Week Seventy Nine in Ecuador - May 25, 2015 - A New Companion From Peru

Hey family! Well this week was great :) Just so you know I had changes of my companions again. My new companion is named Elder Narro and he is from Peru, Chimbote. He's great! It's been fun getting to know him and I feel like working with him is gonna be great. He has been a zone leader before so he knows what's going on and it means I don't have to teach him too much and he helps me out a lot with all of our responsibilities. He is 27 years old which is cool. He was a convert to the church when he was 23 and left on his mission when he had just passed his 25th birthday! Cool story huh! But he's a great missionary, but I do feel a little bit young next to him... hahaha 

I'm glad everyone is doing well and thanks for keeping me updated on all the stuff that's going on, I enjoy hearing about it.

Now about my week. This week was great, we worked super hard. Sometimes I feel like all this mission focuses on is working. And it's probably a principle that I needed to learn for my life. To be able to work hard and focus on my work and love it. We connected with so many people and invited them all to come unto Christ, and ya know what. We were blessed. We found an investigator named D that is super excited to get baptized and went to church yesterday.  And we found two young men that have family members who are baptized and want their kids to get baptized! It was sweet to be able to find those small little blessings that God gave us for being diligent in our work. 

 I'm doing great, I'm happy. I'm trying not to think too much about home, and focus on what I have left to do here. I hope you all are doing well and I wish you the best in all that you're doing. 

 

Love,

                                                            Recent Baptism

Elder Lignell

Week Seventy Eight in Ecuador - May 18, 2015 - One Of My Most Successful Days As A Missionary!

Hey family, well I'm glad everyone is doing well. Glad you're all busy and happy :) 

I wrote Cameron mom. Tell Kristen that's sweet he's gonna go on a mission! I'm proud of him.

Tell Jake he's a stud :) I'm glad he enjoyed my testimony. Don't worry about the eagle scout, just take a video and send me lots of  pictures :)

Thanks for aplying to BYU! I hoe they accept me!! hahah I'll pray this week that they do :)

And lastly about my package if you haven't already sent it. put some fizzy drinks in. I ran out again.

Alright now about my week. Alright so it has been absolutely crazy! So much stuff happened this week. First off I told you that we had nobody come to church the week before... well, we got super excited to go out and work on Tuesday and I had one of my most successful days as a missionary!! We put 3 new baptism dates, contacted 11 references and rescued 2 baptisms for the zone to get baptized that Saturday. And it was awesome!! I felt the spirit so strong, in just being able to forget overselves and work hard. I felt like God was putting people in our path because he saw our diligence that day. And I believe that there is a principle that every missionary should know. That God trusts in us to convert his children. If we are not worthy or not obedient, he won't trust us to convert very many of his children and they won't be placed in our path. But if we are obedient and diligent in our work, God will trust us and we will have the wonderful opurtunity to teach and help many of his children come back to him.

Next my companion got way sick during the week and Thursday night he got really bad and wasn't responding like he should and he started shaking really bad. I had to take him to the hospital at 12 o'clock at night and we were there until 3 in the morning. (The Ecuadorian hospitals are really slow at attending to people) But thankful my companion is now better so no worries.  He was dehydrated.

Then we changed houses this week and we found a way cool house that isn't above a chicken coop and the has windows that I can actually stick my head out of so I'm pretty stoked.

Lastly we were so blessed to have the baptism of V!! He's 83 years old and he's awesome. It was so cool to be part of his baptism and he was so happy. He's a great little guy. He walks just a little bit slower that turtle, and his baptism was the first time he had bathed in the last 4 months! He loves little kids; he pretends to throw rocks at the little kids around his house and they all scream and run and they call him grandpa :) I love him and it was wonderful to get to know him and really feel love for him and his family.

Well I'm doing well family. I love this work and hope all is well in Utah!

Love, Elder Lignell

Week Seventy Seven in Ecuador - May 11, 2015 - Recognize God in Your Life Everyday

Hey family!

Wow it was so awesome to be able to see all of you guys yesterday! And we were so blessed to be able to have the skype work this time. I could see you all and you could see me ¡¡¡Que bendicion!!! haha but honestly it was so great to see everyone and know that you are all doing well. Thanks for always suporting me and helping me to stay animated out here.  

Tell Jake not to worry about his test because his seminary won't affect his grade point average. What should matter for him is just to learn the scriptures because  that is what will benefit him most in the mission! :)  

And yes we were able to do a little bit of shopping today. We went to a place called the bahia which is like a giant strip mall with thousands of little tents all selling different things. However they have way to many clothing tents and not enough typical stuff from Ecuador, but I was able to find a cool hammock that I bought. So when I get back we can set it up underneath the tree house! It'll be way cool! We also took some cool pictures, I'll send you them in a sec. 

So anyways now about this week. Well we worked really hard and it was honestly a little bit tough because on Sunday we passed by all of our investigators houses to bring them to church and not a single one was in their house! They had all left early for Mother's Day, to their grandma's house or to the cemetery or on vacation. And it sorta stunk... it was the first time in more than a year that I haven't brought at least one person to church... So I was a little bit bummed out, but being able to talk to you guys helped out a ton.

 

When I was bearing my testimony to you guys the first time in Spanish I was thinking in my head as the words came out "wow my testimony has changed, and grown so much" and after finishing the call I realized that it didn't matter that no one came to church. We tried our best and things just didn't work out. That will never mean that I am not having success. I was able to hear from my own voice the "true success" that I've had so far in my mission. And it got me a lot more excited to finish out the time God has given me here. I have five months left. Five months to give all of my heart might mind and strength to bring others unto Christ and I have to take advantage of every second.  

