Training Photos

02/17/2014

 chau to my home girls, hna mosley and hna jimenez.  but they´re both still in machala!! yay!!

members from otavalo aka utahvalo because there are so many members there.  they were at the temple being sealed as a family.  cuuuute!!!!

yay!! training!!  there were only 5 new missionaries in the group that came, all of them gringos.  and all the trainers are gringos.  so the meeting with all of us was in english so the newbies could understand.  weeeeirddddd english.  hahaaha it was really weird though, for reals.  i had to do an example of verificacion and it was awkward.  because here in spanish you can ask a ton of personal questions and people dont get weirded out in the least bit.  plus i have a hard time speaking in english so it was just a struggle.

Training Again

02/17/2014

so i´m training agaaaaaain!!!!!!! of course.  i´ve had a total of 1 transfer where i wasnt training.  but!!!  hna jimenez and i did splits with the members monday night for like 30 minutes until the elders called and told me i had to be in the terminal in 15 minutes.  oh but when they called we were talking with hectors mom who is suuuuper evangelica and was going on and on and on so i was glad it got interrupted.  but yeah, so there went hector.  he´s officially gone.  but anyway.  so monday night hna viloria and i went to guayaquil and then tuesday morning we went to the TEMPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  okay, i have to confess.  the week before when i was praying i told Heavenly Father that I honestly loved my companion and didnt necessarily want changes but that I wanted to go to the temple.  So basically i asked to train.  just to be able to go to the temple.  but apparently He thought it was what >I needed too!!  Yay!!  Ohhhhhhhh my lantaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa it was INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is hna harper who was my fhe mom at chatthamtowne!!  she is hilarious. 

yeah, so my companion is hermana brulé.  she´s from colorado and is 19.  she is super smart!!!  she doesnt speak a lot of spanish but is picking up on it so quick and already knows our sector pretty well.  yesterday i got lost and she knew exactly where we were.  she´s great.  she´s having a hard time adjusting and i know EXACTLY how she feels.  so i´m trying to do the best to help her feel more comfortable with everything.  I wish i could speak to her in english because that would make her feel 20 times better and less lonely but president told me i cant.  so it´s been hard.  but it´ll be good.  the Lord will help us.  Yay!


at the temple and on the bus with my new companion 
 

oh we had interviews with president and i talked to him about my release date and he said its going to be august 26th so i´ll have a week to get everything ready for school..... soooo you´re going to have to help me lots with books and everything.

oh my heck we have the coolest investigator ever!  his name is diego and he has a prosthetic leg just below his knee, so it made him gain a ton of weight because when he got in the accident, they gave him like 12 pints of blood.  hahaha that was a horribly worded sentence and it doesnt make sense but i dont even care.  anyway.  but friday we gave him a book of mormon and saturday when we went to visit him he read till page 80 and then sunday he read 50 more pages.  and he understood everything, even some of the deep doctrines!!!!!!  escogido??  yes.  he is the coolest.  he´s been in jail and has had a mujer and used to drink all that junk but he wants so bad to change and he wants his family to change too.  I just love him!

um who knew that "Christ" and "Messiah" means "anointing"??  Yeah, discovered that this week and i was super excited.  the gospel is just so cool!!!

February Photos!

02/04/2014

mishell got baptized!!!!!!! it was seriously SOOOO HAPPY!!!!  her mom and her brother and sister came and they all really felt the spirit.  i sang a solo in english with my english hymn book :)  i sang the words to oh my father to the melody of come thou fount.  i would never ever ever ever sing all by myself in the states so i just take advantage here where most people are completely tone deaf.  but i made mishell´s mom cry so it invited the spirit and that´s what´s most important!  and then after she was baptized she gave her testimony and she was crying and her mom cried again.  but good crying, of course.  we want to work with the rest of her family becuase they are just the cutest and we love them so much!

i was really proud of my hair that day

and we were matching. yay!

temple in the fog. yay!

February 4, 2014

02/04/2014

so we had consejo in guayaquil this week again and i got my other toe operated on... yay!!

