HEAVENLY FATHER HAS TOLD ME THAT I CAN, SO DO IT I WILL! : )

Holaaaa familiaaaa,

Starting letters is always like the hardest thing to do. Well let's see....I indeed did get a new companion. Her name is Hermana Yagual and she's from here in Ecuador. She lives in the Guayaquil North Mission boundaries. But this actually isn't her mission; it's Vera Cruz, Mexico. She's just here waiting for her Visa. But she's been here 4 months so they made her senior comp. It's her first time being senior comp AND her first time having a gringa companion. And she's new to the area so doesn't know anything. I feel like the senior comp half the time. haha. So ya, it's been interesting but she's nice so I think we are gonna get along just fine. It's way weird being with anyone other than Hermana Lujan though. She wasn't transferred very far, just to a different sector in Machala called Aurora. Aurora is also in my zone so I will still see her a couple times a week at meetings. AND her ward meets in the same building too, just at a different hour. So ya, it's been a lot harder than I expected not being with her. I've legit cried over it, because she really is like my Mom here. But all is well. I know there are still people here in Boyaca who I need to find and teach.

Speaking of a new family, the family Matamoros, moved into our ward and they are awesome. They always have tons of references for us. One of their references is this awesome kid named Ronald. He's 23 and we've only taught him twice, but he's super receptive and eager to learn. He accepted a baptism date for the 19th and I feel like he's gonna progress rapidly. The only thing is he wasn't able to go to church on Sunday because he had some sort of special work meeting or training. So that was a bummer. In fact, that's basically the story of what happened with all of our investigators this week. Marlon and Fredy, our two fechas for the 12th, weren't home when we went to get them for church. So their fechas fell. So that sucked. And then this other family we had committed to attend church didn't come either. In total we had 12 people committed to attend and we only had one person there....and that person wasn't even one of the 12. (I laughed when I read your letter Rom, cause we were both in the same boat on Sunday.) So I'm gonna say what you said....cool beans. ha. Except it's not. It was a bit discouraging cause I was way stoked on all the people we had committed and thought it was gonna be a way awesome Sacrament Meeting. So this week were probs gonna be doing a lot of contacting to find new better investigators who will actually come to church and progress.

So Madelaine left for her mission this week. She's in the CCM in Colombia. Stoked for her but it's also really sad cause she basically worked with us every day of the week. :( I know she's gonna do great though. And I still got Michelle here. (She's like my best friend.) haha I'm not gonna lie, Hna Lujan leaving, and then after being so stoked on all these people to have none show up has gotten me in a bit of a discouragement stupor. I've been really really homesick the past couple of days and 14 more months seems like it's gonna take 14 years. But I take comfort in my Patriarchal Blessing and in all of you guys and your words of encouragement. Ultimately I know this is where  I need to be, and I have a desire to share this gospel and to bring others unto Christ, but sometimes I just feel like I can't do it. But Heavenly Father has told me that I can, so do it I will. :) 

So I decided I'm going  to share some fun Ecuador facts with you today:

1) Everything liquid is sold in ¨fundas¨...bags. Water, condiments, cleaning products, beverages, EVERYTHING: When you're thirsty you just buy a baggy of water from a tienda, rip a corner with your teeth and start sipping away! haha

2) Bananas aren't called platanos. They're called guineos. No ifs ands or buts about it. haha

3) Apparently Ecuador is the only place where you can find every banana sticker in the world so it's kind of a thing to collect them...especially with the missionaries...they're called calicsos...or something like that. Maybe I'll send a pic of my budding collection next week. :)

4) Something we eat basically on the daily are called verdes. They appear to be unripe bananas but they are actually a lot darker green and have a salty, starchy taste, not a sweet one. and the peel is more of a shell or cast, and doesn't just peel away. You gotta hack it off with a knife. But they're really yummy sliced and fried. And once they are overripe, they become sweet and are called murduras. And murduras fritas are like the yummiest thing ever. mmm mmm good.

5) Chuso. Not even sure if that's how you spell it. But I say it all the cussing time. It's almost like ¨cuss¨or ¨freaking¨except it can't be used as an adjective like those words can be. Just if something happens it's like öhh chuso¨. Oh another phrase is ¨que bestia¨. Like if someone is doing something dumb or if something was said that's weird or not right, siempre decimos, ¨que bestia.¨. haha. The exact translation into English is ¨what beast¨, which doesn't even make sense.

Ok so I forgot!!! On Tuesday, before the transfers happened, while I was still with Hna Lujan and Hna Nazer, I encountered something during a meal for the first time where I literally thought ¨there is no way I can eat this.¨ What was it you may ask? Oh you know just a set of lungs and a kidney floating in my soup. Blegggh. But there's no way I couldn't eat it cause it took up like half the bowl! and Hna Nazer, that lucky duck, didn't have an organ in her bowl, but the kind soul that she is, she offered to share it with me. SO while the members were in the kitchen and not looking, I quickly chopped it in half and slipped half of it into her bowl. We counted to 3 and each took a bite at the same time. It was nasty. Or in the words of Hna Nazer, "Ya, that's not normal." We started sucking down water from our filter fast and did so after every bite. After it was all gone, we slyly high-fived each other under the table. It was nice to have a fellow gringa to go through that with for the first time. But it actually wasn't THAT bad. The texture is nast and the flavor odd but it's more the thought of eating an organ and the fact that it's not like cooked into anything but literally in its obvious organ form that gets me. But I actually feel lucky that this is the first time I've encountered a weird body part. I'm sure there will be plenty more to come. fun stuff.

Well I gotta go, I'm gonna send some pics of my farewell with Hna Lujan. Some pics I took with Hna nazer, and finally pics of my apt as well!! haha I love you all so incredibly much! and a special shout out to my Grandma Joycie whose birthday was yesterday!! Love you grandma!!!

So this is my little apartment! I took this one with my back against the far wall in the kitchen and you can basically see the whole thing from there. haha 

This is the back room where we keep our clothes. I basically live out of a suitcase on the cement floor but it's all good! :)

haha. My hair cause Hna Nazer made my hair look thicker than it is! It's like a sock bun but without a sock! magic. (this was waiting in the aurora apartment for my new comp to come)

Love from Ecuador, 

Hermana Harper

ps - Super intrigued about the Christmas jammies Mom!! Also I can't think of anything special I left, and whatever you send me will be special :) Oh but maybe a handful of 3 by 5 cards (I don't need a lot cause I can reuse them) and a couple of nice black and blue like gel or felt pens? I want nice pens for journal writing or something. shmanksss :)