Whitney Tanner

I'm Back.

2011-04-28T23:46:00.003-06:00

This seems to be the only creative liberty I've got left...haha!

Just some Easter fun! I hope you all had the happiest of Easters!

Disneyland

2010-05-28T10:31:00.004-06:00

I'm off to California for Memorial Day weekend! Hope you all have a great one! I'll fill you all in on the details soon!

What I've been up too.

2010-05-26T11:05:00.005-06:00

I know, stupid, but the strawberries here are just so good, so red, and so juicy!
Hello snakeskin heels.

I've no idea what Amanda is doing in this picture.

My mission trainer!

Garrett and I hanging out in the basement.

I get to see my mom every day!

My cute little brother Jared.

Jared being really weird...

This really isn't a what I've been doing post, but who I've been doing it with!!! It's so much fun to be around family again. As for what I've been doing...what haven't I been doing? BAM, baby!

Dejame en Paz

2010-05-26T10:38:00.004-06:00

Dedico este cancion a los que no me dejan vivir mi vida: vayanse y no me molestan mas.

Perdóname por lo que vengo a decir
Hace tiempo no me acuerdo de ti
No no no
No entiendo porque ahora preguntas por mi
Si fuiste tú el que me dejo partir

Ahora hay otro en mi vida
El curo mis heridas
Me devolvió la alegría que daba por perdida
Ahora hay otro en mi vida
El curo mis heridas
Me devolvió la alegría que daba por perdida

Da la vuelta y déjame en paz
De ti no quiero saber más
Ya hay otro en mi vida que me hizo olvidar
Da la vuelta y déjame en paz
De ti no quiero saber más
Ya hay otro en mi vida que me hizo olvidar

Sal por esa puerta y no vuelvas más
Baby ya yo te olvide y no te quiero ver más
No insistas que nunca te voy a perdonar
Lo pasado, pasado ya no vuelvo más

Yo tengo a otro que me hace vibrar
Ya tengo a otro que me hace soñar y suspirar
Ahora soy feliz no te lo voy a ocultar
Lo mejor es que te vallas y me dejes en paz

Ahora hay otro en mi vida
El curo mis heridas
Me devolvió la alegría que daba por perdida
Ahora hay otro en mi vida
El curo mis heridas
Me devolvió la alegría que daba por perdida

Da la vuelta y déjame en paz
De ti no quiero saber más
Ya hay otro en mi vida que me hizo olvidar
Da la vuelta y déjame en paz
De ti no quiero saber más
Ya hay otro en mi vida que me hizo olvidar

Date la vuelta, Ya no regreses
Porque mi amor tu no mereces
Yo tengo a otro, que si me quiere
Se fue mi tiempo de mala suerte

Date la vuelta, Ya no regreses
Porque mi amor tu no mereces
Yo tengo a otro, que si me quiere
Se fue mi tiempo de mala suerte

Tu mentira y tu engaño
Ya yo olvide
Ahora hay otro en mi vida que me hizo entender
Que las cosas no son papi
Como las predicaba
Engañando, lastimando, esa era tu jugada
Pero bueno es el tiempo y existe el olvido
Aquellas cosas ya murieron así es el destino
Yo se que vas a pasar, lo mismo que yo pasé
Y te arrepentirás, por no haber sabido querer

Ahora hay otro en mi vida
El curo mis heridas
Me devolvió la alegría que daba por perdida
Ahora hay otro en mi vida
El curo mis heridas
Me devolvió la alegría que daba por perdida

Neglected

2010-05-25T23:51:00.000-06:00

I'm sorry blog, I really am, tomorrow I will update you.

Love,

Whitney

Home.

2010-05-03T19:11:00.003-06:00

I won't always post my apartments but since I did it throughout my mission I thought I would post about my post life experience!

My Dad even built the vanity. He's very talented, did I tell you that he got a 97% on his physics test? ...and has a 4.25 gpa?

Kitchen.

I have seriously missed my books!

Living room.

I know that the closet looks really messy but it's actually very organized!

My Sister the Mom

2010-04-30T17:16:00.000-06:00

Melissa N. and baby Guillermo (William Jared).

Under Pressure

2010-04-30T12:17:00.008-06:00

Okay, post-mission adjusting...not so hard.

not with Jen and her cheesecake...

Not with a little Godiva cheesecake from Cheesecake factory...

or with your best friend Jen...

or with my mom...

So, I start classes next week at UVU, and I'm looking for a part time job to tide me over. I'm also on an insane pregnancy hormone diet-HCG. It is basically condoned anorexia that entails having injections everyday and eating 500 calories a day. I just polished off 2 crackers with turkey and mustard and asparagus for lunch. Not too bad and definitely better than chicken foot soup.

As this is what I've eaten I'm wondering...have I completely lost it? I suppose my 55 pound weight loss in Ecuador didn't quite cut it for me and now I will do anything to hit my target weight which I'm not sure is in accordance with what I should weigh.

So yeah, I would just like to say that I am back in the USA. Where else would this diet be thought of as anything but crazy?

Loving it.

My New Car

2010-04-23T15:53:00.001-06:00

How cool is my dad? Totally thought I'd be driving my mom's car!

Fin

2010-04-17T15:30:00.004-06:00

Julio Astudillo, Sandra Córdova, Mishell, and Alexander (whom I adore).
Feria- The fair where I was at 5:00 am buying a pig...we promised Sandra (Córdova) that we would help out.
It was a huge mistake to name her Matilda, I was the only person who cried when they killed her. I pulled her all the way from the fair. Interesting experience though...I´ll never eat pork again...maybe. I guess after 5 years of killing a pig every week stops affecting you after a while. Ese Alexander!
Zone Otavalo and our Jersey´s. Some of my best friends are here in this zone!

The view from the balcony of my new apartment! I love living in Centro, life is so much easier...and pretty.

So this is it, my last update...at least as Hermana Whitney Tanner.

I can hardly believe that it has come to an end! I´ve loved my time here with all it´s ups and downs. I´ve had success but really the only person who benefitted from my experience is me (and maybe a few of you who learned to love me more-absence makes the heart grow fonder). It´s definitely been a crazy but amazing experience that will never cease to bless and enrich my life. I know that I´m a harder worker, more loving, and all around better person for all of the experiences I´ve had. Thank you too all of you who helped me along the way. My leaders in the Mission field, family and friends at home, and the people who let me be a part of their lives here in Ecuador. I love you all, and I´m so grateful for each one of you.

I am ending things on a really high note! Sandra Córdova and Julio Astudillo were baptized yesterday April 16th, 2010. It was a really stressful week. They both needed additional interviews and we really wrangled every possible source that we had to get it done. President Montoya, first counselor to President Sloan was actually going to be here in Otavalo so we were able to arrange a meeting with him. He was so great and waited even when Sandra and Julio came late! We were so grateful for him, he has also been called as a Mission President in the Valencia, Venezuela mission and leaves in June for the Provo MTC. Anyway, Sandra and Julio are officially the newest members of Barrio (ward) Rumiñahui (Room-in-ya-wee,there isn´t any translation).

For those of you who cared about the pig story. Sandra sells Fritada, which is like fried pork (I´m not the biggest fan), and what with her baptism she has been really busy so we promised that we would help her out this Saturday. It was an unforgettable experience to say the least. We woke up at 4:45am to buy the pig at the fair, it was quite a process but we finally found the right one for $90! I had to tug her all the way to Sandra´s, we bonded, and the name Matilda Tanner was tossed around. I couldn´t do it so Julio had to put the knife in the heart...yeah, horrible, I cried. The skin is a valuable comomadity here and I didn´t know it but they blow torch the outside of the pig to sell the skin (yes, to eat). Anyway, I miss Matilda and now understand why we can´t eat pork here in Mission Ecuador Quito.

It´s been tough to say goodbye and to have to keep saying goodbye. I love Ecuador so much!

Loving you from Ecuador,

Hermana Whitney Tanner

Week 69

2010-04-10T15:45:00.003-06:00

I forgot to mention that I have actually been in the mission field for over a year and a half now. CRAZY.

For all of you who keep asking me about the bomb, I´ve never had vichos (parasites) and I don´t think that they give us the bomb here. It´s really not as dirty here as you all think...it is dirty but not that much.

This week has been another week of looking for apartments, and today we finally found one (after 2 that fell through). We move in Monday, just in time for me to pack everything up, unpack and then pack again. Yeah, but I´m excited to have a new house. Away from the crazy landlady that looks through our stuff. She keeps telling everybody that we don´t clean...the zone leaders checked and said it was cleaner than theirs. Yeah...end rant. Oh, how I hate finding her inside of our apartment.

Julio Astudilio and Sandra Cordova are still doing well and have a gazillion questions, mostly because Julio has a friend who works with him on the bus and is a member of one of those scream and shake churches and keeps teaching them crazy stuff. Julio told us not to worry though because he didn´t believe any of it. Julio did have a little set back with the bottle but we set him straight and he was pretty humble about it. Just for the record he did need setting straight because he didn´t come home at night. He definitely knew that he was in trouble, it´s pretty funny to see a grown man hide from 3 twenty-something missionaries.

Fernando Garcia isn´t doing to well, he hasn´t been eating or taking his medication and his daughter, Miriam is pretty worried about him. So are we and I´m not sure that he will be ready to be baptized next weekend. We are praying for him though as is his very numerous family!

Our other investigators are doing well but our program is a little lagging due to our house hunt, now that that has been resolved we can focus on getting everything going again.

I love you all and look forward to seeing you in 11 days!

Hermana Whitney Tanner

Flight Information

2010-04-10T10:54:00.004-06:00

WEDNESDAY APRIL 21ST, 2010

American Airlines AA932 Quito, Ecuador- Miami, Florida 6:25am-11:35am
American Airlines AA887 Miami, Florida- Dallas, Texas 1:30pm-3:40pm
American Airlines AA1925 Dallas, Texas- Salt Lake City Utah 6:15pm-8:00pm

COULD I HAVE MORE LAYOVERS???

Week 68

2010-04-05T17:11:00.002-06:00

This is me with the majority of my zone for general conference- we are dressed like the indiginous people of Otavalo- have I mentioned how cool it is here?

Sandra Cordova and Julio Astudilio

...and Elder Edgington...grrr.

Sandra Cordova and Julio Asudilio were also finally married this week. After weeks of driving the poor lawyers and judges of Otavalo completely crazy the legal papers were finished and Sandra and Julio got married (inspite of me wacking the judge in the face...accidental, of course, it was still super embarrassing). They are now all set for their respective baptism on April 16th, 2010.

Carlos, Estefanía, and Micaela

I think I look pretty ridiculously happy.

Carlos Espinosa was baptized! To my surprise I ended up having a talk but it really worked out fine. They said they had been waiting for me, it made me really happy. Guess what? We are going to the temple together next year... so that he and Estefanía and Micaela can be sealed together forever. It was probably one of the most spiritual baptisms I´ve ever had. Carlos gave such a beautiful testimony and really I am so proud of him.

General Conference was pretty amazing too! I got to watch one session in English but the rest in Spanish. It´s a pretty darn good thing that I now understand everything that´s being said. Although President Holland´s talk cost me a few minutes before I understood the theme...I got it though. It´s funny as a kid I used to just count the minutes until General conference ended, but now I dread it. I loved that the focus was all about families, because really that is what is most important!

The only down side to this week is that we´ve been looking (without success) for a new apartment. Our landlady likes to look through our stuff and well, we aren´t big fans of that. Apartments are really hard to find here in Otavalo...wish us some luck because we have to move really soon!

Love you all,

Hermana Whitney Tanner

Ps. I completely forgot to post about our baptism last week...so yeah. Read week 67 again...there is a picture.

Week 67

2010-03-27T14:52:00.005-06:00

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...

2010-03-27T14:39:00.005-06:00

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

2010-03-20T16:08:00.003-06:00

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.

Photos l

2010-03-20T15:54:00.004-06:00

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

2010-03-20T15:52:00.000-06:00

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

2010-03-13T14:08:00.002-07:00

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!

2010-03-08T06:51:00.004-07:00

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

2010-03-01T15:38:00.002-07:00

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!!!

Week 63

2010-02-22T17:11:00.002-07:00

Mis Queridos-

First thing, the church has finally updated it´s emailing system, it´s gmail...yes! wtanner@myldsmail.net if you still would like to keep in contact with me.

We had a great week and 10 of our investigators came to church this week. We are mostly excited about Wilmer Rizzo and Yadira Andrande. They are married!!! Which means so much more than you can all imagine. They came to church after only one week of knowing us and they really seem to be happy, it is such a rarity. Wilmer only wanted to know if we were allowed to play sports in this religion, he seems up for pretty much anything else. Yadira is a bit tougher, she has been attending a Evangelical church. She seemed to really enjoy it though and we will definitely be focusing in them this week!

Jorgeluis Chica is another new investigator, he told me pretty clearly that he only wants to learn more about the Word of God and he´s not interested in getting baptized. I think he will come around though. He had an accident a few months back and has about 6 nails in his leg, he can´t bend his knee at all. He is at home all day long and has all the time in the world to listen to us. He´s a good kid and he seems to really want to change his life (did I mention that he was drunk when he messed up his leg?).

Gabriela Loor is still coming to church every week but still isn´t married and so cannot be baptized. She is pretty intense, I think Juan would come around if she would calm down a little bit...jiji.

My companion and I are doing really well and busy looking for new investigators. Thank you for your prayers and letters!

Hermana Whitney Tanner

Ps. I´ve noticed that nobody comments unless I have pictures...not cool people.

Week 62

2010-02-16T15:32:00.003-07:00

Mis Queridos-

I know I´m a day late but this week our Preparation day was moved until Tuesday because this week is Carnaval. I was here last year for Carnaval but it is about a million times worse in the Coast. It´s basically 4 days of people throwing water, flour, eggs, and other things at people. The kids have no mercy. I can imagine that as a normal person it´s actually a fun holiday, however, as a missionary it means trying to avoid getting soaked for the entire day long...sometimes with fishy water. Ewwwwwwwww.

This week was pretty great, we always have some setbacks but that is life. President Sloan has asked us to step-up with our contacting efforts and I´ve really been trying to work on that. It´s not something that I particularly enjoy doing because after a couple of scary experiences one loses her nerve (think creepy old guys asking me to marry them). This week though I really tried to go out and get to know people. Sunday we found a whole trove of new investigators who really look promising. Many of which are families. I´m so excited to work with them all. I remember knocking a few doors and having people hide. I said a quick prayer, something like this: "Heavenly Father, thou knowest that I´m just no good at this...please help us find somebody." Needless to say that my prayers were answered and I´m very, very grateful.

I was also feeling that I wasn´t making a great difference here in Ecuador and that my efforts to teach the gospel were only benefitting me. Nobody seemed to be progressing. I had to teach The Holy Ghost in Gospel Principles this week and I really tried to stress that the Godhead was one in proposito but were 3 separate persons. Yesterday a less active member told me that she was able to teach some of her neighbors of a different faith what she had learned and that they understood and seemed interested. It made me feel so much better that I was able to help somebody.

Rosy Parraga is also getting baptized. She was always an investigator that we kept on the back burner but now has a baptismal date for March. My companion and I realized that she didn´t really know anything about the gospel and so we had started everything over again. She has changed so much and I´m grateful that yet again I get to see how 5 simple lessons change peoples lifes. The gospel really does work miracles.

