August 2014

Blue Bible Guy

August 4, 2014 2:41 PM

Hola Familia! 

Alright, imma try to give you all a lot of information because i epically failed last week. So you all know I'm in cuenca, and that's just a little different then Machala and Guayaquil, in every way possible. The teaching, the climate, the terrain, the food, the accent. and dad to answer your question the normal accent is por ejemplo: normal is Perro, and Cuencano is Perzhro... something like that! But its been good! I've learned sooo much in the past two weeks and I've read 200 pages of the book of Mormon! Woo! i have a goal to finish it in 2 months which is very doable because if i read 10 pages i can do it! Well, fun facts about my sector... our capilla is tiny. And there is an attendance of about 50 people on average and i was contemplating how lucky we are to live in a place where we can go to church and see a full chapel and have 350 plus members in the ward to fill all of the callings. There is only one counselor and the RS only has a president... I'm not sure about the other organizations but i do know that none of them is complete! So in other words WE are blessed to live were we do! 

OK other things that happened this week... Hermana Adams cut my hair... I did intercambios with my ex comp and now I'm in intercambios with H. Iverson! HEY! ha ha So we are just partying it up like its 1999! AKA Chicken nuggets, OJ, Oreo balls, Smores, chocolate... all things healthy! 

BUT the biggest bit of news is that we still don't have a house so we are still traveling everyday to Azogues. To answer your question mom, to find a house we look everywhere and call every number available and then find out its already rented or its not actually an apartment, its just separate rooms added together to make an apartment... So yeah that's the current situation. 

Ok and to explain the Blue bible guy, I was on intercambios with Hrn. Adams and went to visit one of their investigators and he told us a story about how one time he was asleep and he heard a voice that said "I want you to learn more about me..." and he looked to his left and saw a BLUE bible... coincidence? i think not! So we gave him a BLUE book of Mormon and went on our way :) 

Well that's all i got for you this week.. i feel like its a little more informative then last week :) I love you all, I love this mission. Les Quiero mucho! 

Hermana Whitmore

H. Iverson broke her foot!

La Virgin and Cuy Hello dearest family of mine, This week was full of adventure and normal things too... My first adventure was eating cuy (Guinea Pig) yay.. I have the same feeling about Cuy that i do about Cangrajo (Crab). it tastes just fine but it just doesn't vale la peina (isn't worth it). Because it takes soo much time to eat it and there is hardly any meat. BUT i can now add that to my list of crazy things that i have eaten on the mission.  My other adventure, we went on today. We went to visit la Virgen de la Nube. Its a giant statue of the virgin Mary and its a staple of Azogues. So we went to visit her... It is really interesting, the catholic church, but my very good friend said that  "Without them, there is no way Christianity would have arrived with such vigor to South America!" and its true. Soo now our job is to help them understand the bible and follow Christ!  We still live in Cuenca and are traveling to Azogues everyday, and we are doing the work, it just moves a lot slower here then in the coast. BUT I love it! its a great learning experience and i really am learning a lot!  I love you all! Have a great week :)  Hermana Whitmore Another week in Paradise!    Aug 18, 2014 Hola Familia, Well this week was normal... I'm still here in Azogues and i didn't think it could get any colder, BUT it has and it will keep getting colder until October or so... my season senses are sooo off! Pero bueno, I love it here in Azogues and although the work is hard its worth it. I'm still learning so much and I'm so happy about it! i actually feel like I'm growing spiritually ... and getting stronger physically.. seriously though these hills are killer! We haven't had much success with finding people but after church we went out to contact some references that we got and found some pretty promising people. So pray for their hearts to be open and that they will accept the message of the restored gospel.  I found myself talking to a Jehovah's Witness in English this week... that was interesting. It really tested my translating and teaching skills. I taught lesson 2 (Plan of Salvation) in ENGLISH. Wow that was very, very difficult. It took me like two minutes to remember what the spirit world was called... ha ha, almost an epic fail but the holy ghost helped me out with that one! It was interesting because i learned a lot about what they believe because he actually explained to me their point of view instead of trying to prove my religion was wrong. BUT Hrn. Iverson had a JW bible in English so we spent almost 4 hours reading it! haha Lets just say its interesting... not the bible itself but the guide of questions in the back. I learned .. a lot :) I haven't eaten anything crazy this week, just the regular soup and rice and chicken... i tried zapote? I'm not really sure what it is but its like a sweet potato squash thing....  I'm not going to go all "I've hit the year mark" until next week and i promise i'll write somethin real mushy for ya´ll :) haha Well sorry i don't have much to say this week, just know that I'm doing awesome and the work of the lord is moving forward in this little part of heaven!  Love you all!  Hermana Whitmore NOT QUITE A YEAR YET FOLKS!     Aug 25, 2014 3:29pm Dearest Familia!  Wow! tranquilanse! I still have 3 days left until my year mark :) and I'm going to enjoy them! So I will wait until the next week to write my year mark soliloquy.  I do have some good news. We finally moved into our house in Azogues and its been so great to have a full day in the sector! The apartment is a little creepy and old but hey its better then nothing! Also, its better then it was before... the first day we moved in, we spent all day cleaning! BUT! because I've had the most fantastic upbringing in the world, I was unfazed and i went to work! We bought some white cement and a putty knife and i filled in those holes like there was nothing to it! it also helps that I'm kinda tall and everything here is kinda short... also, if it looks like poop.. it doesn't really matter because ... yeah.. lets just say it fits right in! :) Also, the putty knife came in handy for cleaning all the grease corners! that was strangely satisfying :) haha i definitely felt like mom in that moment!  So other then the house, we haven't had anything too amazing happen, BUT we do have a real life investigator! I didn't even know if those existed still! He is the boyfriend of one of the members and we had family night with them tonight! We put the fecha with him yesterday forseptember 20th! prayers would be appreciated for Martin.  In church yesterday i had the quite fantastic experience of leading a song that no one has ever heard before. I'm the uncalled ward chorister... so every week i lead the music... usually i can just buffalo through it because someone knows the song }, but this time is was definitely "en el voz del tres, uno dos tres..." nothing! everyone started on different notes and i was trying sooooo hard not to laugh! haha, yeah from now on i think i'll just change the song!  So funny story; last night we had absolutely nothing to do and no one to talk to because all of Azogues closes down on Sunday, so we think to ourselves... where can we go? To a members house to "ask about menos activos" (which really means, who will give us food)... Who is close; "la familia Lopez"... So we walk over there and who do we find? not one compañionship of elders but both of them! haha oh my gosh! great missionary minds think alike eh?  Well that's all folks! I love you all! have a great week!  Hermana Whitmore (con mas)

