An Earthquake, a Baptism...and Weird Combi Drivers

So everyone, that investigator, Carlos, had the right idea--we should never sit, just in case there´s an earthquake, we´ve gotta be alert...This week I experienced my first earthquake...We were studying and suddenly the whole house just started to shake and it was a little scary because we live in this second floor patio area and I was super suprised the metal spiral stairs that lead up to our house stayed in place. We just sort of huddled on the floor together away from all the windows until it calmed down, but apparently it was a big one because all the people were freaking out. I´m perfected okay though. It was pretty interesting because I had no idea what was going on so I was just like ¨whelp...I think this is an earthquake..¨ I was super calm apparently haha! I´d like to thank Carlos for giving me the headups although I just thought he was crazy.

We had a baptizm this week! Heckka yea! Juventino finally got baptized. I was so happy for him. He had really changed a lot from when I first met him and it´s a real privilege helping people be able to make this life changing change in their lives. After the baptizm, my companion and I sang him ¨¨La Luz de La Verdad¨ it´s his favorite hymn and it´s actually the hymn of the mission too, so that was a little ironic, but he burst out into tears at the end. He told us later that when he hears us sing he knows the church is true, and that was really special because I´m not that great of a singer, ( my companion studys music, so I give all the credit to her) but it was just really special. He had us scared though, because on Sunday he arrived late for the comfirmation of the Holy Ghost and we thought he wasn´t going to show up! But he come strolling in right because the Sacrament and all I could think was..¨...wow Juventino..wow¨...the person that´s always 30 minutes early to everything! Ha! What a weekend! It was amazing. I am so happy for him, he is going to be a great member of the church.

On the way home I had some interesting combi (white mini vans that drive people around the town--it´s the public transportation in the area) experiences....first off...I was walking down the street and a huge gust of wind decides to come my way and up goes the skirt....we were walking down the sidewalk and a combi driver shouts out his window ¨whoooa Senorita!¨ It was pretty hilarious. Then a little bit later we got into a different combi and on come Bryan Adam´s ¨I´d do anything for you¨ (but it was translated into a Spanish version) and the combi driver sang that song to me, looking up at me through his mirror! Talk about creepy. The combi drivers are definitely something else.

We had a great experience on Sunday. We were suppose to go to eat at a members house but an extended family member had died so the mom had to go out of town and we were left with the two daughters and a house with no food. So they took us to the grocery store to buy some food (we usually never shop on Sunday´s because we believe in keeping the Sabbath day holy...but they had no food...so it was necessary) anyways, as we walked into the store we see the family of the YM´s president ( who´s wife for some reason has never really liked the missionaries in the ward and she´s actually been a little mean too) but we see them and they were super embarassed to have been caught shopping on Sunday! It was hilarious. My companion and I laughed, but we saw them as they were exiting out of the store and they gave us each an apple...as if to bribe us not to tell anyone, wow. It was just super funny. Don´t worry people, we´re not going to tell anyone! haha!

Happy birthday mom! I love you!

¨Buenas tardes, se ve muy guapa con sus lentes¨

So this is what our investigator, Juventino told me last week during a lesson...apparently he liked the way I looked with glasses...but then he want straight to telling me how I looked like the Abuelita on that hot chocolate box ¨Abuelita¨...she´s like 60+ years old! Thanks Juventino, haha! He is amazing..a little out of this world, but nevertheless very interesting.

We´re also teaching a girl who was obsessed with One Direction...she brought out all her posters, her bookbag, her photos, everything...and I took a bunch of pictures with her. I told her that she could have all the members minus Zayn (is that how you even spell his name?) Anyways, she was way cool and really thinks I´m great because I tried on her One Direction hat! haha!

The third investigator we´re teaching is named Carlos and he is definitely interesting. He is 17 and was born in Spain but moved here 5 years ago. During our lesson he didnt want to sit down because he told us his martial arts teachers taught him at a young age that he should never sit because when he sits he isn´t alert---and if there´s an earthquake he´s got to be alert...so he´s pretty interesting. He went to church yesterday though and that was awesome.

