I´m about due... for a transfer.

Querida familia,

Can you all believe that in two days, I will complete nine months?? That is the mitad of my mission! I cannot even comprehend it. I still feel like I just got here and haven´t done anything, but then when I think back on all that really has happened and all I´ve learned just in these nine months, it really is a long time, and I really have grown so much...even if I can´t express it through email. Conversing in English has become a desafío for me. But I´ll be sure to send a picture from that day.

Also, I wanted to send pictures this week, but we had Consejo in Guayaquil again today, and we can´t send pictures from this cyber, so next week will be the day. I´ll also be sure to send pictures from HALLOWEEN!! I´m so excited! That´ll be my first and last Halloween on the mission, and the first day going downhill. (Uphill in sense of skill and teaching and spirituality and diligence, but downhill in the sense of time...don´t worry...) I´m going to be a zebra serving a mission, thanks to my new skirt. I´m psyched.

So we´re going to play a little game, alright? We´re going to play guess where I am. (Not right now, because right now I´m in Guayaquil, but where I am in terms of sector because I had cambios...) Here are some clues: It´s cold, it rains every day, I used my coat and umbrella for the first time, they talk with a weird accent, it´s beautiful, I saw my breath one morning, they eat cui...any guesses?? YEP! CUENCA!!!!! I got here last Tuesday. And remember that website that said Ecuador was Springlike weather all year-long? IT´S TRUE! As long as you´re in Cuenca. It really is pretty here, though. It reminds me of a NH Spring. When it´s warm, it´s wicked warm. When it´s rainy, it´s cold and rainy.

Now we´re going to play guess where my companion is from. Clues: It´s cold, there are mountains, it´s green, it´s the shape of NH but backwards...any guesses?? YEP! IDAHO!!!!! I have a gringa companion!! She´s Hermana Clark from Bear Lake, ID, and she has 2 weeks on the mission! It´s so weird because she´s blonder than I am, taller that I am, and whiter than I am. So everyone pretty much stares at us all day, and I feel practically Latina around her. I´ll send pictures next week. She´s so awesome! We´re so similar! Another 19-year-old companion, though. I feel so old. Oh wellzies...está bien. She´s great!

Now we´re going to play guess who we live with. Clues: We´re all tall, we all have the same towels, they all have the same shoes, we can sing 4-part harmony, we´re all nuts, we all speak English...any guesses?? YEP! GRINGAS!!!!! There are four of us gringas living together in the same house!! It´s so fun! The other two are Hna. Bytheway (she´s the one who loves Arthur and who I lived with in my second sector in Guayaquil and she´s basically my twin, but a 20-year-old and from UT and was in the MTC with Logan Bennett) and Hna. Alvarado (who also has 2 weeks on the mission, and her parents are Latinos, but she´s from UT). We´re serving in two different wards, and even two different zones, but it´s so fun. We sang four-part harmony the other day and I thought I was going to die. 9 months without beautiful music. It was incredible. I LOVE SINGING!!!

Speaking of singing and music, the president wants to have a Christmas production for the mission, and he wants me to play the piano. I´m so excited! I´m going to practice during November, and then the last two weeks I´ll probably head over to Guayaquil, and we´ll have practices and stuff, then the first two weeks in December, we´re going to travel around and perform for all the zones!!!!!!! I really hope we do it! Presidente Torres is so awesome! He´s such an inspired man of God. I love him! And his wife is hilarious! She said we´re in the best mission because we have the coolest missionaries. I think that´s a correct statement. Ah! I´ll let you know if anything changes about the Christmas music thing.

I wanted to send so many pictures this week, but this dang computer. Our house is so nice!! We have two floors, that are WOOD--not cement, wood! The house is cement, but the floors are wood!--three bathrooms, HOT WATER! (I haven´t taken a hot shower in 9 months! It´s beautiful!!!), and we don´t use bunk beds! It´s the little things in life. :] And when people ring the doorbell, we have a little phone with a video on it so we can see the people at the door, and we talk to them through the phone. It´s so cool! I also was going to send you a picture of the elder from Colombia who was in Maryluz Flander´s ward, but yet again...next week.

Fun things from the week:

I met a lady who has two children living in Worcester, MA, and a guy who lived there for 10 years!! I didn´t know Latinos lived in Worcester, but it was a tender mercy to here that they had a connection to New England. I love it!

A 15-year-old girl in the ward´s favorite band is One Direction. She´s my pal.

Hna. Bytheway has music from the Book of Mormon Movie, which actually is just all music from the Hill Cumorah Pageant. I love it! One morning, I just started pretending like I had a trumpet in my hand, then my arms flew to the left then flew to the right, and I just didn´t know why. Then I realized the music was from the opening scene when everyone walks on the stage. I love muscle memory.

There are so many pizza places here!!!!!!!! We haven´t eaten pizza yet, but I think Tuesdays is buy one get one free, so I´m pretty sure tomorrow we´ll have a nice, little snackeroo.

I had a dream this week that I cut off my left pinky toe because it was bothering me. Sound familiar?

OH! And you know how the guy who gave us the skirts was going to get baptized? Well, he did! On Saturday! I was so sad I wasn´t there. His friend (Jorge) is going to get baptized this week, and he´s so great! Last Monday, we visited them, and Jorge told us that he didn´t have any family (wife, children...nothing), so we told him that we were his daughters. Then the rest of the visit, he was calling us "hija." It was so cute! But then I left that very night for Cuenca...so sad. I´m excited for him to get baptized, though. De oro.

Anyway, it´s been a great week. Other than the fact that we saw a dog get killed by a taxi. That was pretty sad, but let me tell you--prayer fixes everything. My companion and I get along so well. She´s wonderful and hilarious! We set some baptismal dates with a few people, and I hope that they progress! The key is getting people to go to church! When they´re there, they find friends and feel the Spirit. Those two are KEY in conversion. If people have friends, they have desires to know if it´s true and to keep learning more. And when they have those desires and feel the Spirit, they are converted. So be a friend. Invite someone to church this week. The missionaries are there to help YOU in your missionary deberes. Be a missionary! Every day! In all you do! Just Do It! I love you all and am so happy and proud to be an Ayer, a missionary, and a representative of Jesus Christ. Nothing could bring me greater joy. :]

Con amor,


Hermana Ayer

P.S. My first Sunday here, I had to give a talk. It actually went so well! The gift of tongues is incredible. I speak Spanish. I mean, I have for a while, but yesterday it really hit me that I speak Spanish.

P.P.S. I played Every Day Tell Someone I Love You, and couldn´t have felt happier.

P.P.P.S. We tried cereza my last week in Santa Rosa. New fruit to add to the list. Also, maracuyá is similar to granadía, but has a very different flavor.

P.P.P.P.S. Did you know I´ve never been to Fenway Park? Or Plymouth, MA. Or golfing at Bolduc Park.