Learning to overcome my fears

Hola todos!

This week was probably the hardest week in my mission. But when things are hard, we become stronger. My companion really wants me to get better, but his manner to push me to be better is really direct and sometimes rough. I have realized some of my biggest fears because of all of his pushing. First, I fear contention. I don´t like arguing or people that are upset. Second, I don´t like situations of pressure. In those situations I tend to become very self-critical and beat myself up a little bit. That made it really hard this week, but my companion, once again realized the problem when I started losing it. He helped me realize once again who I am, a representative of Jesus Christ, and that made me want to be the best representative that I can.

And because of that I received a strong impression that the district that I am assigned needed to study the missionary lessons once again. In preach my gospel the lessons are in chapter 3, and as missionaries we teach at least one of them everyday. Because of that, we often become comfortable with the way that we teach the lessons. But In preach my gospel it also talks a lot about how we need to study them everyday and if we do we will invite the spirit more strongly into the lessons we teach. I invited every companionship in the district to study the lessons this week and let me know how it changed the teaching. 

For P-day today we bought a lot of stuff. Food for the house, and a couple of cool ties and a hand made chess set. I forgot to take a picture but I´ll send one next week, maybe.

We also had a really great zone conference, in the which we got flu shots, traded gifts, and performed a skit for Christmas. I´ll send the video and pictures  next week. The skit was pretty funny, and the presents I got are really gorgeous. The artisanry here in Ecuador is beautiful. 

Mauricio is really really excited to be able to be washed completely in his baptism. My only fear is that he might have more opposition as we get closer and his past life will come in stronger in this next week. We are going to work really hard with him. 

We had a really strong talk with Jostin to help him out, but because of his addictions for his life he seems to have lost hope and faith. I really want him to be baptized, but without the faith it will be impossible. 

We spent all of Saturday morning working hard to wash all of the baby clothes of one person we have been teaching. Washing clothes by hand is really, REALLY hard. You need strong fingers. The person is Doménica. She is also really interested in the message we share, and her parents are really supportive even though they are catholic. She came to church this Sunday. =) We are going to give her a baptismal date!

The work is really pushing hard here. Our ward mission leader was changed to someone who only recently came home from his mission and he wants us to push really hard. We are going to have lots of great activities (dressing up  as Santa Claus and singing Christmas carrols) this week to find more people to teach. It will be really fun. 

Well I´ve loaded just about all I can think of here (except pictures I´ll send those next week)

Les Quiero mucho!

Elder Cloward

=)

Hola todos! 

I turned 20 this week. So that´s cool. But my birthday was the day when we worked the hardest this week. So that was fun!

I´m finally starting to get used to the altitude here and the cold. My legs are getting really strong walking up and down and up and down the mountain. 

Today for P-day we played volleyball and soccer with the other Elders. This Friday we have a Christmas dinner with the zone and we have to prepare a skit, so we also practiced that. But I will film it and send the video next week. It is really funny.

We had a noche de hogar, or family home evening last week and met the neighbor of some members here. Her name is Doménica. She is 17 years old, really interested in the message and has a 1 month old son. Hopefully she will come to church this week.

We found out that Jostin is struggling with a really strong addiction. He has been fighting it for 12 years and really wants to overcome it. Please pray for him.

Mauricio is sooo excited. We set him up on baptismal date for the 29th of December just before the new year. He will start next year as a completely new person. He came to church this Sunday and liked it a lot.

Abdul is also doing really great. He has such a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and all of the rest of the church. He just needs to learn a lot more Spanish.

Well I´m out of time again. Here are a few pictures

The items on our desk make really cool shadows on the wall. It looks like a city

on the Alarm clock it tells the temperature. It is 58 degrees inside the house. Eek!

Love you all!

Elder Cloward

I don´t know what to put here again.

Hola todos. 

We worked hard this week but a lot of lessons fell through, and it stressed me out a bit. But my companion helped me realize that the stress came from Satan, and I really just need to focus on doing the best I can to invite others to come unto Christ. He does a really really good job helping me, and I sometimes feel like I´m not helping him as much as he is me.

