November 20,2010

Dear Family,
So this week went really well for us. We weren´t able to go to our sector as much as we would have liked to but we had some really great spiritual experiences. We had a good one on Wednesday night. We got home from Otavalo at around 7:30 PM It was pretty late and by the time we were ready to leave it was about 8:05 PM. We were thinking about just going somewhere close so we could get home quickly but we decided against it. We went down to where some investigators with baptismal date live, the Maza family. They live down 133 stairs. When we got there just 2 sons and the daughter and the mom were there. We asked them to invite the dad but he didn´t want to (we had never met him before but we told his family that we would talk with him some day). About half way through the lesson the dad walked in the room. We were all surprised but we invited him and we continued with the lesson (about baptism). About 10 minutes later the other son showed up. That means that for the first time ever we were with the entire family at the same time. It was such an amazing experience to be able to have all of them there and to be able to share that time with them as a family!!!
Thursday night we had another cool experience. We went to visit the Taco family (the ones that went to church this last Sunday). We got there and we found out that they had read in the Book of Mormon, but they didn´t remember anything that they had read. This whole month we have been talking about the Book of Mormon, especially Moroni 10:3-5, in the Zone Conferences so we decided to teach that to them. We talked about the importance of being able read it with a sincere desire and with real intent. They were able to understand the difference now. So last night when we went by again we found out that only the son had read and that they didn´t have time. We weren´t sure what to share with them because we knew that they had understood what we taught them the last time. My companion started and he decide to share Helaman 5:12. I felt that that was what they needed and my comp explained it very well. When it come around to me I still wasn´t sure what I was going to say but the Spirit helped me. I talked about how we can recognize the promptings of the Holy Ghost as we read. They shared with us that that is what they had felt as we were teaching them, the Spirit. It was a really amazing experience and the Spirit was so strong.
We had another cool experience on last Sunday too. We showwed up to our investigators house and the dad came out and said that everyone else was sick. He invited us in to share with him and we did. We talked about blessings of health and we gave 2 blessings of health and 1 blessing of strength to his family. The Spirit was so strong and they were extremely grateful for what we did. I hadn´t given a blessing in so long so it was nice to be able to do that again.
So It has rained everyday since last Thursday here in Ecuador. There is a phenomenom here called "la niña" ("the girl" in English) that makes everything cold and rainy in all of Ecuador. It´s been in the 50s and the low 60s this whole week. Kind of weird. Luckily today it was sunny in the afternoon when we were at Mindo because it started raining on the way home :)
Well I love you guys. I thank you all for all that you have done for me. I have learned so much from each and every one of you. I am grateful for this Gospel that i get to preach everyday. I´m grateful that i am learning to live it and help others to live it as well. This work is God´s. I can testify of it now. He leads me everyday where i need to go and puts the words into my mouth in the exact moment when I need it. Again, thanks for everything!!!!



Love,
Élder Hakes