Happy Thanksgiving!!

Hi Family!!

Happy happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all enjoyed it as much as it looks like you did in all the pictures! I can always count on you guys to have a blast, invent new games, and have fun doing whatever it may be :) My idea is that we can start planning a big thanksgiving party for two years down the road. Everyone in for that? Sweet.

My Thanksgiving, obviously, was a little different than most other years, but we had a great time and I DEFINITELY realized what I’m grateful for. There’s just something about being in a third world country that helps you see how blessed you are really fast. Here they call it Dia de accion de gracias... and again obviously, they don’t celebrate it here. I was actually not expecting to do anything that day. Most of the missionaries in our zone didn’t do anything, just a normal day of work. But... were lucky enough to be in a ward with two American families and they invited all six of us from the ward over for a big Thanksgiving dinner. HAPPY HAPPY DAY! I think our dinner was about identical to what we always have at home.. Potatoes, turkey, salads, fruit, rolls, stuffing, pie, pie and a ton more pie. I don’t think I’ve been so stuffed on my mission, but oh it was so worth it. (Mom, we ate this chocolate, peanut butter, Oreo pie, and I think one of the moms is going to send it to you. Make sure you save the recipe because I want to make it with you when I get back!) Anyway, it was such a fun night (I’ll attach some pictures). We talked about families, the gospel, how much we love Ecuador, but how different things are than our homes, and we all went around and talked about the things were grateful for. It honestly reminded me a lot of being with our family.. happiness, talking, and food. 

Thanksgiving with an American family

You guys, I am so grateful for so many things. Being here in Ecuador for the last 4 months has made me thankful. So so thankful. I know that sometimes being home, living the day to day life, it’s easy to get comfortable with what we have. That happened to me. I’d like to think that growing up, through high school and during college I was grateful, but I don’t think I’ll ever quite look at life the same. We are SO Blessed.

Obviously if nothing else, I have come to realize how completely grateful I am to have the family that I do. Family.. thank you. For your example, support, love. I’ve seen so many people with no family here, and boy, have I been given some of the best.

I’m also grateful for email... (surprise surprise:))

I’m so grateful for beds!

I’m grateful for the opportunity to have perspective. That we know why were here in this life and that every trial we have is for our growth

Grateful for ice cream :)

Grateful for the companion that I have

I’m grateful to have a clean house

I’m also so grateful to know that we have opportunities where we live. Opportunities to learn, meet great people, have and raise a family in a good environment

I’m grateful for hot showers

I am especially grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ. For the opportunity to repent and improve after every mistake we make. I am so so grateful to know that our goal is to become like Christ and one day see Him and our Heavenly Father.

And I’m so so grateful to have the opportunity that I have to be here in Ecuador sharing the gospel. It has made ME so happy, seeing other people so happy. Not only this, but I’m grateful that we can share the gospel for the rest of our lives. By our words and by our examples.

Of course... this is only part of the list I made in my journal, but wow, we have lots to be grateful for. During companionship study this week, my companion made a comment that I really liked. She said... yes, we have so much to be grateful for, but even if we had nothing, I want to be the kind of person who finds gratitude and happiness from keeping the commandments of God. We DO have so many things, but I know that the happiest we will ever be is when we are doing right... when we can feel confidence that we’re trying to follow the Lord. I really liked that thought.

Family Night making cookies

So.. back to the beginning of the week, we had a great family night on Monday with Familia Cheme. We wanted to do something fun, and different than the norm. So mom... thanks to you and the cookie mix you sent, we had a lesson about reading, praying and attending church, and when we combine these three things, our testimonies are so much stronger, better, "more delicious" and complete. (Using the egg, butter, and mix as these three things). Afterward, we baked the cookies, and decorated them with the cookies and frosting you also sent. So so fun, and the kids were loving it. They were sad that we only had one package of cookies to share :) But thank you mom!!

Saturday we had a really cool lesson with one of our ward missionaries. (Have I mentioned that we have some really strong, awesome recent converts?) We went with a girl named Tatianna, who was only baptized a year ago, and she’s working on her papers to leave on a mission. Man, her testimony is so strong. She comes from practically nothing, and she’s the only member in her family. She bore her testimony that night on how she knows without a doubt that the church is what will bring us happiness. She’s had a lot of people in her work make fun of her and has lost some good friends because she joined the church. She talked about the opposition from satan, that not everyone is going to agree with us, but its because it is true. She told me later that even though her family aren’t members right now, she knows that they will join one day. She is such an example of faith. Wow.

