Week 46 May 7-13, 2017

¡Hola Familia y Amigos!

Sooooo....

On Sunday was Stake Conference (for any of you that were wondering or care, I'm in the Colón stake serving in the El Dorado Ward) and it was pretty fantastic. President Christensen was there, as well as a member of the Area Seventy, so neat stuff.

Monday we got out of the offices pretty late, and didn't have any appointments, so we just went to contact by knocking on doors to find new investigators. I pressed the intercom of the first door, and asked if we could present ourselves. Well, turns out, a member family lived there (I felt really cool) but I didn't know it cause I've only got a few weeks in this sector. Annnnd turns out it was one of the daughter's birthdays, but they still invited us in to share a message and have birthday cake. Hahaha we totally party crashed (oops) but they were glad to have us and also gave us lots of references of people to visit, so all was well!

On Wednesday we had divisions with our District leader for a few hours, so we went with a member to meet someone at the church. The dude never showed up, but the member us to go with him to give a blessing to someone before a surgery the next day, so that was a really neat unplanned backup plan. :)

I forget which night it was, but I taught the latinos (I'm the only American out of the 4 of us) how to make cookies with a cheap chopped-up chocolate bar (no real chocolate chips here...we're so redneck) and a gas stove that only reaches 250 degrees, but it was funny cause they gave up trying to use the spatula to mix, so they just mixed it with their bare hands, but hey-they actually turned out allright.

So update on the offices...well, it has it's ups and downs, but I feel like (for now) it's been a good change of pace. Despite the calls from irritated missionaries and stuff, I feel like a few of my organization and perfectionistic attributes

are being put to good use. I also like seeing President Christensen a lot more as well as getting to constantly be around the other missionaries that work here. Something funny this week that happened was in the night- I was just on the phone doing our nightly reports and one of the other secretaries decided to kick a soccer ball at my feet. Well, he aimed way higher than he meant to, and totally pegged me in the face full-throttle during the call. Poor guy I gave him a hard time and teased him that I got a almost had a concussion. Hahaha it's so fun being with these goofballs to keep things lively.

Today we had interviews, and man, I just love the interviews. Haha to be honest, I kinda dreaded them at the beginning of my mission cause I felt like I was always in trouble, but now I just really appreciate them as opportunities to do a little check-up on how I'm progressing spiritually, and how I can do better and help others.

Well I sure love all of you, and hope this week's awesome!

Love, Elder Stolle

P.S. Today for our Pday meal we found a Chili's (there's a little bit more familiar restaurants here since it's downtown Quito).

Week 47 May 14-20, 2017

¡Hola Familia y Amigos!

First off, I was lame and didn't really take any pictures this week. Sorry, I know you're just devestated. Next week I should have a lot though!

Sunday was the skype call to the family, and that was awesome. It was kinda weird, though, cause I wasn't counting down the days like last time. It just kinda popped up by surprise, like "Hey, maybe I should tell my family what time we'll be skyping tomorrow" hahaha. But it was great to talk to the family, and I can't wait to do it again in December!

Funny little thing from this week: I had a little language blooper when I was telling the others that we needed to go buy "papel higenico" (Toilet Paper) for the house, but I accidentally mixed "higenico" with "unigenito" (Only Begotten, as in the Only begotten Son), so I was telling them we needed to go buy the Only Begotten Toilet Paper hahaha. Oops :) 

This weekend is transfers! Know what that means? Today (being Pday) we took basically the whole morning doing a deep cleaning of the house and scrubbing everything down to prepare for the big groups that will be coming through, both the "Going Home" group and the "Newbie" group from the CCM (MTC). We've been washing sheets and blankets since like Tuesday or Wednesday just for all the 18ish beds haha but we're excited to help!

A neat little spiritual experience from this week happened yesterday; We were in a lesson with an investigator, and he had brought 2 of his friends to listen to us. One was an Evangelist, and when he found out that we were "Mormons," he told us that the Book of Mormon was of the Devil and written by men and things like that. But nevertheless, he still stayed and listened to us. As we read one of the chapters about Christ's visit to the Americas out loud, they were all nodding their heads and making comments of agreement, and the Spirit was strong. It was really neat to show them, through reading, that it's not a book of the devil but really is Another Testament Of Jesus Christ, and plainly testifies of him. I know that this incredible book is the truth, and it has blessed my life so much. It truly testifies of Christ and helps us know how we can become more like him, as we read it every day and apply it to our lives.

