Week 46: Went Running, The Trial Of Your Faith Comes First, Preparing For A New President

The group of missionaries that came
out with Hermana Milligan, minus a
few.

Hey daddy, we went running this week as well!!! And we woke up the next day and  we could hardly move jajaja it was kind of sad....jaja.

Things will start turning around, remember Ether 12:6. You have to have to trial of your faith first. As it says in Hebrews 11:40 in the JST that these things are to perfect us. It is coming daddy. Who else is moving from the ward? Do I want to know? But hey you are still doing things with the Recksiecks woot! That makes me happy. So daddy, when are you going to ask for a calling? :P

View of Quito at night. A bit
blurry, but pretty.

I share your feelings with how fast the week has gone by it feels like time is just flying faster and faster. So I know you and mommy are doing a lot to get settled in and to also find a new job, but do you think it is possible to get FAFSA figured out for January? Who knows maybe that is what you will end up doing too...Daddy I love you and I know that things will work out. I can almost guarantee that it won´t work out how you think/want it to. But it will work out how the Lord wants it to. 

I am praying for you and the fam. I love you and I know that the Lord trusts you that´s why he gives you what you have. LOVE YOU!

Te amo,

tu hija, Lauree

This is the Mission Nurse
and her companion
for the Quito North Mission

So I don´t really have a lot to say about my week, it just went by flying and I can hardly believe that it is Saturday. but well the workers are still working on our house and it is a disaster and all that jazz...Pres Ghent is preparing to leave he will be leaving the 28th. D: I don´t want that to happen but we will be here to welcome Pres Christensen and his family. That will be exciting. Mommy just know that I love you and that I am so grateful that you are my mommy and not any one else.

REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE even if you feel like a caterpillar in training to become a butterfly. You are a butterfly! 

Te amo,

Tu hija, Lauree 

Week 45: Everything Stays The Same, New Missionaries Equal New Energy, Yes I Am A Health Specialist, Received The Evil Eye, Not Quite Up To Chicken Feet...

 So that´s right, I am still here in Vargas and I am still with Hna. Vélez! Miracles do happen! Jaja we are breaking a record for the both of us, that is, one companion for 3 transfers! Wow I am soo happy with this!

So this past week we get to welcome the new missionaries as they come in, this transfer there were two new hermanas and they are both soo great! I love the spirit that the newbies bring it is that of excitement and energy and it is really refreshing, they taught me a valuable lesson this week. So for starters, our house, apartment complex has a security guard who always opens the door for us, and for how much time sisters have been living in there, we, as in all of us, had not talked with all of the security guards about the Church or anything, only "buenos días" "buenas tardes o noches" and small talk. When we don´t live in our sector is is really easy to forget the important principle of talking with everyone, let alone when you don´t live in the mission (that´s right, I don´t live in the mission boundaries). Well then comes the newbies and they start talking to one of the guards and the guard asks them where is the nearest chapel, turns out he wants to go to church. Turns out that he lives in one of the old sectors that I was in so I just so happened to have the address to the chapel. Boom baby! I owe it to the new missionaries and their energy and enthusiasm to talk with everyone, they reminded me of the importance of that.

So it took me two whole transfers (3 months) to realize that I am part of the new assignment, I am a "specialista de salud" not just Hna. Vélez, I hope she doesn´t see this, she has been going crazy trying to get me to understand this. jaja It really sunk in when Pres. Ghent introduced us to the new missionaries as "the health SpecialistS" with S. yeah, I´m a little slow, I know. jaja. So this week we where running around like crazy for the first part and it was fun, crazy fun. I don´t remember much of it to be honest.

But something that happened today is that I got the evil eye from a nun, usually they are very friendly and all smiles, and I smiled at her and what did I get, one of the coldest looks of my life. That´s right. Hmm que mas.... Oh I almost ate a chicken foot, but I looked at it too much and I just couldn´t do it. That is the only thing that I haven´t been able to eat here all the other things, even if I had to force it down, it went down, but this just wouldn´t go down. jaja

Spiritual thought for the week: Eter 12:6.