Thank you thank you for your letters and love. I am so grateful for you guys! 

Love Hermana Yorgason

Thank You, Thank You

Hi Family and Friends!!

Looky here, its another Monday! This week I received letters from so many people that I love, so thank you thank you to everyone who wrote me (or who has written me in the past). I love hearing about everything going on at home, what you’re all learning, etc, etc. I’ll try and reply to as many as I can, but just know that I love and appreciate you all!!

Lots of great things this week! I’ll try and mention all the highlights...

First of all, for P-day we got together as a zone and played soccer, watched Meet the Mormons, and ate hot dogs and cake. Such a fun day to relax a bit, talk about life, the missionary work, and man, I have some great friends in my zone! An hermana (who is also serving in my ward) is from Morgan, Utah, and we just clicked. I really am meeting people here that I think will be my friends for life. Also as you can imagine with a group of missionaries watching Meet the Mormons, I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room at the end as we watched the story of the missionary and his mom. (To anyone who hasn’t seen that movie, watch it! It’s so so good). But I was reminded once again at how blessed we are to have the gospel in our lives and be able to share that with others.

I had a few lessons this week where I got to help people with English. Earlier in the week we met a man and his wife in a cafe that we were eating at. He saw that I spoke English and asked if I could help him sometime with his homework for his university class. And of course, I was super excited about that. One.. because I love being able to help people translate and learn English. And two... because its also a great way to get into their house and start talking about the gospel. :) We had a lesson with them, and they had lots of questions.. seem to be pretty Catholic, but we left them with a pamphlet and they want us to come back this week, so we’ll see how that goes. I’m always grateful for all the little ways that Heavenly Father puts people in our path. 

The Toapanta family.  Lots of cute kids!

Not exactly sure why, but this week was attack of the Ants. Wednesday night we got home from the day, went to the sink to fill our water bottles, and wow... Ants EVERYWHERE. It was quite the surprise and we didn’t know exactly where to start. So... my companion ran into the other room to look for some sort of spray, and I grabbed our laundry brush to start killing them. I leaned up against the counter to reach all the way to the wall (and I guess didn’t think that through too well) because when I stepped back, there were ants crawling all over my shirt and arms. That wasn’t the best feeling in the world. But... haha actually kind of funny as I tried to shake all of them off. We learned that tick spray apparently works for ants also, and that its not a good idea to leave all your newly washed dishes on the counter. But no worries, We wake up each morning, spray more, kill more, and I think we now finally have it under control.

Right now we’re teaching a family who have so much potential. Their name is the Familia Cheme and have a baptismal date for the 19th of December. They’re in a really hard situation because they’re having a hard time being able to get married, which of course is one of the requirements for baptism. The mom comes to church every single week with her three little boys and has one of the strongest testimonies I have ever heard. We visited her this week and she told us how much this church has changed her life. That she has never felt so much peace and been so happy. She just opened a restaurant in her house to try and earn extra money, but considering that there’s a restaurant or cafe on every single street, it makes it really hard to earn any money. But.. she has so much faith and knows the Lord will bless her. I’m learning lots from this family!

We also have been working a lot with Guido and he finally has another baptismal date! (He’s the one that I’ve talked about before who is in a wheelchair and lives solo) But... he has so much faith and optimism. One of the challenges we have with him is helping him find transportation every Sunday to get to the church and back. His wheelchair doesn’t fold up, and most people here don’t have cars, so that makes it a bit tricky. It has been amazing to watch the ward step up and help out with whatever they can. Almost every week we have been able to find someone who is willing, and right now the bishopric is putting together a schedule of people who can switch off being in charge of his transportation. On Sundays at church, so many people have introduced themselves, taken time to talk to him, make jokes with him, wheel him around to his next class, and I am honestly amazed at the kindness I’ve seen. Compared to when he’s at his house with literally no one, its so cool to see how happy he is surrounded by church members.

As for food this week... I found my new favorite plant. Called Cedron (I actually don’t even know if it exists in America) but it smells like mint and lemon. People use it to make a drink here... boil the cedron, add sugar, and ah, I had that many times this week. Also yesterday, we had steak, potatoes, and a chocolate fountain with apples, strawberries and bananas. Yes, in Ecuador. Ah, I literally was in heaven. That was a great meal :)

Because December is almost here, our mission president has set the goal for everyone of us to make it a "white Christmas". We’re trying extra hard and setting an extra amount of goals to help as many people as we can enter the waters of baptism this next month. It’s been cool to work on this as a mission and really focus on the true meaning of this time of year. We’ve been super blessed in this area and have quite a few people who are working towards baptism. I just have a feeling that I’m going to get transferred before most of them actually get baptized. But... that’s really ok, because seeing the change in them along the way is the best part. So... while you guys have lots of snow, were trying hard to see lots of white as well. 

