I'M BASICALLY FLUENT IN KICHWA NOW

Alillachu kankichi! Kankunata nanda yuyani! Tukuy shunkuwan kuyani. :) (Hello dearest fambam, I miss y'all! and I love y'all with all my heart.)

I'M BASICALLY FLUENT IN KICHWA NOW.  Be jealous.  I am now trilingual.  Here's the most important phrase: yarkajun mikuna ishan! (pronounced yar-ha-hoon, me coona, ee shan...which means I'M HUNGRY AND HAVE NOT EATEN!) Hahaha.  I love learning new languages!

Well WOW.

What an amaaaaaaazing week this has been! SO much inspiration and guidance directly from our Heavenly Father! If you missed any of General Conference, I totally reccommend that y'all catch up on it. lds.org.

We had leccion (lesson) 2 with Elena and Wuary this past week -The Plan of Salvation- and it was so incredible. Before, Elena would always always always cry at the thought of her son, but after bringing this Plan back to her rememberance (we talk about it like every day we go over, but we had the official lesson again this past Tuesday), she has been enlightened and she remembers him with happiness now. 

She knows that he is in a good place and that he would want her to be happy where she's at. It's really cool because she really has desires for Wuary to be baptized.  We were able to find her records of baptism from like the 1970´s (Thanks to Hermana Allred, the senior missionary who works in the offices WHO IS FROM SHERMAN TEXAS, like wait what!? We were totes in the same Stake back home. I love her, she's like my mission Gma. She's such a sweetheart.) and also with the knowledge that the necessary ordinances of baptism have been efectuados aquí en la tierra en el santo templo de Dios for her son, Victor. She also now has the vision of going to the temple herself. I am so thankful everyt day for all the miracles we have seen with this family. I know that they are one of the reasons why I am here. To be an instrument in God´s hands. She gave her testimony on how prayer is so powerful and that she knows just how much her Heavenly Father loves her and how pendiente and aware He is of her situation. Yall, God HEARS AND ANSWERS our prayers. A Child´s Prayer, the primary song, is absolutely SO true and SO powerful. Just like how Pres. Eyring was talking about how hymns and scriptures are the things that stick the longest, it is so true. Personally, I totally think that we all sang Armies of Helaman before we came down to this earth, its suuuuuuuuuch a great song that truly brings the missionary spirit. MMM, LOVE THE GOSPEL, LOVE IT!!

                                      

Us with one of our FAVORITE FAMILIES! The daughters have been coming to church for a couple weeks now. They´re way special. The oldest, Ñusta (which means reina, osea or queen) was saliebdo como madrina (i have no idea how the heck to say that in english, sowee) which is basically like she was nominated for princess of fine arts or sweetheart (omg, remember when I was sweetheart nom?! Ahhh the glory days hahahha jkjkjkjk) and so we were taking pics with her whole fambam. The mom, Maruja, is SO sweet. They are so special and they are truly seeeing a change poco a poco en sus vidas (little by little in their lives).

We have been working with both Luis and Marison and the both of them truly opened up to us this week. I don´t know what it was about Wednesday, but everyone was just telling us their life story. We used preguntas inspiradas (heaven sent questions) and we were able to figure out truly what their needs were, and teach accordingly. I love that no matter who you are, what you´ve been through, where you come from... There is ALWAYS a facet of the Gospel, a principle, something, that applies directly to your situation.

But one encompasses all, as we were reminded this past weekend in Conf, GOD. LOVES. YOU. You are so precious to Him. The Plan of Happiness is for you. Especially for you. Christ loves you SO much that He came to this Earth, and walked these difficult and often dark, seemingly lonely roads, so that He could know how to help you when you pass through those times. He knows exactly how you feel. He has gone through it, for you, out of His infinite love.  You are never, NEVER, alone.

                                       

MY FAVORITE GRAFFITTTTTTTI! This is on the way to Otavalo and we pass by it all the time. It says, la preparación es la base del éxito. Which means, preparation is the basis (or base, or prerequirement, or is necessary) for success! And it´s too true. This quote has always motivated me to ¨get ´er done¨ whenever it comes to studying and preparing for the day. Like Doctrine & Covenants 11:21 says :) WOO

A dog bit my hand last night, so that was cool. I hope it didn´t have rabies. But I did get to check something off my mission bucket list. Heh.

