Hola familia, amigos, queridos,
Where to begin? I received a call last night from Elder Jativa
(ha-te-ba) saying I had two packages waiting for me in the Correo de
Ecuador in downtown Guayaquil. He gave me the codes and everything to
go and retrieve them today. Normally he goes and gets them, gives them
to the zone leaders, and I receive my packages during district meeting
once a week. This time the packages required my personal information
so I had to go get them. I went to downtown Guayaquil and waited in
line only to find out that I did not have two packages but only one
and it was in a town in northern Guayaquil called Urdesa. Hermana
Reyes and I hopped on a bus and spent an hour and a half retrieving
this package. I thought it would be the package with my sheets and M &
Ms (the only package I have received is the second one with all the
probiotics and clothing). Nope, Dear Elder had sent me a package with
all kinds of goodies, but I spent most of my Pday retrieving it. Well,
it was an adventure, but now I am going to talk with Elder Jativa
about the package with my sheets, AND why he would send me all the way
to Urdesa to retrieve a DearElder package. Dear Elder needs to get
their act together to send it to the RIGHT PLACE, gosh darn it!
Hahaha. P-days are precious time to waste because we have a lot to do
to prepare for the rest of the week.
Now I will tell you about the trial of my faith that I have been
withholding from you these last few weeks. The past few months I have
had increasing amounts of pain in my right knee due to the increased
amount of walking we do in my sector. I told the mission nurses and
they have had me go to doctors and take medications to relieve the
pain. Last Wednesday, I had an MRI in downtown Guayaquil. The results
indicated everything was alright, that my ACL reconstruction is intact
and the meniscus scope is fine. I should not be having any problems
except for some inflammation. Nevertheless, I called President
Montalti to inform him of the information. He is having the area
doctors look at my MRI results to review them in case the doctors I
saw missed anything. The doctor who reviewed my results told me that I
will need to wear an orthopedic brace that has bars down the two sides
and go through physical therapy. The thing is I just did this two
months ago in the MTC - physical therapy and the brace. I do not want
to repeat this again this time and then in two months from now. I told
this to Pres. Montalti. I expressed that if the pain continues, I need
to cease walking. The only way to do that is to return home and
recuperate there until they reassign me to a mission with a car. All
options are being reviewed, but I am still having excrutiating pain in
the knees. I thought I should let you know. I didn´t want to tell you
before because I knew you would worry about me. I want to keep these
emails positive and upbeat. However, the situation has advanced that I
feel you should know. They take really good care of the missionaries
here so I do not want you to worry or send personal emails to the
President of the Mission. He is doing all he can.
Now, for the good stuff.....I have great news. After weeks and weeks
of delays, Mario and Teresa are getting married this Friday! We had
the venta or sale of food and raised close to a hundred dollars. She
was able to buy her government paperwork and pay for the wedding. She
even has a little left over to buy a nice shirt and skirt for the
wedding. Then, the couple will be baptized this Saturday at 7 pm. I am
so excited because this is a miracle. They have been what we like to
call eternal investigators because they have been investigating the
church since last July. Hallelujah!
Also, on Sunday, a husband of a member who has been putting off his
baptism for over nine months now finally accepted to get baptized this
weekend. His wife is such a faithful member of the Church. She has
begged him for nine months to change and get baptized, but he wouldn´t
have it. Now he is taking the next step. His name is Ricardo Chaglia
and his wife is Christina Caceres. These two families, after the
baptisms this weekend, will be complete families and can get sealed in
the temple a year from this weekend. What a blessing!
We have a few other prospective investigators, but there is no more
time to write.
I call this email a trial of my faith because when I talked with the
mission president about my knee, he asked me what I want to do. I told
him plainly that I want to return home to heal. I couldn´t take any
more of the pain with my knee. However, after that phone call, I have
seen how much I have come to love the people here. I cannot see myself
leaving my mission early. If it comes to the fact that I have to leave
early, I will for my health´s sake, but I will leave knowing I did
everything in my power to bring the gospel to the people here in
Ecuador.
I love you all. Please read Alma 32 and 33 on faith. That has helped
me to keep going in this great trial of health.
Take care,
Hermana Melanie Forbush
Sunday, March 18, 2012
05 de marzo 2012
Hola Familia y Amigos,
Whoa! Has today been crazy and unexpected. Many things have occurred, but I will not go into all the details with the limited time I have. It is better to focus on all the really good details such as the baptisms that are coming up and the success we are having in our sector.
