Week 30

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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!