13 Junio 2011

HEY! Buenas Tardes Familia! Once again, another week has flown by!
It's weird to think it's summer time in Phoenix. You're all probably
suffering from the heat while I am trying to stay warm. Don't worry,
soon enough I'll be back in Guayaquil or another part of Ecuador dying
in the heat. This week in Cuenca has been great!! I'll write the same
as last week, because the day-to-day life of Hermana Smith isn't as
exciting anymore, haha.

So Monday, our zone leaders and all the district leaders went to
Guayaquil for a conference/training with President, so we didn't play
ultimate. Hermana Barker and I went to the mall and I bought a new
skirt and a little mini oven! We've been making cookies for our
investigators, the members that help us out, and for ourselves of
course. It's so nice to have this oven and so wonderful to eat
American cookies!

Wednesday we went downtown to teach this lady named Maria. She and
her daughters came to conference the Sunday before. She was a
reference from a member, but is super Catholic and didn't think she'd
come, but she did! We went to visit her to see what she thought of
conference. It was really neat, because we got there and she began
sharing with us that she was working that day and a thought came to
her head "What is the true church? Because there are so many and
Christ only organized one". And that also, her mother-in-law had
invited her to go to a different church this evening, but then we showed
up at Maria's house a couple of minutes before this lady. It was
really cool how the Lord had guided us, how we got to her house just
in time, and how it was an answer to her prayers.

Thursday was the wedding of Israel Infante and Sabrina Guzman.
Sabrina's family has started to reactivate in the church, so
we've been teaching them a lot since I first came to Cuenca. And
through these appointments, we started teaching Israel. One day, a
few weeks ago, he told us he wanted to get baptized. So we set a date
for him and Sabrina to get married (because they have a daughter and
our living together) and for his baptism which will be June 18th. The
wedding was in the afternoon and we just went to the Registro Civil
with their family. It was short and sweet, but all of us were SUPER
happy for them! All their family came in town and they were
dressed up nice. In the evening, we returned to their house, taught a
lesson with their family, and then celebrated with dinner and cake!


However, before we returned back to the The Guzman's house, we went
with Elder Guerro (our new zone leader) and Elder Keables to visit The
Quituysaka Family. They had their baptism date for the 11th, but the
father can't get baptized right now, so the wife and the children told
us that they want to wait to baptized when he can so they can do it
all together. Hermana Barker and I have been praying and fasting for
them and we received the answer that the wife Piedad, and their kids
Erica and William are ready for baptisms. We prepared a lesson
specifically for them and this afternoon was "show time". With the
help from the Holy Ghost and from the Elders. We had a wonderful
lesson!! We talked about how after baptism, they'll receive the gift
of the Holy Ghost and many other blessings. And all of this will
bless their lives and their home. We talked about how they will have
the Spirit in their home and how this Spirit and their examples will
be a help to their father as he prepares to be baptized. In the end,
they accepted to be baptized on the 18th.

Saturday in the afternoon we did divisions, where my companion went
with another sister to teach some lessons and I went with Maritza
Carrillo. This was the 2nd time we had done divisions, but I was
nervous because this time I had to teach a lesson to investigators
(and not to recent converts and less-active members who already know
the truth). We taught this family, Jose and Karena and their
daughters, who we hadn't taught in a while. We taught about the
Restoration, and yes, I struggled to say words correctly, but with the
help of the Holy Ghost and Maritza, I was able to teach and say the
words so that this family could understand. Through this experience,
I learned that even though I have a lot of weaknesses, especially with
Spanish, the Lord is helping me. Because my purpose is to invite
others to come unto Christ and help them to receive the gospel, the
Lord is not going to let me fail.

Saturday evening was the baptism of Francia Bien Aime. Franica is 19
and from Haiti. She came with a group of Haitians to Ecuador over a
year ago to study after the earthquake in Haiti destroyed their
schools. She started taking the lessons after her friend John was
baptized and from the beginning knew that the church was true. Her
baptism was small compared to the last one, but it was super great!
Many of the young single adults from the ward came and the Spirit was
there, what more could you ask for? Hermana Barker and I sang her
favorite song "I Am a Child of God" in both English and Spanish.

Sunday was really great, especially sacrament meeting! Franica
received the gift of the Holy Ghost, Nidia Salinas (who was baptized
on the 28th of May) got up and shared her testimony, and Ivan and
Fernando Muñoz (who were also baptized on the 28th) received the
priesthood and it was announced in Sacrament Meeting. The Spirit
really touched my heart and I began to cry. I have only known these 4
for a little over a month and it's amazing to see how much the gospel
has changed their lives and how their growing in the church.

That's pretty much all that has happened this week. I'm reminded many
times during the week of my purpose and why I am supposed to be here.
The Lord is blessing me and the ones I teach and share the gospel. I
have been thinking a lot about how much I've changed in the last year,
how the Lord has comforted me over and over again, and how I've grown
SO much spiritually. It was about a year ago that I started praying to
Heavenly Father to help me make a decision of what to do with my life.
This last year has been SO amazing and wonderful. I wouldn't change a
thing of anything that has happened this past year.

Well, I need to get going! Have a wonderful week family :) I love you tons!

Love,
Hermana Smith

6 Junio 2011

HEY GUYS! Great news is that I'm still in Cuenca and with Hermana
Barker :) We didn't have transfers until Tuesday/Wednesday. Tuesday
night, we were in bed and falling asleep, when we got a call (after
10:30) from Elder Keables telling us that we were "safe", but that we
were losing 6 Elders from our zone. We were a little sad because a
couple of them have become good friends of ours. But we got some cool
new Elders in our zone, so everything is ok, haha.

