So this will be my last email home...isn´t that weird? So I´m not going to lie, I feel sort of weird...it will be so different going back to the states...my life has totally been something else for months ...for example I won´t have to throw a bucket for water down the toilet everytime I want to flush it....and there won´t be tortillas! what? That´ll take some getting use to.
Last Saturday one of my old investigators got baptized, her name is Lionides and she was really a miracle. The grumpy old man that she was living with left and the next Sunday she went to church! And the next week she was baptized!
I´m not going to lie...I´m pretty excited to see my family again...its been AWHILE....if you guys haven´t seen my mom´s facebook posts (because I´m sure she´s been posting about it ) my parents are coming to pick me up here in Mexico...hopefully we´ll get to visit some converts and some cool places, but I´m just excited to be home and to lay down on my carpet, I´m not even kidding..
I´ll see you all in a week!
Monday, May 11, 2015
This Saturday we had 2 baptisms and they were awesome. The grandma´s name is María de los Angeles and her grandchild is Juan.They are awesome. This next Saturday we should hopefully have the baptizm of the other grandchild Jorge.He´s 17 and he wanted to get baptized a month ago but as soon as the elders left and we got here he stopped going to church and he was just acting weird...but then we had our district leader interview him again and we were actually able to help him and find out the actual problem! I had the coolest experience too...I was in sacrament meeting yesterday sitting beside Jorge and I was just thinking about how to help him....and I had this thought ¨open your scriptures¨ and it was the weirdest thing....so I did it and I opened up to Alma 42:27
¨Therefore, O my son, whosoever will come may come and partake of the waters of life freely. and whoseever will not come the same is not compelled to come- but in the last day it shall be restored unto him according to his deeds.¨
Whoa!! That was totally the scripture that he needed. It was such a beautiful experience being able to share this scripture with him....there are just some people that you know that you were sent to a specific area for them...and he´s definitely one of these investigators...he just needs someone to love him and understand him.I can´t wait to see him get baptized on saturday! Please pray for him everyone!
¨Therefore, O my son, whosoever will come may come and partake of the waters of life freely. and whoseever will not come the same is not compelled to come- but in the last day it shall be restored unto him according to his deeds.¨
Whoa!! That was totally the scripture that he needed. It was such a beautiful experience being able to share this scripture with him....there are just some people that you know that you were sent to a specific area for them...and he´s definitely one of these investigators...he just needs someone to love him and understand him.I can´t wait to see him get baptized on saturday! Please pray for him everyone!
Then on the 9th we have another baptizm planned for Fernando....he is so awesome...I love his story, but we´ve still got to help him a lot though because he´s still struggling. He has a smoking problem and his brother just died a month ago so he´s having a really hard time trying to quit...but yesterday he received a priesthood blessing and at the end everyone was in tears, it was such a spirit guided moment and I am seriously going to miss having these sweet spirit moments that a missionary always is able to see.Hopefully Fernando will be able to stop smoking and hopefully that blessing that he received will help him to have a stronger testimony. I know if strengthen my testimony.
Oh! The funniest thing happened the other week too....my companion and I were with some members and they were telling us about their kids...and one of their girls is named ¨Abish¨ from the Book of Mormon...and they said ¨yeah...she was the first sister missionary in the Book of Mormon..¨ and my companion says ¨yeah she was also less active...¨ HAHA! It was so hilarious. I am going to so miss the mission!
See you guys in 2 weeks
Oh! The funniest thing happened the other week too....my companion and I were with some members and they were telling us about their kids...and one of their girls is named ¨Abish¨ from the Book of Mormon...and they said ¨yeah...she was the first sister missionary in the Book of Mormon..¨ and my companion says ¨yeah she was also less active...¨ HAHA! It was so hilarious. I am going to so miss the mission!
See you guys in 2 weeks
Hey everybody, this week has been hilarious and super hot....but I have some friends serving missions in Brazil and in Arizona so I can´t really complain haha.
Yesterday was stake conference and I totally had to give a talk and share my testimony about the joy of missionary work. I´m not going to lie, but when I saw how many people were there I actually got a little scared and took my notebook out and started adding more things to my talk lol ...seriously I had written down some basic points that I wanted to talk about but when I got up there I just bore my testimony and shared a few stories and apparently it was good, but I don´t even remember what I really said, haha. But apparently it was alright so I didn´t really worry too much about it.
Afterward we went to this lesson with a less active family and at the end of the lesson the little boy (he was probably 1 and a half years old) (( and he was walking around in just a pair of underwear)) pulled down his underwear and went pee on his grandfathers sandel. It was the highlight moment of my week. We were all just laughing! And the little kid didn´t even look sorry, apparently it´s not the first time that he´s done it though haha!
Oh! Ok so this was a little ridiculous (but the lady was obviously in a bad mood...but it was still ridiculous) so we´re doing divisions and my companion and I are dying for thirst, so we go into a small little homeowned store on the side of the road and we ask for 2 bottles of water.....each bottle costed 8 pesos and we put our money together and we only had 15.7 pesos...we also had a bigger bill, but the lady didn´t have any change so we had no other choice but to use the coins that we had....and the lady told us ¨each bottle is 8 pesos¨ and we were literally dying of heat...we actually did the math and that .3 pesos that we needed were like 2.06 cents....so that was fun: we went to another store.
Oh! okay here´s another story...so my companion and I were teaching a lesson on repentence and we wanted to do this demonstration with clorox, water and fruit juice...but we didn´t have any fruit juice, (we had completely forgotten about it!) so we ask them(the two kids we were teaching) if they had any and they said no.....so we asked them in they had any coke (because basically every house in Mexico has a bottle of coca cola) so we did the activity with the hope that the clorox would make the coke clear).....the good thing was that we were sitting next to the window so that when we did the activity we just lifted up the glass into the light that was coming in through the window behind us.....the activity sort of worked...not really, but it was pretty funny and that kids loved it! haha!
I love you all and I hope you´re having a great week!
Happy birthday mom! love ya!
I´ve been learning how to cook this week! These enchiladas that we made totally turned out good...I will definitely miss Mexican food. It´s THE BEST.
Yesterday was stake conference and I totally had to give a talk and share my testimony about the joy of missionary work. I´m not going to lie, but when I saw how many people were there I actually got a little scared and took my notebook out and started adding more things to my talk lol ...seriously I had written down some basic points that I wanted to talk about but when I got up there I just bore my testimony and shared a few stories and apparently it was good, but I don´t even remember what I really said, haha. But apparently it was alright so I didn´t really worry too much about it.