SOMEONE BROKE INTO OUR HOUSE. It was scary, we had pepper spray and scissors to defend ourselves... We called a member who lived nearby to save us. It was really intense. But then later we found out it was just the owner who was supposed to be in Spain... (lame... we felt reaaaaaallllly dumb for overreacting but whaaaaaatevaaaaaa) It was actually cool because my testimony grew even more about how much our Padre Celestial nos esta cuidando (Heavenly Father is watching over us). :)

K so did something happen at like 8am last week Thursday? Because we were studying all chill and whatnot and then all of the sudden I got really nervous and my stomach dropped and I started to cry. It was odd. But then we said a prayer and I felt better. But I hope all is well with all y'all.

HAHAHA Hermana Hancey is SUCH a sweetheart, she just got here from the Mexico MTC like a week ago, and we were practicing memorizing the articulos de fe en español (Articles of Faith in Spanish), and we were doing number dos (two), which is Nosotros creemos que los hombres serán castigados por sus propios pecados y no por la transgresión de Adán (We believe that men will be punished for their own sins and not for Adam's transgression). But she said, all men must be punished for sus propios pescados (their own fish) hehehe jejeje jijiji. Pescados (fish) it was so cute and so funny. She's a little ray of sunshine and I am way thankful we are in the same area.

Aw conf was really great. All the gringos (white folk) were in a teeny room together and we brought a tonnnnn of food and basically just laid on the floor (because there weren't enough chairs) and took notes (I have 30 pages. I was acutally gonna take pics and send them to y'all pero me cogió la pereza [but I forgot] jejej) but then we got macheted (talked to, or in trouble) for the food. But then we explained its part of the American culture to eat a lot. We had banana pancakes, oreo truffles, cinnammon twists, mozzarella sticks, no bake cookes (all home made...) OH and canguil! (popcorn) It was glorious.

It was so funny because in the first sesh when They announced that Elder Holland was going first, we literally all freeeeeeaked out like woo hoo yayayayay! And every time they would announce a speaker we would all just do the Napoleon Dynamite ¨Yessssssssssssssssssss¨. I love love love love love love love love love love lvoe lveolveovleovelvoe LOVE love love lvoe General Conference. It was incredible So much personal revelation and answers to questions and just AH! I love it. I can´t wait until the Liahona comes out!

I was so stoked because now that I have been studying the scriptures more (I WISH I COULD REPEAT SEMSEM NOW!!!! I MISS SEMINARY AHHHHH. Sorry Sister Summerhayes for not listening better. You were the bomb.com and I love you and all your litle rhymes for the Scrip mastery! I have them written in my quad! "Revelation is great! Don´t sleep late! Prayer conquers Satan. Testimonies stick! Converts awaiting." I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! You´re the best. Do you have those catchphrases for the other books!? And not just Doctrine & Covenants?!) I was totally able to pinpoint any phrase (okay, not any, but a majority) that had a scriptural backbone - it was so sweet. I would put a little s with a circle hehe, I like note taking systems. There were also a couple scriptures, phrases, and general ideas that were repeated a ton of times, and I know that when the Lord repeats stuff in the scriptures O REMEMBER REMEMBER! aka remember, heh.

Here we are with the best fambam ever! María, Diana, and Tati. Who came to confconf! THEY LOVED IT!!! And they came to the sesh where our beloved prophet spoke. When they shared their feelings of excitement and testimony, and expressed that they wanted to take some pics in front of church (usually it's my idea, hashtag selfies) I wanted to cry! They are awesome. :) Love it.

It was really good. I think the biggest themes were: family, just how much our heavenly father loves us, enduring to the end, and being the best you can be. You should read it on lds.org. Or just re-watch it. There's such power in hearing the words of our Prophet. And the music was positively glorious. I know that we can have the courage and faith to apply all that we heard and learned and be able to build upon the foundation. We can go out and do. Act upon the feelings we have felt as we have listened to these inspiring messages. I loved thinking that so much of the world was singing a hymn at the same time, or saying "amen" at the same time. We were all truly more united as a grandiose (large) fambam in this wonderful Gospel!

When we were leaving there were some guys who wanted to kiss me (I hope I have this problem when I get off my mish and go to BYU hahahahahahaha) and then Elder Bacab stepped between us because the guy was pretty dang persistent (musta heard Elder Ballard´s talk, lolololol jk he wasnt a member or anything, he was a hippie that was juggling stuff at the stoplight.) and he said, "No, dude back off..." and then the guy gets on one knee and tries proposing (this is now the third time in 5 months, mind you) and then Elder Bacab goes, "NO SHES ENGAGED ALREADY... IN THE LORD'S WORK!"  Hahahahaha. It was so funny. But it's so true doe.

