Hey friends and family!
Yep, you all heard right, there was a huge earthquake here in Ecuador (along the coast). No need to panic, I am alive and breathing! It was a 4.0 where I was at but Esmeraldas was a 7.8. All the missionaries in Ecuador are ok! Thank you for all of the prayers! Also, I got transferred! I am now in Imbaya! It is in Imbabura, a little part of Otavalo! I finally came to Otavalo!!! I was super torn about these transfers...
It has been raining a TON here! We bought a bunch of tortillas from an hermana in the ward because we love ourselves some quesadillas! Hahaha it was pretty great when I had to call my district leader and he told me that we were crazy for buying food right before transfers. We told him that he did not understand how many quesadillas we can eat. Later in the evening, we watched the Restoration with a few less actives.
We did our weekly planning and then headed to our mamita. She forgot that we were coming (we called the day before...) so her emloyee made us popusa! It was so good! It is like an arepa but with cheese and beans mixed in! It is a very popular food from El Salvador where she is from. We went and watched the Restoration with the Familia Añapa but got some sad news. Nelly is planning on going back to the coast at the end of the month and Mikal is going to go work in Cumbaya... Sad day...
Remember how I had gotten the request for making banana bread for the zone? Well... It was a disaster! We had received permission to go cook it in the other hermana´s house but they weren´t home. We ended up trying to cook it at the church but the stove was not working... We started our meeting worrying about the other hermanas in our ward because we had not heard from them all night. Turns out, they went to get one of their visas... El. Wheelwright said that we had a crisis because the banana bread was not going to be cooked, then the hermanas showed up, and then El. Wheelwright said that we still had the crisis of the banana bread. Hahaha oh elders and their banana bread... Later in the night, my head started hurting really bad. I almost passed out and a member, who is a doctor, asked if I was anemic. We ended up going home and I went straight to bed.
While I was dying on my bed last night, Hna. Thomas had called the mission nurse and told her that I was not doing good at all (I had gone to the doctor last week...). She set an appointment and we almost did not make it on time because the rain was so ridiculous! It has been raining so much these past few weeks. Dang winter... The doctor poked and proded me for a few seconds, gave me a prescription, and sent me on my merry way. On our way home, we bought hamburgers.
Day of the earthquake! Bum bummm bummmmmmmmmmmmm! It was a pretty calm day. We spent the morning knocking doors trying to find the people that we had called from our area book. It was quite funny because we just got rejected a ton and could not help but laugh. We visited with an hermana that is going to complete one year as member in a few weeks. We love eating lunch with her and her husband because he starts telling us the do´s and don´ts of the mission. He said, "The Preach My Gospel" videos are a lie for south American missions because "how many of your apartments have looked like that? None? Exactly my point!". It was so funny. We then went to Zambiza and were visiting Hilda, a less active, when the earthquake hit. We were all calm and sitting then everything began to shake. It was quite the experience. We did not know how bad it was until we got home and our neighbors were freaking out about how we were... It was really sad to hear about Esmeraldas...
And because of the earthquake... we cancelled church?? Apparently because of the earthquake, many of the church buildings in Ecuador and some in Peru were not considered safe to go to. We were told to watch the stake conference from home but we decided to study instead. We ate lunch with the Relief Society president and then said goodbye to a ton of members. I do not know why, but I always know when I am getting transferred... It was so sad to say goodbye because they started to cry... It breaks my heart.
I am in my new area now! I am with Hna. Carrasco! She is from Ecuador but from the southern part of Quito. I am in a ward where they do all the reunions in Kechwa. I guess it is now time to start learning some Kechwa!
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