Elder Galloway has 4 Weeks Left--This Week in Atahualpa

3 Jun 2013 This Week in Atahualpa Well, this week has been super busy, and has taken half the time that the first week of the change took. I´m sure things will compact like that as time goes on... for the which I´m not so excited. But we´re trying to make the most of things, and I think we´re doing a pretty good job. This week we worked super hard, and, as I said, we´re starting with our divisions with all the missionaries. We had a great baptism, good Sunday meetings, and a great outing with the zone to the north of Quito to visit the Mitad del Mundo (the "Middle of the World"). We´re getting along just great. I know that with our happiness-level, the fruits of our work will be evident, too. Responses of the Week: Well, the pattern continues -- two weeks of freezing cold rain, and now we are being cooked by a blaaaaazing sun. But that´s how Quito is! I liked what you said this week, especially that by coming to church, people can see the gospel in action. That´s why it´s so important to do everything we can to get them to come! (Have I told you this before?:) President has showed us a diagram that Salt Lake sends him every month with the mission report. It´s like a funnel, and shows number of new investigators and attendances at church needed to get ONE baptism. The average for the area (South America NW) is that for every 18 or 19 investigators (people to whom we have taught a lesson and have a return appointment), like 4 or 5 attend church. Then of those 4 or 5 who attend, one gets baptized. Our mission´s funnel is a LOT more skinny: for every 10 new investigators we find, 2 attend church. Then once they attend church, they have a 50-50 probability of getting baptized. Isn´t that wonderful? So for every two people who attend the meetings, one gets baptized! That means the secret for working in our mission is getting them to church! That´s why we focus so much on doing tours of the chapel. Because that raises the probabilities a whole bunch that they attend church. I think there´s just something special that they can feel in the church buildings, and it´s a great introduction to what the Church does. Then they automatically want to be a part of it. · That´s crazy about my homecoming talk topic! I´ll be sure to prepare myself well. We just barely got the May issue of the Liahonas yesterday, and we were geeking out over getting them. I like the Church: it´s like Christmas at least four times a year (you get General Conference awe repeated twice!). · Say hi to Nick for me. I hope everything goes well for him. ... to be continued... This Week in Atahualpa (2) Attitudes of the Week: I´ve reflected a bit. I am suuuuuuper happy. I loooooooove being involved in missionary work. I think we´re having so much success now for a few reasons: 1) as I have always said, "God honors those who honor Him;" 2) I´m totally happy that I was able to stay here; I think the fact that I know the members means I can work with them effectively; 3) I finally feel confident about my skills as a missionary; I feel like anyone can ask me any question and I could respond comfortably with the Spirit so they feel its truthfulness, and with Elder Martin at my side, what more could you ask?; 4) I´m sure and I feel that many of you are praying for my success. All in all, I´m just in the right place at the right time with the right skills to do God´s work. Baptism of the Week: We planned everything for the U. boys´ baptism this week. It turned out marvelously. Jorge U. had been baptized at 8 years old, because the rest of his family are members. They live in other parts of Quito. In fact, one of his little sisters served a mission in Bolivia 10 years ago, and the littlest brother is serving right now in Barranquilla, Colombia. It was a constant desire of the rest of the family that his sons were baptized. So when they heard the news, they were ecstatic! They all came in for the baptism, then we had a little get-together at Jorge´s house afterward. The ward has been really receptive of all of them, and Jorge has a ton of desire to keep learning and going forward. We sent them to institute on Tuesday nights, and the sons to seminaries that they have every afternoon in the chapel. It will help them a lot. Fast and Testimony Meeting of the Week: Just yesterday morning I realized that it would be my last fast and testimony meeting as a missionary here in Ecuador, and my last opportunity to share my testimony as a missionary. I remember my first testimony meeting in Los Chillos that I let pass by and I told myself I wouldn´t let the opportunity slip by again. It has been wonderful to be able to testify in front of my ward wherever I have served during my mission, and it was especially poignant yesterday. I´ve been here a long time! I don´t know if you know what it is like standing at the pulpit in front of 200 people you have loved and served and helped and strengthened -- Eduardo C., the Al. family, the B. family, the M. family, the T. family... On top of that, I saw the faces of the many people I have helped bring into the Church here -- Martha, Ivette, Luis and Lashmi, the U. family, the An. family, Julio and Diego, Guido, Soraya... and many others. Needless to say, I cried up there. I was able to say very sincerely the joy I felt to see the fruits of my labors, and the joy I had to be an instrument in the hands of God to do His work. I told them that we are all missionaries, with our without a nametag. I told them that I knew that this Church is true, because I DO! It is too big, too perfect, and too marvelous to not be. I told them that we all need to keep going forward... among many other things. There were few dry eyes in the congregation, and I think there was a puddle in front of the pulpit... Tomorrow we are going to have our "mission leaders´ council," at the which it is tradition that the departing missionaries share their testimonies. At least I had a practice, right? New Investigators of the Week: Diego T. has invited his mother, Magdalena, to church for a few weeks now. He wanted us to wait to talk with her until she was a little more ready. So yesterday, after church, she came up to us to ask us a question. We went to a room and taught her the answers. She´s a wonderful woman, and it´s easy to see why Diego is how he is. She was touched and... accepted a baptismal date for the 29th of June. We look forward to teach and help her in these coming weeks. Zone Activity of the Week: As requested, I finally went to the middle of the world! It´s past the nooooooooorth of Quito, and about 2 hours by bus from our house. It was a loooooooong journey, and really interesting to see how things change from open, dry, and hot, and ritzy in the north (it looks like St. George), through the center, to the historic windy streets, and down into the south of Quito, which is hardly as ritzy (but I prefer it that way -- I would hate to work in the north of Quito). It´s kind of like 4 corners -- way out there, there´s not much, and the only people who pay attention to it are tourists. At least we got some good pictures as a zone. It was fun just to get out and about. It´s been almost 10 months since I passed through there. It was a perfect day to go sightseeing -- sunny and very hot. Well, as one sister said in her testimony yesterday, "FORWARD, ELDERS!" We´re keeping busy and trying to keep ourselves occupied. I know that you are, too. Keep it up, have fun, and know that I am very content. With love, Elder Galloway