Well this is it! Sorry that I havent wrote in the past few weeks, Ive been gathering my thoughts about all that has been going on. Its been unreal. I have learned every second that I have been here. I now will be able to apply all that I learned in my own life. Its a roller coaster of feelings, but at the end, roller coasters are a blast. :) I feel very content, although sad at times to leave the Lords work and people that I love. But I know that there are good things to come. I want to thank all those who have supported me in this journey in any way! Its hard to put into words all that I feel. I am just very greatful for the oppurtunity that I have had to be here in mission and to grow closer to My Father in Heaven. I now have a conviction of the Gospel and The Atoning Sacrifice of My Savior. I have become a true discipul of Christ. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, that Joesph Smith was a Prophet that restored the truth. I know these things, I understand them, I believe these things, and I live them. 

See you all in a week! 

Elder Strang

Kolby is coming home from Ecuador July 14th. He will be reporting on his Mission July 19th @ 11 am. 932 West Green Oaks Dr. Murray Utah 84123. You are invited to attend a reception for him after the 11 am meeting. It will be at 1082 W Walden Park Dr Murray Ut 84123 . Please join us in celebrating his Mission.

The past week was incredible, Elder Noll and I are killing it! We are doing what hasn't been done in this sector, baptising a lot! We are working with some incredible families. This last week we met a family, part member and the wife is so ready to be baptized, it truly goes to show that Heavenly Father is always preparing his children. We were told that we have the best numbers in the stake in our ward. Attendance at church is way up.. its jsut been a great week! 

The best part though was Sunday. Elder Arroyo my old comp called and got permission for him and me to go to Las Oriquedeas where I started the mission. That was one of the most rewarding things I have seen. As a missonary there is nothing more rewarding then seeing those you taught and help come unto Christ staying true to those covenants that they made. When we walked in the church it was soo good to see everyone that we baptized there, staying faithful. A sealed family, those who will be endowded and many others all there. Brought tears to my eyes. I never thought just being who I am would be such a big example. I mean I could'nt speak spanish there, but thats not really what matters. The examples that we are and if we are true disciples of Christ have a much stronger and longer lasting impact. 

I hope that we all can become better examples and show that true love Christ unto everyone. Have a great week! Love you all! 

Elder Strang  

Receiving Blessings

This past week has been a struggle, we couldnt move out of our house, the papers with Church legal didnt get through so we hope that we will be out of there today. We were sitting at our desk the other night and Elder Noll says dude look at! And I look and there was a rat the size of a small cat just chillin outside of our window! It was huge! Its been an interesting week with animals too, we have seen all sorts of bugs and spiders and too top top all off, we saw a huge black, yellow and red snake. It had to have been a good 3 feet long.... The mosquitos are super aggressive and are black with white stripes and have eating us up! Pure luck that we havent gotten dengue yet... It will be good to get outt the house.

We have been teaching a couple of good families, but we are still lacking investiagtors, and are running out of ideas of how to find more. We are going to start some english classes and teach the gospel in english to those who come. We also have the idea to do sport nights at the church and play some kind of sport, so pray for us that we can find new people!

We had a lesson this last week with an investigador and we talked about how she could recieve more blessing in her life and how Christ had dies for her, specfically for her. How she and all people can recieve the blessings that God has for us, it was sad to see how her character held her back and she responded how she is content with the blessing that God has for her. It was soo sad to see. Made me think of how many people live below their privedges and blessings. We dont have to be content ever, we can complete with the comandments and then deserve the blessings that come. Some days it can seem daunting or hard but all thats good comes from Our Heavenly Father. I am so thankful for the parents I had that aught me the Gospel from a young age. I encourage you all to never be content and always strive for more in your lives! 

love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Elder Strang

For those of you who dont know, I have a new comp. Elder Guzman was transfered and will be missed, although my new comp is way chill. His name is Elder Noll form Springville Utah. Hes a complete stud! I think he is my long lost twin, we honestly have too much in common and get along really well. Its funny to tell stories about home and see how many things are like the same. He has about 9 months in the mission and has told me alot about home and how things changed and what things had become popular. Sounds like a lot has changed. 

