31 October 2011 Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween and Happy Birthday Dad from Cuenca!!! Nothing too scary to be seen today as of yet, but we'll see how tonight goes, as we'll be "trick or teaching," as Elder Nilsen, who lives in the same house as I, said earlier today. Some people around here celebrate Halloween, but it's just another for most. Awesome to hear about RSL's triumph Saturday night against Seattle! They're making that big push at the end!

Yet another week, and month for that matter, have passed by super fast! I've been here in Cuenca for a month now, but it sure doesn't feel that way! That one year mark keeps creeping closer and closer every day. Also, today marks 300 days on the mission for me, not that I'm keeping track or anything...

It was a little bit better this past week in terms of the mission work. We managed to find several people who have taken an interest in listening to us, and that want to attend Church with us, too! There is a bakery (panadería en español) by our house, and so we've been going there frequently, because the bread they make there is super tasty, and some of the workers there have asked us about the Church, so we've explained and invited them to learn more by having us come by and going to Church on Sundays. That's one of the many ways we can find people to teach, and it works! (Oh yeah, the best bread there at this panadería is called Caracol del Dulce. Wow! It has some sort of lemon cream in the center, and is made with what's called "pan dulce" or sweet bread. I'm usually inclined to buy one or two whenever we make a stop there.)

I managed to get my hands on a copy of this month's Liahona, which is dedicated completely to the Book of Mormon. There are some fantastic messages from the Prophets and Apostles about how to study the Book of Mormon, how it can change lives, and how it works hand-in-hand with the Bible. I'm using my Bible more often here in Cuenca, as the majority of people are Catholic, so we have to explain the purpose of the Book of Mormon, using scriptures from the Bible. Let me just say it gets interesting at times. It's not a Bible bash, but a lot point-proving. For me, I like using the Book of Mormon more, as things are explained really clearly, but different teaching situations require different teaching methods, so I hope to be able to use the Bible with more knowledge in the very near future!

Well, the work of the Lord continues yet another week, and this week will be interesting, as the "Fiestas de Cuenca" get underway tomorrow and go the entire week! I'll try and get some photos and send them next week!

Take care, love you all! Tell everyone hi for me!
--
Elder Garrett Cederquist
Misión Ecuador Guayaquil Sur

24 Oct 2011

Hello family from Cuenca! Before I start, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!! Hope you had a great day yesterday!!!

Wow, Yellowstone this weekend, eh? Sounds nice! Just one question... Why are you going to all these places without me? Haha!

Well, this week was pretty slow once again, not too much to report on. We did manage to put a baptismal date with one of our investigators, Josimar. He's pretty cool, and even told us "I'd like to be baptized." Those are the investigators of gold we talk about as missionaries! The goal we have with him is to be baptized on the 12th of November, seems a little ways away, but it gives us time to work out any challenges that may impede us. We're still trying to find people to teach as well, for that, we're working more with the members here to help us out, because if it's only us trying to find investigators, we spend a lot of time knocking doors and walking around, not fun.

Our ward still is doing good. Yesterday we ate lunch with the Bishop, Xavier Reiban, who is a super funny guy, always has a smile on his face. He also served a mission about 10 years ago in the Guayaquil North mission, and he shared some of his experiences with us yesterday. He keeps us smiling with his positive outlook on things!

Not a whole lot else to write you on this Monday, as we're REALLY short on time today. But next week should be a little bit longer!

I love you all and hope this week goes well for you all!

And for those who want to know, yes I'll come home after the mission, but I hope to come back and visit Ecuador. It's a great place!

Until next week, CHAO!!!!

--
Elder Garrett Cederquist
Misión Ecuador Guayaquil Sur

17 Oct 2011

¡HOLA FAMILIA! It's been a sunny, but yet cool week here in Cuenca. It was kind of a slow week, but we did have the baptism of Diana, who has been investigating the Church for quite a while, according to the record we have in our Area Book. She finally committed to baptism, and Saturday was her day. It was a really nice baptismal service, especially since it was in our chapel, the new one I mentioned last week. But honestly there wasn't too much to show for last week, I guess that's just how some weeks are in the mission. This week should be a little better, so we'll see how that goes. Our biggest challenge right now is finding people to teach. We've received a few referrals from the other missionaries, but we've not been able to contact those people, either they weren't home or perhaps the address was wrong. It's a little different here in Cuenca teaching people, as it takes a little bit more effort to get a hold of people. On the coast (Guayaquil, Machala), people are more open to listen and accept our visits. I've been told that Cuenca is a good learning experience for the missionaries, and I have to agree that it is!

