9 Meses en La Misión y Conferencia de Zona

Buenas tardes a todos!! :) Espero que estén bien y estén disfrutando el final del mes de mayo! :) 

Wow this past week i hit my 9 month mark. i've been out in the mission for 9 months! there have been a lot of things i have learned and done. lots of things i thought i would never do, lots of surprises, blessings, and experiences. mistakes, hard times, and frustrations. But i am so grateful to be serving a mission and to be able to be here in ecuador. i love this country and i love the people here. although it can be hard, the mission is also very rewarding. not only do i get to see the people around me grow and feel the Spirit, but i feel like i am also growing and learning new things as well. :)

This week we had our zone conference with presidente riggins on tuesday and wednesday. we were able to go to the temple on tuesday night. it was great because it was the first time that we have gone to a night session here (we usually go at 6am) and so it was good because i wasnt as tired as i usually was. :) i love the temple. i know that God hears and answers prayers. often when we speak to our Heavenly Father through prayer, He will answer us through the scriptures. i am so grateful for the scriptures and that just as Joseph smith found when he was looking for his answer in the scritures, "that the scriptures can penetrate the heart" and give us the answers we need to hear. 

wednesday we had the training with president and he talked a lot about how we can help our converts grow and help them with their progression. we cant just forget about them after they are baptized!! they still need help and we  need to be here for them as they continue to grow. 

as for the rest of the week.... we are still teaching the famillia altamirano and helping the husband learn more about the church and understand about the importance of the Book of Mormon and prayer. also we are working with quite a few less actives and converts. :)

As for the funny events that happened this week.. haha there were actually quite a few! 

- we were on these bus/vans that take us around the city where we work. they are literally like vans but they work as little buses around the city. so we're on the bus and there were these 2 little 4 year old girls and their mom in front of us. one of the little girls looks back at me and starts pointing at me like i'm some famous person and starts hitting her sister to get her to look at me. when the sister finally looks at me, the sister starts hitting her sister to took at me. well i'm not really sure what they were thinking. maybe they've never seen an american with my color of hair or what. but it was super cute and funny!!

- we literally froze when we were staying in the hotel that the temple has because it has air conditioning... we were soooo cold that night!!! maybe i'm becoming more ecuatorian... :)

-hermana quispe and i were REALLY tired this past week. really tired. on thursday when teaching a lesson, we were waiting for one of the daughters to finish eating her dinner to start the lesson. so while we waited the mom was showing us pictures of one of her 12 cats she has. well. i was trying soooo hard to stay awake. but i dont know what happened and my eyes closed for a brief 10 seconds and the daughter saw me and said "hey look the hermana is sleeping!" ah! i was like "no no im not! im awake!!" (just pondering!) wooh. it was hard this week to stay awake at times!!! haha!! :)

Well thanks for all your love and prayers. its so great to have support from family and friends like you! i really appreciate all you all do for me. i know this Church is true and that we have the Restored Gospel on the earth now. what a great blessing and opportunity we have! :) have a great week and know that Heavenly Father loves you and answers prayers.

les amo,

Hermana Warburton

at the temple

9 months!! :)

Familias y El Libro de Mormon

Hola hola de la hermana en Ecuador! :) Cómo estan todos?? 

This week was a good one! we were able to teach quite a few families, investigatores, menos activos, and conversos recientes... and we even found some new great families! thats what i like a lot about this new sector, there are a lot of FAMILIES! so a lot of our teaching is focused on the importance of famililies and how the Gospel blesses famlies.

one of the new families we are working with is the familia altamirano. the wife is a member, but the husband is not. she is pregnant, and we found them at church, last week, because they both came, and he came for the first time with her! so we met with them 2 times this past week and he is interested, because he realized that parents need to work together and walk down the same path when raising a family! how great!! :)

also we had a noche de hogar-- family home evening with an active family and 2 investigator families yesterday. it went really well! that is how we do a lot of things here... we do lots of noches de hogares! because its a good way for the members to invite their friends (investigators and menos activos) to have a good family centered activity in the night! 