So Friday we had an interesting experience...we were suppose to have a ward activity and so we told our investigators to come at 5...and so they, all being super punctual, showed up at 5 and there was no one there...slowly more people started trickling in but at 5:45 people just wanted to leave so Hermana Riggins and I were like ¨okay...what can we work with¨...so we decided that we´d just sing a few hymns with them...thank goodness that Hermana Riggins knows how to play the piano because we were there singing songs until 6:30. Finally someone from the Bishopric showed up and was like ¨what´s the plan?¨ What do you mean what´s the plan? We literally have been planning this activity for 3 months and in the end it all turned out improvised...it was interesting that´s for sure. We also had our first Ward Counsel meeting in 7 weeks yesterday. We´re suppose to have them everyweek but I´m pretty sure the Bishop noticed we weren´t too happy with the activity. This area is definitely interesting. I love the people but the ward could definitely use a boost. We´re trying our best to get everyone motivated but It´s not going to happen in one day. It´ll definitely take a few months of serious work. The Bishop told us that if the ward doesn´t start getting more people coming to church then we´re be combining with other ward in the area. Juventino´s baptism will be the first in 5 months, so we´re really trying to help him so he feel prepared.

Thanks everyone, have a great week!

Hermana Ward

So this week has definitely been an interesting one. We´re teaching this one man who wants to be baptized and we were teaching him the law of chastity but he told us of a few problems he had with it and we´ve actually been able to help him out! His faith is incredible and I´m so grateful I´ve been able to get to know him! I love serving. It is one of the hardest, if not the hardest thing I´ve ever done in my life, but I love the work.

My companion and I were playing basketball with a few of the other missionaries and this huge black elder slammed her to the ground! She fell like a bird without wings! It was a pretty bad fall but everyone just laughed about it after the fact.

I loved conference! It was amazing. I watched 3 or the 4 session in Spanish and I actually understood a decent amount. I loved President Monson´s talk. I definitely think the world would be a better place if everyone had a little more love for their neighbor and had more charity for everyone as well.

We had a zone conference this week with all the missionaries in the state of guerrero and it was super fun! There were a bunch of missionaries there and the President showed up a video of Elder Oaks talking to all the missionaries who would serve in Mexico and about the expectations the Lord had of the mission. It was a great meeting, I really enjoyed it!

Okay so for the first time here in Mexico I burned. I actually burned pretty bad too and I´m using this super expensive 70 sunscreen protector...(Sunscreen should not be that expensive)...

We´re teaching this older man who actually has a baptizmal date for the 19th! He´s great and loves to talk...a lot. His name is Juventino and he had an accident a few years back that caused him to forget everything, so he basically had to start over from zero, but he is super pumped for his baptizm.

I cannot wait for general Conference this week! Finally it´s here! I´m going to go to the stake center to watch it with all the other missionaries in the area. It´ll be my first time watching it in Spanish!

Oh....I also lost the mission phone (cough)....That was disappointing and super embarrassing...We sat down on the curb to call a lady (I´ve never met her in my life and she yelled at me! What the heck!) and then we left to go to a lesson and at the end of the lesson I didn´t have the phone...so long story short we literally spent 3 hours retracing our steps to try to find it...and in the end I ended up paying for a new phone (it was pretty cheap so it didn´t really hurt me too bad) but more than anything I was just really embarrassed...but I guess things happen, but I will definitely never lose the phone again. We lost all our contacts and everything! Ugh! We´re pretty sure we left it on the curb and some little kid snatched it. That was our conclusion.

My family also sent me a huge box with a bunch of stuff in it! Thanks so much! In the box were also a few pictures and all minus 2 featured our new dog ...I´m glad to see that his getting loved!

Oh and I am also super grateful for my ward back at home...the ward that I´m in has like 40 people that show up consistently and the rest are inactive...so we´re working on that, haha. And the teachers sometimes don´t show up either so my companion and I have taught the last 2 Sundays worth of classes.

Hey everyone! Okay...so it´s only March and this has been the hottest week I´ve ever experienced in my life. It is super hot.