 

Last week, albeit slow, was interesting. I went on two exchanges to other sectors, back-to-back, so I managed to see other parts of Cuenca. One part I saw on Wednesday is called the Feria Libre, it's like a flea market, so there are usually a ton of people at any given time of the day. The other part I saw on Thursday was a really residential area, where we even talked to a lady who is from the United States living here in Cuenca. I guess she took advantage of the small cost of living here! I also met two really great young men who are about to leave on their missions. One is Esteban, who received his call this weekend I think, but I've not heard where he is going. He was with us on Wednesday (when I was on the exchange) and had us laughing the whole time! It's great to see future Elders have a funny side to them! The other young man I met is Juan Santiago, who is leaving in a month's time to Montevideo, Uruguay. I told him to look up Brock Richins. Juan is also a great guy, he'll be a fantastic servant of the Lord in Uruguay!

Today's P-Day activity was a pretty fun one. We went BOWLING!!! We only had time to play one good game, but I can say I am the CHAMPION! My score is nothing to brag about, only 135, but it was enough to hold off everyone else! I've even got pictures of my victorious game.

 

Well, we're short on time today, but there are A TON of photos for your liking this week, a lot from our trip up Rayo Loma, a higher part of our sector. Also from our baptism on Saturday.

 

I love you all, take care!

 

-Elder G

10 October 2011 from Cuenca

Buenas tardes familia from what has been a VERY rainy Cuenca this past week. As I mentioned last week the weather is very different here that in Guayaquil, and honestly I'm still trying to get used to it. Parts of our sector, which I'm still trying to learn, have pretty mountainous areas, where the altitude is 2500 meters (8202 feet) above sea level. Luckily the altitude hasn't been too bad on me, even though the air is thinner up here. My raincoat and umbrella came in very handy this past week, as it rained probably four days out of the week. It seems everyone here, when the clouds start to move in, says "Parece que va a llover" (Looks like it's going to rain), and they're usually right. I've already heard that phrase today from a taxi driver after we bought our groceries for the week.

We had a good past week, and we're excited for this week as we'll be having a baptism of Diana, who is the daughter of a very active member, and wife of a less-active member who is becoming more active through his wife. It's like a 2-for-1!!! The Fast and Testimony meeting we had yesterday, wow, I can say I've had back-to-back uplifting Sundays, with Conference being last week! The members are very strong in the Gospel, and I only thought they had been members for a short time, but no, some members have more than 20 years as members of the Church, so there's where the strength in the Gospel comes from. The chapel in which we attend is basically brand new, having only been dedicated five months ago. It is an American-style chapel, it even has carpet flooring, whereas the other chapels here just have tile! It's built in a small space, so it's two floors, with the Chapel being on the second floor. It's somewhere where one can really feel the Spirit profoundly.

Today I was able to see a little part of the center of Cuenca, a park called "Parque Calderon." Nothing too exciting there, except the 50 person or so protest against Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa that was going on in front of the offices of the Provincial Government of Azuay. No worries, nothing bad happened, just a lot of chanting/screaming, and we stayed away from that part anyway. Lunch today was Burger King! I've not eaten there in a while, probably a couple of years, so it was really good!!!

Well, those aforementioned storm clouds look to be moving in, so I'll make an end to my words for this week! Have an excellent week, and I'll do the same! And I'll keep my jacket and umbrella at the ready!

Love you all! Take care!

--
Elder Garrett Cederquist
Misión Ecuador Guayaquil Sur

3 Oct 2011 I've Been Transferred!

Hello family! Wow, today has been a crazy day of traveling! Last night we received our transfers and I was on of them! I'm now in the mountainous city of Cuenca, which is about 3-4 hours east of Guayaquil. The weather is a lot cooler here, and it gets pretty cold at night from what I've heard, and as I write this I have a jacket on, didn't think you'd hear me say that did you? I've only been here a couple hours, but I have a feeling I'll like this sector, which is called Monay. My new companion, and he's actually pretty new in the mission, is Elder Cruz, from Honduras. He has about 3 months in the mission, which means I am the senior companion, so it should be a great experience for the both of us.

