Week 57 Bye Bye Hermana Padilla

Hey friends and family!

"To serve others effectively, we must see them through a parent's eyes, through Heavenly Father's eyes." -Dale G. Renlund

Tuesday
We were told that we were going to have divisions with the hermanas, so we hurried to get some visits in before then got late to lunch. I got to go out and work with Hna. Cardenas. We visited one lady who was not really receptive before but as we taught, she paid more attention. She had some bad experiences with members but said that she would be willing to do a tour of the church with us. We set one up for next week. Later, we went to visit one less active to help him finish up his lessons to be considered reactivated and as we were leaving, his wife came home. She never wanted to see us and on several occaisions, has slammed the door in my face. We decided to try one more time with her and she began to open up and tell us all her problems and worries. It was an awesome night because we were able to talk about the Atonement with her and show her how she could use the Atonement to heal her wounds on her heart. 

Wednesday
We had interviews with president! Bum bum bummmmmmmm... Apparently, he said that we would have 15 minutes or less to talk to him but I ended up talking to him for more than a half hour about all the questions I had. It was pretty funny when I walked out of my interview and my zone said, "POR FIN!". It was pretty funny. Shortest lesson I have ever taught was tithing to a less active in less than 2 minutes. Boom! It was awesome. One of our investigators was amazed because he did not think we knew how to use the Bible. I have actually been studying the New Testament lately and it has been quite interesting. I have learned so much. "The Sabbath and the Sacrament become much more enjoyable as we study the stories of Christ." (Claudio R. M. Costa). How true this has become for me!

Thursday
We went exploring a part of our sector that I did not know before. Quitugo is exactly what I pictured all of Ecuador to be. I will definitely have to send a picture. The elders quorum president took us around and showed us a few of the people's homes and introduced us. It was exhausting but will be fun to start working there. We finished lessons with our less active and he is now officially activated. His wife now smiles at us and gave us an orange! 

Friday
Our investigator, Maria, was finally home and we were able to give her a Book of Mormon. Her eyes shone so brightly as we explained the BOM and how it would help her. She was even more excited to know that it would be her very own copy. We went to a wedding! An hermano in the ward got married and we were there for a little bit to support him in the church. Then we headed to Gualapuro which I am going to rename Gualapolvo because the roads are pure dirt! We walk in 6 inches of dirt! It is crazy! We visited a few investigators then I went to play doctor for a member who had hurt her foot (She told me later that it felt so much better and that I am officially Doctor Hermana Duff). 

Saturday
We prepped a ward baptism then went exploring Quitugo some more. We found a guy named German and he was super awesome. He kept asking super good questions and is excited to keep learning more. He said that he would talk to his neighbor, the elders quorum president, for more information until we come another day. We found yet another Narnia in our sector (an area where there are tons of houses that missonaries have not gone to for a really long time) and they received us really well. We are going to do some more exploring there next week. 

Sunday
It was a little bit of a rough day for Hna. Padilla. She had to give her final testimony in Imbaya because we won't be there next Sunday because she has to go to Quito. She is set up to give her final testimony in Cotama next Sunday. Later in the evening, we had a huge noche de hogar with the ward and they sang, God Be with You 'til We Meet Again. It was a super funny night. Everytime the returned missionaries would be waving goodbye to her during the hymn, she would just point at her nametag. It is so weird to think that she is finishing her mission...

Today, we celebrated her last Pday with her buying a duffel bag, buying ice cream, eating choclitos, getting her hair cut, and going to drop some stuff off to our ward mission leader. A pretty relaxed Pday but a fun one. Hope you have a great week!

Until next time,

The Strawberry Blonde Hermana

Week 55 Pictures

Week 55 The only true source of confort is God!

Hey friends and family!

Sometimes, as missionaries, we have our ups and our downs. When we are up, the world is beautiful and everything goes just swimmingly. In the downs, we learn that we must put all of our trust and faith in our Heavenly Father to get us through. If not, we end up having a ton of problems and can get depressed. It has been really rough this transfer because we have not been able to go out and work. This week, we were finally able to start working normally again Thursday.