This was our Thanksgiving. A couple of slices of pie. =)

Mauricio from last week has been reading just about everything we give to him. It is really great, but this Sunday his shower broke so he couldn´t come to church. =(

It has been really hard to get a hold of Jostin because he doesn´t have a phone and he gets to his house really late.  =( But his brother who is a less active member wants to come back to the church so we may teach him so more if we can´t find Jostin.

Abdul is a really really good person with a lot of faith. He impressed me a lot and we are working to help him learn more Spanish. The ward is going to help him out a lot, and he may work towards getting a workers visa in Ecuador.

We played a card game that was invented here in Quito with a few other Elders for P-day. It is called 40. But I don´t really know how to explain it in the little time I have.

Well that´s about all folks I´ll leave you with a few pictures

Elder Cloward

a taxi being used to sell clothes. =P Ecuador is pretty fun huh

Si en tu cilindro ya no queda más, tranquilo ya llego el gas.

Hola todos!

Quito is really wonderful. It is a lot bigger and mountainy than any other part of the mission I have been to. Our sector is literally the side of a mountain. We are either going up, or going down, so my legs are going to become as strong as iron. =P. Also the altitude makes things rather hard, and even though it rains almost every day here I feel like it is as dry as Utah. I´m hitting it hard today with bloody noses.

My new companion, Elder Marcavillaca has the same amount of time in the mission as I do. He is really fun and wants to become better and help me as well. It will be a really great change.

This week we´ve met a couple of really great people to teach. 

Familia Lagla are a couple (non members) that have been struggling recently. At first the wife was really interested in the church and wanted to come, but when her husband started coming she lost interest. Now neither of them are coming to church, and the husband feels really bad for the situations that are passing in his life. We have been helping them realize that if they keep the commandments they can have a better life. The wife still seems to not have a lot of interest, but we pray a lot this week that they can have the faith to come to church and keep the commandments of God.

Mauricio is the son of a recent convert who is struggling with alcohol. He is really nice and receptive to our message. I´m excited to keep teaching him.

Jostin is the son of a member who we met yesterday. He almost was baptized but was offended by a member before the baptism and fell away. Yesterday we talked about opposition and how it helps us become better. He liked the promise God gave to Joseph Smith when he said, ´if you bear it(opposition) well you will be exalted on high´ He has a baptismal date for the 29th of December. 

Abdul is a man who showed up in the church on Sunday. He is from Africa and only speaks English, but because of a war in his country he came to Ecuador. Almost all of his family in Africa were killed for being Christians or members of the church of Jesus Christ. I felt a really strong love for him and hope to help him out some more as he works here in Ecuador.

I had a really strong experience in church this Sunday. After we took the sacrament, I thought a lot about repentance, and how we become better as people through the atonement of Jesus Christ. Just as that happened a truck passed by singing the title of the email and selling natural Gas to the people here so that they can cook. The sacrament completes the song that the truck sings, and it helped me realize how important the sacrament is in our progression as people.

I am out of time, so I will be sending more (including pictures) next week. 

Love ya´ll!

Elder Cloward 

Hard Changes

Hola todos!

Well transfers came this week, and I am leaving Santo Domingo tomorrow. =(. I have spent a lot of these past few months developing charity, or the pure love of Christ, in order to be a better teacher and friend to the members and people here in Bombolí. There is only one problem with that. When you love people it is a lot harder to leave. I had a couple of tough moments with members and investigators yesterday. I will have a few more today, and some of the people I won´t even get to see and say goodbye. It will be really hard. 

The new sector will also be really different. I am going to a part in the center of Quito called la Colón. The ward is called La Gasca. All I know is that it is near the mission offices and it is a lot richer than what I am used to. It may be a lot harder to find people who want to hear the message. I think it is about time for me to learn to test my faith and work harder to find people ready to make covenants with God. I am ready for the challenge.

This week Jesus and Idilia were baptized. It was a little hard because Jesus had to schedule his work to allow time. We had the baptismal service at 4:00 in the afternoon, and later he went straight to work. (he works in security at night) He worked all night, and made it to church on Sunday to be confirmed. It was absolutely incredible. He is a great example to me of someone who puts God first in his life, even before sleep. Here are some baptismal fotos.

And lastly today for P-day we had the best activity I´ve had in my mission. We went out to the countryside and rented bicycles for 2 dollars an hour and rode them through the farmlands of Santo Domingo. It was really refreshing and calming, Except for the Elder who didn´t know how to ride, and the dog that tried to attack some of the missionaries. I hope I have more opportunities to do more activities like that in the future. I really loved it.

