Cambios

Hi family!!!!!

First of all, thank you everyone for the birthday wishes! I really don’t like the sound of 20… I'm not completely ready for that. But I AM grateful that I have so many wonderful people in my life that took the time to write me a small note. I really appreciate you guys!!

Birthday Cake from the members!

Saying goodbye to Hermana Beltran

One of my new companions, Hermana Cardenas

The other piece of news... This week we had changes! I don’t know where this change went, but it sure was a fast one. Well, what happened... Hermana Silva and Morales both left the sector, and I’m receiving two new sisters. Hermana Cardenas (is from Venezuela, Ecuador and Miami) and Hermana Diaz (from Argentina). Honestly, I’ve been out of my sector so much for changes, that I feel like I barely know it, but I can already tell that it’s going to be a good 6 weeks. Two Hermanas that like to work hard.

Today our P-day was pretty much spent at the bus terminal welcoming people, sending people off to their new sectors and coordinating changes. I got to see lots of my old companions and also Hermana Hull!!! She’s not in my zone, but its super likely that I’m gonna get to do intercambios with her for a day... so I’m super excited for that!!! Even though its P-day... I feel like we did lots and I’m exhausted. Grateful for 8 hours of sleep tonight.

Hermana HULL!!!

One highlight from this week was the baptism that we had of Silvia. It was a great service. Her daughter Erika was the one that got baptized like two weeks ago, and then Saturday was her day... and she was so so happy. It also makes for a busy but great week when we have a baptism :)

Silvia's baptism

The other highlight of the week was that I finished the Book of Mormon again. And got to experience Moroni’s promise again. And again, I got to feel how true this book really is. I love that we can and should pray about the Book of Mormon every time we read it, everyday. But there’s just something really special about kneeling down when you close the last page and asking for the knowledge from our Heavenly Father that this book is from Him. I KNOW that this book is true. I know it is what God wants us to read right now with all of the problems we have in the world... this book is the biggest help we have.

I love a promise that President Hinckley made...

"I promise you that if you read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, you will feel the spirit in your heart, you will strengthen your resolution to obey the commandments of God, and you will feel that your testimony is strengthened of the living reality of the son of God."

I love you all!!! Have a fantastic week!!!

Hermana Yorgason

Sometimes we are crazy....

Happy!!

Hi Family!!!

Wow, it’s so strange to me that another Monday has come. This week seemed to be faster than most. Maybe because I was out of my sector a lot. Maybe because it’s the last week of the transfer and we’re going crazy with all of the things we have to do. Either way... it was a good week. Lots better than the last. Lots of blessings.

First of all... yep. There was another earthquake here this week. Two actually. I’m starting to hear that it might be a thing for a while... that there might be lots of replicas. But I think they are getting smaller. That’s the good news. The first was in the middle of the night on Tuesday. I actually was sleeping in the house of another Hermana, Hermana Walker, and yes, we definitely felt it. I first opened my eyes and figured I was dreaming because we’re not always completely awake and coherent, but then when the windows started shaking and gates below us started banging, I realized that it was real. We didn’t really know what to do, so we just sat up in our beds, half laughing, half really nervous for the people in the coast, half thinking we were going to die because we were on the third floor and the building was literally swinging back and forth... but we lived and all went well. There was another one later that day while we were planning. The funny thing is that people still run out of their houses screaming each time there’s movement. It’s sure exciting to be here for all of it :)

Me and Hermana Walker

Like I said, this week I feel like I was barely in my sector. I love getting to visit other sectors and getting to know other Hermanas and investigators. The sad part is that when I come back, I feel like I don’t know what’s going on with OUR sector. I got to go back to Cumbaya again and we went up to the church at night for one of the meetings that the missionaries had. Oh man, it was sooo fun to see like half of my old ward. I especially loved talking to the mom of one of the American families there. We both were starting our life in Ecuador at the same time, so we got to be close... I think because we could relate so well with what each other was going through, with Spanish, missing family, being in a culture completely different, etc. It’s good to see that now with 10 months under our belts both of us agreed that life is a lot easier, communicating, eating the food. It’s cool to see the same growth that I’ve had in another person.

On Thursday this week in our district meeting we had a cool lesson.. and a touching experience about sharing the gospel. Our district leader has us all think of someone from home that we wanted to get baptized or return to church. Someone that we love. Someone that means a lot to us. After a few minutes of silence, he had us come up to the board, write down the name of the person we were thinking, explain their situation, and what it would mean to us if they were faithful in the church. It was so touching to see as we went up one by one... most people wrote the name of a close family member. Their mom, brother, dad... and almost every single one explained how they would give anything to see them in the church and happy through tears and tears and tears. Being on a mission has given me such a clear reason of why I am here and how important the gospel is in my life. That’s what a mission does for us. I was really impacted to see the emotion of so many people in my district and started to think about how hard it is for the Lord to see US when we stray from the path. I realized how blessed I am to have such a strong and great family in the church. I also know though that we’re not immune to temptation or weakness, and because of that, I want to do everything I can to share what I know with those I love. Thank you guys for your great example and encouragement. I know that our greatest gift to the Lord is our obedience and conversion to the gospel.

