Week 8- Having fun & working hard!

Hey guys! well i don't have much time but ill make this short and sweet. 

We have been teaching a lot of people and a lot of less actives. One of the less actives named Abinadi taught a lesson for FHE and it was great! We have 7 Great investigators and one is a wonderful family. They love the gospel and are progressing fast. 

My Companion is wonderful but we have a hard time communicating and i don't know why.. im just kidding. Spanish is definetly difficult but i love it. I know its going to take some time. 

My District and I visited the Center of the World today! 07/13/2015 which was super awesome and we had nice weather which was great too! 

There is an Elder in my District who is Exactly like Marc Barbosa (for those who know him) its crazy but funny and nice at the same time. Its like having someone from home here. 

Well i have to go but i love you guys and miss everyone a ton!

Love, Hermana Stedman 

Week 7- Guess who's in town?!

Hola Everyone!

So i have been in Ecuador for a week now isn't that crazy!

Well is was really hard saying goodbye to everyone in the MTC i made a bunch of friends with this last group of Latinos and it was not easy saying bye. My and my Companion at the time started to get along a lot better and we grew a really good relationship the last 3 or 4 days in the MTC. Since i changed my companion in the beginning i was in two different districts and so everyone in both of the districts we my really good friends and they were mostly Latinos. In my second district the Elders were muy Loco and whenever i walked in they would always be Sister Stedman! then Shush me. It was a joke that lasted 24 hour in a day every time they saw me. its was so funny. Then there was this one day i was super frustrated and started crying and i went out in the hall way and the zone leader came up to me shared a scripture and told me everything was going to be okay. but of course it was in Spanish but i understood most of it. Then he told me i was his Number one Hermana. This elders name is Elder Egues. He was literally the coolest guy ever. We didn't really understand each other but we didn't need to to just laugh and have a good time. We always on the same team for soccer and volleyball. He became one of my good friends that i could always count on. It was definitely hard to say good bye..

But the last 2 weeks in the MTC were great i had the hardest but best time. I met so many great people and learned so much more because everything was in Spanish. The Latinos came up to me a lot and asked for me to help them with English and they helped me in Spanish and it was a bunch of elders its was funny cause my companion was always making fun of my because she knew English too. On the last 2 Sundays we watched movies about Joseph Smith and Thomas S. Monson and i don't know why but i got super emotional. I knew the Holy Ghost was Testifying to me that they are true prophets of God. How could Joseph Smith go through so much and endure so much pain if something wasn't true i just doesn't make sense. but i know that Joseph Smith Restored this Gospel on the earth for our Salvation.

The Last Monday was one of the hardest days. We had to say good bye to the people, the president, the food, the washing machines, one hour of sports, the showers (well only some of them), the beds and dolphin blankets. mostly everything except the cramped rooms lol. But then Tuesday came and i was so excited to get out! the MTC was so small and it was just hard but no worries now! We all got on the bus and headed to the Airport. Then it got hard again because we had to say goodbye to everyone that were on different flights like the those going to 

Venezula, Boliva, and Guyaquil Su. we Said good bye to the Venezulans first which was rthe hardest because of my Good friend Elder Egues and my companion and everyone else in that group. Then they went through security. Then we had to wait a little bit and get stuff figured out i don't know what but it took forever. Then we finally went through security and went to were we had to wait for our flight. we ended up having some time so me and another Hermana ran upstairs. we took 5 minutes to call out family i don't know if it was allowed but i did it. and i was the Hardest thing having to hear my parents voices for less than 5 minutes and to try to have a conversation without me crying. But it was the biggest blessing to hear their voices. i never thought i would miss everyone so much especially only being out little less then 2 months. Well when i got done i started crying and i could stop so we went back down to were we needed to and i saw out of the corner of my eye Elder Egues and i went to say goodbye for the last time he asked me why i was crying and i told him and told me to smile and that everything was going to be okay. it was like two blessing after another. then he left and i then said good bye to everyone that were leaving for those three places. I had to say goodbye to my original district of Nortes and that was super hard. too lets just say Tuesday morning was emotional morning for me lol.

We finally got on out plane and left. It took us about an hour and a half to get to Ecuador. We got there and we greeted by our mission president and his wife and the Presidents assistants.  We took a few photos then headed to the president house. We were at the president house for 2 days or so in meeting and learning about Ecuador and all that fun stuff. It was fun because in our group of 9 that are serving in Quito North 3 of them were some of my latino friends and one of them was in my district so every time we saw each other in the Presidents house or a the church meeting guess what. He shushed me. lol then One of them is an Hermana so i was able to be her "companion" for the two 3 days we had meeting.

Then on Thursday we got our new Companions. My New Companions name Is Hermana Carrasco. and then we went to our new homes. We said good bye to everyone and went to our areas. That was the day i took a taxi for the first time, and it was so weird and cool. then we got to our apt and put my suit cases away and headed to a few appointments with investigators. Our area consists of decent houses to straight solo cement houses. its definetly a huge reality check and a culture shock seeing that these people literally have nothing but a few items of clothing and enough to feed their families.  Its so sad.. but they love having us over, and i did get a lot of "oh wheres Hermana so and so" followed by a weird look, but then they warmed up to me so no worries lol.  But Ecuador is so great and i love it a lot. I wish i could show you what i see everyday. but theirs so much. 

