♥ from Hermana Miller Week 25 (3-16-20)

This week we didn't get to talk to Sadie via video chat as things with the Corona Virus have gotten worse.  She had limited time and needed to stock up to begin a quarantine period in her home with her companion.  I am grateful that she has Hermana McCune, her first American companion, at this time with so much changing and so many unknowns. They already have the bond of knowing each other from the MTC, as well as getting Visas together in Arizona, and then traveling to Ecuador from the MTC together-- that's a blessing.   I think they will be a great comfort to each other.  I hope Sadie's Spanish stays strong.  (so grateful for the blessing of Sadie just having had South American companions until now-- it's made her Spanish so much better, more authentic-- maybe not her grammar, but her pronunciation) I felt like it was a blessing that first thing in the morning, I was reminded that I needed to put some extra money in Sadie's missionary account.  I have been meaning to do that for a few weeks, so she'd have a little extra to get a few souvenirs before she was transferred but hadn't gotten around to it.  It was important to me this morning though and I had finished that before Graham and Lainey left for the school bus.  When we did get to speak to Sadie, she explained a whirlwind of a night she'd had getting the third companion in her trio to the airport, needing extra funds and that with the quarantine, she'd need to buy 14 days of food/drink for their apartment and she was not able to do that with the extra money she'd had to spend on taxi's to get that companion to Quito.  I felt grateful in that moment to be able to tell her- I'd already done it-- money in the account just that morning.  The Lord knows the details.  He impresses upon our minds the things we need to do and know...we just need to listen. It's a simple thing- but it was a powerful thing about how He works.
Here was her group email... short and sweet

 Hello loved ones

On St. Patrick's day I feel "lucky"  because I get to stay in Ecuador and even though I will begin a 15 day in house quarantine- I feel the Lord's blessings and his watchfulness.  I am so grateful to be one of His missionaries.  We are safe and prepared with the things we need.  I don't know when I'll be able to email again, but when we can, I will. 

My love to each of you,

  Hermana Miller  

Jenniffer (convert) and Hermana Miller

A  centipede in my apartment

 Journal time....

♥ From Hermana Miller Week 24 (3-10-2020)

No time today, as we have transfers, and I am traveling to my new sector! It is a city called Cayambe. It is about an hour and a half from Ibarra, towards Quito. My new companion is Hermana McCune, we knew each other at the MTC, and arrived in Ecuador together.  So that is AWESOME.  She is my first American companion- and  it makes me a little nervous about two gringas and the four months of Spanish experience we have, but it is a great opportunity to test our faith and study habits.

 It was hard to leave Ibarra ("my birthplace" we say as missionaries) but more for the people than the place. There are some very dear to my heart people there that I will never forget, and will forever thank the Lord for putting in my path.  Fausto and Sandra especially.   Leaving them tore at my heart, (and I'll admit,  I had a few tears after I'd hugged them goodbye and got around the corner) but I know that means that my love for these sweet people is very real- I feel it bigtime and I'm so grateful for that.

Sandra and Hermana Miller

  Hermana Miller and Fausto (she said this was her new all time fave pic of her mission) He never smiles with his teeth because so many are missing- so this picture is especially sweet)

From her journal: 

"At that moment I knew I was leaving Ibarra (with transfers coming up)- I counted it as a tender mercy so I could feel closure saying goodbye. I told him that knowing him has been one of the greatest blessings of my mission, that I loved him, that I would pray for him, and that in the next life I want a HUGE hug.  Then I grabbed the chifle trash (that I'd bought for him the time before) adn I left.  And I sobbed.  And my heart broke.  And as I walked away I said to Heavenly Father, "This is hard!" And He said, "I know. But I am going to take care of Fausto just like I'm going to take care of you...because i love you both.  Trust me" And then I felt a ray of peace poke through, ut it still hurt."

The Lord is going to guide us in our new area and I can't wait to be a part of the work he is doing here in Cayambe, and in Ecuador. Everyday is a blessing and an adventure and I ́m so excited for this new chapter and the things in store here! Thank you for your prayers and emails!

Lots of love from Ecuador,   

Hermana Miller

 These are Wilson's dogs (our investigator)

Last days with my companion, Sister Muldonado

Fernando, ward mission leader with my companion and I .  He gave us roses for international women's day.

Transfers! Hello Cayambe!

I have no idea if this will be our Hermana's experience in Cayambe- but here's what I discovered in a google search- which gave my mama heart some peace until I can hear more from Sadie.

