Monday, October 31, 2011

The Iguana and the Boon Docks!

Hello everyone!

This week has been full of learning experiences for me and Elder Hancock! I have learned that the Lord gives us challenges and he also blesses us on a daily bases. Everyday this week has been a roller coaster of events and investigators. The start of the week was super slow! And it seemed like nothing was going good at all, but we held our heads high and kept pressing forward. By the time Friday rolled around we had only taught a handful of lessons and didn't place any baptismal dates. Our numbers were horrible and we were walking and walking everywhere and just not teaching lessons.

But Friday rolled around and everything was different. One thing is that we prayed super long and hard the night before for each one of our investigators. But Friday we had this idea to go try an area in our sector that is about 45 minutes away from the rest of our sector (on a bus) to teach. We were the first missionaries hear possibly I'm not exactly sure but I do know one thing....I think it was every ones first time there seeing a gringo.

We taught two lessons there that went very well! And it was cool being just way out in a new area. But that Friday we got 7 new investigators! And placed two baptism dates! The following day we placed another baptism date! So at this point we were really pumped! But Sunday rolled around and we were hoping to get 5 people to church. Lets just say that we got 0 to church.....but the highlight of that Sunday was seeing our convert Aaron get to church early and prepare the sacrament ! It was awesome! The day before he also went to the temple to do baptisms for the dead! And the temple is 3 hours away. I believe life in general is the same way, the Lord gives us all trials, but we need to keep our heads high and look to the lord for help and he will give us tender mercies along the way. Happiness/success is just around the corner. And one thing Elder Hancock taught me is that our success is up to the lord to determine not us. Because in the moment we don't know what the Lord has planned for these people we are teaching, we just know that we need to follow the spirit and do our best. Everyone has their agency and we need to have patience with them. The other day on Thursday we had an interchange and I lead my sector, everything went pretty smooth and good. This week i saw like 10 iguanas in our sector, so I was excited! They are pretty cool! I am loving it here, even though I am sweating all the time and getting bit by bugs. I love it!!!!

Oh this week we watched some videos from Preach My Gospel in companion study and I felt the impression to tell you guys how important missionary work at home is!! The members play a huge role in missionary work! We try to make 50 contacts a week, and we teach about 17 lessons a week. But think of how effective and how fast the church would grow and retain members if everyone had a part in the work! Just talking to one person a week and giving the missionaries their name, think of how great that would be! I think at home we get scared to share the gospel with our non member friends. We need to overcome that fear, people need to hear it! On that note I hope you all have a wonderful week!
And I love you all!!Elder Jase Warner


Our Apartment, and the guitar I bought!


Jase didn't tell us, but I'm thinking maybe the bus stop??????





Monday, October 24, 2011

47 Bananas!

¿Que mas?

This week was pretty good here in Santa Rosa Ecuador. We were blessed with another baptism on Saturday, Aaron Carrion. It was actually a very close call. On Friday night we went to go teach Aaron, and his parents told us he was having some doubts. His parents are non members by the way. But we listened and talked to Aaron for about two hours that night trying to figure out what his doubts were. At first he was telling us he wasn't sure it was true, but that was a lie ( people lie here 24/7) its just their culture. So we kept listening with the spirit, and then he said the reason was because of the word of wisdom, which was also a lie. He finally came out an told us it was because his friends at school made fun of his decision to be baptized. But we reminded him of his strong testimony of El Libro De Mormon, and the spirit was there pretty strong. After that he was very excited to be baptized the next day and he brought his whole non member family with him to the baptism! And the next day at church he was in sacrament meeting with his whole family and received the holy ghost. His dad knows a lot about the gospel and I am pretty sure he believes the church is true, he is just stubborn.

We don't have any baptisms for this week, but we have a couple people we are working with. One guy Josias went to church yesterday with us and went to Sunday school and he is a very intelligent guy, but his dad is a pastor at another church. But we are going to rely on the spirit and the book of Mormon to testify to him. The book of Mormon works miracle everyday for us.

Me and elder Hancock are doing great, were working hard!! Then on Saturday we walked probably 20 miles.....and not one lesson was taught that day it seemed like we walked everywhere and Saturday we just walked and walked ! But it takes hard work to get baptisms, and that's what we are here to do!

Some of the food here is hard for me to eat still, the hardest is the fish with the had and tail still on it, and we have been eating fish a lot lately. I feel so bad every time we eat lunch in the members homes which is everyday almost. They barely have money for their own food it seems like and they give up what they do have to us missionary´s. Its a lot of food too! I think they believe they need to give us a ton of food but they really don't need to. There are usually two bananas in each meal and more rice than I can fit in my stomach. Today me and elder Hancock bought 47 bananas for the week. That's how many we eat.....just for breakfast usually!! Its insane!

Our house is actually really nice we have 3 rooms and a living room kitchen and two bathrooms..Its big! And we have a gym now:) We finished building our weight bench the other day and we bench press our gas tank..and we have a pull up bar.

