Hermana Abbigail Harper: SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED!!!

Waddup Harpsters y Otras:

Oh man oh man, it feels like it's been a month since I've written you guys. Well I guess it has been like half a month....SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED!!! Well first of, I guess I should let y'all know that HERMANA HARPER SE FUE A CUENCA!!!! Dat be right. I'm in the beautiful sierras of Cuenca. My sector is called Monay and I'm in the Cuenca Norte Zone.

I didn't write last week cause my mission has the most unorganized stressfull transfers known to mankind. We got back to the apt after shopping and eating to find a jillion missed calls from the leaders and when we called them back they were like Hermana Harper and Hermana Jolley have transfers, be at the terminal in an hour and a half!! and this was at like 2pm. They didn't tell us where we were going or anything. We went to Guayaquil, got there at about 10 pm, and then from there I went to Cuenca. So ya, I didn't have time to write. Super Lame.

BUT CRISTINA WAS BAPTIZED!! Yes, the tringa has a baptism. What now? Everything was crazy, cause her dad was supposed to baptize her but then that didn't happen. Cristina was really upset and didn't totally understand and we were scared she was gonna back out on us, but we calmed her down. Her seminary teacher baptized her, we ate cake, and all was well. It was sad to see the tringa end, sad to leave Boyaca and all the members and families who I have grown so close to, and all of my converts who I just love so much. But I do feel at peace to know that Monay, Cuenca, is where I need to be right now.

My sector is GINORMOUS!!! Like I really wanna find out the square miles just so you all could have an idea of its enormity. Guess what else? My comp and I are the first sister missionaries that this ward/sector has ever had. Crazy right? And I totes know why, cause it's such an elder sector! (there are still elders here, we just share it with them.) We have to take buses wherever we need to go. There's like an area surrounding the capilla where we work but the rest of our sector is like a 20 min bus ride into the valley. El Valle is so incredibly huge. After getting off at the bus stop, it's like another 20 min to get to the houses cause they're all just spread out all over the hills amongst dirt roads. It's crazy. But it's absolutely gorgeous. I love it so much. I feel at home here.

But if a giant sector isn't bad enough, we live outside of our sector...like a 45 min walk outside the sector with 2 hermanas from another sector...so that's way hard too....but wait there's more!! Because we are the first hermanas here, that means that we are both new...neither of us know the sector. We don't have a carpeta de area con antiguo investigadores or nada....do you know what they call this?? Opening a sector. and guess what else?? I'm senior comp. And guess what else?? My comp is a fellow gringa who is still in her 12 semanas. So technically I'm training, but I'm like her second step mom. And luckily she doesn't need much training cause she basically already has got everything down.

Her Spanish is the same as mine if not better. Actually, I'm gonna go with better cause she's got a good latina accent whereas my accent is as gringa as you can get so the people still tell me they can't understand me sometimes....it kinda stinks. I need to work on it. It doesn't help that I talk fast too so I think if I slowed down it would help. But I'm not gonna lie, it's been hard having a companion who only has a month and a half in Ecuador yet the people understand her better for the most part. And I just came from Machala where everyone had seen my progression and I was getting compliments on

My comp, Hermana Clark! We are the cutest.

my Spanish left and right. But that's ok, cause she studied Spanish a lot before the mish and practiced with friends from Chile and what not so it makes sense she's already at this level. And frankly I'm glad, because if we only had my Spanish to get us by, we'd be in trouble. Oh, I forgot, her name is Hermana Clark (first name Danielle) and she is from Bear Lake Idaho. She's only 19 and just graduated high school in May. I feel so old!! haha. But she is so great and we are having so much fun together.

It's been hard opening a sector and communicating with people without a Latina or someone way experienced to help us but we have already learned and grown so much from this past week. We're learning to rely on the spirit and trust in the Lord like no other. In fact, I think I've had more spiritual experiences just this week then I've had in my entire mission thus far. And guess what?? Even though we only had 5 days of working in the sector, starting from scratch, we had 5 people in church on Sunday!! A family no less. A mom, a dad, and 3 boys. We found them by contacting one of the boys, a kid named Alexander who is 13 in the street. He brought us to his house where we met his dad outside and set an appointment to come back the next day to teach them when the mom was home. They're named the Bravo family. When we went back the next day, the whole fam was there, sitting down, ready to listen what we had to say. I probably felt the spirit the most in this lesson than any other. They were all so involved intently looking at us, internalizing everything. Hermana Clark told me that when I shared the first vision that they were even teary eyed. It was incredible and we left the house just so incredibly happy and on cloud 9. We definitely thanked our Heavenly Father in abundance that night. Oh and that was Saturday night by the way. And on Sunday morning, when we passed by their house, they were all ready to go to church. Such a tender mercy from the Lord. I will have to tell you more about them next week cause I'm running out of time.

Us with the Elders in the ward. Elder Filmore and Elder Flores. Elder Flores is that one Latino Elder from my group from the CCM with us 7 gringa Hermanas. He's so legit, and were like besties since were from the same group. haha. But he loves making fun of how I attempted to talk to him in the airport way back then and failed. lolz.

But the ward here has been so great so far. Everyone is stoked out of their minds that they have hermanas in the ward now. We have been told that we are a blessing sent from the Lord over and over again. Some Hermanas have even cried after meeting us and finding out we are serving in Monay. We just feel so humbled and grateful to be here. We know we are here in Monay for a reason and that there are people here waiting for Hermana Clark and Hermana Harper to bring them the truth. And we plan on doing just that. :) There's no doubt in my mind that this gospel is true. There is no doubt in my mind that this church is the Church of Jesus Christ restored to the earth today. There is no doubt in my mind that I am his representative, and even though I am imperfect and lack so much, that he is by my side helping me. There is no doubt in my mind that I am doing what i am supposed to be doing. (no matter how itchy and scabby and red my skin is. hehe) Yo se todo de eso sin ninguna duda. Familia y amigos, les quiero muchisimo, y ojala que todo esta bien en sus vidas. Por favor ore para la familia Bravo y para nosotras que podamos buscar la gente que el senor ha preparado para aceptar el evangelio en este tiempo!! Hasta la proxima lunes!! (I know all of this without a doubt. Family and friends, I love you very much and I hope that everything is good. Please pray for the Bravo Family and for us that we can find the people that the Lord has prepared to accept the Gospel at this time. Until next Monday.)

Content in Cuenca,

CUENCA!!! on Friday we had lunch at a members house who lives like a solid hour into el valle. el campo, man. love it. so incredibly beautiful. Also this family's house is legit.I gotta tell you more about it later.

Hermana Harper :)

Me this morning outside the apt. I forgot to tell you it is so hot here during the day and absolutely freezing in the mornings and night. I feel like I'm camping at Rock Creek or something. But bundling up and wearing boots is fun! :)

Random chicken painting we thought was funny and weird. Cuenca.

Cristina's baptism!!! She's so cute, I just love her so much.

Totes forgot to tell you that my last pday with the tringa, we got permission to go to this shopping center. It was like an actual grocery store that sold some American things and it had this store that was like a Staples. We were in heaven. Shopping centers don't exist here so we took pics cause we felt like we were in the States. haha

Also, my last pday in Boyaca, Hno Cueva took us to lunch. He's the cute man we live with. Well, we live in a diff house of course. Ours is just behind, but he owns it and everything. He's the best; I miss him.