Feliz Halloween!!!!!

Hola, Hola!

This week (like always) just zoomed by. You guys are just awesome. Thank you beehives from lakeville! I got a package with cute little notes and some candy and some fall time stickers! You guys are awesome!

I hope all is well at home, carving pumpkins, drinking hot chocolate, and enjoying the fall time! Here is hotter than ever, definately weird to think it will be like this for Christmas haha.

This week was full of let downs AND miracles. We had to leave quite a few of our investigators this week because they werent progressing and keeping up with commitments. But we are told that if we get to the point where we have to leave an investigator, we have the promise that God will open the doors to others. So we will see what this week brings! Tenemos fe!

Also, I had interviews with the Mission President this week (its normal every couple months we have them) annnnd normally for the gringos the interview is in English (he is from the states, but was born in Mexico so he can speak English AND Spanish) BUT for some reason my interview was COMPLETELY in Spanish! AND he was talking to me and said something about the fact that Hermana Zarate trained me really well, and that my spanish is really good. THEN HE TOLD ME SOMETHING THAT GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK. He said that I am going to train! I dont know if he was just teasing me or if he was being serious! Haha it wont be this transfer (because no new hermanas are coming) but possibly the next! Im kinda freaking out haha how am I supposed to train someone? I just finished my training! lol I guess we will see what happens. I just hope that if I train its a latina... because there are still people that I just really cant understand haha... Ay ay ay!

Also, this week I get to go to the temple with Hector and Evelyn! They are going to do baptisms for the dead. Hermana Zarate and I cant participate but we get to go watch! So that will be something really exciting to see. 

I have learned so much already, and its only been casi 5 months. I just was thinking back on my first weeks here and how hard everything seemed. My companion, the language, the culture, the climate. EVERYTHING seemed out to get me haha... but the other day Hermana Zarate and I were walking home after a really long tough day. And she was walking in front of me... and I was just thinking about how she was going home soon, and I realized I am going to miss her so much. I really love this girl. Yeah sometimes we drive eachother nuts but if it wasnt for her I wouldnt be here. Ive learned that everything happens for a reason, God puts people in our life for a reason. Sometimes its just a little harder to figure out why. 

Hope all is well at home! Eat lots of candy for me! Take pictures of halloween! Les quiero muchichichichisimo!

-Hermana Miller

Another one bites the dust. HEY!

Another week down! This week went by so so so fast! Was full of tons of stuff to do. Luckily we got everything done.

This week I felt alot better. My back doesnt hurt anymore so thats good news, solo needed to be popped acouple times. and now im alllllll better haha

Thank you for all the emails and pictures! You guys make me laugh. I just flipping love p-day, but this hour to email goes by so quick. So if I dont respond to all of your questions and stuff IM SORRY, just know I love you and really appreciate your emails!

This week we had stake conference and Hector, (the dad of the little girl that I gave the rubber ducky) recieved the priesthood sunday :) It made me so happy to see that even though we get stood up, lied to, and let down.. my efforts are changing peoples lives! Hector, Evelyn, and the little girl Sofia are now preparing themselves to get sealed in the temple para eternidad!

So its only rained 3 times during all of my time here in Ecuador.. BUT ... winter is coming which means MORE humidity... MORE heat.. and A LOT of rain! So here we go! But dont worry I am drinking tons of water haha. Also, yesterday was the HOTTEST day I have ever expirienced in my life! The sun here is INCREDIBLE and my tan lines are oh so funny.

Hermana Saucedo y Hermana Quist work en la oficina and they told me they saw my name in the package pile! So that means tomorrow we´ll see what happens! :) :) YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST haha and the other missionaries make fun of me.. buuut I know they are all just jealous. ,)

Also, someone needs to come down here and bathe all the dogs. THEY ARE EVERYWHERE Ecuador is full of stray dogs... which reminds me... I need to clean my shoes... I stepped in a little "surprise" if ya know what I mean.

I love you all! Spanish is doing well, I progress more and more everyday. Some days are super hard, but God is always there helping me through!

Con Cariño,

Hermana Miller

 I seen Hermana Hobbs again my CCM companion!

 I missed Hermana Hobbs!

Stupid Computer!

Hey guys! I am trying really hard to get the computer to send the pictures and videos but its really not wanting to cooperate. GRR, ANGRY MEGAN.

