Hello everyone! Another week has come and gone, and it was a great one! Me and Thelin worked extra hard and it feels so good! We have the highest numbers in our zone like every week. I am so happy that I have a comp that likes to work! Before I forget, with regards to recipes, there are two things that I can think of that they don´t have here: sour cream, and chocolate chips. So, any recipies without those would be MUCH appreciated!
So, this week since we worked real hard, we got permission to go to Mitad del Mundo with the Pepinos and their niece, who we are teaching. It was so much fun and they are like a second family for us. I can now say that I have been in two, is it hemispheres?, at once! How many of you can say that! Latitude equals 0! I´ll try and send some pics! So that was so much fun. We haven´t had any problems with our apartment since creepy man, bt we are still trying to move. Our ward is so worried about us and keep bugging us to move, but the office couple in charge of that is swamped! So, we are waiting patiently.
Also, we didnt´have the baptism with the Lovato family. Carlos, the dad, really wanted his brother to be there for it since they are the ones that introduced them to the church and his brother was out of town that weekend on business. So, for sure it should be this Satuday and 10 am. I am so excited. This family has made such the change! Carlos was already a member, just inactive for 30 years. So last week he advanced in the priesthood and now he´ll be able to baptize his wife and children. He is so happy and excited about his new duties as a priesthood holder. Jeanet, the mom, is just plain happier. She can´t stop smiling and she talks and acts like she has been a member her entire life! This family is so ready!
Every Sunday we eat lunch with the Rojas family. Once we were sick and couldn´t go, and I guess that was the first time in like, 15 years taht the missionaries didn´t eat at their house! They love the missionaries. They are such a fun family and I love hanging out with them and talking with them. Hno Rojas is in the bishopric, just such a wonderful family! Well, after lunch they were getting after us because we hadn´t shown them pics of our family, so we told them we would return that night and show them. It was so fun! They gave us a stack to look through of their family and they loved seeing ours. Well, Hno Rojas got to talking to me, and it kind of turned into an interview. When he saw that my sister was married to an African, he was like, so your family has no problem with that? I was like, of course not! He then responded, good, you can marry someone in Ecuador! I just laughed and he was like, what´s wrong with that. I said I am taller than most of the people here. He was shocked that I wanted someone taller than me. He didn´t get it. He kept tellingme that my kids would be huge then, and I told him my other sister is taller than me, and her husband taller than her. He was again shocked. He continued to kind of interview me, figure out my values and such, and I think he will try to hook me up with one of his sons after the mish. I just laugh it off. He is hilarious!
Now to my subject line. The three stooges. There are three young men in our ward, Jorge (Rojas son), Elvis, and Andres, like age 19 to 21, who are waiting for their mission calls, so we decided to give them a little practice this past Saturday. We took them with us out contacting and teaching lessons. They are so immature and funny! Something you have to realize is that people here are very touchy feely, even guys with guys, so they had their arms around each other the whole time just commenting on everything we were doing, cracking jokes, pulling pranks on us, the whole bit. Well, we decided it was their turn. We gave them the papers that we hand out, and said, your turn to teach and contact. Dear in the headlights! They were like, what do we do? How do we do it! They were terrified at first and were like, why are you making us do this. It was great. But as soon as they talked to their first person, they got real comfortable with it and you could just tell that they felt good about it. They want to go work with us every Saturday now! They made working hilarious, so I am looking forward to it!
We also had an Enrichment activity for Relief Society this week, and that was funny. It was just funny to compare to the ones at home. It had two parts, cooking a dessert and making a craft. The dessert was good, but the craft! It was like one of those really frilly ribbon heart frames that you find in like, old fokes homes. They went crazy over it too! Everyone got so excited! I´m telling you, this country needs TLC or HDtv. No one knows how to decorate! So funny! Anyway, one of our investigators went, Daniela Velez. She was one of Thelin´s old investigators and is starting to get really interested again. She loved talking to me! She just talked my ear off and it was really good to get to know her better.
Last but not least, your Ecuador culture fact for the week. Men here call their spouses, woman. When they talk to us, they say, my woman this, and at first I was like, that is so weird because in the states, that is offensive! Well, I was readng in Jesus the Christ and it was talking about how Christ calls His mother Woman twice when she talks to Him, once at the party at Cana and when He was on the cross. Well, it turns out that in the culture then, calling a female Woman was one of the highest forms of respect and love. So that made me kind of like the fact that they use that here in Ecuador. Crazy!
Well, thanks to all for your continuous support! I love your emails and letters, and it is so fun to get. Hope all is well and until next week!
Hna Kaylee Sorensen
