"Satan can stir up hearts and put up roadblocks but this work will go on!

I ate something that is called cuy for the first time the other day and it was surprisingly good, strange but good. The bad news is that it made me super sick.

Hola Familia!

First day of school! Woohooo! Those first day pics just blew me away. I cannot believe that Haley is already a senior, that is just really hard to believe. I can imagine that Mom and Dad feel the same way when I say that time has flown by... It feels like I was just going into my senior year. And I can also remember vividly the days in the good old freshman center! Great times... I remember telling Connor (then a 7th grader) that I (then a Senior) would be a year into my mission when he made it to the freshman center, as we would drive by everyday to go pick up Haley (then a freshman) WOW! Well enjoy it kids, there is nothing better than being in High School, treasure the in the moments because they will fly by! 

Here in Ipiales it has been by far the strangest week of my mission. I'm not sure if you have heard but Colombia is under attack by the strike once again, and this time they brought back up... just about the whole country is putting a hold on the government blocking roads and striking in the cities. 

Here in Ipiales we felt it hard this past week as the strikers are going around the entire city with rocks and huge sticks threatening the people who are open for business and screaming at them until they close all the stores. They think that by doing this they can force the Government to listen. "If we don't work, no one works!" is what they scream in the streets. It was a miracle that we found an internet place to write home this week! Things look like they are getting worse too as more people are getting into the mix. We are not sure what is going to happen, we have been in contact with President Prince to see how he feels about all of this. We really need your prayers here because this is becoming a huge roadblock in the Work. 

And in other news I ate something that is called cuy for the first time the other day (see pics) and it was surprisingly good, strange but good. The bad news is that it made me super sick haha. We had baptisms this week, 8 in total for the zone and sadly I wasn't able to attend but everyone told me it went great! Luckily it didn't last long and I didn't have to miss too much time working. 

There were also some great things that happened this past week as well! We committed Gladis to obey the law chastity as to not having the boyfriend come over everyonce and a while and she has been doing great! She did have a little trouble praying to really find an answer because she felt unworthy to pray. We were able to help her feel better when we shared the story of Alma in Alma 36, when he prayed while in a dream of torment pleading for the mercy of Christ and when he did he could feel no more the pains of his sins. We helped her understand that our Heavenly Father is not a God of punishment but of love and forgiveness and the feelings of unworthiness come from the adversary who is trying to keep us from true repentance. She understood well and we put a new date for the 14th of this next month! 

We have also been working with Diana who has a bit of a problem with a boyfriend from another church discouraging her a lot from baptism. It is quite amazing how hard the adversary works with the people who are so close to making this covenant with God, it just calls for more work on our part! 

We also had a miracle happen this past week, we had been having luck finding new investigators, a lot of things fell and things were just going wrong and so we decided to go contact and knock doors to try to find a family. For about the first hour we were getting rejected just about everywhere but for some reason we never felt down we just kept going and looking with the hope of finding someone, we ended knocking the door of one Familia Orteaga, and they let us in! We found out that about 3 years ago they were about to be baptized but felt too much pressure from the missionaries and backed out. 

They acknowledged that they knew the church was true but couldn't get over feeling rushed and pressured. We also found out that they had passed through some hard times as a family and had been praying that someone could help them, they told us we were the answer to a prayer. I quote the Prophet Thomas S. Monson when I say that "the best feeling in the world is acting on an impression and later finding out that you were an answer to someone's prayer or need." I know we were sent there to knock doors for a reason and that the feelings of discouragement never came because God was with us guiding the way. 

Well that's about it! Keep praying for these dang protestors to get out of here so we can help these people come unto Christ. We did it once before! The Lord did say: "And they shall go forth and none shall stay them, for I the Lord have commanded them." (DyC 1:5) Satan can stir up hearts and put up roadblocks but this work will go on!

Keep praying and THUMBS UP!

Elder Eliason