Well not a whole lot of funny things happened this week... i guess one of the funny things that happened is that i fell off the side of the sidewalk this week.. and so we have now named that spot "La Caida de Hermana Warburton"... "The Fall of Hermana Warburton" haha. i usually trip and can catch myself... (ninja).. but this time i couldnt and it was a little funny!! also the guardians of the gated communites are now our friends! so they almost always let us pass!! :) 

Oh also.. there was another earthquake this past wednesday at about 11am. we were in our missionary district meeting, and were talking, and all of the sudden we were like "i think this is an earthquake" all of us were unsure at first cause everyone is imagining earthquakes in their brains all the time!!!.. haha... but there really was another one! it was a 6.8 or something, we were fine, but again the people are on edge, because we dont know when another one will happen!

One thing that i was reminded of this week is the importance of the Book of Mormon. it is so important in our spiritual progression and testimony. we cannot live without it! the Book was written for US in our time RIGHT NOW. when the book of mormon was being written, the people werent reading the book, they hardly got to see it.. this book is for us now. it was written to give us counsel and guidance now. I know that this book can change lives, and can bring us close to Christ. Through The Book of Mormon, i have come to know my Savior, and know that this Church is true. Sé que el Libro de Mormon es verdadero y debemos leerlo cada día! :) Cuando hacemos eso, estaremos mas cerca de Dios. (I know the Book of Mormon is true and we should read it every day ! :) When we do that , we will be closer to God .)

les amo mucho!!

Hermana Warburton

our friend the iguana

and harry potter in espanol!! yep. there is this family that has almost all of them in spanish and its super cool!! :) ha hah i had to take a picture!!

Barrio Primavera

Hola! Buenas tardes familia y amigos. :)

Wow. my first week in the new sector of Barrio Primavera... in Duran Norte. There are 4 missioneras that work in this sector, me and my companion and 2 other hermanas, because it is so big!! our ward has more than 400 members- the primary is about as big as my whole other ward!! :) haha! we work in the sector of La Joya and Plaza Madeira. Its a lot different than my other 2 sectors that i have been in!

First of all... you have to tell the guards at the gated communites the exact house you are going to visit. without the exact number, you cant pass. then the guards call the house to see if the family is home and if they want you to come in! if you get past all of this... finally you can enter!!! woot woot! .. oh ya. but sometimes i have to show my passport to enter too!! then we can enter and go visit the family, but we cant knock on doors or proselyte within the communites. last week we were looking for another house of a family inside of a community (after we had finished lunch) and we got in trouble by the guard becasue we went to more than 1 house than we had stated when we entered the gated community!! wow! its crazy!! 

This week we tried to get to know the ward a little bit better and meet with the menos activos, conversos recientes, and investigatores that we have. we are both new in this sector (hermana quispe only has like 3 weeks here) and the ward is so big, so we dont know everyone yet. so we worked meeting members and asking for references. we also did a lot of walking..... haha

but this week we had some cool experiences with menos activos and recien rescates. There are a lot of families in this sector, and so the family is VERY important to everyone here. this is one of the things i really like about this sector. most people have families. every family has their challenges, but thats whats great about the Gospel. it can help every family individually with what they need! 

What i learned this week is its NEVER too late to return to the Gospel and apply the Atonement in your life. no matter how terrible you feel, how long youve been away from the church, Jesus is ALWAYS waiting to take your hand and guide you back home. I know He loves us so much. He suffered for us so that we can repent and be better. the price was already paid. now its only our job to accept what He did for us, and change and be better. how blessed we are to have this gift in your lives!! :)

love you all lots!! gracias por todo. gracias por sus oraciones y palabras de apoyo! tengan una buena semana :)

(thanks for everything. thanks for your prayers and words of support ! Have a good week :))

les amo,

Hermana Warburton

yo y mi nueva companera.. hermana quispe de bolivia! :)

Transfers y La Madre

Hola :) FELIZ DÌA DE LA MADRE :) espero que todos tuvieran un buen dìa ayer!!  (hello :) HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY :) I hope everyone had a good day yesterday !!

