Comida

Querida familia!!!!!!!!!!

This week, we added some new things to our diet. No, they are not weird. They´re not even Ecuatoriano. My comp and I officially started our popcorn addiction. We remembered how delicious popcorn is and her family has the same Sunday tradition, so we restarted it and changed it to an everyday tradition! It´s awesome!! Also, a family in our ward found macaroni and cheese in a box! They said they didn´t want it, so they gave it to us because we´re from the United States and EVERYONE eats that stuff there, so we gave it a try. Moral of the story: Stick with Kraft. It´s NOT worth it. No matter how long it´s been since you´ve had mac and cheese, don´t do it. "It´s better to wait" is an eternal principle. The third new food of the week was BROWN RICE!!!!! I can´t tell you how awesome it was to take a break for once from the white rice and eat some brown. It has been over a year...maybe even more...since I´ve had brown rice, and it was heavenly. It´s the little things.

This week, we had a couple intercambios with the Hermanas from our zone. I was with one Hna. from St. George and she asked me an interesting question: "What´s the difference between obedience with exactness and perfection?" I thought for a minute and couldn´t find an answer to that. The Lord asks us to be obedient. Obedience brings blessings, but obediencia con exactitud brings milagros. It´s up to us if we just want blessings or miracles. The Lord asks us to be perfect even as He is, but knew it wouldn´t be possible. Por eso, He sent His only begotten son to the earth to atone for our sins, trials, etc. We can never let our journey to be perfect hinder our happiness in this life. Obedience always will bring us happiness, so we just have to make sure that our daily decisions help us to be happy and have fun as we are in this life-long journey. Gracias a Jesucristo, we can receive forgiveness for everything we have done and have happiness. Everything is centered in the Atonement. Just be happy, be obedient, and God will bless us. Always.

The Hnas in our zone weren´t doing so hot this week because here in Cuenca, it´s hard to see the fruits of your labors. Cuenca isn´t the typical South American mission. It´s completely diferent because the traditions the people have in their religion are so deeply rooted, that they find it difficult to ask God what they should do. Really, in this life, what we learn from our earthly parents doesn´t matter if it doesn´t correspond with what God has commanded us to do. We always need to ask God, obey His commandments, follow His council, listen to His chosen servants, and remember that He will always lead us to the correct path. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for leading me down the right path. (Unlike Pocahontas, who thought she was being taken down another path.) This is the Church of Jesus Christ! He leads it! I know it!!

Mom, I hope your trip went well. This week, a lot of things are coming to pass: Thursday the 30th: I complete one year!!!!!!!!! Time flies. Saturday the 1st: Rabbit Rabbit!! Sunday the 2nd, Groundhog Day! I can´t wait for all the celebrations. haha

I love you all. Take care and remember that God loves you. He is your FATHER. Jesus Christ is your SAVIOR!! He lives!!!!!!!!


Hermana Ayer

P.S. We found a referencia de oro....for another sector. Pray that we can find people who our prepared within our ward boundaries.

Roller Coasters

FAMILIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let me just say that this week was a roller coaster. Don`t worry, we`re not going on roller coasters. I just feel like this week has been a giant one, with a few upside-down parts thrown in. It`s been great, though! My face may look like that kid`s in the picture Dad sent me last week, but I`m having a great time.

Last Monday, I may have told you that we were having a hard time with communication in our house, but that is all resolved. Now the six of us are living happily and having a great time together. I love living with the other hermanas. They`re an inspiration to me and are having a lot of success, which makes me even happier. I know that communication is so vital to success. Communication, verification, everything. It`s necessary for this life and in all of our callings. Return and report. Rendir cuentas. Talk. It`s probably one of the most important gifts we`ve been given--the gift of communication. Especially with our Heavenly Father. We need to talk to Him daily, hourly, minutely, siempre. He is always listening to us, and will always be there to answer our prayers, cries, jokes, fears, needs, etc. He loves us. I know that. He lives and loves us.

