Rabbit Rabbit again??

QUERIDA FAMILIA,

I feel like time is just FLYING!! I feel like I JUST said rabbit rabbit, and now I´ll be saying it again on Saturday! Seriously, the mission is a time warp. A great time warp. Also, Mom, I hope you had a great HALFY BIRTHDAY last Thursday!!!! I was thinking about you all day. Also, Will, have a great almost halfy birthday between Friday and Saturday! I hope you´re doing alright! Stay safe!!

This week, my comp and I had some great experiences feeling and following the Spirit. We´ve had a hard time finding new people to teach, and we feel like everyone just wants to stay where they are and not repent. It´s really hard when people don´t repent because our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ and repent! That´s what Christ always did--He invited people to repent. So with all the rejection and lack of repentance, my companion and I were feeling a little down, thinking about what we were doing wrong and what we could do better, and we decided we just need to pray more.

Prayer is the key to having success. Like it says in D&C 42:14, "And the Spirit shall be given unto you by the prayer of faith; and if ye receive not the Spirit ye shall not teach." We can only teach if we have the Spirit, and we can only have the Spirit if we pray for it with faith. It´s hard to find a secluded area to pray here in Ecuador because there are people on every street with cars passing by, people listening to loud music, dogs barking, babies crying, etc., but we realized that we can´t find people if we don´t pray for them with faith. The Spirit will always lead us to where we need to go, but we have to ask for the direction first. When we put ourselves to pray, we could feel a guiding power every time.

One experience in particular was when we were near our house and it was 8:30. We didn´t have any investigators close to where we live, and we had already visited all the menos activos, so we decided to pray to be led to where to go before we had to be in the house at 9. I looked down a street and noticed how bright it was, but didn´t say anything, and then my companion pointed down the same street and said, "Aquí?" I felt the same assurance that it´s where we needed to go. We could feel the Spirit so strongly out of one house, so we decided to knock. The family who lived there was just on their way out, so we asked them for directions to try and start a conversation. They were headed out right then, but we told them we´d come back and visit them today. After, we felt a warm confirmation that it´s a family God wants us to teach. Today, we´ll go and visit them, and hopefully they can progress. I know Heavenly Father has people prepared to hear this message, we just have to be worthy enought to receive the promptings of where to go.

Also, we had a baptism this Saturday! Eduardo got baptized, and he´s so awesome! He´s the karate kid, by the way. He has lots of friends in the ward, and he just had to go to church and feel that it was true in order to make the necessary changes in his life to accept the Gospel. He´s a great kid and going to be a great missionary someday!

Sorry I don´t have more time, but please know that I love you all! I can´t wait to play with children and hold babies when I get back. Definitely one of the hardest things about being a missionary, but I know God will bless me for my obedience. You are all so wonderful and I´m so grateful to be a part of the same family! Exito en todo!!!!!!!

All my amor,


Hermana Ayer

P.S. My comp is not related to any Arnolds from NH to her knowledge.

P.P.S. All my hijas´ names have started with "Ar": Arellano, Argueta, Arnold. Kinda fun. God definitely has a sense of humor. :]

Di a Luz

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

Well, the title says it all. Di a luz. What does that mean, you might ask? Well, it means just that. I gave light. Aka I gave birth. Aka I´m traning again!!!!! I have another hija!!!!!! My hija is Hermana Arnold from Arizona/Springville, UT. She`s fresh from the CCM in México and so excited to work! It´s scary, she reminds me so much of Olivia! It makes the work so fun and made it really easy to love her from the beginning! She´s 5´1", so just a tinch taller than Olivia. But I love her so much. Presidente told us that we should only speak in English with the new missionaries, so we´ve been trying to be obedient. We actually speak Spanish all day, but she obviously doesn´t know everything yet, so I help her when she has a question. We designed10:15 to 10:30 every night to English-speaking, but that pretty much never happens. I just love her happiness and excitement to learn everything. It´s been hard because everything is really hard at the beginning, but I´m so excited to help her to love missionary work and get used to the Ecuadorian culture. (Let me tell you, it´s very different from where we´re from. But it´s awesome.)

My new companion arrived on Tuesday, which meant we (the trainers) got to go to the temple! It was such a great experience. We watched the new temple video, but not the new NEW temple video. It was incredible, and every time I go, I just know more and more that the church is true. You can´t deny the Spirit. We may not understand everything in this life, but what we don´t know should never rule out what we do know. Like (who was it?--Elder Holland?) said, we should have doubts about our doubts. That´s what I´ve tried to help the people of Ecuador come to know. We should have doubts about our doubts. Just trust in the Spirit, and the power of God to answer what we need to know. He´ll never tell us everything, because we don´t need to know everything in this life, but He´ll give us what we need to know so that we can return to His presence--and that´s the most important.

