Time flies when your in Ecuador

WOW! I actually have time to write an e-mail about the last week(s). Weird. Soooooo oh my goodness. So the last time ya'll heard from me, I was in Zabala, (Calderon), Quito  but after too many people being creepy, the president decided for our safety that he would send us to a different area :) And so now I am in El Eden, Quito and I love it!! we are opening up a new area and its crazy, but contacting is so fun and talking to people is great. I have been rejected so many times, but I just remember that the world rejects you if you are not of the world, and we are not of the world. We are in the world, but not of.  They rejected Christ because He was not of the world.   I just remember that I am sharing something that has changed my life and the lives of so many others. The Gospel of Jesus Christ BLESSES our lives SOOO MUCH. I can't even explain it.

 So what has happened this week..... I live in a really nice apartment now ha ha which is a huge change. There is no dust and there are still a bunch of dogs, but I am in the city!!! yaye!! The people are great and I have met people from lots of different places.   In addition to a new place, I tried chicken leg soup.  ummmmm. no comment. its like fat with a bunch of bones. Some people really like it..but I have a hatred for chickens so my opinion was different. but I ate it and was polite :) hahaha of course. Next week, we`re eating worms and "cui" (guinea pig).   Lots of stuff to try here!! hahah   sooo Hna Erika from my last sector was baptized this last Friday and I am sooooooooo happy! She is soooo happy too!! Her husband is getting baptized soon too :) Ahhhh man sooo good!! And crazy story, but IDK. haha soooo there we are walking in <Nayon, a little Pueblo in our area and we saw this Gelateria and were like ommmmmmggggg I need this. So we went in, and the girl behind the counter was wonderful and i seriously know her from SOMEWHERE, I DON'T KNOW WHERE BUT I KNOW HER!!!! AND she was like OMG I KNOW YOU FROM SOMEWHERE TOO!!! but its impossible because she was living in Spain for the past x amount of years and I haven't been to Spain. and I was like maybe you FB stalked my friends from Spain and saw me? Or saw someone who looked like me? and shes like NO!! It's YOU!!! and so we are in agreement that we are friends from somewhere, but not here. My conclusion in the premortal life. Ha ha it was a joke at first, but I really think so, and she is so happy that we came to get gelato because from there we contacted her and taught her about the restoration and she is so excited about the Gospel too!! I just love her. Love her. :) That was a cool story. 

We have been with Hna Finley and Hna Davila the past 2 weeks because they have been showing us around since we are opening the area and its been great. One night we were in Nayon, visiting with some members in their restaurant and one of the sisters was like," hey do you want to go visit this sister", and we were like yeah!! So Sister Finley and I left and went to go visit said sister, but I think we went to the wrong sister´s house. So, there we are walking along and we see Brigitte, a little girl who was recently baptized, and we were like "gurll!! how are you!!?? :)" and she was like good... and I was like, no you're not,  you look so sad. What's wrong? And she started crying and told us that she lost her phone and she can't tell her mom because she'll hit her and she was so scared. So, we're like, OK this is fine we are going to say a prayer! And we had her say it, and then we started looking for the phone. We had the idea to call the phone and look for it, but weren't hearing it anywhere! Sister Finley had the feeling that someone had the phone and we asked Brigitte to retrace her steps and what happened. Then, she mentioned some lady walking by and asking if she had lost something, but she said no, because she was scared. ( this family is super poor and at this moment in the story, we were looking for the phone in a field of trash and lots of times you just don't talk to the people who ask you things)- and so, when she told us that, we´re like OK, that lady has the phone! and so we are like lets call it one more time, and then we'll go ask her.  Then, this group of kids came walking along and we're like" hey do you have a phone?" and the little boys like yeah, let me ask my dad!! and so he ran away and  there we are standing with two 12 year old boys and Brigitte who´s also 12 I think, and we're like, hey are you guys friends!? and they're like No...... and I was, like enemies? and they're like...mm mm.... and  Hna Finley and I "ooooooh girl nuh uh!" and got all defensive about Brigitte ha ha . Then the little boy ran back and was like OK lets look for the phone!!! and he brought two others to look for the phone. 

