New Companion and Carnival

Hi my WONDERFUL family!! 

My new companion - Hermana Sanchez

I hope you all had a fantastic week!! Here in San Pablo we had lots going on! Big week with interviews, meetings, a baptism, and also... I have surprising news. Last night when we called the district leader to give our daily report he told us get ready… that yesterday were cambios intermedios and Hermana Choque... was leaving the sector. We were not expecting that at all, but... I have a new companion!!! This morning we went to the bus station, traded, and all day we were in our apartment unpacking, writing letters, relaxing. It was fantastic. So.. my new companion’s name is Hermana Sanchez. (Yes, the same name as my last companion... but no, not the same person) She’s from Chicklayo, Peru, has a family of 7 people and from what I can tell so far, is super super great!!! I’m really excited to learn from her and work hard to find new people to teach. The funny thing... she was only in her other sector for three weeks, half a change. So we decided that there’s definitely someone in this sector that the Lord wants her to find.

Like I said... we had a lot of things going on this week. Monday and Tuesday were Carnival, like I said in my last letter. I’d like to announce that I went both days with only getting hit by foam once. I was very proud of us... our sprinting, hiding, and avoiding all the right places :) 

Carnival.  I was lucky...didn't get it too bad. :)

Because it was Carnival.. our president told us to stay inside for most of the day. Which meant... lots and lots of good studying, with a few homemade banana splits in there. It was interesting how much I was able to learn and how strongly I was able to feel the spirit during those two day. Anyone.. if you are ever feeling down, pick up a New Era or Ensign and just read. I promise you... you will find answers and guidance. I found so many great stories in the Liahonas that we have pilled up in our house :)

This week we also had a meeting with President and Sister Richardson and interviews with President. Man, I always LOVE seeing those two. It’s like they open their mouth and just automatically I can feel the spirit.

My family -- In the mission life.

We also had a baptism this week. Walter.  He is so so great. And so strong.  He's 19 years old and really wants to go on a mission in a few years.  We've been teaching him for about a month now, and I can really see him as a great leader one day.  He bore his testimony at the baptism and it was like from someone who's been a member all their life.  It was a great day :)

Walter's baptism

This next week.... I think may be the best week of my mission. We are going to get to listen to Elder Holland. TWICE! Once tomorrow. He’s coming here to Otavalo to talk to two stakes so we’re taking some investigators, and going early with them to get seats. Everyone here is preparing.. going crazy that they get to listen to an apostle. It is suuuch a blessing. Something that they´ll probably never get again in their lives. Maybe more than being excited for me, I am soo so excited for all the members that live here. Then, on Wednesday, all the missionaries are going to Quito for a conference with Elder Holland, and all of us. I feel so blessed to have this opportunity and can’t wait to hear the counsel he has for me personally. Definitely going to remember this for a long time!!

Don't worry....I didn't miss Valentines Day :)  Us and the Relief Society President

This week while I was studying I found a quote that I loved... and wanted to share with you guys. It’s from Parley P. Pratt when he was called on ANOTHER mission after serving for 25 years. He said, "When the Spirit of God is upon me, I think it matters very little what I suffer, what I sacrificed- whether I secure the honor or dishonor of men, or where I die. If it so be that I keep the faith, fight the good fight, and finish my course with joy, I have all eternity before me, in which to enjoy myself." I think he says it all. And is such a great example of true service and devotion to the Lord. Our time here really is so short. I can’t even imagine the day that we will get to see our Heavenly Father, and have ETERNITY to live with Him and our families with complete joy. Remember... righteousness is so worth it. 

I love you all!!!

Pray for me tomorrow night. I’ll make sure to take good notes so I can tell you all about it.

Oreos fritos.  No hay nada mejor.
Translation:  Fried Oreos! There is nothing better!

Hermana Yorgason

Turquoise Door and Notebook of Faith

Hi Family!!

