Bathrooms, a piece of Heaven

Hi all!
How has a year and a half gone by so quickly? Well, I´m now finishing up my short, but wonderful time as a missionary. If any of you would like to come, you are all invited. I´ll be giving homecoming talks in Chardon, Ohio (17 Feb) and in New Castle, Pennsylvania (24 Feb) in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For the specific times and directions, feel free to call and ask my parents at (440) 834-4541 or you can look up the chapel and travel directions online (yay for self sufficiency!). I hope to see some of my East Coast friends, so come if you can!

We´re writing today because Monday will be a Carnaval (Marti Gras) day. I remember last year I couldn´t figure out what holiday was occurring until Ash Wednesday when a bunch of people had the ash crosses on their foreheads. Here, Carnaval is celebrated officially for a couple days. We can´t work Sunday night, Monday, or Tuesday. Some way to finish off the mission, huh? Anyway, we have to spend those two days in the church with the other missionaries so that we are accounted for and don´t get too soaked, egged, floured, foamed or covered by whatever other random substance people feel like using (some use old, black oil…sick!). Even yesterday youth left arrived home from school covered in flour, etc. We were also sprayed by a family passing by in their van. The little girl that sprayed us sure has festive parents that kindly slow down so she can attack innocent people walking down the street. Haha Luckily, you can generally just wipe off the foam…and not all types stain clothes. You´d better believe I´ll have my water bottle ready and full these days. It´s that and our feet that we have to protect us.
Today the Festival of Fruits and Flowers also began here in Ambato, the land of fruit and flowers. So far it seems to entail electing young women as queens of each neighbourhood, soccer games (one of the big national teams, Barcelona, played in the stadium right by our house the other night), fireworks, and concerts. We also just heard who I assume was the Catholic bishop of Ambato say a prayer on tv to officially bless and begin the festival.
This week has gone by really fast. I´m just trying to make the most of everyday. Well, we are doing so together. One of the difficult parts of the mission is getting to know and love people and then having to leave them. This can be especially difficult with companions because you develop close friendships in a short period of time by working, praying, laughing, crying, and practically doing everything together. The hardest is knowing you are parting and probably will never see each other again in this life.
Thursday was especially interesting. Hna Lucas and I went to contact some member referrals in a little community called Vizcaya, up the mountain from Baños. Well, we didn´t really know where to get off the bus, so we just stayed on until the end of the line, which took us pretty far past Vizcaya to a small town called Triunfo. Since we´d contacted some people from there the week before (down in Baños), and there seemed to be a lot of people around, we decided to get off and work there. Now, I´m not sure, but when we arrived, the thought came to my mind that they called the town triunfo (Triumph in English..sorry!) because they felt such exhilaration after climbing so far and finally reaching the tops of the mountains. One of my favourite parts of the whole day was when someone was giving us directions and said "it´s right there where that cloud is". That´s how high up we were. I don´t know what you do when the clouds move… By the way, the road to get up there is big enough for one vehicle, in my estimation. In fact, when a pickup truck was coming the other way, the bus had to stop, let them pass (in a space I thought was so small, it was imaginary), and then continue. At one point at the beginning of the hour subida..ascent up the mountain road, I thought, "well, at least it´s paved" just to look behind us and realize it was definitely a gravel road. Apparently I´m a little desensitized. It made me think of the road up to Reid Ranch, especially when we drove right through a stream. Haha
In Triunfo, we started contacting people. As usual, I pulled out some stickers to give to the children that I assumed were children of the women we´d just taught. As it turns out, they were just kids that had gotten out of school and were standing there probably because they were shocked to see a white person. (I don´t think they go down the mountain very much.) Anyway, I decided to give those couple kids a flower sticker (thanks, Mom, for the stickers!) Before I knew it, the whole school yard of kids had run over and was gathered around with their hands out, ready to receive their sticker. I think there were about 40…sorry we didn´t bring a camera to show you all. It was pretty funny. The stickers ran out long before the children. Some of them did trail us for a while as we went tracting, though.
Later, Hna Lucas taught me how to make a pig fall (literally) asleep. You just pick up a nearby stick and scratch its belly. Really. It was pretty funny to see her with a huge stick scratching the belly of a little pig. After a few times, it just fell right over, fast asleep. Haha I learn many practical things as a missionary, too.
We had some great lessons up there in Vizcaya, too (which we found asking people in the bus on the way down to help us). I was shocked at the amazing, warm manner in which they received us, even before they knew we were sent by some of their friends. We also had some other great lessons this week, the majority of which were great (I think) because they were referrals from other members. The work goes forward. I feel so blessed to be a part of it, and will be forever. One great thing about serving a mission is that I know I will never cease to be a missionary.
Share the light that has so changed your life.

Love,
Hna CS Henrichsen

Ecuabit: So my sector is Baños. Literally, that would translated to baths or bathrooms in English. Just remember that. On the back of many Baños buses, there are fun phrases like, "Baños a piece of Heaven" and "Beautiful city of Baños", which are great and very true, but also funny if you substitute the English meaning.