August 11, 2014 3:14 PM

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

I've passed my halfway mark!

Mika tempts me!

June 2, 2014 2:25 PM

Hola familia! 

I'm going to explain this heading.. we were doing our shopping in supermaxi today and guess who comes on the radio?? MIKA!!!!! oh my word... i was dying... i can almost resist most music but when mika comes on i had to sing along... i just had too!!!!! Don't worry I'm going to repent tonight :)

Ok so we had two baptisms this week. two of the kids of Patricia (she was baptized last week) Maya and Marco. I don't know why baptismal services are always so stressful, but they are! We finally for once show up on time and guess what?? No one is there! So we are calling people asking why no one is there and apparently bishop told everyone it was at 8:30! ah! But it all ended up ok and a few people showed up! It was so cute, right before the actual baptism Maya was so excited and nervous that she shed a few tears! That's a pretty good sign that your investigator understands how awesome baptism is and what a great gift it is!

OK other miracle time. Sunday morning we went to check on all the people for church and marco and maya weren't in their house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oh my gosh we tried to stay calm hoping that they would be back before church started so we went to look for more people and we were passing my some menos activos and none other then marco is there. He tells us that he can't go to church today because he's going to help his boss in another town!!! ah!!! so we went to talk to his boss and told him how important it was that Marco go to church because he was getting confirmed and his boss was all, oh ok! I'll drop him by his house so he can go to church! ah! 

ok now funny story time. Last night we were doing companion prayer and sometimes its a little hard to hear because your faces are in the pillows and the fans are going.  WEll, my comp was saying the prayer and she stopped talking.. i thought "o shoot! she finished and i didn't hear it" so i say amen and then shes all ... "en el nombre de jesucristo.. amen?" Oops,  i totally cut off her inspiration! we are going to start doing comp prayer side by side now :) haha 

Well that's all folks! i love the mission, i love my life, i cant believe I'm more then halfway done! yikas!!! 

i love you all! have a great week! 

Hermana Whitmore 

What a week!

