goodbyes.

I have been home for a couple days, but have not found time to post yet :) But here I am! The last two days in Ecuador were amazing and I miss it! Monday I got up and went to Casa de Ninez to say good bye to the boys and to Robinzon. Little side note, Robinzon cut his hair and shaved his goatee after going to church on Sunday :) he looked so awesome on Monday! But it was sad to say goodbye, but I had to... I went to the market one more time to get a few more things, and stocked up on fruit!! Then began the long journey home...17hours... The flight is so long, but beautiful. Costa Rica is gorgeous, the airport is a little dinky haha but it is gorgeous! It was really wierd while I was in Costa Rica the sun set, but then when we were flying over Honduras the sun was barely setting there...so I got to see it twice! I love sunsets. I got to California at about midnight, had to go through customs and all of that again...make sure I didn't come back with the swine flu. Which I was actually kinda worried I had, I had been having the worst headache for a few days, and was starting to cough. But it was nothing :) After customs I had to make a long trek from International flights back to regular flights in LAX, such a huge airport, it is like a half hour walk...and the cheerful (not) man at the counter refused to let me recheck my baggage until 4 in the morning. So I sat outside the LA airport for about 3 hours. yay. But got on the plan around 6 and made it back to Utah 2 hours later! It was so wonderful to see my family again and give them their gifts :) Oh how I missed them! Now I am just looking forward to my friends coming back from the break in between semesters! MONDAY! yaya :) I am living with Kristen again which is gonna be awesome, we have a nice new apartment (pics later) and we're gonna have a blast! Pictures from Ecuador to come, when there is actually time! I spent the first 2 days home moving and unpacking, and now I have been working 12 hour shifts everyday. And school starts Monday. SO, when time presents itself I will post the pictures! I apologize I don't have very many pictures of the actual volunteering. We weren't allowed to take pictures at Casa de Ninez, I begged. And the hospitals advised us against ever bringing cameras because it was too dangerous, if someone sees it they know you have it and they will try and steal it and everything else! So....for fear of being robbed and killed I didn't take my camera and if I did I never took pictures because I didn't want it stolen! But I have lots of other pictures to come! I cannot wait for my next Humanitarian trip I am not 100% where it will be...we'll see what opportunities come up! Love you all and as much as I am missing South America, it's good to be home :)

{Things I´m gonna miss...}

Well today is it, my last day in Ecuador, , I return back to the good ol US of A tomorrow! Boy am I going to miss it here. I love these people, I love this culture, I love this country, I love volunteer work, I love missionary work, I love traveling, I love hiking big volcanoes and gorgeous waterfalls, I love South America and can´t wait to come back! The other day I made a list of things I am excited for back in the US, and then also things I am going to miss so much. Here it is:
Things I am excited for in the US: (in no particular order)
-Napkins!
-Toilet Paper
-Soap
-Personal Space
-American Keyboards
-Warm/Hot shower
-Feeling safe again
-Being able to go on walks at night
-A soft bed
-A pillow!
-My family
-My friends
-ENGLISH!
-Having a car...
-No more mystery meat....
-Not hearing car alarms going off every 5 min whether it be night time or in church...haha
-Chocolate!!
-High Speed Internet

Things I am going to miss about Ecuador:
-It is gorgeous.
-My Ecuador family
-The wondreful Ecuadorian people
-The boys at Casa de Niñez
-Cold showers, to remind me to be grateful I get a hot shower whenever I want at home
-Always being on guard and cautious, to remind me that I like in a country where I can walk down the side walk safely, they don´t have that here.
-My rock solid bed, to remind me that not everyone gets to crawl into a nice warm bed every night
-Speaking spanish!
-Being able to change peoples lives everyday when I go to work
-Having daily missionary opportunities
-Robinzon
-The Volcanos, waterfalls, beaches, mountains, and other things to go and explore!
-Ecuadorian fruit-yummmm!
-Ecuadorian juice!
-Pan
-Manjar de Leche-but don´t worry I bought a little to bring back with me:)
-This list could keep going forever...But I know it´s time for me to come home. I will just look forward to when I get to some back and it will make everything that much better! (and I´ll be a little more prepared!) I love the Ecuadorian people, I love their culture, and I will miss it so much! But I can´t wait to see everyone!!

{Church with Señor Robinzon}

Oh my...today was AMAZING!!! Thank you so much for all of your prayers! Here is what happened this morning...I got up and got ready for church just praying and praying that Robinzon would make it there! I left and went to find the bus and I was sitting there and the bus I was supposed to go on came, but I didn´t realize until it had left...I was so mad! On Sunday´s you have to wait FOREVER for buses. So I waited like another 20 min and the bus finally came but I knew I was going to be late for church now. So now my prayers have become, first please help Robinzon find the church and then please don´t let him leave when I am not there and late! So I get off the first bus and I have to walk a little bit to the next place to get on another bus, I have a choice of three buses to get on and I just pick a random one. I get on and am SOOO worried I wasn´t going the right way, this bus was going a different way to the church than I had gone before so I was stressing I was going to the wrong place! Then at one of the bus stops I look out and there was Robinzon!! YAY!! He got on and saw me and came and sat by me and was soo excited! Turns out, he knew what bus to get on, but didn´t know how to get to the church from there! SAHHWWEET!! SO we got off at the right place and I showed him how to get to the church and we walk in (about 15 min late... :( ) But we get there and the Sister Missionaries that have been teaching him are there! YAY!! I was so happy to see them, because I knew it being his first time at church he would have a lot of questions and stuff, but my spanish isn´t good enough yet to explain them to him! So we sat down and they came over and sat by us, and explained everything to him it was great! It was so fun to see everyone from last week too! Last week I gave some of the kids little spanish CTR rings and they all came up and showed them to me that they still had them on. After sacrament we went into a little classroom, there was another family there that was investigating the church and them and robinzon and me and the sisters and then 2 guys that just barely got home from their missions went in a little room and they taught a Sunday School lesson just for them, then after I went to Relief Society and he went to Priesthood! The recently returned RM was sooo nice to him, I was so happy! He gave the Priesthood manual, the Joseph Smith one, and wrote his testimony on the inside, Robinzon was so excited to show it to me! haha! It totally made his day! After church we met back up with the sisters and they set another date to meet with Robinson on Tuesday I think it was! YAY!! I am SO happy I can´t even tell you! There is nothing that desribes it! Oh and remember that 5x7 picture of Christ I told you I brought, it is beautiful, it is in a frame and everything, really pretty. Well I decided to give it to Robinzon! HE LOVED IT. He started crying when I gave it to him he was so happy, he said he is going to put it right above his bed and that he will never forget me :) He got my e-mail address and is going to keep in touch! One of the sister missionaries also got my e-mail address because she wants to write and keep in touch! She was so sweet! (and spoke english:)) But yeah it was a wonderful day! After church we had a big dinner with a bunch of their family, and then I have just been packing and getting things in order to go :( So sad...I have so much I want to do here still, but I will return someday for sure. I miss everyone at home and am really excited to see everyone! Thanks for all of you prayers they have helped immensly!