Here´s some other photos with members we took to say goodbye.  

And with that I think I have finished the week. I hope you all have a good one! Now I´m going to pull out the sweaters again because Quito is really cold right now.

Love you all!

Elder Cloward

Baptism!

Hola todos!

Well God hasn´t let down on the health problems. I caught another something yesterday and have trucked through today without any energy. I think the constant changes in climate here and the humidity are really hitting hard on my companion and I. 

But we had a baptism! 

Marienela who we found knocking doors in September was baptized on Saturday. In the part of the baptismal service where the convert gives their testimony, she just stood in front of everyone and cried. It has been amazing to watch her from day one to where she is right now. God loves her a lot for all of the efforts she has done, and she has a wonderful future in the church. 

Also Jesus and his wife Idilia are going to be baptized next week. The work here is incredible. We had a noche de hogar, or family home evening with them this past week. Just about every time we see Jesus he thanks us for helping him learn more and develop a stronger relationship with God. He is so awesome.

Well there isn`t a whole lot more to say.

I hope you are all doing good and are happy.

Until next week!

Elder Cloward

PS from Josh's dad - don't forget that you can email Josh directly - joshua.cloward@myldsmail.net.  He would love to hear from you!

Picapruebas (itchy trials)

Hola todos!

God really helped me learn this week. First of all, I caught a cold on Wednesday and it lasted almost the entire week. Then I started to develop a rash on my hands and arms that still is there and will probably stay for another week or so. But with all of the discomfort that I have felt this week, and in all of the weeks of my mission (stomach sicknesses, dehydration etc) I have learned something really important. My personal comfort is not as important as the people I am here serving. Their progression as children of God is more important than any sickness that I am feeling. Yes, there are times when it is smarter to rest, but I shouldn´t complain when I am struggling, because I am not here for me. I am here for them. God has helped me a lot to grow in love for the people through the difficulties I have been having in health. It is wonderful.

Marianela had her baptismal interview this week and will be baptized the next week. We are really excited to help grow her testimony and make that  really important promise with God. Also we have a few more baptisms coming up in 2 weeks. A young boy named Manuel who has grown a lot as we´ve taught him, and Jesus y Idilia who I talked about two weeks ago. (I think)

Jesus for all of his life had no interest in the church or God, but was assaulted and hospitalized in a coma for a few days. During that time he freaked out with all of the darkness and feared death. His children are all members but he and his wife aren´t, and he is ready to clear his slate with God. His progression has been amazing.

Next week we will set a few more on date. :)

For Pday we went to a fair that they had. It had a strong theme in the movie coco and we took a couple of great pictures. 

Thanks so much for the prayers and support.

Until next time!

Elder Cloward

So much work

Hola todos!

This week was really really full. Yet we didn´t knock on a single door. We´ve been working as a zone to find more investigators from the members, and we only found new investigators from the members this week. It was incredible. 14 of these people attended (I almost wrote asisted. If you know Spanish you´ll understand that joke) church this Sunday which is more than I have ever seen in all of my mission. I felt like I was working in Daycare again with so many people to keep track of, but it was wonderful and they all had a really good time. 

Midway through the week, we had a space of time where we could have gone contacting, but my companion decided instead to call a less active member. When we got there he told us he wanted us to teach his sister. In about 20 minutes we were in her house teaching about God´s plan for us to their family of 6. It was really incredible. It was a lot more efficient than knocking on doors. 

Preach my gospel says that people that come to the church because of their friends have a better chance of being baptized and staying active. If you know someone who has been struggling with problems recently in their life, invite them to hear about God´s plan for us from the missionaries. Be present for the teaching. God wants all of us to be a part of his gathering of Israel, and it starts with you. (If you haven´t read or watched the youth devotional by President Nelson and his wife, I suggest you watch it. It´s really good.)

Mango season has started hear. If you find them cheap they are about 20 cents a mango. It makes me happy! But it messes up my lips a little bit to eat them raw. :/

We wanted to go see more waterfalls this week, and we thought we could walk to a place where there were a few, but it turned out that they were so much further than we thought, so instead we found a creek and hopped from rock to rock. I accidentally got one of my shoes wet, and then it was harder for me to find traction so later on I fell into the water a little bit. Oops.