June 9, 2014 2:23 PM

Well this week started out interesting, because i thought that i had escaped the cambios! (those usually happen on Monday night) BUT Tuesday night, elder Thomson calls me and tells me i need to be at the bus station at 6 in the morning.. i literally cried! Machala was sooo awesome and David (the miracle child) was finally going to be baptized this week with his sister! His mom was finally starting to soften up and everything was going awesome. Well because I'm an obedient child, i packed my bags and was at the station.. guess where they sent me? That's right, Guayaquil. I'm in Centenario... again! Yikas.. i got to the sector and all these memories started flashing back and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing... I've tried to leave that Hna. Whitmore in the past. So this morning i did a super study on how not to be the same missionary as before so that i could enjoy this sector to the fullest. It was awesome... All about loving the people and changing and all that good stuff. Anywho... I'm in a trio now and that's definitely interesting.. I've got number 5  peruana(companion from Peru) and my first Ecuadorian... But they are both awesome. I feel really tall.... We talk late into the night but we are being obedient because we have the lights off! haha 

We had a baptism this week... i don't really know Giovanny,  so i can't really say anything... 

Also we got to listen to 2 general authorities this week. Elder Clayton and Elder Waddell... I learned sooo much from them both! Its not really anything i can explain or i would try :)

The greatest part of the week was that we put fechas with a couple that's been working toward baptism for 6  years! Their son left for a mission about 3 months ago and i think that's what did the trick. They went to the special conference with elder Clayton and talked with Presidente Torres and It was as easy as that! They are getting baptized next week! Woohoo! I love it when miracles like that happen and i can actually see them :) and how the gospel changes lives and how now they can work toward becoming an eternañ family! 

Well that's all i got for you folks :) i love you all! Have a great week! 

Hermana Whitmore

1- Maya and Marco (children de patricia)

2-Giovanny

Most of the month of May 2014

No letter on May 12th, just a phone call home on Mother's Day!!

Hermanas in their new dresses! Miracle time!

May 19, 2014 2:28 PM

Dearest familia,

Not much happened this week BUT I have been watching the most amazing miracle happen. One of our investigators, started out as we only invited him to church and he came. So we went and put a baptismal date and THEN found out that he has been doing drugs 3-4 times a day for 4 years! We taught him the word of wisdom gave him a book of mormon and really he has done the rest. He stopped the drugs cold turkey and hasn't had any problems. He told us that every time he feels tempted he just reads the BOM or says a prayer. He has read all of 1 and 2 Nephi in a week! He also taught himself to use the footnotes and the whole plan of salvation. He is sooo amazing. We were sitting outside talking to his neighbor and he walked past with all of his dvds because he didn't want the temptation! AH! seriously, there are no words for how amazing it is to see someone change so completely with the help of the gospel! 

ok, so this neighbor of David is Patricia and she is going to get baptized this week! POR FIN we have baptisms! Her kids are getting baptized in two weeks! AH mi primer familia :) 

And the other fantastic thing that happened this week was that we had lasagna!!!!! bah! it was awesome, minus the pile of rice that came with it... seriously whats with the rice people? i do not need more carbs! haha

Welp, thats all i got for you this week folks!

Love you all!

Hermana Whitmore

Picture 1:This is what i do when I'm waiting for my companion on pday! 

Pic 2: Writing (typing)  letters on pday!

Another week in the REAL paradise :)

May 26, 2014 1:32 PM

Hola familia,

I love hearing the different sides of your cruise stories and the reaction of when you got home! haha Awesome! I hope you enjoyed yourselves because i sure did this week! We´ve been working and working and working and finally it all paid off! We finally got to see a baptism here in the Aurora. Her name is Patricia, and she a single mom with 7 kids! Yikas. 2 of them will be baptized next week. She is so great and has a good little testimony started of how the gospel can help the family. We´ve been working so hard this week to get our program set. We are working with a lot of people and families! Its so awesome to work with the members and get their friends to come to church. Its so much more meaningful to them both! 

Most of the week was normal, just the regular working and working and working. I love learning from my companion! She is a convert of 3 years and has soooo much knowledge of the scriptures. I hope i can really use this time wisely to learn as much as i can! 

I have to apologize... i don't have any really cool stories to tell you... I did learn that i can follow the spirit this week. We were in a lesson with 3 supposed menos activos, which usually means we talk about the sacrament. But i felt like we needed to cover all of lesson 3, sooo then we found out that 2 of them have never actually been baptized and we put 2 new fechas! Woo hoo espiritu santo. So that's my awesome missionary experience this week! 

Love you all! hope you have

a great week :)

Hermana Whitmore

picture 1: p-day papas! 

Picture 2: Patricia and most of the herd!

Yay fiebre!