{Cotopaxi}

Ahhh today was AMAZING! Being at the hospital is AMAZING too, but in two different ways. I got up this morning at 5:30 and headed to Quito for my Cotopaxi tour! It was incredible. Sam is gone, and I am here by myself, I was a little scared to go alone, not because I was afraid of anything bad happening, just didn´t know if I would enjoy myself as much. I got there and spotted some girls that looked about my age just decided to make some new friends! They were adorable and turns out they were here on a medical project as well and we working in some of the other hospitals here in Quito. One was from Switzerland, one minnesota, one cali, and one London. We had so much fun. We headed up and our first stop was Popagyo, a little hostel out in the woods, very cute. Then we headed up to Cotopaxi, we stopped at the gate to pay obviously and then the guide warned us that it was very cold on Cotopaxi and we were really going to want gloves, expecially while mtn. biking, so we ran over to a little Indigenous Mercado and bought some awesome gloves :) Next stop was the Museo de Cotopaxi, it was really fun to learn about the history of the volcano. It has a history of erupting every 100 years, and it has been jsut over 100 years since it last erupted..so we´re due. Pretty scary! There are 1 million people that live in the Red Zone of that Volcano, within 5 min of erupting it would completely destroy everything to north Quito (about 2 hours away...) INSANE! It was really interesting, the President of Quito was also up there today. But then we headed to the volcano to begin our climb, we stopped at a few places to take some quick pictures. About 45 min after the museum we got to Cotopaxi! yay! We started our climb, it is about a 45-60 min hike to the refuge, at about 4800 m elevation...the guides make you hike very slow because it is such a high elevation and people get so dizzy and faint...not good. It took Rochelle and I were the first ones up and it took about 40 min. I felt like we were walking really slow but everyone said we were ´pratically running up the hill´ I think they were just slow...haha just kidding. We stopped here and let everyone catch up and then we hiked up to the glaciers. It is about a 200 m hike, so not bad at all, it is just really steep! It was aboslutely gorgeous up there! The glacier is incredible! So gorgeous, I have so many pictures I can´t wait to show them to you! After being up there for a while we hiked back down to the refuge. Rochelle and I were talking about how scary it can be to be an American tourist in Ecuador right now (I don´t know if you have been watching the news lately, but the media here in Ecuador is making all the Ecuadorians think that the US is trying to start a war with them...) So currently they hate us right now. Well right while we are talking about this these three ecudorian guys come up to us and circled us, I freaked I grabbed Rochelle and was freaking out. Come to find out they just wanted a picture with ´hott american women´ haha I am such a dork, So we took pictures with them, they were so happy haha. We continued hiking down and they were in front of us, and every couple min they would turn around and take another picture of us...haha. Once we got back to the refuge we had an AMAZING lunch, well probably just because we were all starving, but it really was good. It was included with the price of the tour. We had sandwiches, soup, chips, cookies, hot chocolate, everything, so good. After lunch we hiked another 300 m and got on the bikes! yay! The biking was about 14km. We biked down the rest of Cotopaxi and then to a litlle Lake, it waas so beautiful. We got MORE than our money´s worth, the tour was only $35. After the biking we got back on the bus, it was about 4:30 then went back to Papogyo and they gave us more hot chocolate and chocolate cake! (don´t be fooled the chocolate here is nasty...especially the cake...) the hot chocolate can be good sometimes, today it was. Then we loaded back up, drove back to Quito and got here about 7! I took a taxi home, he was a creepo though..he kept asking me to come sit in the front seat with him...umm no thanks...then he asked me if we could stop for dinner on the way home...umm no thanks again...But I made it home safe and sound around 8! Ah.... absolutely exhausted, but an incredible day :) I love Ecuador it is so gorgeous here! I wish I had more time to go see Mindo, and the Baños, and the other volcanoes, I am definately coming back. Tomorrow is church! yay! Pray for Robinson...I am still stressing he won´t be able to find the church tomorrow! haha! I really hope he does!

