Always Growing...Always!

Hermana Arnold and Hermana Ayer

The mission is pretty difficult, getting used to missionary life and the language. The people are pretty nice, although, it stresses me out sometimes when we are at the church and their are a lot of Latinas there, and the common thing to do before and after you greet them is you kiss their cheeks...seriously, I am not used to that! Latinas are very touchy and loving...haha its wonderful, they are so full of charity!

The language is still difficult but Hermana Ayer is helping me a lot! She is like an older sister, she is the best senior companion ever! I think with her help, I will be able to have the language down in 3 months!

The spirit is amazing, I have never felt its presence this strong before! I have learned that the spirit talks to me in inspirations and ideas. I never know beforehand if that is what they are, but the answer always comes after. I am able to detect good and bad spirits, just by looking at them! It seriously is a super power!

knowing the scriptures has been the most wonderful asset for me on the mission! I may not understand completely what others say, but by the look on their face and the few words that I do catch , the spirit tells me thier needs and exactly what scriptures they need to hear. I may not know the language very well, but I do know the language of the spirit!

Apparently smiling is not something Ecuadorians do in pictures

We had 1 baptism and conformation this last Saturday. His name is Eduardo and he is 14 years old. We call him the Karate Kid because he takes Karate lessons and jujitsu and he strongly resembles the Karate Kid. He is seriously is muy Chévere! ( That is Cool in Spanish) He has such a gift to understand the gospel and he is so responsible! We are very happy for him and we believe that he will always have a stong foundation in the church.

The past few weeks we have been praying specifically for a family of 3. We haven't had much success because we are both new in the area, we are still getting used to know the members. Sometimes it is really hard to hope, but the Lord leads us along. One night we had 20 minutes left to go back to the Casa, and so we decided to find more people to teach. We were walking down one street and we both felt prompted at different times to turn down a certain street. The street was emanating with the spirit! So we turned at this street not knowing why. We walked still not knowing, we were both asking,"spirit, where do you want us to go?" At that moment we were planning which houses we felt we needed to visit and we wanted to know the name of this street. We saw a family walk out of thier house and asked them what the name of the street was and the cross streets. They told us the name was Rosenda Savilles. We thanked them and went about our business. While we spoke to them, I had the strongest feeling that we needed to teach them! I realized they are the family of 3 we have been looking for!

I never cease to learn that the only way we can be receptive to the spirit is by being good girls or good boys and being obedient! Obedience brings blessings, but Exact obedience brings miracles! I know that that is true! I cant wait to publish peace to the people who have been waiting to hear the gospel  their whole lives! I know that my savior lives and am so grateful for the atonement, I truly am nothing without him! The gospel is true!

Hermana Arnold