Big Week!

Hi family!!!!! 

I hope it was a great week for you guys! I can only imagine how busy it has been with Luke’s farewell and having family there and everything. I can’t believe that July is almost here. Man! Enjoy all the last days you have together. Play extra volleyball for me and send me lots of pictures :)

This week was a great one. Like I said last week, we are really starting to see more progress here and have had lessons with some awesome families that want to progress. Like I always say... teaching families is one of my favorite things here! Maybe I love it so much because it makes me think of my family... and how much I want other people to be able to have that happiness.

24 hours with Hermana Hull!

Well, from the beginning of the week we had lots going on. Guess what I got to do on Tuesday? I got to work with Sister Hull for 24 hours!!! Jenika! We work semi close to each other, so Tuesday we got to do divisions and I got to learn her sector. Man, it was such a great day. We worked hard, we laughed a LOT, and at night, we had some really good talks about life and how we’ve gotten to where we are. It was so cool to think about growing up together in young women’s, always being in the presidency together, planing activities, going through troubles, having the BEST leaders in the world.... leaders that have helped us reach where we are right now. Leaders that helped us set our sights on the temple and serving a mission.... and there we were, laying in bed across the world on our mission. Together. It was a super cool day. Hermana Hull is such a good missionary and I literally can feel the light of Christ beaming from her. I’m hoping to see her again before she comes home in August. Mom, she’s gonna bring a hug to you!!!

Wednesday we gave a tour of the church to one of our investigators, Diana, that has a baptismal date. I love being able to see the light in people’s eyes as they come to know the Church of Jesus Christ. It’s like everything starts to make sense to them. We talked about the classes we have, baptism, the temple, activities, and then we ended the tour in the chapel talking about the sacrament and the importance of the atonement. We all sang a hymn together and ended it with a prayer, asking for help that they can receive an answer about the church. It was such a spiritual experience to see them understanding and really FEELING the truth. I know Diana is going to get baptized. I know that the Lord is going to help her. 

After the tour we had to go to Quito so my companion could take her final English test. So while she was taking it, we got to spend time with Hermana Richardson in her house just talking about life and how she feels about ending her mission. I am going to miss her so much. She sure has impacted the way I think about life and what I want for my future family. It was one of the first times on my mission where I could just sit on a couch in a clean home with spiritual music playing and relax for like 30 minutes. :)

Sis. and Pres. Richardson

I had a cool experience on the bus coming home from Quito. There weren’t too many seats open, so I just took the first one that I could find, and about 5 minutes into the ride, struck up a conversation with the man sitting next to me. When he found out that I was a missionary of our church he started asking a lot of questions. When we found out that we both had a while on the bus (because we both lived far away), he told me that he just wanted me to teach him. Anything that I wanted, anything that I had to say. So.... I started out with bearing my testimony about the love that Heavenly Father has for him. I went right in to the first lesson, and... before I knew it, had taught him the whole thing... with questions, examples, stories. I even was able to give him the baptismal invitation right there on the bus. As we talked, he told me that he agreed with everything I was saying and that he saw a light in us missionaries. As we got ready to leave, I asked for his direction (assuming that he lived in another sector) so that the missionaries could visit him. And.... I found out that he lived in my sector. Oh the miracles that come in times that you don’t expect it. We’re hoping that we can visit him this week so he can be a new investigator!

I’m getting really low on time, and wish I could talk more about the rest of the week but here were the highlights....

We had our final reunion with Pres. and Sister Richardson because they go home this Friday. Our zone prepared a special musical number for them, and it was super emotional. I know it’s going to be hard for them to go home... but I can’t wait to see what’s ahead.

We also got our phone robbed this week. Someone took it out of my companions bag... nothing too scary. But we found out what its like to live without a phone for a few days.

Our shower also exploded. Like with fire and everything.

I got to see Hermana Potter and her family!! They came back to visit and I’m in her old sector. Sooo fun to see her. And thanks mom for the candy!!!

Hermana Potter and her family

We also got to sing in church with the primary... the song “ We’ll Bring the World His Truth". We saw many parents crying. Good flashback to my farewell.

Well, that’s about it for this week. Thank you all for your support and love. I am so happy to be here in Ecuador and know that the Lord’s hand is in our work everyday. Love you!!!

Hermana Yorgason

Happy Father's Day

Dear Family and Friends!!

Sorry, it may be another short letter this week... but I’ll try and type fast. First of all, Happy Father’s Day. Dad, I love you! I thought about you a lot yesterday and am sooo so grateful for your example!. We saw many blessings this week. We also had a few difficulties and set backs, but that’s how the work goes. I don’t think I’d ever appreciate the successful lessons without stressful days.

