THINK WE COULD GET SOME PEST CONTROL SERVICES GOING on OVER HERE DAD? T'WOULD BE GREAT : )

Hey Fam Bam, 

taken in the cyber right now with my comps camera. haha

Welp I might as well just come right out with it....on Tuesday night at 10:30 pm I got the transfer call. :(   I knew it was coming though. It was way sad to leave Hna Nazer, and I cried, but it's not long till we shall be up at Provo together so that's good.  So ya, I was transferred to a zone in Guayaquil called Huancavilca. That's the name of my sector too. I'm also in a trio! Hna Chacon is from Honduras and goes home in 2 months and is my co-sister leader, and Hna Apaza is from Bolivia and is just about to hit her 9 month mark. 2 Latinas is a little crazy for me, especially coming from being with Hna Nazer but I'm dealing. haha   They have already been companions for 3 weeks now and when I got here on Wednesday morning there was already tons of tension in the companionship....so let's just say it's been a rough week. When there's tension you don't have the spirit and you can't work well. So we pretty much didn't accomplish anything this week. Kind of a bummer coming from Naranjal where we were just so busy, but that's ok. I knew I was gonna have to serve in Guayaquil at some point since a third of the zones are here. haha 

So here I am! Ok, so there are only 2 investigators but like kinda not really because they are way flojo. Like they didn't even come to church on Sunday...buuuut at least one of them, named Rocio, has tons of potential, and if she gets to church these next 2 weeks, she can be baptized on the 12th still, which is her fecha. The Bishop is way cool and seems like he should be really helpful with the work. I hope we can find people to teach this week cause I'm not sure I can handle another one of no productivity. 

So I got two bad news: the first one is that I can't find my camera. I think it got lost or stolen at some point during the transfers cause I haven't  seen it since. And since I just got here, I kinda don't think another miracle like last time is gonna happen :(  But I'm still praying that somehow it will! I've been super distraught about it. But oh well. It was bound to happen for real at some point. Also the other bad news is that my skin continues to be bad. BUT I'm thinking that Heavenly Father gave me that gnarly infection so that when my skin is red, itchy, inflamed and flaky in its normal way, I could at least feel grateful that there's not a crusty liquid leaking layer of strep above it. (you're welcome for the disgusting descriptive words) jeje. 

But ya, pretty much everyone and their mom tells me to stop scratching, stay out of the sun, and put some alcohol on it to take away the itchiness. It's pretty amusing. haha But no, I love the love Ecuadorians have for everyone and how they want to help everyone however they can, even if it's someone they just met. So that's my life! Oh, I also have an ear infection that hurts pretty bad. And my new house is even more infested than the houses normally are. Do you think we could get some pest control services going on over here Dad? t'would be great :)  

Sounds like it was a solid week at home what with Rye's bday and what not. Shout out to my fam, the Smiths and the Butlers for fasting for my skin. (and special shout out to Rye for foregoing his bday breakfast for it) I way appreciate it. In fact, I even started to cry when my mom told me. You guys are the best. :) Now we just gotta wait and have faith :) But I really have come to an even deeper understanding of the atonement through my trials, and know that my skin sufferings are absolutely nothing in comparison to what Christ suffered. So I really have nothing to complain about. Thanks for all the support and love as always! I really couldn't do it without it. :) Les amo muchisimo!!!

Love,

Hna Harper

(sorry for the lack of spiritual experiences. I'll get on that next week)

SHOWERING was LIKE a TORTURE CHAMBER...

Let's start with the bad so then we can get to the good.  Well this past week on top of my already bad
eczema and psoriasis, I developed a strep infection that covered my entire body (apparently it's not just a throat thing). Everywhere was red, crusty, sore, oozy, itchy, etc..  It was super painful to even roll over in my bed.  Showering was like a torture chamber.  I went to Guayaquil with Hermana Tanner, the nurse, on Tuesday to go see a doctor. (Let's just leave it at Ecuadorian med schools must be really sucky).  The next day I just sat in bed all day and had a mental breakdown. I just couldn't see how this disease was ever gonna leave my skin and I just lost it.  I cried all day.  Dark times, man. I'm still not completely healed (neither physically nor emotionally) but I am slowly trying to work my way out of it : )

In other news, despite the hellish parts of this past week, there have been some good parts as well! On June 14th, the 3 sisters we have been teaching, Lisbeth Aguilar Suarez, Dana Lliguin Suaraz and Yanela Lliguin Suaraz got baptized!!!  They are just the sweetest girls.  Ever since we started teaching them they were se accepting and so willing to follow Christ.  They live with their mom, step dad and other little sister in this tiny little cement-floored, 2-room house.  The bunk-bed where the girls sleep is in the kitchen, which is all right there when you open the door.  The girls' dad is in jail and they've had a really rough upbringing.  Their mom can't get baptized because she's not married. She wants to get married but she can't until she divorces her previous husband, which apparently she can't do while he's in jail.  So it's really just a super sad and unfortunate situation.

