Pictures of Elder Remington

Changes, Changes, Changes

Family and friends,

A few weeks ago I had my first baptism in a river :) Here is the picture. This was in a small little town called Pedernales that is 5 hours away from Portoviejo but its still part of the same zone. Crazy stuff huh but its worth every second of traveling time to go there because the people are so humble and happy :) I've gone there quite a few times to do baptismal interviews for the last few months and every time I went we would go visit Stalin and Nury (the couple to the left of me in the picture) and I got to know them really well and we became great friends. They were living together for a long time and had two kids but still weren't married (a common problem here in Ecuador) so for a long time they wanted to get baptized but couldn't because they were still saving up money to get married (it costs about $55 here and that's a ton here). Finally through a ward activity to help raise money they were able to get married and baptized together and Stalin really wanted me to baptize him so I got to stay in Pedernales for two days and I got to baptize him in a river :) a truly wonderful experience that I won't soon forget. This couple is incredible and I know that they'll be an eternal family :) they already have planned to go to the temple in a year and they're way stoked! 

That was one of the last events for me in Portoviejo because last week I had transfers... I'm not going to lie it was really tough at first because I absolutely love Portoviejo. Its an incredible zone, with an amazing ward that really loves and supports us, Elder Tibanlombo is an awesome companion and we really worked well together, the people there are so humble and happy, they love missionary works, the food is delicious, and we had surpassed the goal every month breaking records, winning dinners with President, and saving many souls :) life was really good in Portoviejo. I miss being there to be honest. There will always be a special part in my heart for the people there and the nice thing is that Elder Tibanlombo lives in Quito which is only a few hours aways from there so we already have planned that when I go back to Ecuador that we'll go visit our converts and friends there together with our families :) its sure to be a good time. "Preach My Gospel" says that we should always leave our sector and zone stronger than we found it so I feel happy that I have done that and hope that the work continues to progress and improve there :) 

I have now been changed to the zone Quevedo Sur in sector Quevedo 1 with my new companion Elder Muñoz from Ciudad Mexico, Mexico. This is the same zone where I first started my mission in Empalme and was having lots and lots of success in about a year ago with Elder Linares and Elder Vielma as zone leaders but sadly since those two left its been a downhill slide for Quevedo Sur. At one point things were so bad here that in the month of January the entire zone combined only had 4 baptisms. Honestly to me that's a huge example that its the quality of leader and missionaries that really makes the difference. I'll be honest when I first got here I was pretty stressed because there were a lot of problems in the zone. Lots of the missionaries weren't being obedient, there was contention between many of the missionaries, there was very little unity as a zone, there were very few baptisms and investigators with baptismal dates, and there was a lack of motivation and vision in many of the missionaries. So one of my first nights here I got on my knees and I had a very long conversation with my Heavenly Father pleading and asking for guidance and strength to be able to really turn things around here in Quevedo Sur and I felt his love and support :) I really felt and know without a doubt that He is well aware of me and my situation and he knows this is exactly what I need right now and Quevedo Sur is exactly where I need to be. I trust in Him (Proverbs 3:5-6) and I know that all of these experiences will be for my good (Romans 8:28) and if I do my part it'll be for the good of many people here in Quevedo Sur. 