So that was my week in a nutshell, I´m very happy inspite of passing a few days without being dry...what with Carnaval and the rain. Torrential downpours, I love rain so much!!!

Hermana Whitney Tanner

Week 61

2010-02-08T16:52:00.003-07:00

Friends and Family-

Thanks for all of your Birthday Wishes! I think more of you remembered than ever before. Le me tell you that I had a killer birthday, hands down best ever! It started out with my ward throwing me a surprise party! Yeah, who knew. It was pretty much the nicest thing anybody has ever done for me. All of my favorite members where there and I had 2 types of cake (chocolate and tres leche), bolitas de yuca and deditos con queso (can´t really explain what they are but they are really good). It was an all out party latin style and I wouldn´t have it any other way. I was serenaded all night and they stuffed my head into the cake.

I can´t believe that in a few months I´m going to have to say goodbye to all these wonderful people that I love so much, I won´t lie it´s starting to sink in and it hurts.

So in other cool things that I didn´t think would happen on my mission. We had a contacting activity in which we needed permission from the mayor of the city to use the local park. I got to contact the mayor. I have to say that in an unstable 3rd world country I thought the idea was pretty excited. Hugo Cruz Andrande was pretty intimidating but he gave us permission for Saturday! Unfortunately we got rained out hard-core and ended up having the activity in the church and only one person showed up. I can´t really blame the people though, it was pretty much a monsoon. I felt bad that all 22 Elders from Santo Domingo showed up just to help us out here in El Carmen!

Rocio Mero is still doing well, it looks like separation instead of a wedding in her case though. She didn´t really luck out with Clever (husband´s name) and I feel bad but she really wants to be baptized and it´s really time. She is also our new mamaita for Friday´s, she makes some really decent chicken and rice! They love the missionaries.

We are doing well and my companion is great, she is talking now which is a big relief for me and it turns out that she is a pretty great companion. I know that we are going to have a lot of success and fun together.

I love you all and have you in my prayers!

Hermana Whitney Tanner

ps. Apparently my camara has a virus and I can´t load pictures. Still working though I just don´t know how to get them on the web...

Week 60

2010-02-01T15:03:00.006-07:00

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

Week 59

2010-01-25T15:40:00.001-07:00

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

Week 58

2010-01-19T13:16:00.002-07:00

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

Week 57

2010-01-11T16:22:00.002-07:00

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

Week 56

2010-01-04T15:58:00.002-07:00

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.

Week 55

2009-12-28T17:33:00.002-07:00

Friends and Family-

Ecua-fact: Musical notes are not a, b, c, d, e, f, g in Latin America, they are: do, re, mi, fa, so, la, si, da. It is only slightly different than a sound of music, but I thought it was interesting.

I have gotten quite a few compliments on my blog lately...THANKS. I was not aware that people are actually reading about me. I will try to step it up for you guys, I feel as though I have been getting increasingly lazy with my blogging skills.
Christmas means things slow down a bit in the work of the Lord…or a screeching halt. As we are so close to so many great beaches our entire pool took off this week. It worked out though because my companion and I took an emergency trip to Quito to renew my Censo or my Ecuadorian card that says I legally live here. We took off pretty last minute Tuesday night for our 4 hour bus ride through the fog covered Andes. It still has not ceased to take my breath away. Even better now that we are in winter and there is constant fog and rain. The great part of the Quito trip was that we got to stay the night with Sister Groesbeck and her companion Hermana Bojorge (beau-hor-hey)! That is right! I was able to see the other Gringa! It was so nice to see a familiar face especially when we are the only 2 female North Americans in the entire mission and she just happens to be from my stake, good old Edgemont. We had a lot of fun together I was able to see a lot of the missionaries from my group in the MTC. I would have liked to post photos but the internet is a little sketchy and I am unable to. Next week.

For Christmas we were on lock-down. No leaving, contacting, or pretty much anything. It was needless to say pretty quiet but it was so nice to be able to talk to so many of you! Thank you for all the Christmas Wishes. I really appreciate that you remembered me.

We were able to get some work done. Mostly with members and less actives, new converts as well. Henrry and Yomaira are still doing really, they just seem so happy. Henrry had even purchased a new white shirt and pink tie for church this week, it was pretty cool that they really just progress by themselves.

Hermana Miriam was also a great help this week by loaning us her phone for Christmas, she is a member of about 28 years. She always helps us out more than anybody. She has 6 callings but somehow always finds the time to accompany us to our visits. We are really lucky to have her in the ward. She is also the best cook. YUMMMMMMMM, fried shrimp, verde frito, gapingachos (?), oh so good. She is such a great example for my companion and I because the majority of the members are not accepting callings right now.

On the downside, I pretty much spent the week speaking in English and it is affecting my Spanish speaking skills pretty fiercely. I have no idea what I will do when it is English all the time again.

Love Hermana Whitney Tanner or the Amazon Woman

Happy New Years

Week 54

2009-12-21T18:10:00.002-07:00

Merry Christmas!

It´s been a good week and full of rain. We are also in Winter here in Ecuador and that just means a whole lot of rain. I have always loved the rain though and am not complaining, it also means that it´s not quite as hot here in the coast and that is a very good thing. On the other hand...Rain really brings out the mosquitos and they are biting.

It´s a bit difficult to catch people at home during the Christmas season but we aren´t doing too badly. We have been visiting Julio Cedeño everyday because he really needs daily contact. He had a bumpy week and slipped a little in the Word of Wisdom but he felt pretty bad about it. We really need to get him at a level where he trusts himself. He has really had a rough life and really wants out of it. With President Sloan out of duty we are going to need Salt Lake permission for his baptism, but I feel sure that it will come because if any of my converts have wanted a baptism, nobody as much as Julio.

Gabriela is still doing well, but can´t be baptized. We really need to work on Juan her boyfriend, I´m sure that he will come around though. Gabriela has had a good share of homework in the Book of Mormon so we decided that it was time that she read the entire book, she is getting along really well and understanding eveything.

Henrry Chila didn´t come to church this week (gggggrrrrrrrrrrr) but Yomaira says that he has a good excuse. Yomaira is still so happy to be a member, I think she really likes the clean feeling. Henrry has been gone all week, I´m sure he´s just busy with work. They both seem so much happier now.

Consuelo is our newest progressing investigator but it´s always hard to get her to attend church. She lives so far away and with 5 children it takes a lot out of her. I think next week we will swing by to pick her up. She says that she has always loved hymns and is really interested to see how the church is run. She always has so many questions and most of them are related to baptism. It´s nice to finally have her trust and that she will sit down and listen to us now!

Merly Giler (Hill-er) is another favorite of ours, we see her almost everyday when we make our daily calls because she works in the Cabina´s right next to our house. She´s a bit of a challenge to catch at home because she almost always forgets that we are coming. She really is interested though and says that we are able to answer a lot of her questions. She has a sister who is a less active member, Ligia (Lihea), who we will be working with too.

Merry Christmas from Ecuador, even though I´m miles away I love you all and wish you Happy Holidays with your families.

Hermana Whitney Tanner

Week 53

2009-12-14T17:18:00.004-07:00

Ecua-Fact: Christmas isn´t all that big here but everybody hands out chocolates and cookies and candies. It´s more like Halloween than Christmas. You can buy pre-made candy bags and the local grocery store.

I feel like Couldn´t be Happier is becoming the slogan of my life here in El Carmen. I love it and the people more and more everyday. The best news is that after 6 weeks together my companion, Hermana del Águila, and I will be staying together for Christmas. I´m so happy and relieved to have my favorite companion for the Holidays.

Julio Cedeño is still really doing well and was able to come to church this week which is a pretty big sacrifice on his part. We are trying so hard to get him his second interview but with President Sloan on bedrest it is proving to be quite the difficult task. He finally decided to gift each of us a pair of his earrings and we are working on the other pairs. He also hasn´t been to the Discotecha in 3 weeks, I feel bad that he can´t dance but it´s better if he avoids the whole drug, alcohol, women scene because those are his biggest vices.

Gabriela Loor is also doing really well, she came to church this week on her own. We usually have to bring her, but this week she told us that she really felt that she needed to attend. We also found out why we have never been robbed in Union Popular where Gabriela lives. Turns out that Julio Cedeño and Gabriela used to be a couple and he told us that the reason nothing has ever happened to us there is because Gabriela´s brothers are pretty notorious for gang behavior. It´s pretty sweet that we have a protection order from Gabriela. Nobody can touch us in all of El Carmen. Sweet.

Henrry and Yomaira are also still doing really well and seem to be fitting in nicely in our small ward. Henrry recieved the Aaronic Priesthood this week and he seems so happy with Yomaira. They still have their ups and downs but seem to be working through things much better.

We are getting excited for Christmas here in Ecuador and hope that everybody back home has the Happiest of Holidays! Remember it´s all about Christ not the money ya spend.

Merry Christmas,

Hermana Whitney Tanner

Ps. I had the most amazing Encebollada for breakfast (ie. tomato fish soup with banana chips.......yummy, in a non-sarcastic way) I´m going to miss Ecuador.

Week 53 in Photos

2009-12-14T16:47:00.006-07:00

We had changes and I get to stay with my favorite companion in my favorite sector for CHRISTMAS 2009.

Julio Cedeño...

Who finally caved and gave my companion and I his earrings!!! No we just have to get his other 18 pairs.

Gabriela Loor, I hate that nobody smiles in their photos here, she really is so beautiful. This photo doesn´t do her justice.

Bridgit, Gabriela´s new little girl.

This is Diego, he´s a very terrible toddler, always crying. He is super blonde, and blue-eyed, and trying to quit diapers.

Coast Post for Dad

2009-12-14T16:36:00.004-07:00

A typical home in the coast.

Me and the Platano (Plaintain) Trees.

I told you that they had a lot of banana. This is Verde or Plaintain, it doesn´t exist in the States.

It´s also one of my favorite things ever...ummmmmm. It´s not sweet and used more like a vegetable.

Week 52 in Photos

2009-12-14T16:02:00.007-07:00

The Family Chila Freire
Henrry Chila, Yomaira Freire, Eduardo, y Julito.

That´s right I was a witness, jeez, I´m tall.

Happy Birthday Mom and Dad

2009-12-14T08:53:00.003-07:00

No I didn´t forget, I just didn´t plan my preparation day very well last week! I love you both so much and hope you had a great birthday!

Week 52

2009-12-07T17:28:00.003-07:00

Everybody-

Can I just tell you all that Week 52 of my mission has been one of the most awesome ever! I am utterly and completely exhausted but every second was worth it.

The biggest news is that Henrry Chila and Yomaira Freire got married this Friday and my companion and I were the witnesses! It was pretty cool stuff. Then Saturday Yomaira didn´t have to get baptized alone. Henrry decided that he was ready after all. They were baptized together. It was amazing, and I´m completely over the moon, deleriously happy. I even decided to make a chocolate cake. I was surprised that it turned out, with the exception of the frosting being slightly grainy. Chocolate cake here is pretty rare so I think everybody enjoyed it. I can´t post pictures this week because my computer is older than I am, but I promise I´ll post some good ones next week.

Henrry and Yomaira seem to be so happy and my companion and I are so grateful for the miracles of the mission. It really is so great to be a part of the change that the gospel brings. It really is "bone deep joy". I can´t really describe it properly, but I´m sure many of you already understand. Especially when we are lucky enough to find families who are ready to recieve the gospel.

Julio Cedeño is doing really well, we are still on for this Saturday assuming that we can get his second interview this week. He really is special. We are still working on the earrings but he always takes them out when he enters the church building. I think he really struggles with not feeling worthy, he kept making jokes about bursting into flame when he steps inside the church. We left him some homework in the Bible, Luke 15. Hopefully it will give him some hope and faith. He didn´t go to the bars this weekend which for him is a huge sacrifice because he loves to dance. He said it was better to stay away from his vices, all of which can be found in clubs and bars.

We are busy looking for new investigators so that when are golden pool dries up we will have another ready to be baptized. El Carmen really is so promising and I´m still completely in love with the coast. It´s been pouring here and I´m in heaven. Unfortunately when it rains it´s hotter at night, but the roads are less dusty and I don´t like cleaning my shoes everyday. The only down-side of the coast that I can find is that the number of creatures that freak Whitney out seems to have grown, but I´m quickly overcoming my fear of small scuttling objects.

I´m truly so happy, and couldn´t be happier about Christmas in the coast, I´ll be cuddled up in hamock listening to yellowbird. I´ll be home soon enough, but for now I get to love my mission, and I really do so much!

Sister Whitney Tanner

Week 51

2009-11-30T16:29:00.004-07:00

Patacones, perhaps the most amazing thing I´ve learned to make on my mission. When I get home your going to love me for making them. If we can find Platano...hmmmmm. Yes I actually made them myself, my Thanksgiving treat.

I love the Coast, it´s stunning.

Don´t worry they don´t actually live there...Elder Matsen and Elder Aguilar.

Can ya feel the comp love?

Everybody-

Ecua-fact: Patacónes, made from Verde, which is a type of non-ripe, non-sweet banana. They are eaten like french fries and totally amazing. I learned to fry things on my mission...not a great habit to get into.

Another killer week in the life of me, Sister Tanner. I think you all know how much I´m loving the coast. I may have done a little gushing.

The bad news is that our baptismal list fell through for this month, we did a little trudging and felt sorry for ourselves for a day or 2 but now are looking forward to December because it looks like it´s going to be a successful month for us.

Henrry and Yomaira will be getting married Friday, we´ve already got their documents and just have to leave them at the Registro Civil this week along with ours because we get to be the witnesses. I don´t feel old enough to be a witness to a wedding. We aren´t one hundred percent that Henrry will be getting baptized this Saturday. All things are go for Yomaira though, she is so happy and ready to be baptized.

Julio Cedeño is also really making progress, he is looking forward to his baptism on the 12th of December, we might have to move it back a bit though for another interview. He´s agreeded to give my companion and I each one of his earrings for Christmas. They are pretty horrible spikey things, that look like they could do a great deal of damage. He´s one of my favorites though and is pretty funny too. He did have a little fall with the Word of Wisdom this week. He´s had a tough life though and pretty much raised himself, he´s studying in the University and everything. He´s strong and I´ve no doubt that he can conquer his temptations (it´s a long list too).

Rosa and Vidal are making slow progress, but it´s progress. Rosa is really great, but we are having a hard time getting them to attend church. I´m sure that is every missionaries problem though. Attending church seems to be the last thing anybody seems to want to do. Working on it though.

For Thanksgiving I ate rice and fish, it was cool though. Mostly because fish is becoming my favorite food and quickly. I know you are all shocked. Don´t you love it though. I still hate with all the passion that I posess Shrimp. Ewww. The texture alone.

Love from Ecuador,

Hermana Whitney Tanner

Ode to My District and My Companion

2009-11-23T15:35:00.003-07:00

Freaked me out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you tell that I really love Hermana Del Águila?

Super District, we are pretty rad. Elder Matsen says hi Mattaya Pitta...weird how small the world is.

Baptism de Geraldin

2009-11-23T15:27:00.004-07:00

She was pretty happy!
Geraldin and her family, Alejandro is missing because he doesn´t like pictures.
We had a pretty good turn out.
Felipe, brother of Geraldin, he´s just so cute.
Geraldin with the Primary.

