Family,
I am in Guayaquil for today. We had a meeting this morning so I have been up since 2am and won´t be home until late tonight.
I miss coaching at the cub camp. And I totally remember Sam. I actually just bought two jerseys today. One of Emelec, a team from Guayaquil, and the other is Deportativa de Cuenca.
So it looks like you had a similar experience that I had. I am so grateful for our leaders. I am so glad that President Montalti is my mission president. It really does seam like every time things get too hard to handle, he talks to us. We had the meeting because the mission finished with the lowest number of baptisms in the mission´s history. He talked about Faith, Charity, Diligence, and Obedience. As missionaries, sometimes we forget that we also have to live the principles of the Gospel. We don´t just teach them. The mission has strengthened my testimony of the little things so much. The gospel makes sense. Every little part of it exists for a reason.
This last week, I was about ready to kick my companion in the head and ask for an emergency change out of Cuenca. Like you said, you feel like you work and work and work and no one even cares. Sometimes, it seems like even Heavenly Father doesn´t care. I have now gone 8 weeks without baptisms and I am working as hard as I can. My companion, who doesn´t know anything about missionary work, just complains and criticizes everything everyone does. He whines because the weather is different than Peru, the people talk different, the food tastes different, the buses don’t work the same, the house isn´t the same, his bed isn´t the same, and everything else. He criticizes and finds the faults in EVERYONE. He doesn´t like president, the zone leaders, the other missionaries that we live with, and just about everyone else we come in contact with. And he is never wrong. I am super patient with him and am teaching him the best I can. I am teaching him so much better than I did Elder Monroy. It makes me sad because Elder Otazu can be a great missionary.
So after a week of pure rejection, I have gotten really discouraged. I start thinking about all the people I am failing, and if I really have made a difference here or not. Just in time, President called this meeting. He gave me the boost I needed to go back to work. I will exercise my faith and go to work tomorrow. But I have to work smart, and diligently, and as a true disciple of Christ.
Yesterday a girl named Jessica got baptized in the other sector in my district. It was cool because I was actually the one who contacted her during an interchange. Her house was the only house we felt impressed to contact on the whole street. 3 weeks later, she got baptized and confirmed. She is going to be an amazing member. She is going through a divorce and has 2 little kids. Her brother is getting baptized in 2 weeks also. Her mom is also interested, but she has her hands full right now and doesn´t have a lot of time. I am sure she will end up getting baptized though.
Yesterday in church I had a weird experience. There is an LDS group here in Ecuador giving service for 3 weeks. They are all college girls from Utah, Arizona, California and Oregon. So, every male member in the ward was drooling over all 25 of them. At the end of church one came up to me and said she had to ask me something. Every young man in the ward was behind me watching. They couldn´t understand because all these girls don´t speak Spanish. Anyway, she asked me if I had a brother named Gavin. I said yes, and I was super surprised. She got all surprised also and then asked if I was from Utah. I said no, and told her Gavin was 14. It was a different Gavin she was talking about. But weird right? Anyways, when I turned around, I was barricaded by 20 white girls. They all started asking me where I was from and how long I have been here and where I am going to go to college when I get home. I escaped with my companion before they could say anything else. But after that, all the young men in the ward came up to me to ask me what they were saying. I had fun telling them how the white girls were asking about each one of the young men ;)
Anyways, there is a ton of work to do here in Cuenca. I look back at how far I have come and how much I have grown in 11 months, and it excites me. I can see myself becoming stronger and more willing to follow Christ and spread His gospel to all the world. I have learned a lot of doctrine that has opened my mind and helped me understand the real picture. It will be fun to talk about it when I get home and share these experiences. It is too difficult to write, since, as you know, I am basically retarded at writing and expressing my feelings. It is just a lot easier to say. Anyways, The church is true. Christ lives, and this is his church.
Love,
Elder McRae
I am in Guayaquil for today. We had a meeting this morning so I have been up since 2am and won´t be home until late tonight.
I miss coaching at the cub camp. And I totally remember Sam. I actually just bought two jerseys today. One of Emelec, a team from Guayaquil, and the other is Deportativa de Cuenca.
So it looks like you had a similar experience that I had. I am so grateful for our leaders. I am so glad that President Montalti is my mission president. It really does seam like every time things get too hard to handle, he talks to us. We had the meeting because the mission finished with the lowest number of baptisms in the mission´s history. He talked about Faith, Charity, Diligence, and Obedience. As missionaries, sometimes we forget that we also have to live the principles of the Gospel. We don´t just teach them. The mission has strengthened my testimony of the little things so much. The gospel makes sense. Every little part of it exists for a reason.
This last week, I was about ready to kick my companion in the head and ask for an emergency change out of Cuenca. Like you said, you feel like you work and work and work and no one even cares. Sometimes, it seems like even Heavenly Father doesn´t care. I have now gone 8 weeks without baptisms and I am working as hard as I can. My companion, who doesn´t know anything about missionary work, just complains and criticizes everything everyone does. He whines because the weather is different than Peru, the people talk different, the food tastes different, the buses don’t work the same, the house isn´t the same, his bed isn´t the same, and everything else. He criticizes and finds the faults in EVERYONE. He doesn´t like president, the zone leaders, the other missionaries that we live with, and just about everyone else we come in contact with. And he is never wrong. I am super patient with him and am teaching him the best I can. I am teaching him so much better than I did Elder Monroy. It makes me sad because Elder Otazu can be a great missionary.
So after a week of pure rejection, I have gotten really discouraged. I start thinking about all the people I am failing, and if I really have made a difference here or not. Just in time, President called this meeting. He gave me the boost I needed to go back to work. I will exercise my faith and go to work tomorrow. But I have to work smart, and diligently, and as a true disciple of Christ.
Yesterday a girl named Jessica got baptized in the other sector in my district. It was cool because I was actually the one who contacted her during an interchange. Her house was the only house we felt impressed to contact on the whole street. 3 weeks later, she got baptized and confirmed. She is going to be an amazing member. She is going through a divorce and has 2 little kids. Her brother is getting baptized in 2 weeks also. Her mom is also interested, but she has her hands full right now and doesn´t have a lot of time. I am sure she will end up getting baptized though.
Yesterday in church I had a weird experience. There is an LDS group here in Ecuador giving service for 3 weeks. They are all college girls from Utah, Arizona, California and Oregon. So, every male member in the ward was drooling over all 25 of them. At the end of church one came up to me and said she had to ask me something. Every young man in the ward was behind me watching. They couldn´t understand because all these girls don´t speak Spanish. Anyway, she asked me if I had a brother named Gavin. I said yes, and I was super surprised. She got all surprised also and then asked if I was from Utah. I said no, and told her Gavin was 14. It was a different Gavin she was talking about. But weird right? Anyways, when I turned around, I was barricaded by 20 white girls. They all started asking me where I was from and how long I have been here and where I am going to go to college when I get home. I escaped with my companion before they could say anything else. But after that, all the young men in the ward came up to me to ask me what they were saying. I had fun telling them how the white girls were asking about each one of the young men ;)
Anyways, there is a ton of work to do here in Cuenca. I look back at how far I have come and how much I have grown in 11 months, and it excites me. I can see myself becoming stronger and more willing to follow Christ and spread His gospel to all the world. I have learned a lot of doctrine that has opened my mind and helped me understand the real picture. It will be fun to talk about it when I get home and share these experiences. It is too difficult to write, since, as you know, I am basically retarded at writing and expressing my feelings. It is just a lot easier to say. Anyways, The church is true. Christ lives, and this is his church.
Love,
Elder McRae
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