Week 16

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