There we are in cow pie field looking for a phone with 6 little kids. Didn't find it, so we're like OK lets ask the lady ( who happened to be one of the kids moms!!) so we went to the house and guess what! she had found it!! how she found it?....I have NO CLUE. there was the possibility that a cow or a pig ate the phone. and what the heck was the lady doing over there?  whatever....We found the phone and all the kids were like "OMG!!! PRAYERS WORK!!! and they wanted all of our pictures of Jesus and wanted us to go and visit them again.   Yeah they'll totes get baptized :) we talked about how awesome God is and we left them with a prayer. so cute!! I wish I took a picture!! 

A couple days ago, Sister Finley and I went to go check up on a family who is preparing to enter the temple. We really didn't know where to start, then sister Finley shared her preparation and experience in the temple and how she needed to learn how to forgive people and forgiveness and everything.  Then the wife lit up and was soooo interested. We told her we would write down all the scriptures on forgiveness and hope for her, she was stoked!!     We returned two days later and gave her the sheet with the scriptures, she was soooooo happy!!!   yaye for following the promptings of the Spirit :)

Last Monday, we had a family home evening with the Granda family. We had a video planned, but when we got there, we realized they temporarily removed the TV or something, but there was no way that we could watch a movie. So, we just thought alright, lets talk about that Family Proclamation! and so we did, and well, everyone was crying because the Spirit was so strong. I have no idea what I shared, but the husband was so happy to hear it, and so was the wife. It was good, so peaceful, such a joy. When we left, sister finely told me that the last time they came to the family's house, there was something wrong and there was this tension in the house. Before we left, the family was like crying and said that this is the message that they really needed to hear. Sister Finley and Sister Davila were like hmm that is what it was!!!     We had one thing planned and the Spirit led us to teach something else. The exact thing that this family needed to hear. I LOVE THE GOSPEL.

Ha ha, this one is like my favorite! One of the sisters has a hard time with the topic of eternal marriages and marriage in general, because her parents are divorced, and just when all that went down, did everybody dirty. It was messy, and the marriage that the mom is in now is not the best. So, this is why this sister has a hard time with this topic. Coincidentally, the topic of yesterdays lesson in Gospel principles was "Eternal Marriage". So, last week (we all) but her studied it really hard to understand it better, then came yesterday. We're sitting in class, waiting for the teacher, but to our surprise, there was no teacher, so the responsibility fell on this sister to TEACH the lesson. Ha ha ha it was so cool! I have pictures of her in front of the board and the map and pictures of the temple that she drew. She did such a great job! I am sooo proud of her. The Lord is sooo funny. He knows that she has troubles with this topic and somehow she was the one who ended up teaching it. Good times. Great times.  

The same with me. The Lord heard my prayers. I prayed for patience and charity. Two things that I felt I was alright at, but very soon, I found out that I was wrong. My companion Hna Calderon is great. she's from Guatemala and has only been on her mission for 4 months. This is her first time training and opening an area and she gets stressed easily. I CANNNNOOOOOTTTT work when people get stressed out. I can't. CAN'T.    The Lord gave me certain trials these past weeks (and now) that have REALLY been making me exercise and learn patience and charity, I had no idea how much more I really needed to learn patience. But, all is well. It has been probably the biggest help having the other sisters here helping us because we all learn from each other and sister Finley and I can speak English with, which is a DE-stress-er. Ha ha its great!

Everything here is so cheap. I love it! Except for American things and imported things.  The mission is the best thing ever. There are super highs and super lows, but it is essential to have both so we can see the contrast and see the blessings the Lord bestows upon us every.single.minute.  :)   Teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ has helped me so much in my testimony and just understanding the world. The Gospel is 100% true. I can PROMISE YOU THAT. I cant wait to share it with all of my friends when I get back home and even with my family. I have seen the BIGGEST changes in families for the better when we have introduced the Gospel into the families. I have seen lives CHANGE. I have seen my life change. I wouldn't be here sharing this if I didn't KNOW it was true, and we study it so deeply EVERY day and we just learn more and more every day. Nothing falls apart or doesn't make sense or leads to a dead end. It doesn't, because its truth. God LOVES us and this is why He has revealed His Gospel to us, so that we can be happy and return to live with him!! :) I know Christ lives and I know that the Lord wants me to be here , right now. I share this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

I love you all and please write or email me!!!  Sometimes in those lows, I read your e-mails and letters and they make me soooo happy that you actually care to write me and see how I am doing and let me know how you are doing!!! I love them ALLLLLL!! EVERY SINGLE ONE! 