Does it feel like I have been gone five months!? I can't believe it. On one hand it feels like a century. On the other, it feels like 3 weeks.

CON AMOR (WITH LOVE),

Hermana (Sister) Bowman

HAHAHAHHA MCGEE/BOWMAN INSIDER. Meeting point. Meeeeeting point. MEETING POINT. I died, I thought it was so funny. It was at a restaurant on Saturday in between confconf sessions. I miss all y'all. Let's go on a cruise when I get home please and thanks. (Even though that is 13 months away heh heh... Plus, I am never gonna leave Ecuador since I love it here... And good luck with trying to get me to take my placa (missionary badge) off......... yep)

“Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is not an effort of once a week or once a day. It is an effort of once and for all.”

PS. Fax me some fruit leather. :) heh heh

I love serving here

Hola HELLO FAMILY

Well this week seemed reeeeeaaaallllllllllly lllllloooooooooooong. But Monday came fast. Time is so odd out here on the mish.

Chillin' with the village children.

Highlights:

-We pulled a passed out drunk turi (hermano, aka dude or guy) our of the road so he wouldn´t get run over. Hashtag, the good Samaritan.

-Rosa L (the CUTEST old lady who we love to visit, whose husband refuses to give her permission to go to church, saaaad) gave us a puppy last night. Her name was Sofia and we were trying to think of every excuse and justification in the BOOK to take her home (she was freshly bathed and like a month old) BUT the missionary handbook prohibits pets of any kind, (even cui hehehe) and then we gave Sofi to Tatiana, who is one of our investigators and she was overcome with glee and I´m pretty sure that was the key to her heart and now she´s gonna get baptized.

 This morning as the sun rose, we washed our clothes in buckets -- woooo.

-SO STOKED FOR GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think that now since there are 7 gringos (americans) in our zone, we will be able to watch it in MY LOVELY, BEAUTIFUL, GORGEOUS NATIVE TONGUE OF ENGLISH. But we shall see. (remember when I was the token white gurl? those days are over, wa)

DO NOT ENTER at the Cascada de Peguche this morning. muahahha, me and Elder Gonzales, the Chilean from Talca (part of Elder McGee's mish in Rancagua Chile!)

-Elena and Wary are the best people in the world. I love them, they are so special. 

-I KILLED A CHICKEN WITH MY OWN HANDS aHHHHHHhhhhhhhHHHHHHHH. It's on video.

yep

Sorry, I ran out of time again because I was looking up general conerencef talks. Meh. 2 hours a week on the compooper is just not enough.

I know that we are here in Quinchuqui for a true purpose. We found an amazing family this past week, the Salazars. They're great. They know a family in our rama (branch) and two of their daughters, Tania and Samia came to church on Sunday! We also found a great family: Luis, Maria, and Diana. Diana read the Book of Mormon! I was blown away because she took such an initiative and then was asking about Joseph Smith and everything.

As for Hermana Rojas, she is doing great. She is so amazing with the people. Such a giant heart. She is truly converted to the Gospel. We both want to make our Dads' proud - so that's one of our motivations.

I read a really cool talk that a returned missionary in the Peguche Ward gave me this week. It was about adversity, and how it is necessary to progress - so true. It helps us grow and progress. Si se puede. (Yes, we can.)

                                       REPPIN THE GREAT COUNTRY OF USA FOR BEDDIE BYE.
                                                 (Some sweet jammies that an investigator gave us) 

I am SO thankful to be here. I love being a missionary, espeically here in Imbabura. There is something very very very special about these people. I love serving here, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE feeling the Spirit, and then teaching in accordance to it's whisperings. It's incredible what a difference it makes.

Remember 1 Corinthians 10:13 He won't take away the problem, but He willl give us the strength to be able to overcome it... 
13 There hath no temptation ^ataken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the ^ctemptation also make a way to ^descape, that ye may be able to ^ebear it.

Whatever you set your mind to, You can do it! Si se puede. (Yes, we can.) Love y'all fambam! 

Con amor, (With love,)

Hermana (Sister) Bowman

                                                     

Texas pride

Well, hello!

Well, hello!

                                                      Here's a selfie. I know y'all miss my selfies.

