PDay CHanges

We´re splitting up PDays this week due to the new year. It´s a more effective way, because we can teach more in that manner. I was super happy to see you all!!!! It was a little boring for us this Christmas to be truthful. Here are pictures from our latest baptism! His name is Bryan Villamar!

Hello Everyone y Feliz Navidad!!!!!

I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas season up until now! What have you all done? I'd love to know, I really miss you all and I wish you all a Merry Merry Christmas because I love you all!!! Basically, here in Ecuador, the people have a really cool tradition where they all put out their nativity scenes an wait until Christma Eve, And then prepare for a giant party. When it comes to be 12am, midnight, the first hour of Christmas day, they put all their baby Jesuses in their nativity scenes and start partying! They don't eat anything basically the day before, but at thid party, they have a HUGE dinner, with turkey and bread and epanadas and EVERYTHING!!! They sing and put on Christmas music and have so much fun! And my district leader told me there's basically no rules on Christmas day! Haha, just kidding. There's still rules. After comes the New Year! And they burn cardboard statues called monigotes, which are in the form of basically anything, like Spiderman, Ironman, Sid the Sloth from Ice Age, Bugs Bunny, Anything Disney, and so much more. It's so cool because it's like anarchy with everyone setting fire to all their monigotes (safely), and they do it right in front of our house too!!! So excited!!!! Hna Purnell and I moved out our beds to the window overlooking the balcony, so we can see all the festivities! I've been so happy here in Duran Sur de Ecuador, the people are lovely and we meet new ones every day. A couple of them (Elen, Katherine) have run up to us and asked us to pass by. We're going to be working with their families this week as well as the family Salizar! We hope they have their wedding soon, we're going to make the cake!!! I hope you all have a very very Feliz Navidad, and I hope you all check out this video! It's about Jesus, the real gift of Christmas, and the most important gift of all. I love you all! Les amamos! Tengan una Feliz Navidad, y amen a sus familias, recuerden Jesucristo, porque estos son los regalos màs importantes de la Navidad que Padre Celestial nos ha dado!!! Love, Hermana Avalon Johnson

Yay! She got one of the packages!!

we've had a fun week with 16 less actives and 7 investigators and 2 recent converts in church this sunday, and it was really a miracle because we hit the district goal and pulled us through. It was so hard to do, but you know, when you work hard, the Lord will give a miracle. ALSO I got the package the young women sent!!!! I was so happy!!!! We don´t have basically anything of what you guys sent here, not even candy canes!!! --- Sí, estoy bien. Solo, a veces yo no puedo hablar con todas las personas cada semana, basicamente, estas semanas pasadas, sólo pudo hablar con algunos de mis hermanas y mi mamá. Me frustre este correo electrónico y el tiempo limitado que tenemos. Sola una hora es tan pequeño, y siempre me pone triste, es bastante estrés. Hemos estado muy MUY ocupadas recién porque hay bastantes personas y bastantes problemas que tenemos cargar en este sector. Es una cosa de la misión. Enseñamos casi 30 familias en una semana, y cada una tiene sus problemas respectivas, y ellos nos confían bastante y dicen cada una a nosotras, porque como misioneras, tenemos apoyarlas. Siempre pasamos casi cada una en la semana, y caminamos a TODAS estas casas. Algunos viven en el cerro, algunos por el río, y algunos por nuestra casa. Por seguro, es un sector gigante!

Las Penas and Transfers

Today we went bowling with a ward missionary, Yimabel! She leaves in a couple weeks for columbia! We went and climbed this hill that I don´t know the name of. It was 500 steps uphill and they told me it was only 400. But we went up it, and then we went up the lighthouse steps and took pictures and had fun in the park below! It basically is commemorative of the spaniards who came, and it was right before we left for Duran. Funny thing, we were right in our new sector, and we didn't even know it. --- Found out Las Peñas is the place we went three weeks ago. The place we are preaching in is called Ribera, Duran Sur, Guayaquil. The people here are a bit more helpful to the missionaries, and we have hamakas on the roof so we can hang out while we plan our days in the nighttime. We also have lavadoras!!!! We don´t have to wash it manually! The other day, we actually were able to finally find the family Gonzalez. They haven´t gone to church in 5 years. They didn't tell us the reason, just that they decided as a family to leave. We felt compelled to tell them that God was calling them back, that He needed them, and that it was essential for them as a family to return. The mom rejected us again. They weren't in church this sunday, but we´re going to keep going past them, checking up on them because we promised them we would and told them that God didn't want to abandon them. Yup! I love the mission, it´s great, and it is nice to meet new people and help them come unto Christ. He´s really the only one who can help anyone.