To begin, the family that we really wanted to get baptized, Mario and Teresa, did not end up getting baptized as originally planned last weekend. There was just too many things that needed to happen for them to get baptized. They needed to raise the money to purchase a government paper, get married at the civil registry, and a few other things. Of course all of this requires money, money, money. What else does this world revolve around? My sixth grade science teacher once told me bugs are what make this world turn, but that is a different story all together. Anyway, my companion Hermana Reyes and I organized a sale where the ward would contribute ingredients to make plates of rice, menestra, and meat, with a side of patacones. We were planning on selling it last Thursday, the couple would get married on Friday, and the baptism would be on Saturday. Unfortunately, however, the father´s birthday was on Saturday and he wanted to go drink alcohol with his buddies. Thus he avoided us all week long. Then, the sale of food didn´t happen, the wedding was postponed, and they didn´t get baptized on Satuday.
However, yesterday, we met with the family once more to see where they were at. The father, Mario, was very repentent. He knew what he did was wrong and that hiding from the sister missionaries was not a good solution because he only felt more guilty. This led him to choose to spend his birthday with his family and not drinking with his buddies. So he didn´t break the Word of Wisdom after all! I was so happy to hear that.
Now, the sale of food is going down tomorrow. The mom, Teresa, will make the food in her house, we as missionaries have a list of 54 consumers at two dollars a plate, and plan to distribute the food tomorrow evening. The sale of food is still going to happen. Yay! Their new baptismal date is March 17. I cannot wait to see the family become members as a whole. Then, a year from now, they can get sealed in the temple. This is their ultimate goal. It is so beautiful. Is it not?
We are also teacing two sisters ages eighteen and nineteen, Eunice and Lisset respectively. They have baptismal dates for March 25. What is so awesome is that they are neighbors to a recent convert, Christian Layedra. He is 23 and planning to serve a mission after his year is up as a member in the church. You have to be a member of the church for a year to become a missionary, to enter the temple, etc. However, transfers are March 20. Coming up! I hope that they will stay on the straight and narrow and get baptized even after we are transfered, if I am transferred. It is more likely that Hna. Reyes will get transferred because she has been here for six months in this very sector. I only have two transfers here.
Well, that is all for now. I love you very much! Please take care of that foot, Stephanie. Do not push yourself to fast to heal with three little monsters running around. Nathan, how did you celebrate your birthday? Write me and tell me all about it.
Lubka, please tell me what you plan to do! I heard the news from my Dad. I pray for you so much. More than you know.
As my friend, Cicely Chipman, who I got a letter from this week, always says, what can I pray for you?
The Church is true and it is going forth in Ecuador so fast. South America is God´s sacred treasure and I love the people here. Especially my companion.
Take care,
Love,
Melanie Forbush
Trial of Faith - 27 de febrero 2012
Time is flying by fast! Do I say that every week or what? Yesterday
was my four month mark in the mission since I entered the MTC. I
cannot believe it.
We had two baptisms this week -- Juana del Carmen Lucas Ramirez (we
call her Juana or Carmen) and Eduardo Israel San Pedro Gomez (we just
call him Israel). Juana, who is 66 years old, sacrificed a lot to get
baptized such as her place of residence. Her daughter is very
Evangelical, a controversial religion down here, and swore that if she
got baptized, she would disown her. Now she is in the process of
relocating. It is rather sad, but I am glad she chose the Lord. She
will receive so many blessings from her decision to get baptized.
Israel is 18 years old. His whole family loves to hear from us.
Unfortunately, his Mom, Ana, doesn´t want to get married to get
baptized. She is rather comfortable with her lifestyle, but she is
such a wonderful person. We love them all and visit them regularly to
teach Israel and his little brother Joel. All in all, it was wonderful
to have two baptisms in the same day. We have been working hard this
month with relatively little success until Saturday. (We normally only
have baptisms on Saturday here).
We are working with a whole family, yay a whole family finally, to get
baptized. The son, Jonathan, who is 9 or 10 years old, is already
baptized. Now the parents, Mario and Teresa, need to get married and
baptized. We finally convinced them to get married about a month ago.