Week 50

2009-11-23T14:40:00.002-07:00

Everybody-

Ecua-fact: Uh-uh is yes here, it really throws one off for a couple of months. You have to say it with your mouth open, and to say no it´s with the mouth closed. Might throw some of you off when I get back home.

Wow my time is really flying by, it kinda makes me want to have a companion that I don´t like so the time drags...NAH, so not worth it. As you can see I´m still deliriously happy here in El Carmen! I love it, and have I mentioned the banana trees? How great is my life? I love my companion, and I love my investigators.

Julio Cedeño is one of the best. He´s doing really well and even cut his long hair, it really looks so much cleaner. He´s totally ready for baptism in December, we´re shooting for the 12th. I´m still working on getting him to take out his earrings, really horrible spikes. He also likes to go dancing, trying to get rid of the whole bar scene thing too. He´s not drinking though and things are good on the Law of Chastity too.

Gabriela is still progressing too, she just seems so sad lately because her husband doesn´t want to get married. I think a lot of women really feel hurt when they find out that their boyfriends don´t actually love them enough to marry them. It makes me so sad for her, she really wants to be baptized. She also got really mad when we didn´t visit her Saturday, she totally loves us! We feel the same way.

Henry and Yomaira aren´t doing all that well, we are still on for the wedding but it looks like Henry´s got a few hang-ups still. He´s also got some problems with the law of chastity. MEN. We are ready to go ahead with Yomaira, she´s so ready.

Our Baptisms are really lining up for December but it looks like we will be losing a few for November. I´m not going to feel too bad about it as long as December is amazing. I completely forgot that this week is Thanksgiving...weird. I´m going to spend Christmas in my Hamock, jealous?

We got quite a few new investigators this week and are excited to get to know them all better. I´m still dying of heat and dirt, I´ve never felt this dirty in all my life.

Love ya lots,

Hermana Whitney Tanner

PS. Have a very Happy Thanksgiving. I had a really sweet day of the dead, so I´m not sweating it.

Week 49

2009-11-16T16:52:00.002-07:00

Ecua-fact: I have yet to be in a home that doesn´t have a television...sometimes they are houses made of caña, or bamboo. It´s crazy the value placed on electronics.

Everybody-

Your girl is good! I am really loving the coast it´s totally amazing! Crazy hot, and humid, and loaded with mosquitos. It´s also everything I could have hoped for. The poverty level is a bit higher and there are definitely some dangerous parts of town. It´s crazy that I love it so much! It could be in part due to my companion, Hermana del Águila. She is so much fun, and I absolutely love her.

Ecuador is having a bit of an energy crisis because of the lack of rainfall. They have been cutting the power daily for about 8 hours, on a national level. It´s pretty disorganized and is really making things hard for the mission work because we have to be in before it´s dark when there isn´t power in the night. A little dangerous in El Carmen. They say it´s going to be cut down to 2 hours a day, we´re really hoping.

This week was great, Geraldin (Herald-in) Esterilla was baptized this week! Her mother Estefany really would like to be baptized also but her husband isn´t too fond of the whole Marriage idea. Go figure. I´ll have to post pictures next week...sorry! It was a pretty flawless baptismal service, which is pretty great because they usually have some pretty high levels of stress.

My companion and I are also planning the wedding of Henri and Yomaira for 27th of November. I still think we are more excited than they are. Yomaira is so excited and we are trying to get Henri excited as well, he´s a bit more hesitant about baptism. We have an appointment with them tonight in the shady part of town. They are so great and really are gaining strong testimonies of the gospel.

Gabriela Loor is also really progressing well, she really wants to be baptized. Unfortunately her "spouse" isn´t too fond of marriage either. Men...we are on it though. She is so different now than when I met her just 2 weeks ago. I can hardly believe the change. She really loves the missionaries too.

Rolando Chango also has a baptismal date for the end of November. I never cease to be amazed when a young, 20-something, male reads his pamphlets about the law of chastity and all the chapters we assign him in the Book of Mormon. It´s awesome. He really is great and has so much interest. He feels a little unprepared for the end of November but he´ll get there, I´m sure of it.

I would like everybody to know that for the first time in my life I have completed a journal. That´s right, all 304 pages and I´ve started my second. Looks like I can stick with my goals when it´s really important to me. I´m glad I´ll always be able to remember my mission so well, it really is a unique time in your life.

Love ya,

Hermana Whitney Tanner

Ps. I´m going to harvest Cacao this Saturday... jealous?

Week 48

2009-11-09T15:10:00.002-07:00

Everybody-

I couldn´t be happier here in the coast, I feel like the adventure in my mission has really kicked in. I love El Carmen, it´s beautiful and super amazing and every day I wake up to Banana trees which reminds me of my favorite childhood song. Wow is it hot though, we only sleep with our sheets and mosquito netting. I´m not a huge fan of the cockroaches though and they really freak me out. Fortunately for me, my companion doesn´t have a problem killing them...

Hermana del Aguila is amazing, definitely one of my favorites I feel like I have a real friend. We are always talking about everything. I love having her!

We are having a lot of success here in El Carmen! We will be having 5 baptisms at the end of this month, it was a week of baptismal challenges. Gabriela Loor is one of them, she is so much fun. Always completes her homework and really has desires to be baptized. She just has to get married first! Jomaira and Henri are also going to be getting married and baptized this month. Hermana del Águila and I are planning the wedding. Should be awesome!

Marriage is not a very popular word in the coast and NOBODY is. It a great thing that I love to teach the Law of Chastity.

Love you all,

Hermana Tanner

There are also a good number of you who speak spanish so I´ll be posting in Spanish now too.

Saludos Todos-

No puedo ser mas feliz (como misionera) aquí en la costa! Es bella y es cheverisimo que cada día puedo ver arboles de platano. Hay calor y solo dormimos con savanas y mi mosquitero. Es la misión que yo esperaba en mi casa cuando tenia mi visión de Ecuador. No me gusta las cucarachas...son grandes y ya saben que me da muchisimo miedo, lo bueno es que mi compa no tiene este miedo!

Hermana del Águila es chevere también, estoy muy agradacida que tengo la oportunidad de ser compañera de ella. Somos bien amigas y siempre estamos charlando. Ella es una grande alivio para mi.

Es duro para mi estar tan lejos de Ambato (por un solo razón) pero estoy muy feliz y contenta con mis nuevas circunstancias.

Tenemos 5 personas con fecha bautismal y cada uno es muy especial. Tengo muchos animos para nuestra programa. Gabriela Loor es uno de ellos y una de las primeras personas que yo pudia conocer. Es muy especial y necesita casarse. También tenemos Jomaira y Henri, quienes van a bautizar, también necesitan casarse! Eso es el gran problema de la costa, ley de castidad, que bueno que me encanta enseñar este principio.

Se cuida,

Hermana Tanner

Retakes

2009-11-02T15:44:00.003-07:00

Marina Jeréz in Picahua.

Maricela and Doménica.

It´s the Day of the Dead here the 1st of November and in Ecuador they eat Wawa´s de pan, or bread babies. It´s kinda mortifying but I had to try one. They also drink the Colada Morada which is a hot fruit drink. It´s pretty delicious and purple!

Javier FINALLY let us take pictures, and in his uniform!

Because I´ve already said goodbye to Ambato once.

Week 47

2009-11-02T15:17:00.002-07:00

Everybody-

Wow were we rained out this week, soaked! Of course that was Ambato and I´m certain that I´m going to miss the cold now that I´m in the coast! Transfer time is here again.

EL CARMEN, SANTO DOMINGO!
COMPAÑERA: HERMANA DEL AGUILA

Ambato is my favorite sector but who am I to complain, I finally get the area of my dreams. There is absolutely nothing here but humidity and my hair is already curling. I´m really looking forward to my time here, especially because I know that I have a great companion. Things are already looking good.

I´m loving Carmen though, the nauseating 6 hour bus ride down the winding Andes mountains was pretty un-fun experience. Wouldn´t trade it though, my mission is pretty unique.

I did have to leave Javier Jojoa. Fortunately, yesterday he was ordained to be an Elder in the Melquisedek (Yes, I´m aware that I spelled it in Spanish, but I don´t remember how to spell it in English...) Priesthood and this time I was present. Both he and I were crying. In just 2 months he has progressed and surpassed all of my expectations. He was the only person in the Stake to recieve the Higher Priesthood.

It´s also going to be hard to leave the Borja Family behind, Monica accepted a baptismal date for November and I can´t believe I´m going to miss it. She is an amazing person, she would sacrifice anything for her family. Her only reserve is that she wants to be baptized with her husband. Javier isn´t progressing much, or at all really. She wants it so badly though. It gives Jacob 2:35 a whole new meaning.

Veronica Santana will also be staying behind in Ambato, I know she will get baptized someday, because she wants it so badly. Sad that I won´t be here to see it either. I´m not worried either, her day will come.

Marina Jeréz also, we got to say goodbye! She wrote me a sweet letter and said that because she could know the gospel through us she is the happiest woman in the world. I wish with all my heart that she could have the support of her family!

Wish me luck in the coast (I´m so out of the Andes).

Hermana Whitney Tanner

Ps. I get to sleep with a mosquito net! How rad is my life? That might sound sarcastic, but I´m dead serious. This feels strangely like an adventure...stay tuned.

¡ME VOY!

2009-11-02T07:12:00.000-07:00

I have to say I´m not to torn up...

I´M OFF TO SANTO DOMINGO! My companion is Hermana Del Aguila a really good friend of mine.

It´s going to be really hard to leave my favorite sector though! Not to mention the 6 hours I get to spend in a bus!

Chao.

Week 46

2009-10-26T18:01:00.002-06:00

Everybody-

Javier Jojoa continues to be my favorite person in the world. He accompanied us again this Sunday even though he had to perform surgery at 2:00am the night before. He is also going to be recieving the Melquesidek Priesthood this coming Sunday- I think he might be getting an important calling this week too. Anyway, I´m so grateful that I have this time with my converts right now, because I usually leave my sector before I can see them progress. It isn´t every case that progresses so well like Javier.

We got the chance to talk to Javier´s sister, Natalia, this week also. She is still on track to recieve her baptism. I hope I´m here to see Javier baptize her!

Marisela is also doing much better. When we called her to set up an appointment she told us that she couldn´t because she had gone to Guayaquil because she wanted to see the temple! She went on a whim. I really have been so blessed with the people I´ve been able to know here in Ambato. It´s definitely one of my favorite places in the world.

We had a nice spiritual experience this week as well. For some reason we started walking in the wrong direction the other day, and when I realized it we decided to keep going. Not a minute later a woman stopped us, who it turns out is one of the first members of the church here in Ecuador. She told us that there was a friend of her´s in her shop who was really depressed and wanted to listen to the missionaries. So we were able to meet Maruja (Ma-rue-ha), who really does desperately need the comfort that the gospel brings. We also know Carmelina (who attends our Ward) now, who always gives us hot chocolate when we stop by!

As most of you know my little ward, Recreo, has been having some problems. It´s been pretty interesting for me, a Utah Mormon, to see how everything has gone down. The church has sent not one, but two of the Seventy to try to help work things out. This week we had the priviledge of hearing from Elder Torres, from Colombia. He was great, and fortunately the ward was able to work out all of their differences with our new Bishop. It got a little heated though, Elder Torres said to our Bishop: "Te falta todavía para ser obispo". or " You still lack as a Bishop". He´s the type of person who is compelled to be humble. He seems to be making some pretty great strides in humility this week though! My companion are feeling a lot lighter now that this burden has been resolved.

Javier Borja and his family are progressing really well! Mostly Monica, she does all of the reading and always has so many questions. We are at a bit of a stand-still with Javier, he doesn´t really want to quit drinking. Working on it!

I´ve been a little under-the-weather this week with what Javier calls Gringo-fievre, or Gringo fever. He says that all the gringo´s get it when they come to Latin America. Nausea, stomach pain, and ironically enough no fever! I seem to be completely recovered now!

Thank you for all your love and support!

Hermana Tanner

Week 45

2009-10-19T17:13:00.003-06:00

Ecua-fact: They divide up High School here. There are students in the morning until lunchtime, then in the afternoon until dinnertime. They even have night classes. They don´t have school lunch. Darn.

Everybody-

It´s been a slow week because of Zone Conference! We didn´t seem to get much done!

Although we did drag Javier Jojoa with us to all of our appointments yesterday. I don´t think he particularly enjoyed it...but that could be because he´s not a huge fan of buses, worse still buseta´s, they are vans that cram pretty much everybody they can in because the buses don´t run Sunday´s to the smaller locations. He really was the perfect choice though, he has such a great testimony and so many personal experiences that qualify him to help others.

In other news, Marisela didn´t fare too well this week, she drank a little on Saturday. It´s so much harder to see after Baptism. She truly feels bad and is already working on repentance. She´s is so great, always giving us references so that they can have and feel what she does.

Javier Borja and his wife Monica are also doing well. Apart from drinking all night Saturday, but he has decided to quit and we haven´t even taught the Word of Wisdom yet. They are such a beautiful little family though. I feel an extra push to help them out because Javier is Octavio´s brother (in Riobamba). It´s going to be a lot of work though!

It´s been a bit hard to get a hold of everybody this week and we are still looking for new people ready for the Gospel!

Another great week gone and not much left to go!

Hermana Tanner

Week 44

2009-10-12T17:27:00.002-06:00

Ecua-fact: Today when I mopped, I totally used diesel to kill the flea´s. I think I may be losing brain cells week to week, but that´s how it´s done here.

What a week! It was great but not without problems. My ward is still the cause of a little personal distress. Not a Sunday goes by without my companion breaking down in tears. She´s a bit prone to that. Those of you who know me would think that I would be prone to that but I cry surprisingly little in the mission.

We are currently teaching Guadalupe Eraso and Natalie Jojoa, family of Javier Jojoa. We seem to have broken a barrier with Guadalupe but she is still such a challenge. Natalia is really progressing, she does all the homework we assign her and is always ready with her Book of Mormon when we come. She even asked us to explain the Law of Chastity to her tonight, that NEVER happens. Probably because her brother is always saying "No puedo ser más casto." or
"I can´t be more chaste." It´s a bit more funny in Spanish. They are always so much fun. Javier´s nieces are also visiting and Camila says she wants to go back to Colombia "Mormona". It´s pretty awesome.

We also have a really great reference from Octavio Borja in Riobamba. We just met them yesterday, but really so great, Javier Borja and his wife Monica. Javier is Octavio´s brother and they really are ready for the gospel. They live really far out but it´s already worth the trip. Javier even paid for our Taxi back to Centro (the buses don´t go out that far). We are really excited because they have so much interest and are full of questions.

Monica Freire, Silvia Freire, and Myra Navarett are also really progressing. They came to church this week and Silvia even brought her husband, Pablo, with her. I have so much admiration for them and their courage. They are all such modern pioneers! The first 3 all have baptismal dates for the 24 of October! We are working hard to get them prepared.

We have also made some great contacts this week and are looking forward to teaching them this coming week!

Thank you for your prayers and support!

