Pura Crema, Nectar of the Gods

My famiry!! And friends!!!

What a week. The mission is crazy. To explain the subject, I´ve decided that I am legit addicted to the milk here. Pura Crema is my weakness. Also I´ve taken up stress eating, but don´t worry, I haven´t been gaining weight because I´ve been climbing the stairs of Cirith Ungol and walking aaaaaaa lot. But yeah, one morning I was stressed or something and I drank a quart of milk. I was so ashamed of myself. And then last night I got stressed so I grabbed my jug of milk and my  jar of nutella and a spoon and then I was like, wait, this isn´t okay. But seriously, I don´t even  use a mug anymore, I just drink it straight from the bottle. For everyone who I´m trying to help overcome their addictions, I am a disgrace. But I can´t help it. Pura Crema is just too good.

Dad, I love that story about grandma and randy!!! Ecuadorian Randy still hasn´t been baptized, because he still isn´t married..... But he´s holding out strong! Dominica was planned for Saturday but her date fell through because she didn´t go to church and because she isn´t really doing anything to get permission from her parents. Johanna still needs to meet with President Ghent but her fecha fell too because she didn't come to church. I wish I could mind meld with people to help them understand the importance of coming to church but since I can´t do that I´m just going to have to start bribing them. Also I think my story of the dead lady is still a little scarier than yours, because she was lying on the table and had died like an hour before. I´m glad you are enjoying the soccer games with the neighbors. I haven´t seen much soccer here (hhahahahahahahaha) okay well my sin of the week was there was a final futbol game between Ecuador and Chile and we went to the B...family to visit them during the game, and they were watching it and so I may or may not have caught a glimpse of Ecuador scoring a goal against Chile........yeah. So I´m a pecadora but I have repented of this grievous crime. And all of my friends like your guacamole. That´s not even a question. Also the pouch came and I didn´t have any packages from you, what is this madness?? You need to step it up a little bit. Hahaha mintirosa, I´m like the most spoiled missionary in my zone, and forgot to tell you last week, but I got the package with all the dried fruit and the picture of the temple!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I´m super temple homesick, I´ve decided that the very first thing I do when I go home is I´m going to go to the temple. Like bring my temple bag to the airport, seriously. And then after that we can watch the Hobbit 2. Priorities. Also I had a revelation about you, I think you´re going to be called to be a mission president after mom finishes school and this is how you´ll quit your job. I know that conflicts with my previous revelation so I´m not really sure, but sometimes I daydream during companionship study and that is what I came up with. Also because the talks you sent me are bacanisimo.

Mom, talking with Sister Hunt is always a mind enlightening wonderful experience. She´s like a wizard of knowledge about all things that are good. It´s okay that your email was a little shorter this week, just know that the people who send me long emails get more prayers :) jk jk jk I hope you all know that I pray for you like a tsunami is about to hit. Speaking of prayers, I´m glad you guys are catching onto the specific prayer magic. I think specific prayer doesn´t work with hot water heaters though, cuz I haven´t had a hot shower in 3 weeks. But, here is my specific prayer miracle for the week. We taught the B... family in the church last Monday, and I felt inspired to read Mosiah 3 with Juanito, focusing on how through the atonement of Christ we can overcome the natural man and our addictions. It was super spiritual and at the end we said a specific prayer that every time he read the Book of Mormon, he would no longer feel the desire to drink. I was certain that it would work...and then the next day he went blind. Literally. Satanas. But, because he´s been blind, he hasn´t been drinking...so I´m really not sure how I feel about all of this. Sounds like Hunter had a great time in boot camp, make sure to tell him that the mission is better.

Stockton, I forgot to tell you this last week but that Kung Fu panda quote made my day. Haha climbing the stairs of Cirith Ungol is always fun. And for what it´s worth, having your fairy godmother companion emergency transferred is a little more emotionally challenging than not getting to dance with a cute girl in your ballroom class, but you keep working on that. And yes, we do tract, or tocar puertas as they say. But good luck on your midterms!!! I hope you had fun at Lagoon.

