New adventure next week - Zamora

When our newly rented apartment is ready early next week we will go to Zamora. That is our new assignment from President Torres. We came back from the Galapagos Islands last Friday. 
On Saturday we had a great mission meeting that was supposed to be with Elder Oaks. 

The three Guayaquil missions were assembled in a stake building at 8:30, anticipating Elder Oaks to arrive at 10:00. His plane had mechanical difficulties the night before and Elder Oaks and his wife and the Claytons of the Seventy were delayed, missed their connecting flight and would not arrive until the afternoon when they had other meetings scheduled with the local Stake and Ward leaders.

Elder Waddel of the Seventy who is serving as a counselor in our Area Presidency presided at our missionary meeting. Our mission president conducted. They had each of the three mission presidents and wives give a short talk. Also Elder Vallejo (who we worked with both in Quito and in the temple here) and his wife spoke. Sister Waddel spoke with a translator. Then Elder Waddel  got up to speak. He said he had been unsure of what to say in this meeting ever since the phone call. Elder Oaks just said to tell the missionaries that he loves them. He said we know that the Lord was not surprised that Elder Oak's plane had difficulties. The Lord had a reason for things to work out the way they did. He felt the weight of responsibility to say what the Lord would have us hear. (In my opinion he did that extremely well.)

He said that Elder Oaks wanted to come to Guayaquil and had organized this meeting because the three Guayaquil missions are the highest baptizing missions in the world (Sister Torres said that that was news to them.) and they need to also become the most effective missions in not only converting but also in retaining and reactivating the less active members. He said that the world changed a bit in July of last year when President Monson spoke in the broadcast about Hastening the Work. He said, "You are not on the same mission that your fathers were on. This is Mission 2.0. We not only baptize. We convert. We retain. We reactivate. You will teach the world, not only to be baptized, but prepared to continue on their way to seal their family together for eternity in the temple."

He reminded us that Joseph Smith's second vision was with Moroni in his bedroom and he didn't mention baptism. He quoted Malachi and spoke about the sealing powers. Baptism is very important. It is the beginning of the path. But it must be only the beginning and not the ultimate goal. It must be followed by keeping covenants and commandments and receiving additional ordinances and blessings. He said one stake in this area had more than 50 adult convert baptisms within last year but only 4 of those 50 were paying their tithing. Tithing is important because it is a requirement to receive a temple recommend and further ordinances and greater blessings. He said our goals must be greater than numbers and that our goals reveal our faith.

He said number of baptisms is not the measure of your mission. Some missionaries have no baptisms on their mission and perhaps they have been more successful than other missionaries with many baptisms. Just to be on a mission is not your goal. Your goal should be to finish your mission as a disciple of Christ and prepared to live the rest of your life as His disciple. Have we learned to serve as he served? 

He told all of us that the Parable of the Talents should teach us that it is not about the numbers. The numbers are unimportant. The message is to improve what we have to work with. We must improve ourselves and offer the love and blessings of the Gospel to others in such a way that they will see that their goals lie far beyond the baptism font. True converts begin at the font and continue to the temple.

"It was difficult." is not an excuse that the Father will accept, Elder Waddel said. He reminded us of Luke 22: beginning at verse 41 and D&C 19: beginning at verse 16.  Even when it is very difficult we must fulfill our responsibilities. We cannot accomplish what Christ did but we can fulfill our own responsibilities in the same manner. 

How do we serve? We all need to become more like our Savior. We need to be disciples of Jesus Christ. This will be the measure of our mission.

Convert our investigators. Retain the recent converts. Reactivate the less active.

It was a blessing to be in attendance at that special meeting. 

We have spent most of this week staying with the children of President and Sister Torres while they attended a mission president seminar in Lima, Peru. That has been fun and Lewis's math skills have come in very handy since they are home schooled.  

Lewis found us some information about Zamora on the internet. Here is what he has found:

Zamora is nationally known as the mining capital of Ecuador and also known as the city of birds and waterfalls. It is located at the convergence of three rivers. It has a long history as it was founded by Hernando de Barahona of Spain, on October 4, 1549. The city is proud of its huge clock regarded as one of the largest in the world with a diameter of 30 meters (approx. 100 ft.) on a green hillside.

Zamora is considered a jungle paradise with its tropical flora and fauna. It is a stunning attraction from the floors of its valleys to the green foothills of the Andean mountain ranges. There are several rivers and innumerable waterfalls. In recent years Zamora has become a city of great urban development while its geography preserves the forest vegetation that welcomes a diversity of animals including: tapirs, spectacled bear, jaguar, capybaras, agoutis (they look like a very big guinea pig), pumas, birds and insects. Zamora is rich in metallic and nonmetallic mineral resources, which has attracted the interest of both the business and the artisanal mining sector.

Zamora offers several domestic and foreign tourists attractions including the Podocarpus National Park. Here you can find 360 varieties of orchids, many of which are very impressive. There are 560 registered species of birds living here, which is 40% of the bird species living in all of Ecuador. You can also find tasty food and traditions that keep alive the indigenous cultures of the past. Zamora Chinchipi is the name of the province and Zamora is the name of the capital city within the province.

As I mentioned in my last post - The photos I have taken in the Galapagos are now posted on PettingillPages.shutterfly.com . You can click on the album Galapagos and see the picture postcards I have made (so far) about our experiences there.