Well I don´t really have that much more to say. Things are rolling along nicely, and we may have a few baptisms in the next few weeks. Marianella has finished a trip and now is working again to be baptized, maybe in the next two weeks, and the family that we found two weeks ago is progressing really well. We may have a few more coming along soon, with all of the people that attended (asisted) church this week. 

Overall, with all of the work that has been going on I´m beginning to feel a little stressed. I plan to do a few more things this week in the evenings before I go to bed to relax a little bit and clear my mind. But overall I am really happy.

Thanks for all of your prayers!

Elder Cloward

Hope

Hola todos!

This week was really great. I got sick again, for the third time, but luckily I wasn´t throwing up or passing the bathroom every 30 minutes. Instead I just felt really achy in my body, and we stayed inside the house for almost the whole day sleeping. :P Don´t worry I´m better now. 

After about three weeks, we finally played soccer again in the zone. I was super excited and had a really fun time.

This week was full of great examples of the hope the gospel brings. We found a man named David Jesus who recently was jumped and sent to the hospital where he saw what death would be like. When we taught him the plan of salvation he said that he wanted to do all he could to make it to be with God again.

Well I´m all out of time. There is so much more I want to write about but I will have to shove it all in next time. 

Elder Cloward

Milagros

Hola todos!

I don´t have too much to say this week, but we had a baptism! 

Carolina was baptized this week and it was really powerful. She has lived most of her life in the church but hasn`t been baptized yet. When we first met with her, she was so ready to join the church and progress more. 

Also, the hermanas in the other ward sent us some amazing news yesterday. They taught a lesson to a young woman who had been attending church in the stake center for about a month. She and her family accepted to be baptized in a month but they live in our sector. We now have the wonderful opportunity to teach them. I am really excited. 

It is amazing to me to see how much the gospel of Jesus Christ changes the lives of people, and really none of the changes come because of the work that we as missionaries are doing. The real change goes on between the people and God.

I´m really happy to be a part of this work, and I hope you all have a great week.

Elder Cloward

A week full of surprises

Mon, Oct 8, 5:50 PM

Hola todos!

This week was a lot of craziness. We had interviews with the mission president Tuesday. A zone conference Wednesday, District meeting Thursday Service painting a house Friday, and general conference in the weekend. Que loco.

Before I tell you all about the crazy things that happened, I´ll let you know how the investigators are doing.

Our last lesson with Carolina before her interview was powerful. I asked her at the end. Why do you want to be baptized? She, almost crying said, "Por que creo que lo necesito." Because I believe I need it. Wow! She passed the interview and we will hold the baptismal service this upcoming Saturday. Anahí was supposed to have here interview this weekend but for family issues she may not be baptized until December. =(

The Espinoza family (Marianel Faviola Domenica) came to one of the sessions of conference, and we did some great service for them that helped us gain confidence with their son Manuel. Faviola turned 33 and she invited us to eat crab soup. It was really tasty, but a little difficult to eat.

 

The funniest part of the week was after the service... The water in our house house wasn´t working at all, and we were covered with paint. So we had some big bottles of water in the house that previous missionaries used as weights for doing exercises and we bathed ourselves with that water. It was really cold, and also who knows how long it was in there. Luckily the water in the house works now. Here is us and a member with our paint weapons. =P 

In other news I may be becoming lactose intolerant... well here they sell milk in a few different ways. The cheapest kind is in a bag and sells for 80 cents a liter. But that milk kills my stomach on the inside so I´ve been doing my best to stay away from it. It´s really tempting when people serve hot chocolate.

This week for Pday we wanted to go to a zoo, but got lost in the process and took a bus to a small town outside of Santo Domingo called La Concordia. We wanted to do something fun there but we didn´t find anything and instead bought some Yogoso (frozen yogurt) and rode in MotoTaxis. It was the biggest waste of Pday ever. But it was fun for the laughs. Mototaxi 

This is one of the favorite foods here in Ecuador. It is called encebollado. It is a soup with fish, potatoes, shrimp onion, and chifle. Riquissimo. 

