Sorry I could really write last week! My whole Pday was spent on a bus heading into the city to the mission offices then to the dentist then back to my house! WOW I have so much to say.
My first couple days here were spent in the ´´mission hotel´´ near the mission home right in the heart of Quito! We arrived on Tuesday at about 10:30 (after a full 12 hours of travel) and then we stayed there until we met our companions on Thursday! Then we split and we to our sectors and got to work!!
My compañera is Hermana Blas! she´s 23 years old, really nice, really hard working, and REALLY Peruvian. Haha, she doesn´t speak ANY English. okay, that's a lie she knows the 1st Article of Faith :) But She is really great!
So, on Thursday the 30th of January, I taught my fist lesson out here to a boy named Juan, but we haven´t taught him since. He wasn´t progressing at all. After him we went and contacted and met a girl named Jessica! she´s 19 just like me and she accepted our message RIGHT AWAY! It was like a DREAM. And it was exactly what I needed.
The next day we had our first Zone meeting! My Zone is called Turubamba and My sector is Asistencia Social (which is also the name of our ward). There´s a total of about 6 North Americans sooo, God Bless America! After that basically all of our appointments fell through so we went contacting and we met a boy named Matias and he was SO sad. he´s 14 and we asked him about his life and his family and he told us that his family doesn´t get along very well and he doesn´t like spending much time with them, which made me so sad cause ever since I´ve been out here I´ve realized how much I love each and every member of my family SO much! we left him with a pamphlet of the Family Proclamation to the World with our names and number on the back to read with his parents but he hasn´t called.
That night I had my first lesson with Carmen, single mother of 2, and her kids Jondry (9) and Sheila (10 months).They had a baptismal date of February 15th and they were doing SO well! Carmen stopped drinking coffee and she was praying and reading the Book of Mormon and then all of the sudden she backed out! We we at the morning of her baptismal interview and she just stopped believing in the gospel.
Jondry, from what I can tell is still pretty on board with us but Carmen stopped answering our calls and wont call us back so sad day. My comp took it really hard. She really loves these people.
On Sunday Feb. 2 I had a melt down. and absolute melt down! I felt SO bad for Herman Blas casue I couldn´t tell her what was wrong with me. I didn´t have the Spanish. So I sorta just sat there and cried. It was just SUCH a long day full of people speaking to me in a language that I don´t understand. So that was really rough.
Monday the 3rd was really long too cause that was the day I spent traveling to the mission offices. 2 hour bus ride there, 2 hours at the offices, and 2 hours back we got back at like 7:30 and we are supposed to start proseliting at like 6 so we called out district leaders and got permission to Email for like 30 mins and then headed out but we couldn´t find anyone cause it was so late. So we didn´t teach anyone and Hermana Blas didn´t like that AT ALL.
The first little bit was REALLY hard. and It still is hard but I found SO much strength when we taught a family about the Book of Mormon on the 4th. I LOVE THE SCRIPTURES SO MUCH! They give me so much help and I´m SO blessed to have grown up with them in my life.It was amazing for me to teach a family about them. I LOVED IT.
Thursday was yet another day of trips to the Mission Offices so we couldn´t teach anyone that day either! But I got my retainer! So that should hopefully help my TMJ! It´s still hurting alot but I´m getting there!...I think!
Yesterday was MUCH better than last Sunday! I was Ward Council and My favorite part was when all of us sustained Thomas S. Monson as our Prophet, Seer, and Revelator! I got two copies of the Ensign from the mission offices of the last two conferences and I´ve been reading them lately and that made the sustaining SO much more valuable to me. Our church is lead by AMAZING and INSPIRED people.
What else has happened here... I´ve been attacked by a few dogs, which is understandable cause there're more dogs than people here. Most of them are really nice, really shy, and really dirty. But I like them cause they don´t speak Spanish either! Anyway, the attacks are usually to my bag and not myself so that's a good thing! The member we live with has a few dogs and one of them just had PUPPIES! GAH!
