March 2nd

Wow, this week has been crazy!! Monday was P-day, like normal, and we bought material with a member who is going to make us dresses! They are going to be super cute and I hope they will look good on us, as well! Ha ha! Well, Monday night, I started not feeling good- I was freezing and we still had visits, which is normal...I mean we are missionaries after all… didn’t sleep good at all that night -I was super cold and had a fever and just didn’t hardly sleep.

Tuesday, we had a district reunion then went from there straight to lunch… even though I really didn’ want anything to eat and hardly ate anything at lunch. Afterwards, we went home and packed for our trip to Quito. I was not looking forward to this trip! It is a 5 hour trip-- 4 to the terminal in Quitumbe, then another hour in the thing that is like Trax, but a million times more packed with smelly people. It didn’t turn out too badly, I slept all the way there and that helped a ton!! We stayed in the house of the secretaries with another, like, 6 Hermanas-- there was at least a dozen of us in the house!! It was fun and would have been even more fun had I felt better!!

Wednesday was amazing! It was the first ever Hermana conference! Pres. Christensen organized all of it and we had good food and great trainings. Pres and Sister Christensen gave a couple lessons then each of the 3 companionships of Hermana leaders gave one and they were all sooo good!! The best part was being able to see all of my friends!  I got to see Hna Castillo and we laughed because neither of us is really enjoying this Cambio. But we keep putting one foot in front of the other!  

Thursday we had our reunion de Zona and that was great, followed by a very interesting lunch with a family. The mom is a convert and the rest of the family are not members- the daughter and son are investigators of ours, but the dad… -well, the best way to describe him is he’s a hippie!! His kids hate him, his wife isn’t happy because it, the relationship between her husband and kids, is ripping the family apart… it is a mess!! But, we had an amazing lesson that night, as well with, what was a reference, but turns out that he is a less-active, but he is living with his girlfriend, who is not a member but she wants to get baptized and knows that they have to get married first.  They have fecha for the 24th of April, but we are working with them hoping that we can get the date moved up, because they told us that they have no reason that they are waiting that long, they have been engaged for like a 8 months or so. So, if we can get them married and her baptized and help him in his process to come back that will be so great!!  Friday...I completed 6 months in the mission!!!!!!! Our DL, who, yes, is feeling much better, was in Quito and we needed to have Mayra´s interview- if she was going to get baptized on Saturday..so our ZL’s, we talked to them on Thursday, and they said that if we did it Friday morning they would do the interview for us! Fantastic! So, we went to talk to her and we set everything up- including help her paint in the morning before her interview. So my comp and I went to help paint and we started with the sanding and what not, then our ZL’s showed up and Elder Nielson took Mayra into the back room to have her interview and they didn’t even get started when her boyfriend walked in and was like, I need you to exchange this, I need the other kind,...so she got up and left.. sad day, but when Elder Nielson came out looking a little shocked, said that if she came back we would continue with the interview, if not we were all leaving. She did come back...only to grab her keys and walk out again...so we left...we will try calling her this weekend, but this was her third chance of having her interview and it hasn’t happened on her part...so, we´ll see what is going to happen with her.

Saturday, we had a service project that was supposed to be with the entire ward, but no one but us showed up, so the 6 of us cleaned the entire chapel! Afterwards, it looked soooooo much better! Then we had some great lessons, we had a great ndh with the Mayo family, the family of our branch pres. but he and his wife weren’t there, they were at the temple! But, it was a really great lesson and we have another one on Saturday and I am going to cook something… don’t know what exactly yet, but it will be good!!  

Sunday, we had  a lesson after lunch, which was super fun, with the family of one of the RM´s of the branch, then he came with us to visit the dad of the convert, the hippie, and it is a good thing he was there, that man is so weird! I have no idea what to say to him! -and it is weird, he is perfectly pleasant when we are there, but all the stories we hear from his family, he is the opposite...! Then we had the best ndh, with a less-active, it was sooo much fun!!

We are definitely doing a ton more contacting in this sector! and we also do a lot more riding in taxis and buses than we did in Latacunga. Our sector is huge and our investigators don’t live close to one another which is a pain! But all good!  I think we had 140ish at church on Sunday… not too bad, ´eh?!

I love you all sooo much! and I love my mission! It is the hardest thing I’ve done in my life, but also the best decision I have made in my life! It is the best-- getting to meet millions of new people, learn a new language and travel to and live in a different country, there is nothing like it!! It is amazing to see the Lord in my life every single day, and something I am not as good at as I should be about thanking him for all the blessings and miracles, but that is one of my goals for this week! My DL was talking to me on Sunday and recommended trying that for at least a week at night-- offer just a prayer of thanks, and let the Lord see your love and He will bless you with everything you thought you needed and more!!

So here is to another week that is going to be the best one yet!!! I know the church is true and that my Savior lives and that because of him we have the opportunity to live with our families for all of eternity!! 

I love you alll sooo much!

hugs and kisses!

always and forever

Karlee Jo