FIRST AREA IN ECUADOR: IMBABURA- Ibarra

week 7 (first week in Ecuador)

Hello all-

I´m here! This is crazy and so unreal. I wish I had more time to write all about it.   I´ve appreciated so much the sweet emails, and while I´m not able to respond today, I hope to be able to soon. If not, please know how grateful I am and how much I enjoy reading them. Thank you!

I´ve had such a cool week. I heard before so many times that the first few weeks were going to be mostly hanging on for dear life, but I´m having a blast! Seriously, this place is amazing. I love being a missionary, it´s so much fun. My companion is awesome—she’s a native of Bolivia (and doesn’t speak any English- which is going to help the language come along quicker for me—although she told me I’m learning “Bolivian Spanish”)  I am grateful for her and know I will learn a lot.

My desk area in Imbabura

kitchen

 bedroom

I’ve been assigned to an area in the North Andes called Imbabura- it’s beautiful. It’s about 3 hours from Quito by bus.  It sits at the base of a volcano.  I haven’t had a change to really see very much of this province yet, but I’ll attach a photo of my view outside my kitchen window. 

There are only 6 missionaries in my district, my companion and I, and 4 elders.  Just one of them is from the United States- the rest are from South America.  I have no idea what my district leader is saying yet- he’s from Columbia and speaks super-fast.  But I’ll figure it out soon enough. 

Pday with the district: My Companion, Sister 

A lot of people speak Spanish and the Quechua language.  Some people only speak one or the other so that’s interesting.  I have had to eat a few interesting things—but no chicken feet soup yet, thank goodness.  Almost everyone here has brown eyes and straight brown hair, so they comment a lot on my blue eyes and wavy hair.  It’s funny.  We walk a lot and take the bus- which I’ve learned doesn’t really stop, just slows down so you have to kind of hop on and off while it’s still moving- so far so good.  We´ve already met two people this week who we are now teaching. The key has been the Book of Mormon, of course. Some of these people have never even heard of it. One woman said, ¨why didn´t anyone tell me that Jesus Christ came to the Americas, that´s amazing!”

The culture is different and I’m enjoying Ecuador, but I can´t wait until it feels like home.  It rains almost every day and the clouds come in low in the morning and surround the mountains--It’s so beautiful and the people are wonderful. It´s a great day to be a missionary!! 

YOU'VE ARRIVED!

 President Jorge Chacon and his wife with Sadie in mission home

Welcome meal

 Meeting her companion, Hermana Anibarra

 at airport

other elders

new incoming group

gathering first day

Waiting on the Lord... but not as patiently as I should be....

You've arrived in Quito.  I only know that because the American Airlines flight tracker says so.  Your flight was delayed so I waited up, by my phone for an email or call- nothing.  I tried to sleep but I couldn't very well. I was sure I'd wake up to a call or text but nothing.  Quito is two hours ahead of us.  I justified it with maybe they got in so late- and then had  a breakfast-- and then as the day has gone on I've just wondered why-- why wouldn't they be allowed to just make a quick call- I need to know she is okay.

A member in one of the airports took this picture and texted it to me- I was so grateful!

I am not the missionary mama that calls the mission office.  (not yet anyway).  I want to be the missionary mama that waits on the Lord-- and I'm really trying- but as I texted Roarke and said, "I really need to know she's okay and she's there" I put down the phone and burst into tears and I felt this surge of love that I have for her-- it was like Mama bear mode and I JUST NEED TO KNOW.  I know the Lord will look out for her-- so I need to trust that.  I know there is so much going on with transitions and getting settled and the late flight- and I think there's a general authority coming to their mission this weekend-- but this mama right here needs to know that Hermana Miller is all right and happy. I think I just need to pray to get some peace.  So I'll go do that right now.

The next day (that's an eternity in a worried mama's heart!) we got a very short email from her and I was so so grateful! So much peace flooded into me with just one little email....

Week 6 (NOvember 9, 2019) Goodbye to the MTC

This is it. I'm officially moving to South America in just under 48 hours. I'm terrified, but also SO EXCITED! This is going to be the adventure of a lifetime, and it's really happening! I'm so excited to be able to meet all of the cute Ecuadorians! 

