Email 07/13/2015 Nothing New

 Well sad to say that this week wasn't that exciting. I'm okay here in Calderon still with my small companion still. We are still working hard but it really seems that with such little time I have left, the work is getting harder. At the moment we are working with a family that is super awesome, they are reading the scriptures daily they are always praying, but just one problem. WE CANNOT GET THEM TO CHURCH!!!! Ugh I'm frustrated because for the past 3 weeks thay have said that they with go but everytime something comes up. Oh well I think I just need to pray a bit more for the guidance. We will see what happenes this Sunday.

  Anyway so today we had an activity as a zone, it was alright. We played volley ball with towels and waterballoons then we played indoor soccer and dodgeball. Man I love dodgeball. It was pretty much only my district and a couple of other gringos playing it but we had a blast. 

   So then after that I went to the mall. So about 3 weeks ago the wire to charge my camera broke so I went to radioshack last week to see if they had the wire. They told me that it would come in on thursday. So that was the reason that I went this week. ANNNNNNDDDD the guy tells me that they have never sold that type of wire...I felt like ragiing but I don't think Jesus Christ rages too much.

So thats all FOLKS.

PEACE!

love ya all

Elder Rodriguez

P.S. No pics this week

Email 07/06/2015 Independence Day

 Well I hope everyone had a great 4th of July, I know I didn't hahahahahahaha. No but in reality it was alright, as was this week.

  So at the beginning of this week I was honestly feeling a bit bummed because my companion wasn't   progressing much and it felt like a real wieght on my shoulders. 

 Luckly God answers our prayers and only desires our happiness. So after much suffering and much praying, my companion magically progressed alot within one day. Now thankfully he is striving alot more to teach and learn. <--------------------------------------------------------------(Testimony right there)

 So lets continue with the week. So Elder Flores 2.O and I have been working super hard to find new people so we have been trying to get creative. We even went to a city that has never seen missionaries, called Oyocoto, and it turns out that there are more dogs than people over there and the people that are there are super Catholic. So that ended only with a mean looking dog bit to my leg...... I'm okay, no rabis 

  Then it turns out the Pope came to Ecuador...................................SO NOBODY HAS BEEN HOME....

  But honestly I have felt the love of God this week. It has been really hard to see it but its always there. In the midst of a zone of 25 missionaries I'm leading the best district and they have already become like a family for me, the members are great and my companion is getting better. So I really can't complain.

 Oh and today I got an email from one of my old companions who finished his mission about a month ago... He send me a picture of him and his wife in the temple. So with 10 more weeks I think I'm going to work alot harder to have a super hot wife real fast. Honestly that companion was really ugly but he did well.

 

Okay Love ya all

PEACE!

Elder Rodriguez

Underwater pic with Elder Urquieta (from Bolivia). He recently ended his mission and was my first District Leader.

My old District.

My companion bought a sheep ones you and sleeps in it. He doesn't think it's weird.

This sign says if they catch a robber they will lynch him. It's not a joke here! 

Email 06/29/2015 Patience is a Godly Virtue

Well this week has been a trial. I honestly feel the urge sometimes to just leave my companion alone at a bus stop or something just to get rid of him. Now I know that's not nice and I'm surely not going to do it but, sometimes I like to think about it.

    Anyway, this week has been a bit difficult for us and  especially me. I have now entered into my last 12 weeks in the mission. I want to work hard and yet my situation doesn't permit me to do that. This week we only had one lesson everyday because everysingle day we had a meeting...And my companion has become my echo...He literally repeats everything I say now. 

   Oh and this week there were a couple of deaths in the mission (not literally). When a missionary goes home it is known as his or her death. One of my buddies Elder Urquieta (he's from Bolivia) and Sister Fernilius (she's from Las Vegas) finished their missions this week. They were both in my district. And the funny thing is that when I started my mission Elder Urquieta was my District leader, and now he died as I was his district leader. 

   So in 12 more weeks that will be me (I'm so tronkie right now). Oh and we had changes. I didn't have any changes and neither did my companion but they did reunite the 2 zones together, so now we are huge!!

  Aaaaand thats about it. I think in the middle of this change I'm going to ask if I could ge changed to the Jungles so I can see how that is. 

PEACE and LOVE to all

Choi Choi

Elder Rodriguez

PS: Well I wanted to send pictures this week cuz I have a bunch.....But he dumb computer won't let me...So until next time. Stay tuned in.

  

Email 06/22/2015 Hot Water

Well HELLO from Ecuador!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   So this week I had a real desire to get down to the needy greedy in the Work of the Lord, and now we are seeing some of the fruits of our labors here in Calderon. 

      Anyway I should probably start from the beginning of the week. Lets start with my companion. So up untill this point my companion has had a really really slow progress in his teaching, so as you can imagine I was a bit stressed. So as a missionary not knowing what exactly to do I took the matter to the Lord in a prayer. And I have to tell ya all I had the weirdest feeling afterward. Right after the prayer I had a distinct impression that I should no longer give my companion the opportunity to teach in the lessons......AND IT WORKED!!! Now in the lessons he is fighting to participate and teach rather than only wait for me to tell him when like before. So we have had a real breakthrough with that. 

     Now with my companion progressing I am stressing alot less and we are working alot more effectively. Infact this week we were teaching a family that we have had for a while now and they finally accepted a baptismal date. The family of 4 should be baptized on the 17 of July. If everything goes according to plan. 

     Well besides that, I had divisions this week with one of my zone leaders Elder Gallardo (he's from Argentina) and his other companion Elder Keyes (he's from Utah). The divisions went great but the best thing about it was that under there apartment a member opened a small restaurant. And that member just happens to be one of my favorite members from my old sector. So it was super awesome to talk to her and hear about the old ward and all her family. The only sad part  was that when she saw me she began to cry and she kept asking me why they took missionaries out of that sector. But it was great to see here and also her husband. 

    Then this week there was a baptism. The sister missionaries have been working hard with a family of less active members and were able to baptize one of the sons too. His name is Ronnie Reyes, he's a cool little 9 year old. It was great because I was able to interview him this last week and he asked me if I would baptize him. I said of course and he was stoked. Well finally there is hot water for the baptisms but this time as we entered into the water, it was burning hot. He just kept saying it burns it burns hahah. But the second that he went under and came back up all he said was,¨ I thought it was too hot, but it was perfect.¨ MIRACLE!!! haha. So that's all with this week. After the next week I will be entering my last 12 weeks in the mission field.

Tha-tha-thats all Folks

LOVE ya all 

PEACE!!!!!!!

 

Elder Rodriguez

Sorry my companion doesn't know how to work a camera, and we don't know how to look at one.

Email 06/15/2015 One Long Week

Well like the title says, this week has been a long one. This week has been filled with alot of travelling, meetings and spending money which I don't have.

    So I have realized that in my sector we need some new investigators, cuz the ones we have right now don't really want to progress. So in my prayers I have been asking alot for more desire to get out and contact more. This week I finally have gained the desire to contact.....Problem is that we didn't have anytime to do it. This week I had to go to Quito for my companion to get his visa, then there was a baptism in the district (yaaaay) and also there were some emergency changes. I'm still in the same area with my same companion but we were with another missionary for a day in his sector. 

      I'm frustrated.............................................................................................

   But the good news is that today we all went to the Middle of the World again as a district. We had a blast hanging out there and messing with the statues that we weren't supposed to be touching.

 Whelp thats it. 

PEACE

LOVE YA ALL

3 maises mas

Elder Rodriguez

In the dark planetarium with the homies

The nails aren't even touching the ball!!!!!!

Sometimes I think he's a child (my companion). 

Round 2 in the Middle of the World.

View from the top.

Oh don't fall.

He was teaching me how to dance.

She didn't want anything to do with the gospel.

She's gonna get baptized! I just know it.

I don't know why he was so mad.

Ghost man. 

Chill time round 2

He punched me right in the, you know where.

I got hungry then I got stuck.

Just the district attacking Elder Mott.

After almost 2 years in Ecuador I finally saw a flippen Llama.

The sign says that I should'nt touch....I don't care.

Email 06/08/2015 What Week?

Well Hello there everyone who is in the states!!!! Hope everyone is good out there and always thinking about me (WHATTTT??). I'm okay here in Ecuador, this week I caught a bit of a cold but for the most part I'm still alive.

  So this week was a bit tough for me here in Calderon. Every single night we had meetings at church and most of our investigators are only at home during the night, so that made it really hard to work. Sobecause  of that I was a bit bumbed, but then I decided that I needed to find more people who are at home during the day. And thats exactly what I did. I got out there and when to a street called California street, and found a lady who didn't want anytrhing to do with us, and I told her that we want to share a message, to which she replied, "no!". Then I said we are coming back tomorrow and you better be here. The next day we went back, she was there, and she listened to our message. The next appointment we have with her is this Tuesday. AND THAT IS HOW ITS DONE!!!!!!

   Okay, so besides that nothing more happened except I think I might kill my companion. I don't know what he does in there, the bathroom but when I go in there is always pee on the floor and on the seat. So if on the news you hear that a missionary was killed in Ecuador......You all know who did it.

  Oh and I have to tell you all about Sunday. So this last Sunday at church was fast Sunday (for those nonmormon: during the first meeting of the month whatever person can go up and share there testimonies and experiences) so this sunday I felt prompted to go up and share my testimony about missionary work (original right?)  Anyway in our sector recently we have been guided alot to people who really need us, and in almost in every lesson the families are crying because they feel the spirit so much. So I shared that in my testimony but with a little joke to keep everyone on there toes, which went a little like this, "when most of the time we visit all of you, you cry. Now I don't know if our messages are really bad or if its the spirit but seeing that none of you have thrown us out, I think its the spirit." Now with that I hit a home run, everyone was laughing but the spirit was felt really strong. So I end and go back to my seat. Then my companion goes us and shares the same testimony with the same joke. I MEAN WORD FOR WORD, and the other missionaries there were thinking the same thing as I was, What the HECK.

    So my companion is a freak......

Have a nice WEEK!

LOVE ya all

CHOI

Elder Rodriguez

 P.S.  I taught my companion how to tie a tie.... He failed  

I forgot to tell everyone that this last week as missionaries we did an activity to say thanks to the bishopric so we drew them some posters. Aaaanndd of course I was the one drawing so I made it fun and made the bishop punching satan right in the mouth it was awesome. 

Email 06/01/2015 Cold Waters

Hello there Everybody, how was your week? Well mine was alright, really stressful but good.

   First things first, we had a baptism. So after months and months Mishell finally accepted to be baptized and everything was great. She has always had a fear of being baptized but she finally felt an answer from our Heavenly Father. She is an 18 year old girl who has one of the strongest testimonies I have ever seen. So I'll tell ya about the baptism. Anyway her baptism was scheduled at 11 in the morning so I woke up early to go to the church to fill up the baptismal faunt. Previously the church washaving  problems getting hot water so I thought ahead and brought some pots to heat up water and throw in. Then when we get there the faucet to turn on the water in the faunt didn't work...................So three hours later and a million buckets of water we finally filled up the faunt by hand. And after some time everyone started to show up so we began. It was awesome because earlier I called President Richardson to ask permision so that my old companion Elder Roberts could come and see the baptism too. Anyway the baptism went great, even though the water was arctic cold and one little girl was crying because she thought Mishelle was going to drown in the water.

But it was a success!!!! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   Anyways besides that my week was pretty normal. On Tuesday I did have divisions with Elder Wright (he's from my group) and we were pretty much talking about video games all day while working. Oh and on Saturday my companion was whining about his kidneys so we ended the day early. And it turned out that he really did have pain in his kidneys because later on he was peeing blood............Fun stuff! 

  So that brings us to today. We went bowling as a District. Oh and Elder Mott (he's a huge guy) made the craziest shot I have ever seen. So while he plays he just chucks the bowling ball with all his might. And one time there was only one pin left right in the middle so he just chucks the ball and it goes straight into the gutter....But then while the ball got closer to the end it just flies out of the gutter and strikes the pin out. It was very impresive.

So thats all I got for ya all.

LOVE YA ALL

PEACE!

Elder Rodriguez

My eye.

The new note book I made. Jesus is saying "that's how I saved the world". 

My dirty desk.

One of our investigators with a wig on.

These are pictures of the baptism we just had, her name is Mishelle Cuaran and she's a trooper.

This is Marcela, the niece of Mishelle. She told me not to leave the sector because she likes me.

Elder Wright. He's from my group.

Email 05/25/2015 He's Just A Wee Little Lad

Well HELLO everyone out there in the states, I hope eveything is going good out there!

 Oh and I would like to start this email by giving a SHOUT OUT to my Mom for her Birthday. LOVE YA MA!!

 This last week was filled with excitement. For the first three days of the week I ws with an Elder Mott (from Texas, and he doesn't have any relation to the other Elder Mott) And we had alot of success together. Oh and he got bit by a dog. It was flippen awesome. I have no idea how the dog jumped high enough to bite his arm cuz he's a giant. But we took care of things. Anyways I was only with him up until we both got our new companions.

  Okay now to get down to the needy greedy. Well I got my new companion. He's a tiny little Peruvian named Elder Flores. And he's kinda wierd.....He wears jeans to sleep....Oh well. So I as I was talking to him I found out that he was Baptized into the church about a year and 2 months ago....Wait a second I was in the mission a year and 2 months ago.....(I´ve been a missionary longer that he's been a member of the church). So he practically knows nothing concerning the gospel and has never read the Book of Mormon in its entirety but he has a Heart that is ready to serve. So its gonna be tough but I know he's  gonna do a great job with a trainer as good as me (if I don't say so myself). 

   Anyways at the moment I am teaching everything but he's getting there.

Oh and we gotta baptism lined up for this Saturday. So I guess my new son is starting off his mission right.

So that's about all I got to report this week. Pics to come.

Love ya ALL 

PEACE!

Elder Rodriguez

The NEWBIES 

My companion is the Hobbit next to me.

Elder Mott and his dog bite.

Email 05/18/2015 Rise of the Second Son

Well this week was exciting. Oh and we had changes...........

   So for this last week Elder Roberts and I were working really hard to find some new people and fortunately we found in the process a new family. Its really amazing because the mom in the family just showed up at church on sunday....And I was like, who invited you (hahah no I'm kidding of course). so besides that she has told us that she believes everything we have taught without any doubts....So we are going to try to baptize her. Hopefully she accepts. 

   Yeah so now with changes. So I already knew going into changes that my companion Elder Roberts would be going, which he did. But what I didn't expect nor did I want was to train again. I figure that the first son was my "Beloved Son" so now I'm just waiting for the "Son of Perdition". So I'm going to have to go into Quito this following Thursday to get my new companion, (which as I was thinking,I'm  going to have less weeks left in the mission than he will have months....Oh that's nice). Yeah so in the mean time I am here with an Elder Mott who will be training also. He's from Texas and he is Huge. 

Anyways I'll let ya all know about my new companion next week. 

Love ya all 

PEACE!

Elder Rodriguez

P.S. Happy Birthday SHOUTOUT my cousin to Sophia (CHIPS) Sanders! 

Email 05/11/2015 Mother's Day

  Well HAPPY MOTHER'S Day to all those Mothers, Grandmothers and future Mothers out there. Hope you had a good one. Anyway it was good to talk to the family yesterday but I feel really trunkie (homesick) now hahaha. Only 18 weeks to go...........................

  Okay well here goes the update for this week. So Tuesday, and Wednesday were filled with traveling to the Hospital in Quito for my companion to have some check-ups. So that was rather boring....But the rest of the week we actually worked. This week consisted of us contacting most of the time so that wasn't too much fun, especially when we got rained on in the middle of nowhere, but its all apart of the adventure. And I truly think the Lord saw our efforts this week because we had so many investigators at church. We had 5 investigators who attended, 4 of which was a surprise so I figure we are doing something right. 

   And I had a really cool experience at church this week. So as I was sitting in our priesthood class, I got a call. Well I was in church so I figured it could wait. Well then they called again, and again. So I thought okay this has to be important so I stepped outside to take the call. It was the Cortez Familyfrom my  last sector and they called me to visit me at church. Its like a 2 hour drive and they came all that way just to see me. And plus I have no idea how they got my number (creepy). But it was awesome that they did that for me.

 Well thats all folks

LOVE YA BUNCHES

CHOI 

Elder Rodriguez

New placs! One in Spanish and One in Kitchwa (my mission just recently band making these placs but I was the last one to get it)

Meet the Mormons comes to Ecuador.

Email 05/04/2015 Too Much Time Not To Do Anything

   Well sorry for a boring email this week but we really didn't have time to do very much. 

   Honestly this week mostly consisted of my companion and I traveling around meeting with other missionaries to help them out. 

   Unfortunately the district leader in the other district of our zone did a backflip and spranned his ankle really bad....So we don't know if he's going home or not but since he can't move around I'm doing the work of 2 district leaders. FUN STUFF!!!!

    But we did have something exciting happen to us this week. So our Bishop decided to take us and give us a tour of our sector to know the limits really well. And thanks to that tour we know know that we don't even live in our zone...Oh and about 75% of the people who we were working with don't even belong in our ward, so now we get to start from scratch again hahaha. It was a bummer and my companion was super bummed but I know that God has his reasons and I believe that our help is needed elsewhere.

   So that was the big excitement of the week. Oh and today we had an awsome P-day activity. So somehow I got ahold of the movie Meet the Mormon (the only one in all of south america) and we had ourselves a little movie and a lunch. Then after the movie (it was really good by the way, and you should see it) we played some hardcore dodgeball. 

Well thats all for now folks, hope to see ya this Mother Day for my last skype call of the mission.

PEACE 

LOVE YA ALL!

Elder Rodriguez

Our last Activity in the house of the Benacazar Family (they are super wealthy)

It's like being back home.

Well it's good message that we share.

Email 04/27/2015 No More POOP!

  Well I have to say this week I don't have another story about pooping, sorry. But we did walk past the same area and they are now building a house in that same spot......I felt so embarrassed, because they had to have seen it and thought,"that's was no dog." Oh well that's life, sometimes you build your house in  poopy location. Anyways besides that this week was pretty good.

    My companion and I have been working really hard to find some new people and its going slow but I know the Lord has something prepared for us. Oh and my companion and I got hit by the giggles....... You know, when you start to laugh uncontrollably and can't stop, ya now you remember. So we were in a lesson with this one guy who recently had a serious eye surgery and we just bust out laughing....... AT NOTHING........My companion was laughing so hard that he had to leave the room for a while, then after a short time he came back. Unfortunately when he came back, he started back up again and had to leave the room once again. So in that lesson I pretty much taught the whole thing by myself but thats alright. That whole experience made me think of the times I was in church with my brother and we would start laughing uncontrollably. 

    Well honestly that's about all that has happened this week. Oh today as a district we went to hang out at this one members house. Man let me tell you this man is so rich. We were all playing pool, fusball, and we played soccer in his soccer field.....Yeah he has his own soccer field. It was fun.

Well thats all for this week folks.

Love ya bunches.

PEACE!

Elder Rodriguez

P.S: Had an experience with the 3 Nephites this week, but I'll let ya all know next week.....

My Zone....I'm short.