I love all of you to death! I love this mission and I love what I'm doing! Remember to recognize what God does in your lives everyday...Because he does a lot :)

Love, Elder Lignell

                           I was able to make a baptism date with Ronald McDonald!

                                                                      P-Day!

 

Week Seventy Six in Ecuador - May 4, 2015 - Never a Normal Day When You Are Zone Leader :)

Hey guys,

Well this week was yet again very interesting. I've decided being a zone leader means you hardly ever get normal days! It's always a mystery what's going to happen. Whether it's missionaries in need of help, or that are trying to get a long or a meeting with the President or the assistants...It's definitely never boring and it always keeps me on my toes.

For instance, this week I had an interchange with another missionary that was ordered by the President of the mission that lasted for 5 days... So when I finally got back to my real area all the members had thought that I was gone forever. But honestly, I am loving this time of my mission! I love trying to help others and getting to know the investigators of all the different missionaries. One of the greatest things is doing the baptismal interviews where I get the chance to sit and talk one on one with the investigators that are going to get baptized. It's so cool to see the conversion that so many of these people have had and to hear their small testimonies as they are just starting out in this gospel. I promise every time it strengthens my own testimony just a little  bit more.

Anyways, I am so excited to skype with you guys this Sunday!!!!!  

And I'm glad you liked the pictures of me and my companion. I do get a long with him super well, haha he's absolutely crazy. But it's great... we've had some hilarioous stories together and he makes the work a ton of fun.

Anyways I had a great week.  In the small amount of time I got to work in my own area we had a few cool experiences. One was that we went to teach a family that we have been teaching for awhile and when we got there we didn't have anything planned to teach them that day but they asked us to share something with them. So we prayed and in my mind I felt impressed to share about  Lehi's dream and the iron rod and tree of life, all of that. Anyways when we started reading I thought to myself, "why am I sharing this... and how am I going to relate this story to them...? I really didn't know why I chose that story or anything, I just felt the impression that I should. And at the end of reading and explaining it Carlos the husband said to me, "Why did you share that story?" and I had nothing to say, but I just said I felt like I needed to. He then began to explain how he felt that the entire story related directly to him and his life and he thanked us for sharing it! It was so amazing to see how following the Spirit, even when something doesn't seem logical, will always work because God loves everyone and if we listen to the Spirit we can be instruments in his hands to touch the lives of others.

I love this work... I love being a missionary and all the wonderful things I am learning. It's so amazing that God lives and loves us and shows his love everyday without ceasing...we just have to look for it and recognize it and we'll then see that it's all around us in every moment.

Love you guys,

Elder Lignell

Week Seventy Five in Ecuador - April 27, 2015 - Doing Just Great and Enjoying It All

Hi Family,

 

Anyways,  I'm glad everyone is doing well. This week has been interesting! We have found a few more people that are really great. One of them is named V. He is 85 years old and he is hilarious, he always said hi to us when we passed down his street and finally this last week we contacted him and invited him to go to church. Well he went this last Sunday and he is preparing for a baptism. But the best part is that everyday when we pass by his house to teach him, we strengthened his testimony just a little bit more. The first day we explained the gospel of Jesus Christ and he accepted his baptism date but also had a lot of excuses why he shouldn't go through with it. The next day he was worried about what his wife would think but at the end said he would just follow God and then the last lesson we had with him, we taught the restoration of the gospel and at the end of the lesson he just said,  "I accept your message to be true!" It was awesome! He is so great and I am so excited for his baptism.

 

Other than that my week has been great! We celebrated a few of the members birthdays as you saw in the pictures and we helped two people get baptized for the other elders. The two kids have a dad who is a member but he is in-active and his kids have gone to church a bunch but he didn't want them to get baptized. So on Thursday night I went with my companion and we had a super spiritual lesson about the importance of baptism. You could see the Spirit touching the heart of this and he then accepted to let his children get baptized. I was stoked!  

So anyways I had a great week. Thank you for the skype account and of course I have not forgotten I am way excited and I will make sure that I can see you guys this time!!

 

Love to you all,

 

Elder Lignell                                         Lots of Birthday Celebrations!

                                                A Sweet Family That Feeds Me A lot!

                                            Enjoying My Own Cooking!!!

                                             Just Clowning Around with My Companion :)

                                    Making Appointments With Investigators.

                   My Companion is Great...We Work Hard, But Have  A Lot of Fun!!

                                    More Birthday Celebrations With Ward Members

 

 

Oh and mom I feel so terrible. I forgot to wish you happy birthday.... for real I feel bad, but I guess I'll wish you happy birthday now! I love you so much... you are the greatest mom in the whole world. For real and you have helped me so much throughout my life, I definitely would not be who I am today if it wasnt for you. Love ya

 

Elder Lignell

Week Seventy Four in Ecuador - April 20, 2015 - Learned How To Cook Empanadas :)

Hi Family,

 

Well fortunately I made it through another week in the mission hahaha :) actually this week has been great we worked sooo hard, and it was a ton of fun!!! We found some really cool people!! The zone has completely turned around and we have been starting to have a lot of success. I'm definitely excited cause that means that we'll start to baptize again soon! :)  

Anyways that's great about Jake Mortimer and that he had a wonderful experience as a missionary. I agree with him it is the best descion you can make in your life.  

I'm glad that everyone is doing well! I can't believe its spring, time is flying by... 