Afterward we went to this lesson with a less active family and at the end of the lesson the little boy (he was probably 1 and a half years old) (( and he was walking around in just a pair of underwear)) pulled down his underwear and went pee on his grandfathers sandel. It was the highlight moment of my week. We were all just laughing! And the little kid didn´t even look sorry, apparently it´s not the first time that he´s done it though haha!
Oh! Ok so this was a little ridiculous (but the lady was obviously in a bad mood...but it was still ridiculous) so we´re doing divisions and my companion and I are dying for thirst, so we go into a small little homeowned store on the side of the road and we ask for 2 bottles of water.....each bottle costed 8 pesos and we put our money together and we only had 15.7 pesos...we also had a bigger bill, but the lady didn´t have any change so we had no other choice but to use the coins that we had....and the lady told us ¨each bottle is 8 pesos¨ and we were literally dying of heat...we actually did the math and that .3 pesos that we needed were like 2.06 cents....so that was fun: we went to another store.
Oh! okay here´s another story...so my companion and I were teaching a lesson on repentence and we wanted to do this demonstration with clorox, water and fruit juice...but we didn´t have any fruit juice, (we had completely forgotten about it!) so we ask them(the two kids we were teaching) if they had any and they said no.....so we asked them in they had any coke (because basically every house in Mexico has a bottle of coca cola) so we did the activity with the hope that the clorox would make the coke clear).....the good thing was that we were sitting next to the window so that when we did the activity we just lifted up the glass into the light that was coming in through the window behind us.....the activity sort of worked...not really, but it was pretty funny and that kids loved it! haha!
I love you all and I hope you´re having a great week!
Happy birthday mom! love ya!
I´ve been learning how to cook this week! These enchiladas that we made totally turned out good...I will definitely miss Mexican food. It´s THE BEST.
First of all my companion and I have seen so many miracles here in our area. It´s amazing. I remember that we shared the Restoration lesson with a family and during the First Vision part when we told them to close their eyes, I just remember feeling overcome by the spirit and it was so powerful, I could barely finish it--we were all crying.
We´ve just been having so mnay spiritual experiences and I know that I´ve been called to this mission for a reason. I really think it´s going to be hard for me to leave this spiritual missionary bubble if I´m being 100% honest. A few days ago we taught this man whose brother had recently died (his father who is less active was also there) and at the end of the lesson we asked the father to give the closing prayer, but he just couldn´t get himself to do it...he told us that he had stopped praying ever since his son had died. It was a beautiful and overpowering experice being filled with the spirit and being able to testify to this man...telling him exactly what the spirit wanted him to hear. I can definitely tell you that it wasn´t me who was talking...100% spirit right there. I´m so glad that we have the plan of salvation and that we know that families can be together forever. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Hermana Cortez and I also gave the relief society lesson on Sunday and we shared about Ezra Taft Benson and his testimony on Joseph Smith and we just cried. I´ve definitely come to realize that without the restoration of the gospel in my life, I wouldn´t have any of the blessings that I currently enjoy.I´ve been actually feeling the spirit a lot this week and I can´t believe that in 4 weeks I´ll be home. It just doesn´t make any sense to me...I´m not going to lie, I´m a little nervous, just because I won´t be living the life as a full time missionary and I know I´ll miss it...and it sort of gets me teary-eyed..but I just hope I´ll be able to enjoy this little last bit of time.
I got a few letters this week for some of you!---you´re all great, I just wanted to let you know that I love you and that I hope everyone´s doing great. Keep praying for me please, it´s really weird finishing up a mission.
We´ve just been having so mnay spiritual experiences and I know that I´ve been called to this mission for a reason. I really think it´s going to be hard for me to leave this spiritual missionary bubble if I´m being 100% honest. A few days ago we taught this man whose brother had recently died (his father who is less active was also there) and at the end of the lesson we asked the father to give the closing prayer, but he just couldn´t get himself to do it...he told us that he had stopped praying ever since his son had died. It was a beautiful and overpowering experice being filled with the spirit and being able to testify to this man...telling him exactly what the spirit wanted him to hear. I can definitely tell you that it wasn´t me who was talking...100% spirit right there. I´m so glad that we have the plan of salvation and that we know that families can be together forever. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Hermana Cortez and I also gave the relief society lesson on Sunday and we shared about Ezra Taft Benson and his testimony on Joseph Smith and we just cried. I´ve definitely come to realize that without the restoration of the gospel in my life, I wouldn´t have any of the blessings that I currently enjoy.I´ve been actually feeling the spirit a lot this week and I can´t believe that in 4 weeks I´ll be home. It just doesn´t make any sense to me...I´m not going to lie, I´m a little nervous, just because I won´t be living the life as a full time missionary and I know I´ll miss it...and it sort of gets me teary-eyed..but I just hope I´ll be able to enjoy this little last bit of time.
I got a few letters this week for some of you!---you´re all great, I just wanted to let you know that I love you and that I hope everyone´s doing great. Keep praying for me please, it´s really weird finishing up a mission.
Monday, April 6, 2015
Okay so just to start off with some quotes that I KNOW were turned into some type of Facebook meme during General Conference.
¨Stay by the tree!¨
¨A Saint is a sinner who keeps on trying¨
¨I can teach you to dance, but you have to hear the music¨
"Marriage is more than your love for each other¨
I´d just like to say that I LOVED GENERAL CONFERENCE. My favorite talks were definitely, Henry B Eyring (fasting), Wilford W. Anderson ( I can teach you to dance, but you have to hear the music), Dale G. Renlund ( Latter-Day Sinners, Quiters and Hipocrites), jMichael T. Ringwood ( totally made me think of my dad) and of course Jeffery R Holland.
I´d definitely sum of the conference by saying that they talked about --marriage, building stronger families, the atonement, and helping people that have fallen away. It was great and all the questions that I had were definitely answered and in more than one talk, so that definitely made me happy.
Oh! I also made my famous mickey mouse shaped pancakes on conference morning and they were delicious.
