July 2014--Wow, What a month!

Another week in Centenario.

July 7, 2014 2:13 PM

Hello Querida familia mia :)

This week was same ol, same ol, work work work. I've learned to appreciate the time i have in a sector because we never know when we have cambios. But this week we had the baptism of Maria Jose. She accepted a baptismal date on the day of her brother's baptism, my 3rd day here, and now she's baptized! I can't even believe it. It was awesome and small. Her boyfriend is a less active member and his dad performed the baptism. Then the boyfriend got up and shared his testimony and we know that Maria Jose getting baptized has helped him immensely. It's just a great reminder of how god keeps his eyes on all of his children. After the actual baptism, Maria Jose got up and shared an awesome testimony and said that we were angels sent to help her. I literally almost cried, it was soooo tender! 

Then we had a miracle happen this Sunday! There is a member here that has stomach cancer and can't really get out much. BUT he's been praying and reading the scriptures and doing everything possible to get better and this week he came to church!!!!!! ah!!! how awesome! I know many people were fasting and praying for him and he's finally coming out on top :) 

Well folks that's my week, sorry, it's not very exciting, but i love being here and seeing the miracles that happen when we are obedient and trust in the lord! 

Tengan una buena semana! [Have a good week]

Les quiero mucho!

Hermana Whitmore

Cake and miracles Hello family!  Wow! OK i get to rewrite everything that i just wrote... so sorry if it's not very detailed!  BUT this week was my comps birthday so we ate a lot of cake! Cake in the zone meeting, cake with our converts, cake with the members, and cake in the house! SOOO much cake i think i gained 4 pounds... from pure cake!  Also it was a week of miracles!  Miracle number 1: we were walking down the street talking about how sad our program is and how we are really discouraged and all that sad stuff but i said " i still have faith" and literally 30 seconds later a guy comes up and asks us if we are Jehovah's witnesses... well no... so he left.. then he came back "wait, I meant Mormons! how can I get an appointment to study the bible with you guys?" tender mercy from god!  Miracle numero 2: We have been looking for a garage for the mission and we found a really good one last week but the elders told us to keep looking just in case... so we were walking down the street and saw one and the owner just happened to be outside. we stopped to talk to him and ask him all the normal questions: how much does it cost? whats the area? and what do you do on Sundays? then he tells us that he was baptized in the church when he was 9 ( now he's 34) and he never went back after his baptism. BUT he said he would go to church with us (which he did)! AH! it's just a testimony that god is looking out for us in every moment and has a plan so that not one of his little sheepys gets lost!  Miracle number 3: we were walking down the street and stopped to talk to a lady who's car had broken down and she looked really sad. we started to talk to her and she lightened up. Then she told us that she has plans to get married to her husband in 2 months after 30 years of living together. (that never happens here in Ecuador folks!) and then SHE SAID it was amazing the tender mercies of god and how he sent us to them in their time of need and stress. Cool huh? They don't live in our sector but it was still awesome to cross their path in the exact moment that they needed it!  I love you all, i love this work, i love the church, and i love the miracles i can see everyday in my mission! Hermana Whitmore Hermana Ynoñans birthday with our converts! (I'm in the picture on the table!) and the river in our sector!  July 21, 2014  (Krista didn't write a letter this week. She just wrote some back and forth emails with her Mom & Dad)  I had to take a 4 hour bus to my NEW SECTOR!   ha ha yep, I'm on peruana number 6 [her companion is from Peru] and we are in Cuenca. [this is the city she started out her mission in] Back to the mountain cold...   I went to the temple this week... we had training with presidente and that's when I had my interview and he told me I would be opening a new sector with a very special companion... so now I'm here!  I don't know what special means ... but I'm sure it's nothing i can't handle :) ha ha  I'm both excited and nervous and I'm NOT prepared for the cold!!!!  [? from mom:  Are you in the house you stayed in 10 months ago?] Well that's a fun story.. so yes I am in the original house and we will be there for 3-4 days until they find a house in our sector... The sector is called Azogues and it's about an hour outside of Cuenca. so we'll hang out here today and help out the hermanas (there are 4) and then tomorrow we'll take the bus to our sector to get to know it and stuffs! 2 of the sisters here are the same hermanas that I lived with in Santa Rosa! full big party!  My life is full of adventures! Dearest familia, I've only got like 20 minutes to write because we went on a seriously long adventure to Ingapirca! Woo! Ecuadorian ruins. It was really small for how much people talk about it. But it was beautiful and there was a lot of cool architecture and our tour guide was a decendent of the people, so he knew a bunch of stuff! Well, my life in Cuenca has been interesting because, well, we don't have a house for one. So everyday we leave and take an hour long bus to get to our sector which is literally a city! The president of the relief society lives on top of a mountain which takes an hour to walk to. SOOO that's fun and everything is hills.. let's just say that my muscles are going to be really nice by the end of my stay here :) The members here are really cool and very few in numbers. The chapel is literally the smallest I've ever seen! Its super chiquita. My companion and i talked in church and it was awesome.. i literally don't even remember what i said but my compy said i did well. Everyone is really excited that there are sisters in the ward.. its been 20 years or something since there have been sister missionaries. yikas that's a lot of pressure folks! Well not much has happened, just a lot of adjusting to everything! The accent, the way of the people, the climate, the food... everything! BUT i love it! It's so great and fun and my testimony is growing a ton! i have sooo much time to read the BOM. I read all of 1st nefi this week! What up? ha ha Well family, i love you! I'll talk to you next week when we have time to write! :) love and handshakes! Hermana Whitmore Picture !: my sector... yay :) July 28, 2014 3:39 PM