it was so great to talk to you all yesterday! wow. i loved it so much! it will be one of the things that will help me get through the next 6 months without seeing you all! 

and.... SUPRISE! i got transferred!! :) yep. no longer in samanes 1. i am now in richie rich land! seriously i feel like i just walked into the rich part of san diego california. woah. its called barrio primavera in samborondon :) its a little bit away from guayquil in duran. my new comp is hermana quispe from bolivia :) she is super sweet and has 9 months in the mission. but only has about a week and a half in the sector, and so it will be a lot of looking and finding new people.:) this sector is a lot different because it is ALL gated communities so we really can only work with references that we receive from members. its crazy! but im excited to work here and help and strengthen the people in the sector!

In Samanes 1 this past week we focused on working with the menos activos and coversos recientes. We have quite a few less actives, for one reason or another, and want them all to come back to church and start receiving the blessings of the Gospel again in their lives. we had a couple of hard experiences with a couple of them, who are having a hard time coming back to church and making changes, but with Jesus Christ anything is possible. that is one thing i learned this week... that the Atonement of Jesucristo makes everything posible! really we cant to anything without it! we cant change, we cant feel the Spirit, and we can become better. Jesucristo suffered for us so that we can be better and fell happy, but its up to us to take the decision and accept Him as our Savior.

This week we had 12 weeks training verification for my companera. she finished her training!! and now she will stay in the sector of samanes 1 and be with a new companion. im so gald i got to know her and be her companion. she is so sweet and i know she will do amazing things in her mission. she already is doing so much with such little time in the mission! :)

I sang again saturday night for the liders de zona bautismo. :) i think i sing at a baptism every week for someone in the zone!! haha! but i love it! and what i found out was that the investigator that was getting baptized asked for me to sing for his baptism because he heard me sing before and wanted me to sing for his special day! wow! :) i love to sing and share with these people what i love to do. its one of the ways i have found, that i can express my testimony! music is so powerful and can really communicate the Spirit and witness of truth.

To end i want to share a scripture with you all about the importance of mothers and fathers and families! this Gospel is so important to families, and i have seen how it can really bless and change lives! :) 3 John 1:4 :) super good! love you mom and family! thank you all for you love and support and prayers. i know this Gospel is true and can bless and changes lives! have a great week!!!

con mucho cariño,

Hermana Warburton

the campaign we are doing as a mission of that we are all mormons! and i made the poster!! :)

pizza with hermano olaya and his neigbor (investigator) and another member (amy)

our class of Gospel Principles... last day for the teacher Belen, who is going on a mission at the end of the month!

Noche de Hogar y Caridad

¡HOLA! Buenas tardes. ¿Cómo le va? :)

Wow another week come and gone, and now we are into May! Can you believe it?? I now have more than 8 months in the mission. How time flies! :) I remember this time last year... i was out of school and getting ready for my mission, and now here i am in my mission... in Ecuador... speaking spanish!!! i never would have imagined a year ago that i would be here today. really. i have learned so much, and have had so many great opportunites up to date. i am so grateful to be a missionary here in ecuador serving the Lord! :)

This week was actually just a little hard. we had a good week.. but are still having a litte bit of a rough time finding new family investigators to teach. But we are still teaching the family Gabriela y Luigi Bucheli and their little daughters Piorina y Nicole. gabriela is a member, but her husband and 2 little daughters are not.they are a sweet family! this past week we had a noche de hogar with them and watched the jose smith el profeta de la restauracion with them. even luigi the dad was there and watched with us. we have been having a hard time having him be there and teaching him because he usually gets home late from work. but he was there and really was paying attention to the movie! :) he even answered the questions that his 12 year old daughter had about the movie himself without our help. it was cool! :) Piorina has a baptismal date, but we are working on having the dad luigi accept one too. they are an awesome family and i know will be so blessed to have the Gospel in their lives.