This week other than conference has been a little difficult if I´m being honest. It was been hot and we´ve gotten lost A LOT. But it´s been rewarding despite everything. We are going to go to the house of a family on Wednesay that is made up of a grandma and 3 grandkids. One of the kids and his grandma are ready to be baptized, hopefully we´ll be able to help them with that this Saturday or next Saturday. We´ve just met them but the boy said that he´s been going to church since last year, so hopefully we´ll be able to see them and work everything out according to their needs.
The ward members here are AMAZING. The majority of the members have cars too and that´s awesome because they´ve been able to show us what routes to take on the ´combi´s ´ (mini unsafe buses) and also they´ve been able to show us where the investigators of the older missionaries live.
Today my new companion, Hermana Cortez and I went to Taxco with Hermana Young and Hermana Sturt. They´re the Sister Training Leaders and they´re AWESOME. We all get along pretty well and we were able to go into this huge golden Catholic church here that is made of gold on the inside....isn´t that pretty cool?
Stake Conference is coming up on the 18th and 19 and I´m actually going to be speaking...so everybody pray for me please! haha! About the joys of being a missionary. It should be pretty awesome, I´ll let you guys all know what it happens.
5 more weeks, crazy isn´t it?
Love you all!!
Oh and this kid in the picture is crazy. He´s the Relief Society´s kid and he took off my name tag and licked it clean...he´s hilarious and showed me all his super heros. He´s super cute and has A LOT....of energy...but a lot. Haha!
¨Stay by the tree!¨
¨A Saint is a sinner who keeps on trying¨
¨I can teach you to dance, but you have to hear the music¨
"Marriage is more than your love for each other¨
I´d just like to say that I LOVED GENERAL CONFERENCE. My favorite talks were definitely, Henry B Eyring (fasting), Wilford W. Anderson ( I can teach you to dance, but you have to hear the music), Dale G. Renlund ( Latter-Day Sinners, Quiters and Hipocrites), jMichael T. Ringwood ( totally made me think of my dad) and of course Jeffery R Holland.
I´d definitely sum of the conference by saying that they talked about --marriage, building stronger families, the atonement, and helping people that have fallen away. It was great and all the questions that I had were definitely answered and in more than one talk, so that definitely made me happy.
Oh! I also made my famous mickey mouse shaped pancakes on conference morning and they were delicious.
This week other than conference has been a little difficult if I´m being honest. It was been hot and we´ve gotten lost A LOT. But it´s been rewarding despite everything. We are going to go to the house of a family on Wednesay that is made up of a grandma and 3 grandkids. One of the kids and his grandma are ready to be baptized, hopefully we´ll be able to help them with that this Saturday or next Saturday. We´ve just met them but the boy said that he´s been going to church since last year, so hopefully we´ll be able to see them and work everything out according to their needs.
The ward members here are AMAZING. The majority of the members have cars too and that´s awesome because they´ve been able to show us what routes to take on the ´combi´s ´ (mini unsafe buses) and also they´ve been able to show us where the investigators of the older missionaries live.
Today my new companion, Hermana Cortez and I went to Taxco with Hermana Young and Hermana Sturt. They´re the Sister Training Leaders and they´re AWESOME. We all get along pretty well and we were able to go into this huge golden Catholic church here that is made of gold on the inside....isn´t that pretty cool?
Stake Conference is coming up on the 18th and 19 and I´m actually going to be speaking...so everybody pray for me please! haha! About the joys of being a missionary. It should be pretty awesome, I´ll let you guys all know what it happens.
5 more weeks, crazy isn´t it?
Love you all!!
Oh and this kid in the picture is crazy. He´s the Relief Society´s kid and he took off my name tag and licked it clean...he´s hilarious and showed me all his super heros. He´s super cute and has A LOT....of energy...but a lot. Haha!
Monday, March 30, 2015
Okay well...I have 6 weeks left and I`ve been sent to open a new area that is literally one area over from my last area!! haha! I`m with Hermana Cortez, she`s from San Diego and we`re gonna work super hard here in the area. I can`t wait to see the miracles that are waiting for us.
Oh and we had 3 baptizms!! Woohoo!!! Their names are Reina, Delia and Luis. It`s a family of 3 that just get baptized and confirmed last week and I`m so happy for them. They`ve been coming to church and going to the activities for over a year now and it was totally their time.
On Thursday night I went to be with the sisters from another area here in Iguala and they`re so nice. We got along great! Today about 3 hours ago we went to the bus station to pick up my new companion and I told her ¨sooo...have you ever opened an area before?¨ and she didn`t know that we`d be opening an area! haha! Isn`t that crazy!
The heat is still going strong. I saw Sister Durham from the last time on Thursday too! She`s going to be a sister training leader in Cuernavaca. She`ll be great!
I love you all!!
Oh and we had 3 baptizms!! Woohoo!!! Their names are Reina, Delia and Luis. It`s a family of 3 that just get baptized and confirmed last week and I`m so happy for them. They`ve been coming to church and going to the activities for over a year now and it was totally their time.
On Thursday night I went to be with the sisters from another area here in Iguala and they`re so nice. We got along great! Today about 3 hours ago we went to the bus station to pick up my new companion and I told her ¨sooo...have you ever opened an area before?¨ and she didn`t know that we`d be opening an area! haha! Isn`t that crazy!
The heat is still going strong. I saw Sister Durham from the last time on Thursday too! She`s going to be a sister training leader in Cuernavaca. She`ll be great!
I love you all!!
Monday, March 16, 2015
Wow...ok SO MANY THINGS HAVE HAPPENED. First off....Elder Clayton and Elder Piper came to Mexico to have a special conference with us. They were accompanied by their wives and also Elder Miron was here (area president) and it was awesome. I´ve never felt that spirit so strongly and it was such a special experience. Afterwards we went to eat tacos al pastor...and that was delicious. I love the food here in Mexico, it seriously is a big perk of being here in Mexico. Although I will admit that I´ve probably gotten a little rounder than I was when I first came here lol But it has totally been worth it.
My companion, Hermana Silva will be going home in 2 weeks and she has been ready to go for like a month lol It´s been a little distracting considering that I´ll be leaving right after her in 8 weeks but that´s okay, I´m trying my best to stay focused and on track here in the mission. I wonder who my new companion will be! It´s sort of weird thinking that after the mission is over I´ll be back in the real world again and I´ll have to work and go to school...and later eventually have a family of my own. Wow. All of this is becoming a little bit more real as the weeks pass by. But in the mean time, my companion and I have been trying to go on as many splits as possible with the Sisters in our Ward because we´ve got to get the most out of this time that we´re here together and we both know the area.
