You are NOT Alone

Listening to General Conference is not the same in another language. There are things that can be said in English in the most beautifully perfect ways, and when they are translated, it really just isn't the same. Spanish is much more simple than English, especially with things concerning the gospel. I couldn't understand all of what was said during General Conference because it was all in Spanish, but what I could understand was simple and straightforward in a way that I liked and at the same time wished I could have heard in English.

The theme from conference for me was that "we are not alone." God is always with us and we need only to call on him through prayer to ask for his help. This is something that is hard for me right now in the mission because most days I feel all alone here. I love Ecuador more and more everyday because it is beautiful and the people are amazing, but nevertheless, with the language barriers and body feeling helplessly sick everyday, soometimes it takes a whole lot of effort to remember that I am here on God's errand and he will not abandon me.

We had eight of our investigators attend sessions of General Conference this weekend. I was most excited when I saw Jimmy Mecias sitting in the chapel during the first session Sunday morning. We had asked for a member, Hermano Exon, to bring Jimmy to the session because we were going to be with another investigator. We weren't sure if Jimmy was going to make it or not, but there he was! It was so exciting!

Jimmy is my favorite investigator right now because he sincerely is looking for truth in his life. He reads every passage we assign him in the Book of Mormon and he always has questions. People like him make me feel like I am really making a difference here. He doesn't have a baptismal date right now because he has problems with his left arm. He was in an accident about 8 months ago and is missing a bone in his arm right now and he is waiting to see if the doctors are going to chop off his lower arm, or attempt to put a false bone into his arm and try to make it work again. We are hopeful that the doctors will make a decision this week and then we can set up a baptismal date for the following week, but for now, we are just waiting to find out. Jimmy wants to get baptized though and thus I feel like working with him is really worth it.

We have many investigators that have baptismal dates that I think in reality are not ready for baptism, but my trainer wants to try and have a baptism every week this month. Anyway, I guess we'll wait and see what happens.

For now I am still in Vinces, trying to get through the first 12 weeks of training and figure out this whole language business. Everyday is a bit bettter and I am trying really hard to love Spanish the same way that I love English and French, but hopefully the love will come in time.

For now, I am going to just keep swimming, just keep swimming, work hard and try to help people realize the importance of Christ in their lives.

A Day in "El Campo"

People here always say, "I can't go to church on Sunday because I am going to `El Campo.`" In general this just means they are going to visit family that lives anywhere within 20 minutes of the city here. But today for P-day, I got to go to "El Campo" and I guess I now understand why people want to go there. It is basically the countryside here, but here, the countryside is mostly banana trees and corn. It is basically an endless sea of these things. We went with the less active member Alexandra that we have been visiting. She was officially re-activated this Sunday after having an interview with the Branch President and she recieved a new calling. She and her husband Anthony have been talking to us about going into the field near here for two weeks now so it was fun to finally go. We came back with more fruit than we really need for one week, but hey, it was all free and it is all good, so we are grateful.

The mosquitos and other bugs are about ten times worse outside of the city though so I am glad we were only there for about 3 hours.

This week was long and very busy. Time still moves at a snails pace here, but I still have hope that things will start to feel like they are passing more rapidly each week that I get used to things. It would probably help if my body could adjust to this place, but it seems that my body is almost as stubborn as I am and therefore it is putting up a pretty good fight. I feel sick most of the day everyday, and the bug bites don't help, but I am trying to be positive and focus on our investigators instead of on the pain I have in my stomach and the many bugbites that still cover almost every inch of my skin.

With General Conference coming up, we are hoping to have a lot of people attend the sessions with us, and hopefully that will mean that people can follow through with their baptisms afterwards. Our biggest problem right now with baptisms is that we can't baptize people until they have attended church at least twice, and like I said, people have many excuses not to attend here. But Conference will hopefully help beause each session counts as one church attendance.

I hope you all enjoy the pictures of "El Campo!" Until next time!

Working Hard but Nothing's Working

These past two weeks have been difficult and unsuccessful, at least as far as the idea of numbers go. Numbers here are apparently a big deal. This is known to be one of the biggest baptizing areas in the world supposedly, so the fact that there has only been one baptism since my arrival, isn't exactly inspiring. Nevertheless, Hermana Crompton and I are working hard every day to find the people who are ready to hear the gospel.

For me, in all honesty, the numbers are useless if the people aren't fully converted or don't fully understand the things we are teaching. I would rather have only one baptism my whole mission and know that the person was truly converted, than have 89 where the people eventually become inactive.

Apparently this is the trend here, so our mission president has asked us to work hard with the less active members in our areas to help bring them back. I like doing this because they are generally more receptive to the things we are teaching.

Anyway, we have two young investigators right now named Litsy and Nayele. They are sisters and they both have so much faith. We have been teaching them for about 2 weeks, maybe 3, and both of them have so many questions but also a lot of answers. Their mother gave them permission initially to be baptized, but right now she is pretty reluctant about the follow through. We have to change their baptismal date though because they couldn't attend church this week and they need to attend at least twice before baptism. I have hope though that their faith will carry them through and that God will soften the heart of their mother so that she will let them go through with it.