Well, as far as this week went, I´m still trucking along, working hard. We do divisions a lot, I usually end up calling members of the ward and they come with me to visit people. For one of these divisions, I ended up shuttling the entire B... family to a baptism, more or less by myself. Well of course all the missionaries were there, and they always ask me when I´m going to get a companion, and it was here that I was dubbed with the nickname Hermana Sola. Haha yeah, it´s been interesting, but I can´t even begin to say how much I´ve grown in the past two weeks. I feel like I´ve matured soooooooooo much because so many people are relying on me to work hard and be diligent. I´m not sure if I can still be classified as mature yet, because I still bark back at the dogs and write goofy mission tweets, but thus is the life. This Sunday was a little chaotic because my comps were just chilling, and I was running around doing grownup-y stuff, like making sure the investigators were in their right classes and collecting references and talking to the leaders and the whole time I was thinking "two weeks ago I didn´t have even the tinyest amount of responsibility" but the mission has taught me that the best way to learn is to be thrown into an ocean and told to swim. Haha thus has been my life. I´ve also been learning a ton about compassion, and charity. Yesterday I had to give the Bastantes the "why didn´t you come to church" talk and I felt sooooooooo bad. Seriously, my companions have been telling me that I need to be more harsh, but I can´t. I try as much as I can to think about what type of missionary Jesus Christ was, and he did everything in love. Anyways, if there´s one thing I´ve learned in Ambato, it´s that love is the key. I feel so much love for these people, which is a double edged sword because it breaks my heart into a thousand pieces when they choose not to comply with their commitments, or when they reject us. But then I´m pretty sure the everlasting joy described in the scriptures is the feeling you get when you see a family of investigators walk into church.

Well, as far as personal study, I´ve been studying Joseph Smith. Technically he counts as a Book of Mormon prophet, right?? But wow, WOW. I love it so much!!!!!!!!! I´ve been reading in JSH and seriously I´m learning a ton. Joseph Smith is the most humble guy ever. I think anyone who really reads this account should be able to gain a witness that he is a prophet. My favorite part so far has been when he returns after the first vision and all he says to his mom is "I have learned for myself that Presbytarianism (no way I spelled that right) is not true" that is the essence of humility, right there.

I love the scriptures, nuff said.

Well I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I don´t have fleas anymore. In fact there was a week where I thought I didn´t have anything because I wasn´t getting bit but I think that was just God being merciful the week my comp se fue because the bed bugs are back. But instead of gutting my pillow like Camille, I went a step further and just bought a new house. But really, that is exactly what happened. Okay so our zone leaders told us to search for a new house for me and my new comp, whenever she comes. I´m hoping after this transfer she´ll be someone bacanisimo, like Hermana S.... Except hopefully someone who speaks Spanish because todavia, I don´t. But yeah I´m going to send a picture of my ravaged state, I sort of look like a leper, in church a lady was like "what happened to you??" and I was like "oh I have bed bugs" and then she started to tell me about all of her medical problems. Yep.

My final thought is what happened last night and this morning. I was praying, asking God why I haven´t seen any fruit when I´ve been doing all I can to work hard, be obedient, etc., when the thought/scripture came into my mind, "what more could I have done for my vineyard? Tomorrow read Jacob 5" so this morning I read Jacob 5 and seriously, I think it´s verse 41 or something, go read it and look up all the cross references because it was seriously the most comforting thing in the world.

Well, that´s all for this week. I hope you all know that I can feel your prayers every day and I am probably the luckiest missionary in the world to have a family as supportive as you all are. I love you all soooooooooooooo much!!!!!! Have an amazing week!!!

Love, Hermana Carter

Oh, mission tweets:

Today I just had melted ice cream for breakfast. Not really but I did just discover Ecuadorian chocolate milk.

Locked heart for some means not thinking about boyfriends, dating, etc. For me it basically means giving up on washing my hair every day and not wearing makeup.

Sometimes I wish I had a wordsearch in the back of my agenda. And those times are usually during consejo del barrio.

Acts awkward, trying to be funny. Nobody gets it. Everyone thinks I´m awkward.

"Time for Consejo del Barrio!"

-pulls out snacks, jug of milk-

Okay I´m ready.