Tuesday

In my studies, I found a quote by El. Pino that says, "The only true source of comfort is God". At first I thought, "No, I can find comfort in chocolate or whatever worldly thing that can make me happy temporarily." but as I began to think more, I realized that what El. Pino said is true. Our Heavenly Father knows us and what can make us happy (though chocolate always does help). I found this week to help me get through everything that my prayers became more sincere. I found more comfort and answers in my studies. While Hna. Padilla rested, I cleaned the house and my shoes. Our neighbor brought us potatoes and rice so that we could make a simple dinner. 

Wednesday
I remember that when I was going home this time last year, Hna. Richardson called me and talked to me about how during our trials, we need to show even more gratitude to life our spirits because this is what they always do in the scriptures. I personally thought that she was a little crazy but then I started to look into it and it really does help! I read a talk by El. Gong where he talked about how we always need to remember Christ in every aspect of our lives. One of the ways to do that is to be grateful in every moment. Later in the evening, the owner of the house stopped by to talk to us about how the house and neighbors were. She said that her brother would pass by to fix somethings the next day and that she would talk to our crazy neighbors (since I have been here, our other neighbors have called the cops on them twice). It is so nice when the owner of the house is LDS because they usually take a lot better care of us.

Thursday
There were quite a few changes again. Now we will not be having zone meetings every week. There were a few other changes too. It is crazy but they all make sense. We went to go find one of our less actives and ended up finding him at his job. He was amazed that we found him at work. I couldn't help but laugh. We visited the family Chaves and then a family Cacuango. The wife is slowly starting to progress! She read the chapter that we assigned in the Book of Mormon and felt like it really did answer her question! She said that she felt so good about what she read that when we offered to give her another chapter in the Book of Mormon to answer a question, she got so excited.

Friday
We went to visit the family Cacuango but they were a little busy with their new house that they have been building for the past few months. We helped them clean up a little bit so that we could share something quick with them. As we were getting ready to finish up the lesson, the little girl Amy, a 1 year old, picked up a screwdriver and almost stabbed Hna. Padilla in the neck. After we took away the screwdriver, I almost died of laughter. They always talk about "Chucky" here and so I said that she was mini-Chucky. Amy seemed to like the name. After family Cacuango, we visited Silvia who was super excited to update us on her husband. Ever since our first lesson and explanation of the Book of Mormon, he has been reading a ton. He is really excited to come back to talk to us more about what the gospel has to offer him. Silvia was so excited to tell us about his excitement. She is now more encouraged to come back to church.

Saturday
We got a call from an hermana who asked us if her little boy was going to be baptized today. He is 8 years old and she has only ever known missionaries to do baptisms. We called the bishop and he explained that it was for the next week. We called her back and explained it to her. We found a less active that I had been looking for since the end of May. She was really excited to see us and told us how the missionary who baptized her had just come to visit her. Heavenly Father has a way of putting things in just the right place. Like it says in 1 Nephi 21: 14-16, Christ has us engraven upon his palms. He will never forget us. Sometimes things get hard but Christ knows exactly what we are going through and what He can do to help us. 

Sunday
We had a busy Sunday. We got more less actives to work with and the ward mission plan. Our bishop was super excited to show us that we were right on track to reach all of our goals. The other bishop gave us the assignment to work in a specific part of the sector where there is a ton of potential. We have it set up to work with several members to go there. We went walking around Gualapuro looking for a few people but they were not home. On our way down the giant hill, a lady started to talk to us and we chatted with her. She was so excited to hear what we had to talk about that she said that she wanted us to come visit her and her husband. We have an appointment for Friday with her! We had the wife of one of our less actives slam the door in our face. That was a first... We were able to enter and chat with him. You have to love the awkward situations...

Today we had a district activity where we ate, watched the life of Joseph Smith, and played a game with a basketball. It is the simple things that are the best! I hope you have a great week and keep me up to date in your lives!