Happy February. Happy Monday. Thanks for writing me and sending pictures of your lives. I love love it. Everyone looks good.. like life is going well. Love to see that :)

Well we are officially in our FE de FEBRERO. We had a meeting about what were going to do, focus on, how were going to work hard, and are promised that we WILL see MILAGROS en MARZO. Each of us are studying extra hard and diligently this month (we have a cute chart that we get to color each day:)), we can only listen to music from the Tabernacle Choir (thank you ipod. I have LOTS), were also all making different sacrifices.  We’re not have zone activities on P-days this month, and we each get to choose a personal sacrifice or something we want to change. I’ve decided on a few different things, but one of them is about email time. And I would love your guys help. I’m going to spend some of my time on the computer finding and printing off talks, so this month I probably will only have time to write my family. But I also would love to hear thoughts, from each of you. Your testimony, quotes, talks, feelings on FAITH (or anything else important that you want to share). I’m making a notebook of scriptures and thoughts on faith, and it would be even more special if I could add things from you guys. 

So this month.. is obviously going to be very special. I’m so excited to see the miracles that come along with our faith. But I’m also excited to exercise my faith... even in rejections and disappointments. We got to practice that yesterday when a few of the people we have with baptismal dates didn’t come to church (after passing by their house every day to talk, asking about what they’re learning, and reminding them about church on Sunday). But I know that the Lord works in HIS timing. And he will help us as we keep trying.

This week we got to do lots of random acts of service during the day as we walked from appointment to appointment and just talked to people. One of those was help someone paint their front door turquoise. (I wish more of us had turquoise doors in the USofA) But it was great to use our painting skills and share the first lesson as we did. The down side was they gave us a HUGE plate of lunch to say thank you, right after we had left our lunch appointment. I don’t know HOW I got it all down. But it was a good break during the day nonetheless. I’ll send a picture :)

Painting...!

Right now here in Ecuador is a huge holiday.. called Carnival. Everyone is out of school, and everything is closed (we finally found ONE internet open to write today). It’s pretty much one big water fight everywhere. It kind of reminds me of the water parade in Eagle. Today technically was the first day, but it’s been going on for about a week so we’ve had to be really careful walking around. People throw water balloons from their windows, cars driving by, there are water guns everywhere and tons of people have these bottles of foam that they squirt. Apparently during these few days no one has respect for anyone. If you’re out in the street, it’s fair game... so we had to stay inside all day today to protect ourselves. People also throw flour, eggs, paint... I think anything they can find. We’ve been lucky and only gotten a few water balloons and one big thing of wet foam thrown at us. But.. I’ll keep you posted about the rest of the week :)

Today, because we had to stay in for the day, I decided to start on my notebook of faith. I read articles from the Liahona, which took me to scriptures, which took me to True to the Faith, and back to another article. Man... if I could have more days like this :) I loved being able to sit on my bed for a couple of hours and just read, and think about the plan that Heavenly Father has for us. It’s times like that when it is just so easy to see it all.. Why we’re here, what we need to do, why we have trials, and where we can find happiness. But... it’s out in the real world when all of that is really put to the test.

Visits with a member in our ward.

I left my notebook at home.. but I loved a quote I read from President Uchtdorf that said something like.. "Sometimes it seems like our prayers aren’t answered right away. Or like they’ll never be answered at all, but we need to have faith that the one who knows all is in charge. One day we will look back and realize that our circumstances now were blessings from the Lord."

I know that the Lord has so much good prepared for us. I can just imagine that he’s up there saying... "Just trust. If only you knew what I have prepared for you." And that is faith, trusting that HE will help us in any circumstance we are in. It’s sure something I am trying to improve. 

Thank you all for your love and support. I know that the Savior loves us. I know that we really are never ever alone. He is shaping us into the people he knows we can and will become. 

Love you all! Don’t forget to send me your thoughts :)

Love Hermana Yorgason

February of Faith

Hi Family!!!

Thank you everyone for writing me! Snow snow and more snow it sounds like. Glad everyone is holding up. And getting lots and lots of practice with shoveling the driveway :)

Sometimes I feel like the weeks of the mission blur into one. But it was a good week. My companion and I both got over our sicknesses and got back to work. I saw both how the Lord helps us so much and also how Satan wants the ruin everything we do. Again this week... I learned so much from my studies in the morning. The sad part is my brain isn’t good enough to remember every detail of every scripture I read, but I love the spirit that comes from the Book of Mormon.