I GOT CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  yayyyy!!! it was so happy!!!!!!!! i loved everything!!  thank you so so so sos much!!  we are definitely enjoying all the chocolate and peanut butter.  and you know me so well!  i had forgotten about my chocolate covered blueberreis and mint truffeles!!!!!

bad news bears.  i lost my sd card with aaaaaaaaaall my pictures and videos from my mission.  yeah.  it´s pretty much terrible.  but i´m surprisingly really calm about it.  i think it´s because i realized i lost it the day i read all your guys testimonies so i had the eternal perspective really going on.  so the day we get to watch a whole movie of our lives will be great and i´ll get to see the vidoes and pictures i lost.  

oh at the consejo, presidente threw down about obediencia.  so now we´re only allowed to listen to hymns and motab.  soooo if you want to send me a micro sd with some music that would be great.  i have a little bit of motab but not very much.

oh yeah so presidente took out my other ingrown toenail on my other big toe.  it´s SOOOO COOOOOL how they take them out!!!!  well i didnt watch the shots because i just hate shots.  and they hurt.  but i watched how he took it out and it was awesome!!  hahahah thank you mommy for praying for my toes.  they need it.

it cracks me up how gossip goes around amongst the missionaries.  today hna llacsa was like ohh i heard that one of the elders here was your boyfriend.... ummmm what????  hahahaha im thinking its because i went on a date with christ barrett so everyone thought we were dating.  but here in south america it´s a huge deal to go on a date with someone.  like you dont just go one a date with one guy and then another the next weekend.  weird.  havnet they heard what the prophets say about dating??

oh we figured out the secret to getting free or cheap taxi rides.  the latina asks while the gringa just smiles.  works every time.  but  dont worry, we´re not going to get kidnapped or anything.

Machala

01/06/2014

so i´m here in machala.  the coast.  i am dying.  first of all because of the heat and the humidity.  not used to that.  i have to get used to sweating and being dirty and smelly all the time.  and the people are soooo different than cuencanos.  so ive had to adjust to that too.  but it´s good.  the members here are super awesome.  i guess 2 years ago there was just a couple branches and now there are like 10 wards and a branch.  so the work is awesome and the members are always willing to help out.  weve had double the lessons with members that we would have in cuenca.  so thats good.  and my companion is the cutest.  she is from guatemala and is 20.  shes only been here for 6 weeks so im finishing her training.  of course.  ive only had 1 transfer of my mission that i wasnt training.  but it´s good.  and oh my heck i absolutely love hermana mosley, the other hermana we live with.  shes from mesa and is half black.  total diva.  we get a lil cray cray in the house together but we keep it real, no worries.

in cuenca i would forget that i was in ecuador.... here, no.  not even for one second.  for example.  the other day we were walking down the dirt road and we see something burning.  get closer to it.... it´s a dog.  yeah.  a huge dog just burning on the side of the road.  then yesterday we see the cat thats in the picture.  at least that one had a proper burial and wasnt cremated.  and the same day we come home to a new pet crawling on our wall.  yayyyy!!!!!  love it here!!

thank you so much for sending me all the talks from the funeral and the program and everything!!!  reading that has helped me a lot.  hahaha i loved hearing all of the fun memories of grandma bye.  she really was an incredible lady and has left an amazing heritage.  i´m so grateful for her example!

i still havent seen any Christmas packages.  but im thinking tomorrow is the day.  i have faith.

dont worry, we always travel in groups of missionaries.  and its normal to travel at 3 in the morining.  its fine.

so i´m having to get used to the people here . theyre a lot more flaky so one day they´ll be super excited to go to church and be baptized and the next day they´ll be like ohhhh we´ll see if i can....  gaaaah it makes me crazy.  but we are teaching this one hermana´s brother who is paralyzed.  so he can hardly move the right side of his body and he cant talk.  he can only say ya.  but he understands almost everything and is super excited to get baptized!  its been super different trying to change the way i teach and only ask yes or no questions but he is sweet.

and then these 2 jovenes came to church yesterday.  straight up punks.  but i think theyve had some hard family lives so we´re going to do everything we can to help them.