We should be having a baptizm here in 2 weeks. Her name is Reina and hopefully her son, Luis and her daughter Delia will be taking this grand step of being baptized together on the 28th. Please pray for them! They´re amazing. They´ve known the church forever and the crazy thing is that they got so used to the ward (without being in the limits of the ward) that they actually moved into the ward boundaries to be a part of the ward where all their friends are!) Isn´t that crazy? We told them oringinally that they could come, that they could even be baptized, but it´s better to be baptized in their own ward (according to the ward limits) so that they´ll be able to have a calling and progress spiritually. It´s been a rollercoaster, but I really hope that they´ll be able to take this important step, everyone together. They´re amazing and they all have a lot of faith. I love them all.
The weather here has been sort of weird, but I´m okay with it because I love the rain and it´s been raining here. In April and May is when Iguala really gets hot, so we´ll just have to see. I´m pretty sure I´ll be coming back brown.
Oh! Okay so this is pretty funny...but we have a less active olderly couple in our ward and the man is sort of deaf so whenever we talk to him we have to yell and it´s sort of funny because he also has a parrot....and whenever we try to speak loudly the parrot starts to yell too and it´s usually crazy whenever we go over there, but they´re a great couple.
The members here in Iguala are awesome too, one of my favorites is Estella...she´s 55ish and we probably go over to eat at her house 2 times a week. She took us out today to see the biggest flag in the world! And it´s here in Iguala! The Mexican flag was also made here in Iguala! isnt that crazy? A small like town and it has the world´s biggest flag!
I love you all and I can´t wait to see all of your smiling faces! :)
My companion, Hermana Silva will be going home in 2 weeks and she has been ready to go for like a month lol It´s been a little distracting considering that I´ll be leaving right after her in 8 weeks but that´s okay, I´m trying my best to stay focused and on track here in the mission. I wonder who my new companion will be! It´s sort of weird thinking that after the mission is over I´ll be back in the real world again and I´ll have to work and go to school...and later eventually have a family of my own. Wow. All of this is becoming a little bit more real as the weeks pass by. But in the mean time, my companion and I have been trying to go on as many splits as possible with the Sisters in our Ward because we´ve got to get the most out of this time that we´re here together and we both know the area.
We should be having a baptizm here in 2 weeks. Her name is Reina and hopefully her son, Luis and her daughter Delia will be taking this grand step of being baptized together on the 28th. Please pray for them! They´re amazing. They´ve known the church forever and the crazy thing is that they got so used to the ward (without being in the limits of the ward) that they actually moved into the ward boundaries to be a part of the ward where all their friends are!) Isn´t that crazy? We told them oringinally that they could come, that they could even be baptized, but it´s better to be baptized in their own ward (according to the ward limits) so that they´ll be able to have a calling and progress spiritually. It´s been a rollercoaster, but I really hope that they´ll be able to take this important step, everyone together. They´re amazing and they all have a lot of faith. I love them all.
The weather here has been sort of weird, but I´m okay with it because I love the rain and it´s been raining here. In April and May is when Iguala really gets hot, so we´ll just have to see. I´m pretty sure I´ll be coming back brown.
Oh! Okay so this is pretty funny...but we have a less active olderly couple in our ward and the man is sort of deaf so whenever we talk to him we have to yell and it´s sort of funny because he also has a parrot....and whenever we try to speak loudly the parrot starts to yell too and it´s usually crazy whenever we go over there, but they´re a great couple.
The members here in Iguala are awesome too, one of my favorites is Estella...she´s 55ish and we probably go over to eat at her house 2 times a week. She took us out today to see the biggest flag in the world! And it´s here in Iguala! The Mexican flag was also made here in Iguala! isnt that crazy? A small like town and it has the world´s biggest flag!
I love you all and I can´t wait to see all of your smiling faces! :)
Monday, March 2, 2015
First off, my sister got her license everybody! WOOHOO!!! That`s awesome. She`ll totally be driving me everywhere because my license has long expired...I`ll have to renew that here..in 10 weeks...WHAT? I can`t believe it! My companion is going home in 4 weeks and it`s definitely crazy and a little bit unbelievable but I think she`s ready lol she`s already packed.
Anyways...WE HAD A BAPTIZM! woohoo!! His name is Emmanual and he`s AWESOME. He`s 17 and definitely one of the kindest most sincere people I`ve ever met. His friend Aaron baptized him and it`s cool because Emmanuel is one of Aaron`s classmates and so one day he was just taking about the church and well know he`s a member! And he has a calling too! Emmanuel is now the secretary of the Priests! :) It was pretty funny because the confirmation always is on Sunday and he wasn`t there on time! There was another lady who the elders taught that went up to get confirmed and I was a little bit scared, sitting in the back waiting and praying for Emmanuel to show up, but right when I thought he wasn`t going to come in time, bam! He shows up right on time and he just walks straight up to the stand. lol Way to show up a la mera hora! geesh! haha! Kids these days.
Carlos did not get baptized and it was pretty sad because we worked all week with him. But he still doesn`t feel that Joseph Smith was a prophet even though we did everything that we could have possibly thought of. I didn`t see him at church yesterday either so I think he might need a break, but we hope to see him soon again.
On Sunday before church we were walking down a street and some little girls start calling up over to talk to there mom...and we`ve been to visit the family before, but they never wanted to go to church, but the brother of the mom (the girl`s uncle) had died and it was an open casket and they asked us to sing because they had a lot of family over...we sang ¨God be with you `til we meet again¨ and it was sad because this family really didn`t believe that they would ever see their brother again...but we shared a little bit about the plan of salvation and I really hope that the family goes to church this next week.
Yesterday during the 3rd hour (relief society) I actually really had a good time! It was probably the first time that I really was super interesting and learned a lot. We talked about the importance of having family home evening and some fun activities that we can do. I can`t wait to have family home evening at home with my own family.
On Sunday Elder Clayton is coming to visit us in our stake center and next monday I`ll be at a mission conference so I won`t have time to write but I think I`ll be allowed to write on Tuesday so I hope everyone has a great week!!