This past week was spent looking relentlessly for a new house. We searched and searched. One night at 7pm (keep in mind that the sun goes down at 6) we called to see a house that was up for rent. After 10 minutes the guy shows up and then takes us in. The house turned out to be a government ran nursery that was shut down a couple months before. So we enter in the house and the power was off, we ended up walking through the house with our cell phone screen lighting the path. The house was huge! It was like living Paranormal activity. After being taking down the 2nd hall all the way down, Elder Noll started freaking out saying that the house was haunted and that the dude was gonna jump us or kill us. We keep hitting lit switchs and finally in the kitchen the light came to revel bats living in the roof and the floor strewn with all sorts of beat us childrens toys. After that we got out and said we´d call him. After looking and praying that week we finally found a smaller but brand new, super nice house. So we called the asistants and we will be moving in there late today! :) 

Its weird to see things coming to an end. I have seen many missionaries that I have known and loved are now going home and starting their lives. It doesnt seem that it will come to an end. This has been my life, is my life and now.. I dont know how to explain it.... Its all just been amazing. Part of me is excited to see home again but part of me will always be a missionary. 

Love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Elder Strang

April 20 2015  Outer Darkness

What a week. I dont ever know where to begin. So what happened is that we were without power for 4 days last week. The reason being is that the house owner didnt get out light bill to us on time so the company came a cut the power to our house. Here in South America they sure are great to charge you and cut the power but not so great to hook it back up. So they came Thursday night to hook the lights back up. We had power that night and the next day at 7:15 in the morning the power turned off again and so we called about 5 more times and they sent NO ONE. Very unrealible here, so that night the house owner called some friend of his that work for the electric company and they came and fixed it. So everything was fine, we went to a lesson and came back an hour later and turned the lights on. After four days it was almost unreal, but something was different, they were extremely bright but we decided to plan for the next day. After about 5 two light bulbs exploded! And so we turned the rest off. We tested the fans and they turned on like a jet engine starting and blew themselves over! So after a pleading call to the electric company they sent a car out to finally fix it. Turns out that someone along the way had down some jack jibbly messed up job and the power was at 240V... Everything in the house was fried. We know have no fridge or microwave. But at least my hot water is back :) 

This week was diferent. I think I said how we didnt have any investigators so we did a clothing drive with a memeber and decided to give that cloting away to the needy and then just asked them if we could visit them to share a message. We got two famiies out of it! Wahoo! Thinking outside of the box on that one! So we are now teaching two great families. Elder Guzman will be transfered tomorrow, it hasnt been that long of a time that we have had together but it has been a great time together. My next companion will very likily be my last. It been quite the ride these past two years and will finishly strong in these next short months. 

I want to thank you all for the love and support that you all give to me and the wonderfull example that you all are. I love this Gospel, I know its true and I live. Have a great week!

Elder Strang

This past week has been incredible hot. Walking through the streets feeling that your bones are getting a tan, its that hot. I dont know why there cant be a middle ground. Its either pouring rain or walking through hell. Im way dark on my arms, face and neck and I think its a tan that will never go away. You may be asking why we walked around in the sun so much? Last week President Riggins and his wife visited our house to check the cleanliness, it was not super clean, the reason being is that everytime that it rains, water comes in the house and gets everything wet. The wall looks like someone threw a bucket of water all over and theres water that comes out of the floor. So they told us that we could live there anymore and that we needed to fined a house ASAP. We have been walkng around looking for house all week and have found only worse than we have now, but we will find one this week. :)

We are sharing the Because of Him video with the whole world here. I think we had 25 lesson last week just teaching with the video and then sharing scriptures about the Atonement. It has been going great but we dont have investigartores! We are working hard but we cant seem to get any.. Hoping this week we will find some! Its crazy to see all the people that I know coming home from the mission. It doesnt seem quite real yet, these have been two great years that honestly in the beggining I never thought would end but it will sonn be over. 

Love Elder Strang