Have an incredible week!

Love,

Elder Stolle

P.S. A little quote I liked from Elder's Quorum this week, in basic translation: "We should live at the level of our testimony."

Week 48 May 21-27, 2017

¡Hola Familia y Amigos!

Oh my goodness what a week! Where do I start?

Well a few words of wisdom I forgot to mention last week: Pineapple juice with pitajaya and papaya in a fruit salad do not make a good breakfast mixture for an American Missionary with a not-latino digestive system. It did not agree with my stomach hahaha and sent me to the bathroom quite sick.

Also, if you live in a place where it rains almost daily, bring an umbrella everywhere you go. We were finished eating lunch one day and realized that there were super dark clouds coming our way, and we didn't have our umbrellas, so we ran as fast as we could back to the offices to avoid getting completely drenched. Well, me and another Elder tripped over each other mid-run and the collision -plus running at 9269712356 thousand mph- sent me flying to the road hard. When the nurses decided to drop by the building to work, they were very surprised to see us with the first aid kit out and the other 3 elders playing doctor, using alcohol wabs and bandages to clean me up. (I can't find the picture, so maybe I'll send it next week). It was exciting, really. So moral of the story? Don't forget your umbrella. You never know what it might save you from. :-)

Okay SOOOO, on Monday we were helping with all the missionaries ending their missions. They always have this big "You guys should use your first names and get married" capacitation (weird), and I had to go buy lunch for all of them before doing their financial interviews that afternoon. That night, we went home after working in the sector and stuff to quickly make our house a "Mundo de Los Espíritus." You see, in mission linguo, if you say somebody's dying, that means they're ending their mission. So, we decided to be a little funny and put the Plan of Salvation to practice, and made our house a  "Mundo de los Espiritus," (The Spirit World). Hahaha we put RIP papers on their beds to be their "tombstones" and dressed up in white to be the "angels" that welcomed them. We're such dorks haha but goofing off and laughing a lot together helps us not get stressed out from all the office stuff and keeps the mission enjoyable.

We also had to help with the people at our house weigh their bags and stuff, and since I'm in charge of finance stuff and my companion's in charge of flights, we were up very late working together to make sure they all had the right bag weights, calling airlines and checking on bag prices, making sure everyone had the necessary money to check-in bags and buy food and all that, making sure they got to the airport, etc. Hahaha we basically dropped dead in our beds afterwards.

But the party don't stop! Tuesday we getting things ready for all the new missionaries coming from the MTC, when we saw a weird email. It was a flight itinerary for some of the American missionaries that had left that morning (or so we thought). Turns out, there were problems with the plane that we didn't know about, and their flights were changed to the following night at midnight. We didn't know anything about it cause the missionaries didn't have phones to call us or a way to communicate with us, but we quickly made arrangements to bring them back from the airport. We got pizza for the new missionaries and greeted them and all, and rushed out to get the missionaries that should have left, got them lunch, and brought them back to the house. It was a fun little spin on things. But that evening we went to an appointment (we were both nodding off while trying to teach haha) and beforehand ​​they showed us a "Cuy" (Guinea Pig) they'd bought and were preparing to use. Afterwards we went to the church with a bunch of members to watch one of the youth get set apart for his mission. It was so powerful and there was such a strong, sweet spirit as the Stake President congratulated him and the new missionary bore his testimony.

Woo-hoo! Wednesday was just a lot of running around to help with meals for the new missionaries (they were having capacitations about the mission all day), giving our capacitation, and watching them receive their trainers. After they all got on buses to go to their zones, we just kinda let out a huge sigh (the "GO GO GO" was finally over), and went to catch up on things to do that didn't happen during all the excitement.

Friday after studies we went to the Bishop's Storehouse to help Sister Christensen and the Mission Nurses prepare emergency food kits to take to all of the Zones before the Zone Conferences.​​​​​​ We were using the sealing machines to seal a lot of bags, and after we'd figured out what the heck we were doing and how to seal well, we joked that we were ready to go be temple workers hahaha.