This week we’ve been contacting like crazy. I’ve found something lately that just makes me so happy (like I would say Pinterest, or football or a good smoothie at home:)), and that is contacting families. I don’t know what it is, but when we talk to them, get to know them and they say that we can visit their house, it is one of the happiest feelings for me. This week we found two new families that have a baptismal date, and man, I just hope so badly that they can progress. It was sure a blessing in these last few days.

We also have an investigator, Silvia, who’s preparing for her baptism this Saturday. She’s been listening to the missionaries for quite awhile now, and finally decided that she wanted to get baptized. So excited for Saturday.. she’s super ready :)

A funny thing that happened... Since we have so many intercambios, we’re in bus stations a lot. One day we were walking through the station to find our bus, talking about how bad it would be if someone got hit, when all of the sudden a bus honked super loud.. we looked up, saw a bus zooming towards us and we screamed and all ran in different directions, barely avoiding a bad scene. Really.. it was a close call, but we were sure laughing hard.

This month of May our mission is doing something special... kind of like the Fe de Febrero that we did 3 months ago. We each pick an attribute of Christ that we want to develop, set goals, make sacrifices, and see the blessings. I picked patience... it’s something I can always get better at, and have seen something very interesting. As I’ve been praying each day to be able to strengthen my patience, I have seen that the Lord hasn’t just strengthened me, but given me many OPPORTUNITIES to choose to be patient. For example... my last week. It hit me today as we were studying that the Lord is really answering my prayer... just in a different way than I expected. But he’s answering it because my patience is growing. I love a quote from President Monson that says...

"Life is full of difficulties, some minor and others of a more serious nature. There seems to be an unending supply of challenges for one and all. Our problem is that we often expect instantaneous solutions to such challenges, forgetting that frequently the heavenly virtue of patience is required."

So so true. I love that. 

Thank you all for your support and love. Have a fantastic week!!!!

Hermana Yorgason

I'm Learning Patience

Hi family!!!!

Espero que todo este MUY BIEN!!! Looks like it was another great week. Well... besides the dog bite (sorry KC) and extreme exhaustion from ultimate. I cannot believe that Luke is so close to graduation and school is almost out!!! Good luck this week in state! I’m excited to hear about beating Lone Peak :)

I’m happy here in Calderon! But this week was... very patience trying. Frustrating. A week where I get to the end and think... I don’t really want to do that week again. But... like it says in the scriptures, we need to recieve ALL things with thankfulness, including many hard long days, so I’m grateful for it. Because.. I learned that I can walk more than I thought I could, and many rejections in a row actually won’t kill me. It’s interesting to see how much missionary work is like exercise sometimes. In the middle of it, walking hours in dusty roads and hot sun, it hurts, and giving up sounds like an easy idea... but you know that because of that, you will find yourself so much stronger in the end. Stong muscles, or in this case, a strong testimony and more confidence in the Lord, and because of that, I keep going. 

But first… I'll start out with the good things. 

Teaching our mamita how to make chocolate chip cookies :)

Yesterday I got to make chocolate chip cookies. Oh man, it was heavenly. And better yet, it was your recipie mom. It reminded me of those Sundays were we make skookies and just sit and relax. It did turn out a little different than usual. I think the ingredients aren’t quite the same here and they also don’t have measuring cups. So... as you can see in the picture, the dough was more like thick pancake batter with chocolate chips than cookies :) We also got confused with bake and broil.. so the tops were quite crispy and they didn’t have pans, so we tried to make wax paper work. Hahaha but they were happy and I was in heaven eating something that resembled cooking from home. If nothing else we had fun making them. I got to teaching a cooking and english class all in one :)

Intercambio with Hermana Gummersall (from the MTC) 

Another highlight from this week. I got to work with Hermana Gummersall for 24 hours and man, it was a good time. It was nice to talk in English again and we got to take a step back, realize that we were two American girls walking throught the rain in Ecuador drenched, getting lots of weird looks, talking to anyone we could... so different than real life but SUCH a good adventure. We had a great experience with one of our contacts. We returned to their house later that day and found out that she has a hard life and has been looking for someone or something to help her. We shared lesson one and she commited to come to church this week. 

Also two weeks ago we had Consejo de la mision with President and Hermana Richardson and lots of great missionaries that I hadn’t seen in so long! I got to say goodbye to Hermana Ettinger (she comes home in two weeks!!) I learned so much about serving like the Lord does and really giving up my life for the cause of others so that I can find it.