Things have already changed quite a bit and its a new Quevedo Sur :) one of the things that has most helped us is what I call the 8 Attributes of a Successful Zone. Its a list of qualities and principles that good zone leaders and missionaries should do in order to have success. I first wrote this list when I was called zone leader in Portoviejo and I sat down and meditated carefully what were some of the key things that Elder Vielma and Elder Linares did in Quevedo Sur to have the results that they had. Since that time about 3 months ago I have made several revisions with the help of ideas from Elder Carrillo, Elder Tibanlombo, Elder Muñoz, my dad, and many other people and from many other personal experiences that have happened since that time. I know that this list works because its what helped us win the dinner with President Amaya and set a new record twice. Also a few months ago my buddy Elder Magill had recently been called zone leader and was a little nervous about how to do a good job so he asked me for some advice. Happy to help a friend I gave him a lot of tips from the list and he took a picture of the list and took that picture with him to his zone and applied it for the month of April in his zone Los Rios... and guess who won the dinner with President in April... Los Rios!! Haha when Elder Tibanlombo found out about that he joked around saying it was my fault we had lost the dinner haha but we both know that the most important thing is the salvation of souls so I'm happy that the list was able to help them save more souls there in Los Rios and hope that it can help lots of other zone leaders and missionaries be more successful and bring more children of God unto Christ. Fortunately, now that Elder Magill is assistant with Elder Vielma and they have both seen the power of that list they asked me the other day to write it all out in an email and send it to them to be able to share with all the zone leaders in the mission. The other day the assistants were revising the district leader handout that gives some guidelines to all the new district leaders how to do their job well and they asked for my help on how to make it better and I was able to add some points from the 8 attributes list that I know will help out a lot the new district leaders :) its exciting being able to share this information with others because I know it will help us all better build the Kingdom of God. Also I was thinking it'd be good to send this list to all of you because many of you reading are future missionaries and it will definitely be a big help or if you're not future missionaries the principles of this list will be able to help you in any aspect of life whether it be how to have a successful sports team, family, business, be a good student, or whatever it is these atributes can be applied and will bring results to all :) I definitely don't have time to write it all out in English with the little Internet time that I have so I will send the Spanish version that I sent to the assistants to some trusted friends who I hope can translate it for me and then I'll be able to send it to all of you :) I'll be updating you all on how that goes next week. 

All in all it was really tough leaving Portoviejo and I still miss the people a lot but I know that this is what God needs and I will go and do what He commands me to do! Life is better when we have that attitude of trust and devotion to the Lord. And honestly I've always had the dream of being able to one day go back to this zone because I really love the people here and its cool to be able to see my converts from Emplame and some members here in Quevedo that I got to know a year ago. It truly is a blessing to be here and I will make the most of it while it lasts! 

Remember to always trust in the Lord and seek His guidance in all things. Make prayer more personal and meaningful (Alma 37:37) and we will have more personal and meaningful answers to our prayers :) we will feel His great love for us more abundantly. For all you future missionaries out there prepare yourselves for the time of your life and I promise you that this is the most important work that exists on the face of the planet and it is the most rewarding :) many blessings await you and also many responsibilities so prepare yourselves well :) the best way to do it is studying daily "Preach My Gospel" and the Book of Mormon, and living worthily of the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost.

With love,

Elder Remington

Visit from President, White Night, and Transfers

Family and friends, 

In Spanish the nickname for a big baptism is ¨noche blanca¨ which works a lot better than ¨white night¨ haha but I can't remember what the correct nickname in English is so that'll have to do for now :) Anyway as you can see from the pictures the Lord really blessed us this week with lots of exciting events but most of all there are three things of significance that happened. 

First, President Amaya, Sister Amaya, their son Andres, and the assistants all visited us Tuesday to congratulate us on our achievements  join our zone meeting, teach us, and share a nice lunch with us in the chapel. I'm not going to lie the last visit from President was a lot more funny and upbeat but this visit was great too. We got to know Sister Amaya and her son a lot better and we saw a side of President we had never seen before when he was joking with his son about beating him in ping-pong. Haha I know it sounds weird but here in the mission we all admire and look up to President so much and we usually only see him in a suit at zone conferences or interviews or leadership conferences that it shocks us to see that he's a normal Dad. Haha but it was great and he shared some really good advice with us. Most of all what I remember is that he said that one month in the mission is worth 5 years in college, work, or anything else that we could be doing instead of serving a mission... that really hit me hard and I realized that he's totally right because there is no other place on earth that you can experience the spiritual growth, learning, and development that takes place in a full-time mission. :) He said we should make the most of every second because of future children will be cursed or blessed depending on how we serve our missions. :) He is a very inspired man of God and I am very grateful to serve with him in this part of the Lord's vineyard. 