But the neat thing is, as I was looking back over all the craziness this week, everything that needed to be gotten done was done. It's so neat how it works out like that. I know that this is the Lord's work, and I'm so grateful to be a part of it.

Love,
Elder Stolle

Week 45 April 30-May 6, 2017

¡Hola Familia y Amigos!

Sooooo Round 3 finally came around...but I'll explain that in a minute. This week was crazy, but actually pretty fun too. A lot of running around Quito. Us secretaries had to help prepare a few meals this week.

So whenever big groups come to Quito (new missionaries, all the Missionary Leaders, etc.) for meetings with President, we have to be around to help Sister Christensen with the meals for those meetings. So on Tuesday all the Leaders in the mission came for a council, Thursday the New missionaries came for a verifcation on how their training was coming along, and Friday was our Zone Conference with President Christensen. I finally got my apron (see pics below) that all the secretaries get, which was super cool.

The Zone Conference was awesome, as usual, and there was a great spirit throughout the meeting. President Christensen is just such an inspired man, and spoke powerfully about Easter and the events of the Holy Week, and man. It was incredible and so uplifting, just makes you want to be a better person and spread the truth of the Savior's Restored Gospel.

Ok, so Round 3. On Thursday night we got a call that we'd be having emergency changes (my 3rd time in the mission), so Elder Nichols left being a secretary and went to the Chillogallo Zone to be a good ol regular missionary (which, frankly, he was quite excited about), and I'm now with Elder Espinoza, the secretary in charge of Flights/Baptismal Records. He's from Peru, and we'd already been getting along well just living in the same house, all 4 of us, so I'm stoked to be with him now.

To be completely honest, this time the changes weren't a surprise; we were actually anticipating them. One of the secretaries is about to end his mission soon, and needed enough time to train someone in the ways of the Force and to take his place before he left. So obviously when President Christensen, a few weeks prior, gave me a big hug and told me "Learn fast, Elder Stolle," we started figuring things out. Hey wait a second...2 plus 2 equals...HOLY COW, 4!!! Well, I'd only had about 3 1/2 weeks in my training as a secretary, but I guess President mistakenly thought I was ready or something, cause I'm now flying down the hill without training wheels. But it's good, and I feel like Elder Nichols did a good job helping me learn. We had 4 missionaries go home within the past week for health and other reasons, but I did their financial interviews and all was well, so here goes.

Now we have another Latino secretary, so I'm literally the only American out of the 4. But I'm actually super stoked, cause now I hope I'll be able to go full throttle on practicing and refining any rough spots with the Spanish. We all have a lot of fun together.

Today was a good Pday though. We had a pretty chill morning, and then found Carl's Jr. for lunch! I didn't even know that place existed in Ecuador! After that we went to an investigator's house to make donuts (they wanted to try the fried American version), and they seemed to be a hit.

I hope you guys have an incredible week!

Love,

Elder Stolle

Week 44 April 23-29, 2017

¡Hola Familia y Amigos!

I'm on a little early cause our Pday's being cut short due to a ward activity we have to go help prepare for. Yayyyyy.

So, to start off, last Saturday after writing you guys, we had to go to the church to help prepare and set up for a Baptism for the other Elders in our ward. (I had a few free minutes beforehand so I recorded the piano part of an arrangement  of "Abide with me Tis Eventide/Lord, I Would Follow Thee" that our District made/sang back in the CCM (MTC)...I don't think I ever sent it to you guys but it's attached below.) For the Baptism me and 2 other missionaries sang a neat arrangement of "Yo sé que vive mi Señor" (I Know That My Redeemer Lives) while the other Elder played the piano. It was a really awesome baptism, and neat to see how excited the family was to make that sacred promise with God.

We had a couple nights recently where we've had missionaries come from sectors outside of Quito and stay the night, due to medical appointments or Visa problems or things like that here in Quito, and since we live in the "Mission Hotel," we get to be the hosts haha. I kinda like it though- it's fun to talk to the missionaries that I haven't seen in a while.

