2/27/12

Today in the mission we had changes but we didnt get changed here in my sector. We are both pretty happy about it. So I guess I will be killing another missionary. (when I say killing a missionary it means that I am with them for their last change.:) It seems like this last change went by like the blink of an eye. Seriously it feels like it was only a week long. We have many some goals for this change that will require us to work harder. Hna Gonzalez says that she wants to die peacefully in the mission. So we will see what we can get done in this change. Its crazy to think that I have 7 1/2 months here on the mission. By the end of this change I will be half way through my mission. The time just flies here.
Well we have had a pretty nice week here in Ibarra. On wednsday we had an appointment with this hermana named Lolita and her sons josue and mateo. We called a member to see if they could come with us and help us out with the lesson. Well we showed up at the members house and we were like ready to go? It was so cool by the time we left her house like 6 other members were like I want to go. (She lives in an apartment complex were other members live) So we ended up showing up to lolitas house with 8 of us haha. I love working with the members. Afterwards we went to a family who are less active members. Hna Gonzalez and I went and found their daughter hiding in some room in the house. We were like half of the branch is in front of your house haha she went and looked and got kind of frightened and said you guys werent lie haha.
This week I have really enjoyed reading the Book of mormon. I have decided that I will read in English when I study in the mornings and in the nights I will read in Spanish. Seriously everyday I have found a story or inspiring words that help me or one of my investigators. I was reading in 2 Nephi 33. In this chapter it is nephi talking and testify about what he had writen. Well he talkes about how he is weak when it comes to writing but is strong when it comes to speaking. He talkes about how the spirit will make our words become stronger. This made me happy because some times the speaking a different language is challenging. But I do know that the spirit is the greatest teacher.

Well today was a good pday. We just cleaned the house, washed laundry AND made lesania ( I dont know if thats how you spell it:) The guy who owns the appartments were we live was showing some people around. Hna Gonzalez and I ran up stairs to the washing station to grap our 'underclothes'. Well I guess I need to be a little more careful next time. Because I was walking down some stairs and my feet slipped from under me and I through all of my clothes up in the air. I slid down like three steps. The worst part was that owner and the people just walked up the stairs and saw everything haha I was like hna gonzalez lets go becuase I felt like I wanted to cry. Afterwards I did cry a little bit. It wasnt because my arm hurts but because it was so embarrising. haha Now that I think about it i cant stop laughing. Well I thought I would share with you one of my clumsy moments. I hope this story can brighten up somes day if they have one of these moments.

2/18/2012

Over the past couple of weeks we have been building up our program with people from a small part of Ibarra called Los Soles. We have found ourselves there every day this last week full of appointments. I think I haved talked about our investigator from there named Tamia. She is 16 years old and is progressing really fast. Everytime we go and teach her it is like teach a little sister. She is so full of spirit and really loves life. This is amazing to me considering her home situasion before with her mom. Now she lives with her sweet old grandparents. We are also teaching a hermana named Martha she doesnt live in los soles but we always seem to find her in the most random moments. This week when we were contacting we have come to find where her daughter lives and where her ex husband lives. She being at these places when we contacted. She said you two can find me from every side of Ibarra. Its true we always find her whether it be in the street or in someones house. Its like we are suppose to teach her. So if you are ever running from missionaries it wont work we have a specail guide.

This week I also got to pluck a chicken. Yeah it was pretty gross haha put kind of fun at the same time. We were at one of our mamitas house for fridays and she was busy trying to get these chickens ready to sell. We plucked two chickens and talked while she was preparing our food. The food in this culture can be a little different sometimes but it is pretty easy to eat when the people make the food with love:) Well sorry I am running out of time. Thank you so much everyone who wrote me and sent pictures. I am sure blessed with a wonderful family. I love you all!

Zone conference in Otavala, Papa Johns Pizza!

Hermana Wilhelm and Hermana Gonzalves

All the hermanas!

2/12/12

Hola! It sounds like a fun and wonderful week in AZ. I am so so so excited for Spencer.... oh uh Elder Wilhelm. I know he will love it and be an awesome missionary. Well this week on the mission has be good. We had Zona Conferences in Quito on Friday. So we got to get some training and listen to our mission president and his family who was visiting him. It was a very inspiriing and spirit filled conference. Afterwards my zone went and bought papa johns before we headed back to Ibarra. There isnt any pizza quite like papa johns. In the conference we got to listen to Presidents son give us advice. But he spoke in portagis and one of our elders from Brazil translated. It was pretty crazy to hear how similar spanihs and portagish. We could basically understand everything that he said. This week with our investigators has been pretty good too. We have a couple from Columbia. They are actually old investigators but really want to learn right now. They need to get married. The problem is that they can only get married in Columbia. We are hoping with in the next week they will be able to travel to columbia and get married. We are also teaching a girl named Tamia Juma. She has 16 years old and it is so fun teaching her. The other week we were giving her a tour in the church and the seminary teacher and students show up. It was perfect because she was able to get aquanted with them and make friends. She is also now attending seminary. She has a goal to get baptised on march 3rd.
Today we had a zone actividy in Oltivalo which is a about 45 minutes away. We hiked to some waterfalls and got to see some old Indian caves. This was pretty cool. Hna Gonzalez and I lost the Elders for the last little bit so we just hiked back to the front of the trail and bought ice cream and look around at the stuff they were selling. It turns out that the elders hiked up a little more to the top of the waterfall. Well this is how my week was. I will send some pictures. The mission is just so wonderful. I see the tender mercies of the lord every week. I know that he will help us out if we just press forward with faith. 

2/6/12 Ibarra Ecuador

Well it has been another great week here on the mission. Ibarra is beautiful. Some days it rains and it is freezing. Other days it is hot hot like the valley in Arizona. But I am loving every second of it. We have been contacting and asking for references like crazy the past week so that we can build up our program here. Through a family in the branch we have found a family that is very sweet. I love going to visit them. They are the Baez family. We have also found an hermana named Elizabeth cruz. Her house burnt down about six months ago but she is always so postive. 

I am getting so excited for Spencer. I have spent a lot of time think about the family today. Last night I even dreamed about all of you haha Even though I am so far away I still feel the love of all of you. I am so happy to be here on the mission. We learn so many things about life and the gospel. I am eternally grateful for the people I have met here and that have taught me so much. I know this church is true. 

Hna Wilhelm