Christmas with the Murphys!
Sharing a Merry Message
Practicing English by playing hangman
Sharing all the fun the mission will be
with a new Sister from the CCM (aka MTC in English)
Monday, December 19, 2016
Week 75 Flashback to the CCM! That is the Spanish version of the MTC...
Hey friends and family!
It was a super stressful week but a week of miracles all the same. We were asked to participate in a mini MTC so we had a flashback to the good ol' times... I got to go out on divisions with an hermana named Kathy. She was super awesome to work with.
We headed to Quito for Christmas! It was a lot of fun. On the way there, Hna. del Rosario taught me how to crochet a little bit. We got to Quito and had a little Christmas zone conference with Pres. and Hna. Murphy. We presented our little skits to everyone. Ours was pretty great. If you remind me, one day I will show you them. Lunch was super good. We got turkey, so it was kind of like a late Thanksgiving dinner. I helped clean up the messes while waiting for my interview. Guys, there was progress, I did not come out of my interview crying. It is so weird to think that it is finally all coming to an end. We got home around 9:45 and quickly went to bed because we had gone to bed late and had gotten up early.
We had a fun district meeting. Afterwards, we went to eat with Hna. Liliana and her daughter. We talked about the importance of giving referals. She promised to be on the lookout. On our way out of her house, we contacted one of her neighbors, Andres, a cute old man, who accepted a visit. We taught him about the plan of salvation because his wife died 13 years ago. He was so happy to hear that he could see her again. We prepped Richard for his baptismal interview and helped finish the lessons of Jenny. I helped with some English homework, then we were introduced to an hermana that said she would be happy to receive a visit!
Richard passed his interview! All he had to do is go to church one more time and everything would be set... We visited Andres and he was patiently waiting for us. We invited him to church and he was so excited. We finished Jenny's lessons and her interview was set for Saturday. One hermana who came with us was awesome! She always wanted to be a missionary but could never do it. Oooof! She would have been a powerful missionary. After Richard's baptismal interview, we took the elders to give a blessing to an hermana who was sick in our sector. She was so happy to receive a blessing. One of our recent converts also got to participate in the blessing and he was so excited. Later, we visited Geovani and he is getting closer and closer to baptism, he is just missing one thing.
We quickly visited with Geovani before heading off to Carabuela for divisions. I went with Hna. Jueschke again. We had a fun time chatting about all the miracles that we have seen in our mission. We visited a partial member family and a recent convert. Then we went to the plaza in Otavalo with the Imbaya zone and sang for an hour and a half while other missionaries contacted. It was pretty fun other than Hna. Jueschke and I have been a little sick so our voices were horrible.
We got the chapel in Rumiñahui and were given "trainees". I got a sweet girl named Kathy. Of course, all of our appointments fell but we were able to talk about how awesome the mission is. She is so excited to turn in her papers in January. We visited Rosa and she is doing awesome. After lunch, we hurried to get Jenny for her baptismal interview. She passed!!! She is going to be getting baptized on Friday!! Yay! Later in the evening, we visited Geovani and he asked if he could be baptized... Sayyyy whaaaaaat?! Yeah! I was pretty excited.
We went to get Andres for church and he was so excited to go. We found out that he went to the ward activity the day before with our ward without even being invited... It was pretty funny to find that one out. Richard almost was not able to come to church... He did not have oxygen to travel. We got pretty discouraged but with a lot of prayer and faith, he came to church. Officially he and Jenny are going to be baptized on Friday! I was crying because we have put so much work into this happening. We ate lunch with Hna. Berta and she was bummed to find out that this was the first and last time that I would eat with her. We caught the bus and visited Andres. We planned the baptisms then headed to Gabrielas's house. Jannik turned 13 so we celebrated with them a little bit. It was fun.
It was a crazy, emotional week. My goal is to not spend this whole week crying. Wish me luck! I hope you have an awesome week and can you believe in a week, I finish this crazy, amazing journey that I started a little over two years ago??
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Week 74 Pictures... different foods...
Merry Christmas
White beetles: fried
Megan up in an avocado tree picking avocadoes.
Anyone for fried chicken feet?
Dinosaurs can be friendly too :)
Week 74 The weird food that I ate this week...
Hey friends and family!
So last week, I sent the picture with Richard, right? Where we always teach on the doorstep if his mom is not home? Right... So this week, we got attacked a ton by dogs trying to get in and out! It was a pretty interesting week.
We helped an hermana set up her Christmas tree. It is always funny because they all use pine trees here, just like in the states. Her son asked why they use pine trees and she said, "I don't know. They do it in the US, so we do it too." We got to the F. de la Cruz and they were playing around with gatsos (a white beetle). People here really love eating them fried with tostado (kind of like corn nuts). Yes, I tried gatsos about a month ago. No, I do not like them... We talked to them about the importance of family prayer.
Richard, our investigator with a baptismal date, always had the idea that he was going to be baptized in the waterfalls of Peguche. We had to break the news to him that that could not happened. He was a little bummed but still really wants to get baptized. We visited a few recent converts and it was pretty funny. One family, F. Casco, finally answered our prayer to give service. We always ask if we can do anything for people but are always rejected. Today, we got some homework- teach them how to have a family home evening. It was cute because the mom said "Yes, I do have something that you can do for us!" We found a new investigator named Vicky. She is a funny lady. We will see how she progresses.
