Week 24 A Christmas to Remember

Hey my friends and family!

 

Wow, Christmas really snuck up fast and left even quicker! I hope you all were able to enjoy your day with family and friends. I had a blast here with my peeps and talking with the family!

 

Tuesday

We had Hna. Silva with us so we decided to do divisions. Hna. Silva and I dropped Hna. Ccoycca off with a member and headed off to work. We found a bunch of potential families. We have been visiting a girl named Lady who really likes listening to our messages and reading her Book of Mormon. She tells us everytime that she really likes what she feels when she reads, prays, and listens to us but still does not feel ready to make the committment to baptism. At the end of the day, we collected Hna. Ccoycca and headed home.

 

Wednesday

We had our weekly meeting today instead of Thursday because of the holidays. We talked about unity in our companionships and had 3 legged races. It was super funny to watch all the elders be super competitive. While walking to an appointment, Hno. Cando asked where we were going to skype our families. We told Hno. Cando that we were going to use an internet cafe near our house and he told us no and that we were going to his house.

 

Thursday

The owner of our house gave us a bunch of sugar cane, yucca, and platanos. We looked funny all day carrying around the stuff and giving it to people. We went to the Family Cando and gave them a bunch of the yucca and platanos. I skyped first and then while Hna. Ccoycca was skyping, I baked cookies and chatted with the family about the random things of my life. They plan on helping me find a husband and figuring out my life plan. Gotta love these people. 

 

Friday

Christmas day! Crazy to think it is already Christmas! We spent the first hour and a half of our Christmas calling members to see who we could spend Christmas with. We ended up spending it with the Family Avila and listening to the stories about how when Hno. Avila was single, he got hit on a ton by crazy single woman in the ward because he was bishop at the time. It was funny. We got home and our ward mission leader dropped off some food for us. It was awesome .

 

Saturday

The whole ward went to the beach for the ward Christmas party so we ended up starving... No! Just kidding, we ate the food that our ward mission leader brought us. Afterwards, we kidnapped Hna. Karla who did not go to the activity and made a bunch of visits. We officially finished teaching a less active named Jose and now he is considered fully active again! He was a sassy one to work with.

 

Sunday

We got to church super late... For a good cause! One of our investigators, Sandra, who has been making 9 billion and 2 excuses for why she could not go to church finally agreed to come! And for that, we got to church after the sacrament. She actually really liked church. Later in the afternoon, we did divisions again with two hermanas who are planning on serving missions soon. I went with an hermana named Julie. We got a lot done and it was funny because we went to visit the Family Zambrano and talked about the 10 commandments. When we got to ¨thou shalt not kill¨, they ended up having a discussion about how it was ok as long as it was in defense. They discussed it for 5 minutes and to think I thought it was a simple commandment to follow! Apparently not! ;) Anyways later in the evening, we taught a young couple who is not married but one is a member. They are now getting ready to plan their wedding so that she can be baptized. We went with some members who really helped a lot with their testimonies about the importance of marriage. Afterwards, the married couple told us that they were going to bring us food for New Years Eve since we have to be in the house at 5.

 

That was my crazy busy week. It was truly amazing to celebrate Christmas here in the mission and I loved every minute! I hope you guys have an awesome week and a Happy New Year!

 

Until next year,

The Strawberry Blonde Hermana

Week 23 in Atacames Canton

 

 

 

Santa in Atacames Canton

 

Week 23 I feel like I live in a hotel

Buenas tardes mis queridos!

 

This week was full of people coming and going from our apartment. It sometimes feel like we live in a hotel because hermanas come and go. I spent the first part of the week with Hna Beltran and then her companion, Hna Farfan, joined us in the apartment. Last night Hna Silva and Hna Bosse came to stay the night in our apartment. This morning Hna Bosse left to go to Quito to celebrate Christmas with Presidente y Hna Richardson, so Hna Silva is going to be with us for the next few days (I think we are going to do divisions tomorrow so she only has to travel to Esmeraldas once for divisions with us). It is fun though to have other hermanas stay with us. It is like one big sleep over that we have quite frequently. 

 

Tuesday

We visited an old investigator who we could never find because she started working a ton. She was still reading and still praying which is really awesome. She still is not quite ready to be baptized but we plan to keep working with her. Later in the afternoon, we waited for what felt like forever for an investigator to show up but he never showed up. While trying to lock up the church, our key got stuck. We had a bunch of people try and ended up having to leave our key. We got a new one eventually but it was really funny.  