On friday we had a ward activity.. haha well an activity that the missionaries saved! haha. ok it was kind of a nightmare. but its a good thing that as missionaries we learn to just improvise on the spot! haha! so it was supposed to be an activity done by the relief society and leader misional and ward missionaries. but there were some problems and at 7:30 when the activity was supposed to start... it was only us 2 as missionaries and investigatores and members of the ward! ah!! no leaders!! i was just a little freaked out! what were we going to do?? the leaders had the message that they were going to share and we had only planned a game to play! so we decided to start the night with a song and prayer, and then all of the sudden i just started talking with my companion and we basically taught a lesson on faith, repentance, and baptism... but it was SUPER COOL!! not gonna lie. i thought it went great. but not because we were prepared. but because we followed the Spirit. there was NO way we could have taught a bunch of people, in a fun way, on the spot with literally 0 planning without the Spirit. After we were done my comp said that she didnt even remember what we said. all we know is that we were definetly helped and guided by the Spirit. after a while, a couple leaders showed up with the message and the refreshments, and they finished the night off. But i learned that really anything is possible with the help of God!

Also this week we recieved a cool training about charity and love from the assistents to the president. its in preparation for the apostole that will come in june! did i tell you our mission is going to hear from an apostole live!!!??? yep!! we have know for a couple months, but didnt know who, but now we know... in june Elder Rasband will be coming 1 of the 12 apostles!! our mission, mision oeste and another will be there listening too! :) im way excited! AND as part of this i get to participate in a choir that is made up of about 20 elders and hermanas from our mission and mision oeste!

but anyway.. the training was really neat. i learned a lot. i learned that it doesnt matter who we are. it doesnt matter our differences, our cultures, or our backgrounds. because we all are Mormons! as members of the church we have SO many similiarities that outweigh the differences. we all have the same goals, the same principles, the same Gospel, the same Savior. as i studied this past week about charity i was reminded of the great love that Jesucristo has for each one of us. He loves us, no matter who we are, or what we have done. we are always loved and He is with us to lift us up. I know He lives and loves us.

Cuidese mucho!

Les amo,

Hermana Warburton

Me Encanta Ver el Templo

Hola cómo están?! todo esta bien en ecuador conmigo! :) estoy trabajando y predicando la palabra de Dios con los hijos de Dios en Samanaes 1.  (Hello how are you?! all is well in Ecuador with me! :) I'm working and preaching the word of God with the children of God in Samanaes 1.)

Another week come and gone. Thanks everyone for your love and concern for me and ecuador after the earthquake. all is well here, and we are busy doing service and humanitarian work to help the people who were more affected in the areas of manta and esmereldas in ecaudor. 

This week we had a fun surprise and were able to go to the temple with our ward and 2 converts... Amalia Beltran and Michel Cirrandy!!! :) ok it was awesome!!! i talked with amalia before she went inside the temple and when she realized that she would be helping someone recieve thier salvation that has died, she was so excited! When we were in the temple and seeing my 2 converts in white, it was such a special moment for me. Watching them progress and feel the Spirit was awesome! After Amalia did baptisms for the dead i asked her how she felt, and she said she felt great! i was a little worried for her, because she has problems with her knees, and i was worried about her bending 6 times, but she didnt even have a problem or say anything about that. she said she would do baptisms as many times as need to help those that have died be baptized. :) she is such a sweet lady and i am so grateful to know her. i love her a lot! :)

This week we also did service and went around the ward asking for donations and informing the people about 72 hr backpacks and emergency safety tips. it was cool to be able to help the nation wide effort of service in ecuador. :)

This week i also had an intercambio with the lideressa in my zone, hermana koster. she is from california, and actually we both had hermana valiente for trainer in quevedo! :) so it was fun to talk about the ward in quevedo and teach with her for a day. i went and taught in her ward friday, and learned a lot from her. she is a great teacher, and she has a lot of love for the people. she uses great examples when she teaches, which i want to apply more in my teachings. 

this week was also week 11 for hermana vargas.. week 11 of 12 weeks of training... shes almost done! this week her goal was to take the initative in all aspects of teaching and planning, and she did great! i am proud of her and the progress she has made as a missionary. she is doing such a great job and will be an amazing leader in the mission! :)