But the girls have been so much happier since they've started going to church and I hope that now having the gospel in their home will change the lives of this family for the better : ) Lisbeth is 15, Dana 11 and Yanela 8.  Their lil' sis, Brittney is 7.  Since  Lisbeth is in my Young Women's group, I've been working with her on Personal Progress.  She really loves it and has already passed off a couple experiences in Faith!  She is so awesome.

Well since I was barely able to move this week and was way depressed as well, not much went down.  But Hermana Nazer has really helped me through it.  She has been such a blessing to me and we really are like real sisters, or nanas, as they say here : )

So we had a funny fun experience the other day:  We walk up to this store to buy some pan de yuca, and there is a white guy looking back at us from the other side of the counter. (That doesn't happen in Naranjal).  So after we asked for our pan, I go "hey, you're a gringo." (But in Spanish)  But he said that no he wasn't; he was Ecuadorian.  But I just thought he was joking as there was literally no doubt in my mind that he was gringo.  Because it wasn't just that he was light-skinned, but he had gringo facial features, blonde hair, and had nice glasses and dressed like a gringo as well.  Heck, he didn't even talk like a Latino!  Like obviously his Spanish was great, but it wasn't a Latino voice.  So anyways, I kept insisting, like no, come on, tell us the truth.  Where are you from?  He kept insisting that he was from Guayaquil and I was just like well, I don't believe you. haha.  So finally I just said, "ok, you must have a gringo parent or something." He said no.  Grandparent? Also no. But I was still doubtful so I started to talk a bit in English. Ya, he definitely didn't understand.  It was so weird!!  haha.  So ya, we just invited him to church and then left, just dying of laughter the whole time over the false gringo.  Good times.

Things are moving along in Young Women's.  Its way hard to do the YW Program in this culture.  I planned a mutual activity on Saturday and no one showed up : (  Not even the other "leaders".  It was way sad.  But I just had them do the activity in class on Sunday to give them an idea of what it's like so they'll hopefully get excited and show up next week.  We made like diagrams of the Plan of Salvation with craft stuff and now they have to teach it to their family or a friend to pass off a Personal Progress Experience.  I hope they do it! There is so much I want to do with these girls but I lack the time, means and resources necessary.  But we're working on it.

Well despite the trials that this week brought, it also brought tons of blessings. I'm so thankful for this opportunity to be a missionary here in Ecuador and am so thankful for the trust the Lord has put in me. So I'm just gonna have to trust Him right back that all will work out in the end :) Thanks for all the love and support you all have given me, but I'm out of time so I hope to hear from you all next week!

As my dear brother Baylor always says:

BESITOS!

Hermana Abbie Harper

Eating super Patacones after the baptism

WE WILL SHOWER AFTER and HAVE the NEIGHBOR BRING his MOTORCYCLE to GIVE us LIGHT....

Hello Family!

What a week. Let's start with Friday. THE LUCERO FAMILY GOT BAPTIZED!!!! minus Evelyn because she's teenage and angsty and doesn't want to do what her family does, but would rather follow her dumb friends.  Teenager girls, man. But oh weel, I'm sure she will follow soon. :) So it was actually kinda crazy how it all went down. We found out halfway through this week that we were gonna be in Guayaquil all day Saturday for meetings because Elder Oaks was coming!!! cool stuff, well actually not so cool. It meant we wouldn't be here Saturday to do the baptisms, so we had to do them Friday. Daniel had work Friday and wasn't gonna be home till night time, and since we don't have a capilla with a font, we always have to do the baptisms during the day in the river. So long story short, we didn't know what to do.  We went over there Friday night anyways with the

Elders. After discussing for a bit what to do, Andrea just says, let's just go do it right now in the river down the street! Her husband was like what? it's dark? and that river is way dirty. But Andrea is like whatever, we will shower after and have the neighbor bring his motorcycle to give us light. So that's what he did! And let me tell you, this river was straight up brown. And the levels were really low so they  had to do it on their knees! So ya, they were baptized at like 8:30 at night and it was really cool!

So then on Saturday we left at 5am to go to Guayaquil. It was a 3 mission meeting with Elder Oaks! Guayaquil Norte and Oeste were there too! But just all the leaders, because it would be impossible to fit all the missionaries from all the missions in one chapel. So everyone is all anxious with excitement, until they start the meeting and Elder Oaks still hasn't arrived....huh? Elder Waddell was also there, so he gets up and tells us that the Oaks had plane problems and were stuck in Miami. Talk about a disappointment, but it was still a cool meeting. Elder Wadell and his wife spoke, and all 3 mission presidents and their wives spoke too. Along with another seventy named Elder Villejo and his wife. lots of talks haha. I learned a lot, but forgot to bring my notes to the cyber. :( oh well. 