Oh...and this picture with the coke is sort of sad...but I thought it was funny! One of the guys at church just have it to us! 3 liters of coke! haha! it was awesome. It`s still in the fridge and I´m not quite sure how long it`ll be there for lol probably for the month of March lol gottagetthatcoke.
Anyways...WE HAD A BAPTIZM! woohoo!! His name is Emmanual and he`s AWESOME. He`s 17 and definitely one of the kindest most sincere people I`ve ever met. His friend Aaron baptized him and it`s cool because Emmanuel is one of Aaron`s classmates and so one day he was just taking about the church and well know he`s a member! And he has a calling too! Emmanuel is now the secretary of the Priests! :) It was pretty funny because the confirmation always is on Sunday and he wasn`t there on time! There was another lady who the elders taught that went up to get confirmed and I was a little bit scared, sitting in the back waiting and praying for Emmanuel to show up, but right when I thought he wasn`t going to come in time, bam! He shows up right on time and he just walks straight up to the stand. lol Way to show up a la mera hora! geesh! haha! Kids these days.
Carlos did not get baptized and it was pretty sad because we worked all week with him. But he still doesn`t feel that Joseph Smith was a prophet even though we did everything that we could have possibly thought of. I didn`t see him at church yesterday either so I think he might need a break, but we hope to see him soon again.
On Sunday before church we were walking down a street and some little girls start calling up over to talk to there mom...and we`ve been to visit the family before, but they never wanted to go to church, but the brother of the mom (the girl`s uncle) had died and it was an open casket and they asked us to sing because they had a lot of family over...we sang ¨God be with you `til we meet again¨ and it was sad because this family really didn`t believe that they would ever see their brother again...but we shared a little bit about the plan of salvation and I really hope that the family goes to church this next week.
Yesterday during the 3rd hour (relief society) I actually really had a good time! It was probably the first time that I really was super interesting and learned a lot. We talked about the importance of having family home evening and some fun activities that we can do. I can`t wait to have family home evening at home with my own family.
On Sunday Elder Clayton is coming to visit us in our stake center and next monday I`ll be at a mission conference so I won`t have time to write but I think I`ll be allowed to write on Tuesday so I hope everyone has a great week!!
Oh...and this picture with the coke is sort of sad...but I thought it was funny! One of the guys at church just have it to us! 3 liters of coke! haha! it was awesome. It`s still in the fridge and I´m not quite sure how long it`ll be there for lol probably for the month of March lol gottagetthatcoke.
Monday, February 23, 2015
This week has been great; we`ve been trying our best to try and prepare Emmanuel and Carlos for their baptizms this week and Carlos has been a little difficult but that`s okay because the tough investigators are among the most faithful members afterwards.
This week I`ve been reading a lot about how each one of us has to prepare ourselves for our personal interview that we`ll have with the Savior. I`ve been able to learn a lt and really appreciate this time that I have to share the gospel witht he wonderful people here in Mexico. I`ll never regreat serving a mission.
Yesterday my mission president called and he told me that Tomas Pintor (one of the most awesome converts in Cuernavaca) spoke in Stake Conference!! That was such great news! He said that two angels had told him about a plan of salvation and happiness and that was just what he was looking for. WOW. I`m so grateful for these wonderful experiences that I`ve been able to have here in the mission.
Elder Clayton is going to be coming to the mission in March and our zone is in charge of the musical number....*cough* I say that Sister Durham should just do it because she definitely outsings any of us haha!
We only have like 2 months until general conference!! woohoo!!!
I love you all!!
Oh! Maria also got baptized on Saturday! She was an interesting case because she lives in our area but works in the area of the elders...so we all sort of shared her haha! She is amazing and is so dedicated because she wants to go to her daughter`s sealing in a year :) How awesome is that?
This week I`ve been reading a lot about how each one of us has to prepare ourselves for our personal interview that we`ll have with the Savior. I`ve been able to learn a lt and really appreciate this time that I have to share the gospel witht he wonderful people here in Mexico. I`ll never regreat serving a mission.
Yesterday my mission president called and he told me that Tomas Pintor (one of the most awesome converts in Cuernavaca) spoke in Stake Conference!! That was such great news! He said that two angels had told him about a plan of salvation and happiness and that was just what he was looking for. WOW. I`m so grateful for these wonderful experiences that I`ve been able to have here in the mission.
Elder Clayton is going to be coming to the mission in March and our zone is in charge of the musical number....*cough* I say that Sister Durham should just do it because she definitely outsings any of us haha!
We only have like 2 months until general conference!! woohoo!!!
I love you all!!
Oh! Maria also got baptized on Saturday! She was an interesting case because she lives in our area but works in the area of the elders...so we all sort of shared her haha! She is amazing and is so dedicated because she wants to go to her daughter`s sealing in a year :) How awesome is that?
Monday, February 16, 2015
Happy belated Valentine´s day everybody, I hope you all had a great day!!
Guess what? This week we saw SO MANY MIRACLES. I don´t even know where to begin. One of our investigators, Carlos has really been stuggling and after his 4th assistance to church we had a charla franca with him because he had been doing a lot of internet research and wasn´t trusting in the Spirit or the scriptures and we actually asked him if he wanted to keep meeting with us and he said no. We were sad, but we knew that we couldn´t get unfocused because we have to help the people that are ready and prepared by the Lord...and we knew there were more...BUT...the next day we saw Carlos and he had a bandage on his arm and we asked him what was wrong and he told us that as soon as he had left the chapel (because we always have our lessons in the stake center) he started to feel sick , but really sick, (his family actually took him to the hospital) (okay some background information--Carlos takes extremely good care of himself physically --he´s always in the gym and eating healthy foods--he doesn´t even like going out in the sun because he says it´s for that reason why we have so much acne...HAHA!
Anyways...he also told us that he went to his Catolic church that same night and he suddenly didn´t feel welcomed...like he wasn´t a part of that church anymore (this is the same investigator that told us that at his church everyone says hi to him, unlike in this ward)...it was such an odd but powerful experience...in this moment we automatically reminded him of the baptismal service that we were going to have on the 28th and we told him we´d see him in church the next day. That evening we sent him a text message reminding him about the baptismal service that the elders in our ward were going to have and he came!! Afterward we talked to him and told him our purpose as missionaries and we asked him if he wanted to keep learning and progress towards his own baptizm on the 28th. He said yes!! (This is the same investigator who had told us that we had been tricked into believe that this church is real and that it was shame that we were here wasting our time because we had been lied to all our lives.)
