The spirit fell like a lightning strike

Hola todos!

Wow! What a week we had. 

Tuesday we went to the leader`s council and were inspired and edified by all of the missionaries. I could feel the spiritual power in every single leader there.

Then when we got back, we had the most powerful lesson I`ve ever had in my whole mission. Last week we met someone named Marlene. She was interested in our message but seemed hesitant.  But she came to church last week, still seeming skeptical. This week when we met with her and taught about the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ. When we got to talking about the first vision of Joseph Smith, I could tell that something big was going to happen. But Marlene still seemed skeptical. When we talked about the Book of Mormon, my companion was prompted to tell her to open the book and read the first thing she saw. She was really nervous to start reading, but when she started reading, it felt like the Spirit fell like a lightning rod hitting all of us in the room. I felt like I was going to explode because the answer God was giving to Marlene was soo powerful.

Afterwards, she said, I didn`t understand what the book said, (the scripture wasn`t really relevant) but God told me that my search for the truth has finished. I have found the truth. It was the most powerful moment in my mission.

Also General Conference was the best!!! 10 people we are teaching attended the sessions. I felt like God was talking to me through his prophets and apostles. I challenge you all to follow their council.

I know I said last week that we would travel out to the jungle this week but we had to postpone it. This week we will be going and I will take lots of pictures.

Well I believe that`s all folks. Here`s a picture of me and my old friend Elder Burga after the leader`s council.

Elder Cloward

Lot´s of traveling coming soon

Hola Todos!

Things are really great here in Ambato. First of all our sector is a lot bigger here and there is a lot more farmland. Ambato is known for it´s fruits and bread. However it is rather dry here in Ambato and I find myself getting really tired if I don´t drink a lot of water. The weather reminds me of Texas, just a little less hot. =P

The ward here is really big, with more than 250 members attending every Sunday. I think it will take a while to meet all of them, but they already have given us a lot of references, so I am really excited for that.

The first thing they gave us to eat on Tuesday was Guinea pig with potatoes and peanut sauce. Soooooo good.

Also this week we did a service for a member by cleaning out her water tank. Behind her house she had a big tank that fills with water, and we cleaned all the muck spider´s and slug´s out of it. At the end we put bleach and vinegar to clean the rest out and the smell was soo strong that my companion felt like he was intoxicated.

We have a few really great people we are teaching. 

Carlos is an older man who was a Jehovah´s witness but he likes our church better. We have to pick him up to go to church because he can´t walk really well, but is really excited to learn more.

Yesterday we were getting ready to go to lunch and the Ortiz family called us. Well they are a reference from another family and are having a lot of problems in their family. They are really looking for ways to make their family better. 

This week we have a leader's meeting in Quito so we have to leave really soon. Also we are planning on traveling to the jungle part of the zone to do divisions with the district leader there. I am going to bring my machete. =P

I´ll have more news soon! 

Elder Cloward

Here´s a few fotos of me leaving Quito

It was probably the hardest to leave Mauricio. He´s such a good guy. I´ve known him for 4 months and we´ve learned a lot of great things together. 

Changes, leaving a great sector, new assignment

Hola mis amigos!

This week was just wonderful. Even though the weather was really silly. In the morning there is a really strong sun that burns, and in the afternoon it rains really hard, kind of silly if you try to dry clothes and forget to take them down in the afternoon.

really bad sunburn after a day full of sports.

Also this week we met a really really great family of four. The dad is Octavio, the mom, Ines, and their children, Angelo an d Abril. They had a dream about us after the first visit, and we helped them realize that God wanted them to follow our message. They accepted to prepare to be baptized on April 20th. They are amazing , although I won´t be the one to see what happens with them, because...

We had changes, and I am going to Ambato. Which is a small beautiful city further south in the mission. I´m going to be a zone leader, which is really exciting to me. 

Elder Meza finished his training, he is a really good missionary, and will be really successful in his mission. I´m sure I will see him further along in his mission.

Zona la Colón

Well That´s all folks!

Elder Cloward

Solo muchas fotos

Hola broderes! 

Not a whole lot to talk about here, but I´ve got a whole bunch of pictures. Hope you like them!

Also we are entering the last week of the transfer. I am almost sure that  I´m leaving this sector.

In a move we broke a mirror. Eek!

We had a baptism! Nathali was sooo happy!

We celebrated the baptism with some jell-o

And dressing up with silly hats.

Wanting to go to a toy store, but...

Hola mis panas! 

My companion and I wanted to find a set of uno cards to play this week so we asked around and the members told us where we could find a toy store, and just as we were getting there, I noticed that it was in the other mission. The division line was the street just before the mall with the toy store. Oops. We had to just go back empty handed.  =P

This week was had some great successes. 

Nathali (we found out it is written with ´ h´ this week) past her interview for baptism, but she was really worried because her mom said she was already baptized. We told Nathali that she should share her testimony with her mom, and about 30 minutes ago we called her and she said that her mom is ok that she is going to get baptized. We are super happy!

Also we set up the son of the family I talked about last week (Serpa Family) on a baptismal date, and he said that he wanted to be baptized with his mom, but we heard from the neighbors, the Mora family (that were baptized about a month ago)  that Jesus (the son) wants to be baptized, so we  will have another baptism in 3 more weeks.

When we went to visit Mariana, her boss showed up and kicked us out. We are going to have to wait until she is free.

On Saturday, a different ward sent their young men to join us for the day. It was really great to meet 2 great young boys David and Mateo. We worked really hard with them. I´m sure they returned home exhausted.

This change only has two more weeks, and I´m pretty sure I will be leaving this sector. The baptisms  we are setting up now, I won´t see, but that is fine for me.

I forgot to bring my adapter today so I´ll have to send pictures another day.

Nos vemos!

Elder Cloward

Carnaval

Hola todos!

This week had a lot of really great miracles. 

Nataly is still good and happy. She really wants to see the spirit more in her life. 

Also this week we found a part member family that hadn´t been to church in a long time. But the wife, who isn´t a member and never wanted anything to do the church decided last week that she wanted to come to church. They came again this week and are really interested. We are going to put a date this week.

This week we found someone named Mariana, who is from Venezuela. When we taught the first vision the dogs and cars outside were making lots of noise, so I prayed that she could feel the spirit, and when my companion asked her how she felt about that, she said that it touched her soul. She already has a testimony of the first vision. She wants to be baptized also.

This week for p-day we played sports and played a little bit of carnaval by dumping water on each other and spraying shaving cream or something like that. We had a great time. Also for the crazy parties here we have to be in the house at 6 since Saturday until Tuesday. A little dull staying in the house like that.

Lastly, I cooked one of my favorite dishes in the house of members. It didn´t turn out the same because the tomato paste was homemade, and the cheese isn´t the same. But it turned out incredible and all of the members in the house loved it. (I snuck some hot sauce in it and they didn´t really realize =P)

Here are some photos.

Hail, rain and lots of fun

Hola todos, 

We had a really great week. Sadly a lot of people that came to church last week, couldn´t meet with us this week, so we couldn´t invite them to baptism.

But this week we found a lot of great people, and mostly because of the rain. We found a family that were moving and helped them out, in the rain. Also when the downpour hit us and we didn´t have any rain clothes, we knocked on a door and they let us in. The dad of the family said he was praying to find the word of God. God answers prayers! Miracles exist!

Natali also is really excited. We are happy because of that!

This p-day we took a ski lift to the top of a mountain, but when the rain hail and thunderstorms started we quickly dropped down the mountain. 

This week was just rain and hail and everything. Hopefully I don´t get athletes foot.

Hasta la proxima!

Elder Cloward