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