And mom I'm doing fine,  it is a lot of stress right now and I have a ton of responsibilities but God is helping me and I'm figuring it out little by little. I feel great and I'm excited to keep working.  

This week we had a few of our investigators come to church and one of them we had to go into his room and shake his bed and throw pillows at him and finely he got up, (he didn't mind :)) but it was great because after church ended he said he was glad that he went and that we had bothered him enough so that he would go. hahaha 

Other than that on Sunday after church I cooked empanadas at the matute families house (the lady who wrote you) and my companion made juice... it was fun and now I know how to make empanadas!! I'll have to cook you guys some when I get back! 

Now on the spiritual side, this week I have been noticing a lot that for me in my personal life God has acted in a lot of little tiny ways. They aren't things that are so noticable at every moment but when I look a little bit deeper I find all of the wonderful blessings that God gives me daily. In my patriarchal blessing it says "through diligent prayer I will see that God answers me and is in my life in the small aspects" and this week I really have been noticing it. A lot of times as humans we look for big answers big facts and big events to establish our beliefs and knowledge. I feel like our ability to find God, relates directly with our ability to see the little miracles in our lives, and search for him in every aspect of our lives. Because he's always there :)

 Love you all, 

Elder Lignell

Week Seventy Three in Ecuador - April 13, 2015 - Crazy Rains In Ecuador!

Alright guys well I'm here, and this week has had quite a few things
happen. But first off I'm really glad that you all had a wonderful
time in Mexico and I'm sorry I was not able to accompany you to help
speak Spanish haha :) That's crazy about the returned missionary! It
shows that you've gotta really make an effort to stay active after
your mission as well, because if you're not careful you might end up
like him.

First off  I have a new companion from Colombia his name is Elder Murillo. But the
crazy thing is that it is his first time being zone leader so I am
now senior zone leader and I'm training him as a zone leader. So now
all the pressure of the zone is on my shoulders! However this week
we worked super hard and it was a ton of fun. I am really excited for
the chance that I have to be companions with him.

Also this week we had a baptism!!! It was super unexpected because this kid never wanted to get baptized he has been going to church for the last 2 years and he knows all of the missionaries that have been  here, so it was a miracle that we were able to help him make the decision at the last minute! It was just perfect, however this week I also got way sick on Thursday and had a fever of almost 103 degrees but the weird thing was, that the fever was the only real symptom that
I had. I felt normal, but I was just burning up so for part of the week the mission president made me stay in bed all day... but don't worry now I'm feeling a lot better.

So anyways it was a weird crazy week, I have a ton of pressure right now but I feel like I'm handling it somewhat well. I like my new companion a lot, and it is a ton of fun training him, and wow God
trully does bless us for being diligent. :)

Hope you all are doing great!

Love,

Elder Lignell

                  And You Thought The Rain During Conference Was Bad There!

                      Our recent convert....we all got soaking wet with the crazy rains!

               The kids in my ward who love to come with me on my visits.

                                             A kid who I think looks like Mitch Hess :)

                                               A ward member

Our recent baptism!

Week Seventy Two in Ecuador - April 1, 2015 - A Sister Reaching Out To You From Ecuador About Elder Lignell

Well that is awesome that you got the email from Hermana Matute... haha she is great. And I have a good story this week about them that I'll tell you in just a sec.

So first off, I'm sooo jealous about everyone going to Puerto Vallarta. Hope you all have a blast, you'll have to send me a bunch of pictures.

Alright so now about my week.

It was actually pretty crazy this week because in all of Ecuador it is raining, but raining a lot. It's like mini floods that pass by. So anyways on Thursday we were teaching an investigator with the son of the lady that wrote you. (named moroni) and we hear rain outside. Well we finished the lesson and went to leave and to be honest, you could hardly see in front of you the rain was so thick. So together with Moroni we ran back to his house to get out of the rain, and getting to their house we noticce that their whole family is in a panic running in and out of their house with buckets full of water. What had happened is that behind their house they have a smal little patio but it doesn't have a drain pipe; it's just cement and their rain gutter. So the back of their house broke because of all the water so their back patio was completely filled with water and it was starting to get into the house. 

So like any missionary would we jumped right in to start taking buckets out of water attempting to save their house from the rainstorm. To be honest we worked for about an hour and a half taking buckets out filled with water until we finally had the brilliant idea to pray. We then kneeled down in about three inches of water in their house and said a small simple prayer asking for the rain to stop if that was God's will. During the prayer I felt the strong impression that the rain would stop but only if I kept working and didn't give up. So for about 30 min. more being completely exhausted, we kept taking out buckets and guess what. The prayer got answered. The rain stopped, the house didn't have any true damage and my testimony grew just a little bit stronger. :) It was amazing to see the power of prayer and just how much God truly listens to us. After all was said and done I had a thought come into my mind of Ether 3:1. It talks about how much the Brother of Jared had to do to get his prayer answered. And shows us that if we ask with faith and we are diligent in working for that prayer to be answered, God will fulfill our wishes. 

Other than that the week was great; the conference was awesome, they talked a lot about marrige... maybe it's a sign that I'll get married soon.... hahaha... no I'm definitely still a little kid. ;)

Love you all to death,

Elder Lignell







Hi  my dear  friend Elizabeth.  I am from Guayaquil- Ecuador.  I am a member  of  the Church  26  years ago. I have 6  children. My  older son   was a  missioanry  in our  country Mission QUITO ECUADOR   2009-2011, My second  son is  a  missionary.  He is  serving in Mission Chihuahua  Chihuahua México.    He  has 18 months in his  mission.  my  3th son   will serve in his  mission in 2   1/2  months  .  My other son is 5 and my daughter is 13.  MY HUSBAND  IS A  FIREMAN.