 

Well, the last week I had with Elder Badger was a really good one, mainly because of General Conference, which I watched in Spanish, and understood all of it! One of my favorite talks was from President Uchtdorf in the Saturday morning session. That talk was amazing! It's one of those you could read over and over again. I loved one of the things he said, that we might feel insignificant at times, but to God we are always significant. The inspiration behind that talk was and is amazing. I'm excited to read the talk in the November issue of the Liahona! In every session there was 2 or 3 really great talks, so I was able to fill up my notebook quite a bit.

 

It was kind of sad to leave the Las Esclusas sector, because I had a lot of success there. But don't get me wrong, I'm really excited to be in Cuenca and see yet another part of the beautiful country of Ecuador. I'll have to take some pictures in the coming weeks to show you what it's like. Being in the mountains here is sweet, it reminds me a lot of home. Cuenca has a lot of similarities I guess you could say to Park City, for example. It's really different, so I'll have to adjust, and as I heard from another missionary today, I have to take the Coast (G'quil, Machala) chip out of my head and put in the Mountain (Cuenca) chip in my head. Could be interesting, but at least I'll like the cool weather!

Well, to be really honest, I'm not really sure what else I can write about, being in a new city kind of throws off the thought process, but next week I'll have more to report on, so don't worry!

 

Glad to hear you're all doing well, love you all! Tell everyone hi!

 

(Sorry to be short, I've got to go buy food for the week,or I'll be "unwillingly fasting" haha!)
--
Elder Garrett Cederquist
Misión Ecuador Guayaquil Sur

26 Sep 2011

Hello once again family from what's been a very sunny and hot Guayaquil for the past week! It's also been one of the craziest weeks I've seen here on the mission! After last Monday things were pretty crazy in getting the Rodriguez family married and baptized, which happened Thursday and Friday respectively! But it all wasn't a cake walk this past week in getting those things accomplished. We had to help the entire family get excited and and leave their "cold feet" feelings behind! I think Elder Badger and I could be professional motivators after all the uplifting we had to do this week! I've attached a photo of the entire Rodriguez family before their baptism! After all was said and done, I could actually take a breath and gather all my thoughts after running around our sector like crazy.

 

Now I could just end that story right there and move on, but I'll give you the rundown of Thursday and Friday: Thursday is the day when marriages can be performed in the Registro Civil here in Guayaquil, and only from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm can they be done. Well, our intention was to go at 1 pm, so we could have enough time to get Tony and Fidencia married, here's where the first case of cold feet comes in. We call Tony to see where he's at and when he'll be back, he tells us 2:30 we'll go. 2:30 arrives, still not at the house, so we call again, and now 3:30 is supposedly when we'll go. 3:30 arrives, and now we're worried, because we have only an hour to pull off the marriage, but Tony is at his house. We leave at 3:50ish for Registro Civil, really pushing our luck with the time at this point. 4:00 right on the dot and we arrive at Registro Civil, and there is a problem, we need two witnesses for the ceremony, but we only have one. So putting in to practice what we've learned as missionaries, we start talking to random people in the street asking them if they could just give us 15 minutes of their time to be a witness to a marriage. Well, that wasn't very productive, so back inside we find out that another couple is getting married as well, so we kindly ask a lady who was going to be a witness for that marriage to be a witness for ours as well. She agrees, so we're good on that point, but we're really short on time. 4:25ish or so, Tony and Fidencia start to fill out the papers and all that legal mumbo jumbo. 4:45 arrives, yes, past the 4:30 limit, but they can still go forth with the ceremony. 4:55 and they are shutting the doors as the ceremony is about to start! AGGGGH! Luckily everything goes through fine, Tony and Fidencia are legally married, so that's one heavy weight off our shoulders!

Friday and the BAPTISM! And that came with it's fair share of obstacles as well! This time it was sister Fidencia who got the cold feet on us. The baptism was planned for 11 am Friday. We passed by them at 9:30 or so to let them know that in an hour we'll be leaving for the Chapel to have the baptism. 10:30 rolls around, and Fidencia has left her house to buy meat for their small business they have! NOOOOO! 11:15 and she arrives, just taking her time and putting us in another tight spot. We kindly tell them that "hey, everyone is in the chapel awaiting your arrival, we've got to go now!" 11:40 we get to the chapel, so the baptismal service doesn't start until about 12! But all went well with the baptism, it was a super spiritual experience, but not all of them were confirmed on Sunday, so with General Conference this week, Tony and Fidencia will have to be confirmed on 8 October. Their son Justin, who had the most excitement to be baptized throughout all the commotion, was confirmed Sunday and really loves being a part of the Church!

