More pictures!

Sisters!

Missionary kids, (:

How cute, (:

I'm pretty sure these pictures were taken during Christmas time.

Sorry for the delay!

Merry Christmas! Haha (:

Time Flies

Hey, Everybody!!

Time seems to be moving quicker lately. I hit my nine month mark and I have half of my mission left but I don´t feel like it´s much time. 

Yesterday we had a conference with Elder Waddell from our area presidency. I think he´s from California and in one of the quorums of the seventy. He is amazing and it was such a privilege to have him here to speak with us. He served his mission in Spain and later was a mission president there. His Spanish is a bit different (Spaniard) but he speaks really well. Some of the things he touched on yesterday (all of this is my translation to English)...

He asked the question: ¨Why do we meet together in church?¨ And I think this is a question that a lot of people have---why do people need to go to church if they can have Jesus in their heart wherever they go? We looked at a lot of scriptures to come up with the answer to this question... Jesus Christ taught His gospel when He came to the earth. There are a lot of doctrines very specific and precious. It´s important that we learn together to obey His commandments with exactness. Like it talks about in 1 Samuel 15--sometimes we think our way is better than the Lord´s. But really His way is always best and we need to follow His commandments with exactness to receive His blessings. For this, we have to study the pure doctrines, strengthen and prepare ourselves together so that we can do His work in His way and not our own.

He mentioned a story of the Martin and Willie handcart companies that were stuck in the mountains in the winter. The prophet sent a group to search for them. After making an effort they couldn´t find the companies so they headed back for Salt Lake. They met up with Arza Hinckley and a group that was also going to search for the companies in trouble. They told Arza that it was in vain to continue on because they were nowhere to be found. His response was, "I have been called by a prophet of God... I will find them or I will die trying." Wow. It really makes you think about your responsibility as a missionary... or even in any other calling. We need to have this same confidence and drive--that this is our responsibility and we need to give everything we have to complete our calling.

Sometimes I talk to people here about my "real life" before the mish. But Elder Waddell made a comment about this too... How sometimes we think that the mish is just a period of time that we serve but I love what he said... "Life doesn´t get any more real than this. There is nothing more real than the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is nothing more real than the priesthood and the power to seal families together for eternity. There is nothing more real than Joseph Smith and the restoration of the gospel. There is nothing more real than the Atonement of Jesus Christ. This is real life."

Those are just a few of the highlights from what we went over yesterday. It was such a good experience. I love the gospel. I hope everyone is doing well at home. I love you all!

Love,

Helena

I forgot to post this in Feburary.. sorry y'all.

Hay fam and friends...

It`s already February! Time is going by super fast, and even faster since I´ve been in the office. They brought me in to be a nurse a couple of weeks ago. It´s a more stressful job than to be a normal missionary but overall I feel more comfortable here. I think it´s because my real calling is to be the nurse, not to be a normal missionary. It was really interesting the change I felt when I came from the field to the office. I know this is where I´m supposed to be.

I´m with Hermana Riera from here in Ecuador. She studied public health before the mish and I think she wants to be an OB nurse or a midwife after the mish. We have a lot of fun together, trying to figure out what we´re supposed to do and make sure that all of the missionaries are taken care of. It´s like having 200 little brothers to look after haha. And my Spanish is definitely improving. I can´t remember if I dream in Spanish or not... there are some times that it´s definitely in Spanish but other times I can´t remember.

This weekend and Monoday and Tuesday is Carnival here. Everyone is going on vacation and planning fiestas. Apparently there are a ton of traditions here for carnival... face painting, fiestas, throwing water on people, etc... I´ll let yáll know how it is after I see it.

My new sector is called Las Peñas. It´s basically downtown Guayaquil. The people are more well off than those in Milagro. Most people live in huge buildings of apartments. It´s pretty much the exact opposite of Milagro with the houses of caña. There´s one street that almost looks like it could be New York and there´s a riverside park-walkway that´s cool. Basically this area is more touristy. But the ward is pretty nice and I´ve enjoyed being here. The people aren´t as open but that´s to be expected. Not everyone can have the same love as the people in Milagro.

I guess that´s about it for now. I hope all is going well for everyone in the States. Take care!!

Love,

Helena