Today I found Brant Wadsworth's letter he wrote me in Spanish at the farewell and I could read it all! so I was happy about that.

Life is good here I'm happy, tired, and love the gospel!

Love Elder



Sunday, October 23, 2011

Pix from the First Area!

We got these last week, but I couldn't open them on my computer. Finally got them!


Monday, October 17, 2011

Yummy Cow Parts

How is everyone doing?

I love getting all your emails. So we had two baptisms this week with Genesis and Bryan, it went great I baptized Bryan. Elder Hancock and I sang a song during the baptism and everyone said we sounded like angels. But everyone here is tone deaf.... We had a member in the ward baptize Genesis and it took him 6 tries to get it right, it was pretty funny but it was all good.

I had an awesome experience placing my first baptism date with a 14 year old named Arron Carion, we placed the date in the first visit, and he is getting baptised this next Saturday.

So p-days are kind of boring not being able to play ANY sports at all, not even volley ball. I really don't understand it at all but today i am buying a guitar. I love it here in Ecuador, My Spanish is still bad, but i am learning everyday with my trainer elder Hancock.

Yesterday i ate cow intestine and cow stomach and cow something else that i don't know exactly where it came from on the cow...We eat on average 5-7 bananas a day here, and a ton of rice, and the members like to serve fish, with the scales and heads and tails....yum...not , I don't like fish but I guess I will have too here.

Gringos here get stared at by everyone here, and we are the only white people around...the girls stare at us because they love the way we look and the guys stare at us because there girls are staring at us. Except the drunk guys they just say " hey mister" because that's the only English that anyone knows.

I love it here and we are working so hard but I am happy, oh my address is the mission address...you send it to the mission and they send it to me me with the zone leaders or we go to Guayaquil and get it. So the address that is in my packet, just send packages with the green sticker, if its a white sticker I won't get it, and try to send the packages no more than like 5 pounds each.

And it is about time to start sending Christmas packages, I want peanut butter and razor blades to shave( the ones for the Gillette fusion vibrating razor. And whatever you want pictures, whatever!

Love you all

Elder Jase Warner

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

I'm finally here!


Hello,
How is everyone doing? I am doing great in my new area in Ecuador! My area is called Santa Rosa 2. I am in the same area as elder Egan my first companion in the Provo MTC we are just in different sectors, but they are bordering sectors so our houses are like 3 blocks from each other.

Santa Rosa is toward the bottom of Ecuador near the coast. It is a city of banana farms and shrimp farms.You can buy like 8 bananas here for 30 cents! So we eat a lot of them:)

My companions name is Elder Hancock. He is from Utah. He only has till February till he goes home and he has been in Santa Rosa for the past 6 months! He is awesome and he is teaching my great. We are doing a lot of work here, and walking everywhere everyday. It is so much walking!! I will need new shoes for sure he says in like 6 months.

The food here is pretty good but we eat huge lunches at members houses around 1 o'clock and our mission is different than a lot in South America cause we have a different mamita that cooks for us everyday as service for free. But lunch is huge and we don't eat dinner usually till 9 at night. There is this place next door to our house that sells the best hot dogs I've ever had in my life for 1 dollar! And banana shakes the best also for 50 cents so that's my dinner every night. We spend 1.50 everyday except for pday....pday we spend15 dollars on groceries. That's my budget. Simple, ha ha.

So I love the people here and I love my president! The first day we got here we met our new comps and did a temple session. The temple in Guayaquil is so nice!! But we slept in Guayaquil the first night and the next morning we headed to our area. It takes 3 and a half hours on a bus to get to Guayaquil from our area. But I just slept the whole way.

We have a lot of pretty good investigators that we have been teaching. We have two baptisms next Saturday!!! Bryan and Genesis Mendoza, they are just kids. But they are awesome! I am baptising Bryan! And we have some other people committed to baptism for the following weeks. We would get a ton of baptisms here if people got married. If two people live together here they call themselves married, but really no one here gets married! I don't get it just a cultural thing, but marriage only cost 6 dollars...they don't like doing it cause to get a divorce its really expensive and a lot of people here are unfaithful to there spouses. But we have a couple that wants to get baptized and so they will get married this week or next week.

The weather here is actually super nice right now its like 65-70 and cloudy-ish and every one who lives here complains that its too cold, ha ha! They are used to it being super hot. But my skin is still sticky 100 percent of the time.

Oh Elder Egan and his companion had a baptism last Saturday! So Egan got one his first week! People here are so willing to listen! They all know that Jesus Christ is their savior already. They are just all Catholic.

But some downers to my mission! We are not aloud to play soccer! Or basketball! And me and my companion are going for 100 percent obedience, so no sports...its crazy to me but oh well.
Ecuador is treating me well, I see the power of prayer everyday already. Me and my comp get along great and we are gong to be very successful together. My Spanish is still bad....but that's okay!

I love you all choose the right!

Elder Warner