Look! I'm in France!..... Oh Wait.

It took more than five weeks for me to actually do it, but I finally took some decent pictures of Vinces. In general, I don't take my camera with me much because everyone says that it is dangerous- however, people's idea of dangerous here is in reality nothing compared to what I am used to from Seattle. Anyway, this past P-Day, I finally conviced my companion to come with me to the main part of town by the river to take pictures in what is known as "Paris Chiquito." All along the river bank here, there are wierd old buildings and structures that look similar to well known structures elsewhere in the world. The Golden Gate Bridge, The Eifel Tower, and others that I can't exactly name or place in my mind because I seem to be fogetting everything that I learned before coming here including the correct usage of the English language. (I guess four years of diligent study wasn't worth that much afterall if I am just going to forget it all here). This city is beautiful and weird in its own special way, but I am glad to be here, and as of this last week, I finally have photographic evidence of this little heaven by the river.

I am excited this morning because last night after church, we had a lesson with one of my favorite investigators. His name is Charles and I love visiting him because he is probably the nicest person I have ever met. He has a quiet manner of talking usually, but when he gets excited, it is like his voice can't be contained. Maybe I feel that this makes him a kindred spirit because I am always so loud. We have been working with Charles for several weeks and he always has a lot of questions that are somewhat difficult to answer. However, his questions come from a place of genuine interest and I feel that he really has the desire to understand our message because he can feel that there is something missing in his life and we seem to have the answer; we just can't explain it very well.
Last night though, one of my favorite members, Benito, came with us to visit Charles. Benito used to be the same religion that Charles is right now; a branch of Evangelists. Benito has only been a member for four months, but he knows way more about the gospel than I do. He is amazing! He is going to be a great missionary when he leaves in about 9 months. With Benito, our lesson was powerful and to the point. Charles asked all the right questions about priesthood power and the manner that we do baptisms, and Benito had all the right answers. All we had to do was extend the invitation. Charles accepted with a smile on his face.

There are still a lot of things that he wants to learn and understand better before he is actually baptized, but I have a feeling that his baptism is going to be the one I remember the most. I can feel his desire to truly understand and I can actually see how happy our visits make him feel. His progress may be slow, but it's the fact that I can see the change that makes me feel like it is real, it is good, and it is really good!

In other news, Litzy and Nayely, the two young sisters we have been working with since practically my first week here were baptized on Saturday. I feel good about Litzy because she really has a desire to make changes in her life for the better. Their homelife is, let's just say, less than comfortable and desireable most of the time, but Litzy really wants to make changes for the better, and Nayely is learning to want the same. I think they can see how the gospel has helped their lives so far and they have the desire to learn more. I think with the Young Womens program and the many wonderful kids in the Primary here, their lives will improve rapidly with the church.

Okay, I'm out of time once again! Love you all!

Hermana Eyre

Am Family in Ecuador

This week, I learned that I have a family here in Ecuador. Obviously not a real family, but a family that is willing to help me, love me, and be there for me no matter what. I learned that there are things I can do for them that no one else can, and for the first time in my mission so far, I feel like I am starting to realize my purpose.

All of the members here in Vinces are wonderful and at this point are like family, but particularly I feel that I am part of the Escobar Family. Presidente Escobar is the President of our Branch here in Vinces and his immediate family is all active in the church, but his extended family isn't. His niece Elena is one of the branch missionaries and she helps us out a lot. She comes with us to teach lessons with our investigators twice almost every week and she feels like a long lost sister. Her cousin Yimabel also helps us out a lot and she is definitely a kindred spirit.

We spend a lot of time with the both of them, but it wasn't until a week and a half ago that she told us that the majority of her family isn't active in the church. In her house, there are about 15 people living together and only 3 of them are really active in the church. We went to their house to have family home evening one night in the hopes of talking with the people who are less active or aren't members. Elena didn't have a ton of hope because the missionaries have tried before and had no success; but we went nevertheless.

