Week 67

Evelyn Varela and her family!

Well I don´t think that I can say anything to top that I have a nephew but here goes.

Evelyn was baptized this week! Wow what a disaster another ward had a baptism and had drained the font. Yeah, we bucket filled it but still was so low that Evelyn had to be baptized sitting down. She was a little traumatized but everything turned out okay. Until the next day when the church was flooded because the bishop forgot to turn of the water in the font...yay! It was definitely an interesting experience though.

I don´t actually have a Preparation day today because President Sloan gave me permission to go to Ibarra because my investigator Carlos Espinoza is getting baptized today. It´s pretty much amazing. This is Carlos and his family for those of you who don´t remember. I also will get to be with Hermana del Aguila overnight, so really there isn´t anybody happier than me today.

We also had a pretty interesting week, I got a little legally involved here in Otavalo because our investigators Sandra Cordova and Julio Astudillo are only waiting for one legal document and they can be married and then baptized. We´ve been waiting 4 months, I was tired of it so we went to talk to the judge. It did the trick and Sandra and Julio should lhave this paper by next Tuesday and Julio and Sandra can finally be baptized!!! It´s super handy to have Julio because he works in the public buses and we get free rides a whole lot lately. Anyway, I´m so happy that we are almost done with these silly problems and we can get to the good stuff.

Have I mentioned that I´m now an Aunt? Yeah.

We are still working with Anabel Garces, but it looks like I won´t be here when she gets baptized because she needs to work a few personal things out before she can be. She is so great though and we are working with her to help her out. She really has had things pretty rough.

Everybody is counting down the days until I go home and it´s pretty tough but now I have a new little reason to be home with you all. Remember that I love and miss you all.

Chuta, soy tia.

Tia Tanner

NO LO PUEDO CREER...

QUE LINDO, PERO SUPER LINDO...NO LO PUEDO CREER. FELICIDADES M-ER´S Y SCOTT.

I´M AN AUNT, NO WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYY! CHUTA ME EMOCIONE! SOY TIA! MI SOBRINO ES LINDO!

¡BIENVENIDA WILLIAM JARED NESLEN! ¡YO TE AMO SOBRINO MÍO!

Photos ll

Jijijijijijiji.
Otavalo
I got to see mi compa again! Mi Favorita.
We totally won the prize for the best food in Zone Conference...Tacos, I even made tortillas by hand.
I just really love this picture. Verde o plaintains.

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Yep. We passed cleaning inspections...take that! ¡TOMA! They left us cookies.
I realized I have no pictures with my Mission President and his wife Sister Sloan.
I´m finally in Elder Morris´ Zone, it´s the first time that we have been together since the MTC.
You will always be in my heart...so you don´t forget what I look like.
I just like this picture, washing laundry in the river, we don´t see things like this back at home.

Week 66

Well this week was a conference week so not much got done at all. It was really strange though because I gave my final testimony and had my final interview with President Sloan. He will be in Peru so I won´t be able to have my final interview in April like I hoped for. What can you do though? It was really all about picking my spouse…yeah…no.

We have a baptism today, Evelyn Valencia, the majority of her family are already members and I´m not sure why she was holding out, but she is really excited and so are we. She is 15 years old but really quick and knows that the church is true.
Anabel Garces also has a baptismal date for April, but the Elder who did her interview sort of freaked her out. He told her that she was impure and couldn´t enter the church…yeah, we are working on it though. She pretty much decided to get baptized on her own so I was a little irritated, she is tough though and I know she will pull through.

Sandra and Julio Asudillo also have a baptismal date for April but we are having a hard time getting their papers worked out so they can get married first. All their children are members but they have been unable to because of legal problems.
My companions are seriously spectacular and I am having the time of my life. Hermana Chu is pretty crazy (like me) and Hermana Chonay has just about the purest heart that I have ever encountered. I also was able to see Hermana del Aguila in zone conference, it was pretty great!

Zone Conference was great though, I really learned a lot and encourage everybody to read Alma 32, we studied it pretty in depth. It kills me that soon I will be home when I have so much learning to do! I do love and miss you all though , so here is the good news. ..ready?