 Your son is in my  ward.   He is our  Zone Leader  here. He is a excellent  missionary!!!!!.   I  MEAN I SENT AN INVITATION  TO  YOUR SON JACOB  IN FACEBOOK.  WELL  SISTER  

I  LOVE  TO YOUR SON A  LOT !!!!!  

NICE TO MEET  YOU  SISTER

WITH LOVE

BELLA

SORRY    POR  MI INGLES  :)

                                                  Looking official in our suits!

                                                What a group :)

                                    Hey....we are growing boys !!!! We eat a lot!!

Week Seventy One in Ecuador - March 30, 2015 - Another Wonderful Week in Paradise :)

Well guys, it's been another wonderful week in paradise :) haha

I'm doing very well and I'm glad all is well at home too. I'm glad Jacob had the chance to go to prom, I hope he danced his butt off.

Well this week has been super cool. First off we had a baptism!!! His name is A. and he is so cool. His wife has been a member for a long time and he recently decided to get baptized. It was so cool to be able to help him make that decsion and to hear from his mouth that his next goal is that they can get married in the temple in a year!!!! It's awesome and it's proof that God really does want families to be together forever, because he makes it possible for all to have a chance to recieve a conversion. Even though it all doesn't happen at once sometimes. Meaning that some family members take long to become converted but if the family is faithful and obedient God will always keep them together forever. :) 

Today we had a training meeting with all of the zone leaders in the mission and we learned about taking upon ourselves the name of Christ and that although we do do it in baptism it's not just a one time thing, that in reality every single day we have to take upon opurselves the name of Christ. in our actions and every Sunday in the sacrament. Moroni 4:3

We learned a bunch of stuff but a few cool facts were that we as a mission every month have the highest amount of baptisms and reactivations and in the month of March, we doubled the amount of people that we had baptized in February... haha pretty crazy.

But anyways, I am doing super well, I'm happy and ready to keep pushing along.

This computer won't let me send pictures, so I'll have to send them next week.

Love you all lots,

Elder Lignell

Week Seventy in Ecuador - March 23, 2015 - Good Success!

Hey family :) well this week has been interesting. We've had some good success finding new people and having lessons with our investigators.

And wow that's amazing that Zach is already home I can't believe it. I hope he had such a wonderful mission. You'll have to give him a hello for me.  

And wow give Jake a giant thumbs up for prom, you'll have to send a bunch of pictures! 

Anyways this week we had some interesting stuff happen. So first off we had a super cool family home evening in the house of a less active. We brought one of our investigators who really wants to find out that this is the true church and she hasn't felt like she's received her answer yet. So anyways we all got there and we sang a hymn and opened with a prayer and in my mind I had no idea what message I could share... everything was just blank, but oddly enough that's what needed to happen, because not having an idea of what theme I could share, I just told everyone to start presenting themselves to get to know each other.  Then from one second to the next all the members were presenting themselves and began to share their testimonies to our investigator and the whole room was filled to the brim with the Spirit. It was so amazing, we actually ended up not sharing any message and the whole meeting just turned into a spiritly guided conversation with our investigator and it was amzing to see how it all folded out and started with me having no idea what to share!  

Now about another investigator, his name is A.and his wife is a member and all their kids are members. He has accepted to be baptized this Saturday that's coming up and I am so excited for him. He loves the gospel now, and he wants to get sealed in the temple (he has been attending marrige management classes at the church). And truly it is just a blessing for me to be able to know him and to of helped him take the step to be baptized :) It was sort of amzing how everything has just worked out with him. He never got the chance to be baptized before because he always had commitments on Sundays but we helped him to get to church and showed him what a blessing it would be for him to take the step of a baptism and woooohhhoooo he's gonna do it Saturday!!! haha I'm pretty excited, I'll send you guys lots of photos :)

And lastly today was interesting because we just barlely escaped from our house! In the morning the door broke when another renter was trying to get in (we share the same door for about 4 families.) So anyways the door was locked but there was no way to open it.... right up until like an hour ago we escaped using the key and holdiong the lock thinggy magiger by hand an miraculously opended the door. It felt so nice to get outside hahaha 

Well anyways I'm doing well. We have 10 baptisms as a zone this week so we have to work like crazy to make sure that every single one gets baptized :) so wish me luck and pray lots for me.

Love you all,

Elder Lignell 

Week Sixty Nine in Ecuador - March 16, 2015 - Super Busy :)

Hey family,

 

Well this week was pretty average actually... :( unfortunately in our sector right now we aren't finding a lot of new people, well that's not completely true... we are finding people but for the most part they have been a lot of people that have some big problems holding them back from progressing. Which has made me see just how important it is to have the Spirit while youre teaching, and listening.  Missionaries have to be able to see the people that really can change and have the desire to change and those who don't.

 

For example, we found a nice couple who are just starting out together. They both are about 26 years old and have a ton of questions about the gospel, however they are not legally married. They have a strong belief in God and have a decent understanding of the Bible. It was super interesting to be able to teach them and see their small doubts and worries about the church get resolved. We explained about repentance and the steps that someone needs to fulfil to trully repent and it was great because the husband explained to us one of his prior sins and how he had never felt completely forgiven for it and understood then that he had not passed through all the steps of repentance. He then promised us that he would do his best to repent. :) He came to church this Sunday and liked it a lot! Hopefully we can continue working with them and get them married! All of your prayers are welcome.  