{Wanted: many prayers!!}

Hey! Today was great! I went to Casa de niñez this morning. It was SOOO good to see those boys I miss them! AND Robinson was working!! YAY!! Hey was so excited to see me haha! He came running up and gave me a big hug! He was so excited! He had big news to tell me..guess what....he met with the missionaries at 5 tonight! For the 2nd time!! He is SOOO getting baptized I can feel it! He is coming to church with me for sure on Sunday though...but I just keep stresssing that he isn´t going to be able to find the church, or something! I am so worried about it! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE pray for him to make it safely and he´ll find it ok. That is probably a dumb request but I told him how to get here in spanish..since that is all he speaks...so there is a good chance he´ll be on the other side of town! Please pray for him! He is the man! He is so nervous to go to church though! He doesn´t have a suit so he was worried about that, but I told him just to wear nice clothes, nobody cares (last week in church there were kids in pajamas...haven´t seen that one before..) But I am seriously so excited for him. I cannot even explain it to you!! It´s awesome, I am so happy for him! I ate food from a street vendor today...i know i know...shouln´t have, but it looked AMAZING I could not resist it! And it´s like a dollar...so cheap. But I haven´t gotten sick yet so that is good...haha! Tomorrow is going to be so much fun, I love the weekends, get Saturday off and Sunday is church yay! But tomorrow I am going to Cotopaxi, it is the highest active volcano in the world (let´s hope it doesn´t erupt while I am there :)) just kidding....But I am going up there and we go to the volcano and the museum and everything, then we go on a hike, and then we Mountain Bike down the volcano! I am seriously so excited! But yeah tomorrow will be amazing! Don´t forget...I would VERY much appreciate prayers for Robinson!

{Centre de Histórico}

Today was good for me! Relaxed, but busy at the same time. But it was a good day, we went to the Centro Historico today and it is SOOO beautiful! We went saw a bunch of churches, cathedrals, and convents! SO gorgeous, we went to San Augustine, San Franciscon, Iglesia de la Compañia de Jesus, and so many more. They are gorgeous. Absolutely amazing. A few thoughts that I had while touring these #1- It makes me so sad how much they focus on the the crucifixion of Christ, I wish I could explain the Resurrection to everyone! They depict it so terribly. I understand it wasn´t pretty thing per se, and the Atonement is absolutely crucial. But in their eyes it isn´t the Atonement, it is the Crucifixion, they focus only on that. I love that we know that He Lives! And that we know that we will be Resurrected too! I love that we know that we can be forgiven for our sins, and that the Atonement was more than just a crucifixion, it was a manifestation of the GREATEST love. ¨For God so loved the world that he gave His only Begotten Son¨ I wish they could see that. #2-I am SOOO glad that our temples are sacred places of worship that you only enter when you are worthy. Walking through these churches, there were people in there praying and worshipping, but then there will a bunch of tourists walking around taking pictures and making noise. It was definately more quiet than outside but still, not somewhere where I would feel the spirit. When I walk into one of our churches, I am instantly filled with peace and the spirit. Today I did not feel that one time and I went to a lot of churches. Just another manifestation of the truthfullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love it, my testimony has been strengthen SOO much being here. I can´t even tell you. As beautiful as these cathedrals and churches and convents are...the are incomparible to the beauty, the peace, and the spirit inside our temples. Granted I have not been through the temple yet, but even just being at all the open houses of the recent temples opening, and doing baptisms, even just walking around outside, it is incomparable. I am so glad we can go to the temple to worship and we don´t have people paying a dollar to come walk around a take pìctures and watch us. So grateful :) But we also went to another place...dang Í cant remember what it is called, but it is where the President of Ecuador lives, pretty crazy they just let you in there, you just have to show some kind of identification, I just had to show a copy of my passport and your in! haha...never would that happen in the US I am sure...But it was pretty sweet. We went to Plaza de Indepencia, and then also again to the Artisan Mercado and I got a few more things :) I have like 2 more things to buy for people! yay! Tonight we had a birthday party for Paulita (a neighbor, the sister of Marty the guy Sivania and his mom and dad keep trying to hook us up) They kicked that into high gear tonight, must be because I am leaving in like 5 days...haha They were making us sit together and take pictures together and him put his arm around me...so awkward...They have these marshmallows, they are white but the middle is pink and they are called Besos de Novio, what you do is you bite into one and then your ´novio´is supposed to bite the other side and you kiss...Well they kept trying to get me to do that with him...it was so awkward I can´t even tell you. I am sure my face was bright red. One good side to it all though I guess is they were all drinking Champagne, and he wouldn´t drink any because I wasn´t haha. So that was good :) Maybe I´ll use this to his advantage and get him interested in the church...we´ll see haha. I did drink Coke today for the first time...caffeine for the first time really. I have had sips of it here and there, But my options for beverages were...Champagne, water (from the tap) and coke. I went with the Coke because I did not want the illnesses from that water! And I figured with what I have eaten here the Coke could only help haha. I did take my first Cipro like 2 days ago though, I had been have the WORST stomach cramps for like 2 days but I wanted my body to fight off whatever illness it was, but it couldn´t do it...so 2 Cipro later I feel great :) I ate at two places in Quito today though so I am sure I will get sick again. I ate Enchocado de Camerones today...oh my....delicious!!!!! Tomorrow we are going to the Mitad del Mundo, the Ecuator, and one last stop at the Artesian Mercado. It should be fun, we´ll be doing that later in the afternoon. But it should be awesome!