I think my number one highlight is that we had sooo many people come to church yesterday. It was the most that we’ve EVER had in this sector! People just kept walking in and it made me feel so excited. I feel like Sundays are kind of the measurement of how the week was. When lots of people come to church, all the lessons and hard work pay off. The ward was so great with all of the new investigators and less actives that came. Every single one of them had a friend and left smiling and happy. Now its just our turn to follow up and try and fill our schedules wisely.

This is an investigator that we're teaching...and her brothers :)

Last night we also found a family super prepared and receptive. Earlier that day someone in our ward had asked the elders to go with him to give one of his family members a blessing. Well, after church we felt like we should go visit them and explain more about the restoration and the priesthood, so they could understand more about the blessing that they received. They were super happy to see us and said that they had felt something really warm and peaceful when the elders were there. Something new that they had never felt in their lives. At the end of the lesson they accepted baptism and want to learn more. :)

Hermana Thomas

This week I also got to do divisions with Hermana Thomas and go back to my first sector again. It was soo great because we got to have lunch with two of our converts, Rosa and Jose, and they are still doing great! They told me that they still read the Book of Mormon everyday and make sure they get to church extra early so they can sit in the front. I had a great time with Hermana Thomas! She goes to BYU I, but we want to figure out someway we can end up close to each other... Maybe I’ll convert her to Provo :) It was such a fun day to learn from her, talk about life and what we’ve been learning.

Rosa and Jose

We also had some pretty funny moments in the street this week.. going from lesson to lesson. Hermana Cardenas got bit by a dog. But don’t worry, it was funny because it didn’t go through her skin, more just super startling, and she was laughing too. It was the most random thing. Talk, walking, no dog. All of the sudden she screamed and almost fell to the ground, the dog ran and I looked around.. no dog again. We were just grateful that it didn’t do anything more serious. Another day, we were running down the street to another lesson because we had to get their quick and we didn’t have much time left. All of the sudden Hermana Cardenas hit a rock, tripped and fell and all her stuff went flying. She fell so gracefully though that I picked up her planner and books, Hermana Diaz helped her back up to her feet and we just kept running. Haha I’m sure we were quite the funny sight. But we had to get to our lesson.... sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do :)

Pizza on our bed.  Ooh, it's the best after a long day in the sun!

Like I always say... I've really really enjoyed my studies this week! (when we get them in between traveling and meetings and such).  I loved this week reading about the Liahona and how it guided Nephi and his family. Something that I realized and started thinking about, is why the Lord used a Liahona to help them instead of just giving them a map. A map would be easy. It would show them their whole path, from the beginning to the end. They certainly wouldn’t have gotten lost so much. But I am certain that they also wouldn’t have grown and learned so much. On the other hand.. the Liahona guided them, but it just showed them one step at a time. It directed them, gave them what they needed to know, but didn’t show them their end product at the beginning. I’m sure it required a lot of faith and a lot of patience. Also, as we know, the Liahona didn’t work if they were being rebellious… so it required obedience also. I am amazed at how much I learned about real life and how the Lord is going to guide me and my investigators. I think so many times we just want to know. We want to know where we’re going to be in 10 years. We want to know were we’re going to live, how much money we’re going to make, or what the outcome will be of our problems. We want the Lord to give us a map.  I think sometimes it seems scary to us to have to exercise our faith. But I love that the Lord is more wise. He knows what will help us in the outcome. He knows that guiding us step by step and day to day (like the Liahona) will produce stronger, happier and more faith filled people. I am confident that as we DO exercise faith and ARE obedient, the Lord will give us all the guidance we need. He will lead us step by step.

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

Love Hermana Yorgason

The Forgotten Keys!

Hello my WONDERFUL family!!!!

Another great and busy week for you guys. Hahaha I laughed out loud thinking about Mckay and Isaac trying to eat and finish a kitchen sink by themselves. Congratulations for finishing :) I thoroughly enjoyed the pictures. Also, congratulations Luke for everything big going on in your life. And Breiyon and Tyler.. I can’t wait to see pictures of your new baby! Good luck!!!

This week seemed to go by really fast!!! I’ve decided though in the last few days, or realized I guess, why Heavenly Father wanted me to come to Calderon. To learn. To learn about patience, about dealing with setbacks happily, about faith, about feeling so much love for the members. About myself. It was a good week...we had lots of difficulties and hard lessons, but nonetheless it was good, because we are learning about how we can react and keep ourselves cheerful.

