Imbaya Ward Dance Party
San Juan... it is similar to Halloween.
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Week 50 One Year Down! Oh snap!
Hey friends and family!
I hit the big 1 year mark this Friday! I cannot believe I have finally made it to this point! I still tell everyone that I started in November so they all think that I have 7 months in the mission. It is quite funny. This week, San Juan is winding down. On our way to write, we had to pass a huge group of people (200+) and let me just say, it is like Halloween going on right now. All should be calm and tranquil after Wednesday.
I hit the big 1 year mark this Friday! I cannot believe I have finally made it to this point! I still tell everyone that I started in November so they all think that I have 7 months in the mission. It is quite funny. This week, San Juan is winding down. On our way to write, we had to pass a huge group of people (200+) and let me just say, it is like Halloween going on right now. All should be calm and tranquil after Wednesday.
I sinned by crossing the main road and entering into Cotama! Ahhh! No, just kidding but I feel so weird working across the main road where I was always told that we never cross the road... Thank goodness it does not cover the land mass that Imbaya covers or else it would take forever to learn. We went and read the Book of Mormon to an elderly couple then visited a family with 6 girls. It was a pretty fun lesson and the 14 year old loves reading the BOM and how she feels as she reads. We just now have to get the mom reading and the family can progress. We visited a less active named Cindy and the funny thing is that I have met her because I reactivated her brother in Imbaya back in May but I could not seem to figure out how I knew her until we got home.
Weekly planning took forever because we had to teach each other our wards. It is quite interesting to be working with both. We read the BOM with a recently reactivated teenager and he said that he did not do some of his homework because he was enjoying the BOM too much. We help an hermana make dream catchers for a little bit then went to visit a less active who has been coming to church! She progressing little by little. We had to take the keys to the other house to our zone leaders so that they could close up the house officially.
I met the bishop of Cotama and we talked about how we were going to work in the ward and his goals for us. It was a good little chat. We visited the F. Chaves and then had our meeting with our ward mission leader for Imbaya. He laughed when he heard that we were taking care of 2 wards.
We visited our recent convert, Freddy, who is going to Quito for the next 2 months! No! So sad! Then we walked up and visited with our recently reactivated Cristina about having patience even though it can be really hard. Her visiting teachers accompanied us and on our way back down the mountain, we talked about how missionaries need to close their hearts during their mission.
We got to sit in on the ward activity for Imbaya. They had a huge dance party, so we took some food and left. It was cool for a second because we got to see a little of the traditional dancing. One of our investigators, Rebeca, received a blessing because she fell off of a roof and broke her shoulder. The bishop was thankfully able to go with us to give her the blessing.
7am Cotama
9:30am Ward counsel Imbaya
10am Ward counsel Cotama
10:45am Imbaya
3pm Lunch
Our schedule is a little crazy on Sundays now that we have to go to 2 wards but fun all the same. We saw some dancers after lunch and then had a movie night with the Cotama ward.
Hope you have a great week!
Monday, June 13, 2016
Week 48 Sometimes, all you need is a PBJ!
Hey friends and family!
This week has had some ups and downs but we keep going!
TuesdayThis week has had some ups and downs but we keep going!
We visited the sister of one of our converts to talk about how she was going to help her brother afford his mission. She was super awesome to talk to. She told us that she could see a difference in her brother since his baptism and how he continues to get better and better every day. This is just one of the millions of testimonies of how the gospel changes lives! Later in the evening, we met with family Rodriguez! They are super awesome! The daughter is progressing so well. She came to church on Sunday and said she loved it! Now we just have to get to know the rest of the family.
I got my anaco today! Officially, I am Otavalian ;) We visited one of our less actives named Edwin who always has excuses for why he can never come to church. We had been given a training the other week about how with people like him, we needed to teach more of the consequences if we do not keep the commandments. When we finished the lesson, he told us that he now understood that he needed to come to church and that he would start coming.
We talked a ton about diligence and obedience in our mini zone conference. It was a little sad because this was the last training that we would be receiving from President Richardson... We finally found one of our other less actives named Hno. Chaves. It was a little sad because he told us that right as he was leaving his house to come to church, his old bishop came and took him to the other ward. Also, that his records would be in our ward in about 2 months... I smacked my head in disbelief. We told our bishop and he said that he would talk to the other bishop because maybe he did not understand boundaries because he is new...
