Missionary Update - January through June

Nathan spent 6 more weeks in Lago Agria to start off the year.  He had stayed there in Oriente for 6 months.  He got to visit Coca, Cascales, and Santa Rosa, which was in the middle of the jungle.  Missionaries had never been there before.  He taught English classes there.  He also went on exchanges in Loreto (3.5 hours from Lago Agrio).  The jungle area was very hot, in the high 90's, with high humidity and no rain or wind. He got to see the branch split into the Lago Agrio and Nueva Loja branches.  

In mid-February, Nathan got transferred to Esmeraldas, on the coast (one of the less safe areas of the mission).  He took a 17-hour bus ride from Oriente to the coast.  His companion was Elder Yocum (an American elder).  Nathan said, "My companion Elder Yocum is awesome and he has been teaching me to focus more on the good things that we accomplished and less on the tasks we didn't complete and so now I am focusing on the once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and I am finding more joy in the work and in life. If we work as hard as we can, and we focus on the good things we will experience joy. President Nelson has taught:  "The joy in lives has little to do with the circumstances of our lives, but the focus of our lives." 

Nathan got to visit San Lorenzo, 3 hours north of Esmeraldas, close to the Columbian border (which is known to be a scary place). Only a couple of American elders had been to San Lorenzo.  While in Esmeraldas, he got to go to a carnival, visit a pig farm, saw the beach for the first time during the mission, visited a senior home with the youth singing, and took some piano lessons from his companion.  The bad experiences were getting their phone robbed, daily power outages (which took out the water as well, which meant he had to take some bucket showers), and getting dengue fever from mosquitoes.  He spiked a high fever and had to sit inside his apartment for a week under a mosquito net (so that he didn't get bit again during that time). He also served as zone leader in Esmeraldas.  

The beginning of April, he got transferred to another area in Esmeraldas, to Regocijo.  His companion was Elder Barrios, a Columbian elder.  He was still a zone leader and got to plan some activities for the zone.  Here is what he said about a Survivor inspired zone activity with Elder Barrios:  "We work really well together and we have seen some of the greatest miracles on my mission. My companion and I organized an awesome zone p-day. President challenged the zone leaders to change up the activities and think about how we could impact the missionaries. So we made some activities that each district had to work together to complete, with some being blindfolded and having to trust the other missionaries. It was a wonderful experience organizing it and it was really cool activity."  

In one of the leadership conferences in Quito, Nathan finally ran into Elder Horn, another American elder who was also born in Houston.  We were friends with his parents when we lived in Houston back in 2001-2005.  I found out Elder Horn was also serving in Ecuador and told Nathan to watch for him (and take a picture for me).  He finally sent me a selfie of the two of them (both Texas-born redheads). 

In May, Nathan got transferred to Ibarra, north of Quito.  He has been there for the last 6 weeks.  We will hear next week whether he will finish out his mission there or if he got transferred.  He only has 6 weeks left and will return home on July 30th.  His companion is Elder Bybee, an American elder, who is just starting his mission (but already knows the language well because he lived in Mexico for a while). 

In the April General Conference, it was announced that his mission president, President Roman, was called as a General Authority 70.  So he recently got one last blessing from his mission president, who finishes the end of June. They also recently had a visit from Elder Rasband, of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles.  The Quito North mission is splitting in July, creating a Quito West mission.  We will also find out soon if he moved to the West mission or staying with the Quito North for his remaining month. 

 

Some of the people he mentioned in his emails are Jeny, Johana, Jan, Vanessa, Daisa and her dad, Pamela, Edison, Alejandro and mother, who all accepted an invitation to be baptized.  Here is what Nathan said about some of these baptisms:  "Personally, these baptisms have been special to me because it has been kind of hard getting people to get baptized in this area. I read this scripture that really related.   Alma 26: 27-28  Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.  And now behold, we have come, and been forth amongst them; and we have been patient in our sufferings, and we have suffered every privation; yea, we have traveled from house to house, relying upon the mercies of the world—not upon the mercies of the world alone but upon the mercies of God.   This month I realized that I focused too much on the numbers. And so my companion and I focused on doing all that we could and not focusing on the results or the numbers. I changed my perspective and had a change of heart. We did that and God gave us the miracle. I worked in a way that I had never worked before, but our faith was sufficient. It was a special moment for me and as soon as I forgot about the numbers the baptisms came!!  Another scripture as well!!    D&C 123:17  "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."

We enjoy hearing about the miracles happening on his mission and know that Nathan is working hard to help the people in Ecuador come unto Jesus Christ.  It's also amazing to see how he's not only helping other people to make positive changes in their life but also seeing the changes happening in Nathan.  We're excited to see him soon.  The next update will be after he returns home!