En español

Hemos trabajado muy duro esta semana y cada miembro y casi cada MA quieren que vengamos a su casa para comer. Este Domingo todos los miembros estaban pidiendonos que vengamos a sus casas y necesitábamos decirles que teníamos hacer citas primeras! Por supuesto, no entendieron, y nos fuimos a sus casas en vía de los citas. Estamos enseñando una familia Encalada, y yo pinté un Jesús en su pared, y hemos enseñado mucho a ella! Tiene un nonmiembro en su casa, Mariano, y él no puede leer, entonces vamos a enseñarle por medio de Mensajes Mormones (Hna. Purnell tiene el CD! :) ) y los élderes van a ayudarnos con el CD por La Restauración! Va a ser chevere. También estamos ensñando a un investigador, Bryan, y él nunca quiere que salimos, enotnces, vamos a las lecciónes consigo y enseñamos mucho más a él en nuestas otras citas, jajajajaja! Es bien divertida. Espero que su familia y Ud y Hna Riggins están bien! Éxitos!!!

Crocodiles?!

I went to Isla Santay today in Duran!!! It was awesome but awful because my bike was broke and we had to bike about two miles with it. We saw crocodiles!

Changes...

We had changes today, and now Sister Purnell and I are opening a new sector in Duran Sur, Guayas, Guayaquil. It´s fun starting from bottom up! It means we get to find all the worthy in heart right away!!!! My first sector was also like this, and Sister Lagos and I opened up that sector too! I like opening sectors in the mission. Kitkats are non-existent here, so I know we would all love that for a start! I don´t really know what I need? I think a bunch of cards would be AWESOME!

About Ecuador

We have lunch with them members every day, and so that would be my favorite meal, although I do love eating my fruits at the house. Gapin Goucho is my favorite meal here, with cheese and egg and pasta soup. It´s amazing, there´s sausages and potatoe bread (homemade) on the side, with a bunch of rice and salad. A perfectly fried egg sits on top of the rice. I love it! The soup is a cheese broth with bowtie pasta, choclo (a type of big corn), cheese, and potatoes and saffron and I forgot the word. But they´re great! The ward is about 200 people, and It´s very nice, full of kind people who hardly ever have references. We speak english in the english class, as well as to practice with people. Other times, it´s a cat call from men who can only speak Hello and How are you. As companions, Hna. Purnell (Canada) and I only speak spanish, although we are both native english speakers. I only speak spanish in the house to practice with the new companion and new missionary, Hna. Robelledo (Chile), of the other sister, Hna Ocon (North CA). I love singing anything in Spanish. It´s amazing! And a lot prettier sometimes. But the people here are extremely tone deaf, so I stand out a lot. But it´s nice to hear them all singing praise to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. No, we haven´t done any service projects. It doesn´t work like that here. But we help the members with their stuff sometimes! The homes all have tile, with two comfy chairs and a couch, paintings, walls of different bold colors, and trinkets and pottery the people here like. It´s about the same in every home. I haven´t really had a best experience yet, other than walking around getting skinny and dropping about 15 pounds. I´ll get back to you on that. Hna. Purnell is from Alberta, Canada and is very clean and a bit bossy. She and I both like things done our way, and neither of us really gives in. We´re working on it, finding how we fit together as companions, after all, it´s only been a week. She´s really pretty with eyelashes that are gigantic, and is kind to everyone she meets. She´s creative, and likes fun little things, and parables. She doesn´t like to be hugged much, she´s not a touchy person. She´s the last child of 12.