On Wendesday, we had a capacitaciòn with the Asistentes de la misiòn. It was basically to tell us how much better we can be doing. Our zone has been pretty hard to work in, but we`re all trying to help the members to pick up the pace, ponerse las pilas, and help in this great work! After, we felt pumped up to help everyone recieve the blessings of the restored gospel. However, Satan was aware of our ànimos, and sent us some blows that day. We taught the restoration to an hermana who`s gone to church a few times, and she completely rejected our testimonies and the Spirit that she felt. It was very hard to leave the lesson and be excited to teach others, but that`s Satan`s tactic. We can NEVER get desanimated. We siempre have to go forth with faith to tell the world the Gospel is restored. Even when people tear us down, laugh at us, mock us, and do everything in their power to stop this work from progressing, we have to go forth strong knowing that God will give us power and strength. It was never easy for the pioneers. Why should it be easy for us?

Even though Satan tried so hard to knock us down on Wednesday, we found a miracle on Thursday--a single mom and her son who are prepared to receive the Gospel. This hermana`s name is Maria de Lourdes--Malou for short. She was gelling us about how she had some hatred in her heart for something someone had done to her in the past, and wanted to change her life. We shared Hechos 2:36-38 to help her see that the was she can be clean and born again is through baptism. Baptism is the only way we can become new creatures and truly show our repentance. Through baptism, we become cleaned of all the mistakes and sins we`ve made in the past. Gracias a la Expiaciòn de Jesucristo, the Gospel is possible, and we can return to God`s presence. The Spirit was so strong during the lesson, and she immediately accepted a fecha to be baptized. Unfortunately, she wasn`t able to go to church on Sunday because she was sick, but that`s not stopping us from helping her to receive the greatest blessing God has in store for her--eternal life. John 3:5.

On Friday, we had an activity to make little heart pillows, and when we got there, we were so happy to find that two of our investigators, and one of the menos activos we`re helping to reactivate came! It was so great! They had a great time at the activity, got to know the other sisters, and ended up coming to church!! So awesome!

On Sunday, my companion and I sang in church! We sang one verse of "Come Thou Fount" in English, and then mixed together our favorite words from Oh My Father and Joseph Smith`s First Prayer to the tune of Come Thou Fount. I think it`s the first musical number our ward has ever had, but it turned out great and everyone loved it.

Funny things: (1) We gave a young couple a Law of Chastity pamphlet because they`re always canoodling outside when we walk home at night. Since then, we haven`t seen them once. (2) Every time we walked passed one man, he would say, "Mister." After about the fiftieth time hearing this, I told him, "Mister is for men." He asked us what he should call us then, and I told him, "Hermanas." Finally, I`m called by a proper name. (3) There was a man smoking, so we decided to give him a Word of Wisdom pamphlet and invite him to church. He lived in a different area, and ended up going to that chapel. He liked it, too! I`ve had a hard time getting people to my ward, but to other wards, we`re good. Who knows why? Not I. (4) Some people in my ward were watching Barney in Spanish on YouTube when we went to eat lunch. As they started singing, I couldn`t help but sing along to all the songs in English. Glad I still got those words locked in my cerebro after all these years. You should be so proud.

Today, we had Consejo and it was awesome! I love my Mission President! Presidente Torres is inspired and inspiring. I know that he is called of God! I know that we have an important work to do here in this area! And on this earth! We`re here at this time for a reason, and we have to make sure we complete the purpose God has called us to do. Moroni 9:6


I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Hermana Ayer


P.S. Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!!

A Rainy Week

Hey family!!

This week has been an interesting one. The other hermanas in our zone arrived to their house with the doors wide open, so they ended up moving into our apartment. Now there are 6 of us living there. It`s fun, but let`s just say there`s been a lack of communication, so everyone`s a little frustrated, but we`ll get that all figured out. I`m just grateful that I`ve never been afraid to have a good talk. You can`t have the Spirit if there`s contention, and you can`t resolve contention if there`s not communication. That`s why we have ears, mouths, etc. So useful. haha So this week, we`re going to be working on that so we can all be happy and have fun! The Gospel is happiness! So if we`re not living happily, we`re not living the Gospel. Arrepentìos, arrepentìos.