First of all, we had a great Monday last week. We printed off our letters and then decided to go to a Chinese restaurant because none of us had been yet in Ecuador. It’s definitely not the same as in the United States, but man, I was sure enjoying myself. Reading letters from you guys, chow mein noodles and not feeling stressed with having to rush off to a lesson. In the evening at 6 we left to go start working, and as soon as we got out of the door and closed it, we realized that we didn’t have the keys. Well, we realized that I had left the keys inside on accident. Haha ooops. But... we knew we had to start working so we left and called the zone leaders in the taxi to see what we could do. They told us that they had an extra set, so after our lesson we got on a bus to go meet them. All was well. That night we got to the house and went to open the door...... wrong keys. They didn’t work. Haha so... we knocked on a lot of doors in our apartment complex to see if we could find the owner. Eventually we did find him, but he was very sure that there was nothing he could do to help us and we were all pretty sure that he was a bit drunk, not all there. So we tried to start thinking... Climbing up the wall. No. My companions tried to lift me up but.. hahaha that definitely didn’t work. We thought about breaking the door. But after about 30 minutes, we found someone that thought they knew where a ladder was. After trying about a million keys, they finally found the right one to let us into an empty room with a few ladders. We carried it around the house, set it up to our window, and this same guy climbed up it (almost tipping like 3 times), he got to our window, climbed through and finally brought our keys out to us. Hahaha, man it was quite the adventure. We definitely learned our lesson because now every time we walk out of the house we show the keys to make sure we have them.

On Tuesday, we had our last Mission Counsel with President and Sister Richardson. Man, I’m going to miss them so much. The mission is sure going to be a lot different without them. I’m sure a break is going to be good for them, but they also expressed how much they’re going to miss the life of being missionaries. Every time they talk, I am so inspired and I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room as they gave their final testimonies and expressed their love and the potential that they see in us. They leave this month on the 30th and the new president starts on the 1st. 

While I was at the Consejo, I heard some news that probably made my whole week. I was talking to the zone leaders who are in Otavalo and they were telling me about my old sector San Pablo. I found out that the son in our miracle family got baptized last week. Oh how happy I was! That means that their family is complete and will get to go to the temple in one year! I also found out that one of the contacts we had in my last change just got baptized and the families are attending church and doing well. That sure gave me a lift. I will always love San Pablo :)

We’re still working well as a trio... learning that different personalities require work and love and patience, but I’ve enjoyed my trio companionships. One thing random but fun about this companionship is that the other two like to sing so every time we sing hymns (a couple a day) we sing in harmony. It’s like our little choir inside our apartment :)

The family of Dunnia.  I love them!!!

Salchipapas with Dunnia.  (French fires and a hot dog with ketchup and mayonnaise.  They're big here!)

At the beginning of this week we had quite a few people with baptismal dates but.... a bit of adversity hit. Our investigator that was going to get baptized this week wouldn’t answer her cell phone all week. Another family didn’t answer and weren’t at their house... and then didn’t come to church. We found another lady last week with so much potential. She accepted everything right away and was so happy to hear about the restoration. She committed to go to church on Sunday and when we called her that morning to go pick her up, she told us that her husband had talked to her and told her that she needs to stop meeting with us and can’t go to our church. Man that was hard, because we are SURE that she’s one of the people that God is preparing. But... I know it will all come in its time.

We also had one of the saddest lessons this week that I think I’ve had in all of my mission. We went to visit one of the recent converts here. We got to their house, started talking and the dad told us that he needed to talk to us. He went on to say that he’s been doing a lot of investigations on the internet and now knows that the Book of Mormon isn’t true and that Joseph Smith was just a smart guy. Wow, it was sure a surprise to hear that after seeing how much he has grown. He was really strong in the gospel. But from that experience.... I learned and came to realize how lucky I am to have a testimony of my own. That what I know can’t be shaken from comments like that. And although we all left super sad, it reminded me how important it is to constantly be renewing and strengthening my testimony.

But we also saw a great miracle this weekend. My companions and I have been praying a lot and did a fast so that we can find new people, especially a new family that the Lord is preparing. I just have the feeling that I KNOW there is someone really special that we are going to find. So we’ve prayed this whole week to find a family that will progress. Yesterday in the afternoon we called a family... references from a lady in our ward. We went over to their house and learned that the mom and dad both are baptized but have been less active for over 13 years and want to return to church. They have two daughters and the older one is 8 years old and hasn’t gotten baptized yet. We had a really great lesson last night as they expressed their testimonies and desire to feel the Holy Ghost again... and now we have a new family that is going to progress. Maybe not all of them towards baptism, but to returning to church and living the gospel. The Lord sure does answer prayers.

