Week 55

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