Time in Guayaquil
HEY HEY HEY!
How
is everyone?! I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas! And hopefully
my prayers are being answered and everyone is happy and safe as can be!
:)
The past two weeks have been incredible! Here is the brief rundown...
We
had an awesome Family Home Evening with Hermana K...and dinner was
included! She made the rice and bananas and P and I were in charge
of the chicken and papas! Here in Ecuador they have something really
popular called Papi-Pollo...TOO GOOD! The US is missing out for sure!
Last week Elder P and I were walking home from the cyber and this
drunk dude came up to us...he was selling Tortillas...and he was very
persistent! To the point where we were starting to feel a little
threatened so we gave in and bought...and then he insisted on watching
us...long story short it took my stomach a while to
recover from that one...don't buy from drunks!
Still working on
the house of one of our converts...still playing football with bricks!
Way too much fun! We still have a ways to go with their house but it is
so fun to help out such and incredible family! I love serving the
members and people in general here. It is one of the grandest blessings
as a missionary.
Kinda a cool story...The Lord works in
mysterious ways! I was with the ward mission leader and Elder G was
with a member on a split...we were supposed to meet back up at the house
of the mission leader at a specific time so we could leaved from there
to our house together. The time rolled around but I felt prompted to
just keep walking...so I did. We ended up running into Elder G quite
a ways away...and we walked far enough that we didn't need to take a
taxi to our house so we just decided to walk...and on our way we found
TWO amazing families who we are now teaching. They are AMAZING! And had
we not have kept walking, we would not have had to walk home...and would
not have found these two families who The Lord has prepared for the
message of this true and restored gospel. FOLLOW THE PROMPTINGS OF THE
SPIRIT! He will guide you to the path that you need to take...more importantly he will guide you to others paths that need YOU.
I
was with Elder P and we were teaching a woman who runs her own
little store. She sells candy, toiletries, drinks, etc...and we were
teaching her about the word of wisdom. THE INSTANT we told her that
coffee was against the word of wisdom she responded, "Oh no, I am a
sinner". After learning that she was breaking a commandment of our
Heavenly Father she decided to stop drinking coffee...and even
cooler...she does not sell it in her store anymore! How neat!?? She is
such a humbling example to me of what it means to sacrifice and what it
means to rely on and follow The Lord and His teachings. I have full
faith that the window of Heaven will open over her head and the
blessings will poor out upon her and her family.
We also had
another BBQ with K...she is always asking to feed us! And of course
we always accept! Haha! She was in charge of the rice and bananas again
and P and I cooked the meat...I accidentally burnt a piece :/ She just
laughed it off and made sure to give it to Elder G! Haha! SSHHHHH
;)
Our ward had a Christmas party...it was Disco Themed! SO
neat! To bad I couldn't get down with my bad self as a missionary! Haha!
It is hard to go from buck wild to nothing...but I did it! Tons of our
investigators ended up going and having a good time...it was really an
awesome activity.
We got to go to the temple with the youth in
the ward too this past week! Such an awesome experience! Elder P
and I did confirmations! How cool it was to see our converts make it to
the House of The Lord. One of the best feelings in the world by far. Indescribable. Unreal. The joy of seeing people change through becoming
closer to our Savior is my most favorite thing in the whole world.
I
had to lend my suit to one of our converts for a party of his two weeks
ago...still have not got it back...haha! Hopefully it shows up sooner
or later...but I have been wearing Elder P's...and I am sure it
would have fit me 5 months ago but now it is a little baggy...haha.
The
final between Barcelona and Emelek was this past week too. They are two
teams from Guayaquil...and the rivalry is INSANE! Emelek ended up
winning and the streets went wild! Wild to the point of danger! Flipping
tables, throwing chairs, parades, drinking, and moshes. If only the
people here were as passionate about conference as they are about soccer!
;)
Last week was the BOMB! We got to spend P-DAY in
Guayaquil...we saw HUGE paper sculptures. A big thing here on new years
is to make paper sculptures and stuff them with bombs and fireworks. As
soon as it is the new year they light them off..I am pretty pumped for
that! I hear it is pretty awesome! And the sculptures are pretty
impressive...
On the 23rd, we had our mission Christmas party
fiesta thingy...with all 250 missionaries! It was awesome! We all stuffed
in one chapel so it was pretty packed. And I reunited with Elder
J! It was so tight to kick it with the homie for the night. And we
both spent the night at the temple hotels so we spent that whole day
together...love that dude! We had a quick conference with the President
on the 24th and then headed home.
We got back to Ventanas
around 6ish on Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve here is a whole lot bigger
than Christmas day. We had tons of dinners and visits with members. So
much fun! The streets were wild! It still did not feel like Christmas...it was hot, humid, and the trees branches flow up instead of
down! ;) Elder P and I had our own little Christmas with the
packages that our fam bams sent us which was fun...we went out on
Christmas day and gave candy and toys to the niños, which was the
highlight of the day by far! Did my laundry, studied, and ate some rice.
So it was a pretty normal day in the mission...but a normal day in the
mission is the best day ever not in the mission. I still got to put a
plaque over my heart and represent our Savior! Which is the greatest
gift ever!
A member bought me a coconut...when I was drinking
the milk I accidentally dropped it...they have so much built up pressure
in the coconuts that when it hit the ground it exploded all over me!
haha! SO there is my moment...
Obviously seeing the family was
amazing. Man do I have a beautiful mother! So good to see how happy my
family was! And it made me more and more grateful for them every second I
was talking to them...and more and more excited to work hard and help
other families have what I have. We ended our Skype session with a
prayer...half way through the prayer I felt something on my leg...I
looked down and there was a MASSIVE Cockroach...I had to swallow my fear
and finish strong though...as soon as I said amen I lost it! I swiped
him off my lap and finished the sucker...so i thought...but, the next day I
reached in my back pack to get my camera and the first thing I felt were
little fuzzy legs and scraggly antennas. These cockroaches are endless!
We got 2 whole hours to chat with our sweet missionary! It was so good to see and hear him - he is doing well and is so happy. :)
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| The kids prepared a One Direction song to sing to Elder Noll and he LOVED it! |
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| Elder Noll Happy, Happy, Happy! |
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| A Missionary Mom's favorite gift...all her kids together :) |
I
am honestly having such an awesome time here! There are so many other
stories I have but we would be here for days! And I do not have a whole
lot of time!
This time of year I am always overwhelmed with
gratitude for the gift of repentance. With the new year we have the
chance to set new goals and start the year out fresh...how blessed we
are to have the chance to start fresh every day of our lives through the
Atonement of our Savior. I love the end of the 10th chapter of 2Nephi.
We are told to "cheer up our hearts"and to choose for ourselves
everlasting life or death. In today's terms...HEY! Lighten up! You are
making your own decisions! Don't blame anyone else. YOU have the chance
to make your OWN decisions...and your decisions will lead you to your
destination.
The choice is yours.
But, the baby grew up, Brothers and Sisters.
Rather, let us focus on the life that our Savior LIVED. Not just the fact that He was born.Focus on the fact that the God of the Universe descended below all so that He could know, feel, and succor YOU perfectly. SO that you could be forgiven. So that you could return to live with your Heavenly Father again. So let's go there! Let's reconcile ourselves! Let's accept His invitaion and come unto Him through repenting daily and be cleansed through the Atonement and grace of God.
I
testify, in His holy name, that the only way to inherit the Kingdom of
God is through repentance which is made possible through the most
loving, powerful, and eternal act in the history of the world; the
Atonement.
He is ready for your return...He always is.
Love you all so much! I know I say that every week but it is so true!He is ready for your return...He always is.
Elder Noll
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