Presidente also changed the rules so we can only listen to hymns now. It´s been wonderful. When we had Consejo de Líderes a couple weeks ago, we read in the introduction of the hymnbook. I would like to invite you all to do that tonight for Family Home Evening. Some choice parts I love are:

"Hymns move us to repentance and good works, build testimony and faith, comfort the weary, console the mourning, and inspire us to endure to the end.... Music has boundless powers for moving families toward greater spirituality and devotion to the Gospel.... THe hymns can bring families a spirit of beauty and peace and can inspire love and unity among family members. Teach your children to love the hymns. (THANK YOU!!) ... Hymns can lift our spirit, give us courage, and move us to righteous action. They can fill our souls with Heavenly thoughts and bring us a spirit of peace. Hymns can also help us withstand the temptations of the adversary.... [L]et us use the hymsn to invite the Spirit of the Lord into our congregations, our homes, and our personal lives."

THANK YOU so much for teaching us to love the hymns!!!!!! Thank you for having us sing hymns as a family all the time!!!!! Thank you for helping me to learn how to play the piano from the hymns!!!!! Thank you for listening to hymns on Sunday. Thank you for always having us sing a hymn on the way to church. Thank you for the constant reminder of the power of music--especially the hymns. I always wondered why our family was always so blessed to all be strong in the gospel and so united. Not only is it because we prayed, read the scriptures, went to church, and had FHE together, but it´s because we SANG THE HYMNS as well!!!!!

The Gospel is so powerful. I know it´s true. This week, we´ve been teaching a joven who has already made great changes in his life. He´ll hopefully be baptized this Saturday. His name is Eduardo. We still need help finding new people, but the members in the ward are awesome, so we´ll rely on their help and mostly on the Lord! Through His name, we can do all things!

I love you so much!!!!!!!!!


Hermana Ayer

P.S. This week, the rain caught us. One road turned into a river. It was quite an adventure.

P.P.S. Questions of the week: "¿Por qué sus cejas son así?" and "¿Que pasó con sus cejas?" I was born with eyebrows this way, ok?? So funny.

Amor y Amistad

Querida Familia,

Well, that`s right. This Saturday is the officialy Day of Amor y Amistad. Also known as Valentine`s Day!! I want you all to know how much I love you! You have all helped me incredibly in my life. Mom and Dad, thank you for teaching me correct principles desde mi niñez and for always being examples. You not only taught with words, but also with example.

William, thanks for being a great older brother. You always knew what to say, how to make peace, and took the brunt of most of the punishments just because you´re the first, but I´m so proud to call you my brother. It´s always an honor to be called Will´s sister--a name I hope to carry throughout my life. Parker, thanks for always being the one who laughed at the same jokes as I did. I love your sense of humor, for being able to joke around with me, for being there to give me a spiritual pick-up, and inspire me with your powerful testimony. I know you´re doing great things in WV, and that just by looking at you, people can feel the Spirit. Christian, thanks for always being so humble. Thank you for teaching me how to love the Gospel, and how to be strong even when people don`t agree with or laugh at our standards. Thanks for being a friend to those in need and for always remembering to share the love God has with everyone. I love you!! Sunkist, thanks for still jumping on my bed even when I didn`t want you to and for waking me up in the night to open the door when you got locked outside. It made me learn to appreciate God`s creations.

A lot of people don`t like Valentine`s Day because they´re not dating anyone, but I love this day! It´s a day to remember the love that should be present every day of our lives, like you said, Mom. Love shouldn`t be a one time thing. It should be an always thing. God has commanded us to love Him and love our prójimo. Every day of our lives, we have the chance to share the love of Christ by sharing the Gospel! I hope you can remember the love and mercy God has had for you by blessing you with the Gospel, and then think of how much more you can share that love with everyone by sharing the Gospel! It´s a joyful message! And when the end comes, all will need to accept it. So open your mouths and share love.

This week, my companion and I tried working a lot with Menos Activos. We found a few, taught a few, helped out a few, and all of them said they would go to church on Sunday!!! But, they pulled a Chuck Testa---NOPE. It`s so hard to see people remember the joy they´ve had in their lives thanks to the Gospel and then still reject it. We have to go to church in order to repent each week! I never thought about what renewing our covenants meant, but really it is the way in which we get baptized each week. We can constantly be cleansed from all our sins and burdens, and keep ourselves unspotted from the world. We just need to go the House of Prayer! And take the Santa Cena! It´s so simple, but remember to not brush it off because of the simpleness of the way. God gives us things we can accomplish so that all can partake of His salvation!!

