1/23/12 Ibarra

Hello, It has been another wonderful day here in Ibarra. I am absolutely loving my new sector. There are many wonderful people here. My companion is pretty awesome too. Today we made burritos they were RICO! In other words they were delicious. Today we pretty much just cleaned and did laundry but it was wonderful ha This week we have been looking for new people to teach. We have found a couple of families that are pretty cool. We have been teaching the castillo family that Hna Gonzalez and her companion found. They are a family of four. We have gotten through the whole first lesson with them and tonight we have a family home evening planned. They have been a little reluctant for different reasons to except a baptism date but we hope that tonight they will except.
 Ibarra sometimes has a lot of sun and sometimes a lot of rain. At night the clouds settle in and it is like the fog haha. The people here are really friendly too. I can already tell that the people in the Branch are a huge help to the missionaries.   All I can say is I just love the mission:) I feel so blessed and privileged to be here. 

1/16/12 Changes

Hello My dear family! Yes we did have changes;) I am in Ibarra Ecuador. It seems to be a pretty nice place. It is pretty developed with lots of the same popular stores we have in the states. I am loving it. My companion says that our sector is huge. Our appartment is beautiful. My companions name is Hermana Gonzalez. Not the same Gonzalez as in Baños. Hna Gonzalez is from Panima. Pretty cool huh;) But she is really sweet and chill. We have only been together for like 3 hours but I can tell that I am going to like it here. Yes it is sad to leave Baños. We had lots of really special people that were our investigators. Changes on the mission are a little strange because you know you will never see these people again. A least here in this life;) The Hermanas in Baños have a lot of work to do this week because we have 2 couples that need to get married this week;) The Branch in Baños is really starting to pick up. We had 6 investigators attend this last sunday and there were more members than usually. I am happy to see Baños starting to grow;)
I am so happy to be here on the mission. This seriously is a experience that I can NEVER forget. I am so grateful for all of your support. Your all are just wonderful. I know that this church is true.
I am getting so excited for Spencer to start his mission. I know he will absolutely LOVE it! Well g2g. I love you all!

1/9/12 in Banos

Hi my dear family, 

It has been an amazing and wonderful week here on the mission. We have found some investigators that are really awesome and I love working with them. We have started teaching a family again that hna Jaramillo taught back in october but the didnt really progress. Now I can see that the gospel is changing their lives in every way. They read the book of mormon everyday and they went to church for the first time this week and loved it. I can feel the spirit so strongly when we are with them. I know that the lord prepares people to except the gospel. I have learned and observed that the gospel can bless us if we let it. We just need to learn how to except it. The more time I am here on the mission the more I fall in love with the mission work. It is truely a blessing in my life. Also we have started teach again another one of mine and hna jaramillos old investigator. His name is jorge. The other day he just called us and said that he wanted to learn. Now he goes to church, reads the book of mormon and participates. This is just one example of how people are prepared to except. I know that this church is true with all of my heart. That heavenly father loves us. You all are just wonderful. Thank you for all of your support:) 

1/2/11 Happy New Year

Happy New Year! This week has been kind of a different one on the mission. We have been working but haven't been getting a hold of a lot of people. The work slows down a lot for the holidays. For New Years eve all the missionaries had to be in there houses by 4 pm. I guess it gets pretty crazy here for new years. They have some different traditions. They make dummies that resemble someone in their family then at midnight they burn it. Then of course lots of partying. For our new years we got permission to watch the movie ¨The Other Side of Heaven¨ then went to bed at 10:30. It was the best. I am not even lying. My companion said at 12 it was so loud that she couldn't sleep but I didn´t hear a thing I was dead asleep haha Yesterday the district leaders came to meet some of our investigators from the little town called El Placer. It took us 2 hours to get back in to town by bus because there was so much traffic. Usually it only takes 25 minutes. So the work slowed down in every aspect. The other week I was in a bus and I meet a couple from Holland. They were super nice. They said they had friends from Utah that were members. It was a little different talking about the gospel in English. Luckily they spoke Spanish too so I could give them a pamphlet about the church. I have found lots of opportunities to use my English because there are lots of tourist. Well sorry I don´t really have that much to say about this week. I am still so grateful to be here on the mission. It is such an honor doing this kind of work. I feel so blessed because I feel like I have learned so much in such a little time. I know that this church is true and that our heavenly father loves us. If we do what is right we will be blessed. I love you all!