July 11, 2011

me with President and Hermana Ghent


Dear Family,
This week was a little bit crazy!!! We went to Quito on Monday and we had a ton of meetings!! They all went really well though. We got to meet President Ghent too!!! He´s almost as tall as I am. I can´t believe it :) He´s a really nice guy and he´s trying to get caught up on everything that we do here in the mission. His motto is "If it aint broke don´t fix it" so he wants to see what we´re doing as a mission now before he starts changing anything. He and his wife are very good people. He´s different from President Sloan but he´ll carry this mission to new limits!!! It will be fun to watch :)
This week we had a really cool presentation that we planned in a park here in Riobamba. We had a projector and a big screen and we projected Mormon Messages that a member downloaded from lds.org!! It went really well. We got to know a lot of new people and we had fun doing it. We passed out free popcorn and we made a big Book of Mormon out of a TV box that we found. It was a really fun presentation and a lot of people came to see why there was a big screen in the park :)
people watching

the big screen

me contacting at the copies Book of Mormon in different languages display


me and Elder Arriaga contacting in the presentation

all the missionaries at the presentation

This week the Cuji family (6 people) got baptized in the Joya Branch!!!! It was a really cool experience. I got to baptized 2 of them too (José Luis and Rocío) :) We were really excited to help this family take this step in their lives. We went a few times to help this family and it was really amazing. Everyone in white

the Cuji family

On Saturday José Luis Rodríguez is going to get baptized in our sector. We´re excited for him to take this big step in his life. Carlos Quigla had to go to Puyo (3 hours from here) and he has to go again this week. We´re still working with him and his parents to get them progressing more. This week we had all of our new converts in church even though we didn´t visit them because of the meetings and presentation. It was so good to see them exercise their own faith and be there :) :)
Well I love you all so much. Thank you for everything!!!!!




Love,
Élder Hakes

July 4, 2011

Me at an interesting house

Me knocking on a door :)

A service project with the Palacios family

The baptism (Mari and Cristian)

Dear Family,
This week was kind of crazy. On Saturday Mari Paredes and Cristian got baptized!!!!! It was a sweet baptismal service. Mari actually invited a friend to the baptism and he has a baptismal date for the 16th!!!! His name is José Luis. He felt the Spirit so strongly and he is so receptive to everything. Mari (grandma who´s 42 yrs. old) and Cristian (grandson who´s 8 yrs. old) are so happy now. She told me how she was so happy to have the Holy Ghost and that she can go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead on July 22. We´re so excited for the progress that they have had up till now and that they will continue having!!
This week we got permission to have a special presentation in a park in Riobamba. We´re going to have a big screen, a projector, free popcorn and a giant Book of Mormon!!! It will be a really fun presentation. The members are really helping us out now too!! We´ve already passed out like 1,000 invitations too.
This week Carlos Quigla is going to get baptized!!!! He´s doing really well too!!!! He came to church with his dad this week. Victor (the dad) is progressing a lot too! The mom is being the problem now. The rest of the family only likes that we visit them, they´re not really keeping the commitments so they´re not progressing. We´re still trying to help them out. Going to church seems to be the diggest challenge for them right now.
This week was a little tough too. In Guaranda (part of our zone) we were going to have 13 baptisms but they only had 1. It was really hard to see that. A lot of investigators didn´t pass their interview and there were a lot of challenges. In Riobamba as a district we were going to have 3 but 1 fell through too. Our baptisms almost fell through too but we were able to help them ovecome their challenges before their baptism. Cristian was really sick and pale but he got better right before the baptism. I think that the Lord is trying our faith and our humility a little bit. We are about to explode as a zone right now. We were looking at the potential of the zone in our leader´s meeting and we could have up to 56 baptisms in 3 weeks if we help the people that we already have to get baptized. That´s not including new families that we can find!!!!! We have lots of work to do so we can help these people to progress and get baptized.
I´m so grateful for missionary work. I have changed so much during this time. I recognize my faults and errors easier now and I´ve been able to change a lot of them. I still have a ways to go though :) I love my Savior. Because of Him I can have peace in my life. I can change and repent. I can have the Gift of the Holy Ghost, which is the constant companionship of a member of the Godhead. Sometimes we don´t realize how blessed we are. Sometimes we want to see angels of maybe even Christ Himself but we forget that we already have the Holy Ghost. We are so blessed. We must all be worthy for the companionship of the Holy Ghost. It´s the guide that everyone in this world is looking for. We must take advantage of this gift that our Heavenly Father has given us. I love you all so much. Thank you for you love and support. I´m sad that my mission will end soon but I´m glad that I´ll be able to see you all soon. I have so much to do in so little time. Thank you for everything :)



Love,
Élder Hakes

June 27, 2011

All the members at the baptism

Baptism with those in white

Baptism with the whole family

The cake with the Quigla family


B-day with the Quigla family


Dear Family,

This week was so awesome!!!!!! We had 4 baptisms on Saturday!!!! Part of the family Quigla got baptized and the service was amazing!!! There were about 50-60 people there for the family. It was a really spiritual experience. We didn´t have to worry about anything. Our branch mission leader filled up the font and had the agenda ready, we just had to bring the clothes. It was so amazing. The Spirit was so strong and the rest of the Quigla family was there to feel it. It really motivated them to be baptized. The rest of the family is preparing for July 9th.
This week Mari Paredes and her grandson are getting baptized this Saturday. Carlos Quigla is going to get baptized with them too!!! They have progressed so much and it has been so amazing to teach them.
I turned 21 on Thursday!!! I can´t believe it. I feel old now ha ha ha :) The members were really nice to me. I ate and had cake with 3 member families and the family Quigla had a cake for me too. It really touched me when the Quigla family had the cake and dinner for me. They don´t have hardly anything but they were willing to sacrifice for me. It was a touching moment for me. I hope that they keep progressing and that they can all be baptized.

My birthday cake with the other Palacios family (Javier and Mayra)

Us eating pizza with the branch president

Me and Diego Yumisaca (branch mission leader) having our birthday cake at the branch president´s house (Pres. Erick and Norma Suarez)

Presents that the Palacios family (our landlords) got me (a tie and chile from Mexico)

Another b-day cake


Thank you for all that you´ve done for me. I love you all so much. Stay strong doing the little things. Read the scriptures with real intent everyday and say your prayers morning and night and in your hearts during the whole day. Remember the Lord and He will remember you. I love you all so much. Thank you for all those who wrote me for my birthday!!!!



Love,
Élder Hakes