We take buses everyday and its so hard to stay alive on them. They're either super crowded or just really hard to stand on or sit straight, but they can be fun.

OHHH and guess who's in town everyone?!

Go ahead and guess ill give you and few Enter spaces...

THE POPE!!!!!!!! Yes, the pope is in town and gets to make our life difficult because we cant take buses or taxis to get to our areas because we don't live in our sector. But its kinda interesting to see the crowds. We get to meet a lot of wonderful people!

So that's whats happened in the past week and a half sorry i wrote so much but i love you guys and hope to hear from you soon. miss you guys a ton and enjoy the weather in Washington!!!!

Hermana Stedman!

Getting down to last couple weeks in the MTC !!

Hey everyone. so alot has happened since i last emailed you. Saturday we went prostelying (dont know how to spell that word) and it was so much fun we go to go out 20 minutes away from the CCM. Hermana Pingree and i met this couple, and we started talking to them about the Book of Mormon and they loved hearing about it they said they would read and learn more. they were so friendly we asked them if they had any kids and she said yes. she said they were about 20 ft away at a resturant. we told her if we ran into them we would say hi. We ran into them lol. Then she came up behind us and said her son new english (hes 19) it was such a great oppurtunity because i got to explain to hi the importance of the Book of Mormon and how Jesus Christ visited the Americas and he said that he would read the book of mormo with his family. it was such a great experience and such a blessing. We also ran into about 4 people that came up to us and asked if we could pray for them. i really hope they felt the spirit. it was so strong that day and i had such a great experience. 

so this week is te last week that we are in are district of nortes and its sooo sad. spending four weeks with 8 people and not leaving them is now super hard i cant imagine what the feild is going to be like. but on the bright side i get a latina campanion tomorrow so please pray for me and her. im gonna need the help haha. 

Today we went to the temple and it was so amazing! Even though we were tired from all the Latinos waking up and leaving at 3 to 5 in the morning but its all good. There were a bunch of young girls at the temple for just a visit and when they saw us they wanted to take pictures with all of us. it was so cute and it felt so good to have them look up to us as missionaries and Americans. 

then after the Temple we went on a tour of Colombia!!!! its was so amazing!!! we got to ride a tram to the top of a Mountain (i don't remember the name, something complicated) and it was sooo beautiful i wish i could explain it. you could distinctly see the line that separates the city and the mountains. and we went into this old catholic church and earned a little bit about its history. there was a statute of Jesus and apparently he has real hair and every year they cut it and its good luck to them. its a little strange but it was really neat. then after that we went into the main part of the city and it reminded me of Seattle and Hawaii at the same time excluding the water of course. but they stuff they sell there is so cool. all the stuff was hand made and just beautiful. Then i bought a lot of chocolate.. don't judge me  but the chocolate here is so good. id buy you guys some but i would eat it all before i got home and it would probably be gross by that time but that's okay haha. But its was so cool to be able to travel and it refreshed us for the next two and last two stressful weeks. 

I miss you guys a tona and love you all very much!

Stay strong and Dont forget Jesus Loves you :)

Hermana Stedman

Made it, MTC in Colombia!

Hey! Sister Stedmen here! 

            Don't worry I made it to Colombia in almost one piece but I do have a new profound hatred for airplane rides. I've never felt so sick on an airplane before I surely thought I would lose it on the airplane but my stomach did me good and held everything down. The money here is so cool looking 60 dollars got be about 120,000 Colombia money 0.o, its crazy! Colombia is really cool, the buildings are super fun looking a lot are made out of a really pretty brown brick color and some have funky colored roofs. It's also pretty humid which I like! The MTC is sooooo small here, there is maybe 100 people here but everyone is so friendly. There are Elders here helping us understand things until we start classes and they are super helpful. I also found out I cant roll my tongue which is a super big pain, but I'll get the hang of it sooner or later haha. I just got my name tag about 15 minutes ago, prior to me writing this email. It's super pretty <3 ;]. I miss everyone so much it was really hard leaving but, I know I'm supposed to be here so, I'm enjoying my time here while I have it.  I love the Lord and I can't wait to learn Spanish and serve him as much as I can. I wont be able to write back until next Thursday, but I hope to hear from everyone, it would mean a lot. Bye!!!!

Set Apart & Ready to Go!

Here is the first official post made by me, one of Danielle's friends. Ill be updating this blog weekly from the emails that are sent to me by her. I'll post pictures and also give any info that Hermana Stedman would like to include. When she gets to the MTC in Columbia she will be there for 6 weeks, and then she will be traveling to Ecuador for the rest of her 18 month experience. If you need her mailing address, as well as email address, you can contact me at lindsayholcomb94@yahoo.com and if you would like to be a subscriber to this blog, as well, email me your email and I can put you on the list. Until next time! She hopes to hear from you all very soon & wants you to know that she will miss you all and loves you all very much! Until next time! She hopes to hear from you all very soon & wants you to know that she will miss you all and loves you all very much!