The offices has been an interesting change, but not too bad. We had to stay the whole day one day just to finish a report for President, so we didn't even get to go to the sector. But we've still been working hard whenever we do get to go to the sector, and have been finding new people to teach, so that's good. We have several great investigators/families right now, the biggest problem is that most of them aren't married! But we set goals with them for a marriage date, and have 1 investigator wanting to be baptized on May 13, so if all goes according to plan, than the progress will be doing pretty decent!

Something funny from this week is that we were in a cita teaching lesson 1 to a new investigator, and we had just gotten to the First Vision (that would be the most spiritual part, right?), and well, as we were reciting Joseph Smith's experience, the Star Wars theme song ringtone started to play from someone's cell phone. I wonder if that's how Joseph Smith felt as the light started to desend and save him from Satan. Hahaha no but despite the funny interruption, the lesson went pretty well and they seemed receptive the whole message in general, so we're excited for our next one with them.

Love,

Elder Stolle

P.S. Here's a cool pic of a spiral mall we went to the other day on Pday. I hope all the attachments work!

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Week 43 April 17-22, 2017

¡Hola Familia y Amigos!

Well, a few little cool things from this week:

On Saturday night we got a call from the Assistants, telling us that all 8 of us in the offices (the 2 assistants, 4 secretaries, and 2 nurses) had been invited to go eat Easter Dinner at President Christensen's house. So, on Sunday after church and proselyting for a little bit, we met up and went. It was actually kinda fun, just to be able to talk about the Savior and enjoy a yummy meal around the dinner table, rather than in a giant group of people. It was super nice of them to invite us, and made the Easter a little more special.

We had a few very small earthquakes throughout the week...nothing big, but a few of them I felt just as slight vibrations. Always good to keep things exciting hahaha.

Here's something cool that never happens that happened this week. We were knocking on the door of someone we were trying to visit, but they weren't home so we just stayed there for a second looking at our agenda and trying to decide what would a good backup plan. Then a lady came up to us, asked if we were Mormon missionaries, told us that she had been listening to the missionaries before the big earthquake in April last year but had to move when her house was destroyed, asked us to come visit her, and when she could be baptized. *Jaws drop and eyes bulge out* We just kinda were like "This. Is. Insane." Hahaha but it was super neat! She often has to go back to the coast to check on the rebuilding of her house, but we're super excited to see if she'll progress and actually become a member of the true Church!

Well, the other really cool thing from this week (probably the coolest thing from this week) was a last minute multi-mission conference with an Apostle of the Lord. We got told on Thursday during our Zone Meetings that it was going to happen. Basically, Elder Christofferson was going to be in town for various meetings, had a little time on Monday morning, and decided to set up a conference with both the missions in Quito! So we excitedly all got up and met with missionaries of the other mission in a chapel, and then Elder Christofferson and his wife showed up! One of the Members of the Seventy, Elder Fallabella, was also with him. Basically both the Mission Presidents and their wives bore their testimonies, and then Elder Fallabella spoke, then Sister Christofferson and Elder Christofferson spoke to us! What was really cool, was that they all spoke to us in Spanish! I didn't even know the Christoffersons spoke Spanish, but it was super neat to still understand them and hear from them in a different language than what we usually hear in Conference! They even did a Question and Answer session afterwards, so that was neat too. 

Hope your Easter's were awesome and full of the Spirit as you remembered the Savior!

Love,

Elder Stolle

Week 42 April 10-16, 2017

¡Hola Familia y Amigos!

Now I can finally tell you about life lately! Woot woot!

So, first off, I'm lovin' the offices! It's really fun to be with 3 other elders practically all the time. Our house is the "Mission Hotel" cause all the missionaries that come and go stay there, and it has like 15 beds, but it's really close to the offices so it's fun to get to know this part of town. 

Learning all the things I need to has been like drinking water through a Firehose (like how to stop house owners from stealing money from the mission), but I know it'll come with time and practice. I'm especially excited because I'll be able to be here to help with the New Mission President transition here in June or July when President Christensen leaves and the new one moves in, so it'll be a great opportunity to help him and his wife adjust.