Second, the most exciting news of all is that nine children of God were baptized this week in our sector. :) We feel very blessed to be the Lord's instruments in this sector where so many members help us and support the missionary work. :) We can't do it without them and we most definitely can't do it without the Spirit and blessings of God. In order from left to right in the picture we have Elder Tibanlombo, Steven, Nayeli, Liliana (three in front), (after that from the back) Edith, Genesis, Melina, Laila, Bryan, funny looking guy, and Bishop Salas who also baptized some people. :) They all are part member families that we found through referrals or through the list of action of interviews (its an excellent resource that I recommend to all missionaries for finding people) and the wonderful thing is that in every single case we were able to hit two birds with one stone by both activating the less actives in the family and baptizing the non-members in the family. :) With everyone in these 5 families now regularly attending church the church attendance in our ward has skyrocketed so much to the point that we have to bring extra chairs in every week and the Stake President said they are going to build a second floor to the chapel so that everyone can fit! Bishop Salas and the whole ward are all very happy and grateful for the work we are doing... but most importantly of all my companion and I feel and know that the Lord is pleased with the work we are doing here in Portoviejo with our sector and with our zone... that is one of the best feelings in the whole world to know that God is happy with your work. :) Nothing beats it trust me!

Third, we had transfers this week and we lost a few great Elders from the zone but we received two great Elders in their place and we know that it is all according to God's will and His plan and we trust in Him because He knows a lot better than we do! I am very happy because I get to stay here with my buddy Elder Tibanlombo for another six weeks and its way fun being his companion! Seriously he has become my best companion that has most taught me how to be a good missionary, good friend, and good disciple of Christ. One of the most important lessons he has taught me that I feel prompted to share with you alll is that humor is the key to avoid contention. I repeat humor is the key to avoid contention. Simple but essential. Honestly with every other companion I've had we always a little bit of a disagreement at least one time. We would always work it out in the end and everything was great and trust me I've been very blessed with lots of other great companions but with Elder Tibanlombo we literally never argue because whenever there's potential contention he just says a joke that totally cuts all the tension and then we work it out with a smile. By no means am I saying that you don't have to be serious and focused at times because trust me there are moments when we are very focused and have serious talks and plans about what we're going to do in the zone... I am saying that humor is a great instrument when used correctly in the right moment to avoid contention and be happy :) 

Love,

Elder Remington

Great Baptisms :)

Family and Friends,

Two weeks ago on conference weekend we had a great baptism for Michele Galaraga. We had the baptismal service right after the second session on Saturday in the Stake Center so the majority of the zone was all there together. It was a great service and right as Michele left the water she had a huge smile on her face and was radiating. The following Sunday she shared her testimony and said that when she was baptized she had the most incredible feeling of warmth and happiness and that she had never felt anything like that in her life before. :) My companion and I sitting there were both stoked to hear that, and I leaned over and told him that she must've had a super powerful missionary baptize her... haha honestly its one of the best feelings in the world to see someone that you've taught and worked with for so long get up and bear their testimony. :) It reminded me a lot of how great I felt in Albonor when Roberto shared his testimony shortly after his baptism and wow... there are few other feelings like it trust me. :)

This last Saturday we had another very special baptism of Jorge Luis Briones (he's the guy on the right thats so happy he can't open his eyes right haha). He is the boyfriend of Joanna (girl in the blue standing in front of him) who is a great member that comes from a family of powerful people who are all way involved in missionary work. :) They are always giving us lots of referrals and helping out with visiting investigators and being their friends. :) Very valuable for missionaries indeed. Anyway, I remember that Jorge Luis started listening to us all the way back in February my very first week here in Portoviejo and then for about a month and a half he stopped listening to us... then out of nowhere he showed up and said he had been reading the Book of Mormon, knew that it was true, and he wanted to get baptized... we didn't argue with him! He's a great guy and it was great to see how happy he and Joanna looked together yesterday in church. Lots of faith-filled prayers by Joanna were finally answered this weekend and I have no doubt that they will go to the temple next week and be an eternal family. :)

I recently shared some advice with my mom about how to get youth involved in church activities... it was written very quickly and is very goofy but I think it'll be of great help to leaders trying to involve the youth more. Obviously it isn't relevant to the majority of readers here but for those of you who are interested and could benefit from such advice you can send my mom an email requesting it and she'll be sure to send it to you. :) I hope it helps!

