I'M ABLE TO FEEL THE SPIRIT WORK THROUGH ME MORE OFTEN AND IT IS THE BEST FEELING IN THE WORLD

Fam Bamily,

First of all, loved all the pics! You looked cute iz!! Funny, I bought that dress on sale at Urban a few years back thinking hey maybs I'll wear this to a dance in the future. never did, but I'm glad the dress made it to a dance eventually regardless. haha ok.  So I may have procrastinated my fam letter...only got about 10 min but that's alright. 

Ok, so my new comp is great for the most part. All Latinas have a tendency to be extremely hard on themselves and grumpy like half the time and overexcited and chatty the other half. But as opposed to my previous comp, this one loves English and loves American music so it's great because I love teaching English! I taught her part of the song, She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5 because she loves it and wanted to learn it. haha pretty lolz. But ya we get along great. The best part is that we are definitely on the same page when it comes to loving our investigators. For example, we left a lesson with Ronald the other day both just absolutely giddy with joy and overwhelmed with the love that we have for him. We had just finished teaching him about the priesthood and he was just so humble and in awe of the fact that after his baptism he can receive the priesthood and have that power of God to help his family. He's just one of those golden investigators. Or as they say here ïnvestigador del oro.¨ His baptism is this week and we are just so gosh dang excited! 

Our other baptism dates are two little boys named Jhordan and Pedro. They are brothers of 10 and 12 years old. not sure if I told you about them yet but they are just so eager to learn and every time we go to teach them they voluntarily tell us that they have been praying and reading the Book of Mormon. They're date is for the 26th but they need to attend church this week for it to happen so pray that all goes well and that they're mom will let them go! Because the main problem right now is that the mom isn't supporting. She's not against but she's not for it either. She gave us written permission but you can tell she's still kind of weary of the idea. But I know that these two kids have been prepared by the Lord because it is seriously so insane how smart they are and how much of a desire they have to be baptized. It really humbles me. 

As the language is starting to come more and more, and I'm starting to focus less and less on what I'm saying and more and more on the needs of the people. I'm able to feel the spirit work through me more often, and it's the best feeling in the world. You all know me and how over anxious of a person I can be...well I think that anxiety has been getting in the way of me being a more effective representative of Christ, so I've been trying to slowly get rid of that anxiety and just focus on the spirit. And it definitely has been working. 

I should have some better stories next week what with the baptism of Ronald and everything. Glad to know all is well at home. and Daddy, HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY TOMORROW!!!! I made you a card but then forgot to take a picture of it to send :( so you'll get that next week but just know I love you so much and will be thinking of you all day tomorrow!! and to answer your question, yes, you do look 50 ;) JKLOLZ  You're the youngest looking soon-to-be 50 yr old I know. People are always telling me how young my parents look when they see my pictures for real. So make it a good one. Don't be sad, and enjoy your weekend getaway at Pismo! Love you Dad! and love the rest of you oh so very much as well. You are all always in my prayers. until next week....

Love from Ecuador,

Hermana Harper

LIKE ALWAYS, THE LIFE OF A MISSIONARY CONTINUES TO HUMBLE ME AS I GROW AND LEARN EVERY DAY.

Querido Familia, 

Only got 15 min so let's jump right into it shall we....first of all, not gonna lie. The news from home made me a tad jealous. I would have loved to hit up Anberlin with Rye and the Iz like no other, and also am wayyyy jealous of Izzie's Hollywood date seeing Matt and Joshua with you guys, Mom and Dad! How come I never got Daddy Daughter dates like that! wattttaaajokeee. ;) hehe jk. I'm glad you all had fun :) 

So this week was a lot of highs and a lot of let downs...We found a couple great families and have had awesome spiritual lessons with both of them....The Pinta Family and the Diaz Fernandez Family...However, since they don't want to accept baptismal dates right now, our zone leaders are telling us to drop them....for me that's really frustrating because I love these people so much and I know that they feel the spirit when we teach them and that if they had more time to learn and receive answers to their prayers that they could progress. I feel like fulfilling my calling as a representative of Jesus Christ and being obedient to our leaders are contradicting each other. I know when people don't progress we have to search out the people that will....but these families we only met this past week...I'm pretty sure Christ never gave up on people, especially those who still had a desire to learn like these families do. So that has been frustrating...but I think if they attend church this coming week, the leaders will let us keep teaching them.  I know there is a lesson for me to learn in all of this.  I just need to figure out what that is. So we will see. And we still have Ronald who I told you about last week. He truly has been prepared and continues to learn and progress with enthusiasm. Hermana Yagual and I just love him so much. 