                                                   

My trainer 'mommy' left me! I shall miss Hermana Oropeza. Love her. She got cambia´d (transferred) to go to Quito. But shes going home ('dying') in 6 weeks. El fiiiiiiiiiiiiin se acerca y haaaay poco tiempo.  (The ennnnnd is near there is little time remaining.)  But anyways I love her so much. I learned so much from her.  Aww.  Who wants to go to Peru with me to visit her post mish!?

HOW IS MARCH ALMOST OVER?! AAAAAAAAAH.  The days are flying by. I can't believe I´ll have been out for 5 months next week. WHAT...

Just a casual jumping pic in front of church........ ignore my frighteningly fat calves. It's the camera´s angle, I promise.

So, I am so thankful for this week. First off, we had cambios (transfers). But of course, Hermanita (little Sister) Rojas and I stayed togedder. Yay. I am so happy. Now that we are acostumbradas (accustomed) to the sector and each other, we have lots of work to do! We love our sector! Haha.  Last night we were over visiting Elena and her husband Alfonso. We told them about cambios, and that there was a sliiiight possibility that we may get switched out. Alfonso was like, ¨No. No les mando.¨ (No. You don't have my permission.) Which was the sweetest thing ever because he said it so seriously (as if he had any authority to make us stay hahaha) it was so cute. 

Ladron cogido, Ladron quemado. aka, Caught thief, Burnt thief.  Watch out, because here they still believe in castigo indigena, which means like, indian punishing. So instead of going to jail, they just hit you with ortiga, or burn you, or beat you up. Pretty intense stuff...

Oh lemme tell yall a bit of their story. Elena who is a menos activo (less-active member) from like 30 yearrrs ago, whose son passed away a year ago.  She had a dream with him in it saying that he was still alive, that he was in a good place, and that he wanted her to be happy. The next afternoon, Hermana Rojas and I showed up on her doorstep. She wasn't even registered in the branch records, we just happened to be led to that house in particular. Her brother (who is active and lives in Otavalo) did baptisms for the dead for her son, and she is convinced that she needs to follow Christ and reactivate in the church. Lo and behold, we were guided to that very house, that very afternoon. Crazy how many miracles we have been priviliged to witness. She has assisted twice and progressing beautifully with the lessons. Her husband, Alfonso is always present and Wary, her daughter has a fecha (date for baptism). This is a very special family.  I feel like I know them from the pre-existance! They're great. I know that the Lord prepares people specifically for us. 

Me and my favey, Wary. She's SUCH A CUTE LITTLE MUNCHKIN!!!!!!!

Us with Wary, one of our investigators. She made us a cute drawing on a piece of wood and painted it for us. Such a sweetheart. I LOVE HER! We really are hoping that her Dad will give her permiso (permission) to be baptized. She LOVES Primary. She used to go to Catesismo, which is catholic classes so they can do the Primera Communion (First Communion) , but she said, YO AMO PRIMARIA, no quiero regresar a Catesismo! (I LOVE PRIMARY, I don't want to go back to Catechism.) Hahaha, she's so cute.

We memorized the Cristo Viviente (Living Christ), and oh man. It is so cool. The promise that is made in Doctrine & Covenants about getting knowledge and then speaking with the spirit and having those exact thoughts put into our hearts in the exact moment that we need it is REAL! I have been able to use the Cristo Viviente in lessons and everything. It's a powerful message. I encourage everyone to read it! :) (click to view larger)

When we were in Quito I hung out with the nurse for a little while and we went to the nicest hospital in all of Ecuador. (No, really, I felt like I was in the States.) The past 5 weeks I have felt really dizzy and faint and fatigued and all these other lame symptoms coupled with a ton of heachaches.... It's really annoying and frustrating because I just want my body to function properly but sometimes it doesn't listen to me. Meh. So I got all these tests done and my blood drawn. (Reminded me of the days when I would sell my plasma hahha...) We don't have results yet but it's all good. I'm sure I'm fine. 

                                                         

                                     Me and two of my faveys, Elder Meriles and Elder Delgado. They're the best.

Verfication was great! We had a lot of fun getting lost in Quito. But Elder and Sister Nelson hooked us up with like 23 copies of the Book of Mormon -- wut wut wuuut. So excited, we had run out at home. ALSO WE BOUGHT THE BOOK OF MORMON SCRIPTURE READER Reader – Scripture Stories: Book of Mormon Stories

like the kiddo version that we always used to read when I was a little wawita (kid). Me and my companion read one story every night before bed, hahaha, we are so cute. It has come in handy for the kids we are teaching because there's pics and it's short and easy for them to understand. Annnyways. We got lost twice and finally made it back to Imababura at like 9pm, hehe. Adventures! 