I like it here. It's definitely warmer, but it's kind of a cool, downtown feel. I forgot to tell you guys but like 2 Sundays ago, Ecuador had it's second round of elections for President (the first ones in Feburary went undecided) but the guy who won is named Lenin Moreno. A lot of people were upset about it and, there's even been a recounting of votes due to suspicion of fraud. We've actually had protesters walking right by our house in a giant police-led parade and blowing horns and carrying flags just about every night around 9:30pm-ish. It's kinda funny cause sometimes we'll just watch from our building and we'll see members we know that will tell us to come and join the march. I'm just grateful that none of the protests have gotten violent yet.

So I do have to include that before the transfer, the Familia Torres (see pic below) came to church again! We were so excited that they're finally starting to progress and see the fruits of our labor. I'm really going to miss that family. The mom didn't really seem to trust us the first lesson, but recently she'd been making us promise to call her just to make sure we got home safely after the lessons. 

And now we have a great family here in my new sector who just needs to get married, but are very ready for baptism! Because our sector includes a big bus station in the middle and the area can sometimes be a little dangerous, the Mom and kids walk us down to the bus station after the lessons just to make sure we get there safely. I'm so grateful, first off, for wonderful humble people that are willing to change their lives to comply with the truths of the Gospel (their faith literally amazes me), and also for their love and concern to watch out for and take care of us missionaries.

I just want to finish by talking about a little tender mercy from this week. So one night we were all pretty tired and sleeping well, but then we woke up at about 1:05am to see one of the missionaries standing in the middle of the room and making panicking noises. We flipped on the lights and quickly realized that he couldn't breathe, so one of the missionaries did the Heimlich Maneuver, which seemed to open up something in his lungs. I'm not exactly sure how he started suffocating like that, but I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father preserved his life. I know that Heavenly Father protects his servants, missionary or not, and that he loves each and every one of us so incredibly much.

 I'm also so grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, who we will celebrate especially tomorrow during Easter, and the sacrifice that he made for us. He is the Son of God, and I know that he not only saves us physically through the resurrection, but also spiritually, and because of him, we have a way to return to the Father's presence. Also because of him, and what he did for us, he knows how to have empathy to help us on our good days and bad days, and to help us overcome our trials that we have in this life. When we put our faith in him, we can have Peace and happiness through the difficult things we live through, cause we know there's someone who's already lived through them, a Prince Of Peace.

Have an awesome week and a spiritually renewing Easter! Love you guys!

Love,

Elder Stolle

P.S. Here below are pictures from my old zone and new one. During Zone Meetings we were talking about the new #PrinceOfPeace video, and we all put our favorite names for the Savior.

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Week 41 April 3-9, 2017

¡Hola Familia y Amigos!

Well, we had cambios (transfers) today, and I've been assigned to be a new Financial Secretary and work in the Offices! Elder Nichols is my new companion (he's also from my group) and will be teaching me all the tips and tricks of how to be a secretary. Kinda cool, and I think I'll be here as a secretary until August-September, but my new Pday will Saturday until then. I'm super excited, cause I feel like it totally fits my personality.

This is all I can write for now (cause it's not my Pday anymore) but just a little quick email to let you know.

I can't wait to email you guys for the full time on Saturday!

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Stolle

Week 40 March 27-April 2, 2017

¡Hola Familia y Amigos!

How has everybody been this week?!

So.

Just a short letter this week, but here goes…

An awesome newlywed couple brought all 4 of us Elder’s hamburgers that were the closest thing Ecuador has to In-and-Out. They’re pretty much our new favorite people.

We found a few really good new investigators! We’re going to have a FHE with them tonight, so hopefully they’ll start progressing a lot here soon.

And goodness gracious- General Conference was phenomenal! I can’t really say we ate too healthy during it, but today me and Elder Smith went to a farmer’s market type-thing to make up for it. J

For Conference there was a little group of us English speakers watching together in a side room. Do the references signify that the Church now approves of Star Wars, Les Mis, and sleeping in Church? Hahaha just kidding. But no it was amazing, and I had so many answers to prayers and the questions I’d written down beforehand. I’m so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who answers prayers. Maybe not all of them, but just what we need.

One thing me and Elder Smith were talking about was one of the biggest reoccurring themes in the conference; The Family. At first I didn’t think about it much cause I’m not at home to be around my family constantly, but today it kinda became close to home for me. I was thinking about some of the trials faced, not in my immediate family, but on a more extended level, and how Satan really does attack the family, in ways sometimes that we don’t even realize, and it made me so grateful for the guidance we received this conference, which apparently is very needed. I know that our leaders are inspired of God, and that they are the “watchmen on the tower,” and that we’ll be protected from physical and spiritual danger as we read/listen over and over to the talks and revelation we were given.

Have an absolutely fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Stolle

Week 39 March 20-26, 2017

¡Hola Familia y Amigos!

So this week we had exchanges with one of the Zone Leaders, Elder Villagran. He came to work with both me and Elder Smith. (If you remember, he was the one that was originally my companion for 4 days before he became a Zone Leader, and now I'm in his Zone haha) It was so much fun! We worked really hard and he helped us learn some things we could work on, and we also had a lotta fun.

Yesterday was just a fantastic day! After several prayers personally and as a companionship, the Familia Torres finally came to church! They didn't show up for about 20 minutes after the meeting had started, but when we saw them walking up to the door me and Elder Smith practically started jumping up and down in the back row purely from excitement! And the fact that it was Fast and Testimony Meeting too was just an incredible tender mercy and shows that Heavenly Father knows what's best, and when it's time for people to start progressing.

We also found a great family to teach, and hope to keep finding several more people who the Lord's prepared.

Last night we had a really neat experience. We'd been struggling lately to get home exactly on time with a certain family we'd been teaching at nights, so we really pushed hard to finish the lesson early and be at the bus stop with time to spare. Well, we waited and waited, and realized that a bus wasn't going to come anytime soon (probably because their schedule ends earlier on Sunday). So yeah. We also realized that between the 2 of us, we only had $1.60, which wasn't enough to take a taxi home. So we had several prayers, personally and as a companionship, that somehow we'd have affordable means to get home. Nothing. But we decided we'd stay there and keep trying to show faith. And guess what? BOOM! A member family passed by and took us home. Literally an answer to our prayers. Elder Smith looked at me super excitedly when they pulled over and was like "Dude, faith totally works!"

I know that the promise in 1 Nephi 3:7 is true, that God really will provide a way when we do the things that he commands us, and that he will help us to complete with his will as we exercise faith in him.

You guys we only have 5 days till General Conference! I'm literally so pumped!

Have an astoundingly awesome week!

Love,
Elder Stolle

P.S. Here below are some of the pictures from Molinusco (the waterfall) from last week

Week 38 March 13-19, 2017

Sorry Guys! I didn't realize it didn't send last week

¡Hola Familia y Amigos!

This week we had quite a few exciting things happen.

Well, to start, I had divisions with Elder Scott, and that was a lotta fun. We made more donuts in the morning. :-) We also had a really great lesson working to find the iceberg (missionary reference) of a certain family, and I feel like our abilities have been improving as a district to help people resolve their needs.

Me and Elder Smith decided to treat ourselves after a kinda rough day the other day, and tried out a restaurant called "Mata El Hambre." I got what was basically cheesy fries covered in guac and steak strips. It was super good for what I've found here in Ecuador!

The other Elders in our ward had a Baptism on Saturday (which went super nicely), and were stuck at the chapel beforehand because somebody had to stay and monitor the Baptismal font as it filled up. Needless to say, they were super hungry, so me and Elder Smith quickly made a Chilean Hot Dog Lunch for all of us and brought it up to them before helping set up for the Baptism. It was a great Baptism, and it was neat to see another person decide to join the Lord's Kingdom.

Afterwards, just about the entire Zone had to meet up in one of the sectors of the Sister Missionaries to do an "Invasion," Basically they'd been really struggling to find people to teach, so we all went in their sector to go knocking on doors for an hour to find people and help them out. It was neat.

