Coming Home From The Ecuador Guayaquil South Mission
Bueno, Bishop Baker has asked that I speak to you all today on facing adversity and learning through life’s trials, based off of a talk titled as such, given by Larry Richman at a BYU devotional back in 07. Now I could probably talk about this topic for hours as one encounters adversity and trials on a daily basis while out in the mission field, and I was by far no exception. From my own personal trials that I went through, to those that I witnessed in the lives of the members, to the trials that I helped those I taught face and overcome, let's just say that I have learned a LOT about the subject throughout the course of my mission in Ecuador.
In his talk, Brother Richman talks about how we face adversity and receive trials for various reasons, the main ones being as direct results from sin or unwise choices, and simply results of mortality and the world we live in; And of course above all, Heavenly Father giving them to us to allow us the opportunity to grow, progress, and increase our faith. Let’s start with the first one. On my mission, I witnessed many a situation where people were suffering as a direct result of sin or unwise choices. These situations are the most tragic of them all, because you know their situation could easily be amended through simply humbling oneself, repenting, and keeping the commandments of the Lord. When thinking of situations like these, there is always one old investigator that comes to my mind, named Eddy Torres.
I was serving in my second sector, Monay, in the city of Cuenca. This sector was a
particularly difficult one, for many reasons. When I arrived there I only had around 4
months in Ecuador, so my Spanish was for sure still riding the struggle bus, but they put
me as senior companion for my first time anyways with a fellow gringa companion who
had only been in Ecuador 6 weeks so was still in training. And they were throwing us in
there blind as we were opening the sector of Monay for sister missionaries, and had no
idea what we were doing or where we were going ever. And this sector was huge! You
could take the bus to the other side of the mountain and ride it for 3 hours and still be in
our sector. (in fact I recall the elders did do that one time and got stranded, calling our
bishop for help on how to get back. Pretty sure they ended up having to hitch hike.) So
anyways my companion, Hermana Clark and I, pretty much just wandered around talking
to everyone we could for the first month (after of course, trying to work with members
and referrals, which is always the number one priority.) but ya, we were doing the prior-ly
stated wandering-and-talking-to-everyone thing when we found ourselves going up a trail
that took us through the mountain and spit us out on the other side. It was kind of sketch
from there as the trail stopped and we had to just walk along the side of the road which
was just twisty and curvy through the mountain, so kind of dangerous with all the
Ecuadorian drivers flying down it. So after only a few minutes we decide it would probably be safer to go back. So we turn around to do so, when a guy on a motorcycle
pulls up alongside us and tries to start talking to us in English. Since this is not an
uncommon occurrence with two gringa girls hiking through the mountains of Cuenca,
Ecuador, out of instinct we kind of just ignore it and keep walking, since acknowledging
and responding usually just makes it worse. But then Hermana Clark says, “well we kind
of desperately need people to teach, so maybe we could see if he’s MAYBE not a
creeper?” Not gonna lie, I honestly wasn’t very hopeful that it wouldn’t be just another
weirdo who was gonna attempt to hit on us in English, fail, but then proceed to do so in
Spanish anyways even after we had already turned him down. (those Ecuadorian men are
persistent and shameless, let me tell you.) But my companion was right, we desperately
needed people to teach. So reminding myself to not judge others and to give everyone a
chance to accept the gospel, I agree, and we go back to talk to the motorcycle guy.
Turns out we had been just outside his house, so he parks and invites us to come
in. We introduce ourselves as missionaries and explain that we would love to enter his
home and share our message, but that we cannot go inside anywhere if there’s not a
woman 18 years of age or older inside. Not phased a bit he goes, “oh, no problem my wife
should be home, I'll go get her.” Sure enough he comes outside with her and she excitedly
invites us in as well. Completely taken aback to be all of a sudden presented with the
opportunity to teach a lesson in a home, to a married couple, instead of just dealing with a
creeper, we quickly accept the invitation and go inside. Of course from there we have to
eat a whole meal before getting to actually teach, in typical South American custom, but
when we did eventually share our message, the spirit was very much present; and I even wrote in my journal that night that it was one of the most powerful lessons of Lesson 1,
The Restoration, that I could remember to date.