Well the general conference was also quite a surprise. They will be changing the church schedule to allow more time for learning in the home. I think this is a confirmation that God has more trust in us and it is time for us to grow even closer to him. It was incredible to me how many of the speakers talked about our relationship with God. He is our father, and with the many changes being made in his Church. He is inviting us to come and be with him. How incredible!

My favorite talk was about doing a self analysis of your life to see where you are in your progression, where you are going, and where you want to go. Then change set goals to better reach your long term desires. I would invite you all to look at your life this week, and if you need to make some adjustments to better become the person you want to be, make them.

Also transfers were this week, and for the first time in my mission, my companion and I stayed companions. It may be because we only have 3 weeks together for the emergency transfers. But I´m excited to keep working with him.

Well I believe that that is all folks. Thanks so much for all of the prayers. 

Elder Cloward

Today I really don´t know what to put here.

Mon, Oct 1, 6:04 PM

Hola todos!

I don´t have a lot of time, but I am doing very well. 

Our investigators are also progressing nicely. 

Carolina, is completely ready for her interview and we still have a week to teach her.

Anahí has started reading the book of mormon

We had a family home evening with the family I talked about last time, which really strengthened their testimonies and their desires to keep moving towards baptism. 

We went to see some waterfalls this Pday.

Here are some pictures.

Giant frog!

The one dollar coins sometimes have presidents on them. Here is my collection. 1-20

This is called Corviche. It is made with a dough from a kind of banana and peanuts wioth cheese on the inside. Pretty tasty

Well gotta go. Hopefully I will have more time to write next time!

Elder Cloward

Otra vez estamos aquí. Tan rápido?!

Mon, Sep 24, 6:01 PM

Hola todos!

First of all. Wow, time really flew this week.

Second, I really don´t know what to tell you all, because the work was really the same as in all of the rest of the weeks. We worked hard and we found some really great people, and we had some fun, and in the end of it all, I felt the spirit really strongly and grew up a little more. I guess that´s missonary work.  

We found a really great family on Wednesday. They are Marianela, an older lady who wants to come closer to God now that she is nearing the end of her life, her daughter Faviola, who visited the church when she was about 12 but never joined it, and the daughters of Faviola. We found them knocking on doors. We went to visit one of their neighbors, but he needed to run an errand really quickly so it gave us about 30 minutes and really close to him we found them. They are all really excited about the church and came yesterday. It was amazing!

Also, we taught an 84-year-old man who has visited the church two times now. His name is Victor. He loves to talk all about his life and the great things he did. We had to teach really simply to him because if we didn´t he would talk our ears off. But he really wants to be baptized so we set a date with him. 20th of october. Pretty exciting!

For PDay we played card games with the zone leaders and tried to clean our house, but it is still really messy so I´m not going to send any pictures of the house yet.

But here´s a few pictures to help you understand a little more about Santo Domingo

A lot of what we eat during the day is rice and meat and a little bit of vegetables so I have take it to my own to buy and eat fruit in the house. It is really really tasty and cheaper here too.

his made me laugh a bit. It´s a percussion instrument being sold as a tourist item but the image is pretty funny.

This is almost always how it is in the morning outside our window. Completely foggy. Sometimes you can´t see across the street.

Do you ever feel like you´ve been hit by a car?

Hola todos!

The title is only metaphorical, sorry to worry you all.

But what happened was pretty unexpected. We had emergency transfers and Elder Toaza left for Quito. Behind he left me an enormous sector that I don´t know, and his assignment as district leader... that´s why I feel like I´ve been hit by a car.

On a different note, my new companion is named Elder Burga. He is from Lima Peru really, really fun. He arrived here in Ecuador at the same time that I did. So we both are also rather young in the mission. We`ve also had a lot of great teaching moments together.

On Saturday we taught an investigator named Carolina. She has been struggling with loneliness recently but we had a lesson in her house and had an activity where we all answered questions that I had written on little pieces of paper. Things like, bear your testimony of Jesus Christ, or express your feeling towards someone you love. Everyone felt the spirit there and we invited Carolina to get baptized on October 13th. She accepted and came to church yesterday. Wow!

Also today we climbed the only hill that is in the city on Santo Domingo as a district. It was fun, and I got a little sunburnt, but we took lots of pictures. I hope you enjoy them all.

Well unfortunately I believe that that´s all folks. Until next time!

