Easter Thoughts

I am very grateful for the blessings that the Atonement have given me in my life. I know that I have many, many weaknesses, but because of the Lord´s grace I can overcome those as I strive to become better and do what is right. He will always be beside me as I strive to help Him in His work. This is His work, and there is nothing more important that anyone could be doing with their life. I know that He loves us, and because He loves us He died for us. I hope that you are also able to feel this love from Him, and that you can continue growing closer to Him. 

The work here is going great! I know that the Lord will be providing us with great opportunities to see miracles in our lives and in the lives of the people that we teach! There is time for one story. It is of a 52 year old man from Esmeraldas, who during his life has played professional basketball and volleyball. After his career, he moved around a lot, and he ended up in Otavalo. A couple months ago, he became unemployed, and due to the rough financial situation here, it was very difficult for him to find a job. He started to talk to the missionaries, but he still couldn´t find the needed work, and his situation rapidly got worse. He had nothing to pay rent with, and he didn´t have money to eat every day. That´s about the time that I got to the sector. When we would go by to teach him, it was difficult to talk with him because he was so worried about how he would get along. We worked with the members of the church to see if anyone could get him a job, and we were praying really hard with him so that he could find it. 

Here in the mission, March is "the month of miracles". Well, on the first of March, he received a call from an old friend. He found a job and we were able to start teaching him the lessons again. He has attended church every Sunday for more than a month now, and he is super excited to be able to keep going! He was baptized on Saturday, and during his testimony he said that it was the best day of his life! It was amazing to see his progress, and I know that it truly is a miracle of the Lord!

(Here are some other candids from the past couple months including a visit to the equator).