The Couple, being Eddy, and his wife Mayra, were just so grateful to have us there and even called us angels sent from God. Turns out that this couple was going through many rough times. Eddy had only been back in Ecuador for a couple years, as before had been living here in the states, in Connecticut, for 10 years where he married and had a daughter. When he split up with his former wife, she had him deported and moved with their child to another state, and he hasn’t see her since, not knowing where she is or how to find his daughter. Funnily enough, while in jail here waiting deportation, Eddy read the bible cover to cover, found God, and joined the Evangelical church. But since being back in Ecuador, he never found a church he liked to start going to, and told us that he had been praying to find one. Fortunately, we were able to tell him to look no further, as God had answered his prayers and he had found it; and that is when we taught the Restoration. They both accepted it right away, and both had strong desires to be baptized.
However, there was a roadblock for Eddy on his path, and that was that he smoked a LOT of marijuana. He accepted the word of wisdom, and had the desire to quit though, so we worked with him to do it. We made plans, set goals; he received a super strong and powerful priesthood blessing of strength from the bishop, etc. Besides this addiction, he was a golden investigator. Him and his wife came to church every Sunday by themselves, they participated in the classes, were reading their Book of Mormon, etc. Their faith in the Savior and in his atonement for us was just incredible to see in investigators. They were so prepared in so many ways, we had no worries that Eddy
would be able to quit marijuana and be baptized. Until one day when we go over to teach
them and Eddy admits that he smoked...relapsed. Disappointed, but not discouraged, we
kept trying to help him...until he relapsed again; and again. And again, finally just telling
us that he’s too weak, and no longer had the willpower to try and quit. He said he decided
it wasn’t worth it. We were crushed. To see a man so hopeful and full of faith to be so
drowned in his adversity and trials as the result of addiction and sin. It was definitely one
of the most devastating experiences on my mission. He had all the strength and support
he needed spiritually to do it, but lacked that strength physically, emotionally, and
mentally. Once again, it is absolutely devastating to see someone find what they needed
to help them make it through their trials, but ultimately choose sin over the gift and
healing power of the atonement of Jesus Christ. On the bright side, during this whole
process his wife Mayra, was baptized, and I know she continues to encourage and support
Eddy, and I hope that one day he will overcome his vice and come unto Christ in its
stead.
Alright now that we have seen how NOT to overcome trials, we shall now take a look at how one man who also had his life in disarray from his bad choices WAS freed through the gospel. We now find ourselves in my 4th sector, a little town on the coast called Naranjal. At the time that I was there, the church had only been established there 8 months prior. So it was a brand new, budding, branch. But a branch that was growing quickly, as those prepared children of God were accepting the gospel like a brush fire spreading in southern California during the Santa Ana winds. The excitement that the members, who were ALL new converts, had for the gospel was contagious and catching fast. As the Young Women President, I visited the young girls a lot to help them to get excited to be a part of the YW program, participate in personal progress, etc. Well we were visiting one of these girls named Jocelyn one afternoon, and she started complaining to us about her mother's boyfriend, saying he had a drinking problem and needed help, and that her mom wanted us to visit him. Super excited for the referral, we set up an appt to visit him, Eduardo, with Jocelyn and her mom later that week, which happened to be the same week that we were getting a visit from one of the 70, Elder Uceda, who was coming to see how the church was progressing in Naranjal, and to see if we could be made an official branch, as at the time we were only a project of the mission. This was why we had been told he was coming at least, and it's what we told everyone as we rallied the troops to our garage-like church building set-up at 11am on a Thursday morning. Well turns out Elder Uceda had ACTUALLY been planning on shutting down the whole thing, and pulling out the missionaries. He showed up that day with such a purpose. But later shared with us that when he walked into that full, wall to wall lined with people room in the middle of prime working hours, he was overcome with the spirit of the members of Naranjal and fell in love with them instantly. So then later as the members were shaking his hand and handing him envelopes full of tithing, he of course as soon as possible made Naranjal an official branch so that that tithing could have a place to go.