This scripture is very well known, but I just want to testify that I know that this is true. The first transfer here was a mega trial of my faith and also for Hna. Vélez, but we are now seeing the blessings, my testimony is being strengthened. Now I am grateful for the trials, I can look back on it and see how I was being molded and prepared. I just hope that when I am faced with other trials, I will be able to be grateful a lot sooner during the trial. I know that The Lord is watching out for my family a lot right now, with the move and job loss, and I am soo happy to know that they are growing from this as well. It makes me so happy to see these changes in my family not just in the people here in Ecuador. I know that my Father in Heaven loves me and because of that He tries me and tests me. It is all part of the Grand Plan. I love you all and hope that you are doing well in whatever circumstance you are in. Remember who you are. Always.

Les amo muchisimo!!!

Weeks 43-44: Stop Saying See You Soon, Mission Success Pray For Monica, Why Because It Sounds Pretty, Jack Sparrows Compass In The Sceiptures

Matt is always asking for a
picture of a frog.
This was Lauree's reply...

Hey daddy Hna Vélez found a scripture that reminded me of you and I want to share it with you DyC 101:80. It is about the Constitution and your love of the history of the US is great and so it reminded me of you. Well like I told mommy I don`t really remember much from this week only that we were in the hospital a lot for other missionaries and that the time when by really fast. jaja Oh I do have one thing to say, please please stop saying things like in a short time we will see you or you only have a short time left. These things make me trunky... jaja I am trying to not let myself get trunky. Also I do not like thinking about the time. Jaja. Well this was my week a blur and it feels like every week is going by faster and faster... No me gusta. Well daddy I love you and I am praying for you to find work and a house. Enjoy your vacation and I expect pictures! jaja

Te amo mucho!

Lauree

Well I have almost broken a personal record, two whole transfers with one companion in ONE sector! Woah! And tomorrow we will see if there are transfers or not dun, dun, dun!!! It´s a whole lot of waiting that I do not like, I have come to the conclusion that the end of a change is the second most stressful part of the mission, second only to a baptism. Jaja

So this week we have been running around like crazy from the hospital to the mission offices. We have had a lot to do these last couple weeks. But on a bright note, President Ghent asked us to help with the medical treatment of two missionaries who are from Ecuador and had to return home early for medical reasons, in the transfer before this one, algunas 9 weeks ago and they are both doing soooo much better in fact one of them it looks like will be able to go back into the field really soon. That has been such a blessing for me. After seeing sooo many return home for medical reasons, this has been one of the biggest tender mercies I have seen in the mission. Keep her in your prayers please, ella se llama Monica. 

So this week we have pretty much been running around a lot but all in all it has been a good week, I get plenty of time to study in the hospital and things are going well jaja. We have been seeing a lot of tender mercies every where and it is such a comfort to know that the Lord is watching out for us and for my family in this time. I think I am still in shock about the move and everything, that was something that I was not expecting at all jaja. I am losing a lot of my english, it is really quite sad. Hna. Vélez asks me a question as to the "why" in english and pretty much I can only say "well because it sounds pretty that way or you can´t say it that way because it sounds ugly" I´m going to need to take an english class when I get back jaja. 

Reconstruction on the
restroom.

Every missionary has one
of these pics. ;)

So the area 70 have asked us to read the Book of Mormon for 15 minutes every day, and so that is what we have been doing, we have seen a lot of changes in the ward, there is alot more love and they are getting along better, but that is besides the point, in my studies I have come a crossed some great things first Nefi had Jack Sparrow´s compas (1nefi 18:21) and second that we receive blessings when we do what we need to quickly. I want to focus on one verse specifically 1 Nefi 18:24 in this verse it is right after Nefi and his family landed in the Promised Land, and I love how it says "and it came to pass that we began to cultivate the land... " more or less. This shows that instead of "saying oh we made it, lets take a break" They took the industrious rout and went to work and the last part of the verse says "we were blessed in abundance" Look at that! They went to work and were blessed in abundance! Would you like to be blessed in abundance? Think about what you need to do in order to receive that. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that we can receive modern day guidance from those pages. Dios les bendiga! Y tengan una super semana!!!

Les amo mucho!

hna Milligan

Okay so i need to share something with you. So this week I had to do a few lab tests and one of them was that they had to draw blood and guess what!? I didn´t pass out at all!! Didn´t even come close to it! And I didn´t have anyone to hold my hand and I was fine! that was one of the biggest blessings of the week for me. But don´t worry I am fine and it is just to see what I have going on in my stomach, it has been a bit fussy lately and well that is the reason for the tests. but i just wanted to let you know that I am growing up! jaja

This is what is lovingly called guatita
or in english cows stomach.
 It isn´t quite as bad as I thought
 it would be but is sure is different.

 Yumm....