I hope you guys had a good week, this week went by really fast but was actually a pretty cruddy week. Three of our baptismal dates fell through, One of our Investigators told us he doesnt want to listen anymore or be baptized because he wants to be catholic. AND  I got asked if im pregnant two times this week. So thats just fantastic. People here dont have brain filters. So I get told "wow you used to be skinny when you got here" and stuff like that all the time. Haha I just want to say ITS NOT MY FAULT YOU GUYS ARE THE ONES FEEDING ME, GOSH DANGGIT! but I just smile and laugh. Haha and I get told by ladies in our ward that I need to wash my face more so that I wont have as many zits... what they dont know is I am stressed out of my mind and sweaty like 100% of the day haha. The truth is my skin has gotten worse, just because of the climate, and I have gained weight. But ya know what? I dont even care. Its not like Im trying to attract a husband or anything. It would just be nice to feel pretty every once and awhile. Plus I found a store that sells face wash from the US. 

Also, dad... you are going to be so jealous. I ATE CRAB! Fresh from the ocean. It was the most beautiful plate of crab I have ever seen in my entire life. I decided that I cant come home. Im just gonna stay here, get fat, and eat crab the rest of my life. But its cool because instead of using a fork or one of those cracker thing they use a little wooden board and a little wooden mallet and you just smash it hahaha it was fun. The crabs still had thir body and eyes and everything, so that was a little weird. 

Also, the other day I was walking down the street and saw.... *drumroll* A CHICKEN FIGHT! haha like a real live legit chicken fight. the people had chickens with ropes tied around their ankles and theyd throw the chickens together and the roosters would freak out and try to kill eachother. I told my companion that its ilegal to do that in the US and she thought that it was pretty funny. 

Health wise im alright, Ive been having back pain this week, So the nurses popped my back for me... buuuut it feels the same so thats annoying. haha Ill be fine though, just gotta put my big girl panties on and stop whining about it. 

Today I am going to something called the mercardo artisinal, AND IM SO eXCited. Google it! haha It will be really cool and I will take pictures for you guys... but ya these computers are really dumb, I will keep trying to send them to you!

ALSO I CAN ROLL MY R's NOW! I DONT KNOW HOW BUT I CAN!!!!!!!!!!!! EL DON DEL LENGUAS ES REAL! jajaa 

Love you all!

Hermana Miller

Hola Familia

Hello my family!

So good news and bad news... Good news is I have a ton of really cool pictures and videos to send home.... buuuut the bad news is that I forgot my card reader at the house... soooo..... You have to wait :)

Conference was really good. We had three investigators come, and a recent convert. We watched the conference at the stake center and yeah it was alllllll in spanish. Haha I thought it was hard to not fall asleep but IN SPANISH is even hearder. No I didnt fall asleep, but I was really tired afterwards because I had to concentrate really hard to understand what they were saying. It was really weird to watch the prophets face but hear a different persons voice. My favorite talk was by David A. Bednar... directed right at the investigators! I know that these men are called by God to guide us in these latter days. 

I missed you guys alot because I knew you´d be having the conference party! My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

This week was really quick but also really rough. Transfers came and went... I am still in Portete and Hermana Zàrate is still my companion.. so obviously the Lord wants me to learn something here. So here goes another six weeks! 

Also, we had three baptisms planned for the 11th... but their dates fell through because they didnt go to church.. so now we are going to try for the end of october. Freaking agency, haha!

Ive learned a lot in my four months as a missionary. I have learned that there are a lot of bad, scary, horrible, painful things in this world. More than I can describe. I´ve learned that being a missionary isnt easy. Just because you wear a nametag doesnt make you superhuman. Missionaries have problems, trials, bad days, temptaions, difficulties, struggles... just like everyone else. But I have also learned that we dont need to sit in our sufferings. We have a Savior... Who suffered long before we came to this world. He knows how we feel in each step. He will walk with us through our hard times. God isnt going to take away our problems... he will just give us the strenth to carry on. I know this church is true with all of my heart. This gospel lifts people. It heals broken hearts and hurting souls. I know this because I´ve seen it. I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!

Pictures and videos to come I promise!

Con todo mi amor,

Hermana Miller

Preguntas!

Okay everyone! This email is a little different! I am actually going to answer all of your questions! Haha, so enjoy! I will try to make this email exciting haha....

