Monday, May 4, 2015

Mayo!! La Chorrera

Hey yall! How is it going?

So, I got transferred to an area called "Altos de San Francisco" that is in Chorrera. I am a lot closer to the city than I was before and its pretty different. My companion is Hermana Villanueva and she is from Mexico. She has 7 months in the mission so its actually really fun because we have close to the same time and we are on the same page. She is super sweet and we get along really well. She speaks English too which is awesome. 

When I got to my area it was pretty dead. She had had two companions who were finishing their missions and they hadnt done anything. We have 1 investigator. and she doesnt know the members, and she has only worked in one part of our area... there are like 5, and one of them is the beach. Needless to say, we have a lot of work to do. I got to the area Wednesday morning and that afternoon her previous companion, Hermana Stucki, left for the city because the next day she was heading home, then we had our Zone Meeting, then we went and met who we thought was the Ward Mission Leader, but turns out he was released and less active. From there we went and I got to meet our only investigator, who is 16, living with a 22 year old boyfriend who is a less active member... so that will be fun. 

Thursday we met with our Branch President to find out his goals for the Branch and what he wants from us, that went really well. We also went and explored a new part of our area that she had never been too and we found a recent convert there. Its a big area, but we put an appointment with her so she could introduce us to the people she knows who live there. On Friday we had a service project in another area in the zone. We helped cook and construct a roof. Then we did weekly planning which didnt take long at all because we only had like 5 people to plan for, then we went out and contacted two references that a member had given us and he was able to come with us. One is really positive, the other no. That night we had a talent show in another area of the zone and they asked us to help and participate. It was super fun! I got to talk with everyone and although almost no one was from our area, it was still really fun. 

Saturday was insane! We went and visited all of the less active families that President Ruiz (Branch President) had given us to visit.. SO MANY PEOPLE. What was weird for me is that we went to visit them and they were all like.. "oh there are new missionaries" then I would say, "yeah I got here Wednesday" then they would look at my companion and ask, "you too?" and she would say, "no I have been here for 3 months" ..... awkward. Also, maybe this is just a personal opinion that I have, but I have mixed feelings about less actives because it makes me so sad to see people who have fallen away from the church, but I also love to teach them because they know what they should be doing and its so easy to tell them, "you need to repent, what would Heavenly Father say if He was here right now?" Obviously I dont say that exactly, many times I say things much more direct, but its because they have gotten lazy and I have a very small tolerance for laziness when it effects your salvation, especially because as the missionary, it affects my salvation as well if I dont say anything.

Sunday was "Game Day" I was able to say hi to everyone and get to know them. We had zero investigators at church, and one recent convert (the one we had found in the "new" area), but the less actives that we had visited the day before also came. I was told that our numbers were really low this last Sunday, that normally we have 80ish people, but this last week we had 69. It was also fast Sunday and the Branch President asked me to bear my testimony which hopefully means that I am gaining a little bit of trust from him, also he invited us to the meeting after church to talk about the area and missionary work and what it is that we need to do to get this area going. We also recieved a new mission leader! After church President and his wife took us around the majority of our area in his car helping us get to know the members and the area and where our new mission leader lives. It was really great! 

This area is super slow, but the members seem to be a little more animated and ready to help, especially President Ruiz. I am so excited to hit the ground running in this area! I have no idea what we will be able to accomplish in this transfer, but I have a really good feeling about it. I loved Volcan, and I definitely didnt want to leave, but I think I was starting to get a little too comfortable there... and the Lord doesnt like it when we are comfortable. When that happens, we start to drift. I actually feel a little relief to have a new companion as well. 

I know that there are a lot of miracles just waiting to be discovered here. One great thing about the fact that this area hasnt had working missionaries in awhile is that there are a lot of undiscovered people who are ready to recieve the gospel.

Hermano Porfirio was confirmed yesterday in Volcan as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! I wasnt able to be there, but I am just so happy to know that he is able and preparing to enter the temple here soon.

I hope yall have a wonderful week! OH! Duh! How could I forget? So we asked President Ruiz where we could go to skype and he said that we could set up the computer and TV in the chapel so, I am not quite positive of the time... super sorry, but we will see because we have a meeting after church and a family is giving us lunch, so it will probably be around 2pm... maybe.. which is 12pm for yall... and I hope that you wont be in church... but what sucks is that I wont be able to have contact with yall again until that time... so I cant confirm anything... so I am going to say that I will be skyping between the hours of 12:30 and 2pm. which, so sorry, is between the hours of 10:30 and 12pm for yall... sorry, really there is nothing I can do about it. 

Have a wonderful week! I am always praying for yall and I hope that everyone is doing good! if you need to talk I am here every Monday (hours vary). I love my mission so much! This is one of the most challenging things I have ever done and I am loving every second of it... most of the time. I love you all! You are in my prayers.

Love, Hermana Eardley

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