 

Wednesday

It is always funny when you set appointments with members and right as you get to their house, they get on a bus and leave... We had that happen several times today and it was pretty funny. I guess they really did not want us to visit them... Just kidding!

 

Thursday

We visited a ton of people and found a bunch of families with potential. Later in the evening, we celebrated the birthday of one of the daughters of our mamita. We ate ice cream. Good way to celebrate a birthday if you ask me. We were suppose to have correlation with our ward mission leader but he never showed up. Later we found out that it was because he was doing visits with the elders. We went to the terminal to pick up Hna. Beltran and her new companion. They ended up staying the night with us. 

 

Friday

We had our meetings that we usually have on Thursday today because of people training in the zone. It was fun to get to know our zone because a lot of them are new. We were challenging one of our investigators to baptism when her mom came and took her to a doctor appointment! Ahhh! No! Next time I guess...

 

Saturday

 We are visiting a less active named Jose who is a soccer coach. He is a sassy guy and since he thinks he knows it all, we decided to teach him by having him teach us what he knows. It was actually a pretty good lesson. We went to the church to talk to the bishop about some less actives that we need to visit and since there was an activity going on, we were given food. Then we visited a recent convert named Santiago and he is awesome. He told us that his mom is Christian but he did not like going to her church. When he started coming to our church, he felt that he had finally found the right church. He is 18 and super excited to serve a mission!

 

Sunday

 We ate lunch with the family Mendoza today. Well... We ate lunch in their house, they were next door. Hna. Mendoza is president of the stake primary and was in Quinindae. We have rules that we cannot be in a house with only men, so Hno. Mendoza and his son left the food on the table for us and went next door to wait until we were done. This was an interesting experience.

This week is Christmas! And for that, here is a picture of Hna. Ccoycca and I with a creepy Santa manequin. We ate at a Chinese restaurant for lunch and explored El Centro (the center of Esmeraldas). It was fun but exhausting because we did so much walking. We will be with Hna. Silva, the shorter hermana, until Wednesday when her companion gets back from Quito. I hope you all have a Feliz Navidad and remember to look up the video on christmas.mormon.org!

 

Until Next time,

The Strawberry Blonde Hermana

PS. Christmas is really weird without snow... but there are tons of pictures here with snow...

Week 22 I felt like Mary...

 

Sister Mary?

 

Goodbye Hermana Castro

Week 22 I felt like Mary this week

Buenas tardes mis queridos familia y amigos!

This week was a little bit of a sad week. We had transfers and Hna. Castro left to go to Cumbaya! It is hard to say goodbye because you really do become like sisters but I am grateful for the time that I had with her! 

Tuesday

We have an hermano in the ward that wants to recreate some of the Book of Mormon to show the community how awesome the Book of Mormon is. We were given parts and we have to prepare them. I am going to be Abish. She was a lamanite that ran around telling everyone to come and see the miracles that Ammon was performing. It is going to be like a little play or something like that...

Wednesday

We had our weekly meetings today because Thursday we would be travelling to Quito to celebrate Christmas with Pres. Richardson in the mission home. For the Christmas dinner, each zone had to prepare something that had to do with Christmas. Our zone did a choir and an elder read a little from the New Testament about the birth of Christ and of course we had to act it out a little bit. My zone decided that I would be Mary (there is the picture of me as Mary). We spent our afternoon visiting people and asking members if we could borrow a baby doll. 

Thursday

To go to the Christmas dinner, we had to leave Esmeraldas at 7 am. The bus ride is brutal because it is 7 hours of tossing and turning but we are allowed to watch Disney movies, so one of the elders bought (the people here pirate movies like crazy) a movie. We ended up watching Big Hero 6, Inside Out, and a little bit of Pinocchio. We got to Quito around 2 and had meetings until 6. For dinner, Hna. Richardson made turkey, mashed potatoes, salad, green beans, and a really good brownie. After dinner, we presented our singing and then did a white elephant gift exchange.  It was a good night full of laughs.

Friday

We travelled back to Esmeraldas. Oh how I miss the cold! It was so nice and cold in Quito and as soon as we were nearing la costa, I could feel the humidity cling to my skin... I know I am going to be here for a while. Anyways, we got home and went straight to work. We gave a tour to Raquel, a girl who came up to us and started asking questions. She came to church last week. She loves coming to the church and we are hoping that she will to continue to grow this love for the chapel. 