Other than that, we've just been super busy. I had to give an hour lesson to the zone on Saturday about faith, and I felt like it went really well:) I talked about Alma 33:28-31  and Mosiah 24:16-20... I think those are the verses.... but that was cool.  

Oh and mom can you please send me a recipe to do organge chicken or barbeque chicken please!  We want to make some for some of our investigators to show them what food in America tastes like.

Love you all,

 

Elder Lignell

Week Sixty Eight in Ecuador - March 9, 2015 - Still in Guayaquil And Enjoying It :)

Hey guys I'm back again :)

So you all know, I'm still here in Guayaquil which I now feel like has become my home for the mission considering that I have about 80% of my time here in the city serving. And it's about the same as always; hot, super busy, lots of traffic, robbing's and crazy stuff that you see all the time. For instance, this week I saw a riot in the street where some people burned giant tires blocking all of the traffic. In the bus today the man sitting next to me decide to take out some weed and make a joint hahaha and many more experiences. 

I'm glad everyone is doing well it makes me so happy to hear that all is well at home and that you're all healthy. I'm sorry that you were missing me mom... :( I know I'm pretty loveable it must be really hard not having me there ;) hahahaha (sorry I'm so humble) 

Kudos to Jake for getting accepted to prom :)

Anyways now about this week. It was a great week... we worked super hard and found some great people! And at the end of the week we were blessed to have a stake conference here in the Cisne Stake. And Elder Godoy came from the quorum of the seventies. And wow it was amazing to be able to hear him and learn from him. So first off the stake conference had 3 sessions and the first was Saturday at night and we got there and unexpectingly found one of our investigators inside. Her name is Ana and she is 22. We recently found her last week and started teaching her. And she is super interested. She is reading the Book of Mormon and praying every day asking if the church is true. And she made her way to the session on Saturday to learn more even though we hadn't invited her to that session.


After the session, Elder Godoy asked her if she was a member and she responded that she wasn't and he explained to her the need of one to get baptized and how important it is for her to keep asking God for the answer. Then on Sunday after the general session, he talked to her again but this time with me and my companion too. He then congratulated me for teaching her and told me that he would love to see the photos of her baptism! It was sweet!! I got a photo with Elder Godoy and talked to him for a bit too. He loves basketball and next week he will be in Utah at the Jazz game. However he actually is a Laker fan... haha, but it was sweet to meet him and listen to what he had to say.

He shared some really cool things in the conference like Romans 13:10 which talks about how love is referred to as "fulfilling" something so therefore love has to be shown with actions. Words don't count. So if we love God we have to keep his commandments; if we love our neighbor we have to serve him, etc.

So anyways this week was great!  I'm happy and excited to keep working!

I love you all to death,

Elder Lignell

Week Sixty Seven in Ecuador - March 2, 2014 - Lots of Pictures This Time :)

Well guys it has been another week here in Ecuador and wow it was an interesting one.  

First off, that's too bad about Brighton! That would have been amazing to have them win the State Championships. But I guess Jake will just have to pull it off when he's a senior! haha. 

I'm glad everyone is doing well :)  

And yes it is stressful to be zone leader but I truly am enjopying it and just trying to give it my all while I have this opportunity.  

So anyways about this week. It was actually a really tough one. I felt somewhat inspired after telling you to pray for me because I really needed those extra prayers this week. It was sorta odd but after last Monday every single person we were teaching just decided to not want to keep going to church or prepare for a baptism. Completely random and all at the same moment. And we got left with nobody to teach. And just so you know, being a missionary and being in the street all day having to teach people is hard when you don't have anyone. So we talked to everyone in the street, taught the members and looked everywhere to find new people and for the first three days we found no one... not a single interested person. And honestly, I was getting pretty discouraged, however I prayed non- stop... probably like 30-40 prayers a day just begging for help...but I learned something this week. God a lot of the time doesn't just give us what we want or when we feel sad he doesn't automatically make us be happy. He tests us. He wants to see how far we can go... he wants to see us struggle a little bit and put our own effort in, instead of just using him as a fallback. He did the same thing with his son; he didn't give him things easily when Jesus asked for the "cup to be taken from him" God didn't do it! Because it wasn't his will. Sometimes God has a bigger picture, and we don't see all of it. So what we have to do is be patient, trust him, and try to do all we can by ourselves. Then, through his love, and his grace we will be made strong. We will recieve blessings and we will fulfil the wishes that he has. Like it explains in Ether 12:6, sometimes we recieve our testimony after the trials and failure and struggle, we just need to have faith :) 

So anyways last week was hard, we didn't have too much success but God blessed me and he is helping me everyday. The missionaries we have here are changing, they are working hard and theyre finding new people. So it's wonderful to see that our efforts never are in vain. And to see that just maybe I am helping the missionaries here to be better, and that hope just makes me wanna keep going :) 

So in conclusion I'm doing great, I love where I am and I love working here. I'm excited to keep pushing forward and helping all the people that I can here. 

 Love,

Elder Lignell           We are holding up 2 fingers because it took our Investigator

                                 2 years before she made the decision to be baptized :)

                                   Picture of Me and Elder Carmona.

                                         Picture of our Zone at a recent zone meeting.

                                           Our Investigator's Baptism Day :)

                                                      Me and My Companion :)

 

 

Week Sixty Six in Ecuador - February 23, 2015 - One Specific Story

Hey family.

