sista b: Dang, I am a missionary.

Hello all,

This is gonna be way way short. I love all y'all and I hope everything is well at home! We had a great week. It hailed and doooooown poured on Tuesday and the streets flooded. There were backpacks and pots and pans being carried away in the current, and it looked like a chocolate milk river. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory --

wut wut.

Knee deep in the water somewhere....

Hold to the ROD! We bought caña (sugar cane) for about 15 cents. This is Quinchuqui aaaalto (very high elevation). There's a house like every 15 minutes of walking.

We have been teaching Rafael, who is the cutest little old man and he is so excited to be baptized (it's the R.C. Grandpa). He says he wants to be "white like the light" and like "white clothes". Okay, you had to be there. Words don't do him justice.

Hanging out with my favorite fambam in the WORLD. I love them all so much. And they love me. They want me to come back and marrry one of their sons - hahaha. Every Sunday night, they hang out and cook. Last night it was zambo. Which is like a pumpkin-ish type soup with milk. They´re like my second family.

We got to know the G.F. fambam this week. They're awesome. They aren't indigenas (indigenous/indians) and we work primarily with the indigenas since our church is all in kichwa (Quecha). But they are so, so awesome. Turns out, the mom, Mayra was actually talking to missionaries when she was 13 (like twenty three years ago). It's the BEST feeling ever when we are able to enter into a home because of positive experiences that people have had with missionaries in the past. It´s so cool. They have three kiddos: Jean Pierre, 6, Jesi, 17, and Grace Kelly (lol) 15.

Alpargate -- swag -- swag.

This week we sang in the choir for the branch conference. It was cool. We dressed up in anaco, the typical clothing wear. Again. I could hardly breathe hahah. But the songs turned out great!

We made our district tortillas and frijoles (beans). (No idea how we found the black beans -- we searched four different stores.) We made the tortillas by hand. Call us homemakers - WOO WOO. The Guatemaleños (chapines) freaked out, Elder Yat and Elder Equite. Our Zone Leader and District Leader.

Again, Zona Imbabura is the bomb dot com. We had yet ANOTHER foam fight on Thursday.

Carnaval (Carnival) is FINALLY over. Thank goodness. It was fun. But I kinda got tired of constantly getting dirty water from the street getting thrown on us... and flour. Hahha. But it's a really cool tradition. I plan to put it into practice when I get home.

After flour and rain and dirty water. This was right before they threw paint at us though, hahah.

THANKS FOR THE SOCKS, GRANDMAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

I love you so much. I was very excited. Yay socks.

Things are gooooooooood. Sometimes I look around where I´m at, whether its waiting for the bus, or in the market, or sitting in a cement house with a dirt floor and flies buzzing all around and I think, DANG: I am a missionary. It's crazy... I realize I wouldn´t trade anything for this incredible time I have here. The look on someone´s face when we explain about our Heavenly Father and how much love He has especially and specifically for them is indescribable. I love it. It makes EVERYTHING worth it.

Preparation-day shenanigans by the cascada (waterfall).

There's this sweet quote I found this week, ¨I kick when I don´t want to kick, and I stroke when I don´t want to stroke.¨ That is how we change, when times are tough, that is when we are tested and can be changed by God, by just keepin' on keeping on. Just keep swimming. And then the blessings, the comfort, the success, is soon to follow. So if you are passing through a hard time, just kneel down and pray. Your Father is Heaven is there. He is very very aware of everything you may be going through. He loves you. If you fall, dust yourself off, hop up, and keep going. You can do it! :) Hard at times but always worth it. Christ will always extend His hand to us, we just need to choose to accept His divine help. Si se puede! (Yes, you can!)

QUICHUQUI REPPIN'

I am happy. It's a different kind of happy though, it's like, a fulfilling happy. A happy that fills me all the way up. The happy that comes from seeing other people happy. The happy that comes from the true gospel. :)