Con todo mi amor,

Whitney

Casa Ambato

2009-10-12T16:58:00.004-06:00

I realized I didn´t have any pictures of my apartment and I´ve lived in Ambato for more time than any of my other sectors!

You can tell which side is mine because I´m the orderly one!

Grrrr.

2009-10-12T16:47:00.005-06:00

For those of you who are long-haired Whitney fans you will be happy to know that...

I have graduated to the big flat-iron, and I HATE IT! I miss my short hair!

Week 43

2009-10-05T16:49:00.003-06:00

Everybody-

WE did get to watch General Conference even down here in Ecuador! On the downside, I had to watch it in Spanish so I feel like I might have missed some important things...I understand almost everything at this point but they use so many old and big words in General Conference! I did get to explain warm-fuzzies to all of the latin missionaries. The translator for President Monson just said he didn´t know what they were, it was kind of hilarious. Elder Richard G. Scott and Elder Neil L. Andersen both gave their own talks in Spanish. Elder Andersen´s Spanish isn´t great he has a weird french accent but he´s intelligible. Elder Scott still speaks his spanish really well.

I loved Elder Holland´s talk the most. It´s nice to see somebody with so much energy for the gospel. His talk was very helpful for those of us on missions! It will give me some new material to use with our investigators.

I felt a little discouraged this week thinking that we weren´t getting much done. When we ended the week though I was quite surprised at our numbers. We were a little low in our lessons taught but almost every other category was higher. I think it really is true the the Lord blesses you when you spend a little extra time on your knees.

We are finding a lot of new and great investigators. Juanjosé Falconi is among them; he investigated the church about 5 years ago and recently his sister has been baptized in another Ward in Ambato and passed us the reference. He and his daughter seem to be really interested.

Also, Rosa and Oscar had us over for a Family Home Evening and we taught their neighbor, Angelica. I already know her though because Hna. Mérida and I knocked on her door when I was here before and we were teaching her children. Joselyn, David, and Cyntia. Joselyn really loves everything church related. She´s such a special kid! They all came to a session of the Conference yesterday too!

Anyway, I am happy and healthy (except for a cold, but that seems to be a permanent condition).

Love from Ecuador,

Hermana Whitney Tanner

Also Happiest of Birthdays to my Sis, M-er´s, 22 years!
AND Natalie W. I miss and love you both!

Week 42

2009-09-28T15:34:00.003-06:00

Everybody-

Ecuafact: They don´t have sprinklers in Ecuador. The city waters the grass with a water truck than has a fire hose. It´s pretty entertaining to watch!

Well, this was one of those weeks that wasn´t the greatest but makes for some interesting Homecoming talk stories.

First of all, I thought that you would all be interested to know that one of our Mamita´s (member families who feed us lunch) has a restaurant and we have lunch with them every Tuesday. Anyway, as I was eating imagine my horror when a cockroach crawled accross my spoon. Yeah, really. Get this, I didn´t even scream, just kept eating. How desensitized am I? YIIIIKKKKEEESSS!!!

Also here in Ecuador, I really don´t have much chances to Bible bash because most people don´t know the bible. The evangelists seemed to come out of the woodwork this week! While making a street contact we presented the Book of Mormon, I started to doubt my spanish skills because he was suddenly unintelligible. Turns out it was just the "gift of tongues". Ummmhmmm. Yeah, we got out of there.

Doesn´t end there though, later we were invited to study the bible with another street contact. Turns out it was really a chance to save some poor mormon girls from being damned. The first scripture read was Galatians 1:6-8 which reads:

"6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—
7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed."

They pretty much damned us. My companion took it pretty hard and cried off and on the rest of the day. I thought it was pretty cool. She wanted to continue to bash, but I got us out of there as soon as I could.

Marina will not be getting baptized, her husband retracted his permission! I´m pretty upset about it. I don´t think any one person should be able to excercise that kind of control over another, but what can I do?

We have a nice pool of new investigators though, especially Monica Freire. She came with us to the Relief Society broadcast and she really liked it. Anyway, we are hoping she will be ready for baptism soon. Keep us in your prayers!

Love from Ecuador,

Hermana Whitney Tanner

Week 41

2009-09-21T15:57:00.006-06:00

Can you see the teeth? EWWWWWWWWWW.
Poor little Hector, that is my ginea pig!
Why, yes that is head of ginea pig. This is what pretty much all food looks like.
A slightly better picture of my companion and I!
You know you love me, and miss me lots, and are going to send me letters and or packages!

Everybody-

Ecua-fact: They don´t have public food heath laws. I´m going to come home a lot less concerned with sanitation when I come home!!!

Marina is getting baptized!!! I asked President Sloan for some advice and he told me to read Moroni 7:19. He told me to call him out and ask him why he didn´t want a better spouse and mother for his children; because he´s a bully and bullies don´t like confrontation but they will usually back off afterwards. Totally did it and it totally worked! I have his permission in writing! I was surprised and how well it worked. I read something the other day that said: "Overbearence is Boldness without love." I´m so excited because Marina has wanted to get baptized for so long now. We have her date for this Saturday, but I´m not convinced that she is ready. So we might be moving her baptismal date to conference weekend! It´s even more special though because Marina Heréz is one of my contacts! I´ve yet to have a contact get baptized!
It was a long awaited answer to prayer to be able to talk to Luis, and I´m so grateful that we had the opportunity.

Looks like I will be staying in Ambato this next change! Which is great news for me, I´m ready to stay in a sector a little longer than a month and a half! I really love it here and there are so many good people ready to hear the gospel. We are still desperately looking for new investigators and have been stood up more than usual this past week. Yesterday alone only one of our appointments was home when they said they would be; we had 7 appointments lined up!

So yeah, I ate ginea pig, or Cuy (cu-wee). Although I definitely did not enjoy the texture or taste, it wasn´t as bad as I had imagined. It´s like really fatty dark meat. The worst part is that they leave the head with teeth and everything; also the claws. I would have to say that I prefer it to chicken foot though. I don´t know, it´s a toss up.

Love from Ecuador,

Hermana Whitney Tanner

Feeling Fluent

2009-09-14T17:11:00.001-06:00

I think right now I could totally pass High School Spanish.

¡TAKE THAT MR. SKYLES!

Week 40

2009-09-14T16:33:00.002-06:00

Doménica Garcia y Marisela Solís

On the way back from Zone Conference. What a good looking group.

Elder Cedeño is our new assitant! I thought his jacket lining was pretty cool.

Everybody-

Another really great week. Marisela del Rosio Solís Molina and Doménica Monserreth Garcia Solís got baptized. In other good news I think I´m finally used to them having a million names too! The water was freezing again, which was too bad, especially because we didn´t know and therefore Marisela and Doménica had quite the shock going in. We met with them yesterday and unfortunately they aren´t doing well. Marisela can´t pay her rent, somebody broke in and stole their rent money. Her family is also giving her a hard time about her baptism. They kept telling her that she and Doménica were baptized in Rio Ambato which is famous for being filthy. Anyway, they were a little dis-heartened, but I have faith that they will pull through. She even brought some friends to see her get baptized and we have some new investigators because of it. I love that our new members and investigators have more enthusiasm for the work then the members sometimes.

Javier is still doing well and looks like he will be here for a bit longer than we had planned on! I´m excited, it looks like I will also be here for my next transfer, but really you never know with me...seriously.

We also had our Zone Conference this past week. We had to wake up at 4:30 in the morning to get to Riobamba on time. So we were pretty wiped out but as always we left feeling more excited to work!

We have a new Bishop in Recreo (my ward), Ulipano Fernandin Ruiz, it´s a mouthful. Unfortunately he didn´t quite recieve a warm welcome. He was only sustained by about 25 people. We have a lot of work to do with the members...reunite. It´s not the most fun situation but I´m sure I´m supposed to learn something from it.

Week 39

2009-09-07T18:45:00.002-06:00

I know it´s blurry, but this is probably the most important picture I have. I snapped the picture just as he came out of the water and he was praying. I can´t even tell you how great Javier is.

Javier Jojoa (Ho-ho-a), Johana Pineda, and Kenny Reyes (husband and member).

Seriously, one of my best days ever!

We just happened to be in Riobamba for P-day. Veronica Quilismal was baptized! Vinicio was baptized 2 weeks before so he preformed the baptism.

My companion, Hermana Ovalle, and I. Yeah, I know you love it.

Everybody-

Ecuafact- They eat potatoe chips with ketchup and mayonaise. It´s pretty decent.

The mission is AWESOME! Probably my best week ever...at least in the mission. Mostly because Javier Jojoa was baptized. All of the baptisms that I have been a part of have been special, but never like this one. I´ve never had a convert who is so converted. We usually have newly baptized members share their testimony after. Javier thanked us first, then Kenny and Johana. He started crying, he just kept saying: "I don´t know what to say." Then he would put his hand over his heart. I really can´t explain it. He´s amazing! Too bad he will be moving to Guayaquil in just a month. I´m so lucky I got to know him and be a small part of his conversion.

Johana Pineda was also baptized this week with Javier. We owe a lot to her husband, Kenny, who helped us get her prepared and ready for baptism. She´s also moving this next week to Guayaquil. Can´t really blame her though, she and Javier have a great opportunity to open their own practice there. They are both specialists, he operates on the skull and Johana operates on knee´s, ankle´s, and hips. It´s sad to see them go, but at least we know them, right? She was so great, especially because she had to be baptized 4 times in freezing cold water. Her dress kept inflating...poor thing.

Javier will be recieving the Priesthood next week and also will be blessing the Sacrament next week as well for the very first time. So I´ve decided the law of Sacrifice really does pay off in the long run.

We are also ready for Marisela Solís and Doménica Garcia to be baptized next week. Hopefully the water heater will be ready and fixed by next week. The water really is so cold here, sometimes it surprised me that people actually go in!

Since we are losing so many investigators to the waters of baptism we will be furiously searching some new people to teach this week! Keep us in your prayers!

Sister Tanner

Week 38

2009-08-31T16:40:00.002-06:00

Everybody-

I know I always say this: I had an interesting week, athough I think this week it has more merit than any other week I´ve used this phrase.

The best news first! Javier Jojoa (Ho-ho-a) and Johana Pineda will be getting baptized this week, on Saturday to be exact. They are both doing so well, and really capture everything we teach. Javier seems to have grasped tithing and even had the tithing forms in his hymnal. The bad news is that they are both moving to Guayaquil September 15th for work. I´m so glad they will be getting baptized before they go. I´m going to miss them both so much though, they are some of my favorite people. Johana´s husband Kenny is on the road to reactivation in the church, which is great because he really does help us so much in all of our lessons.

Marisela is also doing really well, she´s has just about killed her smoking habit. I think she might have depression though because she is always so sad. She always says we are a relief. Hopefully we can help her with the gospel because that´s about all that we can do. Domenica is totally ready for Baptism. She loves everything about the Church. I think Octavio Borja will be coming up to do the baptims, after all Marisela is a reference from them.

Speaking of the Familia Borja...They totally surprised us yesterday by coming to visit my companion and I here in Ambato. Huge shock, the best kind. They had just been to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. Talk about your golden family! I can´t believe how lucky I am. I totally cried when it was time to say goodbye.

We had another big shock yesterday. Elder Calderón of the Area Seventy visited out Ward yesterday. Just a normal day. We have a few problems in our Ward, I won´t bore you with the details, but it was basically a shape-up or ship-out talk. Just kidding, it was great, he really said some things we needed to hear.

We have a new investigator that I really just don´t know how to teach. Her name is Lorena and she is a Hare Krishna. Pretty hard-core too, she was a missionary for 5 years and everything, lived in the temple. They have a lot of the same beliefs that we do. Word of Wisdom, Law of Chastity, and such. Some of it is pretty different. Her Spiritual teacher is coming this week to Ecuador (which is a big deal- It´s like an Apostle) so I´m not sure we´ll be seeing too much of her. I think she is looking for something more though, otherwise she wouldn´t be talking to us. We are invited to have vegitarian cake with her on Wednesday for her Birthday. She made my companion and I a Yoga book because she says it will give us peace.

Everybody keeps writing me about their diets. So I thought I would tell you about mine. I call it the: "Take ye no thought for your nourishment" diet. I found it in the Bible and the Book of Mormon and since they are the word of God, I decided to try it out. So far in 11 months I have lost 40 pounds. Haha, take that you crazy people using injections. Although, I don´t think it works for everybody, my companion has gained 30 pounds in the 4 months she has been out in the field...

Love ya,

Your Favorite Missionary

Week 37

2009-08-24T15:40:00.002-06:00

Hey Everybody-

Ecua-fact: Legally a woman has to have permission from her spouse before she can do anything. ANYTHING.

Well, Hermana Ovalle (O-vay-yea) and I are doing really well here in Ambato. We have 4 investigators who are really progressing and have baptismal dates!

Johana Pineda came back from Colombia this week and without drinking. So she will be getting baptized September 5th. Her husband Kenny is a member and returned missionary so we have to get him active. Unfortunately he won´t be able to baptize her, but he is a big help to us. Johana is a doctor, they don´t have any children... although they have 2 dogs, Mencha and Luna, who might as well be.

Javier Jojoa (Ho-ho-a) is also set for the 5th of September, he lives with Johana and Kenny and is also a doctor. He is still doubting the blessings of tithing and fasting, but I´m confident he´ll come around. He´s in Colombia this week so we are a little worried about his resolve with alcohol...hopefully he will stay strong and refrain.

Marisela and Domenica, my reference from the Borja family, also has a baptismal date for the 12 of September. They didn´t come to church last week so we had to move it back a week. They are doing really well. After we taught the Law of Chastity, Marisela broke off her relationship with her long-time boyfriend. She didn´t even tell us about him, she just ended it the same night! I have to admit that it was pretty cool. She is still struggling with smoking, but doing really well. I think Octavio is going to come up with his family so he can baptize her.

Marina isn´t doing too well. After she asked her husband permission to be baptized, and he said no, he pretty much won´t let her out of his sight. So she hasn´t been able to come to church. She also can´t close her Tienda on Sundays. It´s pretty sad, but I´m sure Heavenly Father understands that she can´t be baptized right now...It´s so hard when people can´t do what is right because of other people.

Veronica Santana also has a baptismal date for the 12th of September but she has to get married first...harder than it sounds. Her boyfriend doesn´t want to and he´s a member! Inactive, but still. Sergio is 50 years old and Veronica is only 20, but they have a little girl and everything. We are working really hard with him! Any ideas?

My new companion is doing well, although I think she really struggles. The mission is really hard on her. She cries a whole lot, in her sleep, everywhere. I´m liking her though.

On the weird side of things...President Sloan told me I can´t smile as much. I´ve been getting a lot of unwanted attention mostly from the drunk population. I thought it was pretty strange.

Hermana Tanner

Week 36

2009-08-17T16:31:00.002-06:00

Everybody-

Ecua-fact: They iron everything. My current companion even irons her interior clothing. Sheets, towels, and everything.

Anyway, here I am back in Ambato. It´s kinda tripping me out! In just 5 weeks everything is so different. We aren´t currently teaching many of my old investigators. Marina in Picaihua (Pick-i-gua). She has a baptismal date and everything. We are a bit worried about it though because she has to ask her husband permission to get baptized. She doesn´t seem very sure that he´s going to give it.