Mercedes' baptism.

This week we had a baptism of a lady named Mercedes. Ah, it was a great day, and (although she let us all know how cccold the water was), she was so happy. A few of her kids are members, and she actually has one daughter on a mission, and it was cool to see them all support her. The Lord really helped us, and helped her understand what we were teaching and her number 1 success... she learned how to pray. And she does it every night. I’m so excited to hear what her daughter that is on her mission says... I know the Lord helps the families of his missionaries. As you’ll see from the pictures... Mercedes always wears the clothes of Otavalo. Especially with the older generation here, that is the norm. So... my companion and I decided to celebrate the occasion and wear the little part of the Otavalian outfit that we have. (Someone in our ward gave us both skirts.. A blessing because they’re like 70 dollars). Anyway… I'll send pictures of that :)

Our Otavalian outfits.

We taught one of the part member families here how to make pancakes.
They had never cooked or eaten them... so they were pretty excited :)

We have a few different people working towards baptismal dates, but like I said, satan works hard and for some reason... attending church is just always a battle. I guess it’s because people like to sleep and our church is a little further away, but luckily we have a GREAT ward, and the members here are soo willing and happy to help, do visits, and become friends with anyone new we bring to church.

Right now we’re teaching a family of 9. The mom is 27 years old, their house is about the size of our kitchen, they have 7 kids, and the dad has been in and out of jail because his other wife wants more money from him. It’s such a hard situation, but so humbling to see that they still have faith that the Lord is watching over us. Reminds me to count my blessings.

February is starting, which means the month of faith in our mission is starting. "Fe de Febrero trae Milagros en Marzo." I am super excited to study, learn about and exercise just a bit more of my faith. We had a really cool lesson in our zone meeting to start off the month. We were all blind folded and one by one had to walk off the stage... onto a table, and then more tables, that we didn’t know were there. It was so cool to be able to physically FEEL what faith is like.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to know that the Lord.. really is guiding our lives. "Men accomplish marvelous things by trusting in the Lord and keeping his commandments- by exercising faith even when they don’t know how the Lord is shaping them." I’ve learned that having true faith, is trusting that the Lord will bless us, but letting him decide HOW he will bless us. 

Thank you for your letters and love. I know without a doubt that this is the Lord’s work. He is in charge, and when we trust in Him, he can do more with us than we could ever do on our own.

7 months yesterday!

Love you lots!!!

Hermana Yorgason

Oh the things you see walking down the street.  No wonder
we're not allowed to eat pig here.  It's a little more than unsanitary!

RAIN, RAIN and more RAIN...sooo, we stopped at a store to buy these really attractive looking
plastic bag/rain ponchos.

Studying the Atonement

Dearest FAMILY!!!

Our last lesson with Mercedes.

Looks like things are busy and great. Luuukke!!! You’re starting your papers soon! Ah good luck! I already can’t wait to hear where you get called! My vote is South America :) Let me know when you actually turn them in. 

This week was a fast one. We had something almost every single day... and lots of work. Busy busy.

Monday.. Pday. and of course, Mondays always FLY. They are very enjoyed and very needed :)

Tuesday.. we had an all day conference with President and Sister Richardson and the assistants. Lots of capacitaciones (trainings), practices, teaching, and super good food! President talked about resisting temptations. That satan is so real. He will try to get us in any way possible, but.. we are stronger than he is. We have a body, he doesn’t. We have the ability to resist whatever temptation comes our way because we have Jesus Christ on our team. I loved that. We should never feel defeated.

Wednesday.. we got to watch a worldwide devotional for every missionary in the world. Sadly the connection was bad so we only got to see half of it, but I still learned a lot. I loved listening to Elder Bednar about following the Spirit. "Without the teacher we can’t teach. And the teacher is not ourselves. It’s the Spirit." Honestly, that gives me so much comfort.. That I don’t HAVE to rely on myself, my own knowledge, my Spanish, my wittiness... But as I strive to have the Spirit and open my mouth, He will take care of the rest.