We got lost on our way to lunch. The other week, we changed up our mamitas, so I am a little lost as to where some live. They gave us "molleja" which is chicken liver. It was a very interesting experience... Later, we helped F. Antamba pick avacados from their giant tree. Yup, I got to pick avacados in Ecuador. It was pretty fun. We went up to Cajas and visited a family and they gave me chicken feet... In the evening, we were talking to some other investigators and they tried to convince me to get over my cough with goat milk...
We chatted with Rosa Elena to see how she was doing. Oh how I love her. I told her that I had printed off her pictures of her baptism but that I would get them to her the next week. She told me that it was an excuse and that I have terrible memory (I told her a month ago that I would print them off.). We finished Richard's lessons, so he is all set and ready to go! We just need to plan his interview and he needs to come to church twice to be baptized! After leaving Richard, we went to Estela and she told us that she thought we had forgotten about her because she had not seen us in over two weeks... I felt so bad! We have a recent convert named Mercedes who is close to completing a year as a member and she is pretty funny too. I know a few words in Kechwa, so I use them with her. I said "chuspi" which is fly in Kechwa and she could not stop laughing. Her daughter told me that she tells everyone about what I said.
Planned service projects fell through but we still had a good day. We planned some visits for the next week with members. A lady started talking to me and offered to let us help her make humitas! Yes! We visited Cynthia, a recent convert who's baby is super cute! Such a temptation! He is a little chubby thing. Next week, I will have to send a picture of him! We had our weekly meeting with our ward mission leader and coordinated how we are going to do things with the ward activity and baptisms.
Richard came to church! Jenny and her kids came to church! They all have a baptismal date! It truly was a blessing to see them at church and so happy! Jenny has been going through a lot of things since we started visiting her but she is going strong and is super excited for her baptism! The bishopric gave us new glasses for the house. After lunch, we were sprinting out the door to catch the bus to go to San Pablo. It was pretty funny because I ran out the door without my bag, so there was Hna. del Rosario, running behind me carrying all the things as I tried to stop the bus. It was quite the sight, they told me.
This week, we have our Christmas luncheon with Pres. and Hna. Murphy! I have my final interview tomorrow. Time is flying by way too quickly! I hope you all have a great week! Find ways to give service!
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
Week 73 Pictures of all sorts of good friends...
A new take on the Nativity scene...
is that a crocodile?
Our Christmas Tree
Friends losing a loved one going home;
Megan is on her way in 21 1/2 days!
It's a good thing that they are not related.
Week 73 Hello, My name is Hugo Montoya, you came to zone conference, prepare to be edified!
Hey friends and family!
This week was quite the interesting week! We had a visit from El. Montoya and his wife. I lost the keys to our house. I was basically Ariel because I did not have a voice. I learned how to make "papa rellena". I do not have parasites. The sky is still just as blue here in Ecuador as it is in the States... I really do not want to go home...
During our district meeting, we practiced singing Silent Night and played hangman. Everyone got super competitive. I almost died laughing. We found one of the recent converts who we had lost today! It was miracle! We chatted with her and she thought that the missionaries and everyone had forgotten about her. We were able to share a scripture with her and she is excited to come to church! Our investigator, Richard, continues to progress little by little to his baptismal date.
I made lunch then we headed to visit Dayana and Jordan. Later, we visited Richard and watched a talk by Pres. Monson about decisions. It is funny because when Richard's mom isn't home, we sit on his door step to teach him and his brother, Francisco.
We read a little bit in the BOM with Rosa then helped wash her clothes. Later, we took Jenny, an investigator, to an hermana who is going to beauty school to paint our nails. It was a fun night to just sit and chat. Jenny opened up more and more about her needs and how she really likes to listen to what we are teaching. She told us that she knows that the church is true! She is closer and closer to baptism.
I woke up without a voice. The bad thing was that I had to lead the music in the meeting with El. Montoya and I was part of the choir. Hna. del Rosario could not stop laughing at me because I was coughing so hard every few seconds. We talked about the inciative for Christmas this year. We really are focusing in on giving as much service as we can. During the luncheon, we got to chat with El. Montoya's wife. It was such an amazing experience. All afternoon, we showed the Christmas message to everyone and gave cards to hand out. Geovani and his family took a bunch and were so excited to start sharing.
We gave a tour of the chapel to Jenny and her kids. The spirit was so strong. I did not want to leave the chapel. She still is not quite sure but says that she is close. We contacted for a little bit and set a few appointments. Later, we chatted with Richard and his family about his baptism. Richard is so excited. The only challenge is that he has a heart condition and is on oxygen which makes church attendance a little difficult. We are working with ward counsel to fix that.
The ward counsel was revising the ward mission plan and we gave a few ideas to help them keep progressing as a ward. We ran around the second hour giving everyone the Christmas inciative card. Later, we ate lunch with Geovani and his family then chatted with Jenny. Richard could not come to church so we had to change his baptismal date but he is still going with his excitement. We helped an investigator was dishes before heading to Gonzales. I lost the keys on the way to Gonzales but thankfully, our land lady did not get mad. We just need to make copies... We helped a convert fold her laundry. The Christmas devotional was awesome as always! "Not only because he was born but that he lived, died, and resurrected for us."
We had a district activity today and watched The Best Two Years. Hna. del Rosario said that at the very end of the movie, it describes our relationship perfectly... I hope you all have an awesome week!
Monday, November 28, 2016
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