito we returned back to Esmeraldas in the heat. The coolness of Quito was a nice change. Oh I forgot we went to this mall in Quito and it was the biggest mall I had ever seen. It had a rollercoaster inside. I was blown away when Elder Kerby, who served some time in Quito, said they have them all over. So today is P-Day and I bought some new shoes. They wanted 50 for them but I brought it down to 25. Just hope they don't fall apart on me hahaha. So this P-Day we went to the beach. It almost brought me to tears feeling the cool ocean breeze which reminded me so much of California. But it was really beautiful there. I'll send pics. Well that's all for this week PEACE.

Love ya all

Elder Rodriguez

Sorry I'm so good looking! 

I don't know why my butt looks huge....Nice

Email 05/19/2014 Dead Baby?!

Wellllll hello here from Ecuador. Today its bright and sunny and hot as always!

Well I hope everyone got the pictures that I sent this week.

One of them is of a live sized headless doll that scared the poop out of me and the others of me on a giant hill full of neverending stairs. I call it the stairs of doom because I feel doomed everyday as we scale that monstous hill.

Anyway this week was nice mainly because I got to talk to the family. Also this week many of the members have offered their services in this work of ours.

Which is much needed. Oh I'm also going to go to a place called Ta China an area in our area where no missionaries have gone yet. My plan is to leave this sector with a legacy to the Rodriguez name........ But mainly a legacy for the Lord. 

Well I'm not sure what else to write. This week we found alot of new people, brought back a family of 6 into activity in the church and all is well. 

This next Wednesday we are all traveling to Quito the capital of Ecuador to hear from Elder Waddel one of the 70. If your not a member he's just a really important guy in the church. Now as I should be super excited to hear from him I'm kinda more excited just for the bus rides there and back. The reason is that we can watch movies and buy the movies we want to watch. Because the bus people put on movies whether we like it or not and if we don't buy the movies at time they can be super bad. Well thats all for now folks.

Everything here is going well and my companion is doing good. Still don't like training but I'm getting used to it.

Love ya all and pray for the best,

Elder Rodriguez

I thought this doll was a dead baby!

Giant hill full of neverending stairs!

A top the Giant hill! 

PS: My mom made me remember that this week we also had a service project.....

With machetes, and you all know what that means...HUNGER GAMES... no no sorry. I mean alot of fun. We helped this one family clear their property of all the trees and shrubbery and it was a lot of fun. Until on elder from the states, Elder Hall lost his grip on his machete during mid-swing. Lets just say I almost died. But again it was a lot of fun chopping everything in sight. Sorry I don't have a picture of that but I hope you all can imagine.