Cayambe is an agricultural service city (population 39,028 at the last census on November 28, 2010) in highland Ecuador. It lies at the foot of the Cayambe volcano. While the city is mainly peopled by mestizos, the surrounding rural population is primarily composed of indigenous people who are mainly involved in subsistence agriculture, dairy farming and procurement of lumber. It's the third largest city in Pichincha Province.
Weather: 65°F (18°C), Wind SW at 2 mph (3 km/h), 51% Humidity
Province: Pichincha
History of its people: Cayambe's indigenous people of today are descendants of the pre-Inca Kayambi people. The Kayambi were resistant to Inca expansion and were only definitively conquered by Huayna Capac (the eleventh Sapa Inca of the Inca Empire) after a bloody 20-year war. At that time, the Kayambi people adopted the Kichwa language, a dialect of the Quechua family of languages. Not long afterwards, in the 16th century, the first Spanish conquistadores arrived in the region. Kichwa survives in some of the hamlets today, while in others it has given way to Spanish.
Points of inteest

It is a globe built of stone that sits on a large cement slab surrounded by a stone circumference.

Known as "La Bola de Guachalá" which is a monument in honor of the equatorial line, it is located on this line that divides the earth into two equal hemispheres: North and South. Whoever arrives at this place can not avoid the temptation to stand on both hemispheres at the same time.

Two Otavalo little girls in Cayambre

Quitsato Sundial, located on the Equator in Cayambe, Ecuador-   located exactly on the equator.

♥ from Ecador week 22 3-3-2020

It’s been awhile!  Lots has happened since I last emailed.   I survived CARNAVAL!  After our last appointment the night before we were supposed to stay indoors- we were on our way home in the dark and we unexpectedly became the target of some early celebrators' roof top water balloon launch.  I heard something hit the wall next to my head- it was a hard loud sound and water splashed everywhere.   It really freaked me out.  Then my companion screamed, “run” (in Spanish) and water started exploding all around us. Water balloons were coming hard and fast—and luckily not with great aim.   I heard a bunch of people shouting, “blanquita, blanquita!” You know what I learned after that?  I can run really fast in a skirt. 😊 My companion and I tried to run into a store, but there were a bunch more guys with water balloons in the store- so somehow we got separated--my companion ran in one store and I ran in another.  I looked over my shoulder and I saw a boy chasing me and he followed me into the tienda (he was probably 10 years old)  When I stopped- he held out my agenda…I must’ve dropped it running along the road.  I was so grateful to have it back…what a sweet little guy in the middle of all that to follow me- even though it kind of added to the panic I was feeling in the moment.  hahaha.   It would have been a disaster to lose the details of our contacts/appointments etc that are in that agenda.   Once things settled down outside we headed to our house.    It wasn’t exactly the type of persecution I expected to face as a missionary—hahaha.  Scripture rewrite: “Blessed are all they who are pelted with water balloons for my name’s sake.”  Needless to say, I’ll be checking rooftops now and I better understood why our mission president wanted us to stay inside the upcoming few days of Carnaval. I actually enjoyed my time in the house, napping, snacking, and reading Jesus, The Christ. (If you haven’t read it, put it on your must-read list, it’s an incredible book.)

After Carnaval, I was grateful to be back out in the perfect Ecuador weather working again.  It was a hard week though- lots of doors shut in our face, a baptismal date that fell through (that about broke my heart), commitments that aren’t always kept, long days walking up mountains and on cobblestone streets, &  talking to strangers which can be awkward. It’s still a struggle to finish ALL my rice at lunch (so I don’t offend), and some days I just want to speak English.  I love my Preparation days when most times, I can video chat with my family- that really buoys me up like nothing else.  I get love and listening from my mom and counsel and hype from my dad.  I need both.  Something I’ve discovered is that a mission is really just a stepping stone to who I want to become- not the climax.  I’ll have the same fears, same weaknesses, same insecurities, same everything that I had felt before I was a missionary- the times that I wonder if it even matters, or if I’m enough- when the struggle seems greater than the triumphs, I remember that it’s a process.  My dad reminded me this week that ADVERSITY is the POINT!  The highs are there to encourage us and keep us going- but it’s the hardest hours of struggle and self doubt, rejection, homesickness, physical sickness, tears in the bathroom so my companion doesn’t see,  dealing with someone interested more in the messenger than the message 😉 -all of those things are the times the Lord is molding me.  And He does not leave us comfortless.  It’s not easy or comfortable- that’s because it can’t be- that’s not how it works.  I trust in “good things to come.”  And you should too. 