oh and we were supposed to have a baptism satruday.  que bestia . we went over there in the morning to make sure everything was good and she was fine and then when we went back in the afternoon to get her for her baptism she wasnt there and her phone was turned off.  we waited in the rain for like 2 hours and she never showed up.  the next day we went to go talk to her and she was like whats the point of me getting baptized if i´m just going to keep sinning.  i was like well youre going to be sinning worse by not getting baptized because you now have the knowledge that you need to be baptized.  but she didnt care and was like i´m too busyyyy..... baaaaahhh!!!  we had spent hours with her this week with the elders and it was like okay.  we have done everything possible with you.  so chau.  i sound really bratty talking about her but i promise i was really loving and christlike with her so dont worry.  i just feel frustrated after the fact..

our house is nothing like the houses in the mountains but its decent.  today we cleaned out the fridge... houuugh it was a disaster.  apparently our area is huge but weve been working in a small sector of it so i dont really know.  i´m pretty sure its a fraction of the size of the sectors in cuenca and loja.  we havnent gotten lost because a member has been with us who knows where everyone live.s

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH my heck do not even get me started on the mosquitoes here.  i have AT LEAST 80 bites.  at least.  my feet and ankles are COVERED.  and my thighs.  have no idea how that happened but im itchin.  like a crazy person.

and.  got my ingrown toenails taken out.  que bestia.  i´ll tell you more details when i get home.  basically it hurt.  and they still hurt.  mas nada.

hahahahaha mommy you are hilarious.  ¨katelyn is coming home this year!!!!¨

but it sounds like everyone is busy and happy.  i wish i could see you in primary.

okay well i think that´s all i have to say for now.  thank you so much for all of your letters!  know i love you all and i´m so grateful for all your love and support!  let me know if there is anything i can do for you.

con muuuucho amor,
hermana bytheway

Merry Christmas from Ecuador

Dear Family and Friends of Mission Ecuador Guayaquil South,

 At this special time of the year we express our sincere gratitude for all your prayers

and sacrifices on behalf of your missionary.  We love each and every one of them. They  are as our own and wish each the very best blessings of the Lord.

Just as you yearn to be with your son or daughter, our Father in Heaven desires all of his children to return to HIM. Your missionary is striving to ensure just that, that each of our Heavenly Fathers children can return to him by inviting them to come unto Christ and participating in the ordinances of salvation. “ And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, …, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” He is the only Way in life to return to our Heavenly Father.

May the Lord give you the peace you desire of knowing your missionary is in the hands of HIM who indeed gave His hands in service, in devotion, in sacrifice for each and every one of us. May God bless you for your prayers and sacrifices in this great work of salvation.

With our love and appreciation,

Sister Torres and President Torres,

Lovin' Cuenca!

12/09/13

Juan Andres got baptized!!!  Oh my heck he is the funniest ever.  he is the one who first heard about the church like 30 years ago.  He{s like 40 something and still lives with his parents.  but i know soon he{ll find a cute wifey in the church!  He{s going to be such an awesome member and have so many leadership callings, i just know it!!  He is hilarious though.  he always is like i was reading on the internet about the church....  it{s like oh my heck, if it{s not lds.org it{s a lie!!!!!  he was saying he read how in the salt lake they sacrifice children and so secret things there.  que bestia.  but he{s awesome and always is wanting to know more.  oh but he told us a few days before he got baptized, he liked one of the church{s pages on facebook and then a bunch of his friends and family members called and were saying he was joining a cult and what not.  his family is super catolico and didnt support him at all.  but he{s so strong and got baptized anyway!  oh man his baptism was so stressful though.  because he had a bunch of court meetings and what not for some problem he{s had with a bunch of money he lost.  who even knows.  he talks about it all the time but i cant really understand it.  but anyway, so he told us about that friday night so we told our zone leaders and they were like, okay he{ll just get baptized tomorrow morning during our zone meeting.  it was nuts.  that morning we were trying to fill the font and get members there.  it ended up being a few elders, us, 2 members, and the 1st counselor of the bishopric.  but it was super happy!  indira, the rm talked about even though his family wasnt there to support him, he was joining a family 9in the church.  cute!!

