Día del Trabajador

FAMILY!!!!!!

First of all, I would like to wish in advance a happy Rabbit Rabbit and May Day this Thursday (which also happens to be the Día del Trabajador here in Ecuador...which is ironic, because it´s the day all the workers stay home and sleep or go on vacation or something), and a HALFY BIRTHDAY to Christian on Sunday. May the Forth be with you.

This week was incredible and passed SO FAST!!!!!! I´ll start with the miracle people we´re teaching:

MARIA. Maria is a woman who showed up to the Stake Conference two Sundays ago, and said she wanted to get baptized. She´s from here, but the past few weeks was visiting her sister on the coast. Her sister is a member, but she didn´t know that. When she was with her sister, the missionaries came over and began to teach her. She asisted church twice over there, and loves it. She loves the Book of Mormon. She reads Teachings of the Prophets of the Church in her free time. She reads Gospel Principles in her other free time. And reads the Book of Mormon every night for a minimum of 15 minutes. She already marked all the books in her LDM, and highlighted all the chapter headings, etc. She is incredible. She is prepared. I honestly don´t know how I am so blessed to be the one to teach her. She´s lived in Cuenca for so long, but the missionaries never found her. Her sister has been a member for a while, but she never knew. I don´t know what Hermana Price and I did right to deserve such a great blessing. I am so grateful to my Father in Heaven to have this chance to be entrusted with one of His most precious daughters. He loves us so much! I know He is a God of miracles. Maria will be baptized this Saturday. Pray for her to vencer la tentación. Satan works hard during the week before a baptism. But God is always stronger. :)

FAMILIA PUMA. This family was a referencia de una familia de mi old ward in Tomebamba. The oldest daughter attended the conferencia de estaca and loved it and told her whole family that they should go. There are 5 children in the family, and all are above the age of 8! The parents are a little more duro, and haven´t had the desire to go to church. It´s hard to visit them, too, because the work until 9 pm every day. Que bestia. But I know that they´ll come around. The 4 oldest children (20, 19, 15, and 14) all went to church on Sunday, and it was funny because there´s another church on the same street but Evangelica. They accidentally went inside that church, then realized that they didn´t feel the same spirit, so they left and looked for the Church of Jesus Christ, and when they walked in felt instant peace. The Spirit is real. All the children have a baptismal date, and love the church. The oldest daughter said that they´re going to be an example for their parents and that with time, their parents will come to church and be baptized, too. What faith!! I know it´s true, too! God wants us to return to His presence como FAMILIAS!! Not alone.

LAURA. Laura was ALSO a referencia. By the Stake President. She´s his work compañera, and is going through some really hard times in her life. She loves going to church, and she loves the Book of Mormon, but she can´t let the Catholic Church go and be baptized like Jesus Christ. The more she reads and prays, she´ll get her answer. Pray that she can get an answer. She needs the renewal of baptism in her life. Like the soldiers who killed our Savior in Hechos 2:37-41. Arrepentíos y sed bautizados.

The best part of this week, was having a visit from ELDER UCEDA!!

It was so awesome! I led all the music for the meeting, and the special hermana choir. It was great. He is a great leader and speaks with the Spirit. I learned so much, and know I have so much to improve on in my last few months here in the mission, but it´s never too late to change! I wish I had time to write down everything he said, but he talked a lot about the OLD type of missionary who just sees their propósito and thinks BAUTIZAR, and the NEW type of missionary who works with the members to find, teach, baptize, retain, and reactivate--a missionary who really helps people to have a true faith in Jesus Christ.

I love this Gospel and know that we can all return to our Father in Heaven! Be the best missionaries you can and help everyone to come to the truth. If people aren´t going to church, you should feel PAIN, and do everything possible so that they can stay active! This is the only way we can return to God´s presence and enter into His kingdom! He loves us! If we love Him, we will serve His children! Mosiah 2:17.

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


Hermana Ayer


P.S. I totally ate it this week and it was hilarious. My companion was dying. Don´t worry, I just can´t walk on flat ground anymore. No harm done.