Ever since we have kept daily contact with them to keep them excited
and committed to getting married. However, this last week they were
really hesitant saying they will wait a little bit longer. They have
been seeing the missionaries since last July. Each time they make
excuses not to get married. Now we are pushing for the wedding this
week. The ward keeps telling us that we are pressuring them, but if we
don´t they will never have the blessings of an eternal family. We just
need to help them raise 54 dollars to pay for the civil registry.
Please pray that they will exercise their faith to follow the Lord´s
commandment. I really want them to get baptized because they are such
wonderful people. Now is the time!
Funny note, at Israel´s baptism, the white jumpsuit was kind of small.
He wore these white socks with tiny red footprints. It was like seeing
a person with white underwear and red hearts. What a funny sight. I
guess you had to be there.
Nathan, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I am sorry I haven´t got a card in the mail,
but one is on its way. I promise.
I love you all. Please know that I am working hard to bring others to
the knowledge of the Gospel that blesses our family so much. Please
stay strong in the faith and move forward with action. This Gospel is
true. I know it with every fiber of my heart.
Take care. Until next time,
Hermana Melanie Forbush
was my four month mark in the mission since I entered the MTC. I
cannot believe it.
We had two baptisms this week -- Juana del Carmen Lucas Ramirez (we
call her Juana or Carmen) and Eduardo Israel San Pedro Gomez (we just
call him Israel). Juana, who is 66 years old, sacrificed a lot to get
baptized such as her place of residence. Her daughter is very
Evangelical, a controversial religion down here, and swore that if she
got baptized, she would disown her. Now she is in the process of
relocating. It is rather sad, but I am glad she chose the Lord. She
will receive so many blessings from her decision to get baptized.
Israel is 18 years old. His whole family loves to hear from us.
Unfortunately, his Mom, Ana, doesn´t want to get married to get
baptized. She is rather comfortable with her lifestyle, but she is
such a wonderful person. We love them all and visit them regularly to
teach Israel and his little brother Joel. All in all, it was wonderful
to have two baptisms in the same day. We have been working hard this
month with relatively little success until Saturday. (We normally only
have baptisms on Saturday here).
We are working with a whole family, yay a whole family finally, to get
baptized. The son, Jonathan, who is 9 or 10 years old, is already
baptized. Now the parents, Mario and Teresa, need to get married and
baptized. We finally convinced them to get married about a month ago.
Ever since we have kept daily contact with them to keep them excited
and committed to getting married. However, this last week they were
really hesitant saying they will wait a little bit longer. They have
been seeing the missionaries since last July. Each time they make
excuses not to get married. Now we are pushing for the wedding this
week. The ward keeps telling us that we are pressuring them, but if we
don´t they will never have the blessings of an eternal family. We just
need to help them raise 54 dollars to pay for the civil registry.
Please pray that they will exercise their faith to follow the Lord´s
commandment. I really want them to get baptized because they are such
wonderful people. Now is the time!
Funny note, at Israel´s baptism, the white jumpsuit was kind of small.
He wore these white socks with tiny red footprints. It was like seeing
a person with white underwear and red hearts. What a funny sight. I
guess you had to be there.
Nathan, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I am sorry I haven´t got a card in the mail,
but one is on its way. I promise.
I love you all. Please know that I am working hard to bring others to
the knowledge of the Gospel that blesses our family so much. Please
stay strong in the faith and move forward with action. This Gospel is
true. I know it with every fiber of my heart.
Take care. Until next time,
Hermana Melanie Forbush
Carnival - 22 de febrero 2012
I can imagine Mom sending an email to President Montalti asking why
she didn´t hear from me on Monday like she did the day I arrived to
Guayaquil and didn´t receive a phone call from me at the airport.
Well, the answer to all this is that Monday and Tuesday all the
businesses in Guayaquil were closed because all the people were
celebrating a holiday called Carnival. It is basically a holiday that
allows people to take time off work to enjoy themselves in water
games. Many flock to the beach. I got hit in the back with a water
bomb or water balloon after two girls chased us down the street with
it. They cornered me, I turned around with all hopes that they would
have pity on me, or maybe that an angel would come down from the sky
and warn them not to touch a servant of God. But none of those things
happened. They threw it right in my lower back. I was not a very happy
camper for the rest of the day with a wet shirt and skirt. Haha. It
was all fun though.
To update you on the missionary work, Israel´s baptism is back on for
this weekend. We are pretty sure it is going to go through because he
trusts us now and hasn´t broken the Word of Wisdom. Yay! Also, Juana
Lucas Ramirez will be getting baptized. She is sixty six years old.
