Week 14 - May 26, 2014 - Happy Memorial Day!

This week: 

My shoe almost got eaten by mud! It was one of those you see this on TV their shoes get stuck in the mud and they pull out their foot then the shoe moments - almost. There's a pretty funny photo, but this computer isn't accepting my memory card... sorry :/

We had exchanges with the sister training leaders, and the sister I was with is from Ecuador!! (Manabi, to be exact) AND she served the first few months of her mission in her home country waiting for her Visa - one of her areas was Baños. We had a great time talking about Ecuadorian food and places and words. It made me think of my Ecuador families - can you get them my email somehow pretty please, or check my email account and find their emails so I can write to them? 

We experienced a miracle yesterday - we passed by an investigator's house to walk with him to church, but he said for this and that he wouldn't be able to come with us. We left slightly disappointed to go check on another investigator. We arrived late to the chapel (that's a whole other story) and when we walked in Abraham, the first investigator, was sitting in the back row with a member and his son. It was awesome. 

You should all read Preach My Gospel! I wish I had read more of it before I came out to the field - there are days when I would like to read it cover to cover because it has so much good advice and cool stuff, but I don't have time to binge read. There's so much to do and so many people to see to find the ones who are just waiting for us to ask them if they want to be baptized so they can say Yes, this is what I´ve been looking for. 

It's tough, in ways I wasn't expecting (Anthony, you warned me but it's different experiencing it, we talked about that on the way to Provo) but it's also oh so wonderful. I really can't imagine being anywhere else. 

I love what I'm doing, because I love my Savior and I love seeing other people come to know Him and have their own personal experiences with faith and testimony. Every single day is full of more moments than I can possibly write in one email, let alone a whole week. 

Share your testimonies - it doesn't have to be long, but the phrase 'I know' is more powerful than we know. And if you have a half an hour, 45 minutes, accompany the missionaries. You'll learn a lot - I do, every day. 

I love you. To the moon and further and then back, and I am infinitely grateful for the examples and support you have been for me. 

This week: 

My shoe almost got eaten by mud! It was one of those you see this on TV their shoes get stuck in the mud and they pull out their foot then the shoe moments - almost. There's a pretty funny photo, but this computer isn't accepting my memory card... sorry :/

We had exchanges with the sister training leaders, and the sister I was with is from Ecuador!! (Manabi, to be exact) AND she served the first few months of her mission in her home country waiting for her Visa - one of her areas was Baños. We had a great time talking about Ecuadorian food and places and words. It made me think of my Ecuador families - can you get them my email somehow pretty please, or check my email account and find their emails so I can write to them? 

We experienced a miracle yesterday - we passed by an investigator's house to walk with him to church, but he said for this and that he wouldn't be able to come with us. We left slightly disappointed to go check on another investigator. We arrived late to the chapel (that's a whole other story) and when we walked in Abraham, the first investigator, was sitting in the back row with a member and his son. It was awesome. 

You should all read Preach My Gospel! I wish I had read more of it before I came out to the field - there are days when I would like to read it cover to cover because it has so much good advice and cool stuff, but I don't have time to binge read. There's so much to do and so many people to see to find the ones who are just waiting for us to ask them if they want to be baptized so they can say Yes, this is what I´ve been looking for. 

It's tough, in ways I wasn't expecting (Anthony, you warned me but it's different experiencing it, we talked about that on the way to Provo) but it's also oh so wonderful. I really can't imagine being anywhere else. 

I love what I'm doing, because I love my Savior and I love seeing other people come to know Him and have their own personal experiences with faith and testimony. Every single day is full of more moments than I can possibly write in one email, let alone a whole week. 

Share your testimonies - it doesn't have to be long, but the phrase 'I know' is more powerful than we know. And if you have a half an hour, 45 minutes, accompany the missionaries. You'll learn a lot - I do, every day. 

I love you. To the moon and further and then back, and I am infinitely grateful for the examples and support you have been for me. 

Week 13 - May 19, 2014 - A new companion, a rainy day, and a baptism

There's the new companion and the proof of the rain, hopefully you'll believe me about the baptism :) In the afternoons it starts to rain really really hard, with wind so the rain comes at us sideways. We had to get to an appointment on the main street, and we were running up the sidewalk with the rain coming at us getting soaked and laughing while everyone sheltering themselves in the shops along the side looked at us like we were crazy. 

Dad: something that made me smile this week was the sheer quantity of avocados that we were given. Ok, they were three, but one of them is huge. It has the shape of a squash, with an elongated neck, rather than an avocado. Avocados, mangos, rambutan (which I have yet to try but the season is about to start and I've been promised great things) - this is the promised land all right. 

The baptism:

Tiaré and Eduardo have slightly similar situations, because they are nine years old and their families are inactive members. They both have LOADS of family members that live here in Cacahoatan, so the baptism was extremely well attended. We invited one of each of their aunts to bear their testimonies. It was a really sweet experience, the whole thing. They're both super sweet kids. It's going to be really hard to leave this area when I do eventually have to leave.  (BTW the matching colors was on purpose).

This week has been really good, I've learned a lot, including things I've learned I still need to learn, such as patience with myself. But hey, I'm getting there. I've been reading in 1 Nephi, and noticing that Nephi has a particular theme that I really love: there is nothing impossible for our Father in Heaven. As we trust Him enough to do what He instructs us to do, He gives us every needful thing. 

I love you! 

Hermana Juliana

Week 12 - May 12, 2014

My companion is being transferred to Laureles, which is in my zone, so I'll get to see her on Wednesdays! Woot! 

It was great to talk to you yesterday. It felt totally normal. I think it's helped me a lot my previous living away from home experience. 

Dad, your comment about make good friends - I've been thinking about that all morning. When we found out Hermana Hernandez is being transferred, we kept hoping our district leader was going to call back and say he was mistaken. I really truly love my companion. I also got to thinking about all the friends I have on missions, my friends from Ecuador and the exchange students, my families there, friends from high school, friends from BYU, the friends I'm making here. I got all philosophical and started thinking about how grateful I am for the eternities to keep seeing these people, and how important it is to always remind them that they mean a lot to me. 

This week has been really special in that aspect - I've been able to feel that love and I never want it to go away. I don't know - I feel slightly emotionally drawn out but full of happiness at the same time - nostalgia is weird that way. 

Did I tell you about the ward conference already? We had 166 people come to the meeting - we usually have an attendance of just over 100 people, people kept coming in, and they couldn't find seats. It was really so awesome. There are so many people who are looking for the Gospel, we just need to find them. 

Love you! 

Hermana Juliana

Week 11 - May 5, 2014

The Easter bunny detoured down to Mexico for me, which I very much appreciate, and I also really appreciate the note he agreed to bring. The chocolate probably wasn't terribly melted when it arrived, but from the district meeting to back to our area the transit is fairly warm, so those eggs went into the fridge right away. 

Next order of business: Dad said this week I need to tell you more about the people we are teaching.

We're teaching a lovely young woman named Cinthia, she's 20 years old and is basically LDS but hasn't been baptized yet. She comes with us to lessons and this girl has one strong testimony. She's reading the scriptures with her mom and two younger brothers, and constantly inviting them to church. She wants to wait to be baptized until June though. 

This week, we're praying that Luisa will be baptized on Saturday. Her kids are all members, and she's been visited by various sets of missionaries. She's been through a lot, and I think baptism and especially receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost will really help her. So we're going to teach her more about the blessings we receive with the gift of the Holy Ghost. 

Mom, you'll like this story: today for P-day we learned to make tamales! I took good notes and lots of pictures so I can (hopefully) repeat the feat in the US, because well, tamales are delicious.