 It's been a crazy crazy week, as usual. :) On Tuesday my companion had to take a daytrip to Phoenix in order to get her visa, and I was on edge most of the week waiting to hear about mine. If you don't get your visa in time, you take a transfer stateside, which would have been cool too, but I wanted to get to Quito. Then I got the good news Wednesday night that Thursday I would be going to Phoenix to get my visa! Woohoo!!! It was a long day that began at 2:00 am, but it was so much fun to be outside in "real life" for a bit. It was also awesome because everybody stopped to talk to us when they saw our tags, and we met lots of cool people and heard lots of amazing stories. We got to eat real food, we bought Smashburger in the airport. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! It cost me twenty bucks, but I'd have given them forty if they'd asked for it, it was worth every penny! We were going to have to miss dinner, and then a really kind member bought us Costa Vida for dinner, so we were just walking on clouds! Phoenix has some beautiful weather right now, I made lots of new friends, learned to Uber, and got my Ecuador visa; it was a fantastic day. 

(Pic with Sister McCune and Sister Kelsey) 

On Tuesday the devotional was ELDER UCHTDORF! All the missionaries were bouncing off the walls and giving everybody high fives when we found out. :) It was an amazing talk, and I learned so much and had a lot of questions answered. Not even necessarily in what he said, but just in what the Spirit taught me during it. I was in the choir again and we sang Joseph Smith's First Prayer. It was awesome! 

We had a great last visit with Octavio this week. He is seriously so prepared, and I hope he discovers that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the one and only source of true joy as he continues to meet with missionaries here. Our teacher sat in with us as we taught him, and that made me really nervous. But this lesson...it was POWERFUL. We were discussing the story of the First Vision, and Octavio loves Joseph Smith and his story. He said, " I think that I relate to Joseph Smith in many ways. I have questions too and I pray. But I don't understand, I feel like I don't receive answers to my prayers. Nothing happens. God and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith and they gave him the Book of Mormon to answer his questions, but obviously they don't appear to answer every person's prayer. They certainly don't appear to answer mine. Why don't they answer everyone's prayers?" I've discovered that when I am prompted to say something that isn't from me, my heart pounds and my breath comes short, and my ears get hot and it feels like my head is about to explode! I get a little scared, because they certainly aren't my ideas, but I just have this overwhelming "say this" kind of feeling and every single time it is just right. So after Octavio said this, I got THAT feeling and all of the sudden I remembered something my teacher had said that very morning (the teacher sitting in on our lesson) and I knew I needed to share it with him. So I said, (and this whole time I just felt this overwhelming love for him, God's love for him), "Octavio, something that our teacher shared with us this morning was this, 'When Jesus Christ can't be here right now, he sends his missionaries.'" Then I pointed to my tag and said, "It says right here that Hermana Kendell and I are representatives of Jesus Christ himself, and I believe that He has sent us as an answer to your prayers. It isn't necessary that God or angels appear in answer to every prayer. He uses his children as the means to answer the prayers of and to bless all of his other children. That's why I wanted to serve a mission. Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith and gave him the Book of Mormon. Right now, sitting in front of you are two of his missionaries, representatives of Him, and we would like to give YOU the Book of Mormon. I think you are, in fact, very similar to the boy Joseph Smith, and Heavenly Father is answering your prayers."

 The Spirit was powerful, and my voice was choked by the end. I'd never made that correlation before, it wasn't my idea, and I was able to explain it perfectly in Spanish, which I could never do on my own. His eyes got wide and he just sat back in his chair and said, "Wow. I think I understand." Hermana Inskeep was crying sitting next to me, and Hermana Kendell and I just smiled at each other knowingly. We are becoming familiar with the power of the Spirit in our lessons, and the way he literally takes over, and it never ceases to take our breath away! Then we shared a scripture, one my sweet sister Emma shared with me earlier this week; it was so perfect. 2 Nephi 21:16: "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me." Isn't that beautiful? Hermana Kendell shared with him her testimony that God never forgets us, and is aware of our questions and struggles and hopes and desires. Everything. He wants to answer our prayers and He does. We just have to be ready to see it. We challenged Octavio to continue to seek for truth and light, and to continue to pray and read the Book of Mormon, and trust his Heavenly Father. I really think he will and it makes me so happy. 

The gospel is so true! Being a missionary is the best thing in the world. If you're on the fence about it, please please please do it! I'm only six weeks in and I can't believe the way the Lord has been teaching me, it is incredible and I am so grateful for this opportunity. It's such a wonderful day to be a missionary! 