I will officially be in the Salt Lake City Airport at 8:00pm on April 21st, 2010.

Week 65

UNA SEMANA EN LA SIERRA Y YA TENGO GRIPE!!!

Mis Queridos-

It´s definitely different being back in the Sierra after so much time in the Coast. I can´t say that I´m loving the cold because it has already given me one...with a cough. It´s freezing here, but with the mountains it looks a lot more like home. There is so much to buy here, it is insane, but they are trying to rob me blind and I´m now used to the prices so I know that they can´t charge me so much. I haven´t actually purchased anything but a hat!

It is pretty great here, it´s so different, there are indiginous people everywhere. My ward and sector is Rumiñahui (Room-in-au-wee) and it happens to be 1 of 2 wards that speech spanish. The others all speak Kitchwa, I´m relieved to be sticking with spanish I´d like to get it a bit better before they ship me off to the States.

We have some great investigators here already. The family Villacreces (Via-cres-es), Carlos and Soledad have a baptismal date for 17th of April. It took a lot of work and a lot of scripture power but they did say yes. They have already been investigating the church for 7 months, which down here is a really long time. They already know that they want to be baptized but they just like to wait. They are a great little family, they have two small children too. They have been attending pretty regularly too!

We are also teaching Evelyn, her family are already members and I´m not really sure why she was holding out but she has a baptismal date for 20th of March.

My new companion...or companions are (yup, I´m in a Threesome) Hermana Chu from Peru, and Hermana Chonay from Guatemala. They are both a lot of fun and I really enjoy them both. Hermana Chu is crazy, disorganized and totally lovable. Hermana Chonay is quiet but really sweet and always willing to help. I already love the both and am glad that they will be my last companions. It´s a whole lot easier to work in three because we are able to do a lot of divisions with members.

I´m having a blast and please everybody stop counting down...I already know that I only have 35 days left and it´s not making me all that happy.

Love,

Hermana Whitney Tanner

¡Ya Me Voy!

I will officially be home the 22nd of April 2010!!!!!! Can you believe it?

In other news:

I´ve been transferred for the last time- I´m off to Otavalo and unfortunately that means that P-day is now Saturday so that the missionaries can shop in the otavaleno market! So I´ll be updating everybody Saturday!

I love you all and you are in my prayers.

Hermana Tanner

Week 64

NO I´M NOT DEAD!!! The 2 mormon missionary deaths were reported incorrectly and I´m alive and well!

Mis Queridos-

I hope this letter finds everybody well! I´m doing great as per usual, I think the last months are definitely the best ones, that could be because I finally have a grasp on what I´m doing here! Mostly because I can speak spanish and I can get done what needs to be done.

We made some really great contacts this week that I´m sure are great baptismal candidates. The family Mesias-Muñoz is a great family, Maria, Johana, Fernanda, Jessica, and Eduardo. Maria is the mom and the rest are her kids, her spouse lives in Spain. They have asked us to come everyday and have already prayed to know if José Smith was a prophet of God. They all recieved an answer in the affirmative (except for Eduardo because he wasn´t in our first lessons be he has that homework now). It´s not a very common thing that investigators want us to come everyday and in one week have answers to their prayers. We are excited to say the least, they really are amazing and seem to really love everything that we have taught about the gospel thus far.

We are also teaching Wilmer and Yadira, they both came to church last week and this week Yadira came with us to Santo Domingo for Stake Conference (Wilmer couldn´t attend because he had to work), it´s about an hour in bus so you can imagine the sacrifice. I think a counsler of the mission freaked her out a bit when he asked her if she had a baptismal date...hopefully no, because pretty soon we are going to challenge her to baptism. She and Wilmer and so willing and eager to learn. They are married which is a huge relief and have the cutest little girl I have ever seen. Emele Michel was a bit hard to keep quiet but so cute!

Anyway, I´m still learning so much and can´t believe that my time is running down so quickly. I´m not even close to being ready to go as much as I miss everybody.

By the way...I´ve been really bad about birthday wishes:

Happy Birthday to Rachel W., Alyssa C., Phylis R., Christa B., Aunt Jeannie! I love you all so much and didn´t forget!!!