Hmm...oh! We went and talked with a member on Saturday and asked for references, she didn´t have any BUT I found out that she´s 18 years old...married...with a 3 YEAR OLD....and she´s 2 months pregnant with her second. ARE YOU KIDDING ME....I thought Utahans were extreme. Her husband is 23 so....ya now there´s that.
Okay, now just about Ecuador! It´s beautiful here! It rains just about everyday at around 3 o´clock for about and hour or so then it stops! so everything is really green!
I love when we contactup higher in our sector cause I can see like 4 volcanoes (one of which erupted the other day so yikes) and TONS of mountains which reminds me a little bit of home and gives me comfort when times get hard.
You can get just about anywhere in the whole country for 25 cents if you play your cards right! they´ve got buses that go EVERYWHERE! We ride them all the time and they are SO crowded! People literally RUN into them and out of them just to hopefully get a spot. One Elder described them as the ´´friendship buses´´ and he said that it´s like ´´a warm hug´´.....he´s SO right...It´s widely uncomfortable but necessary so!
okay so food, We get fed every lunch time by these ladies that the missionaries call ´´mamitas´´ and they are so cute! Most of the food isn´t half bad! We always get fed a soup with potatoes and some kind of meat and some veggies and that usually fills me up but then they bring out another plate full of rice and more meat and more veggies so I can NEVER finish it but they understand that I´m new at this food and that I´m trying! :) but yeah I´ve basically eaten my weight in rice everyday since I´ve gotten here which I don't really mind at all :)
OHMYGOSH THE BREAD. there are SO many little corner bakery´s here and they sell THE MOST AMAZING ROLLS for like 10 cents each! my heavens they are SO good! Obviously they can´t hold a candle to Grandmas rolls but they´ll have do for the next 18 months :)
Anyway, I we are fed very well here and by some miracle I actually feel like I´m losing weight! oh wait, that miracle is the fact that I hike around the mountains of Ecuador all day everyday! haha!
This is really hard. like REALLY hard! so far I´ve only had one day where i haven´t wanted to just cry my eyes out! I´m learning So much about relying on my saviors atonement for spiritual AND physical strength too. And some days are better than others but I´m definitely getting better at this and I´m happier and Happier everyday!
I find So much strength in the fact that I´m not doing this alone! I´ve got Sister Gunther in North Carolina, I´ve got Sister Wilks in New Zealand, I´ve got soon to be Sister Harris and Soon to be Sister Bench too! I´ve been SO blessed with my friends.
I keep thinking of that one primary song that says ´´we are children holding hands around the world. Like and army with the gospel flag unfurled. we are lead by his light cause we love truth and right. we are building the kingdom of God.´´ there are over 80,000 missionaries in the world today and I swear I personally know like half of them! It´s AMAZING!
HAILEY HARRIS! I now speak directly to you! Because you are the next of us to leave I feel as though I have a duty to share this with you: THIS IS THE HARDEST THING I´VE EVER DONE. I´m on the craziest roller coaster ever. Satan pulls me down everyday and I have to work so hard to let the Savior lift me up again. Hun...a STORM is coming your way really soon. So when times get rough out there in the field and when you feel like that thunder cloud just wont leave you alone I want you to remember what you and I ALWAYS do when it rains... WE DANCE IN IT. We sing and we celebrate. WE don´t let it ruin our day at all, in fact, It makes our day even better than we were planning on! Remember that when your out there okay? and remember that your not alone! together we stand, I´ll be by your side you know I´ll take you hand.
I love you all so much and our Heavenly Father does too! Please do all you can to have the spirit with you everyday! It´SO important!
Yo se que vive mi Señor, Yo se que él es nuestro redentor y el salvador del mundo. Yo se, con todo de mi corazon que esta evangelio y esta iglesia es la unica iglesia que tiene la authoridad del sacedocio del Dios. Yose que puedo todo casas con Jesucristo que mi fortaleze.
(Google Translate: I know that my Redeemer lives, I know he is our Redeemer and Savior of the world. I know with all my heart that this gospel and the church is the only church that has sacred authority from God.)
MUCHO amor from Ecuador!
Hermana Gamble
