Week Sixty-eight: Christmas!

Christmas Day 2016

Hola mi familia!

Feliz Navidad! I hope you all had the best Christmas ever! Mine sure was! Just thinking about all of the food I ate this weekend makes my stomach hurt but it also fills my heart with joy from all of the love we received from the members here in Manantial. EVERYONE. And I mean EVERYONE tried feeding us this weekend. We had to do the rejecting this time around haha. Good times. Good food. 

Oh man it was so great talking to my fambam! Definitely the highlight of my week. As we spoke I realized HOW much change I've seen in myself and in my life in this past year! The councelor in the bishopric gave an amazing talk that I wish I could copy and paste to this email but it was still it was SO GREAT! It really got to me. He shared about the song ¨Little Drummer Boy¨ I looked it up in Lds.org but couldn't find it so I'll have to wait to listen to it but you all can go listen! I'm 99% sure that its the song he was talking about. It talked about how this little poor boy didn't have anything to give to the Father, but he had his drum and he could make it sound. He mentioned that many times we feel this way, that we are poor, be financially or in spirit, and that we might just have one talent or two. We may not feel that it is enough. But he said that for our Heavenly Father that doesn't matter, what matters is that we give it our all! That doesn't mean give Him all. It says give Him OUR all. Your all is different than my all and vice versa. But Heavenly Father doesn't ask us to be better than our neighbor. He asks us to be the best person we can be! Be the best you! And remember that Heavenly Father created you so that´s good enough! 

Not sure if all of that rambling made sense. It makes better sense in my head in spanish. But I hope you can get something out of it. I sure did! I loved that talk and it reminded me that if I keep giving my all then my Heavenly Father will be happy! 

Time to keep giving my all to the work! I love you all so much and hope you all have a Happy New Year! 2017!!!!!!!!!!

con mucho amor,

Hermana Beutler

fun facts from the week:

- one can now get anywhere in Quito for just 25 cents. It's the best thing ever.

- I bought a dozen roses the other day for $1.50. Yes. $1.50.

Our Christmas decorations

Thanks Mom! I really needed this!

Can you tell why? haha

My companion trying to figure out what the gift I gave her says haha. 

My new bracelet! Thanks Hermana Valdebenito!

Probably the best gift anyone can give me!

;)

Excited because it's Christmas!

Erika!

She's always the first to throw up a funny face haha!

Christmas craze

The first of many Christmas dinners.

Nothing happened to her baby.
She is just so proud of being a mom that
she didn't want her baby to miss out on the picture
just because he was sleeping XP

Week Sixty-seven: Celestial Reunions

We are on top of El Panecillo

Hola mi familia!

What a week it has been! We got to know all of our sisters all this week! It was crazy let me tell you. We had a couple of divisions and also did some studies with the sisters. By the end of it all I was beat but so happy! We also had our Cena Navideña with President and that was AWESOME! There were a couple of trainings, a talent show, and of course some REALLY GOOD FOOD. I loved it all. The best part of it was that my companion and I got to sit at the same table as President so we spent the whole time probably boring him to death with our questions but he didn't seem to mind so we just asked away and learned a whole lot about his time working on the Church Educational Board (I think it's called), personal meetings with prophets and apostles for the past 15 years (no big deal), and how he felt when his brother spoke in General Conference and the Christmas Devotional. Haha. It was great. The best part is that he is so humble about it and always shares what he has learned from it all. I have learned so much from President Christensen! He has been such a big help for me! 

Another super fun fact about this week, I got to do divisions in Chillogallo my old sector! It was seriously like going home after a long vacation. I got to surprise a few people which was SUPER funny. Lots of screaming and hugs haha. And my favorite part was seeing the Alban family! I'm sad I didn't take any pictures but I'll never forget singing Spirit of God with them again after such a long time. (It was their favorite hymn from the start.) They are all doing great, going through hard times, but striving to be strong in the gospel. Oh, and Jenny's baby bump is growing! She now has 5 months. She's doing a lot better with her health because she was practically bed ridden for the first months. AND IT'S A BOY! (according to the doctors so I still have hope that it turns out to be a girl so Emily can have her way and put the name Katelyn Sofia) haha I told her that even if it doesn't then she's still got a chance when she has her own daughter. Hahaha. 

Oh and I ran into Paola today in Quicentro after eating lunch! It was one of the greatest things ever! I didn't get to see her when I was in Chillogallo because she couldn't go out to visit with us but I ran into her in the mall and it was so great to catch up. 

Seriously this week has been a week of reunions. And as I've thought about it its made me realize HOW HAPPY we will be seeing all of these people again if we do our best to reach the Celestial Kingdom. It will be a moment filled with joy and gratitude for all that the Savior did to help us get there! Let us strive towards this eternal joy! I look forward to my mini reunion this Sunday with you all via Skype!

I love you all so very much and I hope you have a Merry Christmas!

con amor,

Hermana Beutler

Look what the wind can do to one's hair.
With Hermana Castro and Hermana Ccompara

On top of El Panecillo!
This is a iconic volcanic hill with a statue representing the
"Woman of the Apocalypse" of the Bible
Locals call this hill- the "Breadloaf".

I love Quito!

