Love from Ecuador

Ok first to answer my mothers questions of the week!  The weather is so funny here all the locals say that you have four seasons in one  day and it is totally true.  You never know if it is going to be really hot or really cold, but the good thing is that everything is interesting.  It rains about 3 to 4 days out of the week and usually it is just drissly so as long as my hair isn't straight we are good! Plus elevation is crazy high so I am fine when I'm walking but when we run I run like a grandma because I am heaving it is totally funny. So I live in this apartment that is 4 stories up in a little building.  It is actually quite large we have a small kitchen a huge living room and one room for beds and the other for closet, because girls need lots of space, and a bathroom it is really nice. Oh and lastly I feel awesome it is so funny I haven't gotten sick at all thanks to my Heavenly Father because if I was sick this first couple weeks it would be excruciatingly more hard. hahaha. And actually I take that back it is not funny because God has been on my side and supporting me the way I need to be supported this entire time.

Ok now to the good stuff.  Well as expected this week was extremely hard, but it was extremely rewarding, and extremely joyful. Today we went to a waterfall and it was the coolest experience hiking up in the mountains of Ecuador.  I have a ton of pictures!!!  It is so different being in the work and learning and growing and being in a place where at times you have no idea what is going on or what people need from you, but the blessing I have is that I love this people so much.  One funny thing that is a blessing in disguise is here I am gringita to everyone.  There are some Ecuadorians with white skin, but they are really surprised when they see me.  One chica called me barbie and I almost cried in gratitude....haha just kiding.  But it is a blessing because it has pushed me to talk more.  They have more curiosity with me and they want to hear me talk and so I just start talking even if it doesn't make sense and they just say si to be nice...haha.

 But one quote from President Thomas S Monson that has helped me get through the week is this," Love is the very essence of the gospel, and Jesus Christ is our exemplar.  His life was a legacy of love.  The sick He healed, the downtrodden He lifted, the sinner He saved.  At the end the angry mob took His life. And yet there rings from Golgotha´s hill the words" Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" a crowning expression in mortality of compassion and love."  When I read this quote I remind myself that I need to continue to look out of myself and my lack of abilities in this language and as a missionary.  I remember the importance of doing your best to show love to your investigators and the members of your ward and really to every person you pass by on the street.  At times it is not easy, but in order for us to truly be like Christ we must try to do these things.  I love this work and even though it is hard for me to eat the entire plate every time we have mamitas and on some days a dread lunch...God has blessed me to eat the one thing that I do not like each day.  And also he has blessed me with members who understand that my stomach is small and are so kind to let me eat less haha.  I am also blessed to have rice everyday I never realized how much I love rice!!! haha.  But everyone will be proud of me to know that I have eaten an entire fish and shrimp and tomatoes...I still don't really like tomatoes or fish that much but I love shrimp when Hermana Cabrera makes it!!!....but it is so much better because I can do it!!! haha anyways what matters is that I have been able to teach people in Spanish and they have understood me.  And I have been able to teach with the spirit and witness the spirits work in other peoples lives.  I love this work and will never give up! Remember when you are down or troubled that there is one person who lived that has felt exactly as you have and more.

Si se puede! and my spanish word of the week is chistoso because as my companera explained to me comico is the gringo way of saying funny! so only say chistoso all of you!

Love From ECUADOR

Hermana Dunkley

 this is my new investigator his name is perezoso (LAZY)