She has such a love for the Book of Mormon. We are excited to have two
people this weekend because our zone has suffered great losses. Many
baptismal dates have fallen because Satan has worked especially hard
to dissuade the investigators. That has taught me that I need to have
daily contact with my investigators so they are consistently feeling
the Spirit and are encourgaged to perservere until their baptism. Pray
that all goes well this weekend.
To answer your questions from last weeks emails, Hna. Reyes and I are
in the same sector, in the same apartment. What it means to not be
transferred is that we didn´t move at all.
Mom, I have not received the box yet. The one with the probiotics. Not
yet. I think it will come in the next week. No worries yet. But I
would check on the one with the sheets. That worries me.
Dad, I will take the money out that you told me to. I also need to
take out fifty dollars to have an emergency fund. They encourage us to
have one here. I will take the money out a little at a time. Ten
dollars here, ten dollars there, until I have built up my fund. That
way it isn´t a huge chunk out at one time. You have to work up these
things. It is like saving money in an account, right?
Nate, expect a letter in the mail in about ten days. I wrote you in
response to your email. I love you.
Well, I only have fifteen minutes to write today. They wanted us to
write only to advise you that we are all okay.
Love you all. Take care. Church is true.
Hermana Melanie Forbush
she didn´t hear from me on Monday like she did the day I arrived to
Guayaquil and didn´t receive a phone call from me at the airport.
Well, the answer to all this is that Monday and Tuesday all the
businesses in Guayaquil were closed because all the people were
celebrating a holiday called Carnival. It is basically a holiday that
allows people to take time off work to enjoy themselves in water
games. Many flock to the beach. I got hit in the back with a water
bomb or water balloon after two girls chased us down the street with
it. They cornered me, I turned around with all hopes that they would
have pity on me, or maybe that an angel would come down from the sky
and warn them not to touch a servant of God. But none of those things
happened. They threw it right in my lower back. I was not a very happy
camper for the rest of the day with a wet shirt and skirt. Haha. It
was all fun though.
To update you on the missionary work, Israel´s baptism is back on for
this weekend. We are pretty sure it is going to go through because he
trusts us now and hasn´t broken the Word of Wisdom. Yay! Also, Juana
Lucas Ramirez will be getting baptized. She is sixty six years old.
She has such a love for the Book of Mormon. We are excited to have two
people this weekend because our zone has suffered great losses. Many
baptismal dates have fallen because Satan has worked especially hard
to dissuade the investigators. That has taught me that I need to have
daily contact with my investigators so they are consistently feeling
the Spirit and are encourgaged to perservere until their baptism. Pray
that all goes well this weekend.
To answer your questions from last weeks emails, Hna. Reyes and I are
in the same sector, in the same apartment. What it means to not be
transferred is that we didn´t move at all.
Mom, I have not received the box yet. The one with the probiotics. Not
yet. I think it will come in the next week. No worries yet. But I
would check on the one with the sheets. That worries me.
Dad, I will take the money out that you told me to. I also need to
take out fifty dollars to have an emergency fund. They encourage us to
have one here. I will take the money out a little at a time. Ten
dollars here, ten dollars there, until I have built up my fund. That
way it isn´t a huge chunk out at one time. You have to work up these
things. It is like saving money in an account, right?
Nate, expect a letter in the mail in about ten days. I wrote you in
response to your email. I love you.
Well, I only have fifteen minutes to write today. They wanted us to
write only to advise you that we are all okay.
Love you all. Take care. Church is true.
Hermana Melanie Forbush
Opposition in All Things - 13 February, 2012
Hola! Two months in the mission!
Has today been a good day or what! As normal for a P-day, we have to
study as normal in the morning with personal study for an hour,
companionship study for an hour, language study for another hour, etc.
Then we clean the house and wash our clothes by hand (my companion and
I decided this was the best way to keep really good care of our
clothes instead of pay someone to do it for us), buy groceries, and
write our families. That pretty much takes up our entire day until six
o´clock when we resume proselyting. However, I am a firm believer that
this day is sagred when you should do something really FUN because we
work really hard the rest of the six days of the week. Missionaries
are the only ones in the world, I think, that do not get to enjoy a
Sabbath day. Haha. Anyway, today my companion, Hermana Reyes, and I
made pupusas. Basically, it is a tortilla stuffed dish typical of
Central America, and yes, Central America is different from South
America. However, the pupusas are filled only with cheese instead of
meat which I have eaten before. The ones with meat are famous in Utah
among the El Salvadoreans. It was fun to eat the pupusas with her. I
showed her how to whip up some really good mashed potatoes. Yes, my
specialties are limited, but I can at least contribute with mashed
potatoes. Anyway, that is how we enjoyed our free time...cooking food.