And if any of you know these people, forward them this email and tell them to e-mail me,  because <I love them and want to hear from them!!

Gabriela Davalos

Maria Lydiksen

Brittni Henretty

Libby Frame

Taryn Seymour

Cody Yarbro

all can be found on my facebook friends list   :)

Love you all!!! email me or else. I will vicariously bow and arrow choke you through Scott Long. That's not a threat, its a promise. You can find my e-mail on my Facebook cover photo too and the address. suckuhs.

Love you!!

Subject: 4 Days Makes a Month Out. WHAT!? Such a good week!!
Date: Mon, Oct 21, 2013 at 4:45 PM

Well where to start... hahaha

1) the shower. the showers in my apartment take my breath away. not because of the view...but because we have no hot water and the temp of the water is like jumping in Mona in  the early winter. Its like borderline icy water. hahaha---------   Breaking News-- We have no more water. Like..we just don't have water. hah We don't know what happened, but we've had to go across town to shower at the other sister missionaries house. ha ha ha.

2) Oh my gosh it rains here. it rains so hard!! haha and the storms are so intense that it takes out the power all the time. I LOVE IT!! haha its crazy!

3) the busses and riding the bus is crazy because a lot of the roads are dirt roads and sooo bumpy, and because sometimes we ride the bus when the school kids get out and the busses are absolutely full. like we are standing in there like sardines. Friday I punched a kid in the head on the bus, fell into someones lap twice and smacked my companion in the face twice hahaha. I thougth wow. what is next?  Well, today us six sisters had to go to the offices in Quito and let me tell ya. No comment. getting off the trolley/bus was insane. they don't wait for everyone to get off which is hard because we're like sardines in there. hahah Today we were getting off the trolley and the doors started closing but we somehow squeezed/pushed ourselves and others through and ..... Hermana Stephenson and I...tackled some poor old lady with a cane. She.. wasn't the happiest. haha But..hey in our defense, it's always like that getting off the trolley and she should have known better. sorry old lady.. she is okay though!!! hah

4) Much like in Casper where sister Stebbing is serving, people here love their dogs. In fact, Hermana Espinoza was bitten by a dog this week. It bit her calf and bit into the muscle pretty deep. It didn't help that the dog was owned by the person whose house they were going to. It was so deep that...the mom sewed it back together. Tha'ts right. Sewed it back together. Hna. Espinoza tried to say no a million times, but the mom insisted. It looks fine now, but she just went to the doctor to get some blood tests done to make sure she didn't get any disease of any kind from the dog.


Alright, the good stuff. This week, like all the weeks had its ups and downs. Everyday, my companion, Hermana Calderon, and I had many appointments, but unfortunately a lot of people forget and a lot of our appointments fall through which is hard, but when that happens, we just say a prayer and go contacting on the streets =)   We taught Gloria and her sister on monday and they are both excited to get baptized. Gloria has a date for the 9 of november and her sister wants to, but wants to learn more about the Gospel before she makes such a grand commitment. She says she is going to get baptized though because she knows that this truly is the Lord's Gospel =)  It was kind of a hard lesson though because that day it was raining so hard and seriously every time we started teaching, it would rain super hard and we were like yelling so we could hear each other because a lot of the roofs here are like tin and make a lot of noise.

