Words of Wisdom

“No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God … and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in heaven. …” (Orson F. Whitney)

This was quoted by President Kimball as he discussed whether events in our lives were tragedy or destiny. I love how this quote reminds us that through the bad, we understand the good. That through the sufferings, we understand joy and develop patience. All the things - good and bad - that we experience are for our eternal benefit and help mold us into the people that we need to be.

"Was it the Lord who directed the plane into the mountain to snuff out the lives of its occupants, or were there mechanical faults or human errors? Did our Father in heaven cause the collision of the cars that took six people into eternity, or was it the error of the driver who ignored safety rules? Did God take the life of the young mother or prompt the child to toddle into the canal or guide the other child into the path of the oncoming car? Did the Lord cause the man to suffer a heart attack? Was the death of the missionary untimely? Answer, if you can. I cannot, for though I know God has a major role in our lives, I do not know how much he causes to happen and how much he merely permits. Whatever the answer to this question, there is another I feel sure about.
Could the Lord have prevented these tragedies? The answer is, Yes. The Lord is omnipotent, with all power to control our lives, save us pain, prevent all accidents, drive all planes and cars, feed us, protect us, save us from labor, effort, sickness, even from death, if he will. But he will not. We should be able to understand this, because we can realize how unwise it would be for us to shield our children from all effort, from disappointments, temptations, sorrows, and suffering. The basic gospel law is free agency and eternal development. To force us to be careful or righteous would be to nullify that fundamental law and make growth impossible."

I love this part of the talk as well. I think we too often blame Heavenly Father for the things that go wrong in our lives, but that is not the case. Somethings in life just happen - it´s not caused by Heavenly Father, maybe just permitted, in His infinite wisdom. He could prevent it all, but He also lets life take it´s course. We make decisions and others make decisions and we are affected by those - sometimes in good ways and other times in bad ways. But, we grow and we learn. He is always there by our side - we are on the same team. We need to understand and remember that He is not causing bad things to happen in our lives, He is simply allowing agency to occur, but if He turn to Him, we always have help.

Dear Ecuador

I only have 33 days left in Ecuador, and I´ll have to admit that I´m starting to grow fond of this place. The first 2 weeks were great because I felt like a tourist. Week 3 brought on the recognition that I wasn´t a tourist but was actually living here and still would be for nearly 3 months! That brought on sadness and homesickness. About a month later, after emotional breakdowns and pity parties by both Natausha and I, we suddenly became okay with Ecuador and have started to see all the great, crazy, quirky things about this place that make it special!
So, let me list a few great, crazy, quirky things that I´ve grown fond of:
1. Out of control horn honking - I couldn´t really handle it at first. For a few minutes there would be an endless sound of honking. It doesn´t matter if the lights red, if traffic is not moving - you honk! Well, the other day we were walking in between a group of stopped cars, so naturally they started honking. No one moved so they kept it up. I am pretty sure it went on for atleast 30 seconds without stopping. Nothing changed. Natausha and I just bust up laughing. It really is funny when you see people´s reactions here.
2. There´s this little park about 25 minutes from our house where we like to go to run. It has a slight track and there are trees that hide the smell of bus exhaust. It is really pleasant.
3. I´m not as angry at the heat anymore. I just laugh at anything I guess. When I walk outside and it´s absurdly hot, just laugh. When you´re completely wet by the time you get to work - just laugh.
4. All the pirated movies and music on the street. No one ever cares - they have businesses of selling illegally copied movies. They are very successful.
5. Riding with Hno Gomez- our taxi driver. I´ve gotten use to the horrifying experience of riding with others trying to drive. Lanes don´t exist; stop signs - what´s that?; stop...go...stop..honk...go....stop....swerve.
6. The fact that Natausha and I laugh at everything. We bust up laughing at the fact that we needed mushrooms for the Chop Suey. Pretty sure that´s not funny, but it still makes me laugh.
7. The fact that everyone thinks we are sisters, sometimes twins.
8. My DTR´s every few days....or every day.
9. Every one´s comments on politics used to annoy me - now I just laugh that they always think they know every thing about the best way to run the United States.
10. I love that a meal never goes by without some sort of banana product. We even had it in our soup today.
11. I love that I get self-esteem boosts every day. Everyone is always appalled that I don´t have a boyfriend.
12. I love giving cheesy smiles to my bosses - especially Omar - who is the happiest nicest man ever and he always makes funny jokes about our love lives.
13. The ants used to make Natausha and I angry - now we just laugh, especially when we read on the internet that bug spray is bad because the ants can smell the dead carcasses of the others and they swarm back to carry them away. Interesting. I think the ants have morfed into super-ants. Natausha´s ant panic attacks are pretty hilarious.
14. Our eating habits - feeling like we must finish everything. For some reason, we can´t have left overs, so if I come home heftier, that´s why.
15. Our table - which has turned into the desk, table, social center and we pretty much never move from our chairs. We used to have our own couches until we realized that they put us to sleep in about 15 minutes - and so we never could get anything done. Now we sit uncomfortably at the table. It´s great!
Alright - I´m pretty sure that´s enough for today. I really do love, or at least am growing fond of, a lot of things here in Ecuador. Stay tuned for more memories or little Ecuadorian quirks.

Domestication

Domestication - the act of becoming domestic.
Did I mention how much I love feeling domestic? There is a special joy I get in my heart from putting on an apron and cooking up a delicious meal or trying new recipes - especially when they turn out deliciously!
Ecuador is really good for helping my domestic skills. The supermarkets here definitely have a small selection of goods compared to a US grocery store, and the things I´d want to buy - anything American - is VERY pricey! Honestly, $5 for tortillas? I´m just not okay with that. So, I´ve decided to just start making everything from scratch. That way, I can eat whatever I want at a reasonable price.
Last weeks adventure included:
Homemade Flour Tortillas
Homemade Fresh Salsa
A delicious new seasoning for hamburger meat
and.....
Donkey BOSOMS with the left over tortilla dough
I love finding new recipes! I love when they turn out perfectly. Please let me cook for ya´ll when I get back. I have a lot of exciting ideas for the upcoming weeks. By the time I get home from Ecuador I´m going to be able to pursue my career as a chef.

Step 1. After kneading the dough, you have to roll it our on a clean lysol disinfected counter.
2. These were only $.37 cents - for all of the peppers. That´s going to make a lot of salsa!
3. This tortilla was in honor of Halloween. It is a ghost! I was trying to make a scared face but I really just look crazy.
4. Doesn´t that look DELICIOUS??

Monster Mash 2008 Part 2

Halloween Party 2008

We decided to invite everyone to our Halloween Party which we held on November 1st. Parties with Ecuadorians just aren´t the same, so we did it with just Natausha and I and all of you vicariously through our video. This is the first segment....which took me almost an hour to upload, haha, so stayed tuned for the other exciting videos!