1. Have you eaten guinea pig? No, but this saturday a family in our ward is giving us dinner, and the dad promised me guinea pig. So we will see! Its a northern Ecuador thing apparently.
2. Do any of the people you teach have dirt floors? Yes, I dont have words to describe it. They are dirt, cement, or tile. Carpet isnt a thing here.
3. What's the worst thing you accidentally said in Spanish? Haha... I always say "Hombres" (men), "Hombros" (shoulders) and "Hambre" (hunger) mixed up. So one time instead of saying I am hungry I said I have men! Lol, and another time I said that worthy preisthood shoulders can give blessings... annnnd another time I said the atonement can lift the burdens off of our hunger. Also.... Pescado is fish.... pecado is sin... so lets just say a lot of people need to repent of their fishes.
4. What's your favorite thing about being a missionary? The fact that I have the ability to change peoples lives. Not only for this time on earth, but para siempre! I am saving souls and healing hearts!
5. What's your favorite food? Worst food? Favorite... hmmm icecream? haha just kidding (kind of) but I really love the rice here OH and ceviche de cameron!... haha like a lot. Lol but I HATE colada with a deep dark passion. It is a lumpy oatmea drink that is slightly warm and evvveryone here gives it to us. Oh, and fish eyeballs.
6. Are the showers still cold? Do you like them cold? Yes, and they will always be cold. Haha, all of the faucets and sinks and showers only have one nobb. The houses dont have water heaters. BUT they arent that bad, it just makes ya wake up quick which is nice... but still its hard to shave your legs when you have goosebumps.
7. Do you sleep with a bug net? Yes and no. Some nights im too lazy, and sometimes my fan gets caught up in the net and falls over on my face while im sleeping. Talk about a heart attack!
8. What is your daily routine...? And pday? I wake up at 6:15 workout until 7:00 and get ready until 8:00 and study the scriptures untill 9:00 have a companion ship study/practice/plan until 10:00 and then study spanish until 11:00 but my spanish study always gets cut up and most days we dont have it. The rest of the day varies depending on investigators and meetings and stuff like that. We return home at 9:00 or 9:30. P-day is the same. I get up at 6:15 do the normal routine (except instead of working out we clean) and then at 10:00 p-day starts and then it ends at 6:00 where we leave and go preach. BUT I cant wear normal clothes obn pday... its a rule of our mission. So I am always wearing a skirt! Freaking. haha
9. What's the biggest/ worse bug you have seen yet? CUCARACHAS freaking ginourmous cockroaches!
10. What American food is there? KFC, burger king, subway, pizza hut.... but they are in the mall outside of my sector. I can go there on P-days. Ecuador is really weird one moment you are in a little shack and then next you are in a mall. OH and the KFC is weird.. it doesnt have mashed potatoes (sorry mariah) but it sells rice instead! haha Que rado!
11. What's your exercise routine? We run to this little ghetto park thing.... run around it acouple times... then run home! Sometimes we run to the bridge it is soooo pretty in the morning! and (as of recently) ive been trying to do squats, situps, pushups- stuff like that too.
12. How often do you go to the mission home? Never. Haha thats where the mission president and his wife live I was there my first day here and never again... the mission office is a building where he works.. annnd ive been there 3 times. Interviews, sometimes meetings for newbies, annnd when I arrived. Haha but the two sisters that live with me are mission nurses so they go there all the time.
13. What food is in your refrigerator ? / freezer? Haha... milk, ramen, bread, ham, eggs. tortillas,apples, weird fruits that I cant spell, and my companions food. We dont eat at home much. We eat lunch everyday with the members and breakfast is like... a sandwhich and an apple.. and dinner.. no se. We get home at 9:00 and plan until 9:30 so We dont really have time for much else. We eat eggs alot though haha
14. Do your feet hurt/ knees etc.  ....should we send a band aid? Lol feet, not really. They are ugly as heck though! haha freaking walking all day long. knees, sometimes. Just when all of our appointments fall through because then we walk more. But by the morning time they are fine. Y Gracias pero no gracias for the bandaides, haha ustedes son chistosos.
15. What's your favorite scripture? Poop. No se.. I have many. And I dont have my scriptures with me right now but D&C 4 is what i am working on becoming!
16. Have you had to memorize the first vision? In spanish, yes. haha I wanna know it in english too.
17. Have you eaten seafood etc? Yes siree! haha not too much though. If I get transferred west it will be an everyday thing.
18. How's the toilet paper and toilets? ....flush or trash can ...(dad and Garret's ? ) Our house is fine, you can flush the TP at our house. But pretty much everywhere else you cant, even the church! and for this reason a lot of the bathrooms really stink like a portapotty. 
