Week Eighty Four in Ecuador - June 29, 2015 - New Technique To Find New Investigators

Family!!! ThIs week was great! We worked hard... really hard, I was tired everyday but it was awesome!

 

I'm glad everyone is doing well, that makes me so happy to hear that you guys are safe and healthy and loving life :) you and dad looked great in you anniversary picture! Honestly I have the best looking parents! And tell dad his shorts are pretty sick hahaha 

Grandpa looks awesome. Tell him hi for me and tell him that I love him.  

That's so crazy that Davis got home! Tell Davis thanks for saying hi!

 

And props to jake for winning the tournament.

Alright so now about this week. It was great!!! We invited all the Ecuadorians to be baptized haha and we were sooo blessed! We found a bunch of people that were just ready to accept our invitations.

 

Fist we made up a new technique on how to find people to teach. Its called the "Can I use the bathroom technique" So me and my companion both had to use the bathroom way bad and decided that we would ask someone to let us in to use their bathroom and then we would sneak in a quick lesson while the other person was using the bathroom. It worked pretty good. So we both used the bathroom and explained a small lesson. The greatest part was that after we finished and were leaving he thanked us for teaching him haha it was great, we also thanked him a lot for his bathroom :)

Next technique was the "free food technique" So we eat lunch with a lady that doesn't have male members of her family living with her so we always have to bring a member to eat with us, but on Thursday we didn't have a member so we used the technique of trying to invite someone to come eat with us off the street to obey the rule of having an adult with us. We asked like 6 different guys until finally we found a guy that was 20 to come with us and eat. Haha...we also taught him a lesson during lunch so it worked out pretty good! 

We also had a reference this week, from a member that is a little bit, well he's not all there in the head but he's cool. And he is like 70 years old and he gave us a reference of another old guy who is 82 his name is G. and he accepted to come to church and to be baptized but not only him but his whole family who are like 6 in all! We taught them yesterday after church and wow it was such a powerful lesson. We were probably there for 2 hours just talking and answering their questions. I felt the spirit so strong, to be able to testify that our church is true. And the lady that was making the questions, said I feel like I have more questions but from the way you talk about what you know they go out of my mind and I feel like what you're saying is true. She said I want to follow God and I think what you've told me is the truth. Her daughter and her dad have baptism dates for the 25th but hopefully soon the whole family can progress together to get baptized! I need your prayers for them. 

Now lastly this week I have been studying a lot about the conversion. And what it truly means to be converted to the gospel and as a missionary how we can show to God that we are converted to this work. First in the scripture guide in spanish it explains that conversion cannot come before baptism and the gift of the holy ghost. So we talk a lot about baptism but that's why, because without it someone cannot truly be converted.   Now lot of times as members of the church we have a testimony but we aren't trully converted. For example when someone bares their testimony and says "I know the book of mormon is true." Or when some says "I know the book of mormon is true because everyday I read it for an hour and I feel God's hand in my life as I search his guidance through the scriptures." A lot different right? Well anyways to be truly converted we have to both know and act. And the same goes for a missionary; if you want God to see that you are converted you have to show him that you want the salvation of others and you have to work hard! Alma 29:4 I ought not to harrow up in my desires the firm decree of a just God, for I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto men, yea, decreeth unto them decrees which are unalterable, according to their wills, whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction. 

If we show him our desires he will help us succeed in every aspect of our lives!

 Love you all,

 Elder Lignell                Me and Elder Smith...Looking Good :)

                                                             Preparing for Any Weather!

                                                                A Recent Investigator

                                              Ahhh...Nothing Like American Food :)

                                                      City Where We are Working in Guayaquil

Week Eighty Three in Ecuador - June 22, 2015 - Always Improving

Hey family!

Well another week down in Guayaquil! And its been an absolute blast. Me and my companion are working crazy hard and it's been exhausting, but so very rewarding spiritually, emotionally and well not really physically cause I'm wiped out!! haha  

Thanks for your email I'm gad everybody is doing great! I can't believe Davis got home... that doesn't even seem real. I hope his homecoming goes well you'll have to congratulate him for me.  

Glad jake had a good time at EFY. And at least he's got his hopes set high by having a crush on his counselor, it's better than just settling haha :) 

That's too bad for the Williamson Family. You'll have to tell them that I always loved being around Boyd, even though he didn't talk he just had a nice light about him that I think everyone could feel.