Gringas in Our Sector

We had changes today and now everyone is a gringa here in Districto Orquideas 2. Hermana Lagos went back home to Honduras, and I´m the companion that "killed her", they say. They say it to everyone who is a last companion. Hermana Ocon is waiting to train a new missionary, and my new companion is a blonde girl from Canada, Hermana Purnell. I´ll have to send new pictures next week, I couldn´t find my uploader today. Everything is fine here in Guayaquil, a hot day as usual, and lots of humidity and running about. We`re all tired due to almost no sleep, because we were packing and helping pack all night. But we`ve gotten everything done and are going to do more. We have a family home evening tonight with the bishop´s family and one of our family investigators. We call them Familia B4 because the mom and dad are called Beatris and Boris, but then their daughter and son are called Beatris and Boris too. It´s really fun! The only thing that kind of stinks is that they won`t go to church, so we can´t ask them to be baptised yet. But they believe in Chirst, and have lots of faith because they`re catholic, so we`re trying to get them to see that God`s revealed new doctrine, because He would never leave His children alone without true and complete guidance. They have the Family Proclamation to the World magneted to their fridge, so I think they will come to see it soon. We´re teaching two other families, the family of Karina, and the family of Consuelo. They´ve both got baptism dates, and I´m excited for them! Karina is always ready to have us over to teach, and that just makes my week! Consuelo... We´ll see. We´re passing by her today too, so yeah! But that´s basically all that happened this week, other than Hna. Lagos and I working to pack up her stuff. But that´s all fine, because I´m excited for my new adventures with Hna. Purnell! I´ll send you all an update next week! Take care, I love you all and am always praying for you. Love, Hermana Johnson

Praying For Miracles

I loved this week! I really really did, because I think it was around Monday evening that I prayed and asked God to send someone who had already attended church more than three times, and who was completely ready to accept the church and become a member, because I wanted us to find someone who would progress, who we could teach, and I wanted Hermana Lagos to have one last baptism before she left, too. The Monday before, Hermana Lopez wanted to use a "two sunscreens at 100 SPF for $36" deal that she found, and she asked me to jump in and buy with her, since I needed sunscreen. And really, this deal is actually rather good here, where sunscreen costs an arm and a leg. So we ordered the sunscreens from a family in the ward and returned the next week on Tuesday to pick them up. While paying for them at the house of the Family Rivera, the boyfriend of their oldest daughter, Gabi, walked in, and he and Hermana Lagos started talking while we were buying. As it turned out, he had assisted the church for a while, because he and Gabi have been serious about their relationship for a while. We asked to meet with him, and he said yes. We met with Eduardo the following day, and taught the restauracion, and he commited to learning more and praying to know if the church was actually true. He had been following the law of chastity and the word of wisdom, and had been taught a bit before by other missionaries, but he never commited to baptism because of work. We didn't feel it the right time to ask him to baptism that day. The next day, however, we had a companion exchange. Hermana Lopez and I returned to teach Eduardo, and we taught the gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet, and when we taught about baptism, I asked him if he would like to be baptised on Nov.2. He told us that, yes, he´d like to, but he was still waiting for his work to call him out to the field. It´s a long way away, and he told us that if he didn't have work, that, yes, he would like to be baptized. We finished the lesson, and returned home to end the companion exchange. The next day, Hermana Lagos and I taught again, but this time, we went over the baptism requirements with him. He was completely ready, and believed in the gospel and everything! It was so great! I was right in the middle of getting really excited for Nov.2, when Hna. Lagos asked him if he would be alright with baptising the next day. And he told us, yes, yes he would. The next day was a bit of a scramble for us, but Eduardo was interviewed and everything, and then baptised a few hours later. He and Gabi and the whole Rivera family were so happy, and so were we! I bear testimony that our Heavenly Father always answers our prayers, if we pray with real intent and with faith, doing all we can before. He will always, always answer us, and I know that He answered my Monday prayer this Saturday and Sunday, at the baptism and confirmation of Eduardo. I know He loves us, and I know He always wants to bless us when we follow His instructions and commandments, always trusting in Him. And I am so grateful that we have Him just a prayer away. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. P.S. Yes! In Ecuador, or at least Guayaquil, everyone dresses up and goes to the mall! They give free candy out at the stores, and toys too! It´s great! The kids don´t really walk around anywhere else, though, because the houses and people here are a bit standoffish about people knocking on their doors. But there´s parties and stuff like that too, so everyone loves it. [Av explaining Halloween traditions]