On Monday, we went to visit with an investigator who has been having a hard time quiting smoking. He`s been doing so well, but he told us on Monday that he`s not ready to give it up quite yet. We`ve already done all we can--we`ve made a plan with him to stop, we`ve visited him everyday and shared scriptures and words of ànimo, we have friends who help him...but he`s just not ready to repent I guess. That`s probably the hardest thing to see. Repentance is the most important thing we do! If we don`t change, we can`t have the Spirit! We all need to repent every day! While we were feeling kind of down, my companion and I ran into a man who walked past us crying. We felt the need to talk to him, so we found out that he`s been having troubles in his family and feels as though God has abandoned him. He wants a change in his life, so we taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited him to be baptized. The Spirit was so strong! We`re going to visit him this week more so that he can progress.

On Tuesday, we did an intercambio with the other hermanas. I went to their sector and we met with some people visiting from Haiti who have gone to church a few times with them. They only speak French and Creol, but one of the girls spoke a little English. With the mix of English and Spanish, we were able to communicate. It`s interesting how the Spirit crosses all language barriers.

This week, we found a Catholic lady who told us that Ecuador is slowly being ruined by three things: (1) soccer, (2) alcohol, (3) money...but mostly soccer. It was so funny. I decided to not tell her my major has to do with recreation.

Also, side note, my companion and I are the same person. We started busting out Stick to the Status Quo and Hoedown Throwdown the other day. I have so much fun with her. We know that this work is hard, but every day, we`re happy. We`re just going to keey working, being patient, and soon we`ll see the fruits of our labors!!

We had a capacitaciòn for the members on Sunday for the Obra de Salvacion, and it went really well. Remember that the missionaries can`t do this work without you! I love the Gospel and it has blessed my life so much! Sharing hte Gospel helps you appreciate it more! So share!!! :] The Lord will bless you and fill your mouth with the words you need to say. I know He lives!!!!


Hermana Ayer


P.S. Alma 13:24

The first email written in 2014 on Mars.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can´t believe it is already the year 2014. Time sure flies. It seems only yesterday that your mother and father were in here buying their first wands....oh, sorry, Harry Potter quote.......It seems only yesterday that I was at home with you all celebrating 2013! The mission does this strange time warp thing where you never can tell how fast or slow it goes. It might just be Ecuador, though, and the fact that I´m living one big summer.

For New Years, we all had to be in our houses at 6 p.m. On Monday, the other two hermanas in our house got moved out, so it was just me an my compañera for Año Nuevo. What we did, is that we decided to do all the traditions we could in our house for Año Viejo. We ate 12 grapes, counted money, ran around the house with our suitcases, drank some soda and threw the cup over our shoulder, and then just gave a testament since we couldn´t actually burn anything in our house. It was awesome. We had lots of fun. I thought I was going to wake up in the middle of the night because of all the partying going on outside our house, but I slept like a baby. Thank you for sharing that talent with me, mom. It´s come in handy quite a few times. Oh, and I told the people here, they have to add "Conejo conejo!" to their list of traditions.

The past week has been even more fiestas for the Día de Inocentes. It´s like a mix of Halloween and April Fools Day. Mostly people just dress up randomly and occasionally people do bromas. There was a small parade we got to see the other day with people dressed up as the kings who went to give gifts to Jesus, and others playing music. It was pretty entertaining considering the general lack of musical talent here in Ecuador.

My companion and I have been playing Don´t Eat Pete this week, too, and it´s great because I found mini marshmallows! Miracle of miracles! We also have been working on helping hte other hermanas in our zone. We had an intercambio this week and it was really good. In our sector, we´re not having much success finding new people, so we´re trying to work with the members to give us referencias. But we have been rescuing some menos activos! It makes me happy.

We also have been learning the importance of obedience with exactness. Obedience brings blessings, but exact obedience brings miracles. We need lots of miracles here, so we´re doing our best. Mosiah 22. We also focused this last week on helping the hermanas to have charity. Moroni 7. Mateo 22:36-39. Charity is the pure love of Christ, and whoever has it in the last days, it shall be well with him. I want it to be well with me, so I´m working on having charity.

I love you all and hope you had an incredible New Year!!!!!!!!!!!! Exito!!!



Hermana Ayer

P.S. Elder Uceda of the Seventy is coming to visit the mission this week!