At first people seemed a little hesitant, but little by little more people joined in on our family home evening. By the end of the night, Elena's aunt, Gabriella, who has been less active for years, was talking about wanting her son Galo to be baptized. Galo seemed to want it too, although he is a little timid in his personality and wasn't willing to talk too much.

Over the next week and a half, we taught and visited with Galo, Gabriella, Elena, and Yimabel almost every other day. Galo was baptized this Saturday and Gabriella had her interview to recieve a calling and be "reactivated."  I am excited about this because with their family, I feel that their desire to attend church and be baptized was true and solid. They have family and friends in the church that are going to help them learn and stay active. Also, Elena told us that she has never seen Gabriella respond well to the missionaries and that is is some kind of miracle that Gabriella was willing to listen to us. In reality, I have no idea why. I don't know how or why we were different for her, but we were. We were the people she needed, and that is a testimony to me that every missionary has a purpose.

In other news, Ecuador celebrates Easter a little differently than the USA. On Friday night, we got to witness a South American style funeral parade in memory of the death of Jesus Christ. We live on the main street in Vinces so we could see all of it from our apartment window two stories above the street. It was beautiful. So many people together with candles and music, marching in memory of the person that gave the world everything.

Anyway, I'm out of time again, but Happy Easter to all from down here in Ecuador!

Love,

Hermana Eyre

the pictures with all the lights and people were taken from our apartment. We live on like the main street in town and on Friday night for "Santa Semana" there was a funeral like parade in rememberance of the death of Jesus Christ. It was pretty cool.

El Puerta Del Cielo

Living in Ecuador is like living in a different universe sometimes. At times, I feel like I have entered into the world of a very strange and gospel centered Disney movie. Every day I find more things to both love and hate about this place. Recently, the thing that I love the most is how beautiful it is here. It is unreal sometimes the way the sky looks at night, and I still can't believe how green everything is here. The thing I hate the most right now is the bugs. I literally am covered in bug bites constantly! I don't know how to make it better because the repellent I brought doesn't work and the repellent I bought here doesn't really work either. It is like a nightmare from "Indiana Jones" the way the bugs swarm towards me on a daily basis.

Nevertheless, I am having more and more positive experiences everyday. This week for example, we had "intercambios." This means that I had to switch companions for one day so that our Sister Training Leader could come to our sector and check up on the work we ahve been doing. It was really weird to have a different companion, especially one who doesn't know any English at all. But, on the other hand, it was interesting to see how different people share the same message in different but equally powerful manners. I had to go to the other sector and the sister training leader came here. It was fun to get to see a different city and sector. I went to a town called Catarama. It was beautiful and I got to see some small mountains in the distance-which almost made me cry. However, it made me grateful to be in Vinces. I think that Vinces is a little more along the lines of my kind of town and the people here are really just amazing.

We had a baptism for Jamilet and Julixsy this Saturday and on Sunday they recieved the Holy Ghost. It was a good baptism and they were both really excited. I am still not sure that they fully understand everything that we have taught them, but we are still working with them and we are teaching their parents right now too. Their mom Leonella is amazing! She is so attentive when we teach her and she always has questions, but for her, she wants to take her time to really understand before she makes a decision about baptism. Also, she and her partner need to get married before they can be baptized.

We still don't know what is going to happen with Jimmy Mecias. He was supposed to go to Guayquil this week to find out what is going to happen with his arm, but I guess the Doctor canceled his appointment. Hopefully this week we will find out, but either way, we are still waiting on his arm before we can do his baptism.

We are still working with Alexandra and her husband in hopes that he will develop the desire to really learn about the church. He still hasn't attended church, but I think he will this week because we are singing in the choir and he said he wants to see us. We went to "El Campo" with them again today. They are really like our parents here in Vinces. They take good care of us and we always have lots of fruit in our apartment because of them.

Once again I am out of time though! Love you all!

If you want a little spiritual inspiration, read Alma 34. It's the chapter that I found gave me a lot of inspiration this week!
Love love love!

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.