This week has been back to reality...times two. Hermana Glanzer and I have had to prance around in two sectors. Our ward boundaries here in Alamos are massive. Probably over 2 hours from one extremity to the other. Maybe more. So usually there are 4 missionaries here in this ward so it´s divided in 2 sectors. But now that there are just the two of us here we have a lot of ground to cover. There are two weeks left in the change, so we have a lot of work ahead of us. I have no idea what will happen when changes come. I have decided to stop trying to hypothesize about what will happen here because I am always wrong. All I know is that I am super lucky to be here with Hermana Glanzer. She is amazing. Love that girl. And I´m happy to be in Cuenca. It´s been hard getting back to the daily grind, but it´s been good. The Lord has blessed me with a fantastic companion and a great ward here.
We have done a lot of catch up work this week, trying to get in contact with a lot of people we haven´t talked to for a couple weeks. We went and visited a lady named Estella the other night. She is re-activating in the church after 30 years of inactivity. We sat down and chatted with her for a while. She told us lots of things about her life and trials and temptations she is facing right now. We talked about what she could do to overcome. Sometimes it blows me away how people confide in us. We´re just two blond American girls in shabby clothes, and yet for some reason they tell us things and trust that we can help them...even if we don´t speak their language perfectly. They recognize us as representatives of Christ, even if they don´t realize it themselves. It´s a lot of responsibility to fill that role. A representative of the Lord. Yikes!
We also finally got to visit the familia Chuñir. Cute Mayra told us how this week she was invited to a wedding where they served her a glass of wine and a cup of coffee. (I´m still trying to figure out why they thought serving alcohol to 13 year olds was a good idea...but whatever.) She said no thanks, but they kept pressuring her and pressuring her. But she never gave in. She never even took one tiny sip just to be polite. I have no idea what I would have done in her situation. I probably would have felt really awkward and impolite for not drinking. So I wanted to give her a trophy for being way solid. I love that she always tells us things like that. The other day we went over and she pulled out her personal progress book and asked us to help her start her value experiences. And she asked what she has to do to be a missionary too. I don´t know what I did to be blessed to teach such a sweet family. I wish there were words to express how insanely happy I feel to be with them. And this week (fingers and toes crossed) Pablo will be getting baptized too!
Speaking of baptisms...Maria Yunga Guamán is getting baptized too! We tarted teaching her after her drunk husband contacted us one day in his neighborhood. We started teaching them (when he was sober), and Maria just took off. She accepted everything. She came to church alone. She told us how she was afraid that we had forgotten about her when we didnt come for two weeks. She started reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning because she finished the chapter we left her and wanted to read more. She told us she knows the Book of Mormon is true.
I feel horrible because we havent been able to visit her as much as we´d like, but for some reason she is still progressing like crazy. It has been a huge testimony that it´s the spirit that converts, not me. And also that when we´re working as hard as we can the Lord will take care of the rest.
The other night we had an appointment fall through, so we decided to pass by and visit Maria. They opened the door and I could tell something was wrong. Turns out Luis (the husband) went and got drunk again and it was causing a lot of problems in their family. He knows he shouldn´t drink but keeps falling. he cried when he told us about it. Maria cried when she told us how it´s tearing her family apart. They were at such a desperate moment in life, and it was way humbling to think of how the Lord directed us to their doorstep that night. We chatted with them for a bit, and then went back the next day and taught the word of wisdom. It was a rockin lesson. I love teaching things people need to hear. I love seeing the message click for people and seeing them get excited about the gospel. That is the best thing about the mission. Okay, not the absolute best becasue there are lots of bests. But it´s up there.
On Saturday the ward had an activity and invited us because lots of people were going to bring nonmember friends. So we went. And it was wonderful. We went to this fairytale land called Tarqui (just outside of Cuenca) becasue a member has land there. It was a beautiful day in the mountains with cotton candy clouds, cows grazing on the hillsides, and green EVERYTHING. I love perfect days like that. They make enduring the crappy ones a little more worth it.
Our ward here is absolutely amazing too. They had lunch at the activity and ate pig. We´re not allowed to eat pig here because I guess we could get sick or something. So someone brought up chicken and rice just for us because they knew we couldn´t eat it. And I am pretty sure every single member here asked about Hermana Haggard and Hermana Borja. They are all super thoughtful. Love them.
We thought all week about what we wanted to do today. We´ve hit up a lot of the big cool things here in Cuenca in our time here, so we wanted to do something new. So we ended up on a bus to Gualaseo in search of this place where they make this way rad scarves by hand. They took us on a tour of the place and it was interesting to see how they make stuff. I guess there are only 12 people left who make scarves using this ancient technique. Mostly it was just fun to do something new.
Well. I hope your week is full of sunshine and an abundance of fresh veggies. I wish I had a Zupas salad in front of me right this second.
Love you all more than I love computer keyboards that aren´t a nightmare to type on.
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