OBSESSED WITH THESE THINGS. They're sour or sweet and they're so fun to eat because they look like little sea urchins. It's like 25 for a dolla, holla. They're called achotio, or lychees. Or ceilo en tu boca (heaven in your mouth).

Jaime got baptized! So happy for him. His wife left him a while ago and since then, he had been drinking, losing time, just sad. But the gospel has illuminated his life, and he is doing SO well. He is such a great example to me. We can overcome anything with the help of our Father in Heaven, and Christ's Atonement. It doesn´t matter how dark or depressing your past may be, you can always flip a page, begin a new day and start to trust in the healing power of Repentance and the Atonement. AH LOVE HIM!  He's super thoughtful and already has lots of friends at church (which is good because he needed to put a bit of distance between him and his old friends). I am so happy for him and the changes that he is making. 

JAIME GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EEEEEEEEEE

Some food for thought this week:

"Only in losing yourself, may you find yourself. Only by enriching others, may you be enriched. Only by giving, may you receive..." El que pierde su vida por causa de mí, la hallará. Mateo 10:39

Sayyyy your prayers, go to church, smile at someone. 

Con amor (with love),  

Hermaniiiiiiita (little Sister) Bowman

T-MINUS 11 DAYS UNTIL GENERAL CONFERENCE YAYYYYYAYAYYAYAYYAYYAYAYYYY

PS.  To answer a question from my Mom, yes, I do wash my clothes in a bucket.  All of my clothes.  By hand. Every Monday.......... it's great.  The water is fweeezing.   I LOVE LAUNDRY MACHINESSSSS.  I want one when I get home.  I'm going to go to Best Buy and buy three and send them all here.  I love these people so much, they deserve the world.

Here's a pic of us at the Taxopamba waterfalls from like 10 weeks ago. It was quite the hike to get there. So fun though. Reminded me of Hawaii a little bit! I'm the awkward one on the left. Yep.

One more thing:


“God is good and faithful, and He performs His work in ways that sometimes are not comprehensible to our mortal minds.”  - President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

I LOVE QUINCHUQUI

WELL THIS WEEK FLEW!
Bueno, más bien, (Well, more like) this cambia (transfer) flew! These 6 weeks have passed by in the blink of an eye.  Like I literally feel like I was just writing y'all... odd :)

We pulled a truck out of the mud on Tuesday... Boss status

BEHOLDDDDDDD: ChexMix. There's a place called Cotacachi in our zona, (basically gringo-landia) and Elder Rodriguez brought me MY ALL TIME FAVE for my bday. It tasted like roadtrips and late-night study snacking. (Feel free to send me packages of American food. Thank you.)

How's life? How is everyone doing? I am sending rays of sunshine from Otavalo over to wherever y'all may be. So what is this nonsense I hear about Russia starting WW3!? So much world news I am oblivious to. Whatever.  I´m going to update y'all on how life is going here. It will be more of a picture story, because I ran out of time, yet again.

Crazy elders. We call them cabeza de kiwi (kiwi heads).

We have been working with familia QF this week. The Dad like literally contacted us last Monday afternoon and was like, "come visit my family!" We were stoked! They have 3 kiddos. Marisol (17) who is pregnant and her boyfriend is cray, but she has found so much comfort in the Plan of Salvation and is so excited to make a better future for her bebe (baby). Norma (12) cutest little girl ever, she's the middle child and can be a little quiet but she is LOVING the Book of Mormon, and Johnny (9) crazy wild child, so cute though, he always hugs us. hehe. They´re great. They love the Book of Mormon and it's crazy to see how the Gospel is literally giving them the answers they have been searching for. 

"The torch".......... hashtag Young Women reppin lol. This is at another investigator's house. We were helping start up their fire for their giant iron thing for all the anacos (typical clothing). Way old school. They're the cutest. They aren't really progressing because their kids forbid them, but they love us and always ask when we are coming back - heheheh.

This Thursday we are going to QUITO - woohoo - for Hermana Rojas' verification of her training! (Craaaazaaaay because I feel like I was JUST at my verification.)