{H.C.A.M}

Hey!! :) It is so sad here, I just do what I can where ever I can. There are people everywhere yelling, you´d think a huge disaster had hit. You know on the movies when there is an earth quake or something and people are everywhere yelling and the nurses and doctors are running around..that is that hospital exactly. It is insane, what makes it even more sad is that a lot of them have diseases that we just don´t have in the US at all. Which is so hard for me to see. I saw someone with malaria today...you would never see that in the US ever. It was one of the wierdest diseases I have ever seen. Literally like the movies, the white of his eyes were yellow and eh I could describe it to you, but it would gross you out for sure. We had a guy die this morning first thing. So sad. THe family was histerical. We had another patient that was just crossing the street and got hit by a guy on a motocycle (driving here is ridiculous...they just drive and honk and if you don´t move when they honk they hit you...) but he was cut up everywhere and had a big gash in his head and was bleeding every where. We had to intubate him and then stop the bleeding, and his brain was swelling. THen he stopped breathing and we had to do CPR on his for at least 10 min, he came back though! YAY! It was insane, I wish I could just go on and on about all the patients, but that would take days. There was so much though, so sad :( Marcella and her boyfriend came and picked me up from the hospital today because I was so scared so yes I got back safely yay! I just have to listen to the Spirit, if it says don´t go there, you better believe that I don´t! NO WAY! But today was good, pretty relaxed, after I got back from the hospital Marcella and I went on a walk. Then came home ate dinner, then went swimming! yay! Then I just sat here on my bed and practiced spanish...now here I am! Showered and ready for bed. I was also going to tell you about a few more random Ecuador things...Handwashing...they practically don´t believe in it. They NEVER wash their hands after going to the bathroom. The ONLY public bathroom I have been in that had soap including the hospital was the church´s bathroom on Sunday. I am so glad I brought those three things of hand sanitizer, I swear I am using them every 30 seconds. Dogs...there are SOO many dogs here, everywhere. 90% of them are homeless I am pretty sure. They are everywhere laying in the streets, anywhere, sooooo many. I´m not usually an animal rights person by any means, but it is kinda sad to see so many everywhere you go! They are also obsessed with anything with Vitamin or Minerals...especially Calcium! Silvana is always trying to feed me and she always says it has calcium!! Eat! I just laugh, you could sell these people anything as long as you said it had minerals. They have this really cool thing that they do though, it is a little sad, but it´s neat. Like I said, the driver´s here are insane, literally, and people are being hit and killed by cars a lot. Whenever some one is killed in a traffic accident or something they paint a big purple heart on the road, it is sad though because you´ll be driving and there will be like 4 hearts in one spot. But it is also good because it reminds the (some) drivers to slow down a little and be careful. It is sad, but it is a good thing to do. But that is about it today. It was just a slow day (other than the time at the hospital of course) tomorrow I am off so Marcella and Gabrielle and I are going to the historic downtown. I am so excited!! It will be awesome! I saw the missionaries on the metrobus! haha it was hilarious. Everytime I see two people in suits I look to see if they have name tags and they never do. Well I got on the bus sat down, and then turned around and in the back of this crowded bus I saw them standing up and saw their name tags! I jumped out of my seat and told someone else to sit there and went back saying Elderes Elderes! Unfortunately there were both native Ecuadorians and neither spoke english. But I talked to them for a minute, they weren´t super friendly not gonna lie, it could´ve been because I scared them though haha some random American girl so excited to see them. They were probably a little worried let´s be honest. But it was really good to see them anyway :) Well I am tired :) good night! :)

{Hospital Carlos Andrade Marin}

Hey hey! Today was crazy...Oh boy. Woke up and left here about 7:15...I was supposed to be at that hospital by eight...yeah didn´t get there until 8:30, the buses are so crazy here. Marcella´s school is right by that hospital (thank goodness) and there is no way I would´ve found it without her. Once I got off the bus I still had to walk like 5 blocks. I finally got to the hospital and was not expecting what I saw. This is a public hospital so everyone goes there, all the people who don´t have insurance, can´t pay, everything. I have never seen so many people in one ER. There were people lined up down the hallways begging to get in, they had cops standing at the door only letting in the ones that were dying. Once I got past the cops I walked down the hallway of the actual ER, there are onlyl ike 7 or 8 rooms, each room had between 6-8 people crammed in there. It was unbelievable. I can´t even begin to describe it to you. There were bed lined up against the wall with patients in them just moaning and yelling Doctor! So sad. There is a room it´s called ´criticos´ and that is where the doctor that I am with works most of the time. He is in charge of the sickest patients. There were between 4-5 patients in this room all the time. So sad. There is so sense of santitation and cross contamination here. They will put on one pair of gloves and just go at it. It makes me cringe! AHHH! Honestly there is no way to explain it. I am going to try to take some pictures of it tomorrow though...we´ll see if I actually can. There was one lady that couldn´t move at all, she was way old, and she had pressure sores from her waist down everywhere... (she was only probably 3 feet tall at the most) but they were terrible! The worst I have ever seen. And I could just tell my the smell of them how infected they were. She will definately die from there. They are way past the point of healing. I could just go on and on with sad stories. It was worse that I ever imagined it would be at this place. After I got off Marcella met me and we went into downtown Quito to the Basillica. I got a lot of pictures of the Basillica, it is gorgeous! SOOO big. Very beautiful. But it was a good day, just really crazy. ¨Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea I will help thee, yes I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness¨ (Isaiah 41:10) My theme scripture here :) I have it written on a peice of paper in my pocket where I go here :) Sam is still at Casa de Niñez 2, he leaves friday..I´m sad, we´ve become really good friends! But oh well....Maybe we´ll meet up someday! Ahh....well I am off to bed. I am seriously exhausted from today. It´s a mental, emotional, physical tired. I will not be the same person I was when I get home. I have seen way too much.