Well I can defs relate to Bay with General Conference. In my mission, the missionaries aren't allowed to watch on Saturday. I was pretty bummed about that and then one Elder told me all the gringos were going to go into a room to watch conference in English on Sunday and I was stoked....So when that turned out not to be true, I was a bit let down to say the least. I mean I'm to the point with my Spanish where I can listen without getting a headache and can understand the basic themes....but it's still not a spiritually edifying experience as conference would be for me if I could hear their actual voices and understand every word effortlessly. Man, was I, and still am, dying to be spiritually fed. I'm not gonna lie, during President Eyring's talk in the morning session I just started crying.  I could hear their voices, in English, faintly in the background but the Spanish voiceover was so loud I couldn't make anything out...and also it always takes them a second to transfer voices so the very beginning....like the first sentence...of every talk was in English with the actual voice of the person. So it was way hard having modern revelation from the prophets of the Lord being so close yet soo soo very far away...especially since I was yearning for that spiritual edification. But Motab was still in English so those few minutes of every session the spirit was just overwhelming for me :) 

But despite that, I was definitely humbled as well. My companion was way excited asking me if I've ever been to the Conference Center and when I told her only once she went on and on about how awesome that would have been and how she would just die from excitement if she ever had the opportunity to go. I felt embarrassed that I had that opportunity so close to me my entire life and only took advantage of it for the first and only time last year. Like always, the life of a missionary continues to humble me as I grow and learn every day. I feel truly blessed to be a child of God in these days where we have the fulness of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ on this earth. Welp I'm out of time so until next week...

Love from Ecuador,

Hermana Harper

Me and Hermana Yagual eating lunch at a local restaurant

My Zone after transfers

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 :)

IT MADE ME LAUGH SO HARD BUT IN A GOOD WAY

Fambam,

Haha, Mom you are so unbelievably random....the wisdom teeth pics....I lolzed so hard! haha 

Well hello family! Just another week here in Boyaca. The weeks are starting to blur together! Haha but this week we found some great new investigators who I was so stoked on! Like 5! And then only one showed up to church.....and then our babptism for this coming Saturday, Jose, didn't show up either and he still needs one more weeek of attendance, which means he's not getting baptized on Saturday... :/ So not the best week for us as far as the missionary work goes. But I know there are still people here that we need to find and teach! I can just feel it! 

Mom....I forgot to take pictures of my apartment AGAIN. I'm so sorry. But here's why: This morning while personally studying, one of the APs called and was like you guys need to go to the bus terminal right now; were giving you a third comp temporarily. But that's all they told us. So we go and it's Hna Nazer! A girl from my CCM group. So she's with us right now and we have no idea for how long! So ya it was hectic getting all of her stuff into our tiny place. It's a mess right now and wouldn't make for very good pics. but next week i PROMISE PROMISE. I know I've said that like 5 times but for real this time. :) 

So every week when we sign into the account to write our letter to the President, it has our name with the name of our companion and our area as well....this week it shows me in Boyaca still but there's a different name as my companion!!! SO I think we're going to be having transfers tomorrow...which means I'm gonna get a new senior comp and I'm really scared cause there are a lot of intense scary hermanas in this mission and it's a name my comp  doesn't recognize, which is weird. So I'll have to let you know how that goes next week!. :/ 

Oh I fogot to tell you last week thanks for sending up the Sano sand!! It made me laugh so hard but in a good way. One of the best things in the package and now I have a piece of California with me! literally. So great!  My comp was a little confused though. haha 

So Madelaine leaves for her mission this week! We all took some pics at her goodbye party.

Everyone Together. Can you see the giant thing of bananas hanging off the tree in the background?! hehe

 out front of the bishops house.  Love these girls!