On Friday, my companion and I had a little time left, so we decided to contact some houses. We knocked one door--nothing. We walked past a second door that was open, and a woman was inside talking to her son. I thought, "We should talk with them." But then I brushed the thought from my mind and kept walking. As we passed the house and got to the end of the street, I got a weight in my chest that wouldn`t go away. So I said to my companion, "Vamos a contactar esa casa con la puerta abierta." We went back, and found a woman named Liz. She told us how she had gone to church a loooong time ago, but she was baptized as an Evangelica. We shared with her the Gospel of Jesus Christ and about the Sabbath Day, and invited her to pray and ask God if she should be baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ. She then told us how one time in her life, she was looking for guidance and comfort, and prayed to have God show her the camino she should follow, and right in that moment, 2 Elders showed up to her house. The Spirit was SO STRONG in that moment when she realized that God was showing her what she should do. I KNOW that this is the true church!! Liz still had a little fear of her family because all of them are Evangelicos, but I hope that we at least planted the seed for her, and that some day she can be strong enough to follow the guidance she`s received from her Heavenly Father.

I love you all and know the Church is true. I know God loves us and, por eso He sent His son Jesucristo to earth to atone for our sins. Thanks to Him, we can all be cleansed from sin. Which is an incredible promise. :]

LES AMO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Hermana Ayer

P.S. I`m glad you got those letters I sent. Did you ever end up getting the Christmas package I sent home?? Not sure if there`s a way you can check where that is in the post office or something. Mom, no, I still haven´t gotten your letter, but know that I love you and I´m grateful!!

Oldie Moldie

That's right. You heard it, folks. I am officially an oldie moldie. But cuidado, no estoy trunky. I seriously have never felt so old as I did this week when I completed one year. It`s so weird to think that I left the house over a year ago now! The time just passes by so fast! For my one year, I went out and worked, sweated, drank some water, sweated some more, worked a lot more, and kept on working. And then at night, we had some pizza and Hna. [Victor] Krum made microwave cake. So delicious. It was a night to remember.

Also, I think Heavenly Father thought I was getting too white, so He decided to send me to the hottest part of the mission. That`s right again, folks, I`m back in Guayaquil. Where the sun beats the hottest, the mosquitos bite the hardest, and the sweat drops the fastest. But it`s been a great time, and luckily we've had a bit of rain to keep the some from penetrating to the bone and keep me cooled off a little bit.

My new companion is Hna. Morales from Nicaragua!!! I always thought the Nicaraguan accent was the hardest to understand, and it`s definitely distinct, but we`re good to go. I still have to pay a little bit more attention, but that`s normal. We`ve had a great time together. We`re still working on teaching with unity and sharing our time better, but we've gotten better this week.

We're opening up the sector here again, which is taxing when you have to start from zero, but luckily, I knew some of the members when I was here practicing for the Christmas choir, and that`s helped us a lot. We`re serving in Barrio Centenario in Estaca Centenario. The ward here is awesome! All the jovenes are pilisimas! I seriously am so impressed with the youth here. They all have such strong testimonies and desires to share the gospel with everyone! On Sunday, we had fast and testimony meeting, and it was pretty much all the youth who got up and bore their simple testimonies. It was incredible. I invite all of you to think about your love for the Gospel in your life and your commitment to God in sharing this message with everyone...and then do it! Share it with EVERYONE! Todo que se mueve! You`ll be blessed and God will fill your mouth with what you should say! Because this is the TRUTH!!! And everyone will need it at the last day, so you may as well help speed up the process, because God is hastening the work. :]

We live with the Enfermeras who work in the oficina--Hna. Llacsa from Peru and Hna. Krum from Bluffdale, UT. They're awesome. Also, I bought a banana clip this week. I'm officially Ecuatoriana...nos I just need a scruncy.

I got the package this week from the Laconia YW! Thank you so much!! Sister Searle being herself sent some Satellite Wafers. It had been so long since I`d had them! I shared some with the Hna. in our casa, and they were so weirded out. It was so funny. Thank you so much!!!!!!

Well, I hope you know I love you all. The Spirit is real and will always guide us to do the right and to find the people who need this message. Open your mouth and confiar in God. He is our father and He loves us. :]

I LOVE YOU!


Hermana Ayer


P.S. I hope you had a good Groundhog Day yesterday!