Elder Cloward

The mosquitos have me beat 13 to 10

Sep 10, 2018, 6:08 PM

Hola todos!

This week was great! We worked we played and we ate lots of great food! Yes I can finally eat again!

First of all, we had 3 people get baptized here yesterday. Flor and her son Andres, and Isabel. It was really powerful and we all felt the spirit. 

Second, yesterday a couple came to church. The husband is less active and the the wife isn`t a member, but when we visited them, the wife already believed that the church is true. It was a miracle. They have such a bright future ahead and I am  glad that God has given me the chance to be a part of it. 

Georgina decided that she didn´t want to get baptized or hear from us which was kind of sad but her son is still really excited about the church and we are going to see what his plans are.

More news next week.

Today for p-day we went and visited a community of Tsachilas, a native culture that live away from the rest of Santo Domingo. They have a lot of really interesting cultural activities including painting their hair red and speaking a different language. It was pretty exciting. 

Also in the pictures below you will see all of the wonderful foods I have eaten recently. Such a blessing to be able to eat. 

The baptism was a little rushed because we had to do it right before church started, but the spirit was really strong

Here I am chewing on sugar cane. It is really tasty. Much better than the white processed stuff they sell in the united states.

Chicken feet anyone?

This is cacao, or cocoa. The stuff that becomes choclate. It has a hard outer shell, but inside there´s a strange white gummy thing and a bean that when dry becomes choclate. The white gummy stuff is also really tasty.

Here is the medicine room of the Tsachilas. The tour guide is one of them and her clothing is what they wear. It may be hard to see but she also has lines painted on her skin. I´m really curious about their culture, but they didn`t tell us very much as to why they do the things they do... :(

Well that's all folks I gotta go and this keyboard is starting to bug me because it likes to throw in random letters and numbers sometimes.

Wish you all the best of luck!

Elder Cloward

This place feels like the hood...

Hola todos!

What a crazy week here in Santo Domingo. (I almost wrote Riobamba)

This place is crazy. 

First of all it gets hot here when the sun comes out but when there are clouds it is really nice weather. 

Second, It is really green and happy here. 

Third the people are really open and funny here. I have a hard time understanding all of the jokes they make here. 

Fourth the food is really really good (but I can`t really eat it yet because I`ve been really sick to my stomach). 

Fifth there is a massive market here that measures multiple blocks. 

Sixth the work is a lot faster here, or more people are willing to listen.

Seventh, I love it here!

My new companion is a blast. He jokes around a lot with the members here, and had a rock band before the mission. He can sing and play guitar really well. He`s from Guayaquil and has a really big loving heart, but like a lot of missionaries I've met, hides it behind his joking nature. I really love the guy, even though I can`t always understand his accent. (the accent from the coast is a lot different then the accent from the cierra)

As the missionary work goes, when I got here we already had 3 people with dates for baptism. Andres and Flor (son and mother), and Isabel (who I met yesterday). All of them will be baptized next week and I`ve only taught one lesson with each of them. I did however have the great opportunity to testify to them that the decisions that they were making were going to change their lives and help them come closer to God. Baptism is what God wants for all of his children.

Also we set 3 more people up on date. One of them (Georgina) has been struggling with health problems and has to have dialysis every Wednesday and Friday, but she is very open to hear from us and her son is very excited about the gospel. 

We also met a young girl named Anayhi that is an 8 year-old daughter of a less active family that wants to be baptized. She is really excited to learn and her family wants to support her in the decision.

Finally Lilian, who has been listening to missionaries for a long time accepted a baptismal date. We read in Mosiah 18 where it says "if this is the desire of your hearts, what prevents you from entering into the waters of baptism." (not exact wording). And Lilian told us... "nada" pr `nothing´ It was really wonderful! 

I`ve got a bunch of pictures this time so I hope you like them!

They told us to show the prettiest face we had...

MY companion Elder Toaza was cutting up some onions...

We played a game where you have to talk fast and pass a fraise around. If you goofed it up you recieved some lipstick in the face. Luckily I only messed up once.

Here is Anayi and her older sister

This is a send off picture from my favorite family from Riobamba. My companion says he`s got 8 months left... :P

My companion Elder Toaza is a really goofy guy.

I thought missionaries couldn`t ride motorcycles.