Also, there is a less active member named Alexandra who I swear is a kindred spirit to me in every way. She is so sweet every time we visit her and this last week, she offered to feed us lunch during the week. Afterwards, she said she want's to feed us every Tuesday because she loves when we visit. She has been to church twice already and I think she is well on her way to fully returning and being a strong member. Her husband isn't a member and he isn't really open to us teaching him yet, but he listens when she talks about what she is reading in the book of Mormon and he drives her to church on Sundays on the back of her motorcycle. They are sweet and I have high hopes for their future.

Although I still think my body is never going to adjust to the food or the heat here, I truly love the city of Vinces. They have a cute little area near the river that is called "Paris Chiquito." They have a mini Eiffel Tower and a bridge that looks like a toy version of the Golden Gate Bridge. We walk across this bridge almost every day to teach and in the mornings, my companion and I run along the river. It is beautiful and sometimes I feel like I am living in a Disney movie! Call me crazy, but that is the only thing I can think of to describe it.

Anyway, I will try to take pictures this next week. My camera has been buried in a drawer for a while so I should probably dig it out. Hopefully next week will be a little bit more interesting.

Ta ta for now!

Week One in Ecuador

Hello all! I don't have a great amount of time, but I figure I should update you a little bit on what has been happening here.

As I said previously, I am living in a place called Vinces. The people are wonderful and life here is just a whole different element for me. I will try to describ things a ltitle better next time, but for now, I have attached some pictures.

I experienced my first baptism as a missionary this week though! A sweet old man who my companion was teaching before I got here was baptized on Saturday and Confirmed on Sunday. His name is Venicio and he is such a sweet old man. He is very excited to have the gospel in his life and he is full of love and gratitude for God in his life.

The food and the bugs and the dirt here do not get along well with my body. I have felt sick since day one and it keeps getting worse, but I am trying to work hard to overcome it and adjust. So far, no luck, but I guess that what hope is for right?

Anyway, more to come later.

ECUADOR! VIVA LA VINCES!

I made it safely to Ecuador! I can't believe how beautiful and unique this place is. When we flew in, I could see the Guayaquil temple out my plane window and it made me so excited to get to work.

My Mission President, Presidente Amaya and his wife and his two assistants were there to pick us up at the airport. They are all very nice although I find it difficult to communicate with them because of the language barrier. 

We spent the first night in the cuty of Guayaquil, meeting out companions and learning the rules and regulations of this mission.

The next day, my companion, Hermana Crompton, and I took a two hour bus ride through the jungle/ countryside to the city of Vinces!

It is beautiful here and the people so far are simply amazing. It is crazy the number of people who are members in this town. There are more than I expected.

Also, my P-day is now Monday, so if you want to write me, try to do it Sunday night or Monday morning.

I am out of time, but I just wanted to give a short update. Love to all!!

Hermana Eyre

The last CCM Hoorah!

Well, here it is, my last day at the CCM! I can't believe it is here. The feeling of excitement and sadness is a little surreal. My companion left me at 3am this morning and I was so sad to see her go. She is just one of those people who I know is a lifelong friend and we have already made made plans for getting together after we return in 17 months.

I have loved and hated my time here at the CCM, but most of all I am just thankful for all I have learned and super excited to have the opportunity to apply it in the field. 

I have included some pictures of my last night here with my zone! I hope you enjoy and the next time I write, it will be from Ecuador! 

Much Love to all!!

 

I AM THE MASTER COMMANDER

So, if you haven't seen the youtube video called "Ghost in the Stall" by Olan Rogers, I suggest you go watch it. I haven't seen it myself, but my companion quotes it to me daily and I feel as if I have watched the whole thing. It sounds like it is hilarious and I hope that all of you will watch it, even if it is only so I can live vicariously through you.

The reason I bring this up, is because this week, I felt like "THE MASTER COMMANDER;" which is a line from the video. Here is why:

On Monday of this last week, Hermana Miller and I went in for a lesson with our not-so-favorite "investigator." Our investigators here are really just our teachers acting as other people, so sometimes they purposely make it difficult for us. One of our teachers, Hermano Matias, has recently been playing the role of and investigator named Jorge. Jorge never remembers the things we teach him and we have taught him almost everything twice. Going into our lesson on Monday, I was feeling pretty discouraged because he hasn't been progressing at all. However, it turned out to be our best lesson yet. I don't know why or how, but the spirit in that room was beyond strong! For the first time in all of my time here, I understood every single word that was spoken in the room. I couldn't tel you the words five seconds after leaving the room, but in that room while we were teaching about the importance of repentance and partaking of the sacrament each week, I literally understood every single word of Spanish. It was a true miracle! Especially because Hermano Matias speaks really really fast when he acts as investigators. It was possibly the best part of the whole week. We walked out after the lesson and both of us looked at each other, lunged forward with one knee, threw double fists in the air and exclaimed, "I am the Master Commander!" It just fit the moment.

Other than that, this week has mostly been my companion and me running around talking about how much we are going to miss each other but how we are really excited to get to the field. Many songs have been re-composed by the two of us with different lyrics about our high and low points as we prepare to leave.

Oh, also, for those "Mean Girls" fans out there, our zone has instituted an "on Wednesdays, we wear pink rule" here at the CCM. The pictorial evidence is included below for your viewing pleasure.

Anyway, I will be leaving this coming Tuesday morning for Ecuador so the next post I make will not be from Mexico, but rather from the great land of the equator!

Until then, Hasta luego!

Hermana Eyre