Alfonzo´s two pigs- Guess what he named them? ROJAS AND BOWMAN hahahahhahahaha. It's a joke because the President and mission nurse sent out a letter to all our mamitas (the lovely people who give us lunch everyday) saying that they are concerned about the weight of our mission. (THANKS. I GUESS WE ARE FAT.) 

Strawberries...

We had a crazy full week of visits. Hermana Rojas and I have become SO much closer. We know the sector, we love the members, and we love being missionaries. Opening an area and training was a tad scary at first BUT I love it so much. I have learned so much about myself, the gospel, and my companion this cambia (transfer)! I can officially say I LOVE QUINCHUQUI! I know now, that every little piece of the vineyard the Lord engargar´s us with is precious and sooo very valuable. This work is so special and I am so thankful to be a part of it. 

ARROZZ CON LECHEEEEE my obsession. Today at our zone activity. We had a waterballoon war and we all brought food from our countries. Hermana Cajas (BOMB SISTAAAA, love her) brought my favey from Guate. We make flour tortillas and beans and meat. It was good. My future husband is gonna be really happy that I'm learning how to cook.

Sorry it was really short. We have to buy groceries and we had like a 5-hour activity today.... eeeeeeeek. 

LOVE Y'ALL SO MUCHOOOO (MUCH)

28 But that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord, and call on his holy name, and ^awatch and pray continually, that ye may not be ^btempted above that which ye can bear, and thus be ^cled by the Holy Spirit, becoming humble, ^dmeek, submissive, patient, full of love and all long-suffering;

 29 ^aHaving faith on the Lord; having a hope that ye shall receive eternal life; having the ^blove of God always in your hearts, that ye may be lifted up at the last day and enter into his ^crest.                                                                                                         -Alma 13:28-29

Besossssssss (kissesssssss)

Hermana Bowman

P.S. I LEFT MY UMBRELLA ON THE BUS AND I HAVE A COLD BECAUSE I WALKED IN THE RAIN TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW. But it's okay.   :)

P.P.S. The Mish Pres' letter was also concerned about the health of the missionaries. There have been 28 with food poisoning, I was one of them, and 9 with parasites (yet again, I fall under this statistic as well).  Oh, and 5 with amoebas (Hermana Henderson was one of them, bless her heart).  The letter gave instruction to not give us water that hasn't been boiled or filtered and to watch what kind of food they give us.  And....TO LET US CHOOSE OUR PORTIONS - ALLELUYAAA!!!  Even though it's so sweet because the people here are so humble and want to give us everything that they have.  It's heartbreaking. I love all our mamitas.  They are the sweetest things.

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. :) 

                                                     

                               ME AND MY 1 DAY OLD CUI (GUINEA PIG)  -- SOO CUUUUUTE!!!!

Love y'all!
Say your prayers and read your scriptures!

Con amor, (With love,)

Hermana (Sister) Bowman

Carnival & I'm TWENTY!!!!!!!!!

Hola holaaaa mi querida familia y amigossss (Hello, helloooo my dear family and friendssss),

UFfff, los extraño full pero estoy segurisima que estamos haciendo la obra del Señor, asi que estoy muy muy contenta para estar aqui en Ecuador woo woo. (Uffff, I miss you all, but I'm for certain that we're engaged in the work of the Lord.  I'm really really content here in Ecuador. Woo woo.)

Showered in gifts. And my llama jacket. Pardon my face, I had just gotten attacked by foam spray

So WOW, this week was awesome. We did a whole lot of contacting. And oh my goodness gracious Carnaval (Carnival) is ABSOLUTELY INSAAAAAANE. I have never seen so many people so stoked about something ever before! Even the old grannies participate! So basically the latter part of the week it was impossible to go out and work because it's gettting rowdy. Instead of just throwing buckets of water, they throw ink, flour, dirty water, etc, etc. 

 A happy pig today at Carnaval.

We met a GREAT fambam, R.C. We taught them some lessons but also we taught them how to play "red light green light." It was so much fun!  We also played "Mother, may I?" Reminded me of all the Family Home Evening's we used to have back in the day. They´re a great family. The parents, Estela and Humberto, are great; and Estela´s dad, Rafael, was so excited to learn the word for vaca (cow).  All the little children are angels! They make atrapasueños, osea  (dream catchers, in other words). Mostly everyone in Otavalo makes artesanias (crafts). Love it, love it. 

Familia R.C. and us on my b-day. Notice that they are all throwing up the big 20. Wooot!