Saturday

We had lunch with Mariela because she found out that we did not have a mamita for today because all the members went to the temple and she could not because of work. She told us that we needed to come to her house when we do not have a mamita and I am ok with that because her cooking is awesome. 

Sunday

Hna. Castro was a little upset because we were receiving the transfers tonight and she had a strong feeling that she was going. We ended up visiting a ton of the members and investigators. We were talking with Hna. Carla, one of our mamitas, about her temple experience and she said it was amazing because she almost could not go because of the money but was about to get sufficient to cover the costs of the temple trip. To truly appreciate things, we have to pass through a trial of our faith. She could better appreciate the temple because her faith was tried. It is so very true. After we got home and did a few missionary things, we received the calls for transfers. Hna. Castro was to go to Cumbaya (almost Yaruqui) and I am going to stay here in Esmeraldas with Hna. Ccoycca. I have done divisions with her once before. 

Currently, I am awaiting for her to get here with Hna. Beltran. Hna. Beltran is going to be training so she will be staying with us until Wednesday where she will travel to Quito to get her new companion. That has been my week and I hope you all have an amazing week!

Until next time, 

The Strawberry Blonde Hermana

PS. There is a really cool church video available at christmas.mormon.org! I highly reccomend you look it up!

Week 21 Pictures

 

Our muddy climb

 

My poor shoes

Week 21 I lost my shoe... In the mud... Way too many times...

Hey there my dear friends and family!

What a week! We had stake conference and it was the world wide Christmas devotional. 

Tuesday

While trying to find people this week, we found an elderly sister who had been inactive for over 3 years because she cannot walk very well. In talking to ward counsel, we found out that she had gone to Guyaquil for the past 3 years and did not know she was back but will be working towards helping her come to church or at least having someone take the sacrament to her this week. Later in the evening, we had a family home evening with Bryan (was baptized 2 weeks ago), his brother, and our mamita for Wednesdays, Mariella. We watched a short movie about the life of Christ and then ate lots of empanadas! It rained so much, we were drenched by the time we got home. When it rains here, it pours!

Wednesday

We tried to climb a hill while it was raining... Nope... Did not work out... We could not find the people at home and ended up going to visit a less active. When we got to the members home, she laughed so hard after seeing how muddy we were.

Thursday

I had divisions today with Hna. Silva, the hermana lider for our zone. We had meetings until 3pm (usually we finish by 1:30...). We were able to make a few visits then we had to sit through another 2 hours of meetings with our ward mission leader and ward counsel. Thursdays are hard because we sit in meetings almost all day. 

Friday

We switched back to our normal companions, and Hna Castro and I set off to work. We tried to climb another muddy hill and it took almost 15 minutes to climb this hill that normally takes 3... It was a struggle but we survived! While trying to get the mud off my shoes (the mud here suctions to my shoes and is nearly impossible to get off), I flicked my foot and my shoe went flying. I had to wait some time for my shoe because Hna. Castro was dying of laughter.

Saturday

I have been here in La Costa for a month now! That is weird to think about... It has gone from being super hot to being only really hot but super wet with rain! We had stake conference this evening and it was my first time going to the adult session in my entire life (I am a big kid now). Presidente and Hermana Richardson were invited to speak so we got to talk to them before but we left early because it was 9pm and I do not feel comfortable out of the house after 8:30.

Sunday

We had the normal session of stake conference and then ate lunch with the Familia Mendoza. We tried visiting a bunch of people but no one was really home. We went to the Christmas devotional at the church (you can look for it on LDS.org) and it was awesome! We had a gringo room so I got to listen to it in English! :)

It was a hard week. We had a lot of potential for new investigators and even more to have a fecha but it all fell. I was trying so hard not to be discouraged but it hurt to have so much work feel like it had gone to waste. Last night in the Christmas devotional, Sis. Burton talked about the Plan of Salvation and the importance of it. [I did not know everything but I knew enough.] I also read in Preach My Gospel this morning about the Fall of Adam and that he fell so that we could be here. In our lives on earth, we are here to experience joy but we would not be able to understand the joy we feel if we did not experience pain and sadness. I may not fully understand why all our appointments fell but I know that there is a reason for everything.

Transfers are next week!! Ahhh! I will know Sunday night if I am to stay in La Costa or if I am to go somewhere else!