My ponderize scripture for this week is 3 Nephi 13:31-33. "31. Therefore, take no thought, saying, what shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32. For your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."

This is definitely something I’m working on.. but I have such a strong testimony that if we try our best to be obedient, serve and love others, the Lord will strengthen us. If we are truly putting God first in our lives, everything will be good. And if its bad, it will be FOR our good.

Thank you all for your support and love! Talk to you in a week!!

Hermana Yorgason

Wedding Week!

Hola Hola!!!

Man, sounds like such a great week. And such a great day on Saturday. Tanner and Lexi... I’m so happy for you guys. It still is all a little weird and surreal that you’re actually married, but everything looked beautiful!!! My companion and I were sure thinking about you throughout the day. We even wore your colors to celebrate, wrote you a sign and carried it with us throughout the day. (Sorry that’s all we could do:)) but thoughts were coming your way from Ecuador! All I can ask now is Luke, please don’t get married. I think I should be safe now, but we’ll see what more surprises come my way :)

This week was another good one. Being on a mission really does make me appreciate other missionaries I know, and especially the missionaries we read about in the scriptures. We had a few funny moments this week where we tried to contact someone, asked how they were, what their name was, and we just got a... why are you talking to me look and something like "I don’t want to tell you that" or "why do you want to know". First of all, it makes me realize what I DON’T want to do, and that I always want to be pleasant to people, even if I don’t know them. It also made me realize how lucky we are when we DO find people who are accepting and talk to us. I find so much strength reading about Ammon and Amulek and Aaron in the scriptures and see that they "continued in their afflictions with faith". I am sure that their mission was 10 times harder than mine (especially considering the fact that some of them were thrown in jail and not given food). I love reading about their faith.

Every Wednesday here in our ward we have a "Noche de Hogar" (family night) in the church with people from the ward. In many of the past weeks its been kind of unorganized. Not very many people come... people forget they’re in charge, or tell us when we get their that we’re in charge of a lesson, games and food. (We’ve gotten good at thinking of things fast). Little by little we’ve gotten more people to come and this last Wednesday turned out so good. The young womens’ leaders gave a little thought about agency, a few scriptures, had some great empanadas and played do you love your neighbor. Everyone that was there loved it and more than anything, it really helped strengthen the relationships of people in the ward. We also had a few investigators come and they told us later that they want to come every week. Wahoo. Like I said last week.. so grateful for great and responsible ward members.

The daughters of one of our old investigators :)

This week we got to teach a lesson in English!! One of our recent converts is learning English in school and wanted to practice with us. My companion is learning English too, so that morning in study I helped her think of a few sentences to say, we found a few scriptures, and it actually went really well! To be honest, it was a bit hard to teach about faith and repentance in English. That doesn’t mean that my Spanish is perfect either.... it just means now I don’t know WHAT language I speak. Haha, we had fun with it though.

Again this week, lots of lessons, and LOTS of walking. We have a few more people with baptismal dates and some that really have potential. A few of the people we have been teaching have shared with us how much more peace they can feel now that they are reading the scriptures and praying, and once again, it is so amazing to see how the Gospel of Jesus Christ can change our lives. Sometimes I wish I could just push all these spiritual experiences into their hearts, so they could feel and understand. But this week we’ve worked a lot with looking for the needs of the people we are teaching so they can really have a testimony for themselves, not just rely on the missionaries.

We learned how to make fried bananas this week. Called Maduro. I actually didn’t like them in the CCM.. but ah now I love them. I’ll have to make you guys an Ecuadorian meal when I get back. Chicken, rice, a fried egg, avocado and a fried banana. Yum huh? Haha, I’ve learned to love it. 

Making Maduro with one of the members.  (Fried bananas!)

I was so lucky this week and received TWO packages. Shoutout to mom and grandma! Thank you guys so much!! There were lots of jealous people around me because packages on the mission are like gold. I was sure happy to eat some American candy again! Grandma (and all the girl cousins)… Thank you thank you for all the bags and toys for kids here in Ecuador. I’ve already given some to kids that we’re teaching and have seen many smiles :) It really is so humbling to see some of the families here, and you guys are really helping to make a difference. Love and miss you all!!

