Week Twenty Seven In Ecuador - Monday, May 26, 2014 - Loving The Work I Am Doing!

Hey Family :)

Well I made it another week out here. And my week was good, it was pretty normal all in all but it was good, and once again we worked super hard! And it's interesting here because we aren't having very much success, but I am working harder than I ever have out here. We are doing everything that we should to be; being obedient, focusing hard on listening to the Spirit and I have been studying in the mornings better than ever before.  I'm really looking for everything in the scriptures that relates to my life and that relates to others. I have been trying to talk more in our lessons and be more out going and more socialable with the members. And I want to really help the people here to learn about the gospel and for the members to always remember why they're here in this church.  I have the faith that I'll be blessed for being obedient. Hopefully I'll be able to recieve the promise in Ether 12:6!!!!

But I am happy and we do have two baptisms for the next two weeks!!!!

So ya we are having success haha I just want more... :)

So this next week we have the baptism of Investigator F. and he is 15 years od and he is the grandson of Investigator J.  He is wonderful! He has been progressing very well and I feel like I need to baptize someone from this family haha (Investigator J. fell through with his baptism date again and was sick in the hospital for about a week... so we have kinda given up on trying to baptize him, maybe someday some other elders will baptize him but for right now I'm fine with just baptizing his grandson) Franklin is great! He went to the mutual for the church on Saturday and helped the Priest Quorum clean the church too!!! I am super excited for his baptism!

And then the week that follows, we have a baptism of another kid who is named Investigator A. He is 18 years old and honestly is one of the strongest investigators that I have had so far! His testimony is gigantic and he honestly was someone just waiting to recieve the gospel!! He will be baptized the 7th of June! Also he said a prayer in Elders Quorum and I promise you it was just as good as what the Bishop would say! He has recieved every lesson perfectly and has no other problems to work through to be baptized.  It's so great and I can't wait for his baptism and I hope so badly that after he decides to serve a mission!!!! That would be the coolest thing ever!!

So those are the two people that we are really working with right now and they keep me going out here everyday. I can't wait to actually baptize again because I don't know if you've noticed but I've gone almost two months without a baptism and I would love some more :)

But, I am doing great and I love the Gospel! I love helping people out here come unto Christ. I love teaching others how to really be happy and to be able to testify to them that I am happy because of the Gospel. I know this church is true and everyday I enjoy sharing it more and more. 

 Love you all,

Elder Lignell


                                 Me and Elder Sanchez in matching World Cup Ecuador Soccer Jerseys!
                                    

 

Week Twenty Six in Ecuador - Monday, May 19, 2014 - Work, Work, Work :)

Hi Everyone,

So this week was really great!! It was probably one of the hardest weeks that I have had for working hard, because with my new companion we work so hard! He doesn't like to waste time at all so we just work and work and work and I actually really like it.

 

So during this week we walked everywhere and searched for a bunch of new people and we hardly met anyone at all and it was super tough but we just kept pushing along and didn't let anything get us down. We have two baptism dates. One is for the 7th of June and he is Investigator A and he is 18 and he is so great! We have had some super awesome lessons with him and he wants to be baptized and says that he knows the church is true! The other one is Investigator F. and he is 14. His grandpa is  the other baptism date that we never could baptize cause he lacked a little bit of testimony but his grandson is great and we have been helping him come to church. He has been three times now and says that he knows that he wants to be baptized! So hurray!!!!

 Then this last Sunday (yesterday) was by far the best day of the week! So we were fasting as a zone and it was well really hard because it was 102 degrees Saturday and we couldn't drink anything but ya I survived through church and made it to lunch :) Then after we went to a less active member's house and their family was over for lunch. We talked to them for awhile after they finished eating and they had a ton of questions for us.  And, I have no idea how, but I answered pretty much all of their questions smoothly and I felt like they understood me clearly. Then we started to share the lesson on the restoration and I explained almost all of it more clearly than I have ever shared it before! I felt the Spirit helping me choose the words as I was saying them and I wasn't even thinking how to say it all!!!... it just all came out in what I felt was perfect Spanish!

 

 We gave the girl who had the most questions a Book of Mormon and invited her to read. But, she said no because  she said she had recieved her answer in her other religion and that she didn't need more answers..... but then I felt inspired to share my testimony and when I finished she told me that she could tell that I knew it was true she said,  "when you talk you have a light that shines from you and you can tell that you want to share that knowlege with others." She then said that she would read the book but that she still didn't want to pray. After that we closed up the lesson and left. Now I have no idea what will happen with her or if she really will read it but all I know is that she felt the same Spirit that I was feeling and that she has El Libro De Mormon and maybe we planted a seed and maybe one day something more will come of it.... but as of now we completed our pupose of inviting her and helping her to feel the Spirit and for that I loved that lesson so very much and I was so happy for the way that it turned out. :)

Also, I got your letters and the one from Aunt D.D.  And, I'm excited for my package....everything you have listed sounds perfect....thank you very much for putting it all together.

This week was great!

 

Talk to you guys soon....Love you all!

Elder Lignell

                                          Yes, I know we are weird but you sorta have to be weird to be a missionary :)

 

Week Twenty Five in Ecuador - Monday, May 12, 2014 - A New Companion...Working Hard and Loving It!

                                               

Okay so first off I'm so glad I got the opportunity to talk to you guys, it honestly was absolutely perfect in every way I was so glad that it all worked out!!! I really am so grateful for every single one of you and miss you all a ton but I know that I am in the place that I need to be right now and I know that the day when I do get to come home, it will be priceless to know that I served my time and that I gave my part for God.