 

Anyways so ya carnival is over and we got back to normal and were able to work the rest of the week. It was fun to be here in Guayaquil this year for those festivals because they celebrate a lot more. They all had pools outside of their houses and it's hilarious!! They'd have a little tiny street just filled with 7 or 8 plastic pools like the one at our house with a ton of music and everyone swimming :)

 

My stomach problems have gone away and I feel fine now so don't worry. And mom I'm zone leader now so I can rest if I need to if I'm not feeling well :) and I dont have to worry too much about others taking advantage of me now :) one of the perks of having this calling. But at the same time it is extremely stressful sometimes;  we are constantly getting calls and having more stuff to do, and everyone looks to me for answers and help in their areas. Also the mission president dropped in on one of our meetings this last Saturday to motivate the zone which is intimidating being the one to teach the other missionaries and have the president sit in listening as well. But I felt like I did a good job so no worries :)

 

That's sweet about the basketball games. Never knew that the Brighton girls basketball team would be good...

 

And wow I can't believe Nathan is back!!! That is insane. I wonder if he baptized people...? Russia sounds like it would be super super hard. 

 

 It is tough to be around people that take away from the Spirit and that's why the prophet tells us to pick good friends and to stand in holy places. However, something that I have learned on the mission is that sometimes you do have to have the courage to stand up and say something, and that you have to be the one to invite the Spirit, change the subject and sometimes reprimand others for what they do wrong. Being a zone leader has been a little tough in that I have never been good at telling others what they can't do. I don't like being rude or mean but sometimes with people they don't realize what they're doing is wrong until you show them. And the Spirit can softly guide us in the way to change their train of thought. 3 Nephi 12:14-16

 

Now about my week. It was pretty sweet. We worked hard and we have been finding some really interesting poeple to teach. However I would like to share one specific story. Alright so on Saturday we got a call from one of our missionaries saying that they had found one of their investigators who was pleading them to get baptized that day. So we went over to his house and I did the baptismal interview to see if he was ready to get baptized and in talking to him he shared with me an amazing story of how he wasn't a good person before. He had a ton of problems with drugs, jail time, and his girlfriend. He was in a really bad place about 6 months ago and one of his friends was a member of the church and started talking to him about God and that God could help him.

So one night he prayed to God asking for someone to invite him to the true church and later that week two brothers from our church invited him that Sunday but he ended up saying no to them. Ironically he said he would go when he felt the desire to go from his heart. Later that day he realized that he had recieved the answer to his prayer and rejected it. The following Sunday he went to church alone and after two months of investigating suddenly that Saturday, felt the impression that he needed to be baptized. And that's when he went and searched out the missionaries. He changed his life! He loves the church and I had never seen someone that just lit up with light talking about the church. He was so excited to erase his past and start over. I was honered to be able to get to know him and see him recieve that joyful ordinance of a baptism :)

 

Haha then the funny thing, right after leaving the interview we are walking and a police guy pulls up and a guy on the corner sees him and immediately speeds away on his motorcycle and they both go out in a high speed chase. Then as another policeman pulls up to the same place another 12 guys all just scatter in different directions... hahaha if the policeman hadn't came up I wouldn't have even realized that I was completely surrounded by criminals! But I'm fine... no worries!

 

Love you guys!

 

Elder Lignell

Week Sixty Five in Ecuador - February 16, 2015 - Helping a Sweet Lady Take the Last Step For Baptism.

Hi Everyone,

Unfortunately I only have 30 min. to write today because right now in Ecuador it is a giant festival called Carnival where everybody puts pools outside in front of their houses and get each other wet. So sadly the missionaries aren't allowed to participate and we have to be inside the house today before 12 o'clock. But I'll try to fit in all that happened this week in the time I have :)

First off congrats to Jake for asking a girl to prom :) hope he has a blast, and tell him to be safe :) 

Anyways this week has been super interesting.

First off, I got extremely sick about 4 days ago... but not with a cold ...I had another stomach virus. So they had me take something that is called "la bomba" which means "the bomb" and it just cleans pretty much everything out of your stomach... and wow does it work! To say the least I haven't made it very far from the bathroom the last few days. But now I'm feeling a little bit better.

This week we had a baptism!!! Hurray! Her name is I. and she is awesome. She has been investigating the church for almost 2 years now but never wanted to get baptized and I was lucky enough to help her take that last step and be there for her baptism. She has an amazingly strong testimony and goes to church without fail! Her little daughter is also a member and now we are helping the rest of her family to try to follow their example!

Other than that not too much has happened. We're working super hard and trying to help the other missionaries in the zone to work and bring people to church. It's a ton of work, super stressful and really tiring but God gives me strength. I honestly feel him helping me when I have nothing more to give...it's amazing to see those changes. Look up these scriptures, they've helped me a ton. Moses 6:31-32 and Moses 7:13.

I love you all so much and I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Love,

Elder Lignell 

Week Sixty Four in Ecuador - Feburary 9, 2015 - Grateful for the Chickens Underneath Our Apartment :)

Hey Family! 

Well I'm glad to hear that everyone is well :) and wow, you guys talked about free agency way over there in Utah (haha) we also talked about free agency in our priesthood session all the way over here on the other hemisphere...pretty cool huh? The church is all on the same page!

I'm so glad that Jake is doing well on his team. That makes me so happy. I honestly will love to go watch him at the games when I get back! 

And I hope you said hello to Courtney Long for me, and if not you'll have to tell him I say hi!