Alright now that we have seen how NOT to overcome trials, we shall now take a look at how one man who also had his life in disarray from his bad choices WAS freed through the gospel. We now find ourselves in my 4th sector, a little town on the coast called Naranjal. At the time that I was there, the church had only been established there 8 months prior. So it was a brand new, budding, branch. But a branch that was growing quickly, as those prepared children of God were accepting the gospel like a brush fire spreading in southern California during the Santa Ana winds. The excitement that the members, who were ALL new converts, had for the gospel was contagious and catching fast. As the Young Women President, I visited the young girls a lot to help them to get excited to be a part of the YW program, participate in personal progress, etc. Well we were visiting one of these girls named Jocelyn one afternoon, and she started complaining to us about her mother's boyfriend, saying he had a drinking problem and needed help, and that her mom wanted us to visit him. Super excited for the referral, we set up an appt to visit him, Eduardo, with Jocelyn and her mom later that week, which happened to be the same week that we were getting a visit from one of the 70, Elder Uceda, who was coming to see how the church was progressing in Naranjal, and to see if we could be made an official branch, as at the time we were only a project of the mission. This was why we had been told he was coming at least, and it's what we told everyone as we rallied the troops to our garage-like church building set-up at 11am on a Thursday morning. Well turns out Elder Uceda had ACTUALLY been planning on shutting down the whole thing, and pulling out the missionaries. He showed up that day with such a purpose. But later shared with us that when he walked into that full, wall to wall lined with people room in the middle of prime working hours, he was overcome with the spirit of the members of Naranjal and fell in love with them instantly. So then later as the members were shaking his hand and handing him envelopes full of tithing, he of course as soon as possible made Naranjal an official branch so that that tithing could have a place to go.
Well this day was Eduardo, the boyfriend's, first experience coming to church, and
was so impressed by the spirit that he felt there, and told us that he decided right then and
there that this Church was something special and something that he needed to be a part
of. So long story short, he was desperate to change his life around, and grasped at the
gospel like a lifeline. He devoured the Book of Mormon within weeks and at his baptism
was able to share a sweet, simple testimony with us on the riverbed of the saving grace of the atonement; and how even though he relapsed one time while preparing for his
baptism, through many tears and much remorse, he was able to go through the repentance
process, become aware of the immense love that the savior had for him, and ultimately
feel of the mercy and forgiveness that was offered him from his loving Heavenly Father.
And in that moment that he shared this, I was able to compare Eduardo’s experience to
that of Eddy's of Cuenca, and while I did not recognize it before, my was the contrast
stark. In Moroni 7:33 it says, And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.
So while Eddy said he wanted to
change, instead of taking action on his faith and personal responsibility for his choices, he just made excuses to try and validate his addictions. Eduardo on the other hand, acted on
his faith and his desire to change. He owned up to his mistakes, gave his best effort to
change, and succeeded in doing so with the Lord's help. And I can honestly say that I was
able to witness in this man the fruits of a true, genuine repentance. Bueno, while the lord is there to pick us back up when we have fallen from the
trials that come as a result from our own mistakes, he is also there alongside us to strictly
help us learn from the trials that we have been given with the purpose to grow and
progress in this life. There is a scripture I like a lot in Isiah 41 that says:
for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. 13 For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. When we are going through trials, the Lord is there to help us, and he WILL help us when we do our part .
Before the mission, adversity and I were enemies. I looked at my trials like I had been given every short straw possible. The typical teenage angsty “woe is me, my life sucks, so instead of taking action to be happier, I'm just gonna drown my so called sorrows in music, books, Netflix and Dr. Pepper."
for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. 13 For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. When we are going through trials, the Lord is there to help us, and he WILL help us when we do our part .
Before the mission, adversity and I were enemies. I looked at my trials like I had been given every short straw possible. The typical teenage angsty “woe is me, my life sucks, so instead of taking action to be happier, I'm just gonna drown my so called sorrows in music, books, Netflix and Dr. Pepper."
That is what I did, and I own up
to that. I considered myself a bystander to my problems. That they just came, that’s how
it is, and there's nothing I can do about it. Oh how wrong was I. Sometimes I wish I could
go slap high school/ early-college-days-Abbie out of her Netflix stupor and be like hey, while this may be a good show, binge watching it will just make you even sadder, so how
about you go read your scriptures instead; Because now it is SO obvious to me that all
those worldly pleasures, are just supplements. Relying on them and only them alone will
only bring fleeting moments of surface happiness, that are in reality covering a hole of
despair underneath. But if your happiness is based on the gospel of Jesus Christ, if under
those fleeting moments of happiness that are brought on by worldly things, there is a firm
testimony of the restoration, the plan of salvation, and the gospel of Jesus Christ
accompanied by a strong habit of daily prayer and scripture study, then when the trials
come you won't fall into the pit of despair. When adversity roars its head - that strong
Christ centered foundation that you’ve worked so hard to build WILL support you.
