Week 60

Friends and Family-

I have to say that I am impressed! I have 23 emails this week from all of you wishing me a happy birthday! I just wanted to tell you all that I love you and am grateful that you all remembered. Sorry if I can´t respond to all of you but know that I´m thinking of you and will try to get back to you all a little later! I also completed 16 months in the mission today, it´s weirding me out, I got my trunky papers this week!

My companion and I are doing well. I think I´ve broken the ice a little bit. I think my being a gringa freaked her out a little bit, it does most people. She´s still what you call painfully shy, but at least she´s talking to me more. I´m working on eye-contact this week. We are doing really well together though, and she pretty much gives me free reign, I would like a little more imput from her she has some good ideas. It´s stange to have a companion who isn´t from Guatemala, she simply doesn´t understand my hatred for rice.

We have a great program going and so hopefully a lot of weddings for the month of February. Rosio Mero is one of our newest investigators, her sister and daughter are members and she was close to being baptized as well but her daughter doesn´t like her boyfriend so she didn´t get married. We will be talking to Alejandra (daughter) to get that all worked out. Lilian Mero is another sister who didn´t get married because she isn´t married. Also Vanessa who is the daughter-in-law of Maribel, who is a member, and has a lot of interest in the church. She also has to get married. I´m not joking when I say that nobody gets married here!

We are also teaching the Zambrano-Whitong family, Galo, Karina, Tais, and Adrianna. They are former investigators who left the font full. We formally asked them for the chance to prepare them for baptism again and they said yes. I´m not really sure what happened the first time. I asked Karina and she just told me it was Satan. Galo and Karina even got married to be baptized so I really don´t understand. I have a good feeling about them though.

We also knocked some doors this week and found Araseli Santana and Betty Leones, both accepted us into their homes and seem to be interested in our message. It was an answer to prayer that day because NOBODY wanted us! The Lord really does work in mysterious ways sometimes, I think it´s probably good to get rejected a few thousand times.

All my love from Ecuador,

Hermana Whitney Tanner