Me and Madelaine

I love all these girls here in my ward so much. Oh, also one night my comp and I were starving so we called this lady in our ward who makes yummy empanadas and sells them in the centro and had her deliver some to our apartment. It was a mini empanada fiesta during the nightly planning sesh. and we took some pics of that too that I'll send. One is of my planner and an empanada juntos. The life of a South American missionary. haha 

mini empanada fiesta during nightly planning

my planner and an empanada juntos

Well I wish I had some cool miraculous experience to share with you all because I feel like my letters are kinda lame, but it was just a normal week of knocking doors and teaching lessons! I love you all so much and really appreaciate each and every single one of your letters. I feel so lucky to have so many awesome loved ones in my life!! I learn something from every single one of you. Keep on reading your scriptures and saying your prayers everyone, because those are the only 2 things that can help us get through all of our trials and challenges in life. 

Love you family!!! Hasta la aproxima semana....xoxo

Hermana Harper

ps- I've started a list of interesting Ecuador culture facts that I'm gonna finish up and send next week. I really need to liven up these letters! haha

pps - Mom and Dad, I love that you guys did that bike ride the other week! Sounds wayy fun. Also Mom, I have heard about Austenland. I wanted to see it at Sundance but never got the chance! Can't wait to watch it together when I get home along with all the other chick flicks I will have missed. It's gonna be fun times. :) Love you!

YES, I CAN HAVE DEEP CONVERSATIONS IN SPANISH!!

Hello Beloved Family!!

being silly on the bus ride home a couple weeks back

So I got your package this week!!! 'Twas the best. day. ever. Loooooveeeed all of the photos and treats and what not. It's weird seeing pictures of family outings without me in them. So I'm kind of sad I missed out on all those fun family times but I know we shall have more post mish so all is well. Looks like you guys had a blast this summer. 

Also Mom those sticker things with the cute little sayings are legit! I'm not quite sure what I should do with them though....I wanna like put them up on the wall but I'm gonna be changing apartments so often and I don't want them to be a one time use thing....got any ideas for me?? Cause they are way cool. 

Speaking of my apartment, I forgot again to take pictures of it.  I keep saying I'm gonna do it pday, after we clean it, but I always forget until I'm sitting in the cyber again....but I'll do it today so they will be all ready to go next week, promise Mommy :) 

I love that you sent me your hymn book Mom! So special. But for real, I've been showing everyone. haha. And the cute little bracelet! love it as well. They match my earrings so it's perfect. Also Mom, you always write me the best handwritten letters! Like for real.  I feel so lucky to have such a loving awesome mother. And just so you know, I have kept all of them throughout the years and read them often. I have some of them with me. I just reread the one that you wrote for me 2 summers ago when I first left home for BYU. You made me cry. The one in this package made my cry too. They alwasy make me cry! But in a good way, because i just love you so much. :)  Oh and those little 3 by 5 card notes from the rest of you were all right I guess. ;) haha nahh for real. They were great, thanks fam :) 

Sooooo this week....I was in the apartment for 4 days straiiiiiight. My comp is suffering from major back pains and migraines so the nurses made us stay in almost all week. Sufficeth to say that our program sucks and we only had one investigator in church on Sunday. That's what happens when you can't teach your investigators all week! But that's ok. My comp and I had some good bonding moments and some deep conversations about things during all those hours in the house so that's a plus. Yes, I can have deep conversations in Spanish!! haha. Not really, there is a lot of dictionary flipping going on during these talks. and I'm pretty sure she is the only one who can understand my broken Spanish, but I still feel really triumphant after these conversations. I know the Spanish is coming, just gotta keep up that patience and faith!  Oh, ps, the momitta here who washes our clothes friended both me and you on fbook. She's pretty cool. So that's who that is. 

So ya, this week was pretty uneventful but it had some quality me time, some quality comp time, some quality study time, and some quality fam time as well with the package! My comp is doing better now and I can't wait to hit the streets this week and find new people to teach! I'm just so anxious to get the word out there of our wonderful message! I know that it really is the only thing that brings  people happinesss. Hopefully next week my letter will be better. :) Love you guys!!

Love from Ecuador,

Hermana Abbie Harper

These pictures are from when I went to Guayaquil a couple weeks back. Reunited with the CCM trio while our comps were in the meeting! We made Hermana Catmull make us cookies in the toaster oven they have in the nurses house. haha It wasn't qutie the same but Hna Wiscomb and I enjoyed them none the less. Oh and there's a crappy photo of Guayaquil I took from the bus window but it's all I got.