HA OKAY Imma tell y'all about my b-day. First off, my compa is an angel sent from heaven and she made me bfast, SUCH a sweetheart. Then we went and had a sweet service project (since it was Saturday) with our district and our Zone Leaders in San Roque. So happy because our district is the bomb. The Elders and Sisters are some of my best friends. They define the phrase "WORK HARD. PLAY HARD." We cleared a whole property and found lots of spiders and tarantulas and scorpions and nice things like that. So we´re just workin hard and whatnot and then my District Leader and Zone Leader, Elder Equite and Elder Yat, respectively, BATHE MEEEEE in Kareoka (like that foam stuff that everyone has for carnaval) hahahaha. But then I whipped out mine (I stay packin´) and we had this full on war, it was sweet hahaha. 

Then we went home, showered, studied, and went to Otavalo real quick to get out our money. We ate some yummy burritos (ALLEEEEELUYAH, I miss tortillas, someone mail me some. OH AND FRIJOLES DUCAL. I don't know if they have them in the states, but the have them in Guatemala and Costa Rica. We love talking and dreaming about frijoles (beans). Here it's pure rice and potatos. And soup. And guinea pig. DELISH) and then we went and visited that fambam I was telling y'all about. They're so cute. We learned Soy un Hijo de Dios en español (I Am a Child of God)and then in English. DARLING children, and the parents have the biggest hearts in the world. Then we had other citas (appointments) and headed home.

¨This is for instagram!¨  Hahaha obsessed with these children. Feel a big giant kiss from Ecuador, y'all!

Stopped for Gatorade (I really think Hermana Rojas and I are obsessed. It's probly cuz we both can't drink Coke or any sodas for the two months of Feb and March.) Then when we got home we realized we needed to go sacar copias (make copies) of the informe de progreso (a record of all the progress the people we taught throughout the week, that we need for a meeting called consejo de rama [ward council] after churchhh) and so we walked over to Peguche in THE POURING RAIN to the only photocopier -- hahaha. And then we took a taxi back home because it was late and scary -- hahah. 

So we unlock our house and whatnot and I am walking into my room where LO AND BEHOLD OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS I SCREEEEAM BLOODY MURDER BECAUSE Hermana Quizhpe, Oropeza, Henderson, and Urbina start cooovering me in foam spray and are singing Cuuuumpleaños feeeeeeeliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiz (Haaaaappy Biiiirthdaaaaayyyyy) with a giant chocolate cake (IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND CHOCOLATE CAKE HERE IN OTAVALO. No idea how they pulled that one off.) And 20 candles (hello fire hazzarrrd). 

I made a great mishwish, and blew them all out. It was crazy and great. And it's all on tape. I´ll put it on YouTube or something post mish. They gave me a llama jacket and I died. I love llamas. I actually kissed one last weeek. Idk if I sent a pic or not. And Hermana Dunne sent me DOVE MILK CHOCOLATE, yum. I cried. Also, our recent convert called to say "Happy Birthday." Hahah.  Dang, I felt so happy. 

I am sooooooooooo thankful I was able to spend my birthday serving the Lord, with a fambam that I LOVE, and with some of the most amazing friends here on the mish. What a privilege and what a special time. Mm, love it. Love the Gospel! So blessed. It truly was a happy b-day. AND now I´m 20. 

Wow, that was a novel. Sorry. My mind jumps all over the place -- hahaha. I forgot about a ton of stuff that happened this week.  I ran out of time. OOpsssSS.

Getting my hair cut by some nice random lady that we contacted. She also gave us caña de maiz, aka corn cane. Like sugar cane -- it was way good.

Anyways, I love love love love love the Lord so much. I know He truly answers prayers and watches over us every single day. I am so thankful for the Plan of Happiness that He has given us, to be able to make it back to Him once again. All we hafta do is follow the commandments and draw closer to Him while we are here on Earth.

I am also really thankful for my patriarchal blessing this week, it's like personal scripture and helps me guide my life. Prayer, as usual, is also a great tool. I am really thankful to be a missionary. It's crazy how much my life has changed, and how excited I am to just spread this happiness. Sometimes I fall short, but I know that Christ is always there. I know that this is totally and truly His work, and He is very present in it all.

SAY Y'ALLS PRAYER AND GO TO CHURRRRRRCH.

Over 'n' out.  Love, 

Hermana Bowman, 20 year old Missionary in Quito, Ecuador