Until next time, 

The Strawberry Blonde Hermana

Week 20 Pictures

 

 

 

Maybe she is taller!?

 

Week 20 It is coming... The rain is coming...

Hola mis queridos!

This week... The rains began... The rainy season for Ecuador had already started but here in La Costa, it doesn´t start until December but hey, why not start a little early? I probably will be wet until I leave here because we never fully dry out and our clothes after we wash them take about 3 days to dry. Wet, wet, wet... :) But hey, that is life here!

Tuesday

We had a lesson with Nicole, a recent convert who has not been assisting. It was fun to talk to her and we are going to try to work with Young women´s to help her. Interviews were good. Mostly we sat and listened to the Assistants and reviewed some other things with Presidente. We were given the challenge to read all of Preach My Gospel by Feb. 25th, that´s 242 pages in Spanish. I am kind of cheating and reading it in English (it´s shorter but hey, still the same stuff). Back in August, the mission was given the challenge to read the Book of Mormon in 3 months but I wasn´t there. Don´t worry, I am still reading it and am trying to finish before Christmas. We also had our area book checked. If the whole zone passed their inspection of their area book, we all get cake. Guess what! We get cake!! Eventually...

Wednesday

We had a bunch of appointments. One was with a gentleman named Giovanni. He spent 5 minutes telling us that we were beautiful people for preaching the word of God. It was a little weird, but that´s mission life. Later in the evening, we watched The Restauration with a bunch of investigators and recent converts. It was a fun night.

Thursday

Thanksgiving! Weird to think that today was Thanksgiving... It did not really feel like Thanksgiving. As a zone, we ate tacos I don´t know what Heavenly Father is trying to tell me but every time we have a meeting for either zone or district, I always give a thought on a attribute of Christ. I guess I am just not as Christ like as I thought I was... Oops... Later in the day, Mariela, our mamita for Wednesdays, gave us tamales as we passed by to see if she could accompany us to an appointment. Tamales and tacos? Good way to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Friday

I had divisions today with Hna. Gummersall. We travelled 2 hours to Quiñide. Since their mamita can´t feed the missionaries after 1pm, we ate chicken and french fries at a restaraunt with creepy owners. We visited a bunch of people, contacted a ton, and then tried to go to the weekly Ward family home evening. Unfortunately, something happened in one of the families that was in charge, so it was cancelled. We ended up talking to random people on the way home. Quiñide is so cooler (temperature) than Esmeraldas. If only... Nahh I love the ward here too much to change.

Saturday

We planned family home evening nights with a bunch of families. They are the best ways to help investigators to get to know the members of the ward. We taught a friend of a recently reactivated member and his neighbor. They are so cute! The kid that we are teaching, Edwin, after the lesson likes to practice little English phrases with me.

Sunday

The people we wanted to come to church didn´t come to church and the people we did not expect to come to church, came to church... I don´t know how that works... But hey, it´s all the same, we all need to go to church! After church, we ate some good ol´ guatita... It´s not my favorite but food is food... It actually was better than the first time I had it. In the evening, we visited a girl named Edith and her mom. Her mom did not really want to listen to us before but now, she told us that she is just like Joseph Smith, looking for the right church. The lesson went awesome and we have a scheduled tour with them for later this week.

That´s pretty much my week all summed up! I was thinking a lot about what I am grateful for and I really do have a lot to be grateful for. Mostly, I am grateful for this opportunity that I have received (again) to serve a mission. I learn so much day to day and can see little by little the changes in me. Sometimes I wonder how I can keep going on but then I spend time with the people here who don´t have this light in their lives. I am reminded that I have to put my worries aside and help these people find this light. It is amazing how this gospel can change people´s lives, if they only just let it in.

I hope y´all have a great week and hope to hear from you soon!

Until next time,

The Strawberry Blonde Hermana

PS.

The pictures are of me with Hna Silva, our hermana líder. She loves greeting me on the steps because then she can be taller than me. The other is me in front of el Rio Blanco (oh the irony!)

Week 19: "You're like a mom!"

Hey there my lovely family and friends!

What can I say, I guess I am meant to be a mother... It was funny because in our meeting this week, Elder Vail randomly says it really loud about me. He´s one of the new missionaries to la misión.