{Hospital de Clinicas Pinchicha ER}

My day was crazy....the ER was way crazy today. SOOO much swine flu here...I wore a mask all day and I hate those masks!! I hate them in the US and I hate them here! I helped the doctor put in a central line today though. That was crazy to see how they do that here...I couldn´t believe it, NO pain meds at all, just cutting open his neck, he took a blade and just shoved it in the vein to make a whole and then the hole wasn´t big enough so he just pushed until it went in. I felt so bad for the poor man! Then another time I was helping the doctor stich up a kids face but the cut went just below a mole and he couldn´t stitch it up with the mole there so he just takes a blade and literally just cuts at this kids face until he cuts the entire mole out... (no pain meds at all...) I felt so bad for the boy, he was probably like 15, he couldn´t move at all either or the doctor would mess up. But it was a good learning day. I´m at a even different hospital tomorrow, but ER again. Also today Marcella, Marty and I went to the La Mariscal Artisan Mercado. It was fun. I bought a lot of sweet stuff :) Ecuador is awesome though, I am definately coming back someday! They are super funny about some things though... first off Toilet Paper...they are very particular about it. In bathrooms they will have one roll outside both the mens and womens bathroom and there is ALWAYS a sign above it telling you to only take a little bit. At the Panecillo when Sam and I went last week, there was a lady that her job was to sit in front of the bathrooms and she would pull off like 5 squares and fold them and put them in a basket and you got to take one when you went in...no joke...I laughed so hard! They also don´t put it in the toilet, there is a garbage next to every toilet and the toilet paper goes in there...yay...Eggs, they never fry eggs for breakfast, if you have a egg for breakfast it is always boiled..! IF they fry an egg it is for dinner or lunch and they literally fry it. They fill up a pan with oil until it is hot and then break a egg in it and fry it. Pretty greasy and it doesn´t really taste all that good if you ask me... Seatbelts...they discourage against wearing them here most of the time. IF the car even has them! Every car I have been in so far the driver is the only one that even has a seatbelt haha. it makes me laugh. Barefeet...you are never barefoot. Even in your own house, you have on shoes or slippers. I love being barefoot in the house and the first two days I would take off my shoes and just walk around and Silvana kept asking me where my shoes were. You just don´t got barefoot! The climate is pretty similar to Utah in the summer, but it is year round here. Except in the winter it rains a ton!! But now it is like 70-75 during the day and it get´s pretty cool at night. I wear a jacket basically everyday. Those are all the funny things I can think of right now...But I love them. They are wonderful people, so accepting so nice. Everytime I meet someone new they tell me welcome to my country. Sometimes in english even! :) Love those days :) haha. My brain is totally on Spanish overload and needs english...ahhh! Tomorrow = ER at Hospital Carlos Andrade Marin with Dr. Romo :) yay ;)

La Iglesia en Ecuador

AHHHH church was SOO amazing today!! I´m sad though because Marcella or Marty didn´t come..lame...they just dropped me off and went somewhere while I was there! SO SAD! BUT Robinson is coming next week for sure so that makes me very happy! I seriously love the church though...The gospel is so amazing to me. The fact that I can come halfway across the world and the church is the same. The only difference is it is in Spanish. I guarantee you can´t find that in any other church, and I know that is any other church you cannot find the worderful spirit that is there. I amazes me as soon as I walked in the door from the amazingly crazy outside ( it is insane here...literally...) I instantly feel at peave and at home, even though I am a million miles away from home! I love the church :) Everyone there was SOOO nice! Just wlking in the door I was told Buenos Dias and kissed by like 5-6 people! I doesn´t happen when you visit a different ward in Utah...then after I sat down the bishop came down from the stand and welcomed me, th sister missionaries came over and welcomed me and then two ladies that were sitting behind me packe dup all of their stuff and came and sat next to me. And then a guy that was sitting a few benches over did the same thing and came and sat on the other side of me...I love it :) I did notice that there were quite a bit of moms with kids there and then dads with kids there. I wonder if it was because their spouses weren´t members or what..it was sad to me though whatever it is. There were a lot of them . I just wish everyone could hear the gospel ya know? It´s like I just want to annouce it to the world and hold a mass baptism in the ocean or something,! Ahh there is so much missionary work to be done! Being in Utah and Idaho my whole life I don´t think I ever realizd just how much there really is to do. It´s amazing. But yeah sacrament was awesome as soon as it was over I was swarmed with people haha, literally the entire ward. The lady sitting next me asked what part of the US I was from and I said Utah and holy cow you should´ve seen how excited she got! She kept saying oh the temple oh the temple! And I had some of those pass along cards with me with the temple on them and I pulled one out and was like yeah here it is, and then came the swarms EVERYONE wanted one, if I would´ve known that they loved stuff like that i would´ve brought more! i passed out all of the pass along cards that I had with me and i had to tell them I would bring them more next week! Those were technically for people that aren´t members already but I don´t mind at all because I have 200 of them and there are only like maybe 50 people in the ward haha so I will still have tons! And they love them so they are going to good use! I just wish I had more to give them, I brought a few spanish ctr rings and gave some to the kids and they thought it was the greatest thing ever. There are so many things that we take for granted. Like a simple picture of the temple, or those green ctr rings that they gave us every year in primary haha. Things like that are like gold to these people. Or like the pictures of Christ in our churches, the churches in Utah have the most beautiful pictures of Christ, and we have tons of them, there was not one picture in that whole building today. I brought one with me that I bought right before I left that I am going to give them, it is just a 5x7 picture though...I wish I had known this stuff and I could´ve brought more! And pictures of Pres. Monson and the apostles! They have nothing! I will know for next time what I need though. Sunday school was great as well. Relief Society was awesome as well! So at the beginning I was helping set up chairs and everyone was coming over and asking my name and the Relief Society president comes up and has a paper and my name is written next to closing prayer and she says is this how you spell your name (she had written Karen) so I fixed and then she informs me that I am saying the closing prayer...oh great! I haven´t prayed in Spanish in forever! I was so nervouse. It was probably the worse prayer in the history of learning spanish, haha I just said a prayer to myself before hand to have the spirit help me to know what to say and how to say it. Because I was nervous! They also had me read a paragraph during class, HAHA oh boy, i am such a gringa :) haha No accent whatsoever, but they were so sweet and helped me and after I finished they kept saying (in english actually) Good job good job! haha with their cute little accents :) I can barely understand them when they speak english, it almost still sounds like spanish sometimes haha. But yeah it was awesome, afterwards I was sitting out front waiting for them to come pick me up and a girl came up to me and started talking to me, she was about my age I would imagine, It was really good to talk to her. They were just so sweet. I can´t wait to go back next week! I am so happy I got to go today! Silvana kept trying to talk me out of going haha, they wanted to go to a party and take me to some hot pots or something but I told them that it was really important for me to go to church. And she said you only have 1 1/2 more weeks with us and your life to go to church come with us! haha (absolutely love love Silvanta, but sounds like satan talking to me...) But I explained that in my church it was important that we attend every week and not just sometimes and she said ok that´s fine haha. I am soooo happy that I went! The rest of the day was really laid back, while I was at church they went grocery shopping....haha....but she came home and made an amazing meal! SOOO good :) And then we just kinda hung out, I wrote in my journal, etc... Really nice relaxing day! Good to prepare for tomorrow! Which is gonna be crazy busy, I am working the ER tomorrow and it is Independence Day here...yeah gonna be nuts, Marcella and I are going shopping after I get off too.