Remember that wickedness never was happiness. All of us have little sins that we like and don't want to let go; gossiping, cheating in school, inappropriate music, bad TV shows, and many other things that we know we shouldn't do but we ignore that little voice in our head, convince ourselves that its fine, and do it anyway. Such actions will always bring consequences of pain and regret while the action of repenting and changing will bring peace of mind and happiness. As Nike says.. just do it :) and you'll be happy you did. There is no feeling like the feeling of a clean conscience trust me. :)

Love,

Elder Remington

Lots of Blessings and Good Times

Family and Friends,

This weekend we had a great baptism for a young buck named Jackson who is super shy but a very good kid. :) As a zone in Portoviejo we are very happy and grateful to the Lord for blessing us this month because we just set a record for most baptisms in a month for the entire mission and the entire area. :) We worked very hard and the Lord really blessed us. This last week was even more crazy than the last one for my companion and I running all over the place in interchanges helping out all the different areas with their investigators resolving doubts to get baptized this week and doing a ton of baptismal interviews. Honestly, it was a very long week and very physically, emotionally, and spiritually tiring... but the great thing is that although we were stressed and very busy my companion and I never got overwhelmed and we always laughed, enjoyed the moment, and had a fun time working hard together.

President Amaya has decided to make it a tradition that every month he's going to take to dinner the zone that most baptizes and most surpasses their goal. Everyone in the zone is way stoked to have a dinner with him again :) He should be coming this week or the next to celebrate with us. Elder Linares and Elder Vielma are excited to come visit us again too. Haha. The last time they came after we finished eating they said alright Elder Remington we'll see you here next month haha and I said yep we'll we waiting for you! Great guys those two it'll be fun hanging out with them again especially since Elder Linares is going to finish his mission in just three weeks. Lots of exciting stuff happening here in Portoviejo. I feel very blessed to be here and honored that the Lord trusts me and my companion with such a great place with so many people ready for the gospel. :) We recognize for sure that we're just the instruments (Alma 29:9) and that we can't do anything without His help :) all the glory goes to Him (D&C 4:5). I'm truly the happiest I've ever been and I'm grateful that I have the wonderful opportunity of serving here in Ecuador for much more time. :) The mission goes by way way too fast so I've gotta make every minute count.

It will be General Conference this week and I'm excited for that. I wanted to share a part of President Uchtdorf's talk with all of you from September 2011 that helped me have a great experience last conference and I hope this advice helps all of you to have a great experience in conference as well:

As you prepare for general conference, I invite you to ponder questions you need to have answered. For example, you might yearn for direction and guidance by the Lord regarding challenges you are facing.
Answers to your specific prayers may come directly from a particular talk or from a specific phrase. At other times answers may come in a seemingly unrelated word, phrase, or song. A heart filled with gratitude for the blessings of life and an earnest desire to hear and follow the words of counsel will prepare the way for personal revelation.

Often times we just kind of go through the motions sit in our couch all comfy in our pajamas, listen to the talks, say wow what a great message, and then we go on and live our lives the exact same way. If we really prepare ourselves for conference with specific questions for specific problems then we will receive answers and personal revelation for what we need. That's what I did last October and had a wonderful experience and I invite all of you to do the same and I promise that conference will be more meaningful for you.