(L to R: Hermana Kendell, me, Hermana McKinnon, Hermana Brimhall- the district Hermanas)

(Me at the "The Map")

(L to R bottom: Sis Mousia, Sis Drussell, Sis Ross, Sis McKinnon, Sis Allen, and top: Me, Sis Brimhall, Sis Kendell-- some of the girls in our branch. We all have rooms next to each other and we always hang out, it's a tight squad:)

(Sunset from classroom window!)

(One of my favorite views, with the scripture banners) 

MTC District Group Photos

MTC DISTRICT with Branch President and wife

MTC District out side of Provo Temple on Pday

MTC teachers with District Hermanas

We have a travel itinerary!

Sadie got the news that she has flight plans for Ecuador for November 11th as planned.  There have been a lot of issues in Ecuador as of late though with regard to the government and transportation disputes, striking etc. 

The government officials had to be moved south to Guayaquil for a time to avoid danger with fires and raids.  All of the unrest made it so missionaries in the Quito North mission had to stay in their apartments.  It also meant that the group of missionaries right before Sadie's transfer had to be transferred stateside for a transfer until things settle down.

Sadie isn't really sure if she will get to go to Ecuador on the 11th as planned or not.  There has been some talk of her group also having a stateside transfer.  So we'll see.  We all got excited when we saw this itinerary thinking she was good to go, but she told us everyone gets an itinerary with best case scenario, and then they adjust as needed when it gets close.  She's ready to go-- and excited and scared- all normal- but one thing we do know- is whether she ends up with a stateside transfer  or she goes right to Quito, she's going to go where the Lord can use her. (and we want her to be safe)

This flight plan will mean that she reports to travel office at 2:30am Monday morning and is at the airport around 4 am, to fly out at 6 and travel all day, arriving in Quito at 10 at night... long day!!

Week 5 email (11-2-2019)

11.2.2019: One month down, say what?  Things are starting to get crazy around here! We are beginning  our last full week at the MTC, or "week six" which means we’ll get to teach seven lessons this week! It's a lot, but it will be awesome.

We had snow this week in Provo!! It is so cold, which is especially terrible in my Amazon Jungle clothes – haha. I didn’t really bring winter wear because I won’t need it in Ecuador.

We began meeting with our new TRC amigo this week. His name is Octavio. The week before we had some TRC amigos in our actual class and one of them was named Oscar. So, when we walked into our appointment, it was Oscar!! Wait..what?? Yeah so it was confusing.  Anyways, to make a long story short, he is an identical twin, which we didn't find out until we left the appointment and ran into Oscar haha. I don’t know why he didn't tell us before that he was a twin, but we all laughed about it later:) Octavio is awesome, he has such a strong desire to know truth and to do what's right. His family isn't thrilled about him meeting with us, but he just said, "They're not going to stop me, this Joseph Smith is one cool guy." Isn’t that so awesome? 

One really great experience we had this week with him was that he said part of his issue with his family was that they had a lot of questions and points that weren't made very kindly, and he wanted to be able to defend the things he is learning with us, but he feels like he can't because he doesn't have his own testimony yet. He kept saying the word "desire". He wanted to know what was true. Coincidentally, (or not :) a scripture I'd been studying earlier that day had the answer: Alma 32:27. The spirit was strong as he read the verse aloud and then looked up in surprise. Then he asked us how he could feel what the verse described, and again, I told him the Book of Mormon could answer his question, in the very next verse. He read 28 aloud and then laughed and said, "wow, you guys are good!" I just grinned and replied, "Yo pienso que Dios es bueno!" It was so much fun.

I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It isn’t a collection of a bunch of nice ideas for other people. The Book of Mormon has applicable principles for me, and for you! How wonderful that is, that right at our fingertips is THE manual for becoming more like Jesus Christ. I'm learning so much as I study with themes and questions in mind, and I feel closer to God through scripture study than I ever have before. God is so good. I love being a missionary:) 

--

Hermana Miller

 Sadie got to see a few friends from Nampa this week in the MTC, Truman Benjamin, and also Kamele Hoopii.... she said hugging Kamele felt like home.  (and I think it was a great thing for her too, because Kamele had  only been in the MTC a few days when they saw each other)

 Hermana Kendell and Miller, MTC Companions

Spiders near their name tags (sent with packages)

We also sent her some halloween donuts from the Provo Bakery

"Do-nut you know we're thinking of you on Halloween?"

Her MTC residence hall roommates

view from MTC classroom

From our video chat with our missionary on her P-day (our favorite day!)