Traveling Day!

Today was a really good day though so busy! We woke up and went to the panaderia (bakery)!! I love that place with all of my heart haha :) They are so funny about their pan (bread)! They will make breakfast and leave it to get cold just so they can go get their pan and come home and eat and it will be warm...it makes me laugh, but I don´t mind because I love the pan here! But we had breakfast and then drove to Cayambe a town about 2 hours north of Quito and had Bizcotos I think they are called...and chocolate caliente and queso de hoja, the Bizcotos were all right, a little too dry for me, but dipped in the hot chocolate they were pretty good. The Queso de Hoja was soooo good! Love it :) Then we drove to Guyagammbal I think it is called...something like that and the family I am living with has a ton of birds and this is the town that they buy them from so we went to the place they get them an they had tons of beautiful birds! Then after that we went to have lunch, I had some soup...can´t remember the name but it was delicious :) THe food here is soooo good...but honestly I am really looking forward to eating a hamburger when I get back haha! I hate sitting down to a meal and not having any idea what it is and whether or not I will like it! Well it actually isn´t too bad because I usually like it, and it is kinda an adventure! But there are times when I am SOO hungry and I´ve sat down to eat and it is just digusting...but you eat it anyway! haha but yeah then we came home and played Volei.. It is kinda like volleyball but you can hit the ball how ever you want...you can lift it, etc...and they play with a soccer ball of course :) haha....Then we hung out for a while, talked, hung out with the neighbors...oh haha the neighbor lady is trying to set me up with her son haha it is hilarious...they sent us to a movie tonight haha, marcella and his sister paulina came along of course!! They are having him drive me to church tomorrow...it is pretty funny..But yeah we went to GI Joe tonight, it was really good!! Intense...that is for sure! But yeah a really good day! Lot´s and lot´s of pictures today! But, I am SOO excited for church tomorrow! Marcella is coming, and I think Marco is too...since he is driving me...haha, we shall see! But I am so excited to see how church is here! It will be awesome! I love you all and miss you lots and lots!! kara

¡Quito en la mañana!

Hola! Today was good! We went to la casa de niñez and had spanish and english lessons, and then played futbol all day long after lunch...haha no wonder they are so good! It is amazing! Today was my last day with those boys and I´m gonna miss then :( And unfortunately I have no pictures of them either :( we weren´t allowed to take pictures...I have a couple of them playing futbol but other than that we weren´t allowed to take any pictures...so sad!! But oh well I guess. I have another person coming to church with me!! The daughter of the family that I am living with said she is going to come with me on Sunday so that is super exciting! And Robinson is coming next Sunday! But I will probably go and visit him Sunday at la casa de niñez. We are going into Quito all day tomorrow! yay! I´m excited to see everything and take pictures and yeah! It is going to be awesome. Me and Marcella are going. Sam is going to meet up with us there because he is goin to the fruit market in the morning with his family. But yeah it will be awesome! Hope all is well!!! love you so very much!!

¡Señor Robinson!

Attn: there is officially a new investigator of the church! WOOP WOOP!! His name is Robinson! Pray for him!! He is the man! He works at la Casa de Niñez 2 and I am so excited! We were talking the other day and he was asking where in the US I was from and stuff and I said Utah and of course the very next question like always....Are you Mormon? (except in spanish not english) and I said yes and he started asking all kinds of questions, well my spanish is not good enough yet to explain the church let´s be honest...BUT!!! Luckily there are wonderful missionaries here in Quito that he is meeting with! WOOP WOOP!! And he is coming to church with me next Sunday! He can´t come this Sunday because he works, he is one of the guys that stays with the kids all the time, so he sleeps there and everything, he is such a cool guy! But yeah he is coming to church with me and I am so freaking excited for him! He is way excited too it is so neat! I love missionary work! I love all you missionaries (well returned missionaries now ;) still love you though ;)) But yes please pray for Robinson! Sam seemes to be pretty interested too who knows though. He asks me questions a lot during our 6 mile walks everyday haha, but we will see!! And I ´convienetly´left some pass along cards (in spanish) on the table at my family´s hous and they started asking me about the church too haha, so tricky...but I would love to get the missionaries here! I have a book of mormon for them already haha! I wish I had an english one for sam though...Brilliant Kara only brough spanish ones with her...I know...i´m a genius right...So I am still trying to figure out what to do with Sam..ya veremos!! But today was good, it was a long day though, like 10 hours with the boys, we taught Spanish until lunch and taught English all after lunch, we got SOOOO much done it was amazing. They are doing very well in both subjects! I love it! I only have two more days left with these boys so I am super sad...I will come back and visit before I leave though for sure! They are so cute, Antone made me a sweet bracelet and gave it to me today, I was super excited! Other than that the days are filled with thousands of hugs and kisses and Señorita ´Cada´I lub yud haha that is how they say I love you, that is their favorite english phrase we have taught them it is hilarious, they still say Te amo a lot, but if they remember they will say it in english, I told you yesterday we taught all of the words for playing soccer to them in english and they remembered most of them today, at 4:30 everyday they play soccer for hours and they were using a lot of the words we taught them! It was great! Today we taught them lots and lots of verbs and how to conjugate them, Sam and I decided it would be much easier to learn english than it is to learn spanish haha, the verbs conjugate so much easier than in spanish! I had the most amazing pan today too... Pan de dulce...and it was fresh out of the oven a la panadaria! AHHH I am going to miss that SO much, and the juice here is to die for as well, I had this peach juice today that was so good! But that was about it today! We didn´t get to go into Quito today because there was so much english to teach, but tomorrow we are for sure!! Sam and I are going to find somewhere amazing to eat dinner!! yeah!!