Rosa and Oscar got baptized while I was in Riobamba. It´s kinda tough because I´m the very person who knocked on their door but I missed the most important part. Now they are members and I can´t believe how strong. Sunday Oscar went with us to almost all of our appointments. The difference before and after really is astounding.

We are teaching somebody that I met in Riobamba and is a reference from the Borja family. Marisela and her daughter, Dominica. They are doing really well and really want to get baptized. They have a date for the 5th of September, although they didn´t come to church yesterday. So we will have to see with them. Marisela also has to quit smoking. She only smokes about 2 a day, so it should´t be too difficult.

We are also currently teaching Javier, he also has a baptismal date for the 5th of September. We are going to have to work pretty hard with him to convince him of the law of tithing. He´s a doctor and told us that he likes to donate his money to medical causes. I thought it was a great opportunity to teach him about fast offerings and the Church´s world renown Humanitarian aide projects. He said he is going to do as Malachi said and test the Lord in the law of tithing. What more could I ask?

My new companion is Hermana Ovalle, she is a lot different than any other that I have had. She is a bit backwoods, she comes from a family of 10 children and they are poorer than poor. A few years back they lost everything in a flood in Guatemala. Everything. She is really sweet and really humble. I think I´m going to enjoy her. She needs a little pushing, which doesn´t seem to be my strongest suit (at least in the mission...) but I´ll do what I can. Yes, there are a lot of Guatemaltechos.

I totally forgot to mention that I totally got headbutted by a mountain ram...yeah. My mission is definitely unique, but I suppose they all are. Don´t worry, nothing broken.

Blogging from Ecuador

Hermana Tanner

Week 35

2009-08-10T15:00:00.002-06:00

Everybody-

Ecuafact: When cutting the cake the cut a cirle out of the middle and then cut slices. I´ve no idea why.

Mission fact: We have a rule that we cannot brush the dirt from our knee´s after we pray in the homes of our investigators or members.

I´m doing really well, although it has been a week of challenges! To say the very least. One of our Investigators, Ivan Augilla who was progressing so well, didn´t come to church yesterday. Which isn´t super surprising in and of itself but we went before church and he said that he would be coming. So we stopped by after church, and he was drunk. He´s got some major problems and just doesn´t know how to cope. Later it turns out he beat his wife, Gloria, a new convert. It is just so sad what alcohol does to people. They don´t have alcohol laws here so he´d been drinking the pure “moon-shine”. It´s so sad because he was just doing so well.

Rosio Pilco and Pilar were also tough this week, the family of Rosio is catholic and won´t let her talk with us anymore, she´s 27 but she lives at home. Pilar was also hard, her husband won´t give her permission to talk to us either. It´s sad to leave behind people who want to learn about the gospel but can´t for their circumstances.

On the up-side, Edison Cando is doing really well, he has a baptismal date for the 29th of August. I don´t know what happened to change his mind because a few weeks ago he said: "Sisters, I wasn´t looking for a religion." Now he is excited. almost all of his family are members (recent converts). It´s been really fun to see how the gospel really can change lives.

Vinicio and Veronica are also doing really well and planning on getting married next week and they also have a baptismal date for the 29th of August. They are still so great and always come to church without any help from us.

This week we had a service project to clean up the church grounds. It was one of the best moments in my entire mission. Only 10 people (of the 157 active members)showed up, but 4 of them were recent converts. It was such a blessing to me to see my converts really really "join the church". I can´t even describe the feeling.

Unfortunately I won´t be here to see him get baptized. I´ve been changed again to Ambato. Yes, my former sector. So I´m torn, I love Riobamba but it will be nice to have more time in my old sector. I still am moving every transfer. I´m going to be senior companion to Hermana Ovalle, also from Guatemala. I´ve been able to learn so much from Hermana Castillo and I´m grateful for the experience.

The good news is that all of the family of Octavio Borja lives in Ambato so I´m going there to convert them all!

Love,

Whitney

Week 34

2009-08-03T15:34:00.004-06:00

Everybody-

Ecuafact: They have some of the scariest natural medicine techniques. Pretty sure the members are trying to kill me. I had a nasty case of parasites this week and everybody kept trying to give me aguitas made with weeds. I´m fairly certain one of them had a drop of gasoline. It tasted horrible and it isn´t the first time. Supposed to clean you out...ew. I don´t think my organs are going suffer though. I´m safe for now.

Another good week gone, the mission really is going by fast! I hit my 10th month mark and I can hardly believe it. I still feel like a greenie, but really I´m over the hill. The winter is coming on fast!

Veronica and Vinicio are doing really well, they´ve finally decided to get married and are still coming to church without any coaxing from us! They still seem to have insurmountable problems though, although we did convince them to close their bakery Sunday. We also found out that Veronica is not a member of the church which is good because she really wants to be baptized and really didn´t grow up as a member of the church. We are hoping they will be baptized in about 2 weeks!

Fabian and Alexandra are also progressing really well. They came to church yesterday and were fasting! Some members don´t even fast! They can´t get married yet though because Alexandra is only 16 and doesn´t have permission from her parents. I think she´ll get it soon though! That was the purpose for their fast.

The family Borja is doing well still, they really seem like members for years! Octavio doesn´t have a job still and money is super tight. I think their trials are a bit longer than they planned on...we are trying to keep them excited. They are still really firm in their testimonies though, no worries there!

I love Riobamba, the people here are so great and really want to learn. I´m still really glad to have Hermana Castillo for my companion as well. I´m learning a lot!

Love you all,

Whitney

Happy Birthday to my boys!

Garrett- Happy 17th Birthday!
Jared- Happy 12th Birthday!

Familia Borja

2009-08-03T15:31:00.003-06:00

The Family Borja with Elder Squires, and Presidente Villena (the big guy).

Week 33

2009-07-27T15:33:00.002-06:00

Ecua-fact: Many houses still are made out of adobe which is unusual because of the Earthquakes and volcanos. Almost all have a tile cross affixed on the pitch.

The best news this week is that the Family Borja was baptized:

Octavio Rigoberto Borja Chavez
Trinidad Veronica Martinez Zapata
Alisson Lisbeth Borja Martinez
& Nicole Melani Borja Martinez

I really just wanted to put all of their names!

The bad news is that I can´t post pictures because Alisson broke my camera...I´ve no idea how she did it. My camera cards are all okay I think so I´m going to try to get the pictures copied this week to a cd and post them next week. It was a bit stressful but when Octavio was baptized I realized that it didn´t matter that my camera was broken or that President Villena´s kids were running around screaming. It was peaceful, and I was so grateful to be a part of it. They really are such a special family and already have such strong testimonies. Veronica even did splits with me yesterday!

Other bad news is that Walter and Paul didn´t get baptized, I´m not really sure what happened but still holding out hope that they will get baptized in August.

I´m still loving Riobamba, it´s beautiful and has warmed up a bit! So I´m not dying of the cold anymore. Hermana Castillo is still great and I´m learning a lot. She has so much love for each one of our investigators, it really is admirable, I´m working on it though. Sometimes people are just hard though!!!

We also had zone conference this past week. As always, it was so much fun to hear from President Sloan, he´s is such a good teacher and genuinely loves each one of us. I learned a whole lot about the Book of Mormon, and how it really was written for us in this time period. Maybe I´ll send my notes home, it really was a great conference.

Hermana Mérida bore her testimony because she is going home this transfer, she apoligized to all of her companions (3 of us that were there) for being mean. I thought it was pretty funny!

Love,

Hermana Whitney Tanner

Week 32

2009-07-20T14:06:00.004-06:00

My companion, Hermana Castillo, and I!

View of Chimborazo from my apartment!

Everybody,

Looks like we will only be having six baptisms this week, but that is still pretty exciting!

I´m loving my new companion, Hermana Castillo, she works hard and she works fast! I´m really grateful that I get the chance to learn from her. She really loves our investigators, and takes sincere interest in every one of them. She´s basically the best missionary in the Mission. She gives a talk every zone conference, and President Sloan has a lot of faith in her. I really have learned so much from her in the short time we have been together! I´m really lucky. She´s from Guatemala and also has a brother in the Mission. He´s in Ecuador also but in the Guayaquil mission!

The Family Borja (Voar-ha) is still doing great! I can´t believe how lucky I am to be a part of their lives. Sounds cheesy I know but I really, really am so lucky. They are great! Octavio has quite smoking and drinking. We gave him a carton of candy cigarrillos this week and everytime he wants to smoke he has to read a scripture! We had a fast with him last week and he said he can really feel the difference, he said he knows he has had help quitting! His family is also doing great. Nicol his 8 year old daughter asked me to baptize her! I was flattered of course, but explained that only Priesthood holders could baptize. She´s a doll though, I can hardly wait until Saturday!

Walter is also scheduled for this Saturday but he didn´t show up to his baptismal interview so I´m not 100% that his baptism is going to happen. Cristian Calderón also came to church this Sunday, I´m still holding out hope that his dad will give him permission to be baptized!

Sorry I´m short again, but I never seem to have much time to write!

Love you all,

Whitney

Week 31

2009-07-13T14:02:00.002-06:00

EVERYBODY!

Ecuafact: The University San Fransisco is the only University whose credits transfer to the United States.

Hola! I´m in Sunny Riobamba, oh wait, not sunny freezing! That´s why it has the nickname Friobamba, I´ve been wearing basketball shorts underneath my skirts and up to 5 layers everyday! Today there is sun, it´s a glorious feeling!

I really am liking Riobamba though! It´s pretty and I have an amazing view of Chimborazo from my apartment. Chimborazo is a massive snow topped volcano. It hasn´t been active in about 500 years but don´t worry there is another one just East that is stilling blowing and spewing!

Riobamba is pretty interesting. The Catholic grip of death isn´t so strong here and we find more Evangelistas, Cristianas, and Testigos de Jéhova. Jehova´s Witnesses come out every Saturday here. We always have to explain that we are not Jehova´s Witnesses, it´s actually pretty funny. Occasionally when we go to contact and give pamphlets we end up with Awake! or Watchtower, which are Magazines from the Jehovah´s Witnesses. It´s a refreshing change, but The JW´s are harder than then the Catholics, mostly because they are all active. I´m very glad I didn´t go with any floral print anything because on Saturdays you can´t escape it.

We have 7 baptisms scheduled for this month. The Borja (Vor-ha) family of 4 is this Saturday or the next. They are great, we just finished a fast for Octavio, who is having some trouble quitting smoking. They are great and are already preparing to go to the Temple one year from their baptisms. Octavio also fasted with us and he made it all the way through 24 hours on his first try. It was pretty amazing, he really does have a testimony.

We also have Cristian and Marco, they are the kids of members but aren´t active in the church. I really love Cristian, and he pretty much loves me! He hugs me the entire way through our lessons and what´s shocking is that I let him. His dad is witholding permission for his baptism though, it´s unusual becuase usually even the inactive members want their children to be baptized too!

We had a family home evening yesterday with a Gringo family who lives here and attends our ward. It was really weird to hear words like mom and dad, kind of tripped me out. Of course we would be fasting when somebody offers us real american chocolate chip cookies! It was fun though.

I´m really liking Hermana Castillo, she´s pretty famous in the mission because she baptizes double what the other missionaries do in a month. Always. I can see why, she always shows real love for our investigators and teaches really clearly. I´m really enjoying being her companion. Although...she´s really, really touchy feely and I think we all know I´m not. I´m getting used to it though...sorta.

Chao!

Week 31

2009-07-06T17:10:00.002-06:00

Everybody-

Ecua-fact: There aren´t any building codes. Which means that almost every set of stairs is a huge danger. They are almost always really uneven. The floors aren´t even either, I have to be vigilant with every step.

Well, I never cease to be surprised, I´ve been transferred. I´m off to Riobamba and my new companion is Hermana Castillo also from Guatemala. I really am tired of being changed but I´m excited to be companions with Hermana Castillo, her nickname is "the machine". She leads the mission in numbers and baptisms every month. So I´m going to learn all I can from her. I´m excited. I feel like my baptismal number is a bit low. Although I have found some really great people and have been able to be a part of their baptisms. Wish me luck!

To my great surprise I´m going to miss Hermana Mérida. I know, right? It really is amazing what the mission does to you! She has taught me a lot and I am truly grateful for that. I also thought I would be "killing her". A little mission slang, don´t worry, it means I would be her last companion.

Ahh, Ambato, we had a really great week. A best for both of us! We were able to find some really great new investigators, who both came to church! Husbands and children in tow. It was an amazing feeling to have 2 complete families at church! They also do all the reading and have questions. It´s going to be hard because we just found them.

Maria Llango still isn´t married because she had to have a document made up by a lawyer and she couldn´t afford the cost. The cost: $20 Maria is currently working construction to pay the bills. I can´t even begin to tell you how heartbreaking it is to see a woman working in hard labor, brick-laying. I think it´s one of the most humbling things I´ve ever seen. My companion and I put up the money for her to get her document ready. I wish I was going to be here to see her get married and baptized! I just really couldn´t believe it. A mere 20 dollars. I have such admiration for all the women here, they do so much. A comfortable life just doesn´t exist here. I´m even more aware of how completely spoiled I am.

By the way! Thank you all for telling me that Michael Jackson died. I kinda figured though, I haven´t had to listen to much latin music lately. It´s been a nice change to hear Thriller and I´m bad everywhere I go. Still going strong, there are pirated Michael Jackson cd´s and dvd´s everywhere!

Week 30

2009-06-29T17:10:00.003-06:00

Pedro and Tamara from my Ward in Latacunga. They were finally able to adopt a baby! They named her Kaylee after my trainer, Hermana Sorensen.
Isn´t it pretty here?

I love you Dad!

Everybody-

Ecuafact: People have no problem answering their cell phones in the middle of sacrament meeting, IN THE CHAPEL. Not just church either, in meetings, or other important occasions. It´s the weirdest thing.

Well, I feel as though I´m losing my sense of humor and nobody is commenting on my blog, sad. So I thought I would spice it up a bit!

Things I never dreamed I´d learn on my mission:

1. I can smell beer from pretty far away and know when to cross the street.
2. Prostitutes do not look like Julia Roberts.

Have you seen...

1. A volcano exploding, in person, live? ´Cause I have.
2. A 12 year old working construction? ´Cause, unfortuantely, I have.

Now before I worry my mother, the volcano was no Mt. Helena, just a trifle. It was still pretty cool to see an erupting volcano. Ecuador is full of active volcano´s.

Another good week for Team Tanner and Mérida. We have a whole bunch of new investigators! All in places we don´t know so we´ll be searching out a lot of them this week. I miss people having solid addresses like they do in the States. It´s a lot harder to find people down here. I often find myself looking for a "Casa celeste con una puerta blanco" (light blue house with a white door). You´d be surprised at just how many of those there are.

We were finally able to get ahold of Carlos and Miriam again. They just had their baby, Charli David (Dah-vid). They still can´t come to church because of the baby and Carlos is having a hard time getting work off to come! We´re working on it though.

Maria still can´t get baptized because her divorce papers haven´t arrived yet. She needs those to get married. Ironic no? Anyway we are hoping for 2 weeks from now.

