Hola!

Okay, like Andy put it, I bet you are dying to know how transfers went. Well, I think they went a little better than Andy’s and the story is great.

There is a holiday here for the 14, 15, and 16 of February called “Carnaval”. Everybody says, “Feliz día, día de amor y amistad.” — day of love and friendship. Yeah, well the way they celebrate these days is by throwing water, water balloons, and paint at passersby. Not just any water, some people take the water out of the gutters, some mix it with eggs, oil, and flour, and some just throw eggs. It isn’t that lovely?! You have to walk around town with your eyes wide open. The first day is pretty calm, Sunday, but the other days, they take no prisoners!

We were working hard on Sunday, Laura was confirmed in sacrament meeting, lovely. Then after the day, at 10:30 pm we receive the call for our numbers for the week and for changes. Hermana LeCates is talking and then she says “Yeah, okay.” She then hands me the phone. I have been nervous this whole week because it was very good chance that I was going to leave. I say, “Hola Elder Kjar.” He says, I have your changes. AHHHHHHHH!!!!! I am leaving Hermana Montenegro!! But he can’t tell us on the phone where we are going, we don’t find out until we are in the bus terminal about to buy our tickets.

I am all excited and have to pack all my stuff, wash all my clothes, and get ready. I got to bed about 11:30 pm. It rain A LOT all night. I mean the most I have ever seen. So when I get up at 5:30 am, because we have to be at the terminal at 8 am, I went into the front room and there is water all over the floor from the space under the door. No biggie. I am ready, we leave and all the floors are flooded. I mean flooded!! We are pulling my luggage through these puddles, which I didn’t like but we had to.

We were looking for a taxi to bring us to the terminal, but being a holiday and early in the morning, there are pretty much none. The first few taxis have people or don’t want to go to the terminal. Finally, we found one and he just put the luggage in the back and didn’t close the trunk, entonces, someone could have stolen my bags when we were stopped at the light, the rain was pouring down on them, and they could have fallen out, but we made it all in one piece.

We got to the terminal and the zone leader told me my change…… Right now, I am in Machala, Ecuador, a city about three hours from Guayaquil. It is a little hotter and a ton more mosquitoes — but I think I can handle it. I haven’t seen my sector yet. I just got here.

The ride was beautiful; I saw some mountains and a lot of platanos farms. There are a lot of little towns on the way too. You wouldn’t believe how these people live. They have the houses on stilts and the boards for a little bridge to get to the other side. It is really cool. I took a lot of pictures.

Carnaval is ten times worse here. A man came running after us with a bucket of water, telling us we can’t sleep walk around this time. Luckily, I got behind a pillar just in time, but the other Hermanas got some water. It was pretty funny. I just hope it was clean. But the drive was amazing.

When you think of this area, the jungle area, you might think of dirt roads with holes, you are right. Naked kids running around, you are right. People sitting around, you are right. People carrying things on their backs and heads, you are right. Kids playing soccer in the streets. You are wrong, they play pool — but it was great anyway! 

Last week, we had two days of splits, Hermana Montenegro and me and I got the chance to work with Hermana Wise. She is from Spokane and in the same ward as Katie. It was fun getting to know her and talking about things. We worked hard together and found a lot of new people to teach.

Hermana Haz, a member from my ward in Guayaquil, is a crack-up. We were sitting in Gospel Essentials class waiting and she is talking to me and then all of a sudden she asks me what my name is and that she only knows me as Barbie. So I say, Hermana Glanzer. She says Hermana Cancer? Then Hermana Pacheco says, “No, she doesn’t have cancer, her name is Glanzer.” It was so funny. Then she told me about a dream she had. There was a really tall penguin in a white dress, so she said it was me because it was tall. Then she randomly said, I need a white dress so I can go to the temple. She is pretty great.

Oh, you will never believe what happened the other day. I was in a laughing mood or something because everything was funny. We took Laura home and then we were crossing the street. I was laughing for some reason so I wanted some ice cream. So we go to the store and there is this cat that is just sacked out on the counter. I laughed even harder. And then this dog walked by that had a bowl cut!!! His hair was cut like a bowl cut! It was the funniest thing I had ever seen. Then we were walking down the street and this homeless man just took off his clothes and was naked just standing there, so we crossed the street. Then just a little further down, we were just walking and there was another homeless man sitting down and he had a pot on his head. Hermana Montenegro, says calmly and seriously, “Just in case…” It was great. It was a strange day.

My time in Guayaquil was great and I look back on it fondly, but I look forward to my time here in Machala. I will work harder than before and sweat more — but with love in my heart.

Thank you everyone for your support.

Con mucho amor
Hermana Glanzer