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