Something that really stood out to me in my studying this week was the difference between Nephi and Lehi and Laman and Lemuel. And obedience. I can only imagine how hard it was for Lehi to leave his "abundance of precious things" to go to the desert and live in tents. His obedience sure took a ton of faith that the Lord would make up for their sacrifice. On the other hand, a few verses later it talks about Laman and Lemuel. Their dad was talking to them and because they were filled with fear, they eventually obeyed him. They did... they obeyed him. I realized that although maybe they DID the same thing, the two ways of obeying were completely different. We can obey because of FAITH, or we can obey only because we have FEAR. Even though it looks the same on the outside, I know that the only real obedience is obedience because of Faith. I want to be more like Lehi... live my life based on my faith.

Thank you, thank you for all you guys do for me. Love you lots!!!

Hermana Yorgason

Getting filmed for English homework.  I'm famous!!

Power Week

FAMILY and FRIENDS!!!!

Well.. sounds like school is officially out. The best part of the year is starting! So excited to hear about all the adventures you guys have in the next few months. Luke... Congratulations on your graduation!!! I literally feel like that was just me. But you have lots of good ahead of you. Especially this next month preparing for your mission and spending lots of time with the family.

This last week was one of the best ones that I think I’ve had yet on my mission. I thoroughly enjoyed it. And I can really say that I am happy. That being a missionary is one of the hardest (like you saw two weeks ago), but one of the best things that I’ve ever done. Just being able to look at my plaque each day and see our family name and the name of Christ keeps me going strong. Because right now I’m not me. I’m a helper. A servant. A receiver of so much love and help from the Lord.

Hermana Cardenas and Hermana Diaz

One of the highlights of my week was my companions. They are sooo so great! Like I said last
week, I’m in a trio with Hermana Cardenas (from Miami) and Hermana Diaz (from Argentina) and we all get along so well! I’ve already learned so much from them about how to teach, how to love, and how to rely on the spirit. Also, we all speak English so its been a good week of lots of jokes, spanglish and laughing. Each night we are EXHAUSTED because we walk like 5 miles (or something.. maybe not) each day and just go go go. I’ve never had so many contacts in my life.. partially because its easier to talk to more people with three, but also partly because we are just giving it our all. Last night we got home to our apartment and were all super hungry so we all made brownies in a mug (shout out to mom and my birthday package). So last night at 10:26 we were shoving hot hot brownie and ice cream in our mouths laughing and getting burned because we had three minutes to do it. One of the best things I’ve tasted in a long time.

Brownies in a mug.  Best night-time snack ever!

Yesterday we had a really cool experience and answer to a week long prayer that we’ve been saying. We’ve been wanting to find new investigators.. like I’ve said, its a little more challenging in this sector. We’ve been praying, and fasted, to be able to find a family that could progress. Sometimes its so frustrating because we have so many good options, but people just aren’t home a lot. Well, yesterday we decided to try calling a reference that we had received and when we did, the family answered and said that we could come over right then. (That sure doesn’t happen much, but we were grateful!) When we got to their house we realized that it was a family that we have been wanting to teach (and actually have an appointment with them tonight). The mom is a less active and the dad and two girls aren’t members. It was funny how it all worked out, but we figured there was a reason. Well... we had one of my favorite lessons that I’ve ever had in my mission. We could feel the spirit so strongly and it was so cool to see the desire that the mom had to return to the church. Tears streamed down her face as she told us that her biggest goal is to be able to be sealed in the temple and be with her family forever. The parents still need to be married, but at the end of the lesson, the two daughters accepted a baptismal date for the 2nd of July. It was a super cool experience.

Our 2 recent converts.

Shout out to mom and the cookie mix that she sent in my birthday package!
We made cookies with our recent converts!

My birthday!!!  Thank you family!!

Another highlight of my week... My birthday on Tuesday. Thank you everyone who sent emails and thank you thank you mom and the rest of the family who sent the package and notes. AHH I loved it! And my companions love you for all the American candy :) I forgot how good that is. I cried as I read all of your letters! You guys are so sweet. It was also a super great day workwise... lots of people gave us references, we had lots of lessons and also two families gave us lunch. Oh man, it has never been harder to stuff down a plate of rice. I was praying hard with each bite. But it went down somehow. Miracle.

This week I started the Book of Mormon again and I’m reading it looking for examples of faith. If I haven’t said it before, Nephi is my hero. I want to be like him in every way. His willingness to obey, positive attitude, courage, hope. Everything that he does is because of his faith. Because he has faith that the Lord will never give us too much to handle.

Thank you for all you do. Your support, love, everything. I love you guys!!!

Hermana Yorgason