Yay fiebre! [yay fever] Quierido Familia,  Todo esta bien en la tierra de Machala.[all is well in the land of machala] We're all on our toes because we are expecting full cambios[changes/transfers] tonight! But i want to thank you all for remembering my birthday and tambien[also] i want to publicly wish happy birthday to my daddy!!!!! Entonces! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!! and HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MOM!!!!!!!! It's quite convenient for me that those days ended up on the same day :) haha  Well this week has been fun. Normal things going on. I got really sick.. like 101 degree temperature. But no worries all is well now! Our menos activos[less actives] definitely still need your prayers and our investigators really really need your prayers. Seriously, we had this flip flop situation with one of our investigators. He was all super excited one day and then the next day he was all i don't want to be baptized... i know its all true but I'm gonna stay catholic.... what???????? seriously. And we finally got one of our menos activos to come to church and it was literally, physically hard for her to walk into the building. Lots of prayers for Elizabeth please :) But really that was all that's been happening. Just work work work!  I'm super excited for SUNDAY!!!! yoohoo!  Love you all! Hermana Whitmore Pic 1- washing sheets in the sink is not fun.... but i will be a fantastic mother if our washing machine breaks!  Pic 2- This is what fever looks like in 90ish degree weather! Pic 3- Breakfast! yum,yum!

May 5, 2014 2:08 PM

April 14, 21, 28 of 2014

i love being sickly...

April 14, 2014 2:38 PM

Dearest Familia!

Como estan? This week has just been a treat. I started out great and then about an hour after i sent off the letter last... well that's when the fun began. My kidneys started hurting and then it just went downhill from there. We had to stay in the house Wednesday and Thursday because even though i was feelin pretty good, presidente was worried i had an infectious disease! No se preocupe[worry]- i don't!  well,  just to make sure these things don't come back, I'm taking multiple pills, multiple times a day. woohoo! gotta love south america!

Anywho, real missionary things that happened this week. My testimony of the Book of Mormon grew! Again! It was awesome, we were having a lesson with this one fecha and his cousin and his friend. and this friend is a "bad kid" so to say, does the drugs alcohol, tattoos, all that stuffs and was only talking to us to "give us his opinion" on everything- but we were reading in 2 nefi 31 and after he was all: i wasn't interested before but now i want to listen and i´ll read this other chapter tonight! How cool is that? The book of Mormon can change someone like (*snap) that!

Also, to answer moms questions, Machala is a decently sized city (like... no sé... sandy? but ecuador style!) There is a city center for shopping and its right on the ocean, but i never see it because its in the other zone! we eat a lot of fish and shrimp... and yeah. That's machala! we have this big ol´ huge sector that covers all the outskirts of the town on the way to santa rosa.  Its a little frustrating right now because we don't have people and its really hard to find them, but we wont lose faith or animos![fortitude]

I love being a missionary- even when i'm sick! my testimony grows everyday and i learn a little bit more about Christ too! i love it!

Hermana Whitmore

April 21, 2014

full poder!  [full power]

April 28, 2014 2:31 PM

Alright family!

This week was full of spiritually uplifting experiences! We had an Area Seventy come and we had capacitacion[training] with him for 6 hours! it was AWESOME! He got us all excited to work with the members and he talked all about this new era of missionary work! It was so enlightening and ... ah just awesome! I just know that it changed the way I'm going to do everything in my mission. I obviously have a gift with menos activos[less active] because that's literally all we've been able to find this week. Our program looks super sad but really we are just reactivating tons of people! In sacrament meeting we had 4 investigators and 5 menos activos! woo! But that was another miracle by itself because we were only planning on two menos activos and all of our investigators flaked!

So we got to church all depressed-like and one of the conversos[converts] of H. Brule had 3 non member family members and some menos activos were there just because they felt the need to come back to church after five years and he brought his brother who also isn't a member soooo! We put fechas with 2 of them and have plans for the other ones for this week! Our faith finally paid off! Woo! Happy day :)

Well, really, i think that's all. Sorry its kinda a lame letter but i just can't think of anything else that was really that cool.

This morning i studied some pretty cool stuff about the prodigal son. I just love that story because its like what we are doing right now! We are finding all of the lost "sons" and bringing them back so that our heavenly father can rejoice for their return!

I love you all, I love being a missionary, I love ecuador!

Hermana Whitmore

PS if you can pray for my investigators: dana y jhonny pogo. and these menos activos: Shirley Barreto, and Luis Pesantes and family, Victoria, and Christian. I would greatly appreciate it!