April 13, 2015

HOLA HOLA! 

   Sending tons and tons of love here from Ecuador! 

I hope everyone had an incredible week just like I did! Filled with adventure, new experiences, and The Lord's loving hand!

 

   One night we had a Family Home Evening with the First Counselor in the Stake Presidency...it was a blast! His little girl just turned 2! She is adorable...I say that about every single little girl here...but it is most true with this one! Haha! Too cute! And her favorite song is by Ed Sheeran! A little odd...but they set up a microphone and played the song on the Karaoke Version and I sang it for her! Haha! She was loving it! It was super fun. 

 

   We ran into a guy from New Jersey...he spoke English really well...we started sharing a message with him in English and I ALMOST couldn't do it...Haha! WAAAAYYYY too weird to not do it in Spanish. Looks like I might need a translator to come home with me in a year and a half! ;)

 

   Man some days out here are tough! The other day we tried to visit EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. of our investigators and menos activos (less actives) and not a SINGLE ONE was there...

most discouraging thing ever! 

But we kept trudging along...at the end of the day we had done almost nothing...

but the miracle of missionary work is that there is always tomorrow...the miracle of life is that there is always tomorrow! So we got on our knees...planned for the next day...and kept on keepin' on! And of course all turned out well! The Lord is so mindful of us...sometimes all it takes is to ask. Sometimes all it takes is to feel a bad day, a little bit of pain, or a little failure, to be brought to success, peace, and glory.

 

   We had to take a taxi to lunch one day and on the way there we nearly were killed twice. 

The first time we were flying...clearly speeding...and he didn't see the MASSIVE speed bump ahead...I think we could have cleared 15 diesels with the air we caught...and as my head drilled the top of the car I think I lost all memory of my first 8 months in the mission! Haha

Then not too shortly after...we saw a big ol` thingy in the road...as we got closer and closer we noticed it was moving...it was covering the entire road...it was a snake! The biggest snake I have ever seen in my entire existence. Man that sucker got torn to shreds though...we were going too fast to stop and we couldn't swerve around the thing because it was covering the whole entire road...so snake guts got all over everywhere...and some poor dude is probably going to go eat his banana now and get a little snake savor in there! ;)

 

And then another car experience...

the bishop was taking us home from a visit out where he lives...but we had Elder B and I, the other two Elders in our Sector, the Bishop`s two daughters, son, and another member...all piled in his 4 person car! I had a window seat...and when Bishop made a turn on the Highway the Hermano who was laying across us accidentally caught the door handle with his foot and the car door swung open...with me nearly flying out the car to my death! Luckily I had about 5 different ties flopping in the wind to grab to save me from falling...

Hmmm...

 

   April is the rainy season...it is raining TONS! But it gets super hot in the afternoons...I love it!

 

   Our house is being invaded by ant-spiders. I am not exactly sure what exactly they are...but there are millions! You can feel them crawling in and out of your ears and nose when you sleep and you kinda just learn to drink the little buggers after they get in your water...but other than that WE GOOD!

 

   We had to cross a darker area of our sector late at night on our way home...and one dude we passed told us to hurry home because the guy behind us had a knife...that sure made us kick it in gear! Haha! 

Then we ran into a super drunk guy...luckily he was drunk as could be or else his attempted robbery might have succeeded! But he failed and we got away safe and sound.

 

   The work is moving along well...it is not easy...but it isn`t supposed to be! 

 

   Thank you for all of your constant prayers...your thoughts...your everything!

I am so blessed to have all of you in my life!

 

   Please pray for the people here! They need all the blessings that they can get...physical and spiritual! 

Not just here but everywhere in the world...all the way from Empalme, Ecuador to St Raphael, France...

 

well...here we are...

   I know I am a little behind in the department and as an 18 year old boy I do not know a whole lot about marriage but I do know that it is of God, I do know why, and I know, though I cannot fully comprehend, what we can receive though marriage.

I love in Matt. when Christ gives ´´the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven´´ to Peter. The Lord then explains...´´whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven...´´ 

What an incredible promise and blessing The Lord has given us. If we are truly worthy to enter the temple, we have the capacity, with the Lord´s power and authority, to bind a husband and wife together for time and all eternity. To bind and never separate a family for a forever long and never-ending state of happiness.

And the perfectness of this gospel allows those who are not worthy...TO GET WORTHY! Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all are subject to the same blessings and privileges. You too have the capacity to achieve this never-ending state of happiness with those who you love the most.

BUT THE LORD`S WAY IS THE ONLY WAY.

We learn that ´´if a man marry him a wife in the world, and he marry her not by The Lord nor by His word,...their covenant and marriage are not of force when they are dead...´´

´´Wherefore, it is lawful that he should have one wife...that the earth might answer the end of its creation;...according to his creation before the world was made.

Every single on of us was foreordained to take a son or daughter of God by the hand in the temple and covenant and be sealed to them for time and all eternity. We were created for the very purpose! The earth cannon answer its creation without this kind of marriage. A man cannot fulfill his destiny without a daughter of God and a Temple. A woman cannot achieve her potential without a Son of God and the binding power and ordinances of the Priesthood.

I cannot think of better promises or blessings that the ones that come from obeying this commandment of marriage...

´´Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; for they shall be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them.´´

THAT is your purpose, Brothers and Sisters! You were foreordained, created, sent to earth, and brought to existence to become a God.

To become everlasting with power without end. 

To be above all.

To give angels someone to be subject unto.

So don´t look for the perfect one...look for the one who makes the perfect you! Who will help you become the God or Goddess that you are to become.

I am so grateful for my parents who have shown me the way and the example. 

And I am forever in debt to my Heavenly Father for blessing me with the chance to be sealed to one of His beautiful daughters. Though I am far from perfect...how blessed I feel to become closer to perfect through the help of an angel of Zion and the Atonement of our Savior...and with that angel...to become God´s together. What a blessing it will be to help a daughter of God become perfected, though she will already be close, thought the blessings of the Temple and marriage directed by the Almighty God.

Live up to your potential!

And help that one live up to theirs!

Love you all so much!

Elder Noll