And my new territory actually isnt that bad, I expected it to be a lot more scary, but really you just have to be careful about what streets you take and not ever have the cellphone out and pretty much nobody bothers you. And I'm pretty much used to the heat by now... I feel like when I get back to Utah I'll die from the cold. So maybe I'll just rent an apartment and stay here  in the Isla Trinitaria hahaha :)

Anyways now about my week. It has actually been a really great week. Wow lots of work, but fun at the same time. We literally were running all over Guayaquil helping out the other missionaries and also trying to find new people to teach in our area. And it was a blast. I asked God a lot this week in my prayers to help me to be a good enough missionary to be able to help others get motivated and to strongly feel the spirit. After asking in my prayers, on Tuesday night I had a wonderful expierience in that we were out working in our area and we found an elderly man sitting outside his house and we began to talk to him and get to know him better. My companion then felt impressed to start teaching lesson 1 of the restoration of the gospel and began to explain to the elderly man the beginining principals. Then as he closed, I jumped in explaining how the church was first established by Christ when he was here on the earth. I literally felt the Spirit just jump into the lesson and it slowly began to guide me in how I explained the lesson. I was so amazed speaking to him and hearing words that really weren't even mine. They all just fell out of my mouth perfectly... it was almost scary to hear myself talking and as I continue explaining the lesson, the investigator stops me and says. "It makes sense right, that God made his church." Then he asked, "So if the church fell away, where is it today?" I then finished the lesson explaining of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon replying to his question. At the very end of the lesson after we had invited him to read and to pray, He says "I've trully enjoyed the message that youve explained to me, it all made sense and I felt that it was true, I'll be happy to read the book." It just gave me the biggest smile to hear him, feel the Spirit so strong, and actually see God work though me right in front of my eyes. God answered my small prayer in an amazing way, and that is why I just love being a missionary!

Other than that I'm trying my best to be the best misionary that I can, and to always look on the bright side! 

Something funny this week is that below our appartment there is a place where they raise chickens... so the apartment a lot of the time smells like a chicken coop... which is not my favorite! However, I also realized that there are no ants in our apartment and in every other apartment I have had, there has been a ton of ants. I might be wrong but I believe that the ants don't come to the apartment because it smells bad from the chickens hahaha and it made me remember one of mom's favorite book about the girls in the concentration camp that are grateful for the fleas... because the guards don't come in to beat them.... hahaha... it's almost the same thing :) but for real we always have to be grateful no matter what. Mosiah 4:11-12

I'm getting along great with my companion, he's a great kid :)

All in all I'm happy, I'm working hard and giving it my all. If everything works out we will have a baptism this week so wish us luck and all your prayers are welcome!!

Love,

 Elder Lignell

Week Sixty Three in Ecuador - February 2, 2015 - A Transfer and Called to be Zone Leader

Hey family! 

Well that is great that you were fasting this week mom :) I also fasted this week and it definitely was not easy either... 

Well in reality this whole week has just been crazy. A lot has happened! Alright so first off I worked the whole week in Machala until Saturday in the afternoon. We were in the Coco teaching one of our investigators and making sure that they were going to attend church this Sunday. Well during the lesson I got a phone call so I answered it and it was the zone leaders telling me that I had transfers and that I had to be in Guayaquil as fast as possible. So getting off the phone I told the investigator that I was sorry but that I had to leave to Guayaquil and the investigator says, "oh don't worry at all leave , it's fine, I'll see you both tomorrow in church" hahaha I then had to explain to her that I wasn't coming back... :( so anyways after that I ran home, stuck all of my stuff wherever it could go and left to Guayaquil, and I arrived at about 12 o'clock at night. Now the best part, well I found out what my new sector is it's called "La Isla Trinitaria" it's probably the most dangerous part of all of Ecuador (haha it even has a movie named after it) But the weird thing is that I was also called to be Zone Leader and my companion is Elder Flores from Peru. He has already been my companion before. But ya pretty darn crazy.

Then today we had a leadership council, where all of the zone leaders from the whole mission go to Guayaquil to learn who to be better leaders and what we can do in the mission to be able to reach our goals and be the best missionaries that we can be.

And honestly it was amazing, I felt the Spirit so very strong. And we learned so much. The president talked a lot about not hardening our hearts and that we at all times, have to be open to the Spirit to get new ideas and that we have to continue forwards always. That the challenges that the Lord gives us is not an excuse to complain or to harden you heart. 

We talked about the desire that we have to have to achive our goals and give the Lord what he deserves. 

I truly know with all my heart that President Torres is the mission president that I need. I know he has been called of God and wow he is such a wonderful person. I'm so thankful for all that he's done for me :)

SO anyways I'm doing well. I'm excited to keep working. I obviously have a lot more responsibility so I have to always set a good example. I know it will be hard, but with God on my side I know that I can do it!

Oh and I got my package thank you guys so much!!!! I loved everything that you sent me!

However you paid way too much for all that stuff... I feel way bad... :( 

Love,

Elder Lignell

Week Sixty Two in Ecuador - January 26, 2015 - So Hot, But Pushing Forward and Had Another Baptism!

Hey family!

Well this week has been great! We worked extremely hard. And it's definitely not easy right now in Machala because it is the hottest time of the whole year! You don't even know how tempting it is to sit down in the shade or hang out with all the members when the sun just melts everything, but the mission wasn't suppossed to be easy and we're given it all we got and we were extremly blessed in the fact that this Saturday we had a baptism!!! Hurray!!! It was sweet.

 

But I'll tell you more about it in a sec. So anyways it's hot and everyday we are in a place that is called the COCO haha go look it up on the internet...it's like a small little piece of Africa in the middle of Machala and pretty much everyone who lives there is  black... and they love to dance :) They have giant speakers that they set outside of their houses and blast bachata merengue, regaton and salsa choki and I love it, because the people aren't wealthy and they hardly have anything but they are happy and love life and dance like crazy ALL THE TIME.  

