MANABI MANABI MANABI

I Love Manabi. Love it Love it Love it!

The town of Portoviejo is so neat, reminds me a lot of Fredricksberg, TX. The houses are so old but it has a nice small town feel. The apartment we live in is so beautiful and we have HOT water! Could I ask for anything more?? Haha! I will send pictures next week. There are a lot of people here with light eyes and skin so I pretty much fit in here as a native! They eat a lot more seafood here because it is only about 45 minutes to Manta, the coast. Ceviche is a popular dish that has fish, shrimp, lime, tomatoe, and herbs. It is like a shrimp cocktail on steriods. 

Our bishop is awesome and every Saturday we have a movie night in the church for the ward and investigadors which has turned out to be very successful. The spirit is always super strong and it is great for animating our investigators to attend church the next day.

We have 3 investigadores that are so awesome and progressing really well. President Dennis has been directing us towards really teaching the doctrine well and not inviting people to be baptized until after teaching about the Resturation and bauptism and confirmation unless the spirit indicates otherwise. That the people need to understand who they are and their value. We now start almost every first lesson with teaching about the nature and purpose of the Godhead, Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. How they function and their natures. As well as who we are as children of God and our value and potential. My favorite scripture to share for this is Romans 8: 16-17. President Dennis shared with us Moses 1 several times and how when we know who we are and our value, Satan does not have power over us. Guayaquil as a city (including all 3 missions) has the most baptisms than anyother city in the world. Elder Waddell from the 70 at the tri-mission conference we had 2 weeks ago said he wants to see it be the city with the most retention. That baptism without the temple ordenances doesnt value anything. I have the BEST mission president in the world.  He truely only cares about converts.  

Love and Miss yall,

H. Lyman

A Week From Heaven

I am so spritually happy I don't want it to ever end. I feel like I'm in a moment where I wish I could hold on to it forever. How can you feel so happy, so full, so sure of who you are and why you are where you are? I have never felt the Saviors love so much in my life. I wish I could express all of the wonderful things that have happened this week, to put to words how incredibly blessed I have been, or how I feel, but I can´t.

This week I received a phone call from my last convert Jorge, that lives in La Florida, my prior sector. He traveled to Bahìa for his job for several weeks the day after his baptism. I was so nervious for him because he would be working in an area 2 hours away from the nearest chapel and would not be able to attend church. He also had a problem that was hard for him to overcome. However as long as he was reading his scriptures he was able to stay strong. I wrote him a letter and gave it to him at his baptism. In the letter, I expressed to him how grateful I was to be able to teach him and be a part of his conversion. I also told him that he had to promise to read his scriptures everyday to stay strong and fight temptation. Especially since he wouldn't be able to attend church for several weeks. He called me this week and told me, ¨Hermana Lyman, I read all of the Book of Mormon and the Bible...I just got back to Guayaquil today and I cant wait to go to church on Sunday!¨ I cried. How wonderful is this gospel, how blessed am I?

Today we had a conference with the 3 missions in Guayaquil. The apostle Dalin H. Oaks was suppose to come, however was unable to make it due to travel difficulties. Instead, the mission presidents and their wives spoke as well as one of the 70, Elder Waddell. When President and Hermana Dennis talked at the conference, I was so proud to be from the west mission....so proud to be from the BEST mission in the world. I have noticed in the last zone conference, womens conference, and this conference with Elder Waddell that President and Hermana Dennis GLOW. I saw the same glow in Elder Waddell. The light of Christ shines through them and I thought about Alma 5.

I have been thinking a lot lately about my personal conversion. Thinking about who I am and my purpose in the mission. I have a lot to learn and still have a lot of things I need to do to progress as a missionary and daughter of God. I feel like the time has just flown by and that I don't have much time left. I want to make my Heavenly Father proud of me. I am going to do my best to do that and try and use every minute I have left on the mission to being a better missionary and daughter.

I also have been thinking more about who I am. In doing so, I am beginning to feel more and more the love of my Heavenly Father and a greater love for myself. A closer relationship with Him. I have already seen a difference in my attitude, etc. as I have pondered more about who I am. This also lead me to think more about my family history and who my ancestors where. I am so proud of who they are and what they did. Knowing who my ancesters were and that I am a daughter of God has really helped me. I cannot wait to learn more about them....to honor them. Knowing who they are makes me feel like I know myself better...my purpose better.

Con Amor,
Hermana Lyman