And I feel so incredibly blessed to have had that foundation to hold me up when my entire body became a red, itchy, scabby, peely, nasty, rash for 4 months. Because only that foundation, only that solid knowledge that I have a Savior who loves me and suffered for me is what made me capable to bear the thick, dry, pussy, oozing, layer of strep infection that developed on top of those rashes. I was only able to keep going thanks to the fact that I KNOW that I have a loving Father in Heaven who wants the best for me. And I am only able to stand before all of you today and tell you that I am truly GRATEFUL for the opportunity I had to endure all of it, because I know that If I hadn’t, I would not have learned and grown as much as I did. I know that if I hadn’t, that there is no way I would be as close as I am to my Savior right now. Because while I know that I did not suffer even a hundredth thousandth part of what Christ suffered, that nevertheless through this trial I was able to gain a better idea of what his suffering may have been like. I was able to obtain such a deeper grasp on the atonement and not only its personal significance for me, and for the people of Ecuador, but for all of mankind. And I am in awe. As one of my favorite hymns states, “I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me. Confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me. I tremble to know that for me he was crucified. That for me, a sinner, he suffered, he bled and died.” And that is why I was able to stay in the mission as long as I did, because my skin-strep and atopic dermatitis is literally nothing in comparison to all that Christ endured while he was on HIS mission here on the earth. And as Joseph Smith always said, “shall we not go on in so great a cause?”
And I feel so incredibly blessed to have had that foundation to hold me up when my entire body became a red, itchy, scabby, peely, nasty, rash for 4 months. Because only that foundation, only that solid knowledge that I have a Savior who loves me and suffered for me is what made me capable to bear the thick, dry, pussy, oozing, layer of strep infection that developed on top of those rashes. I was only able to keep going thanks to the fact that I KNOW that I have a loving Father in Heaven who wants the best for me. And I am only able to stand before all of you today and tell you that I am truly GRATEFUL for the opportunity I had to endure all of it, because I know that If I hadn’t, I would not have learned and grown as much as I did. I know that if I hadn’t, that there is no way I would be as close as I am to my Savior right now. Because while I know that I did not suffer even a hundredth thousandth part of what Christ suffered, that nevertheless through this trial I was able to gain a better idea of what his suffering may have been like. I was able to obtain such a deeper grasp on the atonement and not only its personal significance for me, and for the people of Ecuador, but for all of mankind. And I am in awe. As one of my favorite hymns states, “I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me. Confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me. I tremble to know that for me he was crucified. That for me, a sinner, he suffered, he bled and died.” And that is why I was able to stay in the mission as long as I did, because my skin-strep and atopic dermatitis is literally nothing in comparison to all that Christ endured while he was on HIS mission here on the earth. And as Joseph Smith always said, “shall we not go on in so great a cause?”
Brothers and Sisters, adversity is awesome. Without it, we would never achieve
anything, as we would be stuck in one spot, just never progressing. And for that I am
thankful for it. Every single trial will be for our good. And if we have our firmly built
foundation on Christ, we don’t need to worry when these trials come, because it will
catch us when we fall. The famous scripture found in Helaman 5:12 always comes to
mind:
And now, my sons, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have now power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.
And now, my sons, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have now power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.
Brother Richman said in his talk that “Spiritual growth can often be achieved more
readily by trials and adversity than by comfort and tranquility. Trials can teach us that
faith in God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ is the source of inner strength.”
Brothers and sisters, if we take action, if we do our part, if we endure our trials well, and above all if we LEARN and GROW from them, we will be blessed. I feel immensely blessed for the opportunity that I had to be a missionary. Or as it says in my mission theme, 3 Nephi 5: 13, a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.”
Serving my brothers and sisters, mis hermanos, in the Ecuador Guayaquil South mission has been one of the biggest blessings of my entire life. I am so incredibly grateful for all that they taught me. There is no doubt in my mind that this church is the true church of Christ restored to the Earth today....
Brothers and sisters, if we take action, if we do our part, if we endure our trials well, and above all if we LEARN and GROW from them, we will be blessed. I feel immensely blessed for the opportunity that I had to be a missionary. Or as it says in my mission theme, 3 Nephi 5: 13, a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.”
Serving my brothers and sisters, mis hermanos, in the Ecuador Guayaquil South mission has been one of the biggest blessings of my entire life. I am so incredibly grateful for all that they taught me. There is no doubt in my mind that this church is the true church of Christ restored to the Earth today....
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