Thats about it for this week! :) I am so grateful to be here in ecuador serving a mission. seeing my converts in the temple makes every hard day, every rejection worth it. seeing them feel the Spirit, and wathching their testimonies grow is something that i almost cant even explain. it is so beautiful, and i feel so grateful to be able to watch this in people. i know that God lives and loves us. He sent His Son to earth for us, and His plans are perfect. He will guide us and give us light even in the darkest of times. :)

love you all! :) thanks for all your prayers for ecuador! have a great week, and remember that you are loved :) Juan 3:16-17

les amo,

Hermana Warburton

me, amalia, michel, hno chacon (lider misional), eva garcia, mariana 

me, amalia, hna vargas

arroz $0... (rice $0).. maybe this is why we eat so much rice.... ??? jajaja

Temblor y Amor

HOLA HOLA! :)

wow what an exciting week! :) i just wanted to let you know that all is well with me and hermana vargas here in ecuador. our ward is fine and all the missionaries in our mission are safe! :)

of course the biggest happening of this week was the EARTHQUAKE! on saturday night we were in the church building, getting ready for a baptism of the lideres de zona. we were just waiting in the baptismal font room with 2 other ladies, and all of the sudden i felt the ground begin to shake. i turned to hermana vargas who was sitting by me and said "yo pienso que hay un temblor!"... and sure enough there was an earthquake. we just sat there in the church for a few mintues, a little suprised, but calm, and the other ladies in the room sat there as well, while one began to cry and pray. we just sat there waiting as the room was shaking and the doors were shaking. and all my grade school training of what to do when there is an earthquake totally went out the window. yep. i forgot it all. but luckily all went well and we were safe!! :) when it ended, i didnt actually realize that it was that big of an earthquake. i thought maybe it was just a normal small one like they have sometimes here.

but when we left the room and talked with other people who were outside of the church, we found out that it was actually a big earthquake!! that many lights had shut off and there was no cell phone service. we had no idea, because we were in the chapel, and there are emergency lights and the chapels are built to support a 9.0 earthquake, so it didnt feel that big.

that night we began to hear more of what happened from the people around us, and realized how blessed and protected we were. it didnt even seem like that big of an earthquake to us, and we werent really that scared.

the next day church was cancelled, but we were able to go downstairs of our apartment to the family that are members below us. they blessed and passed the sacrament for us, about 8 people that were there. i was touched by the Spirit as  i realized the importance and grand blessing the sacrament is and the great opportunity i had to partake of it, even if it was just for a few people in the room.

this morning we got to help the humanitarian effort sort out bags of donated food and clothing for the people who were affected in ecaudor. we were there for 3 hours in the church sorting and bagging items. again i was amazed at the charity and service of the people here. there was TONS of clothing and food. i wish i would have had my camera with me! TONS of items. i was so impressed with these people here who, some of them hardly have anything to give, and yet give away to help others. wow. the spirit of service and love is flying strong here right now in ecuador!

other than that.... it was a pretty normal week! :) i sang a solo for a fireside we had and for the baptism de los lideres de zona. we sent a letter to the golden family who rejected us, the familia gomez... and hope to hear a response in the future! :) we talked to joffry and katty this past week and helped them set goals to go to the temple! also we met this cute couple this past week, they are about 60 yrs old, married, but have never been able to have kids, but are the sweetest happiest little couple!

looking back on this past week i have realized the importance of standing in holy places. when we are in holy places, we are protected from danger and can feel peace during the storm and danger that surrounds us. when we are spiritually and temporarily prepared for the dangers that surround us, we will be ok when things happen. we wont need to feel scared, because we will know that we will be watched over and protected. this gospel is true, and will help us through anything that we are going through!

i love you all lots! thanks for all your love and prayers for ecuador! :)

les amo,

Hermana Warburton

                    me and my new dress!

hna vargas, yo, y hijo de hna magdelena (pres de sociedad de socorro)...aka rachels future husband! ;) jk
(Sister vargas and I and son of Magdelena Sr. ( Relief Society pres ) ... aka rachels future husband ! ; ) Jk