I Am Sooooo Happy in Cuenca!

Hoooooolaaaaaa!!!!!

First of all, FELIZ CUPLEAÑOS DAD!!!! Sorry I forgot last week!!! Whooooaaaa, 51 huh?? Eres un viejito ahora!!!! Chendo . . . . jeje.

This week was awesome, of course, because every week in Cuenca is awesome!!! We found people, we're gonna baptize people, we got stuck on the top of a mountain, we milked cows (kind of), we went to Giron and we basically just rocked the sector of Alamos.

So the sad news is that we wanted to have 3 baptisms this month but we're not gonna have any (unless some kind of miracle happens, and it could!!) however we will be having 6 baptisms next month!! The Flia Chuchuca is doing so good!!! We went to their house on Thursday to do service for HNA Rosa, except that here in Cuenca, people don`t really understand the concept of service, so really what we did was go around all their property and play with their animals. We played with the dogs, fed the chickens, chased the cuyes (guinea pigs, the ones that people eat) and "milked" the cows, except not really because HNA Castillo was scared, so we just took pictures pretending to milk the cows. But every time we asked her what we could do to help her she was like, oh nothing!!! Sigh . . . . . . okay. That night we were going to go up with the bishop, but he called at the last minute and told us he couldn`t make it. AHHH!!! We have to get up there!!! So HNA Castillo, HNA Afrania and I hopped the bus and rode to the entrance, where HNO Morocho was waiting for us. Then we walked half an hour to their house-uphill. In the cold. But we made it!! And they were waiting for us. They loved the plan of salvation and HNA Rosa told us that HNO Luis went to watch soccer that past Sunday which is when he usually drinks, but that this time he came home completely sober. When she asked him about it he said, no, I promised the sisters that I wouldn't drink and I didn't!!!! Cool. So then we walked down the hill for another half hour in the cold and right as we got to the entrance we saw the bus go by. The last one. This was at about 8:50ish. Uhhh . . . . what do we do now?? There's no bus and we don`t have enough money for a taxi!!! After waiting on another bus for awhile we finally decided to call a taxi and see if they'd take us for the money that we had. They agreed and then we waited for another 10-15 minutes on the taxi, which finally came and took us all home. We got home super late but we were still glad we went!!!

But then we called them on Saturday night and HNA Rosa had gone to the hospital with her arthritis. So they couldn't come to church that day, obviously, but right after lunch we went to Giron (another city close to Cuenca that's still part of the ward . . . . . the limits are HUGE) with the bishop and his family to give her a blessing. She was really happy to see us and said that she should be getting out on Tuesday but if she doesn't we're going to go see her again. But I know she'll get better soon-she has a lot of faith!!!

Another cool thing that happened is that we found a reference that we've been looking for forever. President gave the reference to the zone leaders about a month ago, he's family to a General Authority but we're not sure what. Anyway we went with the zone leaders a month ago to look for him but we never found him. This week we were in our house and HNA Castillo was like hey we should call Gabriel's cousin to see if he can give us more information (we had the cousin's number but not Gabriel's.) So we called him and he was like Hermanas!! I've been praying to find your number so that I can call you and tell you to go find my cousin, and now you've just called me!!! Gabriel's been reading the Book of Mormon, he's just about to start in Alma, and if he could he would get baptized tomorrow. Woooooooow . . . . . . WEIRD!!!! He gave us Gabriel's number and we went that same day. He lives with his grandma who completely supports him and years ago was almost baptized herself, but something happened and she didn't go through with it. Gabriel is AWESOME-a little shy but super intelligent. We brought him to church on Sunday and he and the other Young Men hit it off like crazy. Today he went to seminary. He's getting baptized on November 13 with the Flia. Chuchuca and is way excited. He could get baptized this Saturday, because president told us that we could baptize him when he came to church one time, but we want to teach him good so that he feels prepared (for some reason all the people who are really prepared always say that they're not prepared. Hableme en serio.) But he's super excited and we are too because he and his grandma are totally awesome and his grandma is totally going to get baptized too, she just doesn't know it yet.

I am sooooo happy in this sector and I never want to leave. Changes are next week and we don't think we're leaving but you never know with President. Everyone who reads this, pray that we don't get transferred because we need to be here with these people that are going to be baptized. I know that the Lord sent me here to Cuenca to be with these people at this time and if I get changed now I know I'll cry from Cuenca to whereever I`m going and then for days on end afterwards. Pray hard that we don't get changed!!!!

Les amo todos!!! Comportense bien!!!!

Hermana Chamberlain