How are you all doing? I hope life is great in Oregon. I miss the cold weather. I wish that was the case here. It is still super hot here. When I got to bed it is still 80 degrees. Crazy right. When I get out of the shower I sweat instantly so it is pretty pointless to shower. Yeah right. I shower all the time here. The air is dirty so when you wear a skirt all day your legs, arms, and face get really dirty. As soon as the day is over I just want to shower before I get in bed.
This week I thought I would start with things I love about Ecuador and things I would love to have here.
So first the things I love about Ecuador:
- The mango trees - If only we could find mangos that we could get without climbing trees I would love the trees even more.
- The sunsets - When we are out walking at night we see sunsets that are amazing. We get a glimpse of them over the houses
- Night when it is breezy and there is no sun
- Jugo de everything - When we go to members houses for lunch, they make us fresh juice. I have had everything you can think of.
- That I am learning everyday
- I am being blessed and so are you.
Things I miss:
- My family of course.
- Warm showers - The water here is cold, every day. There are no options for hot or cold. So every morning when I wake up and take a shower, it is ice cold.
- Salads - I eat a lot of fruit but wish I could be a rabbit and eat salad
- Strawberries - We cant eat the ones here so that is not fun
- Wearing makeup - Every time I do my makeup it just melts off my face. So I guess I didn´t need to bring so much lol.
On to the things of this week.
I read my scriptures every day for an hour and wish I could get more time. I am finally done with Alma and have moved into 3rd Nephi which is all about the Savior, when he was born, when he died, and when he came to the Americas and spoke to the people here.
I also started reading the New Testiment beacuse I want to learn about the Saviors life during the Holidays. Are you all reading your scriptures? I hope you are, it is through the scriptures that we learn how the Holy Ghost feels, and the same feelings we get when we read are the same feelings we will get when we ask the Lord to answer our prays. The Lord always answers when we ask for what we need. We just have to learn to recognize how the Holy Ghost feels.
I have felt the Holy Ghost a lot more this week. As you can tell from the title of the email. This week we had one baptism. P got baptized on Friday night. I am so happy for him. He is 70 and lives by himself. His family is Catholic and Evangelicos and they did not want their father to be baptized in the MORMON church. His baptism was originally scheduled for Thursday, but P´s son told him he couldn't be baptized, so P decided not too.
On Friday our Zone Leaders Elder Tercero and Elder Moreno, came with us to P´s house and P`s son and daughter also showed up. We taught them all the first lesson about the Restoration of the Gospel, they even accepted a Book of Mormon. P was then baptized on Friday afternoon. He received the Gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday at church. He is the newest member of the Alegria ward! We meet with him everyday at 3 PM and read the Book of Mormon to him because he cannot read or write. (We meet with him everyday and read to him while one of us follows along with him as we read.)
He speaks Quichan and Spanish, but doesn't know how to read or write that either. So we work with him everyday. On Tuesday this week when we meet with him he showed us our pamphlets and that he tried to write our names on the back of each one. It broke my heart. So we went to the tienda near his house and bought him a notebook at a pencil and now we write out letters for him each visit so he can practice writing the alphabet and also words. He is so kind and such a great person.
Funny story but not so funny, on Thursday we went to the church to fill the baptismal font. The baptism was set for 7 and it was 5 so we turned the water one, filled it, turned it off and left. We came back an hour and a half later and the entire church was flooded!
The water apparently was not turned off all the way so we spend 2 and half hours sweeping water out of the doors so it would go the drain outside. I wasn't even sure how it happened but it is the second time this week that the church has flooded with water.Last sunday it also flooded because one of the drinking fountains broke and spilled water literally everywhere. The good news is the entire church got cleaned and the floors and slick and clean haha.
We are also working with the Family V, the mother and two of her three daughters are baptized but they have not been to church for a while. When we first meet with them we only meet with the daugthers K and R. They are two great girls, 15 and 18. They were baptized in the last two years. We taught them about reading the Book of Mormon and prayer. We came back the next day and taught their family, their Mom and Dad, and younger Sister A. Their uncle E was also there. So for the past two weeks we have been meeting with them every night at 8 PM.
The mom and dad own a resturant and said that on Sundays they make $100 and that they cannot close it to go to church and that is why the mom is now inactive. The good news is that they are planning on coming to church in the next few weeks. The daughter K, she is 18, and goes to university here in the city. She has come to church two weeks in a row with her uncle E who is going to be baptized on the 30th of this month. K even started reading the Book of Mormon and is in 1st N ephi. She is great and comes to church for all 3 hours with her uncle.
On Saturday when we were out looking for recent converts, we contacted a lady named M, she lives across the street from a reconvert. We taught her the first discussion and she agreed to be baptized on the 14th of December! The work is coming along here in Alegria!
This week has for sure been better than the lasts. Not just because we baptized P, but also because I am starting to learn more of the language and I am able to communicate with Hermana Yamo. That was probably one the hardest things at first was not being able to communicate with my trainer who I am with 24 hours a day. I am learning a lot about patience as well. Really!
It still doesn't feel real to be a missionary, but that is what I am. I love it. Thank you for all of your letters and love!
Have a great Thanksgiving this week. Don't be to crazy on Black Friday and stay safe!
Love you,
AnnaAlicia
No comments:
Post a Comment