Thursday.. we had our normal district and zone conferences. Hermana Choque and I were asked to teach a training on inviting to baptism. It was good for us to study more in depth, why we extend this invitation, and really.. why we’re here on our mission. To invite others to come to Christ. To have a happier life.

Zone Conference with the mission fam (my mom, grandma, sister...in mission terms:))

Friday.. We had divisions with the Hermanas.  Hermana Lideres and I got to spend 24 hours with Hermana Mortera! Ah it was so fun to be with her again. I was reminded once again how great of a teacher she is. She’s like a walking preach my gospel. So so powerful and has such a great spirit. I learned lots from her. Lots of things that I want to apply to my teaching.

Family Night!

Saturday and Sunday.. Sadly I got sick the end of Friday, and had a fever Saturday and Sunday. A mission is great, but when you’re sick.. it is a WHOLE lot harder. The nurse told me I had to sleep for most of Saturday afternoon, and Sunday.. I just took medicine and pushed through it. But I’m starting to feel better now, that’s the good news. Also we had a great family home evening last night with a family that’s preparing to go to the temple, so I was glad I didn’t miss it.

Anyway.. all in all, it was a good week. It was also the sixth week of our change, which means we had changes last night, Annnndddddd. I’m staying. And so is my companion. Ha, so not much is changing. Only a new clean, white planner and that’s it :) Since we’re both staying, it means there’s more to learn, more people that are waiting for us.

We're continuing to see blessings in this sector and have quite a few people working towards a baptismal date.  I love seeing this change.  Especially in families.

This week I think I helped with more English homework than I ever did when I was in school. Haha, ok maybe not quite, but it seemed like in almost every lesson that we had, someone wanted help with their English that they had to do. Which I am totally ok with, because I actually enjoy it. And enjoy keeping my English up to date :)

One of the menos activos in our ward.

An exciting story... one night we were sleeping and I faintly heard some noise of a bug or something. I was super tired and figured it was just a fly, so I didn’t do anything about it and continued sleeping. After a while, my companion was like... uhh can we turn on the light, something is flying around in our room. We turned on the light, and there was this huge black, beetle, cockroach type bug. And where was it?.. Right next to my pillow! Ya, that was quite startling. (Especially because I was still like halfway asleep. Well... until then) I got a cup and a paper and somehow got it to the bathroom eventually. But ya.. I didn’t sleep too well the rest of the night. That was something I’ll remember :)

This week I focused a lot on the atonement in my studies. If anyone wants a good chapter.. read Alma 7. :) Something interesting that caught my attention is that the atonement.. as we all know, is there so we can repent and overcome our sins. But sometimes we forget that we also have the atonement to use in good times, to become BETTER. The enabling power of this gift. We don’t need to rely only on our own strength, endurance, and knowledge to become more like Christ. We have the atonement. This help to become more than we ever could be on our own. And this.. gives me strength and hope to know that I CAN become better. That is why I am here. That’s why we’re all here on this earth. And we have the help of someone who is all knowing and all loving.

Thank you for your letters, support and love. Hope its another great week! Love you guys lots and lots!!

Love Hermana Yorgason

Ward Party

Hi Family!!!

Hope it was another great week back in Utah. As always.. loved hearing updates and seeing pictures of the day to day life. You guys really are the best!

This week.. I think was one of the best weeks on my mission. Because of lots of little things. But I am seeing more and more how IMPORTANT and REAL this gospel is. I had the realization this week of how different my life would be without it. I realized.. that our life is CENTERED on this gospel, its teachings and its peace. That the majority of our conversations as a family have something to do with the gospel, our decisions, and traditions. Thank you thank you mom and dad for raising us with this knowledge as our core. 

We were so blessed this week to find, teach, and have quite a few people with baptismal dates. I think that this sector is fit for 3 pairs of missionaries because there is so much potential. The work is definitely still hard… because satan is real and people seem to think that following him will make them happier... but there’s lots of work. Lots of potential.

A family that we're teaching.

One of our investigators named Walter has a baptismal date for February and man, he is strong. His brother leaves tomorrow on a mission and I am actually really not sure WHY he’s not baptized yet... but every time we see him, he has so many questions about the church, the scriptures, and how he can live a better life. 