Lastly I wanted to share with you all the there's no such thing as a little thing when it comes to obedience. Its easier to be obedient 100% than 98% and when we're obedient we're happy. :) It's a very complicated story and I don't have time to share it all but the other day I had to make a choice between having another baptism to break the record even more or doing things the right way to have a clear conscience. We had traveled very far for this person and if I did what I knew was right I was going to lose $8, 5 hours of traveling, and maybe not break the record... luckily I decided that a clean conscience is worth much more than all of those things and so I made the right choice and the Lord blessed us for it :) Everything worked out okay at the end of the day and I learned two great lessons; first that we should always follow every prompting of the Spirit and second that the peace of a clean conscience is more valuable than anything else.

Remember to always have the eternal perspective in mind when you make choices and you will choose the right (Matthew 6:19-21).

Love,

Elder Remington

Lots of Blessings :)

Family and Friends,

This was a very intense and busy week for my companion and I but very rewarding too. We had a ton of investigators with baptismal dates this week so we had to run all over the place in interchanges helping out the Elders making sure everyone got baptized and doing the baptismal interviews and what not. I really like doing interchanges its a great way to build unity in the zone and help out your missionaries :) Its fun to see their growth! Baptismal interviews are also very great experiences :) The Spirit is always very strong and I always leave the room feeling more uplifted and more converted than when I entered. This week I had a particularly special interview with a sister from Bahia... obviously I won't go into detail in the slightest because whats said in a baptismal interview is completely confidential only between she and I and God but I'll just say that it was a very uplifting experience because that poor sister has gone through some very very tough trials and walked into the room with huge burdens and deep scars from years of physical and emotional pain... after a very long interview with many tears, confessions, and many testimonies of the redeeming power and love of our beloved Savior Jesus Christ, she left that room feeling completely relieved and invigorated :) The most special part of it all was when I felt prompted to share with her a little metaphor and example. She had explained that she felt like after all the heartache and pain that she had passed through her life would never be the same again because the scars and memories would always remain... I then felt prompted to share a little example and bear my testimony. I pulled out a little post it and shared that sometimes we are like this post it and when tough times and trials come its as if those trials and pain just wrinkle us up (I then wrinkled up the post it big time). Many people think that after so many trials and pain that theres nothing we can do to change it and that we will never be the same, we can fix it up a little bit (straightening out the post it but it still had a bunch of wrinkles) but we'll never go back to how we used to be the scars and memories will always remain... but dear sister that is a false idea. God teaches us and I testify to you that through the Atonement of Christ and through baptism we can wash our sins away and become new people. When we are baptized and enter the water, the old person of sin and pain dies (holding up the wrinkled post it and then throwing it away) and then we come out of the water a completely new person is born (pulled out a new, clean, flawless post it) and all of our sins, pains, and heartaches are washed away as if they had never happened and the Lord will no longer remember them... we have the great blessing of starting over with a clean slate and a new life.. pure and clean of all our sins :) I then testified of the redeeming power of the Atonement and that the next day she would be making the best decision of her life :) It was a very uplifting experience and she told me at the end that she had never felt comfortable to share with anyone what she had shared with me and that it was the first time she had told anyone... she thanked me sincerely for being a good listener and helping her and being there for her :) I love being a missionary and love all the wonderful opportunities that we have on a daily basis to be the instruments in God's hands to serve and build up His children and see the blessings and changes that the gospel Christ always brings into their lives :) A truly special experience that I'll never forget.

We also had a great baptism this Saturday for Jean Carlos and Kenia. Jean Carlos is a great kid with lots of good friends in the church who always invited him to activities and to go to church and through their example he decided to get baptized. Kenia was also a referral from the a great family in the ward :) She is the older sister of a few members in our ward who had gone to church a few times before and liked it but never got baptized and stopped going to church because she has very severe back problems and was scared of having to lean back into the water cause it could hurt her back and she felt like she didn't have any friends in the ward so she stopped going. When we visited her we gained her confidence quick and helped her make lots of friends and feel comfortable in church. We also made plans with her for the way we could baptize her without hurting her back. My companion said the baptismal prayer and then he carried her legs and I carried her back and we both gently and slowly lowered her below the water together :) It was a very unique and special experience she is an elect of God for sure :) Her sister tells us that she's seen a ton of changes in Kenia since we started teaching her in that she's more patient and happy now :) more pleasant to be around :) The gospel always brings blessings thats a fact! I invite all of you to involve yourselves more actively in the missionary work in your ward. All of the baptisms we've had here in Andres de Vera have been through ward referrals :) trust me its the way to go but it only works if the members do their part! So everybody do your part and help!