We´ve really had to battle with this investigator, but he´s getting use to the members in the ward and there are some great jovenes that are really trying to help him out ( we´ve got some great returned missionaries in our ward and we just tell them..¨please be his friend¨ and they totally get it. Gosh, I´m going to be the best friend of all the investigators in my home ward when I get back!
Our other miracle is Emmanuel. He´s been to church 4 times, but has never accepted a baptismal date...but he has great friends in the ward and he was actually a reference from one of the young men in the ward who is preparing to go on a mission and this same member is bring Emmanuel to seminary every morning before school. We had a little charla franca with him too...not too franca because we weren´t going to stop teaching him, we just wanted him to know that he was ready to accept this ordinance of baptism ...and during the lesson we actually told him...¨Emmanuel...you´re ready and you know you´re ready.¨ He then said ¨Yeah..you´re right¨and he smiled and it was such a beautiful experience. I hardly remember what I said during the lesson...it usually happens that way, I love how the spirit works. It´s beautiful.
The Lord lets us serve Him for this short time and He puts us in the place where He needs us with the people that need us and in the place where there are people waiting just for us! Missionary work is SO exciting! I really know that the Lord needs me HERE...in Iguala! It´s so exciting and it´s pretty hard to put into words... Carlos and Emmanuel are going to be baptized on the 28th and I can´t wait to see them dressed in white.
The Lord really has a personalized answer for everyone of His children.
On Saturday we also had the opportunity to do a mission activity with the young men and young women from the stake and it was great. The young members of the church are great and I love their energy and excitement for missionary work!
These pictures are of :a part of my zone right now, the group of girls that we went out with on Saturday....and a picture that I don´t really like because I don´t really like stuffed animals, but my companion took this picture of me and I´m basically getting toasty brown. Haha! Have a great week everybody!
Guess what? This week we saw SO MANY MIRACLES. I don´t even know where to begin. One of our investigators, Carlos has really been stuggling and after his 4th assistance to church we had a charla franca with him because he had been doing a lot of internet research and wasn´t trusting in the Spirit or the scriptures and we actually asked him if he wanted to keep meeting with us and he said no. We were sad, but we knew that we couldn´t get unfocused because we have to help the people that are ready and prepared by the Lord...and we knew there were more...BUT...the next day we saw Carlos and he had a bandage on his arm and we asked him what was wrong and he told us that as soon as he had left the chapel (because we always have our lessons in the stake center) he started to feel sick , but really sick, (his family actually took him to the hospital) (okay some background information--Carlos takes extremely good care of himself physically --he´s always in the gym and eating healthy foods--he doesn´t even like going out in the sun because he says it´s for that reason why we have so much acne...HAHA!
Anyways...he also told us that he went to his Catolic church that same night and he suddenly didn´t feel welcomed...like he wasn´t a part of that church anymore (this is the same investigator that told us that at his church everyone says hi to him, unlike in this ward)...it was such an odd but powerful experience...in this moment we automatically reminded him of the baptismal service that we were going to have on the 28th and we told him we´d see him in church the next day. That evening we sent him a text message reminding him about the baptismal service that the elders in our ward were going to have and he came!! Afterward we talked to him and told him our purpose as missionaries and we asked him if he wanted to keep learning and progress towards his own baptizm on the 28th. He said yes!! (This is the same investigator who had told us that we had been tricked into believe that this church is real and that it was shame that we were here wasting our time because we had been lied to all our lives.)
We´ve really had to battle with this investigator, but he´s getting use to the members in the ward and there are some great jovenes that are really trying to help him out ( we´ve got some great returned missionaries in our ward and we just tell them..¨please be his friend¨ and they totally get it. Gosh, I´m going to be the best friend of all the investigators in my home ward when I get back!
Our other miracle is Emmanuel. He´s been to church 4 times, but has never accepted a baptismal date...but he has great friends in the ward and he was actually a reference from one of the young men in the ward who is preparing to go on a mission and this same member is bring Emmanuel to seminary every morning before school. We had a little charla franca with him too...not too franca because we weren´t going to stop teaching him, we just wanted him to know that he was ready to accept this ordinance of baptism ...and during the lesson we actually told him...¨Emmanuel...you´re ready and you know you´re ready.¨ He then said ¨Yeah..you´re right¨and he smiled and it was such a beautiful experience. I hardly remember what I said during the lesson...it usually happens that way, I love how the spirit works. It´s beautiful.
The Lord lets us serve Him for this short time and He puts us in the place where He needs us with the people that need us and in the place where there are people waiting just for us! Missionary work is SO exciting! I really know that the Lord needs me HERE...in Iguala! It´s so exciting and it´s pretty hard to put into words... Carlos and Emmanuel are going to be baptized on the 28th and I can´t wait to see them dressed in white.
The Lord really has a personalized answer for everyone of His children.
On Saturday we also had the opportunity to do a mission activity with the young men and young women from the stake and it was great. The young members of the church are great and I love their energy and excitement for missionary work!
These pictures are of :a part of my zone right now, the group of girls that we went out with on Saturday....and a picture that I don´t really like because I don´t really like stuffed animals, but my companion took this picture of me and I´m basically getting toasty brown. Haha! Have a great week everybody!
Monday, February 9, 2015
Okay so first of all last Saturday our Ward did a talent show and all of the missionaries did 2 skits. It was hilarious because I was assigned to be the old lady and also a director a a movie and if I coud upload these videos I would, but I´ll have to show them to you guys afterwards. My companion and I also share the Ward with the zone leaders and right now there are 3 of them because one of them is going back home next Monday! The next change my companion is leaving and in 2 changes I´ll be the one leaving, how scary?
But it was a HUGE success...the kids from the Primary danced too and it was so cute. These little Mexican kids sure know how to move their hips! The little 4 and 5 year olds were dancing super good too! and the Young men and Young women group did a hip hop dance by Rihanna...it was also SUPER good....gosh, all I did was wobble around with a head shawl and a cane, but the whole activity was a success.
We´ve also been finding new families! I love finding families to teach because it´s much easier to teach someone if they have support from them families. It would be harder for anyone, but we´re still working really hard! The Relief Society sisters are amazing and they are always willing to come visit people with us! I only went out with the missionaries once before coming here to Mexico, but now I´m going to be such a better member of the church when I get back....