So after the meeting everyone went back to their sectors, but being leaders of our branch in Naranjal, we had to stay for another meeting later that afternoon. It was a meeting with all of the stake presidencies of all of the Guayaquil stakes. Well we are just a branch but we are also our own stake! haha. Some of the members came up with us for it too, like our counselors and stuff. So anyways guess who had made it in to town for that?? THE OAKS!!! but the meeting was divided. Elder Oaks met with the priesthood in one  room and his wife along with Sister Wadell, and Sister Clayton and the seventies' wives trained the women on Relief Society, Primary and Young Womens. It was so cool!!!! and Elder Oaks did come in for like 5 min to talk to us! It was cool to be in a church meeting that wasn't only for missioanaries. haha Especially with  general authority wives! They are so nice and inspiring. 

Today we hiked some waterfalls!!! which is crazy cuz in my mission you never get permisison to do stuff like that on pday! but we got it! and we went! and it was so fun to hike again! Although we still had to do it in skirts and the Elders in shirts and ties. haha. It was an experience. I fell in the river and got my skirt all wet when i stepped wrong on a slippery rock. haha It was good times though. The place is called Las Siete Cascadas. Welp that's all I got for ya folks, CONGRATS TO RILEY AND HALEY ON THEIR ENGAGEMENT!! :) I am beyond so excited I will get to be there cuz it's in December !!!  See ya all next week....    Love, Hna Harper

Selfie of us eating this weird thing called Cacoa. They take those seed things, lay them out to dry in the sun, rake them so they toast evenly, it gets really stinky and smells so bad.....and then they somehow make chocolate out of it from there! don't know how. haha

Eating pizza as a zone to celebrate the 1 year mark of me, Hna Nazer and HnaTanner

IT was a SUPER COOL ONCE-IN-A-MISSION EXPERIENCE....

Hellooooo Familia,

So im still in Naranjal!! My pleas paid off :) BUT my companion DID have cambios last week, and guess who my new one is??? HNA NAZER!!! por fin!!! haha We are beyond incredibly stoked. 

So this week has been fun, but also wayyyyyyyyy overwhelming. The Lucero family fell on us. I honestly don't even really know why. They don't have like a big challenge or problem impeding them from being baptized. They have accepted all of the commandments and teachings into their lives. They just say that they don't have the desire in their hearts to do it right now. It's kinda like they're looking for excuses as well, because sometimes they ask us random irrelevant questions; its weird. But they still all came to church on Sunday. We were hoping President would talk to them about it, but he was busy so he just helped give Evelyn a blessing because she's been really sick and then had to go. But he told us to keep with them so that they can do it this week. I have faith that is possible, I just don't know what else to tell them or what else to do as I feel like we have pulled every card we know. So ya, that was really sad for me. They were going to be my first complete family. Andrea and Daniel, a married couple, with Evelyn and Andy, their 2 children that are old enough to be baptized. (4 yr old Dustin isn't quite there yet. haha) But anyways I've been doing my best not to get too discouraged.

Something really cool this week is that on Friday we went to the temple with the branch!!!! We missionaries and about 20 or so of the members loaded onto a bus at 6 am and headed on up to Guayaquil. We were just in the baptistry obviously since they are all recent converts, but we still got to put on a white jumper and help out with the name cards and towels and what not. It was fun. The Torres family came too and their kids did baptisms as well. We ate in the cafeteria there afterwards, took tons of pictures, and then headed back to Naranjal. It was a super cool once-in-a-mission experience, that i feel so fortunate and thankful to have had. It was way cool to see all these people who have just joined the church within the past few months to be inside the house of the Lord, participating in temple work. Talk about awesome :)

So Sunday was the craziest day of my life. So you know how I'm Young Women's President? Well Hna Nazer is Primary President, 2 huge responsibilities. And then on top of that we have to take care of our investigators and converts and the members, etc. I tried introducing the Personal Progress program to the girls this week and it's just hard to get them to understand.....They don't really listen too well because it's loud in the room. It's just one big room with a class in each corner. So they don't focus too well and therefore don't comprehend anything. But oh well. My goal is to help them complete their value experiences of faith, and start the mutual program. We shall see how it goes :)

Think that's all the news I got this week. Loved the parable of the skunk. Can't believe seminary is ending and soon after that the school year. And this week I hit my year mark! My how time flies. My skin has gotten a lot better this week than in the weeks previous so thanks for all of your prayers! :) 

Being in this tiny branch here where the church is just starting makes me feel very inadequate a lot of the time, but it also gives me a stronger motivation to do my part and hasten the work. I love the people of Naranjal so much and only desire their salvation! But the kicker is that sometimes they seem to not want it...but the only thing we can do is keep on trying.  Elder Tad R Callister said in his famous talk on becoming a consecrated missionary that these missionaries are willing to pay the price of repeated rejection for the hope of a single conversion. Whatever the world throws at them, they throw back a smile, because they know they have the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Love that so much. Every time I'm frustrated, I try and throw a smile at the world instead. It's pretty affective. Well, next week should be pretty crazy as well so I'll be sure to give you all a full update this coming Monday. love you all!!

xoxo Hermana Harper

The Lucero Family