Hermana Beutler in Ecuador: Week Forty-Seven: Rollercoaster rides and food

Otavaleñas...we got creative a rented costumes :)

Hola mi Familia!

Wow what a week it has been! Andrea got baptized!!!!!!! Wow we are so excited! She definitely had an amazing conversion process! It´s such a blessing to be able to see the changes of the people we visit through the Gospel! From her health to her family, she has been fighting every day to make it to baptism and she did it! It was pretty scary because she didn´t show up until 7, and the service started at 7...and on top of that President and Hermana Christensen decided to come to our baptism, so it was a pretty big scare. Not to mention that the font started to overflow....it was quite the rollercoaster. But the service turned out great, and like 15 of Andrea´s family members showed up! It was a miracle!

On Friday we had our super fun ward activity! It was a cultural event with each organization representing a country with a typical finger food. It was the BOMB! Just imagine, the goodness of South American food from ten different countries put into one room and everything FREE. A lot of people showed up. Haha. It was such a great feeling to be able to help put together the event because as you all know, I like putting on events, haha and its something our ward really lacked. We already have plans for the next activity!

OH and speaking of the next activity! I'LL BE HERE FOR THE NEXT ACTIVITY! WE DIDN'T HAVE TRANSFERS!!! WOOHOOO! Oh man Hermana Herrera and I are so pumped. It's going to be a great change. We do have changes though. We get to change apartments! We're finally moving. Our house right now is really dark and dreary and way too big for us. We found a brand new mini apartment and we were supposed to move in today and so we packed up the whole apartment and had everything ready to go like the Elder told us to do and then he called us to tell us that we have to wait until Friday....so I'll be literally living out of my suitcases the next few days...but hey, I'm moving so I'm still really excited!

We've got so much work to do this change. We set a goal of 5 baptisms! 3 of which are already set up to go. We're praying that all will go well and that our other semi-eternal investigators are going to accept a baptismal date soon! This work is the best!

This Saturday we're going to have an Open House for the Mission Work in our Stake! You're all invited! Hahaha But man am I excited for this event. We've been planning it for a while now and we're super excited. Our Stake Mission Leader told me he was really hoping I wasn't going to be changed, so I could be there for the Open House and believe me that I was so happy to hear that I'm staying specifically for this event. We're hoping that everything goes well!

It truly has been a rollercoaster of a week. But if I've learned anything, it's that having a rollercoaster kind of day or week doesn't mean that you have your highs and lows, but that you have moments of anticipation, preparation, and then when you reach the top you can experience the thrill and rush on the way down. Sometimes we're thrown to the left or right without warning, but if we remember that the scare that we feel in the pits of our stomachs are only for a brief moment, that's when we can truly enjoy the ride. Life is like a rollercoaster ride as cliche as it is and sounds, but it's the coolest rollercoaster ride ever and if we allow ourselves, we're going to have a blast!

I hope you all have a blast this week! Share the gospel with someone new! The ride is always better with two!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Beutler