Angry dogs, drunks after parties, small neighborhoods

Hola todos!

This week was really great. Elder Salazar and I worked really hard and found some small neighborhoods outside of the city with lots of people interested to listen. The hardest part will be helping them come to church.

One man, named Alfonso told us about his confusion with the nature of Jesus Christ and God the father in the beginning. A lot of religions think God and Jesus are the same person or that Jehovah is God and Jesus Christ is someone else. When we finished teaching him the first vision of the prophet Jospeh Smith he said something like, "wow thank you for helping me clear that confusion." 

We also spoke with a woman named Patricia who had questions about why sometimes great people suffer trials. We spoke about the blessings of following the gospel of Jesus Christ. I don´t know if we answered her question but I feel like she now understands that she can pray to find an answer to that question.

Lastly, we found a young boy named José. I talked about a miracle in the last email where a woman in the street called out to us. We got to meet that family, and the boy that is twelve is really smart in the gospel and wants to be baptized. He visited other religions when he was living outside of Riobamba but he already feels that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church. It has been a few weeks since we´ve had an investigator attend church, but he came and had a really good time. I´m really excited to keep working with him. 

Well there have been massive parties here in Riobamba for... the town?... San Pedro...? I don´t really know. But every Sunday for the past 3 weeks there have been lots of people music and beer in the middle of our sector, so it has been really hard to find investigators because everyone is at these parties. Last night we were walking from the northern part to the southern part and there were a couple of people walking towards us who had not taken it easy in the parties. One of them started walking directly towards me so I quickly stepped out of the way and as we passed he lifted his arm as to hit me, but I was already very out of his way. He looked to only be 15. Makes me very glad that I am not struggling with addiction.

Also, we found the Ecuatorian army... of dogs. One of these small neighborhoods has a pass where about 20 or maybe even 30 dogs are resting and waiting to attack whatever person passes. The first time we passed through, two of the dogs almost bit my companion but started attacking each other instead. Then one of the people in the house threw a rock at them and they calmed down. The second time the dogs started to move in on us so I threw a rock and we quickly walked away. Not going there again. 

I´ve been thinking a lot about the plan of salvation recently and how it can be compaired to a little boy leaving his home to go to school. At school he learns, he takes tests, and he progresses as a person. Sometimes he has the opportunity to help other young boys and girls to understand the tests and the matieral in the classes. By the time the day is over, he looks back on the long day at school and feels good for the good grades he got and the things he learned, and then he, and all of the other boys and girls get to go home, where a loving father and mother are waiting to love them and bless them for the great things they did at school. 

On he bus ride home, they have some time to reflect on the things they did at school, and correct some of their tests.. Obviously, not all of the children followed the rules, but that is why we are here as missionaries to help them understand the class material, and the rules so they can return home victorious to their parents. The great thing is, our father in heaven is always there ready to hear our text messages(prayers). And he is waiting for us at home with open arms.

Really, I am very happy right now. The work is moving along, even though some of our investigators may not be, and the Lord is with us. I love him and this gospel.

Hasta luego!

Elder Cloward

Sorry no pictures this week.

Milagros :), cambios :(, y mas...

Hola todos!

​​​​​​​​​A lot happened this week so let me see if I can remember it all.

We are still teaching the Cardenas family. We met the father of the family this week and ​he is also very interested in the message we are teaching. They are planning to be baptized the end of august. If all goes well, and they come to church, we will be able to help them make that step.

We also had divisions with the zone leaders and I got to go with Elder Ochoa in his sector. I learned a lot about the importance of the spirit during these divisions. 

Apparently Elder Gómez found some great investigators during that time also, but I haven´t met them yet. 

On Saturday, we had a great activity with the Elder´s quorum, (I forgot my camera...) We went to a really beautiful park ate food and learned about some of our purposes as priesthood holders. We got to go because we brought an investigator and he really had a good time.

On Sunday, we experienced a miracle. We were walking back home and someone who we didn´t know waved to my companion. When we went to got talk with her, she said that she was a member and was less active for a long time but recently moved to Riobamba. She has a son who is twelve who hasn´t yet been baptized. She told us that she wanted to find the missionaries in our sector to help her son be baptized and return to the church. Wow! God really put us in her path so that we could meet each other. This is His work!

 Lastly we hit the changes again, and my companion is leaving again. I am going to stay here in Riobamba (my third change) and Elder Gómez was called back to Quito. I will be receiving an Elder named Elder Salazar... from Peru... again... and he will be the new district leader here. 

Two of the Elder´s in our zone are going home. Elder Lambert, my district leader and one of my favorite missionaries, and Elder Hicks, one of the zone leaders. I will really miss them. 

Elder Lambert (best District leader ever), Hicks(Zone leader), Ochoa(other zone leader),
and Smith(district leader for the other district)

My district. The Hermanas made a silly sign for Elder Lambert that says mission accomplished.

Me and Elder Lambert being goofballs.

I wish you all the best. God loves all of you!

Elder Cloward

The clouds above Chimborazo made it look like it had a force field. So cool!​

It was really cold on Chimborazo this time but there wasn´t as much snow.

Also the youth in my ward sent me some love.
Thanks a lot!
The biggest questions I got were if it was hot... not really,
because we are high in the mountains,
and If I knew spanish well. Pues... si estoy aprendiendo español.
Puedo conversar con las personas aquí muy bien.
Dios me bendice mucho con el Don de lenguas.

That is really confusing... "Ah" "ah".

Hola todos!

This week had it´s ups and downs. 

Monday we had a really great Noche de Hogar (Family home evening) with lots of people. I cooked some brownies and they turned out a little burnt, a little vanilla-y and very tasty. 

Tuesday we had a really great activity in the chapel. About 50 students use the wifi in the chapel to study during the week and we gave them all a tour. We now have about 50 references for all of the different parts of Riobamba. Wow!

Wednesday we had entrevistas (I forgot the word entrevista in English) with presidente. He really helps me feel good about the work that I am doing here, and that was really nice. Then in the evening we road on a bus for two hours to Ambato for the zone conference. When we got there we roomed 10 Elders in one apartment...(a little dangerous) and bought six liters of coca-cola and 6 family size pizzas. Eek. 

The zone conference was really powerful. All of the teachings were applicable to our investigators here in Riobamba, so Elder Gómez and I were really excited to get back to work here. We also had pizza in the zone conference, so I really don´t want more pizza for a while. 

My companion and me after zone conference

It has really been hard recently to teach lessons with the members. It is important to teach lessons with members because the investigators need friends in the church to feel welcome and like they can enter the church building. Hopefully we can start getting some better rhythm with the members and their schedules. 

Also we had to stop teaching a family this week. They are really great people but aren´t interested in changing their religion. It was sad to see them go, but with the extra time that we have, God will bless us to find people who are more prepared, and in the Guaño family have a seed planted so that one day they will be ready.

Also one of our investigators Asucena moved to Guenca. We won´t be able to teach her anymore but we will definitely send her information to the other missionaries in Guenca.

We found a really great family this week. Family Cardenas. Their mother owns a restaurant and has taught us how to cook a few things. She has 2 daughters and a son, and we haven´t yet met their father. They all are very receptive to our message and want to be baptized but the kids will be leaving for vacations soon so we may not get the chance for a good month.

A lot of the rest of our investigators have been hard to catch this week, but we have a couple of great families planned for next week. One of them lives far north in our sector.

As for me. I´m doing really good. I´m learning that making juice is really easy. Throw fruit, water and sugar in a blender and allí está. And here that is cheaper than buying juice from a store, and healthier too just as long as you clean the fruit well. I bought a couple of nice things from a big market in the center of town today also. Some of them are pictured below. Also my companion and I have developed an ice cream problem. Almost every single small shop has a freezer with ice cream. Anywhere from 25 cents to maybe 5 dollars you can buy ice cream. We have a problem of buying 4 or 5 25-cent tasties every day...

Hope you all are as happy as I am!!!

Elder Cloward

P.S. Maybe you are wondering the meaning of the title. Well in the united states people say "uh-huh" to mean yes and "uh" "uh" to mean no. Here "ah" "ah" means yes... it really confuses me. 

A dead pig in the street for sale near our house. Yuck

A dead rat in the street flattened like a pancake and for free. Yum

A dead rat I bought... actually it´s a coin pouch. 

Me with my new sweater. (really warm and really nice design)
and a pair of sunglasses I bought for another trip to Chimborazo (If we go again)

You don´t know what you have until you lose it

Hola todos!

Firstly, I want to thank everyone that prayed for me and my health this week. The week went really slowly because I couldn´t work 100%, and the fruits of this week were few. The one miracle that I found the greatest is that I was able to eat ice cream and a really tasty hamburger today and my stomach isn´t mad at me. I´ve never had better ice cream in my life. Earlier this week I was eating only crackers and bananas. But now I´m just about back to normal. Give thanks to God that you can eat without stomach pain, because you don´t know what you have until you lose it. 

This is a photo to tell you all that I need a haircut. (I got one)

We found one person who is interested in our message this week. Her name is Nelly and she has a family of 5. She is catholic (like almost everyone here), but doesn´t believe in a lot of the things that catholics believe, (statues of virgens etc) She has family who are members of the church and is really excited to learn more.

The Guaño family are moving forward... sort of. The parents are still stuck to their hard core catholic beliefs but the children are really excited to keep learning and are feeling the spirit strongly of our message. I feel like the mother has a feeling that our message is true but doesn´t want to make the change for some reason. If they don´t come to church this week we might leave them to find other investigators that are ready. 

Also German, who we´ve been working with to put a baptisimal date is struggling to come to church because of his work obligations. This week he said he would. Vamos a ver.

I´ve recently been studying a lot about God´s power. I´ve been reading through the Book of Mormon marking in yellow everything that has to do with the power of God. The pages with Alma the younger´s conversion are almost completely yellow. Alma the younger started out as a very wicked man. He persecuted the church of God and caused many to fall away, but through an angel of God, he saw what he was doing and through much repentance, he changed as a person. I think the greatest power that God has is the power to change hearts. The hearts of us as missionaries to better obey the commandments, the hearts of the investigators to want to move closer to God, and the hearts of all of the people in the Earth to become better people and get along well. This can only happen if we allow him to touch our hearts spiritually. This happens to the people who come unto him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. If we are willing to change, through Christ, we can.

Hasta la próxima semana!

Elder Cloward

The most tasty thing I could eat earlier this week was bananas and saltine crackers.

This stuff may have played a really big role in my getting better

This is called Los Altares, it is a volcano that exploded over a thousand years ago.
Before it went BOOM, it was bigger than Chimborazo.
Some of the stones from it were found in Peru and columbia.

The food finally beat me...

Hola todos!

You are probably wondering the meaning of the title. Well, the food here finally got the best of me. This past week I felt a little odd in my stomach, so I tried not to eat as much as I usually do (which is a lot) and on Saturday I felt a lot better, but then Sunday rolled around and after lunch on Sunday I threw up in the street. So today and yesterday I spent a lot of time sleeping and drinking lots of liquids. Despite all this mess, God has really been blessing us.

We are teaching lots of families right now.

First the Guaño family. They are a family of six, and they are all really cool people, but have been having a lot of family problems because the father has had a hard time finding work. This past week, he found a job! Yesterday, amidst my stomach issues we taught them all about the Book of Mormon and how it can help them be closer as a family.

Second the Salazar family. They are a family of four that know a little bit about the church but are really excited to learn more. The mother of the family said that our church sticks out to her more than other churches in the area. Something calls to her attention, and the father has a sister who is a member. He is really excited to learn more, but they are both really strong catholics, so getting them to make a change will be difficult.

Third, I want to talk a little bit about a person that we contacted a while ago. Her name is Yolanda Chavez, and she was just walking near us so we introduced ourselves and talked a little bit. She lives in a different sector, in the southern part of Riobamba so we sent the reference to the other Elders. Just recently we found out that Yolanda has a really big fine of 7000 dollars that she has to pay so she can´t really leave her house. However, she is very excited about the church and the peace it brings her. In a week, she read almost 500 pages of the Book of Mormon. Sadly she plans to leave Riobamba to escape the problems she is having with the law. Hopefully she will be able to find missionaries where she is going and continue to progress.

Nos vemos luego!

Elder Cloward