Rica Comida

Ok ya´ll, sorry I haven´t had time to write until now. It was a crazy day, but it was really good. I got up this morning and Silvana made me breakfast! Remember those eggs I told you I was worried about...she made me one ;) And I am still here and not sick ;) She made me a boiled egg though, that is how they always eat their eggs here, they don´t scramble them or anything, it was really good though. I also of course had pan, which I am totally in love with! And then their yogurt here is amazing, so much better than in the US..seriously...she also made me this smoothie with all of these fruits, I´m not sure what all was in it other than the tree tomatoes, they have like 4 trees of these in the back yard so we have them often and then also oranges were in it, but that is all i know. For dinner last night we had these things they call them tortillas but it is nothing like the tortillas you eat...but they were amazing...I am SO making them often, it was cheese and potatoes and onions and goodness...But anyway, after breakfast Sam and I walked to la casa de ninez 2, it´s about a 5km walk there, so about 3.2 miles and then we walk back too in the afternoon so we walk about 6 and a half miles a day, it isn´t too bad though, it´s all uphill the way back, but it´s not bad. The boys were super excited to see us today. They play futbol at Hogar de Vida 1 in the mornings on Tuesday´s so not all of them were there until like right before lunch. We mostly just played Uno haha, they love that game, they play it to learn their colors and numbers in english. They were starting to get pretty good! We seriously taught So much english today...There is no way they will remember it all. We taught them all of the english words for playing futbol and so many others, we didn´t even teach spanish at all today. Lunch was ok...it was this rice stuff with meat and these beans that we almost a baked bean but not really, it really wasn´t that good...the soup though once again was amazing, it was a cauliflower and spinach soup! loved it. They boys are so cute though, Victor´s mother came to visit him today, he was pretty excited about that she cant´support him though so that is why he is there, but it was good that she came to visit. She was facinated with the fact that I was from the US and spoke english and spanish. SHe kept asking me how to say things in engligh the other problem was she was asking me names...names are basically the same in both languages haha she was asking me names lik Sabrina and Victor haha. But after I explained to her that they were the same she started asking me other things, after I would tell her she would just giggle and ask something else, it was hilarious. For dinner tonight we had pollo y pure, it is chicken and potatoes and yeah it is hard to explain but it was so good. I will be making that when i get home as well. We had lettuce and avocado and broccoli as well. I love love love all of the fresh vegetables that they have here, it is amazing! SO many different kinds of fruit! Oh haha i actually got a little sick earlier today, at la casa de ninez they have avocado trees and you can just pick them and eat them, Sam and I both love avocados so we were eating them, we each ate like 3, (they were very small don´t worry..3 didn´t even equal one regular one haha) but afterwards i started to kinda feel sick and I realized I probably shouldn´t have eaten them right off the tree haha. I felt fine like 2 hours later though, but at like 5 we finally left because Sam was not feeling good at all haha. I haven´t talked to him since like 6 so I don´t know if he is feeling better or not! He has some Cipro as well though so I told him to take one and I´m sure he is feeling better now. But yeah that is basically all today. We are going to go early tomorrow and hopefully leave around 3 in the afternoon, Marcela (the daughter of the family I am living with, she is 22) quit her job today and she only has class in the mornings so I think we are going to go into Quito tomorrow and see some stuff! But that is basically all today! It was a good day! Oh! I almost forgot I talked to Sam again about the church today!! WOOP WOOP! I talked to him about temples and some other stuff, it was really neat, we have a lot of time to talk since we walk 6.5 miles together everyday haha! We´ll see if I can get him to church with me! I have these pass along cards as well in spanish and I left one sitting in my room and Silvanita was looking at it and asking me about it, there is no way I could talk to her about a lot of things because she only speaks spanish, so I told her some stuf but maybe I can get the missionaries here! We will see...but see you soon! Can´t wait to hear back from you!