Every week so many things happen and it is literally impossible to write everything so I´ll pick a few things for this week:

I also received my 5th marriage proposal from a drunk Mexican this week....I´m not sure how I´m even suppose to respond to that... ¨umm thanks....here take this phamplet about Jesus..¨ haha! I love the people here! And not just because the drunk men try to flatter my companion and I! haha! Theyre actually some of the most loving people I´ve ever met. They´re loyal and they´re passionate about everything.

This is the first time in my 4 months here that I´ve actually showered without a bucket of cold water and a little cup. I love showerheads. I also love houses without cockroaches and ants...but that´s a completely different story. Let me just tell all of you that I am definitely not in the states.

I don´t know if I told you guys, but we had transfers and I´m training a girl from San Diego and from everything she´s told me it´s a super legit place and I totally want to go one of these days. She´s super awesome and we get along great! I love being her companion. We have a great time and I´m trying to teach her all the Spanish I know, but it´s super hard because this is the first time in 4 months that I´ve actually been with someone that speaks English and it´s just so much easier to communicate in English...some may call me lazy, but I think it´s alright. We´re trying this new thing were we speak English in the house and Spanish when were outside (basically for our protection..) but sometimes we just speak in English, haha!

We have a few baptisms that are planned for April 19th and we´ll see if when the time comes the people still want to join the church. I¨m actually really glad I was born into the church and could investigate it afterwards, already having the influence because I´m not sure where I would be right now if I wasn´t associated with the church from a young age...I can sure tell you I wouldn´t be in Mexico! That´s for sure! One of the men we´re teaching right now is actually a pretty special case. He had an accident a few years back and completely forgot everything...he had to start from scratch and it´s really awesome getting to know him because he´s quiet the character.

Two days ago there was a street protest of teachers in the state of Guerrero and we couldnt get a combi ( the bus- mini van transportation) for the life of us. The streets were literally congested for hours!

I cannot wait until General Conference! I also want to congratulate my friend Brittany and her new fiance Matt on their engagement! Congrats!!

This week we traveled the Cuernavaca again to help my companion out with her visa. On the way there the police stopped the bus and asked to see everyone´s ID! Ha! My companion was all panicky but I whipped out my ID and I just told the police that she was with me...haha! Talk about feeling legit! Oh and before we got on the bus there was this bag checker guy who´s suppose to check the bags to make sure we´re not bringing anything dangerous on board and he totally didn't ask me to check my bag..it was pretty funny though because I asked him if he wanted to look at what I was carrying and he replied "oh yea..of course," ....do your job! haha!

Last week a miracle happened...after our district meeting my companion went over to talk to one of the leaders because she had a question about something and 20 minutes later she comes over and gives me a huge hug! Something that´s never happened before...lol..later in the house she told me what she and the leader had talked about and apparently they had a heart to heart and she totally apologized for not talking to me and for being rude to me! I was astonished. And from this point we've been on good terms...it´s crazy what can happen here in the mission. I still can´t believe I've been here for 4 months! I´m looking more and more Mexican everyday! I love you all!

Hey everyone! This week has been interesting that´s for sure! I´m pretty sure every week in Mexico is interesting haha.

Today I scored 2 goals in soccer when we were playing with the zone, I´m pretty sure some of the Elders let the ball slip by, but I wasnt going to say anything haha!

I don´t know if I mentioned this in my last letter but I´m really uping my homemaking skills ;D The bishops wife taught me how to crochet and I´m currently in the process of crocheting a tie...no judgement.

Congrats to my brother who got accepted into BYU! We can finally do all those plans we had planned before I left for Mexico! Best friends Kris...we´re going to be best friends... ;D lol in the least creepiest way possible.

So I bought UNO for my companion and I to have some bonding time together lol I spent 8 bucks on those cards so I hope it´s worth it!

It´s still super hot and I have some killer tan lines that I´ll definitely be bringing back as a soverign.

We´re teaching a couple that wants to get baptized but the catch is that theyre not married...I hope we can work it all out and help them get married! They´re young and super great.

I´m also reading ¨Jesus the Christ¨ which was a recommendation from my dad and I LOVE it...there are so many things that I´m learning that I never knew before. I would highly recommend it to anyone that wants an excellent read.

Until next week! Love you all!