May 2, 2011

The volcano Tungurahua is kind of active right now :) There is a lot of ash falling here in Riobamba
Dear Family,
This week went really well. We were able to find some really good new people and we had a family come to church this week!!!!! On Thursday we found the Castelo Family and we taught them for the first time on Saturday. We invited them to church and they came yesterday. It was such a blessing for us to see them there and to be able to help them.This week we also found another person that is going through a lot of problems. She´s a single mother of 2 kids and she lives with her parents. She´s 25 and lives off of her parent´s income. She doesn´t feel that she can receive repentance of her sins so we helped her out :) It was such a blessing to find her. She didn´t go to church because she was sick.
Well right now we have to go to Quito to Zone Leader´s Council and on Wednesday we have the all leaders meeting. We´ll be in Quito till Wednesday night. This week is my companion´s last week in the mission. On Sunday I´ll be in Quito again to drop him off.
I am so grateful for the Gospel. I am grateful for the Atonement and for the power that it has in my life. The Lord has made some big changes in my life and I have learned so much during this time here in the mission. I love you all so much!!!!!



Love,
Élder Hakes


PS - - When we read information online about the volcano, the city at the base of it was evacuated. The volcano was throwing boulders the size of a small truck. On Google maps, you could see the clouds of ash over the area. So I guess that goes with "kinda active." Silly boy!

April 25, 2011

Dear Family,
Well the weeks are going by faster. I can´t really believe it. Elder Estrada is on his second to last week. This week was pretty crazy. On Tuesday we went to another companionships sector for a service project and we helped make dough and filling for 600 mini-pies -they´re like those pies you can buy in the gas station- for a new convert and her family. We were there for a long time helping them but we had a good time. This week was crazy here because of Holy Week and Independence of Riobamba Day. Everyone was going nuts. There were so many people that came and that were visiting the city. Downtown was really packed but in our sector there wasn´t a soul in sight. This week we visited a lot of less-actives because they were home and willing to listen.
This week we put a baptismal date with the Inca Family and they accepted. It was a really cool experience because the previous lessons that we had were a little uncomfortable and we didn´t know why. We talked about it and this time we went in with more love for them and we shared things that they really needed and we invited them to follow Christ. It was an amazing experience because I felt like they couldn´t say no. We didn´t manipulate our convince them or anything. The Spirit was there and everything that we said had an impact on them. Unfortunately they didn´t come to church on Sunday. We should have gone by for them but they told us that they were coming so we didn´t go by. Their baptismal date fell through because they didn´t go to church so we´ll have to put a new date with them.
Well Happy Easter to everyone. I know that it´s a little late but there you go. I´m so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ and that we can repent of our sins. It is the only thing that can give us true hope in this world. I hope that all of us can remember that and that we can receive the blessings of the Atonement through our diligence. I love you all so much. Thank you for your great support.



Love,
Élder Hakes