We are both strong personalities, and often fight to reach good
communication, but we always agree on food. Yum...
As for the obra misional or missionary work, it is going forward. No
one can stop the hand of the Lord in his work. I entitled this email
opposition in all things because we have seen a lot of opposition this
week. Last week, I described how we had transfers and Hnas. Meono and
Needham left. From that day onward, we worked with our zone leaders to
teach their investigators in our sector. Add our investigators to the
mix and we had our work cut out for us. We found we were trying to
teach them all, and in the process, some got neglected. For example,
we had two baptisms scheduled last Saturday (baptisms in this mission
only take place on Saturday), and both of them fell through. One was
Israel Gomez. He is an investigator that we inherited from the other
sisters. We took him last Wednesday to his baptismal interview,
thinking he would be all ready to be baptized and would pass his
interview with flying colors, but come to find out he had drank
alcohol five days before. No worries, he is getting baptized this
upcoming Saturday.
Additionally, Christina Carrascal was scheduled to get baptized
Saturday, but when we verified that she was living the Word of Wisdom,
she told us we never taught her about that. Uh-oh. That was our fault.
She loves to drink her black tea with her Korean friends and coffee at
every meal. We are working with her on overcoming this. She lives in
the northern part of our sector which is a little far, so she ended up
being one of the investigators that we neglected. Thus, we have yet to
schedule another baptismal date with her. I hope this will not change
her mind to get baptized. We have taught her for two months. I have
come to love her a lot and want to see her get baptized before I get
transferred. I am grateful that the Lord put me in this sector one
more transfer to follow through with her baptism.
As for the package you sent me, it still has not arrived. I want to
make sure you are sending them to the right address. If you look in my
call letter, it is the address to the mission office which has the
street name ¨Casilla......Guayas.¨ That is where the packages should
be sent. Not the pouch mail. You cannot send packages through the
pouch mail. I hope this clarifies things.
Mom, I was thinking about what you could put in the package. Please
send me cereal such as the Apple Cinnamon Cheerios and Raisin Bran
Crunch. Yum. And Dad, if you would like to send Dear Elder packages
with chocolate goodies, or cookies, or whatever, I welcome any
goodies. Plus, please send more pedis. I really need them. You have no
idea! Anything else? I am doing pretty good with getting most things
here. It is part of trying to be more self-reliant. Hehe.
Well, I didn´t get a chance to print out your emails last week and
read them, so I will do that today and respond to them next week.
Remember if you want a question answered right away, send me an email
with just that question in one or two sentences in the email. I can
respond to those rather quickly.
I love you all. Know that this Gospel is true. I wouldn´t be here if
it weren´t for the Lord. I know it is his work that I do. Joseph Smith
restored this Gospel. The Book of Mormon contains the fullness of the
Gospel and with the Bible, those two books are the Word of God. Jesus
Christ lives. That is all. Love one another and take good care of one
another. Treat each other only with love and by example.
God be with you until I write next week with some more tidbits of Ecuador.
Love with all my heart,
Hermana Melanie Forbush
Has today been a good day or what! As normal for a P-day, we have to
study as normal in the morning with personal study for an hour,
companionship study for an hour, language study for another hour, etc.
Then we clean the house and wash our clothes by hand (my companion and
I decided this was the best way to keep really good care of our
clothes instead of pay someone to do it for us), buy groceries, and
write our families. That pretty much takes up our entire day until six
o´clock when we resume proselyting. However, I am a firm believer that
this day is sagred when you should do something really FUN because we
work really hard the rest of the six days of the week. Missionaries
are the only ones in the world, I think, that do not get to enjoy a
Sabbath day. Haha. Anyway, today my companion, Hermana Reyes, and I
made pupusas. Basically, it is a tortilla stuffed dish typical of
Central America, and yes, Central America is different from South
America. However, the pupusas are filled only with cheese instead of
meat which I have eaten before. The ones with meat are famous in Utah
among the El Salvadoreans. It was fun to eat the pupusas with her. I
showed her how to whip up some really good mashed potatoes. Yes, my
specialties are limited, but I can at least contribute with mashed
potatoes. Anyway, that is how we enjoyed our free time...cooking food.