On another note....I´ve never drank so much Coke in my life. Seriously, before the mission I didn´t even drink that much soda, and now I´m drinking Coke on a daily basis and tortillas with just about every meal. The transition to food from the states should really be an interesting one.
But it was a HUGE success...the kids from the Primary danced too and it was so cute. These little Mexican kids sure know how to move their hips! The little 4 and 5 year olds were dancing super good too! and the Young men and Young women group did a hip hop dance by Rihanna...it was also SUPER good....gosh, all I did was wobble around with a head shawl and a cane, but the whole activity was a success.
We´ve also been finding new families! I love finding families to teach because it´s much easier to teach someone if they have support from them families. It would be harder for anyone, but we´re still working really hard! The Relief Society sisters are amazing and they are always willing to come visit people with us! I only went out with the missionaries once before coming here to Mexico, but now I´m going to be such a better member of the church when I get back....
On another note....I´ve never drank so much Coke in my life. Seriously, before the mission I didn´t even drink that much soda, and now I´m drinking Coke on a daily basis and tortillas with just about every meal. The transition to food from the states should really be an interesting one.
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Hey everyone,
This week was great, we`ve really been able to help 2 investigators and we`re still working with them, but they`re progressing little by little. One of the boys is Daniel and he just wants to know what his purpose in life is. We talked a little with him about the need that everyone had to come here to earth and get a body and we also talked to him about free agency and at the end of the lesson we all kneeled down and he offered a beautiful pray ...he literally started out ¨God...do you exist?¨Whew...the tears started flowing, it was such a beautiful moment and we`re really trying to help his recognize the Spirit in his life and that he really does have a purpose of being here...life just isnt about living and then dying..it actually have a grand purpose. Isn`t that just so exciting?
We`re also working with a boy named Carlos...his family has been Catolic forever and they don`t go to church but it`s a family custom. His family really doesn`t support him either. And when he went to pray about everything we`ve taught him he told us that he can`t feel anything other than he`s catholic and nothing is going to change it. We`re trying to help everyone of our investigators to be able to recognize the Spirit in their lives because we aren`t even the teachers, it`s the Spirit that does everything.
I love being a member of this church because other churchs will just tell you to believe because we should all have faith...and something that I`ve been able to notice is that in this church there is a big focus on praying and asking God for yourself. We always tell our investigators that they have to ask God for themselves and not just believe us because we`re missionaries telling them that they should believe.
I really do like being a missionary.
This week was a little more difficult and easier than last week...it´s sort of hard to explain because on one hand we´ve got to take care and visit all of these people, but on the otherhand we can really see who is progressing and who really is looking for something new in their life. But I´d much rather have too many people than not enough people, because that´s happened before, and it´s not fun either.
Basically we have 6 people that are progressing...we have Agripina who is this 83 year old lady who is still going, just like she was 40. She has a great memory and she walks just fine! So we´ve been working a lot with her and the best thing is that she has a friend in the ward who sometimes goes by for her. We´ll have to see how her progress goes, she´s a lovely lady though,....she sews little tortilla napkins and makes pillowcovers...by hand. WOW. Hey, if I¨m that good at 83 I definitely won´t have any complaints.
We´re also working with Aracelia, Jose and Angel...it´s a young mother with 2 young boys. They went to church yesterday for the first time and they all are looking for a church so hey...we´ll see how they progress, but it´s looking good because they´re actually reading and doing their research about the Book of Mormon and everything, which is really awesome.
We also are working with this 18 year old, Carlos who is really kind and sweet...he says yes to everything and he totally goes to church by himself! It´s sort of hard to meet with him because he´s studying, but we´re trying to find all the options to see him whenever he´s got a sec.
We´re also teaching this middle aged man, Cipriano who was in an Israelite religion for 10 years and his parents were Catholic -like everyone´s parent´s here-- and he has also investigated the Jehovah´s Witness´s so he basically has a bunch of questions and we´re doing our best with him but he still doesn´t want to pray in the name of Christ, it´s an interesting situation, but we´re still working with him.
Really the thing that we´ve noticed is that the ward involvement is key. If the ward members aren´t involved in the fellowshiping of these investigators it makes everything a little bit harder when the missionaries get changed out.
Our leaders are taking a lot of care of us right now here in Igual, Guerrero. We have to be inside with the door locked at 7pm, but we have permission to be out until 8pm if we have a member who has a car. So we´re trying to work with what we got. My companion is still AMAZING. We get along great and we haven´t had any problems...She´s my 3 Columbian Companion...and there are only Columbian Sister´s in the mission...soo...it´s definitely been awesome. The Spanish that I have learned here in Mexico is definitely different than a lot of other countries because they have their own slang. But I love it! So it´ll be a Mexico Spanish with a Columbian twist and a Peruvian influence. We´ll have to see how that goes, hahah! I love you all!
Oh this morning we went to this Sister´s house in the ward and she sells Herbalife and I didn´t even know what that was when I came here and she says that it started in the states...that just goes to show how involved I was at home! haha! She gave us each a shake and it wasn´t actually too bad.
When I get back I´m totally going dancing with my friends back out at BYU ...the music here sometimes is really awesome. Okay, see ya everybody!
Oh, we also had splits with the Sister Training Leaders and it went great! Sister Young and Sister Sturt are really awesome and it was probably one of the best days that I´ve ever had with the Sister Training Leaders!
Basically we have 6 people that are progressing...we have Agripina who is this 83 year old lady who is still going, just like she was 40. She has a great memory and she walks just fine! So we´ve been working a lot with her and the best thing is that she has a friend in the ward who sometimes goes by for her. We´ll have to see how her progress goes, she´s a lovely lady though,....she sews little tortilla napkins and makes pillowcovers...by hand. WOW. Hey, if I¨m that good at 83 I definitely won´t have any complaints.
We´re also working with Aracelia, Jose and Angel...it´s a young mother with 2 young boys. They went to church yesterday for the first time and they all are looking for a church so hey...we´ll see how they progress, but it´s looking good because they´re actually reading and doing their research about the Book of Mormon and everything, which is really awesome.
We also are working with this 18 year old, Carlos who is really kind and sweet...he says yes to everything and he totally goes to church by himself! It´s sort of hard to meet with him because he´s studying, but we´re trying to find all the options to see him whenever he´s got a sec.
