Hello everyone! Thanks for all of the emails of support! I love hearing from you!
Well, this was a fun week, as usual. Lots of people told me everything fun that they did for Easter, well, not a huge holiday here. In church, no one even mentioned it! It´slike it wasn´t a holiday at all. They do celebrate throughout theweek. It´s called Semana Santa, and they go all out on Friday, Good Friday. But yeah, we didn´t doanything special for Easter, sad day. I did make cookie dough because someone gave us choc. chips, so hopefully we will do some baking soon. Good way to celebrate Easter. But like I said, they do celebrate Good Friday, and they have a traditional plate that they only eat around Semana Santa, and I tried in on Friday. It is called Fanesca. It is a soup with about 12 different kinds of grains, and a weird smelling fish. Luckily, my comp doesn´t like fish, so we both got ours without. Before I got it, everyone was like, this soup is crazy, you won´t beable to eat anything for a day or two, it is so heavy, don´t feel bad if you can´t finish (which you always have to finish usually), etc. So I was expecting something extreme. Well, it was good. It was a hearty soup, but they said we would be too tired to work afterward and that we wouldn´t be able to move...they underestimate us gringas! We both finished, and went back to work afterward! It was good, and I might try and get the recipe!
We are teaching two sisters, Juanita and Alejandra, 19 and 8 yrs old. They want to get baptized, but there is always something keeping them from getting to church. Well, we called this week wanting to stop by, and found out their dad died. We stopped by and it just made me so grateful that I could share with them my faith that he is happy. We talked to them about our Heavenly Father´s plan and how as a family, they could be happy together after death. Hna Thelin then said that she knew her father wasn´t hurting anymore (he had been sick), and Juanita looked up and responded, you mean he doesn´t feel pain where he is at? I am so glad that we could have brought her that message of such happiness that could give her more comfort, knowing her father is happy and not hurting anymore.
Now for a funnier note and my subject line. So yesterday we had to meet a couple of elders in our zone to give them some things. So we were outside and it was raining, but then came aguacero, downpour, followed by hail and more rain. Needless to say, we got soaked! We were drenched, even with our umbrellas. So the elders finally come and say that theywant to meet the Pepinos, so we take them to their house. Well, on the way, Thelin and I are already soaked, so we don´t care about getting more wet. So we stand onthe side of the sidewalk, trying to get splashed by the oncoming cars. This turns into a water fight with the elders. It was so fun! We got them soaked and they got us even more wet. I woke up this morning and my shoes are still wet. I took them off and just poured water out of them, that is how wet we were! I will send pics! Way funny! Anyway, at the end, we were saying goodbye to the elders and this drunk passes us. Usually, drunks always hit on us, big time, but this one just yells at us, go home you yankees! The elders we were with were Latin, so they were yelling at us. But I thought it was hilarious! I can now say that someone called me a Yankee! It was funny. On our wayback to the apartment to get clean and changed, we got 15 cat calls and hit ons. Yeah, let me remind you that we were soaked and had makeup running down our faces. Thelin just got so mad that she yelled, we are so ugly right now and we still get hit on! Good times on the mish!
Ecua fact: So, no matter who you are, you always look at the ground while you are walking for 3 reasons: dog poop, gum, and uneven pavement. You can not walk in Ecuador and look up at the same time. You will fall flat on your face, step in poo, or get gum on your shoe, it is just a given. So if you come and visit me, be prepared!
I love you all and miss you and until next time!
Hna Kaylee Sorensen