oh my heck so the other day we were going to take pictures with the big nativty scene and we see this guard guy sitting on the plaza and i thought to myself, maybe we should talk to him.  but then i was like oh he{s working, maybe we shouldnt.  but then after taking the pictures i told my companion and she was like i was thinking the smae thing!  so we look over and he{s reading a book so we were like yeah, he{s not working that hard.  so we go over and talk to him.  get this.  his name is david and he{s 22.  bah!  funny.  but he{s from quito, here working.  so we taught him a lil bit and invited him to be baptized on the 21st and he said yes!  he said that right before we came up to him he was thinking he wanted to change his life.  well here ya go!!  how crazy is that??  well so he didnt have a cell phone and he couldnt remember his address so we left praying he would come to church since there was no way for us to go get him.  and he came!!!!!!!!!!  it was a miracle.  and he loved church!  in sunday school he was participating a ton and was so happy to be there.  it was so cool to see how the Lord put HIm in our path and the spirit told us to just go talk to him.  the church is true.

we are also teaching this family we found who accepted fecha which is happy!  haha they came to church after their misa yesterday morning so that was happy!  we{re slowly finding more people to teach and cleaning out our program of people who arent going to progress.  sometimes its hard but we always have to ahve the faith that that Lord is putting people in our path who are ready to accept the gospel in their lives.

we{ve also been teaching this family, a dad and a mom and a daughter who is 20.  well the dad is kinda weird.  he came to the conference and said he left disappointed.  he said the first speaker was boring and the closing prayer wasnt very good.  ohhh when he said that it made me mad because Elsa Ojeda gave the closing prayer.  I wanted to be like uhhhhhhhhh you do NOT talk about the Ojeda family like thtat!!!!!!!!!!!  Buti controlled myself.  anyway.  and then his daughter andrea told us that he thought we were just trying to get them baptized to increase our numbers to get their money.  and then he told us he{s catolico and he{s not going to change.  so chauzers to him.  but andrea is so cute!  she{s super interested and always asks questions!  i know she knows its true and she wants to be baptized but she hasnt accepted a fecha because her parents wont support her.  but i know she{s going to so soon!"!!! she has to!!!!!!!!!  she came to the christmas devotional with us last night and she loved it!  so that was good.  oh mayra was also there!  it was the first time seeing her since she gave us the letter.  it was so sad to see her but it was good she was coming to the church activities with her aunt and uncle.  one day she{ll get the courage to stand up for herself against her mom and be baptized.

oh carlos decided he doesnt want us to come visit us anymore because of his bad health.  we flat out told him that at this time in his life he needs God even more and by abandoning God, he{ll just get worse.  

my backpack still smells like coffee a lil.  hahaha yeah, i bought that backpack at the very beginning of my mission.  becuase we have to carry our triple, bible, a book of mormon to give away, pamphlets, water, money, hand sanitizer.  bunch of stuff.  so the backpack i have has a waist thing so all the weight isnt on my shoulders.  i use the scripture bag on pdays when i dont have to carry a lot of stuff.

awwwwwwwwwwwww that makes me so happy that mi sobrino me ama!!!!!!!!!!!!  i{m glad you{re teaching him who i am!!

of course no one wants to decorate the tree.  that{s my job.

i only play the piano at zone and district meetings.  there is a retired lady here who plays at church.

i dont know what the best way wouild be to send the card.  just decide and send it soon?  i want to take my shoes to get repaired but i dnot have money.  and make suer the packjage isnt over 4 kilos or i wont get it.,

hahaha gross, chuck a rama....  there are some buffets here and i was like umm i dont even trust buffets in the states, let alone in ecuador.

well i think thats all for this week.  thank you for all the updates on everything! tell cameron and brenden to write me.  i am so grateful for you all and for all your love and support and prayers.  i am so grateful to be here as a missionary, doing the Lord{s work, especially with an incredible family backing me up. I love you all!!!!!!!!!!

Hermana Bytheway