July 14, 2014 2:13 PM

The rest of June 2014

World Cup week!

June 16, 2014 2:13 PM

Hola Familia Mia,

This week went by extremely slowly and i have no idea why! I did have an awesome experience this week however, when i got to go to the temple and see a convert of my companion get sealed in the temple. it was so tender to see them together holding hands and getting sealed for eternity. it also made me realize that I've got a lot of changing to do before I'm ready for that step in my life :) ha ha But really it made me appreciate the fact that i have an eternal family and that i can help the people here in Ecuador have that too. We visited some sort of less active members yesterday, because the husband has cancer. He can't go to church because he's really weak! But when we went to visit them, they were still happy.. we talked about their experience in the temple and it made me appreciate this knowledge even more! 

It's interesting to be in Centenario again... lots of things have changed but so many things are the same! This ward loves to work and helps so much with our investigators and converts. This week was a little hard because we are trying to work with the menos activos but they've all been visited and don't want anything so then we try to ask references and that doesn't really work... so we are a little stuck in the new investigators department... but things will look up! i know it! 

This week was the world cup for soccer and it's a really big deal! Of course Satan planned it perfectly and had Ecuador playing at 9 o'clock.. right when we have church... but still all our investigators came :) It was a little funny after church because Ecuador was really quiet... we knew that they had lost! It was a tragic battle to the end and the other team scored in the last minute! Literally everyone was on the edge of tears! But there is still hope! they can redeem themselves on Thursday, i believe... Anywho! I'm just glad I'm not in Brazil right now :) ha ha 

Well that's all folks! i love you all, i love this work.  That's all for now :)

Hermana Whitmore

Greatest baptism ever!

June 23, 2014 2:11 PM

Hello family mia,

This week was great with one of the most fantastic baptisms ever! Alberto and Alexandra have been preparing for baptism for years! Their son left on his mission 2 months ago and i really think that's what did it. They realized the eternal significance of these things and finally decided to pull the trigger! Presidente got permission for Carlos (their son) to call in on Skye for the service... and nothing was working and we started the service and right in the middle of the opening song he got connected. so he got to see the whole service and then talk to them afterwards. It was amazing to hear the testimonies of Alexandra and Alberto and then hear Carlos tell them how glad he was that they had finally entered into the pathway. Alberto keeps talking about the temple and how excited he is that they get to be sealed as an eternal family... he really understands the enduring to the end part of all of this! It's  soo tender! 

Really that was the greatest part of the week.. we are still looking for new investigators and menos activos. i can't believe that June is almost over... how crazy is that!? in 5 days I'm 10 months down! yikes! 

Well i love you all, i love being a missionary and having the opportunity to see miracles ever day! Have a great week :)

Hermana Whitmore

I love lessons where I'm the one learning!

June 30, 2014 1:28 PM

Hello dearest family of mine,  Not much happened this week, the same old, looking for investigators, sharing the gospel, finding menos activos, etc. BUT the greatest moment of my week was last night. We went to talk with a son of a member who says he is "atheist". We went with the asistentes because they wanted to help us, SOO we went in and started talking to the kid just all normal like, then Elder Arana asks if he wants to serve a mission like his dad.. just to get talking about religious stuff. He said no, of course, and that's when the real fun began... we... well the elders talked all about the faith and how can God not exist and a whole bunch of stuff.. and how serving God is true happiness.  Well this kid said that you could be happy with money or studying or working or traveling.. and i started to think. It's true you can be "happy" with all those things but those things end at some point and I've never been happier then where i am now. When i was studying.. well i wasn't really happy... so i worked and i was happy but then i started traveling and i was even happier.. THEN i started serving the Lord and I've never been happier and never will be happier. It's just another testament that God exists and that we receive sooo many blessings when we are doing things his way.  So this week i just want to share my testimony that i KNOW this is the church of Jesus Christ, that God has a plan for us and he is looking out for us in every moment! I know that we have a Father in Heaven that loves us and for that reason he gave us the Book of Mormon and the Holy Ghost, so that we can read and feel of his love. I know with every fiber of my being that I'm supposed to be here, and i wouldn't want to be in any other place!  i love you all, Hermana Whitmore