Week Eighteen - Transfers!

Hola familia!

This week a less active of 11 years showed up to church yesterday after two months of visits! It was a miracle! I am so grateful for miracles!

Wow. This week was a hot one in Ambato. The sun is super strong here. But we endured it. I'm convinced it was to help me adjust to hot weather because GUESS WHAT!!!!!!!! I'm in SANTO DOMINGO!!!

WOOOHOOO! I am so pumped. I didn't think Id get to come to the coast! Theres only one zone in the mission on the coast. There aren't any beaches or anything but it doesn't matter anyways cause I can't swim as a missionary. Haha.

Don't get me wrong. It was so hard leaving Pradera. It definitely is my home here in the mission. And I cried saying bye to Pamela and Nancy and her family last night, but new adventures and experiences await.

The bus ride here was four and a half hours long from Ambato, and it was GORGEOUS! I felt like I was in the Jungle Book! We were driving through the jungle/forest for about three hours on this windy road through the mountains and I felt pretty carsick but luckily I made it all the way without getting sick. It was so awesome, there were waterfalls around every corner! And the trees were so beautiful.  I knew immediately when we had made it into the coastal region. It was like a big wall of hot mist hit my face. It is SO humid here. It's like standing in a bowl of soup. But I love it! It was really dry in Ambato, the weather was perfect, but really really dry. It's going to be interesting adjusting the the weather but I'm looking forward to it!

My new companion is Hermana Moran. She's from California and has one transfer more than I do. She is super nice and I am so excited to work with her! The computer is being really slow today so I'll send pictures next week.

I'm really excited to learn new things and get to know another sector in the mission. I'm going to miss out on one of my baptisms back in Pradera (Paty our eternal investigator is finally getting baptized this Sunday!) but I know that Heavenly Father needs me here and I need to be here to learn. My bishop in Pradera also asked me to give a talk this Sunday which I'm actually really sad I won't get to give. I have yet to give a talk in my ward and it would be really nerve racking but also a really great learning experience to overcome my fears with the language.

So many new experiences await and I am really nervous but really excited too! I can't wait to tell you all about Santo Domingo and about the amazing people that I am sure are here :)

The best part of my week this past week was to see Pamela give her first talk in church yesterday. Being able to see the people you love progress in the gospel is hands down the best thing in the world.

I was reflecting about our work as missionaries and how the members often like to say that the missionaries are angels. It's something that makes most missionaries pretty uncomfortable, myself included. This is the work of our Savior, as missionaries we are merely instruments. If we are talking about musical instruments, we know that without someone to play the instrument the instrument is capable of nothing besides sitting on the shelve. We don't praise the instrument as much as we praise the music that comes from the instrument. It should be the same with missionary work. The work is impossible without the Savior Jesus Christ. The music of the gospel is the changes we can see in the lives of the people we interact with or in ourselves and its the most beautiful music in the world. As we learn to make the gospel central in our lives the music will become even more familiar and with time and the spiritual experiences we have, even more beautiful.

I am so grateful for gospel in my life and for the opportunity I have to be a missionary and instrument for the Lord. I have a lot of work to do to fix, refine, shine, and polish the instrument that I am but thanks to the love our Heavenly Father has for His children, He still allows music to flow through broken instruments like me who are striving to be better. We all can be instruments in the Lord's hands to help others hear the music of the gospel in their lives. I invite you all to do something in this next week to learn more about, or apply more specifically the gospel in your life or in the lives of your friends and family around you.

I love you all so much and pray that all is well. Your Heavenly Father loves you!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana B