Days Go By....

If you don´t have your speakers turned up, turn them up now…the song I have playing right now fully goes along with this blog entry. The song “Days Go By” is always playing along in the back of my mind as the days I have here in Ecuador continue to fly by sooo very very fast! Once again, it seems like I just did this, but once again I am writing because tomorrow marks SIX MONTHS IN EcUaDoR!!! I can´t believe I only have four months left here! It seems like just yesterday I was celebrating one week down! But here I am wondering where in the world did all the time go?
Well for those of you in the states you might have celebrated Fat Tuesday this past Tuesday at the beginning of Lent. Well here in Ecuador we Celebrated the Carnaval. We had yet again another two days off of school. I went on Monday with the single adults in my ward to a place called Papallacta. It reminded me a lot of Lava Hot Springs. It was a little town build around these hot springs. It was so much fun! We would run to the cold river, and then run back into the hot pool. We were having so much fun I didn´t realize that I was getting fried! I got sooooooooo sun burned! I´ve been suffering ever since. But it was too much fun to regret it! Haha.

My mom woke me up every hour Monday night to rub aloe on my back, arms and chest. I was fried from head to toe. Because of her dedication by Tuesday night we had gotten most of the heat off of the burn, and prevented most blistering…luckily! I still didn´t go to school Wednesday though because putting on my uniform was way too painful. Thursday found me at school painfully enduring classes, but then as an answer to a prayer I swear, we got to leave after the second break! I was soooo grateful!!! Thursday night I went to Xplorer where we had to go through a strict lecture on the Do´s and Don´ts …again. It seems we´ve had some rule breakers…haha
Today, Friday February 27, 2009 is Flag Day here in Ecuador. We didn´t have classes we just had a huge Flag Presentation at the school. I decided to go to see what it was instead of sleeping in, and I am sooooo grateful I went! It brought tears to my eyes as I watched the most amazing work of art un fold in front of my eyes. The fourth course students marched in on opposite sides of the basketball court and presented the Yellow and Red flags of Ecuador, and also the Blue and Red flags representing Quito. And then the band marched in, followed by the Fifth course students.
Every student was in Uniform, with white gloves. Then in Marched my friends of the Sixth course. They looked so good, and so proud to be Ecuadorians. Then each sixth course student had to take a turn of kissing the flag. This presentation is a really big deal here, and I was so glad I drug myself out of bed to be a part of it. If you have Facebook i uploaded tons of pics on there under the album "Presentación de Las Banderas"
I also fully love my new calling in the Primary. It is so much fun, and I enjoy it so much! Today we had our second presidency meeting. The President told me a story that made me cry. Last Sunday I had the lesson in the HLJ¨S class..(CTR¨s) I also had Sharing time, and music time…and I felt like I just wasn´t ready. Well after I taught all of these things, I felt relived to be done, and I felt like I had done a fairly good job. Before my sharing time I talked with the primary kids about being reverent, and I didn´t just tell them to be reverent, but I told them why we needed to be reverent. Because we learn by the Spirit, and we can´t learn by the Spirit if we´re being too noisy to listen. I then presented my “reverence meter” which they seemed to just eat up, they loved it. And the other ladies in the primary, just stared in awe at what I had managed to accomplish. (but believe me, it wasn´t me, I had much help from up above!) well I guess after the lesson a cute little girl named Domanic went home and told her mom that she “knew the lesson in primary was true, because she felt the sprit just like Hermana Emily had taught her to do”. It´s moments like that, just one child at a time, that you are so grateful for. This sunday I will be teaching the HLJ´s, and i am preparing Singing time! at least no Sharing time this week...haha. I am sooooooooo grateful for the opportunity i have to serve in the primary. These children are truley children of God, and they are so amazing, and i learn so much from them. I just wish i had more time to be with them, but I plan to make every last moment last.
Tonight we had a dinner for the Ottosen´s. They leave to go home Monday! I can´t believe how fast time flies, and that it is already march and they are going home! I love them so much, and will forever be grateful for the way that they took me in, loved me, and because parents/grandparents/best friends here in Ecuador. They truly put meaning to the song line “because I knew you, I have been changed for Good.”

As I sit here, with only four months to go, I am amazed at how far i´ve come, and how far each of the students have come. We´ve all changed, and grown so much. And I know that all of the hard times had to be experienced to truly appreciate the good times. The first few months of living in a foreign country are kindof like a fight. A fight for the language, a fight to understand, a fight of homesickness, but then…after you overcome that fight it’s a remarkable thing…you fall in love. The little cultural “quirks” don´t bug you so much as you learn to look past it all and learn from it. You start to soak everything in, and you realize you are really enjoying it. That´s why I plan to make “every last moment last”. All the sudden one year doesn´t seem like a sufficient amount of time, and I am beginning to understand the phrase of “savor the moment”.
I love you all, thank you so much for all your love, support and prayers!!!!!! Four more months baby!!! We´re on the down hill slope…
¡HaStA LuEgO!
Emily Ann