Thunderstorm rolling in like nobody's business

The Virgin of Quito -
also known as the only "Winged Madonna" in the world

Quito cathedral

Hermana Runyan!
I found out she's from Spanish Fork and went
to high school with Andrew and Duncan!

With the Hermanas of Guamani!

President and Hermana Christensen

I found my face!

A truly awesome right before christmas celebration chicken burger
(that's not what its called on the menu but that´s the name that it deserves) 

I remember Nahomy´s first time at church last change!
She went through so much to get baptized and she finally did it!

With Erika too!

 I got to visit
one of my favorite families! 

                Los Guiracocha!

Week Sixty-six: Change & Accents

We were so busy this week that we realized that
we didn´t have a picture together once we got here in the cyber. 

Hola mi familia!

Another week has flown by and it has been great! To let you all in about my new companion. First off, she's awesome. Hermana Valdebenito is from Buenos Aires Argentina, she has about 8 months on the mission, and she still has a SUPER thick accent. Believe me that before the mission when I heard someone speaking spanish, I wouldn't be able to tell you what country they were from. I didn't realize that there are SO MANY different accents. But just today I realized how much I can pick out different accents now. We were walking through a park and I found a bunch of people from Venezuela and Cuba. It was pretty fun haha. But anyways, my comp is the sixth of seven children. Whenever we present ourselves to the people in a lesson its pretty funny because we have the same interests. Volleyball, singing, and patacones. It's the best. haha. 

Well this week I have been reflecting a lot about change. Changes happen every day in our lives, and more often than not changes are interpreted as challenges or obstacles. But here on the mission I have learned and relearned and relearned that change is such a good thing. When some challenges came up this week, I realized that I reacted much differently than if I would have reacted at the beginning of the mission to the same exact challenge. A wave of gratitude for the Atonement came over me as I realized that this week. I then reflected on our zone conference that we had this past week when President talked about what true conversion is. And its CHANGE! Is it the most comfortable thing? No. Is it easy? Not really. But are we blessed for putting in our efforts to be more Christ-like? YES! 100% 

I am so grateful for the role that the Atonement has played in my life. I love change. CHANGE IS THE BEST!

We saw a huge change in an investigator that we found this week named Rosa. Rosa can't read or write, has four children, is without work, and is recently seperated from her husband. We contacted her in the street and she led us to her house to share our message with her. We taught about prayer and how she could speak directly with her Heavenly Father about all of the things she has gone through. She struggled for about ten minutes at the end trying to get the words to come out. We realized that she didn't recognize a single blessing that she had seen in her life to thank God for. We knew that it was going to be a little hard for Rosa to understand the Gospel and truly apply it in her life. And that's when we saw the change. We visited Rosa again and met her children but once again we didn't feel like she understood much of the simple message we shared. Come Sunday morning and we are sitting down after the sacrament was passed out when Rosa walks in! It was such a surprise! She stayed for all of the classes and we weren't sure if she was going to understand much but that evening when we went to visit her she said she had really enjoyed church and started to share the things she had learned. The truth is that it wasn't exactly what the teachers had taught, but she definitely learned from the spirit that day because she mentioned things that were specifically going to help her in her life. But the best part was when Rosa offered to give the opening prayer to start the lesson! It was such a sweet moment. I know that Heavenly Father loves His children and He is willing to help them everyday to have small changes in their lives so that one day they can become converted.

I invite you all to embrace the changes that WILL come this week. Embrace them with a spirit of prayer and preparation to take the sacrament this coming Sunday. I promise that you will become even more converted in your lives. 

I LOVE THE GOSPEL! I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ! 

I love you all and hope you have a fantastic change filled week!

con mucho amor,

Hermana Beutler

ps. this week my companion and I are going to study 1 Corinthians 13 (if thats how you spell it)

Making this lunch was one of the most exciting things this week.
YES I STILL LOVE VERDE

Without flash

Week Sixty-five: Heavenly Father loves us!

Hola mi familia!

I literally have *zero time to write anything so I'll just let you know the brief gist of it all!

So I'm staying here in Manatial! I had to say bye to Hermana Martinez :( which was really sad (she was one of the best companions ever! Just like all of my other companions!) and she's heading home tomorrow. But now I am with Hermana Valdebenito from Argentina! I will be training her as an Hermana Lider. I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!! It's going to be great!

Hey guess who blessed the sacrament and gave his testimony this Sunday? Brayan!!!!!!! It was the coolest thing ever! He bore his testimony on Joseph Smith and the Restored Gospel and the Priesthood. We were SO HAPPY! It was such a sweet way for my companion to finish her mission. 

If I have learned anything this week its that HEAVENLY FATHER LOVES US! And that's why He pushes us. He will always push us along to keep getting better. It's not a comfortable process but it's worth it! I love being spiritually pushed! It is the best. I am so grateful for the experiences I am having here and I want to be a missionary forever! So I will! Seeing all of these sisters go home this week has definitely made me realize that what Elder Holland told us is true, that if we stop being missionaries when we get home or if we go inactive, then we're idiots (sorry for the harsh word but that is literally how an apostle of the Lord put it, so it must be pretty serious.) Well, I am not going to be one of those. I will keep moving forward as a missionary for the rest of my life! You better believe it!

I love you all and hope you have a fantastic christmas loving filled week!

con much amor,

Hermana Beutler

*zero time = no picture captions this week