Today we went to some Cascadas (Waterfalls) here in Los Chillos for a Zone Activity. Our feet got a little wet when we slipped off a log while crossing over a river and ended up wading through the stream hahaha, but it was super fun to spend time seeing the beautiful things Heavenly Father's created in nature, and play games and feel closer as a Zone.

YOU GUYS Holy Cow we have 12 days till Conference!!! I'm literally so excited, and also can't believe it's already that time again!

Anyways, I love you all, and have an awesome week!

Love,

Elder Stolle

Zone Conference Pictures from the Mission Facebook Site

Week 37 March 6-12, 2017

¡Hola Familia y Amigos!

Honestly, this week made me a little tired (but those weeks are the best ones!). :-)

On Tuesday we found super cool new investigator. At first he was a little cautious to let us in (we thought he was part of a gang and lived in a drug house) but he's actually super cool. He's 27 and owns/works in his own recording studio in his house, and also programs a radio channel in Los Angeles, all the way from here in Quito. So naturally we saw why he was hesitant to let us in (with all that expensive equipment and possiblilties of robbers and all) but he was pretty receptive and seemed excited to have us back.

Side-note, but also Tuesday marked exactly 1 year since I recieved/opened my mission call. Weird, right?!

Wednesday was a Zone Conference with the Mission President, and it was great and spiritually uplifting. He basically taught us how we could ask inspired questions to have more success in lessons, and the next day we had interviews with him, which are just the best.

On Thursday we basically got called fat. We were in a store across the street, and I saw a Snickers bar on the shelf. Being the American boy I am (and seeing how hard American Candy can be to find) I asked how much it was. The owner basically said "You guys like to eat a lot of sweets, don't you?" Ouch. Call us out, why don't ya? Whimpering with my tail in between my legs, I put the Snickers back and left the store. :-)

But it's okay! I had another (unhealthy) opportunity to satisfy my American food cravings! We had a ward activity on Saturday where all the ex-missionaries had to talk about the country they served in and brought food from that place, and we (all 4 of us Elders in this ward are Americans) were assigned to bring something American! So on Friday night we all met up and made fried glazed donut holes! I wouldn't exactly suggest it to nutritionists, but when we brought em they went faster than the TV's on Black Friday. So the activity had a good turnout.

A topic that's come up for me a lot this week is Faith. It's not just a superficial belief. It causes us to act. It's something to learn to live by and depend on, like oxygen. It's something I've been really trying to study more and demonstrate, especially when inviting people to make commitments during lessons. Sometimes I hesitate on making promises to people that don't seem certain, but that's where I just need to trust more in Heavenly Father and remember that he will always give us the promised blessings according to the commandments we keep. And it's true. I've seen so many seemingly-impossible things happen to people here in the mission through the demonstration of their Faith, and have witnessed incredible things as I've been trying to put God's will first and just trust in him It's amazing how he can see what we don't, and I know he can help us through the obstacles and challenges of life as we faithfully act on the promptings we receive.

Have a fantastic week!

Love,
Elder Stolle

Week 36 February 27-March 5, 2017

¡Hola Familia y Amigos!

I'm low on time this week, so just a short and sweet email. :)

Well, we were basically stuck in the house for a nice 2 full days while Carnaval happened. But it's good. Me and Elder Smith practiced our empanada frying skills. They turned out well, but now we tease each other that we're both getting a gut hahaha.

We had a service project as a Zone on Saturday lifting boulders and bags of rocks and sand up a hill so a family could build their house. I was lame and forgot to take pictures, but oh well.

Some cool things this week were just seeing how we were able to help people come closer to Christ. We were teaching our Recent Convert about baptisms for the dead, and the look in his eyes when he realized he could do those ordinances for his family members just mad me and Elder Smith so happy. Another cool little thing was helping a New Investigator by talking to her about how the Gospel could bless their family, and how she could help her drug-addicted son. It's so incredible to see how just living the Principles I've been raised with blesses so many people's lives for them to learn, and I know it's true.

Have a fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Stolle

P.S. You all can enjoy these nice pictures of the 936758265474 Empanadas we made, as well as meeting up with other missionaries today at KFC for Pday. ¡Ciao!

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Week 35 February 20-26, 2017

¡Hola Familia y Amigos!