We don´t have a bunch of investigators at the moment, but the ones we do have are doing great!!! Consuelo accepted a baptism date for Nov 15, and we are working with some completely inactive people. We sang at a baptism for a little girl who was being baptized, too. Everyone wants the missionaries to sing at their baptisms now. There were about ten people in the classes the other Wednesday! And I understand Spanish completely and can answer relatively well if I listen.

Continuing to Teach and Learn

This week we had another baptism! Karla Carbajal is seventeen years old and an amazing young woman. She is so happy to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and she has said she feels like she belongs here. It´s so great, becaus eher mom was completely inactive, and now is supporting her daughter and completely inactive. They found her missionaries through facebook, too! It was really awesome. Gregorio was ordained a priest this sunday, and recieved the priesthood! Next week he will be able to bless and pass the sacrament! I´m so happy we found him, he is awesome and super faithful! He´s already a really faithful member. He needs more friends in the church though, because he only knows Estelita, the Bishop Chacón, and the ward mission leader, Brother Walter Olaya. We´re working on that. This week, we taught at the house of a man named Antoni. His mother´s name is Blanca, and they are both very good people.They went to church with us this Sunday! The story of how we met him is really interesting. Hna.Lagos and I were walking down Guayacanes (part of our sector), and we passed by Antoni. We walked a little further up the sidewalk, about twenty feet from him, when we both had a very strong, distinct feeling that we needed to return and talk with him. It startled us really, but we knew it was the spirit, so we stopped immediately, affirmed that we both felt it, and waited for him to catch up to us so we could talk to him. It was just a liiiiittle bit awkward, but we couldn´t deny such a strong prompting. When he caught up to us, we asked him to show us the way to an address, and then we started to get to know him as he walked us up to it. It was really weird, because he lived only a few houses away from it. When we asked if we could pass by and visit, he told us we could and gave us his address and phone number. I think this is really important, because we passed by the day before yesterday, and talked with him, his children, his aunt, and his mother. The family is so important to them, and appartently his other aunt, who passed away about two years ago, was also LDS. We talked about the family, and how they can be together forever, even after death, and gave them a Book of Mormon. That was really special to the aunt, because her sister had one too, and since her niece got everything after her mom died, it was like the aunt had a little something that reminded her of her sister again. It was really nice, and they´re excited to go to church! Oh! Also, I´m going to be teaching English to Antoni´s children. We also taught to another family, Consuelo and Jennifer. We need to teach them a bit more, but they went to church this sunday and are really amazing people! Jennifer is an artist, and also is very interested in learning English, so I´ll be teaching her too. She drew a picture of me while I taught her a bit! I can´t upload it today, because this computer doesn't have a drive to upload pictures, but next week I will. I´m really excited to teach them more! Well, that´s practically it. We continue to teach and help, and have the english classes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The rainy season has started, and the humidity is awful. Hnas. Lagos, Ocon, Lopez, and I went running the other day, and I felt like I was drowning instead of breathing. But other than that, I love it here! I miss you all, and send my support and love, and I pray for you all every day! I love you! ¡Les quiero muchísimo!!! ¡Tengan una buena semana!!! Love, Hermana Johnson