We are both strong personalities, and often fight to reach good
communication, but we always agree on food. Yum...
As for the obra misional or missionary work, it is going forward. No
one can stop the hand of the Lord in his work. I entitled this email
opposition in all things because we have seen a lot of opposition this
week. Last week, I described how we had transfers and Hnas. Meono and
Needham left. From that day onward, we worked with our zone leaders to
teach their investigators in our sector. Add our investigators to the
mix and we had our work cut out for us. We found we were trying to
teach them all, and in the process, some got neglected. For example,
we had two baptisms scheduled last Saturday (baptisms in this mission
only take place on Saturday), and both of them fell through. One was
Israel Gomez. He is an investigator that we inherited from the other
sisters. We took him last Wednesday to his baptismal interview,
thinking he would be all ready to be baptized and would pass his
interview with flying colors, but come to find out he had drank
alcohol five days before. No worries, he is getting baptized this
upcoming Saturday.
Additionally, Christina Carrascal was scheduled to get baptized
Saturday, but when we verified that she was living the Word of Wisdom,
she told us we never taught her about that. Uh-oh. That was our fault.
She loves to drink her black tea with her Korean friends and coffee at
every meal. We are working with her on overcoming this. She lives in
the northern part of our sector which is a little far, so she ended up
being one of the investigators that we neglected. Thus, we have yet to
schedule another baptismal date with her. I hope this will not change
her mind to get baptized. We have taught her for two months. I have
come to love her a lot and want to see her get baptized before I get
transferred. I am grateful that the Lord put me in this sector one
more transfer to follow through with her baptism.
As for the package you sent me, it still has not arrived. I want to
make sure you are sending them to the right address. If you look in my
call letter, it is the address to the mission office which has the
street name ¨Casilla......Guayas.¨ That is where the packages should
be sent. Not the pouch mail. You cannot send packages through the
pouch mail. I hope this clarifies things.
Mom, I was thinking about what you could put in the package. Please
send me cereal such as the Apple Cinnamon Cheerios and Raisin Bran
Crunch. Yum. And Dad, if you would like to send Dear Elder packages
with chocolate goodies, or cookies, or whatever, I welcome any
goodies. Plus, please send more pedis. I really need them. You have no
idea! Anything else? I am doing pretty good with getting most things
here. It is part of trying to be more self-reliant. Hehe.
Well, I didn´t get a chance to print out your emails last week and
read them, so I will do that today and respond to them next week.
Remember if you want a question answered right away, send me an email
with just that question in one or two sentences in the email. I can
respond to those rather quickly.
I love you all. Know that this Gospel is true. I wouldn´t be here if
it weren´t for the Lord. I know it is his work that I do. Joseph Smith
restored this Gospel. The Book of Mormon contains the fullness of the
Gospel and with the Bible, those two books are the Word of God. Jesus
Christ lives. That is all. Love one another and take good care of one
another. Treat each other only with love and by example.
God be with you until I write next week with some more tidbits of Ecuador.
Love with all my heart,
Hermana Melanie Forbush
06 de enero de 2012 - First day of second transfer
Mom! Dad! Kelly! John! Familia y friends!
How are you all doing this fine Monday afternoon? (Mom, I am worried
because I did not receive a letter from you last week, which is
understandable from the major that weekend, but I didn´t receive one
from you this weekend either. Is everything okay?) I hope everything
is well in St. Louis, Missouri and now Colorado Springs, CO (with
Nathan´s new home). Our family is finally spreading across the North
American continent! Yay. Expect that I will visit your home when I
return since you are only a few hours from Provo, Utah. Haha. Have you
fallen in love with the mountains like Dad and I have? The west is
really something special and I cannot wait to return to school there.
Today is transfers (is it hard to believe that I have already
completed my first transfer in the mission) but I stayed in the same
sector with Hna. Reyes from Honduras. I was grateful that I didn´t
have to pack my bags at 5:30 AM. Hna. Reyes had her heart set on
leaving this sector this transfer because she has been here for six
months (she started here for her first sector, went away for two other
transfers, and then returned here for the last three transfers. She
has ten months in the mission in total). However, she is here with me
for another transfer. We talked for a long time last night about some
familial troubles she has been having, and we grew a whole lot closer
as a companionship. She admitted she never told any other companion
these things so that made me feel really special, as if I shared
something with her that no other companion had. Now I feel we can
start this transfer with a clean slate and a stronger bond.
