Cambios

Hey family I hope you had so much fun watching the Hobbit.

NOT.

But seriousy, I went trunky out of my mind when you told me about it. Eso es pecado (that is a sin). So for this pecado (sin), you have to wait to see the third movie until I get home. There. That`s what you get.

Okay, so this week was one of the less productive weeks of my mission. Like we hardly taught or contacted at all. On Tuesday we FIIIIIIIIIIIINALLY moved into the new house, and YES I STILL HAVE BEDBUGS I brought them with me from the other house. -sad face- But Tuesday we were moving and packing all day, and I just stayed packed cuz I figured I would be leaving Ambato, and then Wednesday the maintenance man of the mission came to fix up the house because I guess light bulbs aren`t my thing, and I managed to crush one in my hand while trying to take it out of the ceiling. Luckily we were like miracle protected, and I only have a few cuts on my fingers. There is also one gigantic room in the house so we decided to put our beds, the desks, and fridge all in this room but then we got in trouble so...yeah.

Thursday we went to Quito to have a Christmas dinner with President and Hermana Ghent. I`ll be honest, it was probably the best, most spiritual night of my mission. It was so cool. First, we had an AMERICAN, NORMAL, CHRISTMAS DINNER with corn, ham, potatoes, rolls....mmmmm AND SALAD haha I miss salad so much. It was super cool though cuz all the hermanas got to sit at the table with President and Hermana Ghent and I loved talking to them, seriously Hermana Ghent is like amazing. I super want to be her when I grow up. Then after dinner we had a family home evening together and we had some spiritual thoughts about Christmas, and then we played games, but the coolest part was we went caroling! It was my zone and one other zone, and we stood outside an apartment building and sang christmas hymns and people were like coming out and waving at us and filming us and all this crazy stuff, but the spirit was SO strong, the whole time. And then we came back for hot chocolate, which was super delicious. AND I GOT YOUR CHRISTMAS PACKAGE. Oh my goodness, that christmas tree, and all the lights, are absolutely adorable. I am super happy. 

Okay so now for cambios news. So, things have been...not super great in this sector. I feel like I`ve knocked every door, talked to every person, and the ward is becoming less and less helpful for us, so I prayed my MIND out that I would leave Ambato. Literally every waking moment.And I really felt like I would. But then, my comp got suuuper sick on Friday, like she couldn`t even walk, so she ended up getting transferred to be comps with the mission nurse and I`m staying here. When I found out, I just cried and cried because...I don`t really feel like I`m fulfilling my purpose as a missionary here, like I`ve done all I can here and these people need someone else to help them.

There is good news to all of this though. MY COMPANION!!! Family, you remember Hermana M..., who I met when we said goodbye at the airport?? She`s my comp now!!!!! That`s such a tender mercy, that I get to pass Christmas and New Years with a good friend. I don`t know what kinds of success we`ll have here but we get along super well so that is really nice.

As far as the work was going, my heart probably shattered at least twice this week. First, Ecuadorian Randy (Eddy) for his work, won`t be able to come to church until the new year. But, his wife should be coming during the holidays so I`m pretty certain he`ll at least get married, but if I`m staying here it looks like I`ll be able to see his baptism. Also, Anibal, is getting baptised this saturday. He`s our only investigator, haha, but he`s super fiel. But, the WORST is that Maggi, our super great investigator, had to cancel her wedding, 10 days before she was going to get married, because something happened with her boyfriend. When we came over she was SUPER upset, so I don`t know what`s going to happen, but I feel so bad for her cuz she was so excited and everything. But she isn`t going to be baptized either :( So I don`t remember if I`ve told you this yet, but there are 3 wards that meet in our building. Ambato, Pradera, and Mira Flores (mine). Ambato and Pradera are like the golden wards that get tons of baptisms because they are super good at giving references and hermanamiento and stuff like that, and my ward is not. Haha. So whenever we find suuuuper good, prepared people, they are always in those other wards. It`s super funny. And a little bit frustrating, haha, but yeah, I`ll seek inspiration to see what I can do to help build up the ward in which I`ve been placed.

Okay, so I think mom had some questions. Haber.

1. Christmas in Ecuador is a lot different. There is no snow. There is no Christmas music except for what I play on my iPod and whatever is playing in MegaMaxi. The tradition is that they have a dinner on Christmas eve and that`s basically it. haha.

2. Insights into how to feel the Spirit. Hmm. Be worthy. Repent. Ask the people to turn off the TV during lessons. Ask people to turn off their phones during the sacrament. Haha okay in all seriousness, I can get back to you on that one, I`m still working on that whole thing myself. But everything in chapter 4 of PMG is what I would say.

3. The rice krispy treats are always nummy, especially the one that had chocolate in it. Um, homemade cookies would always be good, although I`m not sure how long they would keep. Pero no se, I`m always good with anything homemade that isn`t rice. Also, can you send me a couple of those things of Steven`s hot chocolate? Like the flavored kinds, raspberry and mexican chocolate are my favorite, but yeah all the hot chocolate here tastes not so delicious, but we found one american brand in Megamaxi today.

4. YES. All of my no show socks are starting to go missing. It`s a super tragedy. They sell them in WalMart (that beauty) and have a little sticky thing on the back cuz they always fall down...sock drama. Haha but yeah that more than anything. Actually if you find cute skirts that are on the longer side, all they sell here are mini skirts and I`m starting to realize that all I have is 4 of the same skirt in different colors.

5. It`s just a super dirty city with a lot of apartments and dogs. Quito has more architecture, it`s like all historic and cool and stuff. They name all the streets after famous people or famous dates in history, quito doesn`t have street names which makes it impossible to find people, Ambato does which is super nice. But there are never house numbers so addresses don`t exist. Things I have taken for granted. Regular addresses. Haha. Okay well I sort of lied, there are actually a lot of cool looking churches here. That`s basically it.

6. I wish I could bring back the view, and Johanna. One day in relief society I thought the entire time about if it would be possible for us to adopt her. I actually prayed about it cuz I was that seriously considering it but then I remembered that we speak english in America and she may not enjoy that too much. And yeah the view here is amazing.

Okay, I think that`s it. Mission Tweets:

-Finding surprise money in your pocket: Good. Finding a mango you forgot about in your pocket: not as good.

-Just realized that I`m wearing brown shoes with black socks with a grey skirt... *throws self into incoming traffic*

-How many missionaries does it take to change a lightbulb? Two! Because they always have to stay together! #reasonsmycompanionhatesme

AND SOME AMAZING FOTOS

oh yeah and emails should be 3:30 ecuadorian time, I`ll confirm next week because we have pday on Tuesday which means YES I will join you for chinese on christmas eve...in spirit...probably eating chinese in the mall because it`s the only place that plays christmas music.

love you all so much!! Have a great week!!!

Love Hermana Carter