ADVENTURES of the Gringa Trio!

Hi family and friends!!!

Estoy feliz que todo esta MUY bien en casa. You guys just make me so happy with your letters and pictures! Man, I’m lucky to have all of you!

Coolest Gringa Trio in History!!

I’m also lucky to be where I am right now. With the companions I have. In probably the coolest gringa trio in history :) Really though, I am working and serving with two of my very best friends and we are trying to make the very most of the time that we have left because most likely this is our last week together. Like normal, we’ve seen lots of miracles and had lots of challenges, but we have truly been able to dive in and give it all we’ve got... and laugh our way through every minute. It really is quite the blast.

This week can truly be described as ADVENTURES. I think every single day we had something crazy happen. It kind of became a joke towards the end, because every night we came home with something new. 

Monday. Monday night we had another earthquake. Yep, I’ve pretty much just decided that I’ll probably be experiencing those the rest of my mission. The people here also seem to think that they’re not going to stop anytime soon, so we might as well enjoy the craziness of it all :) It happened at about 11:45. So obviously we were all sleeping and I slightly woke up feeling like I was on a merry go round, halfway hearing Hermana Hermann telling us to get up because "it was happening again". I kind of was still in a daze and still laying in my bed halfway awake hearing lots of noises, and the next thing I knew, Hermana Israelson was flying over my bed and hit the ground in between my bed and Hermana Hermann’s. Being in a dream, I for some reason thought she was dying and starting shaking her and telling her to wake up. A few seconds later she sat up super confused asking why in the world she was over there. And then we all started busting up laughing. To this day we are still trying to figure out exactly what happened. So many moments throughout the week we have just laughed and laughed, thinking of her flying through the air, over my bed, with her sheets and all. Hermana Hermann didn’t have her glasses on so when she looked up, she just saw a shadow and thought the ceiling was falling on us. Hermana Israelsen just thinks she was having a really weird dream and somehow thought to spring out of her bed. Lots of people ran outside and we were just watching from our window until we felt safe to go to bed again. Haha, we didn’t go to sleep for awhile, thinking over and over again about what happened :) Apparently the earthquake center was in Puembo, a part of my first sector, about an hour from where we live right now.

Hermana Israelsen and I

Tuesday. I was on exchanges in another area and while my companions were planning, someone doorbell ditched a dog at our door. My companions looked out the peep hole and didn’t open it, but the kids kept returning trying to get us to accept the dog. Haha... sorry, we’ve got mission rules. (Plus, all the dogs here have ruined me and I’m really not a fan, so I we’re happy about that)

Life with no electricity - at least for a few days!

Wednesday. Well, Wednesday we got home from working and were pumped about the good day we had. We walked in the door and went to turn on the light.... nothing. Haha No light. We think either we payed the light bill late or someone was trying to fix our shower and accidentally turned off the light. So we tried to use the little light on the cell phone to find our flashlights and light some candles that we had, to plan and try to get ready for bed. We still don’t have light or power... five days later. We’ve gotten used to living off of dry food, cold showers, no straighteners and charging our cell phone at random people’s houses. The weekend was a holiday, so we’re hoping that everyone goes back to work and we can get it fixed soon. 

Thursday we were walking down the street in Hermana Israelsen’s sector, and I’m not exactly sure if this guy was drunk or just crazy... he drove by us on his motorcycle, almost hitting us and tried to grab the coat that was hanging on my bag. It totally startled me. We’re all ok, but we just decided to stay clear of crazy men on motorcycles. I’m grateful to have two companions that help me feel safe. We also opened our fridge that day and... boy we thought some stink bomb had gone off in our apartment. We didn’t think that one through, that not having power also means a not working fridge and lots of rotten food. That was sure fun cleaning it out today. Yuck... too many mystery juices and awful smells... :) haha

Friday.. Friday lots of little funny things happened and we just could not stop laughing. Singing in our morning studies... we died laughing, practices... we kept messing up. It was just one of those funny days. It was also the year mark of Hermana Israelsen so at night we bought a gallon of ice cream and Oreos to celebrate :)

Saturday we about died on one of the buses. If I haven’t talked about the buses yet... they are insane. Between all the people squished in, bumpy roads, impatient drivers and lots of bad traffic. We were going from one appointment to the other on this really old and small bus. For some reason there were no railings on the ceiling like normal and there definitely wasn’t any sitting room. We were on a super windy road, so every time we went around a curve, everyone in the bus was falling on each other. Hermana Hermann dropped her money and bent down to get it right as we did a sharp turn. Haha that was a disaster :) And all of this going on while the doors were open. Adventures that I’m never going to forget about Ecuador.

Hermana Hermann and I

But equally to the fun we had, I think we saw just as many miracles this week. Yesterday at church, we were so blessed and almost every one of our investigators that we’re teaching came. Right now we are teaching a lot of part families. Most of them the moms are members and now we’re teaching the dads, which is really a huge blessing because our mission has been focusing a lot on baptizing families and priesthood. We’ve worked a lot with the elders quorum and its just the BEST feeling at church as we look around and see every investigator surrounded by members and new friends. The missionary work really is so much better with the ward members.

We also had a cool experience one of the days as we were trying to figure out who to visit after all of our lessons fell. Hermana Israelsen had an impression that we she contact one street in particular. We weren’t exactly sure why, but we started knocking. About four doors into it, a lady opened the door and let us right in. As we started talking to her, we realized that she was an old investigator from Hermana Israelsen and they had just never seen her again. She was really accepting and now has a baptismal date :)

One of our investigators right now, Jaider, the dad of the two little girls who just got baptized, comes to church every week and told us that he loves it. He loves coming, he has so many friends and always wants us to visit his family so he can learn more. He and his wife need to get married so he can keep progressing and get baptized. Tomorrow we’re going to have a family night with them and a lawyer in our ward so he can help them get all the papers they need.

Our ward had a temple trip this week and a few of our investigators went with their families. One of them, Pedro, has been listening to the missionaries for a long time but just has never wanted to accepted a baptismal date. The temple really impacted him and right now we’re fasting with him so that he can receive a direct answer about what he should do. We’re hoping that he can make his decision this week.

This week we also had interviews with President. Wow, if I haven’t said it before, I will now... he is soo inspired. When he talks, the spirit just immediately comes. We talked a lot about the example of Christ and how becoming a disciple is a lifelong process. One that doesn’t end at the end of my mission.. but it can and will always be a quest of mine.

This week I’ve been thinking a lot about faith and gratitude and how much they relate. Real faith is knowing that the Lord’s plan is greater than mine. That he sees a picture that I do not. Faith is being grateful for hardships because you know that it will help you grow. And that’s what we all want, right? To be better and stronger the next day. But for some reason, sometimes we still want our problems to go away. I want my investigator to be at there at their house or everyone to accept baptism or the sun to not shine so bright. 

I was reading in Jacob 5 this week about the olive tree and I loved specifically verse 22.

"And the Lord of the vineyard said unto him: Counsel me not. I knew that it was a poor spot of ground, wherefore, I said unto thee, I have nourished it this long time, and thou beholdest that it hath brought forth much fruit."

What I got from that is that the ground doesn’t determine the fruit. This tree was in the worst ground there was, yet the gardener had a plan and it produced lots of fruit in the end. The ground doesn’t determine the fruit. Our gratitude and trust determines the fruit no matter where we are planted and what situation the Lord has given us. GRATITUDE FOR ALL THINGS IS THE KEY INGREDIENT FOR PEACE AND GROWTH. I know that the Lord sees more and loves us unconditionally.

Love you all!! Hope you have a fantastic week!!

Love Hermana Yorgason