Tuesday

Our electricity went out again but this time for the whole building. I could not help but laugh. Thankfully, the power came back on before we came home. (I was extremely concerned for our ice cream we had in the freezer. Priorities, right?) We gave a tour of the church to one of our investigators and it was awesome! I love giving tours because you can always feel the spirit so strong in the church. She at first did not want to come because she claimed she was too busy with other things. We asked her for only 20 minutes to show her the chapel and ended up being there for over an hour and a half.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, we do not have as much time for appointments but we were able to pack in 7 appointments today! Oof! Boy were we running to each of our appointments!

Thursday

I had given money to another hermana in my zone to buy me a cheap speaker to listen to music during the mornings and evenings. Never before have I been so grateful for music. It is really calming to have music. I am the English tutor for my district and it was rough for my first lesson but the elders loved it. We are learning hymns in English. Later during the day, we took a taxi back from our mamita and in talking to the taxi driver, he gave us his information to pass on to some elders and gave us the ride for free. He was such a nice taxi driver.

Friday

We had a revision of our apartment to make sure we were keeping it clean and... we passed! Of course... We chatted with a bunch of people and set tons of appointments.

Saturday

One of the counselors in the bishopric decided to come up behind me in the street and pretend to rob me. I was scared to be honest. He thinks he is so funny. Later in the evening we had an appointment with one of our investigators and the bishop. It was an awesome lesson.

Sunday

Sacrament meeting was so funny because a sister got up and while giving her talk about the importance of familias, one by one, all of her small children came up and were clinging to her skirt. It was a hilarious sight. We set up even more appointments for this week with the members of the ward, so it will be a packed week!

Happy early Thanksgiving! Here´s a picture of a turkey we had attack us this past week. I think he knows that Thanksgiving is coming... ;) We have interviews with Pres. Richardson tomorrow! Bum bum bummmm! Wish me luck! Have a great week and hope to hear from you soon!

Until next time,

The Strawberry Blonde Hermana

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Week 18 A Miracle from Above... Literally!

Hola mis queridas familia y amigos!

I was sitting in church yesterday when I realized it was Sunday. It felt like only the day before was Tuesday... I am running out of time!

Tuesday

We spent 3 days with Hna. Gummersall (Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday). It was fun to be in a trio and teaching was a breeze but we were super busy all day. We had 8 appointments and a baptismal interview. It was a pretty crazy day. We were running to appointments.

Wednesday

It rained! What?? I was told that it does not rain in La Costa... Well, it does... Thankfully, the times that it was raining hard, we were inside teaching. After a full day of lessons, weekly planning, being stuff with chicken and rice, and all the other usual activities of a missionary, we took Hna. Gummersall to the terminal to get her companion, Hna Silva, who was coming from Quito. We ended up waiting an hour and a half in the terminal. They came home with us instead of going to their sector because we had meetings in the morning, they would have had to come back anyways, it was late, and it would have been another 2 hours by bus.

Thursday

I really enjoyed today's training. We talked about being disciples of Christ. In 3 Nephi 5:13 talks about being called to as a disciple. We are all children of our Heavenly Father but we are disciples when we decide to follow Christ. The only question that remains is what kind of disciple do we want to be?

Friday

Old people are just so cute. Can I just say that? We have a recent convert who is about to reach his one year mark and he is seriously the cutest 80 year old. He is not quite all there but he knows about when the missionaries are going to visit him so he asks his granddaughter to buy a soda or something so that he can give it to us. He is so sweet. Later in the day, we gave 2 tours of the chapel. It is a lot of fun to do tours and you can always feel the Spirit so strong. On our way back to the house, we passed by one of the member's homes who's daughter was having her quinceñera. We could not stay for the party but it was fun to see all the decorations.

Saturday

We had a baptism today! Well, techinically 2 but one of the does not count for us since Isa is 8 years old. We are working with her dad to become fully reactivated. Bryan looked so happy for his baptism. It was a great night.

Sunday

I love Sundays here because every Sunday, a different family gets up and sings a hymn for breaking up the talks. They are not very good singers but you still cannot help but smile. We tried visiting everybody but no one was home!! Later, when we got home, we did not have electricity! It was an interesting night. Thankfully, our neighbor who lives above, tried so hard to help fixed our problem and gave us candles so that we were not in the dark. She is the best! In the morning, she made phone calls and checked on us to make sure everything was ok. We have power now and all is good in the world!

That is pretty much it for this week! It has been a crazy one but I love it here all the same. (Still dying from the heat... I sweat 20 pounds and then they feed me 20 pounds...)

Enjoy your week and hope to hear from you soon!

Hermana Duff

 

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