So, I was looking at my agenda of what has happened this past week and
I don't think that in this email I will be writing the day to day
update of what happened. I would pretty much say "This day we taught
this person and it was good". Also, yesterday was Stake Conference
and we had the goal of bringing 15 investigators, so most of our week
was teaching the people that we were inviting and making the plans for
them to get to the stake center. So instead of explaining the day by
day of Hermana Smith, I will just tell you the highlights of the
week!!!

Wednesday, we went back out to Sayausi to teach one our investigators,
but she wasn't there. Her cousin said she was there the day before and now
she was with her family (more to come later of what had happened with a kid).
As we were walking to visit another family, we started walking by
these two young woman, named Lala and Jenny, with their young
daughters. We started talking to them about their lives and ended us
teaching them, their aunt, and their cousins at their house. This
lesson was really special because we followed the spirit and taught to
their needs. We taught about the importance and power of prayer, how
Heavenly Father is always listening and ready to help us. Also, how
that if we pray with faith, He will answer our prayers. The lesson
ended with all of us kneeling in prayer as Lala prayed for the help of
the Lord. She ended the prayer and we were all in tears because the
Spirit gave this family the comfort and hope they needed.

Friday we ended up having our District Meeting. The week was a little
crazy with the transfers and conferences of the zone leaders, so we
ended up having it on Friday instead of Tuesday. After our meeting,
we went straight to work...we didn't even go to eat with our mamita
because we had SO much to do and important people to teach. We taught
this woman named Maria. She is the neighbor of Nidia, Ivan, and
Fernando. Funny story of how we met her.... It was about 2 weeks ago
and we were going to teach Nidia, Ivan, and Fernando. We had finished
lunch and started to fast. We started our fast on this hill that
leads to their house. It's pretty secluded, so we said our prayer
together and them seperated for own prayers. As we were praying, Maria
started coming down the hill and scared us. Right then and there she
invited us to teach her. For the past 2 weeks, we've been trying to
teach her, but she either wasn't home or when she could, we couldn't.
So finally, we were able to teach her Friday afternoon. Well it turns
out, this young man that died Tuesday, he had commited suicide and was
the boyfriend of Maria's daughter. Maria was in a lot of pain because
the family of this young man was blaming her for his death. However,
even though she's in a lot of sorrow, she handling this situation
super well and in a very Christ-like way. I was prompted to share
with her a similar experienced I have had, how I handled it, how it
effected my family, and how the gosple of Jesus Christ is what helped
me overcome that experience. I told her that I understood how she
felt and testified that her faith in Jesus Christ will help her handle
this situation with love, patience, and hope.

Saturday morning, we went out to Lentag to visit Jacqueline and start
the recent convert lessons. This lesson was very special because
Jacqueline shared her testimony with us. It was a confirmacion to us
that she was ready to be baptized and was one of God's chosen. Even
though it was a battle and tough fight to get her to make this
decision, it was all part of the plan and what we were supposed to do.
As we were riding down the mountain in a truck, Hermana Barker and I
started talking about the work. She became super sad because her time
as a full-time missionary is coming to an end. We have such an
important purpose. The people we teach have so much trust and belief
in what we say will help their lives. They come to us with their
problems and questions believing that we have the answers. Hermana
Barker is sad that she won't have this same purpose come August. I
don't know, but this really was a realization that I need to make the
best of this next 13 months. I won't be able to do this again and
need to do all that I can to help bring the gospel of Christ to
everyone I meet and know here in Ecuador.

Sunday was stake conference. We were super nervous because our
mission president, President Montalti, was there to speak in the
conference and wanted to meet all of our investigators (this is why we
had the goal of 15 investigators). With a lot of help of the members,
we ended up having 12 and President met them and asked them all to be
baptized. Shortly after, we had a little zone meeting
with President. We were sitting in a circle and he went around asking
every companionship how many investigators they brought. Every
companionship said "1" or "2" with hesitation and then it came to us
and we said "12" with a little embarrasment and President's face
changed to a surprised look. Our zone definitely got the machete from
President, but he left us with a blessing to open our mouths and we
will have success. As we were leaving President came up to me, shook
my hand and said "Hermana Smith, congratulations for your hard work".
It was nice to hear that from President, but I definitely did not feel
relieved....haha, there is still a lot more work to do.

Sunday afternoon/evening, we did divisions with two sisters from the
ward. Hermana Barker went with a young woman named Veronica to teach
our investigators who have baptism dates and I went with the Young
Women's president, Afrania. I was a little nervous because this was
my first time doing divisions and being responsible to lead the
lessons, but the Lord helped me tons!!! We went to teach Maria and
the family I contacted on the bus last Monday, but they weren´t home
:( But we did teach a recent convert lesson to Nidia, Ivan, and
Fernando and it went well. We were only able to teach the first 3
principles of the Restoration, but we talked about how the gospel has
blessed their lives, as a family and individually. They are such a
great family and we (me, Hermana Barker, and Afrania) think Ivan and
Fernando are going to be fabulous members and future missionaries.
It's so great to see them enjoy the gospel and see them grow.

Well, that is pretty much it here in Ecuador. The Lord has really
blessed me with all these experiences and has definitely helped me
express myself and say the words to bring these people the comfort and
joy the gospel brings to everyone. It amazes me to see how much has
happened in the last 5 months. I have learned so much, had great
experiences, and have met such wonderful people. I am so grateful
that I have 13 more months to continue to do the same thing....learn,
grown, meet wonderful people, and share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Have a fabulous week :) I love you tons!

Love,
Hermana Smith