Hooray, Pablo!

Hello Family,

Well, stake conference went really great.  We managed to move Pablo Elisalde and his wheelchair down to his car so he could go with us to church.  His daughter sang "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" as a special musical number.  He really was glad he got to go.  He did not think he would be able to go with his physical limitations but said he decided to just trust in the Lord and in us as missionaries that we would be able to "get him to church on time."  He told us every day he grows more and more sure that he is in the right path and feels he is reconciling himself with God.  Hopefully, he will be able to use these feelings in his moments of difficulty to keep optimistic and at peace.

We also had two really cool Book of Mormon experiences.  The first was a lesson we taught to a young atheist.  He decided to listen to us but did not respond to anything we said.  We left him the Book of Mormon and told him about the specific promise that it was written to convince the Jew and the gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God.  He said he likes to read a lot, but only material that really captures his attention.  We decided to pass by his house a few days later.  His grandpa answered the door and asked us if we were the people who left the Book of Mormon behind.  He told us that his grandson, Carlos, was reading it a lot, which really surprised him because he has never believed in God.  The grandpa had also started to read and is excited for us to come back and teach again. 

We also had another talk with William Brown.  He had told us that he really appreciated our visits, but that we were unable to convince him that Jesus was Jehovah and preferred now to just receive visits from his Testigo (Jehovah’s Witnesses) friends.  Last night, however, he stopped us in his car and said he had started to read the Book of Mormon and now wants us to come back.  We’ll have to see what he is interested in.  

Well, hopefully I’ll hear from you tomorrow in district meeting. 

Love you so much,

Grant

I Feel Like Shouting for Joy!

Hello Family,

So great to talk to you all last night.  I have to admit, the post-call realization hit pretty hard this morning.  I keep on thinking of the things I want to say to you and then remember the 4-week waiting period to hear back from you.

Just a little bit about what we did this week.  A lot of our investigators have started keeping their commitments this week.  Iliana Reyes came to church again and had another great experience.  So far she has accepted everything we have taught her as true.  The only problem is getting her to have the faith to live according to her new beliefs.  She is going to have to kick her friend out that is living with her, but I think she is ready for him to go anyway.  We are going to have to pass by today to ask her what she wants to do.

Lucia Andrea Lareta, the young woman who really liked the 1st Vision and the pictures of General Authorities also came to church.  She has been really faithful in reading everything we have left her.  We started her on the Liahona.  She says she just feels happy reading the Book of Mormon.

The gentleman I told you about last night is named Pablo Elisalde.  He is almost done with his chemotherapy.  His daughter converted and married a member.  Right now they are both living with him.  We have been going over to his house everyday to help him move into his wheelchair.  He has been really touched by how much his son-in-law has been willing to help him, as well as the changes he has seen in his daughter.  He has worked as a financial manager for a few companies on the East Coast of the US.  I think he did not get to spend much time with his family because he said he traveled a lot.  He has always known about our church and the Book of Mormon, but said that after having to pass through this illness, he has really started looking for God.  He said his family is much more united now.  He told us last night that he knew the church was true and that God the Father and the Son came and talked with Joseph Smith.  He said he knew that the experiences he is passing through have prepared him to accept the restored gospel.  He wants to come to Stake Conference next week.  We are praying he will be able to have the strength to make the trip.  It has been a wonderful experience getting to know him.

Well, it really was wonderful being able to talk to you.  It was nice being able to step out a bit from the missionary mentality and just remember how blessed my life has been to have grown up in a family with the gospel.  I have come to realize what a wonderful blessing it is to grow up in such a family after living here.  In each of my areas there have been one or two big, young families.  Spending time with them I just feel like shouting for joy because they are just such wonderful, happy people.  Growing up in an environment like that just makes well-founded people.  You really don’t find that any where else.  Thank you so much for making our home a place where the Spirit of the Lord can dwell. 

Well, I will talk to you all later.  I love all you so much.  I was so glad to talk to everybody, even if for only a few minutes.

Hasta Luego,

Bur´ Nan

Buzzing with Excitement!



Mommy's excited for Mother's Day!

Hello family,

How are you all?  The big call is this week.  I am sorry, but I can’t use Skype.  Presidente Montalti was very clear on that this Christmas.  I will try to call this week as a pre-llamada (phone call) to give you our number and to set up a time for this Sunday.  It’s tronqui time.

