Six months in and thankful

yes, it is true. i will be celebrating 6 months on friday the 17th...however my mission certificate...(a small card saying i am called to preach the gospel and it has my start and end date and president monsons signature) says that i finish the 13th.....but we will count from the 17th. 

its also nice to have to hike up a mountain to eat lunch on sundays
 after church and ward council. i have never been so hungry in my life,
 yet so grateful for any food they give you. at least there is a
good view afterwards (above).

in the otavalo zone they went from 16 missionaries to 26 in one transfer and they will be opening new sectors next transfer too. we walk to a chapel about 10 minutes away for district/zone meetings and our house was somewhat of a downgrade. its owned by members, whose daughter lives across the hall with their husband whos the 1st counseler in the bishobric (how do you even spell that word?)...missionaries have been living there for 10 years and it has fleas....but its better than alot of the investigators we teach so im not complaining. today we were up washing clothes on the roof where the place you wash clothes is...its more or less like a big cement cube with a hose on one end and a drain on the other....and all the old otavaleño ladies were laughing at how i washed clothes by hand and tried to teach me...its still a   work in progress. 

here is a picture of the imbabura, an inactive volcano near our house

This week:

i realized alot of things i am thankful for....

it rained on and off from monday to saturday this past week. trying to scale a small mountain via abandoned flooded train tracks in the dark is an interesting daily activity we embark on.

and thus i am thankful for...my boots, my new alpaca fur socks, a sturdy umbrella (hermana aquinos did not last the week) and a small but powerful flashlight that clips onto my backpack (thank you christmas present).

we also found some piglets when we were out contacting. they were
very cute and very smelly and muddy. they seemd to enjoy the rain. 

we also get followed and almost bitten by dogs on a regular basis, so we now cary a mix of rocks and animal crackers to ward them off. 

the rain finally let up yesterday, which was a blessing

the bishop yesterday also asked us to give 10 minute talks, 20 minutes before sacrament meeting.

i gave mine in half kichua half spanish, and even though i butchered the kichua, the members seemed to be quite amused and pleased that i am trying to learn. 

lake san pablo and the side of the mountain that looks
like a heart (kind of, and hardly visible in photos)

today we went to the lake san pablo, we ate greenish hamburgers and harrassed some ducks.  it was a good time.

other than that not too much exciting things happened. were kind of in a slump right now as far is investigators go, but hopefully with double the contacting and member references we will be back baptizing in no time. 

kichua time!

imanalla ñuka familia manda!

manñapani jaua pachapi taitiko dios que kaipuya cuidaquangi

hashta chunga ishkai meses!

ñuka yakini

shuc punga kaman

ñañagu harlos

ps...i got the relief society card, and also the austins christmas card this week...both adorable and gladly accepted!