Spanish for The Niño

Ah. Too much to say right now. Firstly...

Surprise! More changes!! haha. Yes, that`s right. Last night we got a call from the zone leaders that Hermana Smith had to be in the terminal at 7am with her luggage. She was leaving a week before transfers should be. So we cried a little and packed and mostly I just stood there in a little bit of shock because I swear things here don`t last longer than a minute for me! Some hermanas are with the same companion or in the same sector for a long time. Not me. I`m going for a record of most companions ever. But I wouldnt have it any other way. I know the Lord is teaching me so many valuable things from every single one of my companions and I am so thankful for every one of them.

So. I`m still in Porvenir. My new companion is Hermana Niño from Colombia. El niño...spanish for...the niño. (Chris Farley anyone?) This is her first change here, so I`m still training her I guess you could say. She is way rad and I am sure we will have a lovely time together. I`m excited to work hard and strengthen the ward here in Milagro.

Hermana Smith and I experienced all kinds of things this week. Mostly we saw too many miracles to count.

Number one. Erika. We found this girl by contacting a reference we had received the week before. I thought we were contacting a different person, so I was asking for someone named Robert. He didn`t live there. But she introduced herself as Erika and we asked if we could share with her. She let us in and we taught about baptism. We didn`t realize until afterward that she was also a reference. The Lord definitely led us to this girl. She immediately agreed to be baptized on the 26th. No hesitation whatsoever.

The bad news is she went on vacation this week, so she couldn`t go to church, but she wrote us a message telling us that she had read the Book of Mormon and had learned how to pray. We have plans to go visit her tonight, so hopefully all goes well.

Next. Familia Masias. Also a reference. They are a cute couple with two young daughters who love to play dress ups and prance around the house in high heels. They`re married...which is a big leap forward because most people here are just living together. We had an awesome lesson with them and they agreed to get baptized on the 26th...but we just have to figure out how to get them to church because the dad`s work schedule is a little crazy. But faith and determination are always the key.

And then there is Vanessa. I saved the best for last. There is this girl that has been coming to church for about a month now. We knew she wasn`t a member, but we also knew that she didn`t live in our sector. So we didn`t really make a big effort to figure out what her situation was and stuff. Finally we talked to her and she said she is working and studying full time and hardly has time to do anything. She has to study on Sundays, but the chapel we meet in is closer to the university, so she attends church in the morning there and goes straight to school after.

We got special permission to teach and baptize her in our ward because of the situation. She has the most incredible testimony of the gospel. We only talked to her for an hour, but it was amazing to listen to her talk about how much she loves the Savior and how thankful she is for the church. She could hardly contain her excitement when we told her she could get baptized this Saturday.

Miracle? Yes. We didn`t do anything find her. She just showed up. Hermana Smith and I worked so so hard for the entire change looking for people and teaching people, but everything kept falling through. And suddenly God just put amazing people in our path that are ready to get baptized and have a desire to follow the Savior. The church is true. This is DEFINITELY the Lord`s work. I am not capable of doing all these things on my own.

In other news. This week has been holiday week here in Ecuador. (holiday week? how do we say that in english? vacation? whatever) So mostly everyone spent lots of time in the cemetery and not at home like we wished they were. We drank a LOT of colada morada, which is this traditional drink thing sort of like a smoothie but weirder. And we ate bread that is made to look like a little kid. I`m totally starting this holiday in the states. It`s way more intense than memorial day.

Biggest thing I learned this week? Success comes when we have perfect faith and trust in the Lord`s plan. Okay, I know, it`s obvious. But I thought of it in a different way this week.

So. Remember when I played soccer when I wasn`t so fat and busy? Yeah. Anyway. We usually played in a traditional 4-4-2 formation. I played with the same team for a long, long time, and we were pretty accustomed to this system. We got it down and were a fairly successful team. We played well together and won a lot of games.

And then one day our coach decided to change things up. He wanted us to try a new formation. 2 defenders, 3 defensive midfielders, 4 offensive midfielders, and one forward.

I thought he was crazy. And the team did too. We didn`t play well for a long time and we said it was too hard. But then finally we started getting the hang of it. We practiced like crazy and slowly bought the idea. FINALLY we started winning again.

And so it is with our lives. Sometimes we get stuck in the same old thing. Our lives are going well, but the Lord shows up and tells us He has a better plan. He presents it to us, and sometimes we complain and think it`s stupid. Some reject it, turn away, and want nothing to do with it. Others do it grudgingly. And then some do it with every intention of making it work.

The last way is the only way to success.  Until we can finally "buy into" the idea that the Lord actually knows what works, we will never succeed. We might do everything He says, but we`ll do it with a bad attitude that it will still come out wrong. But once we turn our will into His and can visualize the success we will have as we follow Him, everything will improve. We`ll start getting the hang of things. And then the next time He decides to switch things up we will be more willing to accept what He presents.

So. Those are my words about that.

Love you all more than little pieces of bread made to look like kids (like sour patch kids, but better).

Hope your week is lovely and full of leftover Halloween candy corn.