Training!!

Hey fam,

Well this week was just wonderful and I am doing great!!! I really feel like I am above the clouds!  Actually I am not even in my Zone!  I am in Guayaquil for two more days and then I go back to Duran...you want to know why???... Well it´s because I am going to train a brand new sister missionary!  I am so excited but nervous at the same time!  I really feel like I am filling my missionary shoes and I am getting into the groove of the work that goes on as a missionary.  I have felt for a long time that I have been the sidekick in all of my companionships and my companion was the one who actually saved the day. I felt like I was always tripping over my tongue and never really could make a conversation with others but I have been so blessed in this transfer with Hermana Tirado.. I just feel so blessed and I have so much to be thankful for. I couldn´t ask for more. 

Well we received the news last night and Hermana Tirado got all of her bags ready to go and I had to pack a bag for three days because I am going to be in a trio until our companions arrive from the MTC.  We don´t know if they are going to be Gringas or Latinas... But I have a feeling it is going to be pure North Americans because considering what you all have told me now is about the time that these girls should have their papers in hand and leaving for the MTC or the mission field. So I am kind of nervous about that.  It is one thing teaching a Latina how to be a missionary... But teaching a Gringa how to speak the language and then hoping she can support you in the lessons which are in Spanish is kind of a big deal.... So I am a little nervous about all that.  So pray for me!!!! Hopefully I don´t blow it like I usually do. 

This week was just another week here in the mission... The time is flying by and I literally mean FLYING!!! I can´t believe that this transfer went by so stinking fast.  I never thought I would say this in my mission but,  "can we just make the time go a little bit slower?"... I feel like I have been running around for three weeks and we haven´t even done anything because when our backs are turned the time just flies by!  So it is a little crazy how things just keep going and going and never seem to stop.  When we were at the Terminal today my trainer Hermana Romero was there and man does she look different.  There was just the sweetest light in her eyes.  This mission has changed her and she looks so happy.  (I am sure that her happiness is partly because she is going home but the other half is because this mission has marked her heart forever!)  She was just glowing with the spirit and you could tell that she has served a good mission and tried her best. I want to have that glow when I finish the mission and I really look up the to the girls who stick it out for a year and a half and are faithful and go home with honor. I can´t believe that I have been gone for a year but I know that these things are changing me for the better. 

I also saw Hermana Paasaca at the terminal.  I talked to her for a bit and she seems happy.  She was actually really happy to see me and I am glad that she likes talking to me. I just feel bad some of the missionaries won´t talk to her.  But she had a lot to tell me.  She told me that her family is doing well and that her dad is lonely and wishes she was home. I felt bad for her I couldn´t imagine being on the mission and having your family back at home knowing that they are  having problems.  She also really surprised me, she told me that she remembered that I was collecting coins and she pulled out a fifty cent coin that I have been looking for everywhere and gave it to me!  I couldn´t believe it.  I was so surprised and she said, "There were times that I really wanted to use it but I knew you wanted it.  So it´s yours."  

I am glad that I was able to help her a little bit in the field and that she feels like she has a friend. 

Sister (or Hermana, rather) Sidney Schlosser and me!  We were roommates at BYU-Idaho!  How weird is that?
No we aren't companions, but we are here together at the Airport Terminal to say 'adios' to the sisters who are going home.  I am in a trio with her till I meet the girl I will be training! 

Happy Sisters!!  Hermana Paasaca is on the left (my second companion), I am next to her and Hermana Schlosser.  Hermana Romero is five from the left, peeking through from behind.  She was my trainer and protector for 18 weeks!

More beautiful Hermanas!  So Happy!!!  I am in the middle, blending in with the Latinas!  Sister Schlosser with her blonde hair has a more difficult time blending!!  

I don´t have much time left because I have been messing around on LDS.org... Sorry... But I am doing great and I am spending the three days in a trio with Hermana Schlosser and another hermana that you all don´t know but it is so much fun to be with Hermana Schlosser since we were together at BYUI.  It is so funny talking to her in Spanish because our Spanish is awful... She is also going to train!  Ahhahahaaa!!!  Good luck to the new sisters!!  HAHA!

Okay i have to go love you all so much I am doing really well. 

Love Hermana Welch