We have a less-active recent convert, Hna Lilain, who owns this little garage along one of the main strreets and she sells plantain tortillas and some other kind of tortillas and we always go to visit her. We go probably once a day and we love to contact there because every time we do, she bears her testimony which is great. It's so powerful, and it helps her too. =)  So, we go, we visit her and get her excited, we contact, and we support her little business. One night, we were just eating and contacting and this girl overheard. She asked what religion we were and told her we were missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or also known as Mormons. She said she never heard about us, so we were like oh we could come and share our message with you!! and she was like alright! so we got her contact info and tried calling her for like 5 days, but she was never there or we could never get the call through. One day, we had an appointment, but she wasn't there so we just sat waiting with her little brother who totally reminds me of Norman haha It was so funny. We just talked and stuff and the power went out again because of the storms. We had to go though because we had other appointments. We called her and actually got the call through and she begged us to wait for her and that she really needed to talk to us and she was on her way home, but we never found her. We were pretty sad, but knew that we would find her. We went to our other appointment that night and that was awesome. We visited Ricardo and Yuliana. Ricardo just got baptized 5 months ago and is soooo awesome. His wife Yuliana is excited to get baptized too, but she has school and work everyday for the next 6 months and can't miss a day because she is finishing some special program. So it's a bummer, but we know that she is going to get baptized and is already accepting the Gospel and has seen so many changes in her life =)
 Friday, we SOMEHOW were able to get a hold of Sofia, the girl we met at Hna Lilian's. We came over and she warmly welcomed us in. we just talked and got to know each other a bit and she is super cool. She used to be catholic, but doesn't believe in those things because she realizes that worshiping and praying to saints is putting other gods before God and she just never felt right there. She was telling us abut how she started going to a Christian church and loved, loved the messages about Christ, but she moved and hasn't gone back to a church. We began to share our message and OH MY GOODNESS the Spirit was soooo strong. She had invited her mom to sit in the lesson too which was awesome!! The power went out again, but it was just in time because it was so quiet and you could just feel peace all around. They were so excited about the <Gospel of Jesus Christ, and I invited them to be baptized (which was a little scary because i am brand new here) but Sofia was so excited and she wants to get baptized. Of course, we were all crying and so happy. She has a baptismal date for the 16th of November. Her mom was crying too and we know that she felt the Spirit. She didn't know about getting baptized, but we left them with the Book of Mormon and the promise that they can know for themselves if it's true. I know that her mom is going to get baptized after Sofia. =) I know it!   that was a very special day.     after that, we went back with Hna. Lilian and just talked with her family there for a while and joked around. it was super fun and super cool because they lived in Italy for 5 years or something like that, so we talked in italian}. It was super fun!

The next day was hard because all our appointments fell through and we felt like we didn't do anything, but we KNEW that "tomorrow would be amazing" and indeed it was. There were a lot of drunk people out who are surprisingly very curious about the church haha   I contacted 4 drunk people and they were all very excited about hearing about the Gospel. Obviously we contacted with other people which was equally pleasant =)    Then, we were just walking along going to hna Lilians and I passed a dad and his two daughters, being followed by 4 dogs. I was like wow! all your dogs!? and he was like haha no just these two. and then they walked away. Then, I saw the guy come back and he waved me over and asked me and my companion if we could help his family know more about the Bible and the Gospel. We were like.... YEAH!!! hahah He was like yeah I have been looking for videos or people to help me and then I was like well as a matter of fact, I have a video right here! and I gave him the card for a free video of "finding faith in Christ". (we're giving them the video this week)   he then explained that his wife left him and the three daughters recently with some other guy and he has been having a really hard time and is searching for God's help. The earliest we could get an appointment with them was Saturday, but that's perfect. I feel very strongly that they will get baptized too and I am so excited!!!

That was super awesome. We had a great time contacting and came upon some very sweet people =)

Sunday was awesome too!! Church was amazing and we were accompanied by one of the sisters that just got back into the church and is sooooo happy =) she brought her two daughters! she was baptized young, but then they moved and became inactive. Now, after over 10 years, shes back! and stronger than ever =) after that, we had lunch at a members house and found out that the son is famous here in Ecuador. Hahaha he has set up his own foundation,. crazy!!
uh oh I have to go !! love you all and life is great!!


Hermana Tangedal