My Zone Leaders

SPEAKING OF SPANISH, IT'S DEFINITELY STILL RIDING THE STRUGGLE BUS

Hey Fam,

Oh my goodness gracious, so much has happened at home I think my head is gonna explode I'm so overwhelmed! Seriously, I feel like nothing has happened to me this week after reading all yalls letters. First off, I may or may not have burst into tears on the way to the grocery store in a taxi while reading Grandma's letter....I was so confused cause I still hadn't read yours Mom. I mean I was still crying when reading yours because what in the heck?! How in the world can Papa have a brain tumor! I was just in shock cause it came out of nowhere; he is so healthy!!  I'm glad the surgery went well though, and it was probably a good call not telling me until after the surgery Mom. I would have been worried sick. Well I still am worried sick but it's comforting knowing that they got it all out and now it's just a matter of making sure one doesn't pop up again. Ahhh, I really wish I could be there with all of you during times like this, but I know I just have to trust in the Lord that everything is gonna be alright. It also helps that Papa is still his joking self. And way cool Mom that you got to have those sentimental spiritual moments with him. Papa is rarely, if ever, sentimental! Wish I could've seen that. You'll have to get another brain tumor when I get home Pops so I can see your sentimental side ;) haha chiste chiste. Pleaseeee don't get another brain tumor...cause if youre not still there when I come home Papa, you're gonna be in big trouble!  But I'm glad all is well for now. :) 

I can't believe Jacob and Kenz got their calls!!! ahh! seriously so crazy. I freaked out in the cyber reading about them. haha Congrats you two! Although I'll probs write you both separately, but here's a shout out in the main letter too. :) Speaking of shout outs, shout out to Sister Mittleman!! I got your card the other day, and i loved it! Very sweet of you! Thanks so much! :)  So I'm jealous of the food at Ricey's farewell!!! Although I should've  known it would be awesome. You're gonna do great Rice, I'm so proud of you!!! :) I can't believe school and seminary is already starting up.....crazy crazy crazy. Can't wait for the Shelley vs Tom seminary teacher rival stories. Those will be fun.

Ok, so here's what's up in Machala. Currently: not much.  We have some progressing investigators but none who have baptismal dates so not much to say other than I hope they continue to progress so we can have some baptisms on the 21st and 28th!  But there is this one couple that we are teaching and his wife had an accident in her brain...not sure exactly what, but she's a little off now as far as social cues and stuff. But she can still talk and converse and understand things for the most part.  Anyways she's adorable, in her 60s and she's like obsessed with me. Whenever I talk.....IDK, she's just like..... I like her! The way she talks! The way she smiles! She's like a doll! So basically she's amused by my gringo accent and gringo appearance. haha But it's all good. She always gives me really long hugs and sloppy kisses on the cheek. haha But I love her so much. I feel like she can understand my Spanish better than the people who don't have brain problems....ironic right. 

Speaking of my Spanish, it's definitely still riding the struggle bus. (And my little cuss of a brother Riley refuses to help me via email! ;) haha, idk.  I guess I'm progressing but I still feel like a toddler struggling to find words and form sentences and there's defs people in my zone who came the same time as me whose Spanish seems way further ahead than mine. But I'm trying not to compare myself to others and to just trust in the Lord. 

I came across a quote in the CCM that I just love so much and it's by David A Bednar. It reads, “To not take counsel from our fears means that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ overrules our fears and that we can press forward with a steadfastness in Him. To not take counsel from our fears means that we trust in God’s guidance, assurance, and timing in our lives.”

This quote always gives me comfort. I know that for whatever reason I am supposed to be here in Ecuador and at this specific time. I know that Heavenly Father wanted me here and I know that this season of my life is the season to serve Him and to serve my fellow brothers and sisters. It's hard to not have fear sometimes especially when it comes to speaking Spanish, but with this knowledge that I have, this faith that I have, that my Heavenly Father needs me here at this time in my life, it's impossible for that fear to take root for too long. So when the adversary puts those thoughts that I can't do this or that I can't learn Spanish into  my mind, I just think of those things and my faith in my Savior chases those fears away. 

I miss all of you every single day and it can be hard, but I know that I will see all of you in a short 15 months!! The time will pass quickly, I know it. You all are in my prayers every single day. Keep on keeping on everyone. Love you all!!

