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