This week we found a very promising investigator.  Her name is Iliana.  She came as a reference from a member.  She had taken the discussions before and told the member family next door that she would like to talk to the missionaries again.  She has accepted most of the doctrines we have taught and there are only a few commandments that will be hard for her to keep…but what she has been the most receptive to was going to church last week.  She did not care too much for fast and testimony meeting, but really liked Gospel Doctrine and she liked Relief Society even more.  The members did a great job helping her feel comfortable in our ward family.  She told us she thinks she finally has found what she is looking for in her life.  She has been pretty golden from start to finish.

La Pradera Stake Center

Our whole mission is buzzing with excitement because Presidente Montalti just sent out a letter saying that Elder Richard G. Scott will be coming to our mission this 25 of May.  (Dad, it was President Ballard that told you I was swaddled too tight, wasn’t it?  Who was the apostle that came to Beaverton several years ago?  I think those are the only two I’ve ever met.)  Anyway, I thought Elder Nash of the Seventy was big news.  These last two months will be GA-packed.  Elder Nash and now Elder Cabrera and Elder Scott.

More good news! I found Elder Snow, from Machala.  He says he has a bunch of pictures of helping Natividad build her house, Pancho the Gusumbu, and drinking mate with Elder Gonzalez.  He will try to get his family to mail them to you.  I never realized how secluded I was in Cuenca.  In my first week back in Guayaquil, I met just about every elder I have come to know here on the mission.  Our house is about three blocks from the biggest mall in our mission so we see about half the missionaries in the mission every P-day.

It has been pretty tranquilo these last few days because it looks like we may have a baptism fall out of the sky for next week.  A young man in our ward has brought his “just friend” to church for the past several weeks.  We have not taught her yet because she does not technically live in our area, but our district leader said that if we get our bishop’s permission, we can teach her here in Los Almendros.  We still need to ask him about it.

Well, I am looking forward to talking talking to you all next week.   I hope I finally get some letters this week so we can do a little more than just catch-up.  Elder Sanchez is thinking of calling his family in the morning so I will probably be calling you at night around 9 pm.  I don’t know what that will be in your time.

Til Sunday~

Elder Guillermo Girndes Ludlam-Quemarlo

Back in the Horno! (oven)

Hello Family,

Guess what!  I just got transferred back to Guayaquil!  My new area is called Los Almendros in la zona La Pradera.  Elder Sánchez, my old district leader, is my new companion.  We got here on Friday and have been getting to know the members and the sector.  I am opening another area that the sisters had just left and, yes, there are girl shoes all over the place here, too.

Goodbye to Elder Nuñez

Up in the Sierra, I had almost forgotten how different everything is here in the Costa.  I had forgotten the Guayaquil accent, the food, and everyone's general attitude towards life.  Last night, we were walking around when we ran into a member and her daughter, who offered to accompany us for a few lessons.  They were so happy and eager to help and participate in the obra misional (missionary work) you never would have guessed that they were recent converts of only a few months.  Fellowshipping is something they do really well here.  It was certainly refreshing to meet the ward at sacrament meeting.  It made me more eager to go find more investigators, point to the members and say, “Don’t you see what you can become?”  They are just happy.

This week we are having the Area Seventy come to talk to the mission.  We have a big chapel clean-up planned for this Wednesday so everything will be ready for when he comes.  I am preparing myself mentally for the long dark mail-less night that I know I can expect.  It will probably be a few weeks until they stop sending my mail to Cuenca and another few weeks to send it back to the office and then send it to my new area.  Oh well.

We had a cockroach problem here because we forgot to take out the trash

Recently it started to rain buckets and we took shelter under the gate of the member we had just visited.  A large part of our area is a navy vets-only neighborhood, so there are some pretty moody guys here, one of which is the husband of the member, who is also very antagonistic to the church.  He kept on telling us to get a taxi and get off his property, but Elder Sanchez kept on trying to start a conversation with him through the gate.  I thought to myself, "This guy is going to punch your lights out and I am just going to laugh."  But what surprised me was eventually the vet started to open up and started telling us about the different years when the neighborhood had flooded and how high the water got and we waited for the rain to let up.  I had misjudged the man and through some way, completely inconceivable to me, Elder Sanchez had been able to touch his heart. 

My bed

I don’t know how things were in Argentina, Mom, but here the rain here is kind of magical.  It is the only time anyone turns off the heat.  I am now finally able to understand why Gene Kelly liked dancing in the rain, something I never was able to understand growing up in the Northwest.  I used to think this guy is pretty twitterpated if he doesn’t mind that he is going to freeze to death.

I wait to hear from you soon (or not).

Love, Elder Ludlam