Our ward went to the temple this week (about 9 hours away) and it was so fun to help people prepare. Sadly, as missionaries we can’t go... but it makes me so excited to go again one day in the future. But in sacrament meeting, a couple who got sealed bore their testimonies and through their tears, told how there are no words to describe the happiness they feel knowing that they are going to be together… forever. It was so cool to see how truly happy they were.

Ward Party. :)

Yesterday a family in our ward had tons of people over because they were dedicating their house. They were feeding us lunch, so we went for a little bit also (and got tons of contacts and appointments with all of their neighbors:) ). It was really cool.. they sang hymns, had a spiritual thought, and gave a prayer to dedicate their new house. Like 3/4 of the ward was there.. but it felt more like a family than a ward. They are so close here. The mom of the family had to make food for like… 100 people. And obviously here they have practice and know how its done. She made soup in this HUGE pan, pot, bucket thing and served it with a gigantic ladle. (plus mountains of rice, chicken and potatoes.) But I’ll send a picture of the soup. I thought you guys would enjoy it :)

SOUP at the dedication of the home.  HUGE pot and HUGE ladel!

House dedication.

Also.. a general authority came to speak to us on Friday. Elder Godoy. Man, I left just wanting to be a power missionary. He was so inspirational, and inspiring. And comforting. He talked a lot about how what we’re doing right now is going to stay with us for the rest of our lives. That yes, we hope to have lots of converts. But, if we only have one convert in our mission, it should be ourselves. He told us that everyone comes to the mission with different capabilities and talents. That we’re here not to compete with others.. but to fill our own potential. That we are here to change our nature. That really... we are on this earth to change our nature. To become the person that God knows we can be. We also got some fantastic news while he was there… Next month, someone is coming to speak to us. Elder Holland. Yes, the apostle... oh man, I can’t tell you how excited I am for that!! So so excited to hear from him.

Thank you for your support, letters, and prayers. I know without a doubt that this is the work of the Lord. He is in charge. Grateful to be here. Love you guys lots!!!

Love Hermana Yorgason

One of our great menus activos :)

Hiking in the Middle of Ecuador

District Activity

Hi family!!!!

I barely have any time today because we had a district activity far from our house and we still have to go back and change and get ready for a few of our lessons. But... thank you thank you EVERYONE who wrote me. I know I say it a lot.. but I LOVE letters.

Mateo's baptism

This week we had a baptism of one of our investigators named Mateo. He’s 12 years old and his dad is a recent convert of four months. His dad.. is so strong. Every time we’ve gone over to visit Matthew, his dad sits down with us, pulls out his scriptures, teaches, learns and shares his experiences. Even though his mom and the rest of his family aren’t members...yet ;), Mateo and his dad are at church every Sunday, they come to church activities, and even though right now he doesn’t have a job, he pays tithing, wants to obey every commandment, and always has questions for us about things he learned in his reading. It was the neatest experience to see him take his 12 year old son into the baptismal font. 

Here in this area… we're seeing a lot of potential. And our goal is to hit it running. And not stop. At the beginning of this change everything was unorganized and crazy.. but we’ve really seen the hand of the Lord in the work, and I know he’s preparing a lot of people who live in San Pablo. We’re especially finding a lot of less actives that have the desire to come back to church. It’s been really cool to see the change in them.

So sorry I don’t have much time... but I’m going to try and send pictures. Love you all! I promise more for next week!

Hermana Yorgason

Hike to a waterfall in the middle of Ecuador......Super cool!

My first mangos here.  I LOVE THEM!

Two of the young women in our ward.

Happy New Year! Things I Have Learned

Hola Familia y Amigos!!

Wow wow. 2016. Excited for this year. (And... weird to think that at the end of it I’ll be home.) But... President Richardson gave us a challenge to THINK about how we want the year to end, WHERE we want to be, and not just live it and look back with regrets. It’s been good this week as I’ve thought a lot about the goals I want to set for this year and who I really want to become. I’d love to hear goals that any of you guys have. Always good to hear other ideas :)

Member family in our ward.  Super great! :

Well, I’ve learned a lot this week. Learned because I’ve had some pretty hard, long hot days in the sun. Learned because I’ve had a few extremely spiritual scripture studies. Learned because I’ve been able to see LITTLE miracles in the mission. Learned because I’ve prayed a lot. And learned because I’ve been able to feel little promptings of what the Lord really wants from me, and really WHY I am here. 