Love From Ecuador,

Hna Abbs Harps

ps- Thanks for the alliteration tips mom. The truth is that every week I say I'm gonna look for some words to use but I always forget until the next time I'm finishing up a letter and got nothing and remember that I forgot to look for a word! haha Give me some M ones for Machala!

 It was raining walking home from church last week so we took pictures :)  
                                                                                                          Me and Hermana Busath

the pday before last we took pictures at this giant boat thing in this random park in our sector dont know what its for but its cool! something historical

   

My zone after the last cambio ended! Boyaca, Machala

I BORE MY TESTIMONY IN SACRAMENT MEETING! THAT WAS LOLZ.

Hola Familia!

So I am in Guayaquil again because my companion had another meeting with all the leaders, so I don't have much time to write! Also, I wasn't able to print and read everyones' letters beforehand so I'll print them after I'm done writing and reply next week. :)  But all is well here. I didn't have a transfer and am still in Boyaca Machala with Hna Lujan. : )  This week nothing out of the ordinary happened, just lots of contacting and trying to find people to teach and invite to be baptized! So I think since I can't really think of anything right now I'll  just answer your questions from the other week Mom....

First one: What does Machala look like? Honestly it's just your average South American city. Lots of cars, but mainly motorcycles and taxis. There are tons and tons of taxis. There aren't houses, just buildings with usually a few different floors with different people living on different floors. Basically just like apartments. Some are nicer than others. Some have tile floors and cabinets while others have dirt or cement floors. There are little tiendas everywhereeee. Usually it's just the front room of people's houses that they turn into a store. So they live where they work. haha. But it's nice cause if you every wanna snack or a Coke while contacting, it's not a big deal to get something cause there are opportunities everywhere. The streets are dirty and there's trash everywhere but the people try to sweep it sometimes. But ya, there are always just piles of trash and rubble everywhere. Anything goes. haha 

Ok, weather conditions....It has rained a couple times but it's more like light drizzle or mist at best. But other than that, it's usually cloudy but still warm. It's starting to get hotter and hotter though. I'm scared for when it's just all hot all the time. 

The people are all nice. Even if the people are interested in what we have to say, they usually all listen politely for the most part.  My apartment is small but comfortable. It's just me and my companion so we don't have to worry about sharing space with others. I'll take some pictures of it and send them next week. 

What do I eat?... Let's see. It varies a bit but usually the meals consist of rice. Always rice of course. Sometimes Manestrar, which is just like watery beans. And some sort of meat like pollo or beef. Sometimes there is mashed potatoes, which I love. Sometimes grilled vegetables, sometimes shrimp. Lots of eggs and lots of rice. idk, normal things for the most part. I have yet to eat anything super weird. Dan, I shall have to finish the rest of your questions next week Mom cause I'm running out of time but...

My most spiritual experience this week was probably when I was reading in Alma about Alma the Younger's conversion experience and how when he thought all hope was lost for his salvation, he remembered his father's teaching of Jesus Christ and that he suffered for all of our sins and cried out to him begging for forgiveness and then just felt complete joy. I love how he says that his joy was just as intense as his sins...just the opposite side of the intense spectrum obviously if that makes sense. I don't have my English scriptures with me right now to quote anything exactly. haha But ya, all is well.

I bore my testimony in Sacrament meeting! That was Lolz. I'm pretty sure nobody could understand me but whatevs, at least I tried. Oh, there are now Elders in Boyaca with us as well! It's so weird they aren't splitting the sector or anything. The 4 of us are just working in the same space...kinda strange but one of them is gringo so now I have someone that I see daily to ask grammar questions if needed! But everyone gets mad when we speak English with each other so we will see how that goes...haha.  Spanish is still a struggle but I definitely recognize that I learn more and more every day. 

Today, while my companion was in the meeting, I got to hang out with my trio comps from the CCM because their comps were in the meeting too!  We hung out in the Casa de Las Enfermeras and made chocolate chip cookies and chatted! it was fun. Ok, I'm really tired and got a 4 hour bus ride ahead of me. I'm sure I forgot something so if I did, I'll just tell you all next week! Thanks for the letters, I can't wait to read them tonight and respond next week!! Love you all!!

Greetings from Guayaquil,

Hermana Harper