August 8, 2011

Standing on the bus for a 2 hour bus ride




Dear Family,
Well, this is the last time that I´ll be writing as a full-time missionary. I can´t believe it. It still hasn´t hit me yet :) This week went by really fast. The highlight of the week was that Marco Torres got baptized. It was a really awesome baptism and it was a special day for everyone. His uncle, Javier Palacios, has been working hard to get him to church and to get baptized and all of his hard work payed off :) Marco was so happy too. He even came to church in a white shirt and tie. We didn´t even tell him :) He is really pumped right now to keep progressing :) I´m so excited for him!!!!

On Saturday we had a really interesting lunch right before the baptism. I asked them to do it because, first off I´m kind of crazy and second of I had always heard of it and I wanted to see what it was. It´s called yagua locro. It´s basically a soup with sheep intestines, potatoes and stuff and you put sheep blood in it too :) The blood isn´t liquid it´s solid and it looks kind of like ground beef. It actually wasn´t that bad. I ate just the blood and it didn´t have too much flavor. You eat the soup with lime and avacado too. I ate 2 bowls and it was pretty good. My companion can´t really deal with stuff like that. He really syked himself out. He started off fine eating the soup. He was only eating the potatoes and nothing else until another Elder that was with us told him to look at his spoon. The other Elder told him that they were delicious intestines and blood. My companion imagined, only in his mind, that there were drops of blood falling from his spoon. My companion got up and went straight to the bathroom and started to throw up. We all started laughing because the rest of us really liked it. Luckly the family didn´t get offended or anything. They are a really cool family.
The Soup

The Blood

My comp after he threw up

Well, the next time I see you it will be in person. Thank you for your love and for your letters. I can´t believe that 2 years have gone by so fast. Thank you for everything.


Love,
Élder Hakes
Paco Asqui.... He´s a member that gives us lunch on Sunday´s

August 1, 2011

Dear Family,
This week went by soooo fast and it went pretty well. I went to Guaranda twice this week. The first time for interviews and the second time to try to help some people be strengthened for their baptisms. It went fairly well. I really enjoyed being there and it felt good to be helping them out. Not everyone got baptized but I was able to learn a lot and it helped me to keep being motivated :)
This week Elena Colcha and her husband Franklin Puertas finally got baptized!!!!!! They have been investigators for almost a year and a half. It was such a special moment. The branch almost didn´t believe us when we told them that she was getting baptized. It was a really good baptism and the Spirit was so strong!!! I can´t believe that we finally were able to help her to get baptized :) I feel so blessed to be at her baptism. About 13+ missionaries taught her over the course of her time as investigator. I love this work. The Spirit is the greatest blessing that anyone could ever ask for :)
This week we have 2 people planned to get baptized. Sandra and Marco. They are investigators that we´ve taught for a while now but they´ve come to church 2 weeks in a row now and they have the desire. We have to help Sandra overcome a few things before she gets baptized but I know that we´ll be able to help them :) I´m so excited :)
Today my companion and I went to Baños. It´s a city that has some amazing waterfalls and some amazing views!!! I got some amazing pictures :)
I love this work.I don´t want it to end but my time as a full-time missionary is coming to a close. I have this week and lots of meetings next week and then I´m home. I still have things to learn and to share with other missionaries before my time ends. I´m excited to see what happens. I know that Jesus Christ suffered so I can make it back to my Heavenly Father´s presence. That´s why I live the Gospel, because I know that I can´t be saved unless I do all that Christ taught and reveals through Pres. Monson and the 12 apostles. I love this work. I love you all. Thank you for all that you do and have done. I will always be in debt to those who have served me :)