Saying goodbye to Hermana Ettinger.  I'm sure going to miss her :( 

My 2 mamas.  I got lucky!! :)

My first Hermana Leader....and now she's going home. 

We also had a ward talent show this week as a missionary activity and about 15 minutes before it started, us 9 missionaries decided that we should probably do something. We ended up doing a Dear John skit/improve and I was told that I was going to be the Dear Johner… I'm not sure how or why me (and I think all of you know that acting in front of lots of people isn’t really my number one favorite thing), but people were laughing the whole time and the elders did a good job, so I guess it turned out good! Hahah

P-Day

So yes... we had some fun things this week. But missionary work-wise, the majority of the day was a bit tough. Saturday and Sunday I think were two of the most frustrating days that I’ve had. We left both mornings with planners FULL of new people, set lessons, and I think all of them but 1 fell through. We’d walk to their house, knock on the door and either no one answered or they sent their kids to tell us that they weren’t home. These past few weeks we’ve especially tried to focus on finding new investigators. We get so excited because we have so many good contacts, but it seems that we can never find them in their house, or we find out that they really actually don’t want to listen. 

Long dress domingo...and apargatas (Otavalo shoes) 

I guess I’ve had it good my whole mission because I’ve never realized how frustrating it is to not be able to find anyone to listen. The good news is that I have great companions and we’re all in this together. We prayed a lot these last two days, every time a lesson fell through, and we really feel like the Lord IS preparing someone special for us. The tricky part is recognizing that when you give it all you’ve got, getting down and discouraged won’t do much good. So... even though though there was lots of walking and trying to talk to people, we made the days fun and got to know each other well from all the games of twenty questions. The missionary work is an interesting thing because I feel like I am coming to know just a part of what the Lord went through in my everyday work. If he did it I certainly can.

Something that opened my eyes was a lesson that we had with one of our less actives. She just moved here from Venezuela and lives in a one room house with a bed, a few clothes and I think a portable sink. She was telling us about her schedule each day. She goes out in the morning to try and sell empanadas. If she sells, she eats, if she doesn’t sell, she waits and hopes for the next day. We asked her what faith means to her and she said... faith is hoping for things that haven’t happened but that I know will come. Like I have faith that one day I’ll have enough money to buy a broom for my house. Wow, it is really so inspiring to see the hope and faith of these people!

Sisters in our zone.

As I was reading in the Book of Mormon this morning, I read a verse that really caught my attention. I guess it hit home for me today..

"For behold, ye shall be as a whale in the midst of the sea for the mountain waves shall dash upon you. Nevertheless I will bring you up again out of the depths of the sea." Ether 2:24

I have had times this week where I felt like I was on this boat with the Brother of Jared, kind of drowning out there.... but I’ve seen over and over again that what should give us, especially as members of the church, hope, is exactly what it says in this scripture. That there isn’t a trial too hard or sector too rough that the Lord can’t help. I read a quote that says... "There isn’t a problem on earth that the heavens can’t cure." The Lord is truely with us. I know it.

I LOVE love you all!!!! Thank you for your support, and love.

Have a fantastic week!!!

Hermana Yorgason :)

Oh the things you see walking down the street in Ecuador.  This is normal :)

Talking to My Family!!

Hi family!!!!!

Man, it was sooo good to talk to all of you yesterday. Mom, you’re right, it definitely wasn’t long enough. But I loved every minute of it. Happy Mother’s day :) You guys are all just the same :) Also, Happy Birthday Luke!!! 18! Crazy crazy. Hope that it’s a fantastic day!!

Talking to my FAMILY!!

Pumped about talking to our families!  (Really, it was the BEESSTT!!)

Thanks to her and her computer, I got to Skype you guys!

Today for our district activity we went to downtown Quito to go bowling and eat McDonalds :) So I have like no time to write. I guess it ended up being a good week...where I just got to talk to you guys. So sorry, the letter is going to be really short and I’ll try and add a few pics.

Bowling!  I did Hermana Silva's hair :)
And kind of forgot to do mine!
Great P-day!

This week was super good! On Saturday we had the baptism of one of my favorite investigators. She’s been going to church for awhile but has never wanted to accept a baptismal date. These last few weeks we’ve worked a lot with her and she finally got baptized and confirmed. She has one of the strongest testimonies that I have ever seen in a convert and cried through her whole testimony because she said it was one of the best days of her life.

I also got to do a division this week and go back to Cumbaya, my first sector! It was so fun to stay in my old house and see a few of the members and investigators :)

One of my favorite scriptures from this week... 1 Nephi 18:16 "Nevertheless, I did look unto my God and I did praise him all the day long; I did not murmur against the Lord because of mine afflictions."   If we could all just be like Nephi. I love that my mission president’s wife always focuses on praising the Lord. If we are sad, if we are lonely, tired, disappointed, frustrated... looking upward and giving thanks to the Lord will ALWAYS help us feel better, more loved. More grateful. 