Angelita and Jennifer are making some progress, they didn´t come to church yesterday, but when we met with them they really enjoyed it. So we are hoping for next week. We taught the law of Chastity to Jennifer (yeah I know) and she told us that was exactly what the Catholics teach. Still pretty catholic! I don´t know why the Catholics are so determined to stay Catholic? Almost all of the ones I have met don´t even go to church! It´s crazy. It´s always a fun challenge though.

We had Stake conference this Sunday, it wasn´t too great. It was via satellite but they had a horrible translator for President Packer so nobody ended up understanding his talk. As you can imagine it was the most important. The others were pretty good though. It was definitely different having Stake conference directly from Salt Lake City. Only a handful of people showed up. We filled the chapel, I guess that Stake conference means vacation here too...

Pictures Please

2009-06-22T17:23:00.004-06:00

Sonia´s Baptism!

I told you my sector was huge! This is me and my mountain, and all that is below it also...all mine! Welcome to Ambato.

My companion, Hna. Mérida, and I.

My companion and I with President Sloan.

Week 29

2009-06-22T16:59:00.003-06:00

Zona Sur!

Everybody-

Ecua-fact: Everybody has plastic lawn furniture, but nobody has a lawn. They use it as regular furniture. It´s a very common sight in homes and restaurants.

I´m doing great! I realized this week that I really love my sector! I haven´t felt like I really loved a place since Ibarra! It´s a great place, some area´s even resemble the United States! It´s so clean in Ambato (mind you I´m still in a 3rd world country). I even drank the tap water! Yeah, I know, I won´t do it again. It´s hard to be afraid of vechos (parasites) when you´ve yet to have them though. I´ve been here a whole 7 months without incident. I´m sure it will come.

We had Zone conference this week which means low numbers but high spirits. I love to hear and talk to President Sloan, he is such an amazing teacher. I learn so much from him. He talked a lot about Gratitude and how we missionaries need to show more of it. He works so hard for us and I really appreciate all that he does for the missionaries in this mission!

We were also challenged to make more baptismal challenges! Later that day my companion and I challenged somebody we contacted that day to baptism and she accepted! I guess they know what they are talking about. Angelica is going to be baptized July 5th, and probably 3 of her children also, Joselin, Cyntia, and David. She has another little girl but she´s only 5!

Our new investigators Carlos and Miriam stood us up this week! Turns out they had good reason- they are the proud parents of a brand new baby boy! I think they are the first couple I´ve taught that is married...but I´m not one hundred percent on that. We won´t be able to visit them for a couple of weeks but hopefully soon because they are great!

Elder Katzenbach is going home! My first assistant and the first missionary I saw in Ecuador!

Tradition!

Love,

Hermana Tanner

Week 28

2009-06-15T16:43:00.002-06:00

Ecua fact- The firemen, or Bombero´s wear camo, but it´s pink and purple!

Another really bad week for the food department. Pig skin again, this time I didn´t even try to eat it. I just really couldn´t stomach it one more time. Shrimp, I know lots of you like it but I´m just not a fan, hate the texture and the flavor. I also was served the famous Cebollado of Ecuador. It´s a tomatoe based soup with onions, fish, and yuca (a type of potatoe). Heavy on the onions and heavy on the fish. You also eat it with popcorn and chifles ( like potatoe chips but made with a type of banana, not sweet, they are good though). Not my favorite, but what freaked me out more was that I didn´t hate the onion fish soup...

Sonia was baptized! After about 25 years as a dry member (mission slang: somebody who assists with out being baptized!), although the baptism was basically a nightmare (but still great!). Sonia is terrified of water- petrified, horrified, you name it and she´s it. The worst part was the the water heater didn´t work and the water was freezing. We also don´t have Baptismal clothing either so we really had to search to find a dress- which didn´t zip up all the way! She then said she didn´t think she wanted to get baptized. We said a prayer with her and it calmed her nerves. Nobody from the ward showed up either- the Relief society President with the cake, the member with the assigned talk, nobody. We were lucky enough to have Elder Gutierrez and Elder Rivas there to give talks and act as the witnesses to the baptism, and also to run out quickly and buy some cookies in place of a cake! Maybe it´s all the more rewarding that it was really difficult...?

Maria didn´t end up getting married this week so no baptism on her end. Shooting for next week, but it´s a bit tricky because we have Zone Conference this week. We´re going to try anyway!

We have some really great new investigators because of our contacting activity last week! Most of them really far away. In particular though we have Jorge Tintin, he lives in Quisapincha (Kis-a-peencha). Which is really far also, but worth the trip because it´s beautiful. He lives in an adobe house, which is pretty unusual because Ambato was flattened in the 50´s because of an earthquake and adobe isn´t very sturdy. He´s pretty poor but he´s one of my favorites to visit. He always peppers us with questions and is always willing to meet with us, never too busy. We just need him to come to church now, but he´s reading the Book of Mormon! He´s 21 and pretty much takes care of his mom by himself, he has a sister who lives in Cuba but she is coming home soon. Keep him (and Maria) in your prayers for me, please! He really is special.

Picture´s next week! Sorry!

Week 27

2009-06-08T18:03:00.004-06:00

Hey guys,

I know I´ve been totally lame for the past two weeks so hopefully today will make up for it!

Ecua-fact: Spanish has 200,000 more words than English.

This week was definitely great! With the minor exception of the food this week...I had to eat piel de chancho otra vez, or Pig skin again, it was horrible and chewy. I also got stuck eating Hígado de res or Liver of cow. It was pretty gross, but I´ve gotten used to masking spitting into a napkin. Although I have to say that my dad majorly exaggerated just how bad it was. True I didn´t finish, but it was swallowable. No more rice.

José Vasquez recieved the Priesthood yesterday, we were going to have him baptize his wife, Sonnia, but she doesn´t really want him to. He is really tall and she is scared of the water! But she´s getting baptized on Saturday. We are really excited about it! The Recreo (my sector-ward) in Ambato is really amazing we have so much help from the members, which is such a nice change!

This is Sonnia with her daughters, Alexandra in the middle and Sonnia on the other side.

This is José and Sonnia at José´s baptism!

Speaking of baptisms! Maria Llango (Yango) is also getting baptized this week, Friday is the date! She´s been investigating the church for 2 years now and she is one of my favorites. She is also getting married this week. She is in our sector in Latacunga so we will be doing a lot of traveling this week! Our sector is huge regardless, so I´ve become pretty accustomed to the travel!

We also had the opportunity to hear from Elder Rafael Pino this week, he´s a Seventy. We don´t get that opportunity very often so we were all really excited. I understood it all in spanish, so I was super excited! Only some of you can imagine how nice it is to understand all that people say! Of course, I still have my moments!

We also had a pretty fun district activity this week. We set up tables in the park and contacted for a couple of hours. It was pretty fun and we have a bunch of new people to visit this coming week. I really like contacting, I think it´s good life experience getting used to the word no, although it usually appears as "Yo soy catolica" or "I´m Catholic". Jehova´s Witnesses are harder though...they don´t celebrate birthdays, or Christmas- Why would you want that?

Week 26

2009-06-01T18:13:00.002-06:00

Hey Everybody-

We had a baptism this Friday! It was a good one too, José Vasquez! His wife (they also had to get married this week too) confessed that she isn´t actually a member and she wants to be baptized as well! She´s been telling people she´s a member for about 25 years now! We are planning her Baptism for this weekend, hopefully José will have the Priesthood by then and he will be able to be the one to Baptize her. I don´t know if he´s quite ready this week, but probably the next. I´ll have to post some pictures of them next week. Internet is sketchy here.

He has a great testimony. He ended up bearing his testimony in Sacrament meeting (the Bishop told him he could pasar or pass after he was confirmed, the Bishop meant with his family but he passed the microphone instead. It was actually a pretty great mix-up.

I didn´t get to much this week because of my ankle, but I did go out and work. I still have to meet quite a few of our investigators. I also have to go to Quito this week to meet with the mission doctor! Should be fun, but I´m not too worried.

Sorry, I didn´t have much time this week to write you all. I love you all so much and think of you often.

Week 25

2009-05-25T17:12:00.003-06:00

Ecua-fact: Most of the men grow out one finger nail, usually the pinky. I can only imagine why. (Shudder)

For those of you who didn´t here I was yet again transferred! I´m the one transfer missionary! It was a really strange Change, I am still with Hermana Mérida from Latacunga but we are one hour south opening the Recreo sector of Ambato. Opening is hard work but we have a really great ward and they help us out a lot. It´s been fairly easy to find our investigators, including the one who lives at the top of the mountain. Literally, mountain. The pictures of my sector were taken from his house... Crazy.

We should have a baptism this weekend though. Hno. José Vasquez. He just needs to get married this Wednesday. I don´t know why nobody here is married. I know that a lot of the people of the world don´t get married anymore, but not all of them.

My new sector is absolutely huge, we not only have a massive chunk of Ambato but quite a few cities outside. El Pisque, Cuchibamba, ect. We spend a lot of time in buses and walking. With all the rice though the walking is a good thing.

It´s nice to be in a ward that is so helpful and gives us references, it´s a really big difference from Latacunga. Although I still miss my investigators there. The good news is that Maria Llango (pictured below) will be getting married this week so she will also be able to be baptized. As aforementioned, my companion and I already have permission to go back for her baptism. She is probably one of my favorite investigators, I don´t think I´ve ever met anybody so kind in all of Ecuador. She is really thoughful and attends church every week even though we aren´t there to make sure she does.

And now...the bad news. I fell, yet again, it´s not as serious this time but still included a trip to the E.R. in a third world country. I´m unable to work for 8 days, which is not good, we are super busy and our sector is huge and full of mountains! They should really work on the roads here. Don´t worry about me though, I´ll be fine in no time!

Your favorite Missionary,

Hna. Whitney Tanner

Ambato-Recreo.

My sector.

This is my new sector...It´s absolutely enormous.

Waterfall count: 4 Pialon del Diablo

Chao Latacunga

2009-05-25T16:35:00.004-06:00

I feel like I say goodbye a whole lot...

These are the twins, Paco and Estefania, with their mother Maria Luz.

This is Maria and Ana Llango (Yango), Maria is in pink. My companion and I have permission to come back for her baptism in a couple of weeks!

Week 23

2009-05-11T12:29:00.006-06:00

Hey Everybody-

Ecuafact- I can buy 3 pineapples for a dollar!

Zone Conference was this past week and this is the picture of my zone!

This is Jhon Carlo, no not spelled wrong, The Lord seems to know that I need a little brother with Downs in every sector! I´m pretty lucky! We are teaching his mother Jeaneth. She´s not super interested but we´re working on it! She and her husband own some Cabina´s (they are like payphones, but not!).

This is Santiago, he´s too young to be an investigator but we are teaching his older brother and sister Paco and Estefanía! I wrote about them last week. They are still doing well, but didn´t come to church this week so we´re a bit worried. They still accept our committments though! They haven´t been drinking or smoking either, which is especially good because they are only 15! I haven´t been able to get pictures of everybody yet, but soon.

One of our members has a pet monkey, purchased for the amount of 20 dollars, named Skipper!

We are teaching a really great family right now, Valerie, Lorenzo, and they have a little boy Esteven. They are Catholic but don´t really believe in anything the Catholic church teaches, very unusual, especially infant baptism or worshipping Saints(idols- Hey Tim!) So they are really receptive and always have a whole lot of questions about the church. Now if we could just get them to come to church. They are a bit confused sometimes so we take it slow!

Mother´s day is the greatest isn´t it? I got to talk to my family! Take it from me, you never know what you´ve got ´till it´s gone! Ask any missionary! Sorry I´m so brief today, I don´t know what to talk about since I already talked to my family yesterday!

Latacunga

2009-05-11T12:26:00.004-06:00

My apartment (for those who care) and Latacunga! It´s really nice, but still lacks a lot of the things we Statesman are used to.

Week 22

2009-05-04T18:23:00.001-06:00

Hey Everybody-

Ecua-fact: It usually costs 10 cents to go to the bathroom in a public place. When the toilet paper is free, it´s a pretty happy experience. They are some of the shadiest bathrooms I´ve ever seen.

Things are going really well with Paco (M. thought you would appreciate that name) and Estefania. They have already been to church twice now, which is the minimum requirement for a Baptism, they even came and stayed for all three hours. Which is more than the majority of our members come for. Their mother Maria Luz is so glad that they´ve stopped drinking and smoking that she wants us to come by every day at about 8:00pm. A bit hard, but it´s always nice to go somewhere we are wanted. Sometimes even rare! They really are doing great. Paco is always asking questions and Estefania has decided to wait for Matthew to come home from his mission ( I told her she would have to be a member first). The gospel really does do wonders for the family. Everyday I become more and more convinced that I´m the luckiest person in the world to have been born into the Gospel. I can´t believe how blessed I am, I really had no idea!

Ana is doing okay, but she didn´t come to church this week! We are still working with her husband, but he hasn´t been able to quit drinking and smoking yet! I´m hoping he will soon because you never know how long your going to be in an area, and I´d like to see him get baptized!

We had a ward activity this week, probably one of the most stressful things ever. We watched the Joseph Smith movie. Which isn´t available to you spoiled people in the United States, but in Ecuador pirated copies are legal...interesting no? More members came then attended Sacrament meeting. We have an activity planned for every week in May and are hoping it will motivate the ward.

We had Zone Conference this past week which meant traveling to Ambato 4 times, 8 dollars wasted in buses, smelly, people crammed buses. It´s always worth it though, President Sloan really is a great man and I always come away with so much afterwards. He told me I will be changed again, so I don´t have much time in Latacunga left! He said I´ll be heading to Otavalo or Ibarra again! He has been known to change his mind though! Let you know in a couple of weeks.

Hna. Whitney Tanner

Yes, A P-day Post

2009-04-27T16:32:00.004-06:00

Seriously beautiful, no?

This is my fish, that I caught, and that I ate, and that I touched when it was alive. I had to include it or some people might not believe me.

See, you didn´t believe me did you?

I thought you would all like to see the most beautiful place in the world: Baños. We had to cross the canyon in a basked that ran on a motor! Seriously cool. Get this Utahns: The waterfalls name is Vela de Novia or Bridal Veil Falls. Crazy.

Remember Ibarra?

2009-04-27T16:00:00.004-06:00

Mika!

The Echegaray Family (parents of Estefania, below). One of the best families.

Me with Estefania, Carlos, (our investigator) and Mika! I can´t even tell you how much I miss them.

I finally got my pictures to work!

Week 21

2009-04-27T15:54:00.005-06:00

Hey Everybody-

Ecuafact: No legal drinking age. They usually get started at about 15.

Ana Moscoso was baptized on Saturday! This baptism was really special to me! Satan really tried hard with Ana. She has had to face a lot of opposition! My companion and I were so happy for her and didn´t even mind watching her 3 children (HA!) during her Baptism. I was covered in cookie crumbs and gum by the end but it was worth it. That is probably why I look a bit haggard in the photos. Omar is 4, Fernando is 3, and the baby is just over 1! Talk about a handful. Her husband Patricio wasn´t able to come because he had to work, and they need the money! So now my companion and I just have to work on him!

We are teaching a new family, they seem really interested. Paco and Estefania are twins (15). Their mother is really worried about them because he´s started drinking and she´s started smoking. They are really receptive and have both committed to quit. They came to church to, we usually have to struggle with that one a whole lot! I know they can do it- the gospel is true and really does change lives! I can definitely see it!