19. What's the one thing you crave? CARPET, haha that annnnd hmm.... raviolis.
20. What is your Sundays like? Crazy busy! We are walking literally alllllllll day haha we dont have any of our usual studies we get up in the morning get ready, go to consejo de barrio at 9:00 and the walk allllll day reminding everyone about church and bringing investigators a la iglesia. our church services start at 3:00 in the afternoon and end at 6:00
21. How many members are in your ward? Is there a youth group etc. ? Um... arround 100  attend buuuut there are a lot of inactive people. Also, a lot of people leave and go home after sacrament. We have one deacon, 18 year old, a 60 year old, and a 71 year old pass the sacrament. haha and two preists like...19 yrs old bless it. and its funny because the deacon has a white shirt and tie... tucked into his baby blue jeans! but the ward is pretty big. (nothing like the states... but not bad) as of right now we dont have a bishop... he moved houses, surprise! so the stake president is helping out until they call someone else.
22. What is your favorite desert there? Icecream... I havent really had the opportunity to try much else. but they make reallly reallly good bread here.
23. How hot is summer going to be? hot hot HOT haha... the tempature is hot but its the intense sun and the humidity is what gets ya. 
24.  Do the people you serve have tv/ electricity etc.  what luxuries do they have? its actually really werid. Houses will be like cement floor, plastic chairs and tables, tin roof... but then they will have a HUGE flat screen tv. haha... I dont understand it.. 
25.  Have you seen or are u close to the amazon or ocean?Ocean, no I am too far inland. But the other cities in this mission are right on the coast. Some sisters live pretty much on the beach! haha so thats cool. Amazonish type stuff, yes ive seen it.. there are mountiains by my sector where monkeys live haha so thats cool. I havent seen any monkeys yet though. The mountains/hill thingys are too far out of my sector. So ive seen amazon type things, and im closer to that then the ocean... buuuut i dont live in it and its out of my sector.
26. How often are transfers? Do you know what determines when you get transferred? every six weeks... we find out next sunday if I have transfers. annnd no its soley on president he does all of that. But I finish my training this week so I am eligible for transfers! I am nervous! Because they might make me senior companion! or trainer!
27.how is the traffic? Are there cars? Buses? Etc.traffic is SCARY the people here are CRAZY i have seen people almost die about a million times. We use buses and taxis when we need to go somewhere outside of our sector. The buses are funny because we are all like little sardines and ppl come on the bus trying to sell things, or to sing for money, beg for money, its nuts!
28. What's shopping like? Stores.? ummm.... there are little food markets, little tiny tienda thingys that are really cute or there is a store.. but there isnt annnny walmarts in ecuador. So that sucks. But yeah, fruits and veggies are bought in a little tiny market thingy.. everything else is just a different store. But they have quite a few american stuff so thats nice.
29. Would you consider it very poor? Some parts more poor then I could ever describe to you guys... and other parts pretty american but all in all its deffinitely not america.
30. How far away are you from the city?
31 have you seen any shacks? Villages? Shacks, yes. Villages no. Research otavalo... I want to go there some day after my mission! but its not in my mission haha so I cant here.. annnnd the village type stuff with natives and stuff like that is in the amazon.
32. We seen a picture of you cooking on floor? Do you have a stove etc? our power went out in our kitchen.. so we brought our little electric stove to the room. and had to cook on the floor. We dont have an oven but we have a micro and electric stove.
33. What's the most exotic animal etc. Ecuador has? um... there birds? the iguanas? haha I really dont know
34. Do you use a cell phone like our missionaries? Yep me and my companion share a little crappy brick cell phone.
35. How often do you give lessons? multiple times every single day. Even on bad days haha 1-5 times every day
36. What's the hardest thing of your mission, easiest thing?Missing home, change of life style... the language! Easiest issss.... hmm... I dont know.. haha sleeping at nighttime!
37. Do they celebrate any Holidays we don't? Yep dia de niños and carnival!
38. Did you remember we get to skype on Christmas ? :D´hahaha yes I remember lol nutso
39.  What is the schooling like there? normal, the schools are really ghetto though and sometimes scary looking annnnd they alllll wear uniforms. allll of the schools.
40. You understanding/writing the language better? yep! little by little. Its hard to understand people sometimes because they talk fast!
41. How is Cameron doing? Good. I miss hiom lots, but he is doing good and loving chile!

I love you all! Have a good week!

-Hna Miller