Love you all very much,

Elder Remington

Exciting Changes :)

Family and Friends,

I'm sorry that I haven't written you all in a while and that this letter will be short. The new rule that we can email more people has been a huge blessing because I get to hear from lots of good friends but sadly has limited my time to write you all haha sorry! Anyway I'll get right to the good stuff. We had transfers last week and my new companion is Elder Tibanlombo from Quito, Ecuador. I'll miss Elder Carrillo because he was a great companion but I'm way happy to be with Elder Tibanlombo. It's funny because he was my zone leader in Orquideas and back then honestly we didn't get along very well...haha thus when I found out he was my companion I was a little bit nervous that this would be a tough experience but boy was I wrong. The first thing I did when we got to the house was have a companionship inventory and we both apologized for things that had happened back in Orquideas and communicated very well that now we were excited to have lots of success together here in Portoviejo and that we were both willing and ready to learn from the other and improve together. Since that day we have had the slightest of arguments or problems between each other, just the opposite in fact! We both get along GREAT! He is hilarious, super smart, hard working, happy, and very humble with a strong desire to learn and grow. It is truly a joy to work side by side with him and he has already taught me a lot about how to be a better missionary and how to be a better person. He has a lot more experience than I do and he only has a few months left before he goes home but he's not trunky at all and he's teaching me a ton its great :) Here are three pictures showing just a few of our adventures together.

The first one is a picture with Carlos Lopez. He's a great friend that always does teaching visits with us and is great at helping investigators feel comfortable in church and just being there friend. He has a natural ability to gain people's confidence and share his testimony :) He'll be a great missionary. This is when we visited him the day before he left for the MTC. He'll be serving in Bolivia and wow it was tough to say goodbye to him because we've become way good buds in my short time here and I'll really miss him but I know I'll see him after the mission and we'll always be good friends. Not to be gay about it haha but there's always a special bond between missionaries and teenagers that are just about to leave for the missions because you're in the same boat and you both help each other out in better serving the people and better preparing the future missionary. That reminds me of all the good times I had with the great missionaries in our ward good stuff.

The second picture is my companion and I celebrating after our successful mousehunt haha We didn't have time to buy a mouse trap so we got creative and through team work and great skills we were able to destroy the pesky rodent with a broom and a long stick. It was hilarious and a good team bonding experience haha!

The third picture is the baptism of Sandy and Mario Marcillo. They're two neighbors of the Ibarra family, a great family that was less active but now they're doing great! It was a good experience because we hit two birds with one stone of activating the Ibarra family and baptizing Sandy and Mario :) I've learned that a lot of times having success in the mission is just a matter of opening your mouth without hesitating. We were sitting there teaching the Ibarra family and trying to motivate them to go to church and then a girl walked in a asked if she could play with their little baby for a while. Sometimes missionaries might think uhhh how annoying we're trying to teach here and she's interrupting us what the heck. But if you've got the right attitude and you're always taking advantage of every finding opportunity you see then you'll just smile and say hey what's your name? Nice to meet you I'm Elder Remington and we're teaching about the gospel of Jesus Christ and how it helps us be more happy would you like to join us? :) Little things like that are what bring success and bring eternal salvation to God's precious children. Remember to always listen to the little whisperings of the Spirit and if you're not having those impressions of the Spirit, ask yourself what you're doing to lose the Spirit, change that, and then enjoy being guided by the Holy Ghost everyday because its a great blessing that we all need :) I love you all more than words can describe!