We´ve had an interesting week! The Elections were this Sunday and voting is mandatory here ages 16 and up. Church was shortened to one hour and we weren´t allowed to go anywhere but church. So p-day started a bit early. Rafael Correa won, of course, some of the missionaries are worried that he´ll kick us Gringos out, but I doubt it. At least not in the near future, I think I´m safe. Correa isn´t big on the States! His father was a drug lord and died in a US. prison.

We also have Zone Conference this week so we haven´t been working much and feel really decadent! Back to work on Thursday!

Happy Birthday to my dear sister Amanda! I love you gags! I miss you sassy!

Also to Brittany A.-Happy 24, hope your little family is doing well!

Week 20

2009-04-21T09:12:00.001-06:00

Monday, April 20, 2009

Hey Everybody!

Ecua-fact: They use carbonated water for Sacrament! Agua con gas!

We had quite the eventful week!

Our Investigators Ana and Patricio got married (on probably what was the most hectic day in my entire mission)! We got to the Civil Registro at 11:00am and didn´t get finished until 3:00pm, the simple quick marriage ceremony isn´t all that quick and simple here. We also helped Patricio and Ana get their 3 children ready (did I mention he´s 18 years old?) and I´ve decided they are the Motely crue on speed. They rival a certain family in my ward back at home...we can´t make it through a lesson without somebody getting hurt and crying. It was great though, Ana asked us if she could be baptized on Sunday. We decided it would be best if she waited until this Saturday. She is really firm and really wants to be a member. We have some really interesting members who have actually tried to disuade her from being baptized but she still really wants to be! Her husband Patricio still isn´t quite ready yet, but we are hoping that he will be really soon. Ana really has a strong testimony I can´t believe how firm she is! She is my first investigator who doesn´t let anything get in the way of her Testimony she is such a great example to me!

Hopfully I´ll have photos of her baptism next week!

Although...She always offers us food and usually it is pretty decent. Until Saturday night that is. We had rice, potatoes, and flesh of pig. Pig skin isn´t usually all that bad, I never eat it but if I had to I can. This kind was slimy and still had hair. Horrible, horrible, horrible. Fortunately my companion and I only had ot eat a little of it and quickly stashed the rest in our backpacks to give to the stray dogs later. Absolutely the worst thing I´ve ever eaten, bar none.

Hna. Tanner

Week 19

2009-04-13T17:38:00.003-06:00

Hey Everybody- I hope everybody had a happy Easter!

Ecuafact: To build a home in Ecuador you will need Rebar, cement, and cinder-blocks! Most people don´t finish there houses, over the years they gradually build up.

Well, the unexpected happened, I was transferred! Ibarra Central is now an Elders Sector! I had time to say goodbye to Carlos and his family but that was all, now I´m trying to get letters written to all of my investigators and members I had to leave behind. I´m a bit on the heart-broken side and being me I sobbed!

My new Area is Latacunga and my companion is Hermana Merida of Guatemala. She doesn´t speak a word of English so my spanish is rapidly improving. We are the only missionaries in the entire city so we always have work to do! We also travel to Ambato every week for p-day and for district meetings. We are pretty far away from everything. The active volocano Cotopaxi is just 25 kilometers away, in case it ever explodes the missionaries evacuate to Guayaquil. I kinda hope it goes off so I can go to the temple! It´s also been destroyed 4 times by earthquakes since being founded in 1534! Cool right?

I don´t know many of our investigators yet but we do have Ana and Patricio and they have a baptismal date for Saturday! They do have to get married on Friday first...and this has proved to be a bit tricky thus far! They have three children: Omar, Fernando, and Alejandro. Patricio is just 18 and Ana is 22. They are really poor and all live in a 2 room apartment.

We also have Victor he is 17 and is a student at the University here in Latacunga. He is currently having some doubts and we need to help him recognize the spirit so he will know that the Book of Mormon is true.

Easter is the Semana Santa here, or Holy Week. As far as I could tell though it wasn´t celebrated at all. Nobody really did anything! It´s a bit more celebrated in the States! We had a few talks about it in church but that was all!

The growth here is a bit slow, out chapel is about an eighth of the size of mine at home and most members here are inactive. I have my work cut out for me!

I forgot my camera cord so I´ll have to post my last pictures of Ibarra next week! Sorry!

Hna. Tanner

Week 18

2009-04-06T13:49:00.005-06:00

Hey Everybody-

Ecuafact: The most popular type of sliced bread you can buy here is called BIMBO!It´s the Latin equivalent of Wonderbread.

I´m still doing really well! Loving Ibarra!

Last week we were able to do two services! We helped some investigators move, and into our sector! So we also have some new investigators! Later in the week we missionaries headed off to do some hard labor, believe you me, hard. I´m still sore 4 days later. We basically just moved dirt and big rocks to different locations with some very old tools. Back at home I probably would just have rented a bobcat for a day. I´m sure my dad (and Tim) are thrilled at this development. On a sad note, many creepy creatures lost their homes. I personally had the priviledge of unearthing the tarantula. Among the other victims: A scorpion, 3 frogs, a field mouse, and a whole bunch of centipides. On a happy note, I think I will be able to kill my own spiders when I leave Ecuador.

This is all of the missionaries crowded around the TV inside the church safe. Our outlet went out just before Elder Holland spoke! We rushed around and ended up next to the bathrooms and inside the safe. We missed most of his talk, so I´ll have to get it online!
I made Lasagna on Saturday and Tacos on Sunday in between sessions. Those of you who know me, know why I am posting this picuture...I´m learning to cook!
The Gringo Room- A room of English, at least before we lost power!
In between sessions!

I was in fact able to watch conference, and in English. In case you were wondering, General Conference is to Missionaries what Spring Break is to college students. No lie, it was amazing. All of the missionaries came down to our Chapel to watch, via satellite, and we had lunch and played cards (Uno) in between sessions both days! I´m sorry it went by so fast, now we all have to wait six more months to hear from the Prophet again! It´s pretty amazing being one of the 52,494 Missionaries serving right now and to be thanked by Apostles and the Prophet himself.

Raúl, Daniela, and to my great surprise (and pleasure) Carlos all came to a session of conference! Carlos even mentioned that he thought Elder Anderson´s was really powerful! I think we are going to put a baptizmal date with all three this week! So hopefully they will all accept it! I´m sure they could all feel how inspiring and spiritual conference was!

Changes are here! I will find out who my new companion is today! I´m super nervous. For the first time I´m going to have some real responsibility in the Mission! I´ll be teaching the sector to my new companion! Wish me luck! I´m going to miss Hermana Escobar, we´ve had a really good companionship!

Week 17

2009-03-30T14:32:00.005-06:00

Zona Norte!

Hey Everybody-

Ecuafact: There is no such thing as a screen for windows,it´s also very unusual to see banisters on the stairs. Children be darned

Well we´ve been to Tulcán twice this week. I hope we won´t be going again for a while! The bus ride really is pretty nauseating. We went for district meeting and today for a Waterfall. Yes, another one. Very pretty though, Ecuador is nothing if not picturesque.

We have an investigator named Carlos Espinoza, his wife, Estefania is a member. He´s only a couple of years older than me. He has a ton of potential. He´s probably my biggest hope right now. I found out that he married Estefania even though she already had a little girl. Virtually unheard of down here in Ecuador, of course, Mika is pretty loveable. He pays for her schooling (about 200 hundred dollars a month)and everything. He´s by far my favorite and I have a lot of respect for all that he has done. He always has a lot of questions for us which is always great.

I don´t have much time to write today! I hope this finds everybody well! I Love You Guys!

Week 16

2009-03-23T15:11:00.003-06:00

Hey Everybody-

Ecuafact: All of the Spanish Speaking countries recently voted to eliminate the letters ch, ll (ayay), ñ (nyay), rr from the alphabet. It passed but Ecuador was the only country who voted no to the change.

Ibarra is still my favorite, I know I only have two sectors but I can´t help it! Right now we are teaching Daniela, she´s 17 and knows the Book of Mormon is true. I think we are going to try to set a baptizmal date this week. It might be tricky though when she was 14 she was baptized, with her family, into an Evangelical church. Right now she is living with her Uncle who is a member and also our Mission Leader. The Branch President also lives in the same complex so we are hoping that she will recieve a lot of support from them. She is a really great person though, she always follows through will our committments and prays to know.

We also have Raúl, he actually brough a friend of his to church yesterday! He was a little worried about the Law of Chastity, we taught him that this week, but agreed to live it. Raúl works on buses selling things and is from Colombia. He also took my companion and I to try Colombian food after our appointment. We had Papas Relleno, they were really good. They are potatoes stuffed with an egg and some meat. You eat them with ketchup and mayo.

It really is so great to see how excited they are about the gospel. Sometimes it is easy to forget how important this Gospel is. Especially if you have been a member for your entire life like I have. Everytime somebody gets excited about the gospel I feel like I get to experience things for the first time. It makes me appreciate the Gospel so much more when I realize how long some people have had to live without it. It brings families together and I know it´s true!

I was having a bad day last week and I prayed for help, because everything is harder when you have a bad attitude. While my companion was making some calls I saw David, he´s a little down syndrome boy who lives accross from the church walk by with his father. His brother is a member of the church and I desperately wanted to meet little David. When they made their way back I stopped them and got to talk to David! To my surprise he took hold of my hand. He reminded me so much of my Jared back at home. For the rest of the day I was so grateful to be here and for little David.

Yesterday in church I had another stretching experience. Much to my surprise my name was called as the second speaker. I quickly pulled together some scriptures and made my way to the stand when my turn came. I gave what I´m sure was a very choppy and incoherent talk. It really wasn´t so bad though. I asked the members to show some faith and share the Gospel with their friends and to give us references, because as missionaries we need the help of the members. I of course cried, but I know the Lord definitely helped me!

Chao,

Whitney

Week 15

2009-03-16T13:32:00.003-06:00

Hey Everybody-

Ecuafact: Ecuador´s President (Rafael Correa) makes 3,000 dollars a month for his salary!

Still love Ibarra! Don´t you worry! It´s beautiful and friendly! Although I seem to be the solo means of keeping all of Ecuador´s mosquito population alive...I´ve a new bite daily! It´s crazy!

I´m trying to learn our sector really well because when my companion goes home at the end of the change I´m going to teach the sector! I haven´t had to do that so far, but my new companion is going to depend on me! Scary, especially because the streets have really long names like ours is Guillermina Garcia Ortiz. Yeah...not an easy feat and I only have three weeks left. Wish me luck. President Sloan told me to Be ready for callings and assignments that come my way. Both cryptic and frightening.

This week our Zone Leaders needed some help with a wedding so I agreed to sing in what I thought would be a choir. I was oh so wrong. Turns our I had a surprise solo of I Need Thee Every Hour. Most nerve racking thing I´ve ever done. Turns out I was supposed to be singing with another girl but in true latin fashion, she didn´t show! I don´t think anything will scare me when I get home. Rabid dogs, that´s nothing. Heights, nada! The mission seems to be boosting my confidence, not that it needed it.

We are still working with Cielo and Raul and they really are ready! They come to church and have answers to their questions! They just keep saying that they need more time, that seems to be the old stand-by! How do we get people over it? Any advice RM´s? We also have Daniela she is definitely ready to be baptized too but she is only 17 and we are waiting for the permission of her parents, who are devout Evangelicals. Crossing our fingers and holding our breath!

Hna. Whitney Tanner

My Ibarra Apartment!

2009-03-09T16:30:00.004-06:00

These are some pictures of my apartment! In case you were wondering!

Week 14

2009-03-09T16:06:00.003-06:00

Proof that I am in fact in South America! Isn´t it great?

This is the view from my roof! Isn´t amazing?

Zona Norte- smallest in the whole mission (Elder Glass, Elder Lazalde, Elder Seguro, Elder McGary, Hermana Escobar, Elder Stieber, Hermana Sloan, Elder Hernandez, President Sloan, and Me!
My companion and I (I´m a bit taller...and wider).

Hey Everybody-

I hope this finds you well!

Ecua-Fact: They have french fries everywhere! They cover them in this sauce that vaguely resembles fry sauce. If you get them to go, they come in a bag and they give you a spear to eat them with!

I´m doing really well! I forget to tell everybody about my transfer to Ibarra from Quito! It was pretty eventful (for me anyway). So Sorensen dropped me off at the terminal and I bought my ticket. I found my way to the bus and then my 3 hour bus ride (which has to only take about an hour in car) began. My Spanish not being great I had a little script written out so I could ask the bus monkey to tell me where to get off ( I didn´t want to end up in Colombia). Finally he told me we were at the Ibarra terminal and I got off! So I waited for Hermana Escobar to come and pick me up. Nothing. After about 45 minutes I finally got up the courage to ask somebody where the terminal was. I found out it was about 2 miles East! I quickly grabbed a taxi and went to the Terminal. When I got there I couldn´t see anybody. I was starting to panic a little now! They haved armed guards everywhere, and I asked one of them where the phones where so I could call the offices. He let me use his and then all of the sudden some Missionaries walked out. My companion with our Zone Leaders! I can´t even explain the relief. Changes are stressful!

We had Zone Conference this week, it was great as usual. President Sloan invites the members to attend. We set a record with 140 members in attendance. Most of them were from the Otavalo zone (combined Zone conferences). It was amazing to see. We also had district meeting like we do every week. What made it different was when we decided to do it in Tulcán. It´s two hours away and on the Colombia border, we have two Elders up there and our District Leader decided we should make the 4 hour bus trip at least once. It was beautiful, I can´t believe I didn´t have my camera! We´re going again though before the change is through! I have never been so carsick in my whole life. Passenger bus through the Andes mountains is now a pleasant ride!

We have some really great investigators right now. Cielo especially, she always comes to church which is great and she knows the Book of Mormon is true. She doesn´t feel quite ready for baptism yet but were hoping she will be soon. We also have Raul, he is from Colombia. He needs a bit of pushing but he also comes to church every week. We need some new investigators so I think we will be contacting this week! Scary! Wish me luck, I´ve never done it before!

We hiked the Waterfall above today for our P-day activity! It wasn´t too bad, and my ankle wasn´t a hinderance at all! I have a great zone/district!

Love and miss you all!

Hna. Whitney Tanner

Chao Santa Ana

2009-02-23T15:24:00.005-07:00

Bishop Chinchin using the stove to dry off!

It really is so gorgeous here!

My District (L-R): Montgomery, Apaza, Sanchez, Gonzalez, Cevallos, Weatherhead, Hna. Sorensen, and me!

Luis and DianaVillota.

Digna Montenegro de Cartuchie, she takes really good care of Hermana Sorensen and I.

The Flores Family- One of my favorites!

Joao!

Pink Banana´s! They seriously have all sorts of Banana!

Proof that Ecuador is going socialist- these are everywhere. In every store!

Translation: Much Better if it´s made in Ecuador!

Isn´t Ecuador beautiful?

Week 13

2009-02-23T13:58:00.005-07:00

Practicing with Josue...I can´t believe somebody as terrible as me plays in Sacrament Meeting!

In the second largest city in Ecuador, llamas!

I know I´m not supposed to have a boyfriend right now, but I can´t help it, I love Joao! So adorable!

Jonathan Flores Montenegro!

Monica Jeanneth Villafuerte Cadena!