Our baptism that we had is named A and he also lives in the Coco and he's a great kid. The funny thing is, is that all of his friends and family aren't the greatest people they can be pretty scary looking... haha and wow it was a miracle that we were able to find A. He's a great kid and he loves the Gospel I was so amazed that he stayed strong and got baptized even when his whole family made fun of him and when they don't respect the morals of a worthy LDS member. It truly was a blessing to find him, teach him and see the way his face would light up as we taught him about the truths of the Gospel. As I talked about before with our other investigator, K. I feel like him finding the Gospel has been an escape for them both.... a way to feel at peace when a lot of the parts of his home life don't have that peace or calmness.  

I love this Gospel and the time that I have been able to have here in Machala. I have learned so much here in the short 2 months that I've had. I've learned that honestly your success as a missionary does not come through numbers. That our ability to have success in our missions really is just the ability to give it all we have and not rest. If we constantly work and strive to improve, God will make us feel successful, happy and at peace. It's the greatest feeling in the world to know that God is happy with us and to know that we are fulfilling his will when he answers our prayers.

So anyways, I'm happy and hope all is well at home.

 

Love, Elder Lignell            The Baptism of A.  He was so strong to follow through!

 

 

 

Week Sixty One in Ecuador - January 19, 2015 - Press Forward With Faith

Dear Family,

Thank you so much for mailing out the package. It sounds perfect. You guys are the absolute best!

And to answer your question Mom, yes I have given a blessing recently. In fact we give blessings weekly and to be completely honest sometimes I feel like my blessings are really being guided by the Spirit and then other times I feel like it's just a lot more of my own thoughts. I'm not sure if it's my fault in not listing to the spirit or if God is just trusting me in that moment to use my own thoughts and intuition.

Now about this week. It was wonderful! We have been working extremely hard everyday and it has been fun to see the small fruits of our efforts. And I was thinking, this time right now really is the best time in my mission for me to just give it absolutely everything that I have. Because why not...I understand the language, I have a good companion and a wonderful ward to serve in right now. Everything is just set up for us to have success here and this week we are going to go all out to get everyone in Machala baptized haha :)

It's been scaring me lately how short of time I have left... I felt a giant wave of anxiety to be able to complete all that I want in this two years and I have found some amazing scriptures that God has given us. For instance D&C 64:32-35  talks about not worrying because God works at his own pace, and councils us to never cease to do good but only to press forward with faith. And it's so true and it's not just a principle in the mission, it is a principle that we all have to learn for every aspect of our lives. To just not worry and know that if we continue in obedience and with patience, God will always pull through.

I love this gospel and I am excited to keep working. Sorry I didn't really have any cool investigator stories this week but I promise I will soon!

Oh and guess what? There is a new missionary that just got here to Ecuador and his name is Bowen Smith haha he is from our stake and he went to Brighton. He played basketball on the high school team and he coached Jacob at a bascketball camp one time!!! I don't have my camera right now but I will send you all a picture with me and him next week!

Well love you all!

Elder Lignell

Week Sixty in Ecuador - January 12, 2015 - Very Hot in Machala!!

Dear Family,


That is so awesome that Jake has been starting for the sophomores! I'm stoked to be able to see him play when I get back so he'll have to not get cut for his junior year ;) haha.


Thank you mom for the package. I'm excited and honestly I could use a tube of tooth paste and also if you can, the scripture stickers that go in the book of mormon :) and nothing else... I don't think I need the insoles so don't worry about it :)
 

That's awesome about Dad asking the question, and to be honest I have thought that before, about how come God had to wait so long to restore his Gospel to this earth. But like you said Mom, everything just had to fall right into place at the right time. A lot of it also could have to do with the actual plates of the Book of Mormon being hidden in New York in the Hill Cumorah. Joseph Smith was literally chosen to be born there in that town that had so much religious pressure in a country that had the liberty to start religions and have new ideas and obviously being close to the plates in actuality, all played a part in the restoration of the gospel. scriptures of Joseph Smith (acts 3:20,21) Apostosy Amos 9:12  4Nephi 1:27

Alright so now about my week. Well it has been great! This last week we worked really hard and it is so hot right now in Machala I get burned even when I put layers of sunscreen on... there is no way to avoid it! haha but I feel good and I'm getting along with my companion. He's a weird little Peruvian kid and he hangs his mooth open all the time and it looks like he just has no idea what's going on hahah but I've found the way to get along with him and help him out little by little. :) And as a missionary I've discovered that getting along with your companion is sooooo crucial to be happy and having success. And sometimes it can be a struggle, but when you figure it out everything just goes smoother. You can feel the Spirit, you find more people to teach, the members like you more, and all in all it makes you more happy. So I'm so grateful that my comp and I are getting along and this last week has been a blast...we found a ton of people!

A cool experience from this week is that I was able to visibly see that God answers our prayers. The week before I had asked him in prayer if we could be able to sit down and teach all of our investigators because in the weeks before we hardly were given the opportunity to teach our investigators. It was frustrating and then right after asking that, every single day our investigators weren't busy and gave us the time to sit down, start with a prayer and really be able to feel the Spirit. I was so thankful and blessed to be able to see in front of my eyes, God answering my prayers.

I know He watches out for us and I know He listens to us. I am so excited to keep pushing forward in this year and finish it all out strong :)

Love you all,

Elder Lignell