Well it is Carnaval! And you know what that means? Basically we have to stay inside Monday and Tuesday unless we email the fam (as in right now) or have set appointments.Why, you ask? Well ya see, basically Carnaval is this giant South American holiday (probably the biggest of the year) where everyone throws water balloons and eggs and flour, etc. at each other. So yeah- us missionaries get some good ol' cabin fever time hahaha.

I don't know if I brought it up last week, but we went to a mall called El Recreo on Pday to get matching ties as a companionship and eat McDonalds. I never thought the day would come when I would crave McDonalds (of all things), but there we were. Me and my McNugs. :)

As far as the work goes, it's been goin'. When I first got to Salvador Celi, we only had 1 good investigator (the one that weas baptized last week), so we've been working hard to find more. And it's been like your local hamburger joints. Some are hit and some are miss. That is to say, some are more prepared than others. But we'll keep looking, and Heavenly Father has blessed us to find them when we've been diligent.

One thing that has really just been spiritually impacting me this week has been about the Book of Mormon, and how this (South America) is where most of it all happened. We had a member tell us the other day all about how they were taught in school about their ancestors that had a visit from a god (which said it would return), and worshiped the sun and moon afterwards as a result. Well, from an LDS perspective, that's SO COOL cause we know that that was Jesus Christ when he visited the Americas, and that he is going to return. It's just interesting how the story's been changed, cause after the nephites were destroyed, the Gospel wasn't here to keep the complete truth preserved, When the Spanish Conquerors came, the Natives thought that they were "gods" that had returned, and instantly embraced their religious beliefs, language, everything. Which is why today most of South America is Catholic and speaks Spanish, even though that's not the original indigenous language. I am constantly learning new things that just point to how this is where the Lamanites were (and are), and it just continues to build my testimony of the Book of Mormon-that it's true, and that Jesus Christ really did come here to the Americas.

I hope you all have an incredible week!

Love,

Elder Stolle

Week 34 February 13-20, 2017

¡Hola Familia y Amigos!

Well, this week has just been Go Go Go. But in a good way.

We had more kids throwing a water balloon at us and hitting me in the back (I think everyone's preparing for Carnival- the big annual water fight party of South America- here in about a week), as well as a few nights of both of us eating ice cream from the tub just from being stressed out from everything going on (we handle it well hahaha). But it has all worked out very nicely, and the Lord has been helping us every step of the way.

So basically here's what's been up.

We had a baptism this week! His name is Jorge Acuña, and he was very prepared. We were kinda running around the night before to make sure the font was working and everything was ready, then figured out that the Ward Mission Leader didn't have a schedule or anything planned for the Baptism and wouldn't even be there. So we made our own agenda and planned the whole thing, ran around inviting people, and got to the church early the next day to fill the font. But it went very nicely, and it all somehow came together. Kinda neat, how Heavenly Father always makes it work out like that.

Then we had a surprise last minute service project and half the Zone showed up to help move boulders and bags of rocks up a hill so some members could build a house.

We learned how to make empanadas this week! I don't have pictures cause my hands were all doughy, but some members taught us during our dinner time after a lesson. 

The next day we only had 1 hour of Church, cause Ecuador had their elections for a new President and everyone who's old enough is required to vote. Jorge wanted me to confirm him, and that was a very neat experience to be able to help him become an official member of the Church.

The Bishop also asked me to give a talk, and it just happened to be the same day that the Stake Presidency and the 1st counselor of the Mission were there. Yay! But it all went well. I think Bishop was worried that too many members were looking at keeping the commandments and being members of the church with a glass half-empty perspective, so I gave a talk on 3 ways of how we can have a Celestial Attitude. I'd include a picture of it, but it's all in Spanish. :) But I learned a lot from preparing for the talk and it helped motivate me to be more positive and happy in the work of the Lord.

Although this week was a lot of running around and excitement, I really can't complain, but only testify that Heavenly Father has been there helping us every step of the way. This is definitely his work, and there have been so many incredible experiences that constantly remind me of that. I'm so grateful we have a loving Heavenly Father who's constantly aware of each one of us, and inspires and lifts us to do our best as his servants, missionary or not.

Have a fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Stolle