With transfers, however, Hna. Meono and Hna. Needham were transferred.
I do not know where, but they packed there bags. Now there is only two
of us once more in the apartment. I must admit that I learned a lot
from Hna. Needham. There is a mother named Teresa in our sector. Her
son, Jonathan, is a recent convert that we have been teaching.
However, when Hna. Needham arrived, she committed Teresa to marry her
husband Mario so they can follow the Law of Chastity. After they get
married, they can get baptized. However, because Hna. Needham and Hna.
Meono were transferred, we will once more teach them. To sum things
up, Hna. Needham made all the difference to commit Teresa to marriage
and baptism that we could not do. The Lord really does put his
servants in the places where he needs them the most. I am learning
that we each have spiritual gifts that we must use on the mission.
Hna. Needham made all the difference in this woman´s life. They come
to Church every Sunday where they didn´t before. Thus I can say she
was a real example in my life.
We had a baptism this last weekend. Remember Katarine, the daughter of
Teresa? Yup, she was finally baptized, but she did not count as one of
our baptisms, even though we taught her all the lessons. She counted
as a baptism of the ward since her mom is a member. We couldn´t do
much to organize the baptism to make it really special, but we found a
beautiful white gown for her to wear on her very special day. The
family doesn´t have much, so it was the least we could do. I will send
photos next week because I only have three minutes left.
One other thing, we found a less active member named Merardo Moreyra
in our sector. He gave us a reference to teach his two sisters. The
really cool thing about it is he owns a panaderia or bakery so we get
free food. I need to watch what I eat because I have gained a little
wait with all the rice and bread that is offered to us. It is so
delicious.
Well, I must go. I love you all.
Hna. Forbush
How are you all doing this fine Monday afternoon? (Mom, I am worried
because I did not receive a letter from you last week, which is
understandable from the major that weekend, but I didn´t receive one
from you this weekend either. Is everything okay?) I hope everything
is well in St. Louis, Missouri and now Colorado Springs, CO (with
Nathan´s new home). Our family is finally spreading across the North
American continent! Yay. Expect that I will visit your home when I
return since you are only a few hours from Provo, Utah. Haha. Have you
fallen in love with the mountains like Dad and I have? The west is
really something special and I cannot wait to return to school there.
Today is transfers (is it hard to believe that I have already
completed my first transfer in the mission) but I stayed in the same
sector with Hna. Reyes from Honduras. I was grateful that I didn´t
have to pack my bags at 5:30 AM. Hna. Reyes had her heart set on
leaving this sector this transfer because she has been here for six
months (she started here for her first sector, went away for two other
transfers, and then returned here for the last three transfers. She
has ten months in the mission in total). However, she is here with me
for another transfer. We talked for a long time last night about some
familial troubles she has been having, and we grew a whole lot closer
as a companionship. She admitted she never told any other companion
these things so that made me feel really special, as if I shared
something with her that no other companion had. Now I feel we can
start this transfer with a clean slate and a stronger bond.
With transfers, however, Hna. Meono and Hna. Needham were transferred.
I do not know where, but they packed there bags. Now there is only two
of us once more in the apartment. I must admit that I learned a lot
from Hna. Needham. There is a mother named Teresa in our sector. Her
son, Jonathan, is a recent convert that we have been teaching.
However, when Hna. Needham arrived, she committed Teresa to marry her
husband Mario so they can follow the Law of Chastity. After they get
married, they can get baptized. However, because Hna. Needham and Hna.
Meono were transferred, we will once more teach them. To sum things
up, Hna. Needham made all the difference to commit Teresa to marriage
and baptism that we could not do. The Lord really does put his
servants in the places where he needs them the most. I am learning
that we each have spiritual gifts that we must use on the mission.
Hna. Needham made all the difference in this woman´s life. They come
to Church every Sunday where they didn´t before. Thus I can say she
was a real example in my life.