 

Can anyone top my crazy week? I don't think so!

 

This week will be more calm, or so I hope so! I don't think I've been so tired in my life after this past week! Good thing P-Day is today, and even better that General Conference is this weekend!!! I'm ready for yet another spiritual boost from the Prophet and Apostles! Yet another round of transfers are coming up on Sunday night, so who knows if I'll be going anywhere...

 

There you have this week's update from Ecuador! And nothing new on the move to our new house. The mission office has been delaying some things for a while, so I'm not too sure when we'll make that move. It still might be a while!

 

Have a great week family and thanks for your updates!

 

I love you all!

 

PS: (Photos are of the baptism, my awesome Ecuador national team jersey, and the many languages of the Book of Mormon we have in our house: English, Spanish, French, Quicha (native dialect here in Ecuador.)) Enjoy!
--
Elder Garrett Cederquist
Misión Ecuador Guayaquil Sur

19 Sep 2011 Police Raid Ward Council Meeting!

Hello family from a really nice, air-conditioned Cyber really close to our house here in Guayaquil! Wow, this week has been really crazy, back and forth trying to get people prepared for baptism! Our goal this week is to get the Rodriguez family, who we've been teaching for about a month now, baptized this Friday. They are excited for baptism and it's amazing to hear their testimonies and how they've grown in the short time we've known them. The Gospel really does change people, I see it every day here! Both Elder Badger and I have worked our tails off this week, and the next two weeks are sure to be just the same. This transfer has flown by, and I owe it all to being happy all the time and not worrying so much about how many people we have to teach and how many new investigators we have to find. Those things come just by being diligent I've learned.

The people we are teaching now are fantastic! This is one of the reasons I've been really happy, is because I know they want to progress and prepare themselves for baptism. Another reason is because the members are giving us that extra boost in visiting our investigators with us. It is something small, but has a BIG effect on things (Alma 37:6-7).

To respond to the request of how are things in the house and what not, first I must apologize, I don't have any pictures to send this week, but next week I'll send some of the house and how we're holding up. The house is modern, and it's one of the nicest ones in the mission. But here in a few weeks we'll be having to move houses because the mission is trying to get just two missionaries in every house, and the house we'll be moving into isn't as nice as the house now, but at least it's somewhere to live! My bedding is holding up well, as are my clothes. Yes, I did receive my Crocs and French BoM, so everything got here in one piece! 

One experience that was unusual happened just over a week ago. We were in a meeting with the Ward Council talking about the work we're doing with our investigators and less-actives, when all of a sudden about 10 police officers coming storming into the building with guns drawn looking for a thief, thinking he had entered and was trying to hide. Well, he wasn't there, but the cops, one armed with an assault rifle, cleared the Chapel and then went elsewhere to look for this guy. They arrested the guy about 20 minutes later. That was a first for me, but the cops did their job, so nothing bad happened. That was something I wasn't going to share, because I didn't want to frighten anyone, but it falls under the unusual category! I'll make sure to write down in my journal some things that I see and remember them for next Monday.

P-Days are pretty normal. Today we're going with our District to watch the DVD "The District 2," which shows some of the teaching techniques in real-life situations. We'll also be playing UNO, as one of the Elders has that with him. What we do on P-Day mainly depends on what we ask permission to do (yes, it seems a little childish to have to ask to do things, but mainly to prevent a large group of missionaries meeting up in one place or another.) For example, we went to the Mall del Sur last week, next week we'll try to go to another place called RioCentro. RioCentro has Baskin Robbins, so we want to go there for that, and to do our shopping as well!

I'm very sad to hear that President Whetten passed away. He helped me a lot in the MTC in Lima in getting used to things and overcoming the tough times I had there. He was a great servant of the Lord while here on the Earth. I'm glad I was able to meet him.

Well, that's my report for the week, and I promise next week I'll get some photos sent off to give you more a view of the mission life!

Love you all, enjoy the week and I'll write you next week!

-- 

Elder Garrett Cederquist
Misión Ecuador Guayaquil Sur