Hey Everybody-

As you can tell Sorensen and I had a pretty great week! Jonathan was baptized this Saturday. Not much of his family came (which is odd because they are all members), but the entire ward showed up. It was great and I, of course, cried! We were finally able to get an interview for Monica and she was baptized on Sunday. It was a great moment, especially because Edgar and Irene (her 2 children) were baptized last November, now the whole family are members. It was seriously a miracle, we hadn´t seen Monica in so long because of my ankle. Then one day we bumped into her getting off a bus. We decided that it was time for her to get baptized, because she was definitely ready. As you can see, it worked out!

Changes (transfers) are tonight and I know I will be leaving for Ibarra (about 45 miles Northeast of Quito) with my new companion Hermana Escobar. From what I can tell it is beautiful! It´s her last change in the mission and then she goes home. I guess this is when I start really learning Spanish! Apparently I need less hills for my ankle to fully recooperate! I don´t want to come home early! Sadly I´ll be leaving my companion and trainer, Sister Sorensen! I´m slightly terrified but also excited to go on to other things! Weird how transitory life on the mission is! Wish me luck!

Congratulations to my brother Matthew! He recieved his mission call to Portland, Oregon this week! He´s going to be the best Missionary!

Week 10

2009-02-09T15:18:00.006-07:00

Carnival is coming up! That means a lot of silly string and squirt guns, just like this! Yikes.

Just a note from me!

I adopted this as my personal mission motto after I fell. Remember: "Come What May, and Love It"

Me ready to go to work!

Ecua-Facts

1. Gas prices have been at $1.48 for about 2 years without changing so much as a cent.

2. They have shopping carts for inside and outside, if you use the outside ones a bag boy comes with you and you tip him.

3. There is no tipping at restaurants

4. You eat cereal in yogurt, they even sell personal sized portions.

5. Nobody owns real silver or gold, Sorensen and I always get asked if our earrings are real.

6. Movies cost $1.50 and are all pirated.

7. The only non-fruit soda they have is cola. They have Strawberry, Pineapple, Orange, Apple, and Lime.

8. They love popcorn and put it in soup, much like we do with crackers.

9. Pineapple is white here, if it is yellow it´s Hawiian Pineapple. They also have a Mora berry, it´s a mix of a blackberry and raspberry. Kinda weird but good.

10. Almost nobody has doorbells, you either bang really loudly on their gate or whistle.

Hey Everybody!

Thanks for all the Birthday wishes from everybody! I had a great mission birthday! I was sung to in 3 different languages including: English, Spanish, and Kichwa! It was all pretty cool. Sorensen and I were able to find an ice cream cake, the very kind I loved as a kid. It was all pretty awesome. Thanks again to everybody!

Things are going really well down here in Quito! Most of all because I´m back on my feet and sans one really bulky uncomfortable cast! We are able to go out and work much more effectively. I said good-bye to my crutches on Saturday, just counting down until I can lose the ace wrap as well.

We had a great service project this week with our Ward. The Bishop wanted us to clean some stairs. Sounds weird I know, but here they are about 13 flights (seriously) and covered in weeds and garbage. Still on crutches at this point I had to hobble to the top, but we had a great time. I even got to use a machete on some of the weeds. That´s a lifelong goal I can cross of my list: I think we can all agree that machete´s are awesome! It was a great service project because we had a lot of curious by-standers. Perfect for Sorensen and I to go and contact later this week! The stairs also look awesome now!

We also have a investigator with a baptizmal date! It´s not until March but Sorensen and I are very excited for Elena Iza! She is a really great person and really has a lot of potential!

Love and miss you all! Chow

Week 9

2009-02-02T15:52:00.001-07:00

Hey Everybody!

Ecua-facts:

1. Nobody has car seats for toddlers and infants.
2. Nor is it illegal to have an entire family on a motorcycle, including infants.
3. Sometimes on the hills that are particularly steep, natives walk them zig zag style. Like you would on a hike. I tried it once, didn’t seem to help the breathless panting much.
4. Making 10 dollars a day is a decent living.
5. This is really more of a mission fact but they have their own lingo: To machete is to lecture.
6. Garbage day is Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. You just leave it on the street, in some places they pick it up every day.
7. They don’t think there is any poverty at all in the United States.
8. They also think that North Americans are really racist too my companion always has to tell them that her sister is married to a black man. They are actually a lot more prejudice.
9. They aren’t big fans of flavor in anything, not just spicy. They don’t like too much of anything sweet, sour, spicy, salty. You name it! I just miss me some flavor!
10. All the pre-made Superbowl memorabilia for the Cardinals will be sold down here! Anybody want a Cardinals Champs T-shirt? Hehehehehe.

My cast is off finally! I’m am however, still on the crutches, but only until Friday, I’m very excited to get back to work! A broken ankle isn’t very much fun when you have work to do!
I’m not having any companion problems don’t worry, except I do feel bad that Sorensen is basically my glorified babysitter. That has got to be wearing on her. We still aren’t doing as much as we would like and were able to get out yesterday. There is a woman at the Cabina’s, like pay phones, and she has had a really difficult life. An abusive husband, major health problems, and her mother is dying. We taught her about a month ago but she kept standing us up after that. We had kind of given up on her as an investigator. However, the other day we were making some calls and she had her bible out and asked us what the verses were that we had shared with her. We were so excited and explained that they were in the Book of Mormon. Yesterday we were able to drop one off to her and tell her a bit more. Angel and Norma are some recent converts that are having some hard times, and we got to drop off their triples too! They were so excited! Triples down here are a little uncommon. Interesting fact for you- They don’t have the King James Bible down here so every member has a different version of the bible. The church is retranslating the Book of Mormon into Spanish right now and working on making a quad, which doesn’t exist in Spanish either. I also carried on a 3 hour conversation in Spanish with a member. My companion and I did splits so she could get some more work done. Our numbers aren’t great, it is still really hard and expensive for me to get around, I feel like I’m just blowing through money. Not really a great feeling!

We had zone conference this past week, they are so long, but always good. This one was all about how we had to have more faith in this mission so the Lord can work miracles. They also teach us how to make some sort of food every conference. I think that portion is mostly for the Elders, but we always get to sample. Cooking is hard down here because nobody has ovens, they don’t even have microwaves so we can’t live off of hot pockets! Just kidding, eww. We really do eat a lot of Raman noodles, we have some pretty creative ways of cooking them though. Then we get some training from the Assistants from Preach My Gospel. The best part is when you go to President’s class full of doctrine. Then there is always some sort of activity. Last month is was tug-o-war, this month we played red light, green light. Then they sing Happy Birthday to all the people who have Birthdays this change, I tried so hard to get out of that but I didn’t succeed. At least I got some Peanut Butter M&M’s out of it! Then a Testimony meeting, then we get to close at around 5 o’clock, it takes so long!

Week 8

2009-01-26T17:08:00.007-07:00

I attempted to Bowl. I think I ended with a score of 40, I know your jealous!

Elders Montgomery (my D.L.), Gonzalez, and unfortunately I don´t remember the Last ones name!

Elder Green was trying to hide because he lost to a gimp! I think he ended somewhere in the twenties.

So Stylish, can´t stand it.

Ecua-facts

1.Not many people have waffle irons, if they do they use them for sandwiches.
2. They collect figurines, if you give somebody one they will probably treasure it forever.
3. They play Ecua-ball. It´s their own version of volleyball. They play with a soccer ball and honestly it´s kinda wussy.
4. They strongly believe in public urination. EVEN THE WOMEN. Awkward.
5.They don´t know how to hold babies, you wouldn´t believe the amount of times I´ve seen them get dropped.
6. Chickens walk through people´s houses, even in the second largest city in Ecuador.
7. Almost nobody has kitchen cabinets, they have shelves. The majority of people also don´t have ovens. If they do, they´ve no idea how to use it. The Bishop put his wet jacket into the one at church to dry...
8. A lot of people don´t actually have addresses, I think that´s why they paint their houses such bright colors.
9. You can´t buy cocoa that doesn´t already have sugar in it. Flour also comes with baking powder already mixed in. Makes it really hard to convert recipies.
10. Everybody hangs pictures right below the celling, granted they don´t have tall cellings but they aren´t a tall people either. You sure have to crane your neck a lot!

The rain is definitely hitting! It makes it hard because I´m already a bit of a clutz! What can you do though? My ankle is okay, we are starting to be able to work again, which is really nice because I was going out of my mind!

I just hate Obama, being in Ecuador with a broken ankle is better than having to see what good old Obama is doing to my country. The President here is making some pretty radical changes. Everything imported will now be seriously and heavily taxed. He doesn´t want any outside anything. The problem with that is that Ecuador doesn´t make anything. Nada, zip, zilch. I have no idea how they are going to keep everybody happy here. They are already complaining about how much the cost of food has gone up here. It is actually pretty noticible, especially on imports! Ecuador has never been very stable in the Political arena though.

I´ll talk to you again soon! Chow! Love you all!

Hermana Hop Along Part II

2009-01-19T14:48:00.005-07:00

Anyway there isn´t much to say, lately I´ve not been up to much! Unfortunately...I´m pretty much stuck!
Don´t my legs look great? I do a lot of falling here in Ecuador, those aren´t all from the same incident!

After the soft cast came off just today...Still pretty swollen.

After they put my cast on I had to have everybody sign it! President Sloan was one of the first- he even did the smiley face!

Just Call Me Hermana Hop Along

2009-01-13T09:12:00.007-07:00

Just remember that the H is silent in Spanish, but it still has a really nice ring to it don´t you think?

In case you haven´t heard, I had a little disagreement with some stairs yesterday and the stairs won, my ankle is broken! Stupid stairs. My companion reminded me that this was my 5th fall in Ecuador, seems my balance issues are going to be a problem here. Blast.

This is me at CCI (mall) with my Zone Leader Elder Cedeño. The Elders seemed to really enjoy my crutches. Unfortunately they are far more skilled with them than I.

My at the Clinica Pinchicha, one of the nicer hospitals in Quito. I think my being white made the process go quite a bit faster!

Pre-cast, it swelled up like that instantly, totally wicked.

Me and my big fat cast, I think I get the real thing next week...this is just a soft cast that is open on top.

Week 5

2009-01-05T16:43:00.000-07:00

Ecua- Facts!

1. Everybody wears yellow underwear on New Years. No idea why.
2. They also eat grapes on New Years , 12, one a minute till the New Year
3. They are confused and think flavored marshmallows are candy
4. They aren´t legally allowed to name their children more than one American name, if they even do one it´s really, super expensive
5. They don´t know how to use Drinking Fountains, they look like they are going to be attacked when they try. Most of them just use the communal cup they leave. Talk about unsanitary. They also stare at us when we use the proper way trying to figure it out.
6. My ward in Santa Ana burned our Bishop (ChinChin) for New Years.
7. I have yet to meet a Lopez or Garcia. I have met Almachi´s, Chinchin´s, and ECT.
8. They all wear masks for New Years.
9. I only saw two Tyrannies’. :(
10. They have holidays that last forever….The kids are still out of school. And their parents let them run wild, seriously I go to bed earlier I swear.

Soooo…This last couple of weeks has been pretty uneventful; nobody wants religion at Christmas unfortunately. Things are just starting to pick up again which is really nice. Since we are not allowed to contact in our sector it´s been a lot of walking to see who else we could possibly visit. We have a lot of appointments set up for this week, and I´m excited to be doing something again. We have a few new references that we will be contacting. Monica´s baptism is still on hold for now, but probably some time in January.

New Years was pretty much Awesome, although it took some convincing to wake me up. Midnight is awfully late whilst you´re serving a mission. Although I did go to bed and then they woke me up 10 minutes to midnight. It was amazing- all of Ecuador was alight with fire and fireworks. Later smoke, but that was all clear by morning time. No firework laws in Ecuador, so cool the fireworks came out. We also had a lot of fun lighting our effigy. New Years in the States just doesn´t compare to the massive party it is here in Ecuador.

We couldn´t leave on New Years day so the Mission decided it was a perfect opportunity for us to clean our apartments, we actually had a ton of fun. Sorensen, Larsen, and I decided it was time we painted our apartment finally. It looks worlds better. I had a picture for proof but I decided it was just too unflattering to post. Yuck. Now only our bedroom looks sketchy still. We have to get more paint from the offices to finish the job up. I was sore for a couple of days, painting is a long, long process.

We lost Larsen this week; she had to go back to her own sector when the assistants found her a mini-missionary to work with. Sad day, Lars cooks and is really funny.

Me and My Ecua New Years

2009-01-05T16:11:00.001-07:00

I can´t believe I´m posting this. I´ve some serious bed head and I´m sans make-up. I thought I would tell you some more...

New Years

2009-01-05T15:43:00.005-07:00

This is Larsen lighting our Ecua-man, we had a little trouble. And yes that is a Liahona, but an old issue.

You´ll have to forgive my no makeup. I was super tired. Hehe.

My very first effigy!

These are me with Larsen, and Sorensen! I´m the skull and Sori is the Clown. Fitting no?

Week 4

2008-12-29T14:41:00.000-07:00

Hello Everybody!

Ecua-facts-

1. I was really confused as to why so many men were getting nose jobs...not women. Turns out they have to because of all the bar fights they get into.
2. On New Years they burn dolls.
3. On New Years the men dress as women. Weird.
4. Only really, super weathy people have carpet
5. The stake center is about one third the size of ours in Utah.
6. Its guava season, completely different here. White and cottony and you suck it off big black seeds.
7. The bus costs .25 cents to ride. That is the most in all of Ecuador.
8. My hair cut cost 5.00, cheapest ever. I also was completely ripped off.
9. They do have Malls, but they are pretty insignificant compared to ours in the States. However, they are only frequented by the wealthy.
10. Canned peaches are a desert. They love them down here. That was our Christmas desert.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! My Ecua-Christmas was pretty dang great! Always fun to talk to my family and friends! We spent our Christmas with Digna (a member here) She even made turkey, which they don´t eat here ever. Then we had a nice ecua-salad consisting of cauliflower, peas, carrots, and potatoes covered in mayo. It was one of the better ones I’ve had.

For Christmas we wanted to do something, there are so many poor people here! So my companions and I decided to buy a bunch of happy meals and give them away to some of the homeless kids on the streets. McDonald’s wouldn’t sell us the happy meals, so we decided to go to Burger King and get Magic Boxes for them instead. Besides they came with a crown. It was really pretty sad. Some of those kids shine shoes on the streets for money. They were pretty dejected looking. We really do have so much in United States.

I’m now in a threesome, for the rest of the change (transfer). Sister Larsen is my new trainer. We are 3 of six gringas in the whole mission and come June, I might just be the only one left. She is tons of fun and a good worker. So far this threesome is awesome! Not at all like my MTC experience in a threesome…good.

My Spanish is coming along...slowly, but the members tell me that I’m doing okay and I understand a lot. I have to give a talk next Sunday, so I guess I’ll see then. Yikes.

I did take a nasty trip (twice) on the escalator, they don’t always work properly, and now I’m a little bruised. Darn my craving for American ice cream on Christmas! I’ve had to wear flip flops a couple of days because my foot is too swollen for my shoes! That´s really weird, going without my nylons!

The work has been a little slow here lately. Hopefully it will pick up again after New Years!