I taught Hna. Alvarado how to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and it is pretty funny. It is all she wants now. I think she is addicted... ;) Hahaha We have been working with family De la Torre (less actives) for 4 months and now all they need is their interviews... They are truly a trial of my patience... Lady, the daughter of the family Rodriguez, is doing amazing! She was super excited to get a Book of Mormon tonight. She started reading right away as we were walking out the door! Guys, the Book of Mormon is awesome.
We taught the bishop`s cousin, Oscar, today and he is awesome! He was super receptive but says he has to talk to his cousins to see if this is really the path that he should take. We went knocking doors and accidently taught a family of inactives from the elders... They were sad that when we finished, we told them that we could not teach them. We visited the family Chaves and let me just say, I just love this family. They are so cute. They cannot read very well but try really hard. We just have to help them understand that they have to come to our ward...
We were told about a couple that recently just got married who the husband is not a member and the wife is less active. Our bishop told us that we needed to get after them. The good thing is that they are already married so that is one thing that we do not need to worry about. After church, I taught the relief society president and her husband how to index. Let us just say it is quite interesting trying to index in Spanish but we did it! I need to repent about doing indexing when I get home...
Today for our Pday, we went as a district to the waterfalls in Peguche. It was super pretty there! Ahhhh! I just love exploring the outdoors in Ecuador! Hope you all have a great week!
Until next time,Monday, June 6, 2016
Week 47 In our Zone jackets: pictures
We are in our Zone jackets... cheering on the work!
Megan and Hermana Alvarado
Week 47 It is so Cold!!!!
Hey friends and family!
I never thought that I would say this... I MISS THE HEAT OF THE COAST! SEND ME BACK!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH! Hahaha, it has been so cold this week! It is ridiculous! I am dying! It is all Hna. Alvarado´s fault! Ever since she came to be with me in Imbaya... ;) Just kidding! But seriously though, it is so cold! It has been raining like crazy!
I never thought that I would say this... I MISS THE HEAT OF THE COAST! SEND ME BACK!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH! Hahaha, it has been so cold this week! It is ridiculous! I am dying! It is all Hna. Alvarado´s fault! Ever since she came to be with me in Imbaya... ;) Just kidding! But seriously though, it is so cold! It has been raining like crazy!
Monday
Tonight, we visited a family of recent converts who do not come to church every week. The other week, we learned that the wife has been really sick and they are worried that she might have cancer... We went with her home teachers to give her a blessing (the men gave it, not us... That would be apostasty...). It was amazing! I love listening to Priesthood blessings. It talked a lot about obedience and faith. Really, all blessings from Heavenly Father work through our faith and obedience. After the lesson, they gave us chocolate cake :)
We did visits in the evening with the Bishop. We ended up climbing several mountains it felt like! We tried to visit one inactive but she was not home and ended up visiting another family, Fam. Otavalo. They have lived in our ward boundaries for over a year and a half but attend another ward every once in a while. They still do not want to attend our ward but we are not giving up on them yet. We just have to help them feel comfortable in the church. Our ward mission leader said that maybe it is because we really have to focus in on strengthening the head of the house. I will keep you posted on them...
We visited our recent convert, Freddy, and his recently reactivated brother, Cleber. They are doing so awesome! They asked if we could do a family night with them. We have planned to do it with the inactive Young Men´s president to see if this can help get him motivated to come to church. On Sunday,we were told that we needed to get him active. We get a ton of references, most are for inactives. I personally do not mind. I actually really like working with less actives.
It makes me really sad when people do not want to come to church, especially if it is for their spouse... One hermana does not want to come to church because her husband does not like feeling obligated to come to church. Hopefully, we can have an appointment with him this week. We visited our recent convert who likes to attend a different ward... She stopped coming to our ward because she feels inadequate for her calling. We talked a lot about how the Lord qualifies those he calls (I mean, look at where I am at... And how I haven´t died yet...). She is set to be released from her calling so that she can have a little more time to learn in the church before she receives another calling.
All the plans come crashing down! Welcome to the life of a missionary! Actually, it is not that bad. It gives you the chance to try to find out what Heavenly Father wants us to do. We did a little service for a member and then ate lunch. We tried to catch the bus to Cumbas (the bus schedule is super picky here...) but missed it. We took another bus then walked an hour to a less active. After visiting with her, we visited the family of recent converts from Monday. The wife was doing tons better and she gave us a reference for her niece and family!
We found the son of another family of recent converts named Freddy. He is super awesome but really shy! He had listened to missionaries before but I am guessing that missionaries got transferred and he was forgotten. He accepted baptism! Our less actives this week have all decided to be a little difficult in finding... But I still love them all the same! We had a really good correlation with our ward mission leader. I am really excited for our goals that we have made! We are going to be working super hard!