My new companion is Elder Sanchez. He is from Mexico and the city San Luis Potosi. He's been out here for 14 months. And honestly he is great! I have really enjoyed my time with him and he has already taught me a ton. I am really excited to keep working with him because we have been working really hard and I feel like with him, we are really fulfilling our purposes as missionaries :) so it's wonderful and hopefully I get to spend a bunch of time with him! 

 

Oh and so if there is space in the package you send me,  he wants you to send tobasco sauce but if there isn't room don't worry about it. :)

I'm glad that you liked my testimony :)

I tried to really be sincere and explain some of the things that I've felt out here because it's not all easy and wonderful here all the time. I mean there are a ton of really hard parts but in the end all of those crazy hard parts really do help to strengthen your testimony and you learn how to really trust in God :)

Well anyways, I guess I will tell you about my week now. Okay so first off we have been working super hard! With Elder Sanchez we don't waste any time which is great because we are always busy but at the same time we are forced to find new people or else nothing will work out. But I have faith that we are doing what we are suppossed to and that we will be blessed for working hard and I have already seen a few of those blessings already!!

First we met this great kid, Investigator  A. and he is 18 and he went to church last Sunday and accepted to be baptized the 7th of June and he is wonderful! We taught him about the plan of salvation right before church and then that next day in church pretty much all of the lessons and topics related to the plan of salvation so I am so grateful that we taught him about it before so that he had a background knowledge.  And I know that the spirit testified that to us before and it was an amazing experience to take notice of that during church!

And also we have Investigator J. who is going to be baptized this next Saturday but we aren't sure how strong his testimony is and we want to watch him this week... So we don't know if we will really go through with the baptism or if we'll sorta just hold it off because it is diffuclt for him to show us that he actually has a testimony... so we'lll see... maybe I'll have a baptism this week and maybe not :)  

Other than that I am doing good it was absolutely wonderful to talk to you all yesterday :)

I'm excited to get my package and I was thinking last night how cool it is that Jacob learned the ukulele... I would love to learn the Uke so Bad!!!!!

Other than that I would love if you guys could pray for Investigator J. so that he can be baptized this week.

 Also for Elder Sanchez (my new companion) and his family.... that all can be well with them :)

 Love,

Elder Lignell

                                                      My New Companion - Elder Sanchez

 

Guayaquil, Ecuador

                                                                 Guayaquil, Ecuador

 

Week Twenty Four in Ecuador - Monday, May 5, 2014 - Crazy Week!

Ok hey guys I'm on the computer and this week has been interesting... but I'll talk about it later.

Our "P-Days" we pretty much just get up like normal... we study for two and a half hours then we clean the house, go drop off our laundry, buy food, eat lunch and then write our families and after that it usually is like 4 and so we sleep until 6 then we go to work... so ya they are pretty boring, but I've adjusted :) 

AND I DID GET THE PACKAGE FROM D.D. :))))) Tell her that I loved it so much!!! It was great and I have loved eating it!!

Tell Dad super happy birthday from me and tell him sorry that I didn't draw him a flower picking machine. But let him know that if he would like a gift I can draw something and send it haha :) 

But ya tell him I love him and he's the greatest Dad ever!!

That's sweet about jake's game tell him he's a baller and to keep it up. Oh and that we'll have to play when I get back to see who's better!!!

Oh and the question from Dad...I just get my hair cut wherever. The last week I got it cut from a member for 2 bucks but next time I want to go to a hair cutting place where everyone is a crazy big tattooed guy that cut your hair!

Ok now about my week:

 So the first part of the week was honestly one of the worst weeks I've had out here. And pretty much all of it was just because my companion is struggling with enthusiasm because he doesn't believe that he can have success here. So it has been crazy hard and I've been trying to help him keep a good attitude.

And on Saturday, I was feeling worse then ever, but then something happened. The husband of one of the members came running up to us and he was at the point of crying... he explained to us that his wife was in the hospital and in a really critical state.

Ok, so first I'm going to explain a little bit about this family. They are extremely poor.... like they sometimes don't have food to eat. All they have in their house is a bed, a toilet, a tv and a fan. Nothing else and there are 6 of them....the mom, dad, three daughters and a son. The mom is pregnant with another child and has been having a ton of problems with the baby and it may not live. 

 

The husband has hard a super tough life and lived a very hard life before. He robbed a bunch of people and stabbed them when he robbed them. He also was addicted to drugs but has recently overcome the addiction. He has been listening to our messages because he isn't a member.  

So on Saturday he came running up to us and told us that his wife was in the hospital and that the baby was really bad and that most likely either she or the baby will die. 

He needed money to buy pills and I helped him buy the pills that he needed and payed for a taxi. I used 20 bucks for that out of my own money and it felt really nice. It changed my whole mood about everything.

Then yesterday we went to visit him and he told us that everytime we come to his house he feels something amazing. He said he knows that we have been called of God and that were called to help him. He told me that he believes that God sends angels to the earth to help others and said that he believes that we are those angels :) 

Those two days changed my whole perspective about being out here and I am so happy I had those experiences. I love being out here and I love that I can help so many people in their lives.

 

I love you all!

Elder Lignell

Week Twenty Three in Ecuador - Monday, April 30, 2014 - Happy Almost Mother's Day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ecuador Guayaquil South Mission