Love you all!!!! Have a fantastic week!!!!!

Hermana Yorgason

A card I made for you, Mom.  Feliz dia de la madre!!!!

The littlest, cutest puppy I have ever seen

Our Righteousness is Our Armor

Hi my family and wonderful friends!!!

Man it’s always so good to hear from everyone. Sounds like you guys had a fantastic weekend with frisbee and spending time together. Man. Luke, Chad and Mckay.. you guys are GOOD. Can’t wait to watch you again when I get back, but congrats on all the wins :) Also, good luck Dallas and KC this week moving across the country! Keep me updated on all the selling and all the cool things you get to do!

My mind feels like its spinning because we’ve been out all day, the weeks feel like they’re all one and I can’t remember what I wrote last week, but I’ll try and update you on what I remember. 

This week... was completely opposite from last week weather wise. It was not hot. In fact, it was the coldest week I think I’ve had on my mission and every afternoon the whole city was covered in fog... We were literally walking in clouds every day, and I think it had an effect on us because it was hard to breath and one of my companions got really sick. It always makes for an interesting week as a sick missionary, but she was a trooper and we didn’t take much down time at all.

This week I got to leave my sector a few times for intercambios. All day Wednesday I was with Hermana Beltran in her area and it was so great to spend time with her. She’s from Canada and is in her last change. So so sweet and teaches with such a great spirit. We both were feeling really gross from all of the food we eat here so in the morning we went on a run. Oh heavenly. We’re not in the best shape so it wasn’t the longest run in the world, but it felt soo so good to get out and be active for a while. I learned a lot from her... mostly about just loving the people, loving whoever she talks to. 

We’re getting more and more used to being together in a three some. This week we had a lot of good talks and fun times together (including buying pizza cones and eating them on our beds while asking random questions). We three are getting a lot closer and trying to work together on everything... taking turns calling, carrying the keys and phone, and trying to split paying for everything in three ways. I feel like this week I’ve gotten a lot more patient and... selfless maybe? Because with three people sometimes you just have to realize that everything isn’t the most important.

We found our new favorite thing.  Pizza in a cone :)

We have a big sleepover every night!

In our ward here there are a LOT of people from Venezuela. Like maybe a fourth of the ward. 1st of all, I can barely understand what they say.. they talk so fast and with a huge accent. But 2nd... they are some of the nicest, most loving and selfless people that I have met. One of the families gives us lunch on Thursday and while we were there, we were talking and asking about their life and family in Venezuela. I’m sure you guys all know better than me because we never hear any sort of news, but right now that country is having a TON of hardships. They were telling us about the situation there and really, I’m not sure how many people eat or live there. There are huge lines for anything that people want to buy. They have to wait one or two days and they´re only allowed to buy one small thing... like a pound of flour. They said that right now people are making about $12 a month. Yes, a MONTH... which obviously doesn’t do much. Many many people are trying to leave, but its hard to get a visa or even have enough money for a bus ticket. Most of the people from Venezuela in our ward came here with absolutely nothing, but are still so willing to give us EVERYTHING. I’m sure they have to sacrifice a lot for the lunch that they give us, but they are so selfless and happy to do it. It is sure humbling to talk to them and hear about their lives.

Again, this week was very slow lesson wise. Before this week I don’t think I’ve ever had a time on my mission where we literally can’t think of anyone to visit. We set a baptismal date with 4 people (which was a big blessing!), but contacted a lot, asked for references, prayed, and tried to make plans to find find find. We are sure lucky that we have a good ward, because I know that when we DO find, they will help us out a lot. We are focusing a LOT on the four people that we have with a baptismal date, and also decided to focus a lot on less actives and recent converts so that the Lord, in turn, will guide us to those that are ready to hear our message.

Just a funny thing that happened yesterday that reminded me that yes I’m in Ecuador and yes it’s different than the US. We were in a little store talking to one of our old contacts... talking to her and she sold things. A lady came in a wanted something off of the top shelf (which isn’t very high) and said... por favor, un altita! (please, I need someone really tall) pointing to me and telling me that I was the only one who could reach. Hahaha I have NEVER been tall in my life. But I guess its good for a change.. I’m definitely the tall one here :)

Something that I loved in my study this week was a scripture in 1 Nephi that said our righteousness is our armor. It is so simple but so true. As we are obedient, the lord blesses us. And as the Lord blesses us, we will be protected from the evil things of the world. I know that the biggest thing that the Lord wants to see is our willingness to obey his commandments.

I hope you have a great week. I realized yesterday that Mother’s Day is this week and I about died! I am soooo so excited to talk to you guys! Love you lots! SEE you on Sunday!!! :)

Love Hermana Yorgason