Don’t worry about me— I know there’s a lot of reality in this email, but really,  I LOVE this work. I LOVE Ecuador and the special people here.   I know I am on the Lord’s errand and because of that,  I have help from heaven & I feel it…and I also feel the power of your combined faith so keep those prayers (and emails) coming! 

Love,

Hermana Miller

I'm including a picture of my companion and I with beautiful Ibarra in the background and a picture of my lunch one day-- (first course)  Soup with chicken liver (dark), chicken neck (light), and chicken feet (you can tell which that is) I washed it down with rice after :)

Week 22 weekly letter to Presidente Chacon

This is to notify him of a "situation" that had developed with Sadie's district leader, Elder Hopper.  The whole thing was embarrassing and frustrating for her.  After a long time of down playing, and teasing, avoiding, and ignoring it wasn't going away, and the district and zone become aware- it finally came out in the open enough for them to hash it out.  Sadie didn't want to bother the mission president with it- but felt she needed to address it in case he heard it from other sources.  Hopefully with transfers next week she can be separated from him and move forward.  He's a good missionary, just needs to focus on the work and not our Hermana Miller.

3-3-2020

Presidente,

My companion and I are doing very well together, every week gets better and better, and as we work together in the obra and in the living together parts of it, we´ve had a lot of fun and learned so much from each other. Hermana Maldonado is so Christlike in her humility and love and patience with me and everyone we know and teach. She´s been a blessing for me.

Our investigators are struggling to keep commitments so we´ve been focusing our study on that and keeping our expectations high. Although our fechas have fallen through, they are continuing to progress and hopefully very soon we can reset some dates. I´ve come to really love the people I am teaching here and my heart yearns to see them in that white baptismal jumpsuit!!

I only marked this email as urgent because yesterday we had a sitdown with the zone leaders in our District Council and I wanted you to be able to have this information quickly. I´ve felt the need to address with you here some issues we´ve had as a district especially now that the zone leaders have been involved.

As a missionary, and as a person I am not one who seeks out drama and so my heart is heavy as I've tried to be prayerful about how to move forward.  I have not talked with you about this concern before now because I felt that since it was not initiated by me, I could just ignore, downplay, redirect attention and it would go away.  I didn't want to bother you with anything that was unimportant or something that was becoming increasingly awkward at no fault of my own.

 I have made my sister leaders aware and my companion and we've been prayerful in the past several weeks. I understand that my sole focus should be my missionary errand and that's my hearts desire and so it hurts that there has been any implication that I have thought, said or done anything contrary to that-- I have tried to not make an issue out of unwanted attention from any elders specifically my district leader.

It began months ago and I felt uncomfortable with the joking and teasing- the familiarity in general.   As I shared my concern with my companion, we decided that I should just try to distance myself, as to not encourage any unwanted attention and have less contact as to not create a more casual interaction.  My companion started answering phone calls so I wouldn't have to.

 I am honestly mortified to have drawn any negative attention.  That is not representative of my heart, my efforts, my obedience, my intention, or me.  My district leader has chosen to speak to zone leaders who did not speak to me or my companion or our sister leaders to find out a little more information and see things from all sides, before responding.

I have been thinking about transfers coming up and just have tried to wait it out and distance myself.  I am grateful for my associations with fellow missionaries. We are in this great work together.   I want nothing more than to work along side each other and serve.

Please know that my heart is all in.  I am striving to be exactly the kind of missionary the Savior needs me to be.  I have been obedient but have become somewhat of a target for unwanted attention.  That is completely unfamiliar territory to me and I want to run from it-- that's not my focus as a missionary.  I realize this is complicated and I dislike that it even needs to be addressed in an email, but my approach of trying to not let it escalate, or back away from it has not been as effective as I'd hoped. I just want to be the Lord's hermana and move forward.

And you should also know that I am just fine. Really you don´t need to worry about me, I just wanted you to have it come straight from me, because I don´t know what´s been said. Please feel free to call me if there is anything I can help clarify. I think the dust should all settle and luckily transfers are coming up at the end of the week. But I´ve already put it behind me and hope that everyone else can do the same. I love the work and I love being here in Ecuador! Thanks for everything,

Hermana Miller 

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