Until next time,

The Strawberry Blonde Hermana

Yesterday's picture with a new caption

 

Paperwork collected from Mission to send to

Salt Lake City... Oops! I bet Megan's area book

looks somewhat similar though.

She has 2 wards which cover a lot of mountains.

Week 56 Pictures

 

Area book just doubled in size!

 
In the hospital.

 

Hospital food in Ecuador.

That looks pretty decent to her mom; what gives?

 

 

Megan trying her darnedest to escape...

the hospital? or the hospital food?

Week 56 Fancy Hospital Food? What?

Hey friends and family!

Yep, from what you can see in the title, we got to spend enough time in the hospital that we were fed a few times.

Tuesday
In my studies, we were given a talk about the Divine Gift of Repentance by El. Christofferson. He really knows how to call us to repentance. I really enjoyed the talk and suggest it! We went to Quito for a doctor's appointment. It went well. Hna. Padilla was given some medicine to help with her head and stomach. I had a dentist appointment a little bit later. At the dentist, there were 6 other missionaries there waiting to see the dentist. It was a little ridiculous. I got checked really quick then we were about to head home when the nurse said it was too late to go home. We helped in the office for a little bit until they let us go sleep at the nurse's house. I finally learned what they do with all of our weekly reports. They all get put into a big binder and sent to Salt Lake City. How cool is that?! 

Wednesday
We chatted with the nurses for a little bit before heading back to Otavalo. When we got home, we did our weekly planning and went to lunch. We met up with the hermana leaders and did splits so that we could get some work done in our sector. I got to go with Hna. Cardenas to work in Imbaya. We visited one of our recently reactivated youth and his friend then contacted until it was time to meet up again. When we got together again, Hna. Padilla and I went to visit a few of our inactives that are close to being reactivated. Afterwards, we visited one of our investigators to verify that she is reading. She has been marking her scriptures and circling the words that she does not understand! That is awesome because it shows that she is ready to learn!

Thursday
The mission is a ton of paperwork I have come to decide. We have to keep everything on file that we do and turn in reports. We had our zone counsel and talks about the challenges that our zone has been having. We all laughed because our whole zone has been basically sick this whole month. After our meeting, we ate lunch at the bishop's house and chatted with the housekeeper. She says that we can come to visit her and her husband! Yay! We visited a few other investigators then headed to have our weekly meeting with our ward mission leader. The poor guy had a ton of things that he had to talk about in ward counsel.

Friday
Hna. Padilla was not doing so well during studies, so we called the nurse. She set an appointment for that day and we headed to Quito (again...). When Hna. Padilla came out of the appointment, she told me that we were going to spend some more time in the hospital. She was admitted and we began a bunch of tests. The bright point of this night was while the doctor was doing an ultrasound and I was cracking water jokes to Hna. Padilla because she had to go to the bathroom really bad. The doctor almost had an accident himself as I told the jokes.

Saturday
I was stuck. In a tiny hospital room. All day. And could not leave. I almost went insane. Thankfully, the nurses came to visit. Also, the zone leaders from Quito Oeste came to give Hna. Padilla a blessing. Also, I was fed very fancy food. Who the heck eats salmon in a hospital?? Me. I did a ton of study today. I read through 12 chapters of the Bible, all the Pearl of Great Price, and 4 very long talks. By the time I get home, I will know so much it will be ridiculous. Just kidding but still, I got tired from studying...

Sunday
The assistants came and gave us the sacrament because we could not leave our hospital room. Then they sang us a hymn. It was a little weird... We did some more studying. The nurses came and I got to go for a 10 minute walk to get me out of the tiny hospital room. It was so nice to get out. 

All the tests came back negative for Hna. Padilla. She was sent home with some medication and rest for a few more days. We are doing good. I hope you all have a great week and to hear from you soon! :)

Until next time,

The Strawberry Blonde Hermana

Week 54 Pictures

 

Yard work anyone!

 

 

Apparently Megan's nursing skills require

a watchful eye by Little Nemo...

Hermana Padilla is sick; no fun.