#36

Oooh yeah I have to tell you that my Crocs came and they are the envy of all the sister missionaries. I`m not even kidding. Everyone dreams of having waterproof shoes like these. So even though by the world´s standards, they are absolutely hideous, by Ecuadorian sister missionary standards they are Coco Chanel. 

I met the mission president and his wife and they are amazing. Full doctrine, full amor, full obedience. It was so fun. We had a training meeting with them on the 4th of July. Seriously, they are the greatest. We left from that meeting so excited to work and find people and get them sealed in the temple.

The 4th of July was like the greatest day ever because we got back to Valencia to bring about our mega activity, CHOCOTALENTAZO. Basically a talent show with a chocolate fountain but the members really brought it. We had lights, smoke machines, bubble machines, a huge sound system, and everyone had practiced to make it awesome. It was so fun! The young men and young women danced to a Grease medley, and I never noticed just how dirty those songs are, but I was the only person who understood what the songs were saying. The primary performed a traditional dance in traditional clothing, and lots of people sang, the Bishop did a skit where he was a doctor and he had some magic juice that cured everybody and then we, the nurses, passed the juice out to members in the audience, and then the first counselor walked in dressed like a little kid and revealed that he had dropped his sock in the juice, after everyone had already drank... drunken... drunked... dranked...  their juice. I honestly have no idea how to say drink in past tense. I took little video clips of everything, but the activity started late and ended at 11 pm, so I didn`t get to see all the talents. But it was super fun. Me and Hermana Flores and Lina were screaming and clapping and trying to get the rest of the audience to liven up a bit, but apparently in Ecuador it`s normal for the audience to be a little dead, but the gringa, the Mexicana, and the Colombiana were not going to have any of that. So we returned home with sore throats from screaming and cheering but it was definitely worth it.

 I`m afraid I don`t have too much to tell you this week either, because my poor companion was super sick and sunday, monday, and tuesday we were in the hospital. I slept on the floor. But she`s fine now and we`re a-okay. The new president is so sweet because he was calling us to make sure that she was okay.

We found a lovely family. They attended church, but their baby was SUPER ticked off and no one knows why, and he refused to enter nursery, he refused to go with his parents, he didn`t do anything. No one could make him happy, we had candy, bread, toys, and this kid didn`t do anything until the bishop showed up. And then he reminded me of Dad and how good dad is with babies.

Which reminds me...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PA! FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS PAPÍ! Te amo mucho y espero que tengas un feliz día. Estoy muy agradecida por tu dignidad como poseedor del sacerdocio y por todo lo que me has enseñado. Eres un buen papa y tengo mucha suerte por ser tu hija. ¡Te amo!

I don`t have pictures except for from the CHOCOTALENTAZO. 

First is a photo of the young men and young women´s number. In the role of Danny is Luis. He`s our little brother. When I met him, the first thing I thought was "this is the type of guy that Holly should marry." He`s a recent covert (6 months ago) and he`s super faithful and excited to serve a mission. 

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Me and Hermana Flores. Hey guess what I`m skinny now! In the training meeting I saw people that I haven`t seen since I was in Milagro and they asked me what my secret was (hint: my secret ain´t pretty).

Also, one thing I´m going to miss about Ecuador is being able to tell people that they`ve gotten fat or skinny and them not being offended. This is something we should adopt in our country. 

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More of me and Hermana Flores. We were in the bus and it broke down and they wouldn`t let us out. So that`s what´s happening here.

Did I already send this? We wanted one of those catalogish missionary pictures but it didn`t work out too well. We will keep trying, but so far this was our best take.

That`s all I got, love you all!