This week I read a lot in the war chapters in the Book of Mormon. It made me think a lot about preparation. If only we could all prepare ourselves like Moroni prepared his armies.. I think we’d be set :) Obviously we aren’t in a war right now with weapons and armor, but I think our "battles" are may be just as hard, because they’re disguised and against the adversary. I know without a doubt that our test in our day is to PREPARE ourselves for these wars by reading the scriptures and praying. Again, so grateful that there is ALWAYS something that we can apply to our day from the scriptures. 

Love love love you guys! Thank you to everyone who writes me. Have a fantastic week!!

Hermana Yorgason

Third Transfer, Week 1

Hello Family and Friends!!!!

Another week here in Cumbaya! I’ve decided that time on the mission is such a weird thing! Days feel like weeks, weeks feel both like days and months, and months feel like days. Its very strange... But its crazy that its already November! Definitely does not seem like that! Probably because its not snowing here and Thanksgiving isn’t a thing. But either way... Happy November to you all. Happy Anniversary Tyler and Breiyon, and... good luck EVERYONE this weekend with the wedding!! Wow - wow. I’ve decided that this time around is going to be a lot easier than the last one and I’m just excited to hear all about it next Monday! Take lots of pictures!

This week had some high highs and a few of learning and patience. The moments of learning and patience... We’ve found that one of the biggest problems here is trying to find people home. Like I’ve said before, we have PLENTY of people to teach. Many many investigators that could progress. But we set appointments, walk to their houses and maybe more than half the time they aren’t there. At times I felt myself get frustrated, but my companion and I decided two things 1. We’re just getting more exercise. Whoopee. and 2. The Lord sees every sacrifice and will help us if we continue to be diligent. Something that I’ve learned these past few weeks is that the numbers are not the most important things. We’re really gonna work this week to plan, call, and then just give it all we’ve got.

All the Hermanas in our district.

My new companion got to the bus station late on Monday night, and then we rode another bus for a few hours to our sector. So... we’ve been together for a week, and I really like her. A ton. Her name is Hermana Sanchez, from Guatemala, like I said last week, and 20 years old. She’s kind of shy, but super funny, and so so loving. It’s actually been really good for me because I’ve had to kind of step it up to introduce to her everyone, help her get to know the sector. She is one of the best teachers that I have been with.. teaches so clearly and her testimony is super powerful. Wow, I’m already learning lots. And good news... She likes ice cream too, so I think we were meant to be companions.

POURING RAIN! You can't really tell, but man, it was strong!  We were soaked!!

Again, lots of rain this week. We actually have a mission song, and part of it explains it very well. "Caminamos en calor or lluvia...." One second there is hot sun, and the next second we feel like were in a shower. No joke. We had to cross the street after a meeting and I felt like a pioneer in the Sweetwater. We sure get DRENCHED. But I love it. It makes it fun and... it means more people offer us bread and hot chocolate, so that’s a plus.

This week we worked a lot with one of the ward missionaries in our ward. His name is Esteban, and man, he is such a strong kid. He was only baptized five months ago, but is more active than most of the members. He’s always at our missionary meetings, is always willing to come teach lessons with us and has such a strong testimony! I think many times its more powerful than us, because its easy for people to see missionaries as "not real", but he is from here, living a normal life like everyone else. Being a missionary, I’ve gotten to see a lot of "behind the scenes” things that people do in their callings and it has really made me want to go the extra mile. Members are soo helpful and being in a helpful ward like this is so nice! I’ll attach of picture of Hna Sanchez, Esteban, and I one night while we were walking to an appointment :)

Esteban, me and Hermana Sanchez

This week we also had interviews with President and trainings with the APs and Hermana Richardson. Ah, I always love meeting like this because it gives me an extra boost in our day to day work. Hermana Richardson gave a lesson on the Brother of Jared, their barges, and their faith. Every time she talks, I am just amazed at what I learn. And I learned, once again, that we are given our situations as opportunities to develop faith in the Lord. The the way we can show our faith is praise Him and give Him thanks, EVEN in the middle of our trials.

Don’t have much time left, but that you EVERYONE for your support and love!!! Have a super week!!!

Hermana Yorgason

Hermana Hull and Halloween

Dearest FAMILIA!!!!

Sounds like another great week for all of you. I can’t believe its already November. Whaattt?? Ah, but this is the best time of the year. Thank you for keeping me updated on football, Halloween, wedding, and everything in between. Man, I miss you guys a lot. But I’m also extremely happy to be in Ecuador. Speaking of holidays, its a huge holiday here, Day of the Dead. So right outside of this cafe there is music playing, people all over the streets, food, and a billion people selling everything Ecuadorian you could want. I love it! We just walked around a little market for about an hour and wow, is there a lot I want to buy. For now we settled on a big huge pizza and pop for five of us to share. Heaven!

