Monday, January 25, 2010

Week 59

Everybody-

Changes happened and I can´t believe that for the first time in my entire mission I am going to be staying in a sector and am receiving a new companion. My beloved Hermana del Aguila has gone to Ibarra! I will miss her dearly more than I think anybody realizes she has been my best and favorite companion by far.

I now have Hermana Alava, who is not from GUATEMALA! I´m shocked to say the least, and a little sad because I feel like Guate is a part of me now. My companion is from Ecuador and I actually feel a little sorry for her because we are about 4 hours from her house and she has 3 months in the mission field. I hope it won´t make her too homesick. I´m looking forward to our time. I think it might be a little bit of a challenge because she doesn´t talk much, but she seems nice enough.

Julio Cedeño is doing really well and turns out that he is quite the calling material, they gave him 2 pretty important callings this week and I know that he will be great for them both. He will be a Young Men´s Advisor and also one of the Ward Secretaries. I´m pretty proud of him. He also came to church this week in a shirt and tie and not the same ones as last week! People really can surprise you. He claims that he is allergic to ties, any advice to make them more comfortable?

El Carmen is doing really well, we are working a lot with less actives because the Ward (and Ecuador) is full of them. We really need them to come back to church and help the ward grow. They are really missing out too! We will be working really hard this week to find their houses…quite the feat, wish us luck!

Love,
Hermana Whitney Tanner

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Week 58

Friends and Family-

I hope you are all doing well back at home! I´m still doing great (I know it´s sounding repetative that I´m always doing so well, but it´s the truth and I can´t deny it) and loving my area.

The best news is that we had two baptisms this weekend. Julio Cedeño and Fabricio Ibarra. It was definitely an interesting baptismal service. Fabricio went first, he really is sort of a clown. I love him though and he is really good for a laugh. He has his girlfriend who is a member of the church and he is pretty obesessed with her, I think she probably is his biggest reason for being baptized, but he was ready. He´s left the font full in the past, I´m just glad he was ready sooner than later.

Phrases of Fabricio:

"Sister Tanner, I´m handsome right, you know I am?"
"I had to get baptized because God gave me so much beauty."
"He chupado la piña, la manzana, la naranja, hasta el banano" I can´t really translate that last one...but if you served here you´ll understand how funny it is.
"When I marry Angeley, I´m going to rent a car and drive all through El Carmen so that everybody can see who I married". He´s only sixteen years old.

The best part of the day was when Julio was baptized. He really was so ready and sooooooo nervous. His friends are still pulling some pretty nasty tricks and are really bothering him. The other day they locked him in the bathroom with a girl to try to tempt him. They all keep calling him "Brother Julio" and mocking him wherever he goes. I really admire his strength. Even his family is giving him grief, his father punched him in the face the day of his baptism. Not exactly a great home life. There are more girls folling him around than ever. I think he is my most tested and tried convert. One thing I´m sure of is that if there is anybody who can overcome all of this, it´s Julio.

After the ordenance was complete Julio dived back in the water! I´m pretty sure he took everything seriously though because he didn´t stop smiling after everything was finished. The next day Julio came to church in not only a white shirt and tie, but dress pants and dress shoes. He is also a worth priesthood holder! I´m so proud of him.

We are still looking for new investigators and have found some, but we are really hoping for some references from the members this week!

Chaito,

Hermana Whitney Tanner

Monday, January 11, 2010

Week 57

Amigos y Amados-

Everything is great in Ecaudor, I feel busy which is always a nice feeling!

This week has been great, we had zone conference which meant a lot of travel to Santo Domingo. President Sloan is still out of comission so it changed the chemistry a little. It´s not quite as fun, but we still get gigged up and inspired again. We really do have some great leaders and they work so hard for us.

The best news is the Julio Cedeño finally was able to get an interview with President Montoya (acting president of the mission) and we have a green light for his baptism. I´m so excited I can hardly stand it. I´ve never had an investigator so ready for the gospel. He may not know as much doctrine as others but he´s so incredibly prepared spiritually. I love that he feels the difference that the gospel brings. He said for the first time he can feel again. He is by far the best part of my days and weeks here in El Carmen. I´m literally bursting at the seams for Saturday when I get to see him all in white! Now I´ll have to work on getting him to go on a mission, he´s only 20 years old.

Fabricio Ibarra will also be getting baptized this weekend and he seems to be really excited too. He´s what they call a "little gift" in the mission because he wants to be baptized all on his own, no help from the missionaries or anybody else, makes it easy I guess! He has so many questions though, I´m not sure that we could answer them all if we spent every waking hour of every day with him...we are trying to get them all answered before baptism though!

We had 8 investigators in church this week! We usually only have about 3 so you can imagine how happy we were. We are getting a nice pool of new investigators and it is fun to be starting out with a bunch of new people. It´s like a clean slate all over again.

We are coming to the close of another transfer (just 2 more weeks) and I´m sure that I´ll be saying goodbye to my favorite companion La Hermana Del Águila, I don´t know what I´ll do without her! It has definitely been some of the happiest times of my mission! She´s been here six months though and it´s time for her to go.

Healthy and Happy in the Coast!

Hermana Whitney Tanner

Monday, January 4, 2010

Week 56

I am so glad the Holidays are over...call me scrooge but after 4 days of not working I never want to see my apartment again. It is no fun when you can´t leave the house. We did have to leave New Years Eve for Santo Domingo for our district meeting. It was insane, and a lot different here in the coast. On the way back there were men dressed as women everywhere. We locked the doors and tried to get back to El Carmen as quickly as possible. You have to give them money or else they try to kiss you...not my idea of a great tradition, but what do I know. At midnight we took a peek and there were fireworks and burning muñecos (effigies) everywhere. I have to admit that it looked entertaining.

For New Years day we really just got stood up a lot, everything was closed and I have never seen so many empty bottles of alcohol in my entire life. I really can´t see the entertainment in drinking, call me naive but I just don´t see it. All of the women were soaking their feet from dancing so much.

Things are going really well though, we have a new investigator with a baptismal date! Fabricio he is a former investigator of my companion and he came to church the other day and said that he was ready to be baptized. I think it could have something to do with his member girlfriend but he really wants to do it.

Julio Cedeño is still doing great he is definitely one in a million. He told us that this was the first week he didn´t feel strange being at church. The first few times he came he said he couldn´t feel his hands and was so nervous that he couldn´t move. I guess it really freaked him out, he said that he could feel the spirit so strongly and was worried that he would burst into flames. Although I thought it was funny, I´m not sure I blame him for being a little worried, he has had a pretty tough life, poor guy.

President Sloan is still out of comission right now but our Zone Conference is coming up this week it should be sad without him. I really miss President Sloan, he is such a great motivator and he really loves us so much. He makes a big difference in all of our lives.

Love,

Hermana Whitney Tanner

Ps. I wanted to post pictures but the Ecuadorian Internet doesn´t want to work with me.