Hija numero 2

Last week President called me to train again in Conani even though I only have 6 weeks left and training usually lasts 12. I´m super excited because I love my area and training will give me a good challenge to keep me sharp these last few weeks of the mission. Hermana Ruiz is now with Hermana Santana (my daughter and step-daughter are together haha) and Hermana Landaverde from El Salvador is now here with me. It will be a challenge but I´m excited for it!
 

So many things have happened this past week. We went back to a contact that had actually read the entire restoration pamphlet, had many goodbye parties for Hermana Ruiz, and I ate mondongo (cow intestines) for the first time and they actually taste pretty good!
 

Alexandra is still progressing a lot. We had an awesome lesson with her this week where she really opened up and shared a lot of her life story with us. When she was 10 she left her house to live with an older man to take care of her. She got pregnant when she was 11 and then had her son at age 12. He got sick with a bad fever and she didn´t know how to help him. Now he has brain damage and can´t talk and is developmentally retarded. A lot of people blame her for what happened but she was just a kid and didn´t know how to help him. She told us that afterward she was really depressed and became and alcoholic and started smoking. A few years ago she had a really bad accident and almost died and decided to turn her life over to God. She quit drinking and started looking for churches. This week we taught her the word of wisdom and she committed to quit smoking for good next week. She has so much desire to do what is right and follow the Lord. I love seeing the miracles in these people´s lives as they come from horrible backgrounds and leave it all to come unto Christ. I am so excited for her baptism and love the faith that she shows every time we are with her.
 

Sunday was also a really spiritual day. I had been feeling a little overwhelmed with some things that are going on here and during the sacrament was able to say a prayer and really feel the spirit comforting me in that moment and reminding me that we don´t ever have to be perfect, just do our best and give our hearts to the Lord. It was testimony meeting and I got up to share my testimony. As I started speaking I was filled with such gratitude and love for the Lord and all the blessings he has given me. I also realized how much I have grown to love my companion and how much I would miss her when she left. Hermana Ruiz has come to be one of my best friends ever and it will be really hard to adjust to someone new.

The meeting ended up going 20 minutes over because so many people wanted to bear their testimony. It was so special and spiritual! Erika got up during part and bore her testimony of faith and endurance. She had not been to church for a few weeks and 2 weeks ago her and Chico and their family showed up. We had thought about not visiting them because they didn´t seem super interested any more and were losing speed. She explained that she had stopped coming because she felt a little defeated going to church alone with the 5 kids every week. She knew that if Chico didn´t come that it wouldn´t be as worth it. She talked to him about it one more time and this time he agreed to come back. He has been to church 2 weeks in a row now...and he has even put on a white shirt. She said that he was the one that woke up the family to come on Sunday. Tears filled my eyes listening to this. The man that told me that he was not Mormon when I came here and refused to let us share a message is now sitting in sacrament meeting in a white shirt and tie and his wife is bearing her testimony about the possibility of a forever family. The branch told us that this family would never come back, that it was a waste of time...but we had faith in them and loved them and tried to help them and now they are back. It was such a special moment for me and I really felt like I was witnessing a miracle.
 

Well everyone, the Lord loves us. This is His work. He is working miracles all around us. I know that as we put forth our best He makes up the difference. Trust in Him and in His ability to shape and mold. Look at the people around you as what they can be and then you can help them to become just that. But if we only see them as they are right now, then they will never have the vision to become all that they could be.
 

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Hermana Ewell

Hermana Landaverde and me

Our non-tea party with Ariadna teaching the Word of Wisdom

 

Helping Victor build a new house because the government tore down the other one to put in a road

All the Dominican women put their hair in "toobe" after they go to the salon to keep it straight and they walk around with no shame in the streets haha

Giant centipede (luckily it was dead)

Hermana Landaverde and me