One of the members here carves temples in blocks of wood and sells them.
Super Cool!

Hanging out with Hermana Hull!!  Love this girl!

Well, first of all, guess who I am sitting next to right now?? Hermana Hull. Ah, it has been such a fun day with her. Since it was transfers (and yes Hermana Ettinger and I had changes. I’ll tell you about that in a sec) tons of missionaries met at the train station this morning. Hermana Hull is getting ready to train (and staying with the Hermana Leaders for a few days) and I’m still waiting for my companion who is traveling from a long ways away, so five of us are spending P-day together until all of our companions get here. Man, it is so fun to see someone from Hyde Park, Utah. I never would have imagined that us two would be walking down the streets of Ecuador, but here we are!! She is doing so so good and really is an inspiration to me... to love my mission with all that I’ve got, because I only have 18 months of this. Our sectors are actually only about an hour away from each other, but since we’re not in the same zone, we don’t see each other much. But man has it been fun today. So happy to have such a great friend and example.

So the next news... Cambios. They came (sadly). Hermana Ettinger is leaving to be an Hermana Leader and I’m staying and receiving Hermana Sanchez. I haven’t met her yet, but I’ve heard she’s a super great missionary, from Guatemala, and has been serving on the coast. Yes. I’m sad. But also, I’m super ready to see what these next six weeks hold. I was honestly preparing to leave Cumbaya, so this will be fun to have to step up to the plate and show my new companion around the area. It’s a weird thought that I’m officially a trained missionary (we have 12 weeks of training) and now I’m ready to hit the ground running. To be honest, sometimes I still feel completely new, but I have learned that the Lord will NEVER leave us to fail. He has helped me ever step of the way.

Halloween breakfast, made by Hermana Ettinger.
She's the best!

Also... Happy Halloween to everyone!! Halloween this year was definitely different for me. Almost nonexistent, but thanks to a great companion, I got a great breakfast to get into the spirit (I’ll attach a picture). That day we had lessons all throughout the day and a baptism for the other sisters at night. We also bought a tub of ice cream to eat, but it was fast Sunday. So... instead we ate it together last night as we were waiting for the call about transfers. It’s kind of sad to say that we ate it all, and then I still wanted more... and had more room in my stomach. Ha this rice is getting to me. But man, was it delicious. We ate, talked, laughed, and I think it was one of the most fun nights of my mission. Sure gonna miss that girl!

Ice cream fixes anything.....

This week we also had exchanges with the Hermana Leaders and I got to leave my sector for a day. It was so fun to see what another area of Quito is like and I learned so much about how to teach, how to love the people, and how to stay away from stray dogs that look like they’re going to attack you. (Yes we have that problem here. Dogs EVERYWHERE) We had a lesson with two brothers who have baptismal dates and are really changing their lives for the gospel. They both had a rougher around the edges look, but as we talked and bore our testimonies on the power of the gospel, I could see how much of a desire they both have to follow Christ. After the lesson I also got to teach them both English because they both want to learn, and I actually felt smart again for a few moments! Haha. But I sure did leave that exchange with a realization that this gospel is for EVERYONE, doesn’t matter what their background is.

Hermana Ettinger and I also got to teach a training in our district meeting this week about diligence. And wow, am I learning ALL about this on the mission! I’m learning that even if we don’t see results right away, our attitude and our hard work is what makes all the difference. Especially in missionary work, there are times in the heat, or rain (or dust), that you really have to ask yourself if you’re really making THAT much of a difference. But oh yes, I have seen how hard work pays off and the Lord can see every sacrifice that we make. 

We also had a ton of good talks about perspective. We came to the agreement that I think one of the keys of life is the keep perspective on what is most important. Since being here, I have seen poverty and some extremely hard situations! Lots. But my mind has also been opened to the bigger picture and plan that our Heavenly Father has for us. Something I am really going to work on this week, is keeping perspective on what is REALLY IMPORTANT. I’m confident that if I could keep perspective during any trial that I had, those times would be a lot easier to bear. I have loved sharing the knowledge that we all have a Heavenly Father who loves us and puts us in our exact situation to grow. Remember that YOU are LOVED.

One of our conversos recientes. 

Thank you, thank you for all your support. Keep me updated and remember that I love you all!!!!

Hermana Yorgason