We had a baptism this last weekend. Remember Katarine, the daughter of
Teresa? Yup, she was finally baptized, but she did not count as one of
our baptisms, even though we taught her all the lessons. She counted
as a baptism of the ward since her mom is a member. We couldn´t do
much to organize the baptism to make it really special, but we found a
beautiful white gown for her to wear on her very special day. The
family doesn´t have much, so it was the least we could do. I will send
photos next week because I only have three minutes left.
One other thing, we found a less active member named Merardo Moreyra
in our sector. He gave us a reference to teach his two sisters. The
really cool thing about it is he owns a panaderia or bakery so we get
free food. I need to watch what I eat because I have gained a little
wait with all the rice and bread that is offered to us. It is so
delicious.
Well, I must go. I love you all.
Hna. Forbush
30 de enero de 2012, Wow, time flies!
Wow, the time is really flying by on the mission, but I am learning to enjoy every moment of it.
This week we had a baptism! He is a chosen spirit and was ready to hear the Gospel. His name is Lorenzo Vince, 41 years old, and the nephew of a recent convert that my companion, Hna. Reyes baptized back in May or June 2011. I remember when we first started teaching him. We were in our weekly planning session and I suggested we look into teaching nonmembers of the part member families. Lorenzo Vince came to my mind. Now he is baptized. It was one of the most spiritual baptisms that I have attended, although I have only had two baptisms in the mission.
When we went to go pass by Lorenzo´s house to pick him up for the baptism on Saturday at 6:30 pm, we were walking on the main street called Quito and walking toward us was the entire family in their Sunday best. This was unheard of because normally we have to drag them to the baptism from their house. The grandparents of Petita even came to the baptism at 7 pm after they told us they were leaving Saturday morning to return home. Obviously they wanted to support Lorenzo. I am including a picture with this email of the baptism. Maybe I will start a tradition to send a baptismal picture after every baptism. We have had a lot of success in the Bolivar sector in my first transfer.
We have a few more baptismal dates lined up for February 11, Christina Carrascal, and February 28, Catarina Flores (we found contacting yesterday). Transfers are next week or the second week of February though. I hope I can stay to see them get baptized, but I will go where the mission president receives inspiration that I should go, and with which companion I should be with. It is his work that I do, not my own. I really love the people here and labor hard to help them enter in at the door of baptism so they can gain eternal life.
On Sunday, the bishop taught the lesson in a combined Relief Society and Elders Quorum lesson. He shared the promise that Gordon B. Hinckley gave in 2005 about the Book of Mormon. He is encouraging everyone to read the Book of Mormon in our ward. He shared Pres. Hinckley´s promise that if we read the Book of Mormon every day, we shall receive a greater portion of the Holy Spirit personally and as a family. He specifically shared 2 Nephi 32:3 which says the words of Christ will tell you all things that ye should do. Wow! I can find every answer to life´s problems in the scriptures. Maybe not the exact answer, but by reading the Book of Mormon and focusing on the impressions of the Spirit, I know your mind and mine can be enlightened to receive the answer we seek. Hence reading the scriptures is the portal to receiving personal revelation, as a General Authority stated in the last General Conference. That is my spiritual thought for the week. And I know that is true!
Alright, I am using a different cyber so the picture didn´t download and I am not going to waste too much time to figure it out. I promise to send it to you next week.
Lastly, I want to share two cultural things about Ecuador that I learned this week. First, I ate cerviche at a member´s house. It is a dish that has shrimp or can be eaten with any sort of meat. I challenge you to google it when you get the chance. Maybe you can make it in your spare time to have a Latino experience like I am having down here everyday. It is very good. Second, every month there is a holiday. In January, I explained how they celebrated the new year with the munecos. In February, they have Carnival. Think the movie Rio which takes place in Brazil. From what I have heard, it is like the Tomatina in Spain, but they hose you with lots of water. Maybe you can google it and tell me more. I will let you know what I hear from the natives. I am taking lots of pictures to show you all when I get home.
One last thing, Catarina Flores which we started teaching yesterday, Hma. Chamberlain taught her when she was in this sector. Please let her know I found her again and we hope to baptize her. Her mother´s name is Blanca. It has been a year that she hasn´t had the missionaries teach her but she loves having them over to hear the word.
Please take care of yourselves. Love you all. Nathan, good luck getting settled in Colorado. Stephanie, there is a letter coming in the mail this week for you. I learned mail only takes 10 day to get to the US from here, but a month from the US to here. Strange.
Love you all,
Melanie or Hermana Forbush
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