Progress and Karla

This week we had another baptism! Karla Carbajal is seventeen years old and an amazing young woman. She is so happy to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and she has said she feels like she belongs here. It´s so great, because her mom was completely inactive, and now is supporting her daughter and completely inactive. They found her missionaries through facebook, too! It was really awesome. Gregorio was ordained a priest this sunday, and received the priesthood! Next week he will be able to bless and pass the sacrament! I´m so happy we found him, he is awesome and super faithful! He´s already a really faithful member. He needs more friends in the church though, because he only knows Estelita, the Bishop Chacón, and the ward mission leader, Brother Walter Olaya. We´re working on that. This week, we taught at the house of a man named Antoni. His mother´s name is Blanca, and they are both very good people.They went to church with us this Sunday! The story of how we met him is really interesting. Hna.Lagos and I were walking down Guayacanes (part of our sector), and we passed by Antoni. We walked a little further up the sidewalk, about twenty feet from him, when we both had a very strong, distinct feeling that we needed to return and talk with him. It startled us really, but we knew it was the spirit, so we stopped immediately, affirmed that we both felt it, and waited for him to catch up to us so we could talk to him. It was just a liiiiittle bit awkward, but we couldn´t deny such a strong prompting. When he caught up to us, we asked him to show us the way to an address, and then we started to get to know him as he walked us up to it. It was really weird, because he lived only a few houses away from it. When we asked if we could pass by and visit, he told us we could and gave us his address and phone number. I think this is really important, because we passed by the day before yesterday, and talked with him, his children, his aunt, and his mother. The family is so important to them, and apparently his other aunt, who passed away about two years ago, was also LDS. We talked about the family, and how they can be together forever, even after death, and gave them a Book of Mormon. That was really special to the aunt, because her sister had one too, and since her niece got everything after her mom died, it was like the aunt had a little something that reminded her of her sister again. It was really nice, and they´re excited to go to church! Oh! Also, I´m going to be teaching English to Antoni´s children. We also taught to another family, Consuelo and Jennifer. We need to teach them a bit more, but they went to church this sunday and are really amazing people! Jennifer is an artist, and also is very interested in learning English, so I´ll be teaching her too. She drew a picture of me while I taught her a bit! I can´t upload it today, because this computer doesn't have a drive to upload pictures, but next week I will. I´m really excited to teach them more! Well, that´s practically it. We continue to teach and help, and have the english classes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The rainy season has started, and the humidity is awful. Hnas. Lagos, Ocon, Lopez, and I went running the other day, and I felt like I was drowning instead of breathing. But other than that, I love it here! I miss you all, and send my support and love, and I pray for you all every day! I love you! ¡Les quiero muchísimo!!! ¡Tengan una buena semana!!! Love, Hermana Johnson

Cow Foot??!!

THIS WEEK I ATE COW FOOT AND IT WAS DISGUSTING! IF ANY SPANISH PERSON ASKS YOU IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO TRY PATA DE VACA DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT. Gregorio´s baptism is at the end of this week because we had stake conference yesterday too! We´re teaching a lot of people, but not many were at their homes this week, so we need to find more people. I ate cow foot, and had to finish it although I was dying inside. I miss my family most, of course. The mission is so based on families, and that´s why we´re called Hermanas, because we are all sons and daughters of God, and it´s hard to not miss your family when it´s the main reason for the entirety of the gospel of Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. I like helping the people here. There´s this one old man who always thanks Nephi for everything whenever we pass him. We think he fell away when the other sisters left, and we invited him to church. He won´t tell us his name, maybe it really is Jose Smith. :)

Frog Eggs and Fellowshipping

This week was pretty cool! We had 5 less active members show up with us on Sunday, as well as 3 investigators! It was so nice to see them at church! I love sharing the gospel here in Ecuador! The fruits are all so weird! tried more fruits, like the mango here and another really weird fruit that I like to call "frog eggs"! It's orange and frog-egg-like inside, and you have to slurp the fruit out and it's delicious but weird as heck. I also had oatmeal juice this week? Like, I don't know why, but everyone here is just a little crazy about oatmeal. They have oatmeal flavored everything and the soap smells like it too and it's nice, but weird! ​It's starting to get hotter here, and as always, very busy. We've been able to meet so many new people, Hermana Lagos and I! They're all so nice! I love you so much mom! Say hi to my dad for me when you all go to Rose Hills this week! Say happy birthday to Levi for me too! Oh and pictures are being sent right now! I send my love to all of you and I hope you're all doing fine! I pray every night that God will watch over each of you, and I know he answers the prayers of the missionaries! I hope you all have an amazing week!!! Love, Hermana Johnson