So yes, all in all, its been a good week. The weather has been super by-polar. Hot, cold, rainy, back to blazing hot. It sure is weird to hear about Logan right now. Luke and Chad, good luck in that freezing cold truck in the morning. BUT.. enjoy it, because believe it or not, I actually really miss the snow and cold. 

Some of our recent converts

So... here are some of my thoughts. Things I have learned.

That one of the best parts of the mission is that we get one hour to study every single morning. Especially this week I have LOOVED this hour. Decided that it’s actually not enough. But I love the things I’m learning and the opportunity to be GIVEN 60 minutes to study the scriptures.

I’ve seen once again that I. am. blessed. So blessed. Seeing how people live here, and seeing that there aren’t many opportunities for them in the future, makes me so grateful for what I have. An amazing family. BYU. A home.. safe from the world.

I’ve seen lots of drunk people here.. especially with this last week. New Years Eve and all. And it makes me sad. In almost every corner theres a bunch of guys, that are clearly a little bit.. not there. And it just makes me think... about their families, wives, kids. I wish everyone could see the blessings of the gospel. Life is soo much better with it.

I’ve learned that sometimes, the biggest miracles are the littlest things. A new investigator. A candy bar. Water in the morning in the shower :) Getting to just walk and look at the mountains. Having down time to read the Liahona or just lay and think. The Lord is in our lives in every single moment if we LOOK.

Trying to sleep early on New Years Eve will NEVER work. We had to be in our apartment at 5:00. We planned, read a little, ate food, and at about 9:00, I thought I’d be smart and go to bed early. Well... I think there was music playing and people screaming right outside of our window until 4:30 in the morning. Ya, I didn’t sleep very well :) New Years Eve here is actually really big. I think its the biggest holiday of the year actually. EVERYONE is out in the street. There’s music, soccer, dancing, parties. I actually don’t know Everything that goes on because we were inside our house trying to study and sleep :) One thing that everyone does is make these life sized "people dolls" called Muñyecos. They make them out of old clothes, and put masks and hair on them. They actually go all out. We saw these dolls all week long.. on peoples porches, roofs, even strapped onto the front of cars. Then at midnight on New Years Eve, everyone burns their dolls.. like a "burning the old you" and starting new.

Munyecos

I’ve also learned that the struggles we have are HOW we grow. That we as humans are good at covering up what’s hard and real, but when it comes down to it, EVERYONE is given trials to learn. And that’s the key. So that we can LEARN. I’ve sure realized that although sometimes being in a foreign country, with a companion I don’t know, missing holidays and being hot is hard. There are many trials that are a lot worse, and people that have a harder life.

I’ve learned that parks here are apparently the place for every couple in the world to hang out. 

I’ve learned that parasites are a common thing here. Fingers crossed that I don’t get them! Guess we’ll see.

I’ve learned how to shower with buckets of cold water and wash dishes with bottles of water and little soap.

But more importantly, I’ve learned that the Lord loves us, and is so willing to show us that. It’s so so easy to get caught up in the busyness of the world. So easy. To forget why we are really here and that the Lord is always calling for us to come to Him. But that’s the good news. He is ALWAYS calling us. Waiting for us. And when we turn to him, he will help us overcome the weakness and hard things that are in our lives. My ponderize scripture for this week....

"And now I say unto you that the good shepherd doth call after you and if you will hearken unto his voice, he will bring you into his fold and ye are his sheep and he commandeth you that ye suffer no ravenous wolf to enter among you, that ye may not be destroyed." Alma 5:60

Thank you thank you for everyone who has written me. I LOVE letters. And believe it or not, I think the letters help me more than you think. Just to remember how good I have it, how many great people I know, and to go out and work hard.

Hope you have a FANTASTIC week!!

Found me a clown trash can!

Love Hermana Yorgason