Alright now about my week, so it's been great. We truly have been working hard, but it's been crazy because with me and my companion we have an extra companion named Elder Hunt and he is stuck with us right now because he doesn't have a companion but he does have his own ward to work in, and obviously we can't just leave him alone to work, so he always has to be either with us or we have to drop him off with a member and pick him up after. So trying to be zone leaders and work with the other missionaries and in our own area and also in his area all at the same time is super crazy, but we're figuring it all out. We had a few baptisms this week with Elder Hunt and this Saturday we're going to have a few more.

 We had the baptism of a couple that are about to get married named J and E, the crazy thing is that J is 14 and E is 18 and they are going to get married!! This week they are going to try to do it, and on Sunday they got baptized!!! It was amzing because the mom shared a story that after she had been baptized she began to pray that the rest of her family could also get baptized. And it was sweet because yesterday those prayers that she said got answered! 

We also have an investigator named C and she is an older lady who has been going to church with us for the last few weeks. She has a problem with her knees that makes her hurt a lot. I'm pretty sure she said it was arthritis, but I'm not positive. Anyways the first time she went to church she explained that her knees were killing her and that right when she left to go home she layed down in her hammock and said a prayer to god asking him if he could take the pin away and right after her prayer she felt relieved and from then on knew that the church was true and that she had to continue to go. We are trying to help her to get baptized this saturday!!! I'm stoked. 

Also in this last week, I've been talking a lot to my companion and we talked a lot about the mission, like why we are here, and what God expects from us and like what we can become in these two years if we really are diligent and faithful. And I came to the conclusion that God needs us to change! Always! It doesn't matter what point we are at in our lives, but we can't stand still we always have to be improving. A lot of times in life we are going backwards and God is the only person that can help us to turn around and start going forward again to truly change. If we don't use God and if we don't understand the atonemnt of Christ, we won't be able to change, we won't be able to move forward and the devil will have more power over us. "The only thing that is constant in life is change. If we want to have success we have to be willing to change, in order to reach our highest poential."
​God always wants us to be better and he will always be willing to help us succeed.  Ether 12:27

                                            Recent Baptisms :)

​

Love you all,

 

Elder Lignell  

 

Week Eighty Two in Ecuador - June 15, 2015 - A New Companion From Utah and One of the Greatest Weeks of My Entire Mission.

Hey family


That's sweet that everyone is doing well! Tell Dad to have an awesome Father's Day.  I'm looking forward to working on the jeep with him and doing all sorts of projects with him when I get home.

That's awesome that Jake is going to EFY! I cant believe it's summer and that Davis is coming home soon...

Now, about my week, this week has been one of the greatest weeks of my entire mission. So first off, yes I still am zone leader and I got switched to a zone that is also here in Guayaquil called Puerto Nuevo. So all of the seniors are hanging out in new port right now, I'm also in new port, just the spanish version hahaha.

My new companion is from the United States! wooo hooo a  Gringo! haha It's sweet to have a comp from the United States and he was born in Utah. His dad lives by the old mill and his mom lives in Tennessee and so he spends half the year in Utah and the other half in Tennessee for school. And I'm pretty sure he's the best companion that I've had so far. We get along way well and he's way obedient and he loves to work. That is honestly nothing more I could ask for! I'm way glad I got to stay as zone leader. There are a ton of new missionaries here and it's sweet getting to know them all. Our zone is a lot bigger now;  there are 18 missionaries and it is the zone that has the most success in the whole mission! They baptized 52 people here in one month about a year ago. And the president today told us the he thinks we can beat it. So we gotta work like crazy! 

Anyways in my old area this past week, one of my investigators that I found got baptized! She is super awesome. I was so happy to hear that she got baptized!

We also had a crazy cool experience this week. We went to another area to help them with one of their investigators that was going to get baptized and her mom at the last minute decided that she didn't want to give her daughter permsion to get baptized. So we had to go and help the other missionaries get the mom to sign the baptismal sheet. And we had a 4 hour and 30 minute lesson with them explaining why she should let her daughter make that decision.  It was insane... we just kept giving examples, sharing scriptures and for nothing she wanted to sign that paper. We were praying like crazy to get her to change her heart and after 4 long hours she accepted. It was sooo amazing to see her change just a little by little and I was shocked to see her hand at the end, sign the paper. Miracles do happen, and prayer works. Honestly I was just about to throw in the towel and walk out of the lesson but something made me stay and wait.