Hogar de Vida 1 y Casa de Niñez 2

Hola!! I saw an ´iglesia de jesuchristo de los santos de los ultimas dias´today and I got SO excited! Anything familiar just makes me happy! I love love the Spanish Culture so much! And the language, it is coming good, it´s only the first day actually speaking it but i feel like I learned a lot today! But today was really good! It strated off going in to Quito to La FLoresta I had pan y plantanos para desayuna, (bread and bananas for breakfast) delicious! Then two other nurses and i headed to Hogar de Vida 1, it was so sad, the people there have all just been picked up off the streets and brought there. So sad. We actually only stayed there for about two hours and then headed back to la armenia to the casa de ninez 2, and I LOVE LOVE it there! It is all boy under 18, and they are so cute! It is the same with them, they have just been picked up off the streets and brought to this place to make a better life for themselves. This place gives them an education, they get food, and hopefully their families take them back, if they don´t they get to stay until they are 18 and by then they figure they can make a living for themselves. these boys are adorable, they ncest boys ever. Of course you know in this culture you greet EVERYONE with a hug and kiss on the cheek, well me being an american girl they greet me every time they see me with a kiss on the cheek :) haha i have never felt so loved! haha We started the day off with them teaching them spanish. these boys have never been to school so they speak spanish but they don´t know why..and some can´t read. I spent about 2 hours teaching an 17 year old how to read spanish. They are so sweet. then we just played around for a few hours, then we had lunch! Not sure what it was...it was very good though! Rice with some kind of meatball thing, it wasn´t beef...kinda scared to konw what meat it was but it was so good! Then fried squash (i think) and lots of rice and some kind of broccoli and potato soup that was to die for! I drank some kind of juice, not sure what it was but it was good! haha! Then...after lunch is their favorite time! Sam and I promised to teach them english! they love it. they just kept saying, ¨Kara (except they say either cada or clada because they can´t say it haha and it is cara in spanish) but they would say ¨Kara como se dice te amo en ingles¨me--I love you them-kara I love you como se dice la boca en ingles me--mouth them---Kara i love you mouth como se dice los ojos en espanol me---eyes them--Kara I love you eyes...haha you get the picture, they did this a lot with bonita as well they would ask what bonita was in english then say your eyes are beautiful and on and on haha. After teaching english we played hours and hours of futbol, these kids are AMAZING at soccer...seriously. it amazes me, but it makes sense because they play for hours everday! It just breaks my heart to see them though, one boy, Francisco, was SO sad all day, wouldn´t talk to anyone because he missed his family so much, but they just put him out on the street so that is why he is there, he is only 10, it is seriously so sad. While they were playing soccer I was playing games with some of the younger one kept coming over un ambrazo por bueno suerte un beso por bueno suerte haha then everytime they would do something good, Clada Clada and give me two big thumbs up haha They keep trying to ¨set me and sam up¨they will come up and hold one of his hands and then one of mine and try to hurry and put our hands together and run haha. It is hilarious, they think it is so funny. They keep asking Tienes un novio en estados unidos,(do you have a boyfriend in he united states) i say no I don´t and the one kid gets this shocked look on his face and says, ¨¿porque? ¿No te gusta hombres?¨ (why? you don´t like boys?) haha it was HILARIOUS, he didn´t konw what to think! But it has been so good so far, I have mostly eaten a lot of fruit, other than that pan this morning and the rice and stuff this afternoon. The fruit is to die for here though, so good!! Oh I guess I did eat toasted maize i think is how yu spell it...have you had that before? it was a fun little snack, they taught me how to make it though so i will make you some :) there were bits of some kind of meat i was once again not sure what it was that was in it, but i didn´t eat the meat because they just make this stuff and leave it sitting on the counter and I did not want to eat meat that had been sitting there for days....haha they also leave their eggs on the counter...no so sure how safe I feel with that but we´ll see! THey aren´t home from work yet today so I don´t konw what is for dinner! I´m sure it will be amazing though! BUt yeah there is today´s update!! I hope all is well en las Estados Unidos! Can´t wait to hear back from you!! peace :)once again super sorry about the spelling...these keyboards are so hard! they are different! kara :)

Estoy Aqui- Dia 1 y 2

Well I am here! And it is beautiful! It took forever to get here...17 hours..but totally worth it, by the way Guatemala and Costa Rica are gorgeous as well...defnately going there someday! Guatemala for sure for a humanitarian, they were living in unbelieable poverty. I will apologize in advance for spelling or other errors..their keyboards are so wierd here. It takes twice as long to write things! But I made it here, the end of the flight from Costa Rica to Quito was a little scary...almost thought we weren´t gonna make it...haha! When we landed everyone started cheering! But we made it :) I got off the plan and began the adventure, since I left LA EVERYTHING had been in Spanish so that wasn´t a HUGE shock, just a shock...haha. I got through customs and they checked my passport etc...and got out side and was bombarded with people wanting to buy things...I had to constantly be moving and apologizing or they would just attack me! And the guy that was supposed to pick me up wasn´t there...yay...worst nightmare coming true. So I walked around outside for a min etc....couldn´t find him. Tried to use a phone but you have to have these special cards, finally found one to buy, but could NOT figure out how to use the phone...So I started walking around and said a prayer and of course my person showed up! (said a quick thank you prayer once out of the craziness and in the car feeling semi-safe again!) Patrick took me to his hostel, where I met Sam. Sam is starting a project tomorrow as well and he is living with the family next door to mine! yay! He is super nice and from Baltimore but goes to school at Northwestern. We got in the car and the first thing he asked was where are you from. Answer: utah next question of course--are you mormon Answer--why yes I am! (perfect missionary opportunity_ I think yes!) he says I have never met a mormon before, there aren´t any in baltimore or chicago (yeah right, but that´s ok) what do you believe (he totally opened the door for me on that one!) So for the next 30 I preceded to talk to him and patrick my country coordinator about the church! The burning question they HAD to ask--do we practice polygamy, of course they were realized with my answer! It was amazing though! I am going to try to get Sam to church with me Sunday! We shall see...then I came and met my family, they are so nice I cannot even tell you! The parents both speak spanish only, they have a 22 year old daughter learning english. So I have had to bust out spanish already, I feel like it is already getting better. Then patrick took sam and I to one of the projects, sam will be at this one frmo 12 to later in the afternoon. I will be at a hospital called Hogar de Vida at 0730 every morning, get off at 300 and then go to this place, it´s a boy shelter, and it broke y heart being there today. THose boys were adorable though, they fell in love with us instantly. Hugs and kisses on the cheek (culture) they were dolls. I can´t wait to go back tomorrow! But yeah, came back and hung with my family, sam brought his family over and we went on a LONG walk. It is so beautiful here, but there is such poverty i cannót even tell you! But I am happy to be here. A little tired from traveling so I told them I was just going to write you guys then go shower and go to bed! Got an early 6 am morning tomorrow! (5 am on my biological clock) But yeah, there is my first day! I hope all is well with you all and I can´t wait to start tomorrow! Talk to you soon!!
P.S no pics until after the trip so just keep checking back for updates ;)

leaving on a jet plane.

Today is the day!!! I'm going.....

{here...LA}

{here....Costa Rica}

{here...Guatemala...my friend lives here and his family is bringing me dinner, YUM!}

{to here....Quito, Ecuador!!}

Peace out ya'll! Be ready for a BIG LONG post at the end of August when I return back to the good ol US!!!!