Hello to all! Thank you so much for your emails!They are so fun to read and it makes me feel like I am right there with you!
Alright, some people asked me some questions, so I will try to answer those first. In the area that I´m in right now, I do my own laundry. We go to this lavanderia by our house every wednesday night so that we can teach this german that goes. It´s our only time to teach in English! We have to stay the whole time too so that no one takes anything. Our hot water still doesn´t work great. I take turns between cold showers and bucket showers. It´s really not that bad though. Since hna Merback left with her new companion, I now have a bed and don´t have to sleep on the floor. So that is nice! Since we are at such a high altitude, we don´t really get any bugs, just an occaional fruit fly. We don´t have to boil our water to drink. We get two huge bottles of purified water that usually lasts us about a month or more. But we do have to do everything with it, drink, brush teeth, wash retainers or things like that. For dishes, we use the sink, which is freezing cold water, and then let the dishes soak in a tub of sink water that has cloro in it. It works! We also have to soak any fruit that we eat in the cloro water. Speaking of, fruit here is not only the best ever, but soooo cheap! The other day I spent 80 cents on a pineapple and taht was expensive! Usually they are like, 65 cents. Bananas are the cheapest and are so good. You make all sorts of things with bananas, and all during their different stages of life. You can make things with Verde, maduro, and just plain bananas. I like it! Oh, and they don´t talk to much about the volcano. No one seems to worried about it. The missionaries are still there. They say nothing will happen, if anything, just a little ash.
So now to my subject line. They have here in Ecuador what is called Carnival. It is just a two week long party that usually starts in the first week of Feb, but some are starting the festivities a little early. What sucks, they just throw things at people, and they love to get the white people! Right now it´s just water, but it will get worse. Hna Merback got pegged with an egg last year. They like to throw water, eggs, flour...you name it! It even gets so bad the first few days that we will have to stay inside. For like 2 or 3 days! I think I´ll go crazy! Cabin fever!
Oh, I also have to give a ten minute talk in church this week. That will be interesting. I already have it done, it´s on love and mission work. Now I just need to practice so I´m not reading from a paper the whole time. I really am blessed to know some Spanish already. It has helped me out so much! I would never be able to do the things that I´m doing without all of the preparation I received. I still understand a lot and overall do pretty well. We are even starting English classes every Saturday at 4pm. Hopefully we´ll have a good turnout!
Now for the program. We have had a lot of success. It just goes to show that the Lord blesses you for hard work! We have three people getting baptized in the next two weeks. What´s even greater was that I was there since the beginning with two of them! There are these two girls, Juanita and Mariana, 19 and 16 yrs old. Juanita just kept telling us that she wanted a change in her life. She said she felt cold and empty when she was alone and hated taht feeling. We told her about baptism and how she can have the companionship of the holy ghost so she never feels like that again. We invited her to be baptized and she was so excited! We´re also teaching this younger guy that works in a bakery. We actually teach him while he is working. What´s great is he is our age, but he´s like one of the only Latinos that hasn´t tried to hit on us. He really is just interested in what we are teaching. He´s incredible and we´ll see where it goes.
We also met wtih the Pepinos family this past week and I love them! I feel so comfortable and at home with them. They got to talk to their son while he was at the airport and he even told them to tell me some things and to take care of me. Well, they are keeping their word! They want us to move in with them! it would be free rent, hot water, two floors of a house to ourselves, a waching machine, and two great parents! We are talking to people in the office to try to work it out. It would be so great!
Well, I think that is it. I hope all is well with everyone! Keep up the great letters! I miss you all and till next week!
Hna Sorensen
Hna Thompson: I loved reading your emails! It sounds like you are having an adventure! Sorry it is so challenging! My comp is a gringa, so definitely not as hard. But you are going to learn Spanish so much faster! Jealous! I´ll write you more next week but I love you and miss you! You´re the best compie ever!