Love,
Élder Hakes

July 25, 2011

Big chess pieces
Chess boards that an investigator makes
The Palacios Family that got sealed this week!!!!!!!!!
The Bellavista Arch that´s in our sector
Dear Family,
This week was so crazy and so amazing!!!! We are seeing so many blessings :) On Tuesday I went with our district leader to his sector here in Riobamba. We had a really good day. We were able to find a new family and we put baptismal dates with some people. That night we had 3 appointments in less than an hour. It was cool because all of the appointments were really spiritual and we were able to help s lot of different people that are progressing.
On Wednesday I went with Elder Stange to his sector to help with some people to get baptismal dates too! It went really well 2 families were able to accept dates and 1 of them went to church yesterday!!!! It ws good because Elder Stange wasn´t feeling too well and we were able to keep working and helping the people that really needed it.
On Thursday we had our specialized training with Pres. and Hna. Ghent and the assistants. It went really well. They talked about the importance of understanding the doctrine because the doctrine is the reason why we live the gospel. It was a really good training that really opened my eyes. We´ve taught it to the members too and they really liked it. :)
Yesterday we had some amazing experiences. We had 10 people at church!!!! We had to go to the other branch at 8 AM to have 3 people go. They had something to do this week but normally they´re good to go at 10 AM (our branches time). It was so good to have them all there. There were a lot of less actives at church too. Normally we have like 70 people at church but this week we had close to 100!!!!! Last night was so amazing. We have been teaching this lady called Helena Colcha since I got here. She´s been listening to the missionaries for about 14 months now and she knows more that a dozen missionaries that have helped teach her. She and her husband went to church yesterday and we went to visit them afterwards. We invited the husband to be baptized this weekend and he said yes!!!!!! Then we looked at Helena (she looked shocked at what her husband said) and we invited her to be baptized with her husband and she said yes!!!!! I almost couldn´t believe it :) I was so happy because I have invited her so many times over the last 4 and a half months to be baptized and she finally accepted!!!!!!! All of her kids (they are members for over a year) started cheering when she said yes :) It was such a cool moment. We just have to help her husband so he can stop drinking. He has stopped a little bit by himself but we´re going to help him even more.
Well I love you all so much. I love this great work. I can´t believe that my time is ending. I don´t want it to end. I know that I will miss Ecuador and all the people that I know so much. I don´t want to leave them, but I know that the Lord has other things planned for me. Thank you for your love and support. Don´t worry I´m excited to see you guys too :)


Love,
Élder Hakes

ME BEING A SITH :)

JULY 18, 2011

Dear Family,
This week went by super fast. It was pretty fun too. I was going around to lots of different sectors again trying to help the other missionaries. It made everything go by even faster! I had a really amazing experience with a baptismal interview too. I went to Guaranda (2 hours away) for the interview. The person that I interviewed has had quite a few problems in her life. She has been fighting depression for years and there have been many times when she has been ready to kill herself and she was able to change her mind or someone came and stopped her. It was sad to hear about all that had happened to her in her life. I just told her that she has a lot of people that love her and care about her. I talked especially about how our Heavenly Father loves her. I told her that she should remember what I told her every time that she faces depression. 2 days after the interview I called her to tell her when her other interview with President would be and she thanked me for telling her that Heavenly Father loves her. She said that the day after the interview she had negative thoughts about herself and that when she remembered what I told her she felt better. It was way cool. During the interview she also told me that 3 days in a row she had dreamed with the missionaries that are teaching her and a 3rd really tall person :) She didn´t want "to confess" but she could trust me when we started talking. It was such a cool experience!!!!!
On Tuesday we had a really cool experience. I was with Elder Glassford, our district leader, and we found a ton of new families. We went to visit a cab driver and his family and he wasn´t there yet, but his mom invited us in and then she started inviting all of her family. We taught 10 people at the same time!!!! They were 4 different families that we found at the same time. It was a cool experience, but they were talking a ton!! They are evangelicals (I don´t know if that is spelt right). We tried to talk about the importance of the priesthood in receiving a baptism and they didn´t really understand. After we would talk one of them would talk and confuse everyone else. They all accepted to pray to know. We have to go back this week to see how their prayers went :) On the same day we talked with a family in the street and we walked back to their house with them. They let us in and they accepted a baptismal date for July 30. The only problem is that they went out of town so they weren´t able to go to church. We´ll be getting a hold of them this week too!!!
Well I love you all so much. Thank you for your support and for all that you do for me. I am so grateful for my family, for my brothers, sisters and parents. Also for my cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and great-grandparents. Thank you for all that you do!!!!!



Love,
Élder Hakes

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