We worked our butts off this week and we were sooooo blessed! I'm stoked to keep working here with my companion and I know we are going to have so much success. Oh and there is some crazy virus that is going around here in Guayaquil called the chikencumbia or something like that. You get it from mosquitos that bite you and it makes you have bone pains and all your muscles hurt and your face inflates like a balloon, and everyone is getting it... but I'm holding strong I still haven't gotten the chikencumbia :)

Love you guys!

Elder Lignell

Week Eighty One in Ecuador - June 8, 2015 - A Simple Testimony

Dear Family,

 

Thank you so much mom for the box I can't wait to get it!!! You guys are the best.  

Tell Jake I'm proud of him for surviving another year of school! Only two more to go before he graduates!  

So glad that everyone is doing well. Wish everyone the best from me. 

Now about my week. We worked super hard and we found a ton of people this week. It was amazing just how much God has blessed my companion and I. We have found so many people who were just ready to recieve us and who have so much faith. For instance we found a family the C. family who are a mom and dad a girl who is 11 a son that is 8 and twins that are 4. We taught them one time and invited them to go to church. On Sunday the whole family went to church. However on Saturday night it just so happened to be a birthday of a family member that came over to their house and brought alcohol but the dad told me on Sunday when he came over, "I remembered that you  had told me that satan would put obstacles in my path so that I couldn't go to church so I decided not to drink because I knew it would not help me go to church on Sunday! so cool :)  

Then we baptized D. on Sunday after church (yesterday). He is the greates kid. He has soooooo much faith it is unreal. He had only been to church those 3 times counting the day of his baptism and after he was baptized he bore his testimony saying that he had read a little bit of the Book of Mormon and he felt that it helped him to be a better person. He said he liked to go to church and decided to get baptized here because he saw changes for the better in his life. Wow, it was such a cool testimony because it was real. He didn't say a bunch of really big words or talk about every part of the gospel. He simply explained what he felt and what he knew. I'm so greatfuñl to have been able to see him recieve these blessings in his life. And now I've just gotta help him so that one day he can be a missionary too. :) 

Well all in all I'm happy. I love my area that I'm in and even though I have like 5 months here and it's like the most dangerous part of Ecuador, I hope I don't leave soon. I love the people here... they are so amazing and I hope to be able to help so many more!

 Thanks for all you guys do!

Love, Elder Lignell                           My Notes From A Meeting

                                                The Baptism of "D"

                                        Getting Ready for the Baptism ("D" not pictured)

                              Elder Narro (my companion) with D. and I on D's Baptism Day

                          I'm just a little taller than every one so I have to lean down :)

                                       Yes, I'm the tall one on the left :)

 

Week Eighty in Ecuador - June 1, 2015 - Keeping A Positive Change In Our Lives

Hey family.

 

All is well down here in Ecuador and my new companion is great! We work really well together and I'm doing great with my health...I feel fine. 

No worries about the packge, and I don't know if you'll be able to if not don't worry but I would love a small package of protein powder if you can to stick in. :)

Alright well now I'll talk about my week a little bit. It was great and we worked hard this week and spent  lot of time visiting the other missionaries and doing small divisions with them to get to know who they are working with and in what ways we could help them to work better. It was interesting and I had the opportunity to go with my old companion Elder Quintero from Colombia and work in his area. And it was so wonderful.  We put 2 new baptism dates and helped a guy get ready for his baptism that will be this next Saturday. It's awesome to be able to work with the other missionaries and be able to see people that literally just get put in our path when we look for them. And it talks a bunch about that in D&C 123: 8-17.   

In our own area we have a kid that we found named D and he is soooo awesome! He imediately accepted the challenge to be baptized and has come to church twice now! It is so cool to find people that just have faith. They listen to what we say with real intent and they follow the impressions that the Spirit gives them. A friend went up to D the first Sunday afrter he went to church and told him not to go back with us again because our church was false and that he wouldn't be following God if he goes. D responded that he felt good inside and that he knew it was the right thing to keep going back. It was so awesome to hear him explain to us that he felt good and knew what he had felt came from God. The world needs more people like D!!

 This week I have been studying a lot about change and how we can keep a change for ever. It all depends on our ability to have a broken heart and a contrite spirit which means to be meek humble and repent daily, doing those things you will be receptive to the Spirit and that Spirit will stay with you and guide you to keep the change that you've had. :) 

Love you all so much wish you the best in all that you do!

 

Elder Lignell 

 

 

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 :)