It was a good day! We had the daughter of the reference from the recent converts come to church and she really liked it!! :) Today, I got to see my old district leader El. Tituaña! He is in my stake here but not in my ward. He came to sing in the choir and told me that he is soon getting married. I cannot believe how time flies and what things can change in such a short time!
I hope you all have a great week! And I hope to hear from you soon!
Until next time,Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Week 46 Another busy week of finding famlies!
Hey friends and family!
Another week has come and gone!! We found 3 new families to teach! I cannot believe it! I am almost at the 1 year mark! I am still here in the good ol´ Imbaya but now with Hna. Alvarado! She is from El Salvador! We were in the Coast together in the same zone for one transfer and were always asking each other when we were going to be companions!
We went to Cumbas to visit one investigator, Ximena and ended up visiting her sister, Ana. It was kind of funny. She also really liked listening to us. We finished the lesson, missed the bus, and ended up walking an hour and a half to get to the main road to catch another bus... This sector sometimes... We visited a family of recent converts and it was a little sad because the wife is really sick and they think that it might be cancer. We tried to emphasize that they need to keep preparing to be sealed in the temple. We got to celebrate the birthday of the hermana and she told me that for her present, she wanted a bunch of recipes haha Another sad moment was that we went to visit David and he was super excited to open up about why he struggles with church and everything. The sad thing was that he told us that soon he is planning to go live in Italy with his parents and won´t come back until September... :( I guess we just have to make the most of our time!
We went to teach Roberto and the funniest thing happened! He was watching his niece while his sister was making lunch and in the middle of our lesson, he stands up and starts saying "Ay chi chi!" (how cold!). We noticed that his niece had peed through her diaper and onto his lap (it looked like he peed his pants...). We almost died of laughter and almost could not finish the lesson. We take a recent convert named Mauricio to do visits with us and today, while walking for forever, we talked about the mission and why we decided to come on the mission. Mauricio has been really wishy-washy because he is close to turning 25 years old and thinks that he is too old to serve. We explained the blessings that come from serving and he told us that he would think about it.
As English tutor, if everyone in your district passes their 11th English test, the whole district gets ice cream. On Monday, I had to buy ice cream because everyone had passed test 11. It was a super fun way to end as a district. Afterwards, we ate cake because two elders in our zone finished their missions. I was so done with sugar today... Oooof! We found two families today! One is going to take a lot of work to get them progressing and the other one, the wife, Rebeka, is the sister of a brother who was baptized about a year and a half ago and is serving a mission currently in Peru. It was fun to talk to them and how all they lack is a little more faith. The husband will be a little harder to work with in this family but we are going to do it! Mauricio told us that he wants to serve a mission! I was SO excited when I heard him tell us! And! His sister is supporting his decision (she is not a member but I think is listening to missionaries where she lives...)!!! He started telling everyone in our visits that he was going to be just like us missionaries! He has an interview on Saturday with the bishop!
We have a super funny less active that I think will be reactivated in about 5 months because we can never seem to find him! BUT! We found him again and now, he only lacks a little bit of the lessons to be reactivated! Little by little... Later in the night, we got a call from Rebeka asking if we could come help her. We put together about 100 of the cute little Otavalian baby dresses! Awwww! I just really want to bring home baby clothes sometimes... ;)
We spent a good majority of our time waiting for buses that never showed... :( Hahaha Obviously Heavenly Father was saying that it was time to change plans and adapt accordingly. We originally were planning on going to Gualsaqui but that bus never came, so we went to Cumbas. We found Ximena and another family to teach! Now we just have to get all of these new investigators progressing! We talked to a couple who said that Jesus did not have siblings but with the scriptures we read, it says he did... Honestly, if it does not have anything to do with your salvation, it´s not important! Come on people... Gotta love the things that people worry about over here...
Roberto is officially reactivated! YAY! Church was fun. We had a combined hour at the end where they talked about emergency preparedness. I told Hna. Carrasco that I had every right to be worried and make her pack a backpack for in case something happens... She just laughed. We had a deep doctrinal discussion with our mamita then went to do visits. We were introduced to a few people by a member. Member references are the best! Tonight we received the calls for transfers and Hna. Carrasco did not like that I kept saying that she would finish her mission in the Coast. She went to Atacames in the Coast! It was pretty funny...
Well, I hope you have a great week! Keep me up-to-date!
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