We´re also teaching this middle aged man, Cipriano who was in an Israelite religion for 10 years and his parents were Catholic -like everyone´s parent´s here-- and he has also investigated the Jehovah´s Witness´s so he basically has a bunch of questions and we´re doing our best with him but he still doesn´t want to pray in the name of Christ, it´s an interesting situation, but we´re still working with him.
Really the thing that we´ve noticed is that the ward involvement is key. If the ward members aren´t involved in the fellowshiping of these investigators it makes everything a little bit harder when the missionaries get changed out.
Our leaders are taking a lot of care of us right now here in Igual, Guerrero. We have to be inside with the door locked at 7pm, but we have permission to be out until 8pm if we have a member who has a car. So we´re trying to work with what we got. My companion is still AMAZING. We get along great and we haven´t had any problems...She´s my 3 Columbian Companion...and there are only Columbian Sister´s in the mission...soo...it´s definitely been awesome. The Spanish that I have learned here in Mexico is definitely different than a lot of other countries because they have their own slang. But I love it! So it´ll be a Mexico Spanish with a Columbian twist and a Peruvian influence. We´ll have to see how that goes, hahah! I love you all!
Oh this morning we went to this Sister´s house in the ward and she sells Herbalife and I didn´t even know what that was when I came here and she says that it started in the states...that just goes to show how involved I was at home! haha! She gave us each a shake and it wasn´t actually too bad.
When I get back I´m totally going dancing with my friends back out at BYU ...the music here sometimes is really awesome. Okay, see ya everybody!
Oh, we also had splits with the Sister Training Leaders and it went great! Sister Young and Sister Sturt are really awesome and it was probably one of the best days that I´ve ever had with the Sister Training Leaders!
My companion and I get along great, we both are hard workers and we both get each others` humor and it really is amazing to see the miracles that Heavenly Father is giving us. I can`t wait to hug everyone when I get home, but I still have 16 weeks to work the hardest that I possibly can here in my area with my companion. Yesterday we went to church with 6 little kids and they LOVED it. They come from a family that`s on the humbler side and they don`t understand really well because none of them go to school, but something that they do understand is how to feel the Spirit. They really know that this gospel is real because they can feel it and feeling makes all the difference.
I love my family so much, I`ve been able to really appreciate them and understand the meaning of what a family really is just by being with so many different families here in Mexico. I can`t wait to eventually have my own family with my own little kids. The Lord really does provide when we let him guide us.
I`m working hard, I`m behaving, and I hope everyone else is doing the same! haha! Have a great week!
Igual definitely is not Cuernavaca. I think it might take me awhile to get use to it after being in Cuernavaca for so long but I actually love it! It´s hot...and when I say hot I mean HOT...and the funny thing is that apparently the heat doesn´t start until May...but I´m pretty sure I´ll still be here in May (I have 3 changes to go ---a change is a period of 6 weeks) so I´ll be able to appreciate it in its fullness! The people here live more humbly than the people in Cuernavaca. We don´t use too much public transportation; we mostly walk.
In Cuernavaca people usually say that it´s really hard to find people that are receptive to the gospel...but my companion Sister Durham and I were blessed to be able to find people that truly were ready to be baptized...and here in Igual they say that it´s the area where people ALWAYS are able to find people to listen and accept the gospel...but we didnt have any investigators at church on Sunday so we´ll have to try even harder this next week.
My companion and I get along amazingly. There are only 3 Columbian girls in the mission and I´ve have the opportunity to be companions of all 3! Hermana Silva is ending the mission in 11 weeks and I´ll be ending in 17 weeks. It seems like time really is going by super fast. We both think that we´ll be ending our missions in this area that we´re in.
Today we stayed at home all day cleaning because it was time that that house was shown a little love. I then made my companion and I spaghetti and she loved it! She´s going to teach me to cook some Columbian food next week. Hopefully next week we´ll be able to go to a place that´s called Taxco. It´s beautiful and I can´t wait to go!!!
My companion and I totally got these Peppa the Pig crowns from this little girl who we ate with yesterday! Peppa the Pig is a huge hit here in Mexico...I don´t know how it´s doing in the states but Peppa is basically the next Dora the Explorer.
Love all of you!
.JPG)
So we had 3 baptizms on Saturday! Woohoo! Seriously, these people are so amazing and literally they were truly ready to receive the gospel when we found them. I love being a missionary and I love helping these people.
The man`s name is David...he literally thanked us because he told us that he thought his life was fine and he thought it had a purpose...but them as he got to understand and live the gospel he was really changed and he noticed a huge change in everything. We sang a musical number at his baptizm...¨There`s Sunshine in my Soul Today¨....which was actually pretty interesting because all Saturday we were literally DYING because of these cheese filled chills we ate and well they basically killed us. I won`t include the details, but I`m glad that`s over with now.
Rosario and Dante are adorable, I love them, they`re amazing. They`re going to move to el D.F. in a month and they told us they`re going to try looking for the church when they`re there too so I really hope everything works out! They are amazing and they only thing Dante is asking the Reyes for tonight is a pair of church clothes (Los Reyes Magos is basically another chance for the kids here to get presents, what?! it`s pretty cool though).
Oh yeah...so I`m no longer in Cuernavaca, La Pradera...I`m in Iguala..with Hermana Silva. It`s pretty interesting because there are only 3 Columbian Sisters in the mission and two of them I`ve been able to train...and Hermana Silva is going home in 3 months (she`s the third), right before I go home! I`m pretty excited to be here in Iguala...It should be great, I can`t wait to get to know the ward a little better and the members too!.
We don`t have light right now in our house, but that`s okay, I guess we`ll get that figured out later, but I`m ready to get to work!
The man`s name is David...he literally thanked us because he told us that he thought his life was fine and he thought it had a purpose...but them as he got to understand and live the gospel he was really changed and he noticed a huge change in everything. We sang a musical number at his baptizm...¨There`s Sunshine in my Soul Today¨....which was actually pretty interesting because all Saturday we were literally DYING because of these cheese filled chills we ate and well they basically killed us. I won`t include the details, but I`m glad that`s over with now.
Rosario and Dante are adorable, I love them, they`re amazing. They`re going to move to el D.F. in a month and they told us they`re going to try looking for the church when they`re there too so I really hope everything works out! They are amazing and they only thing Dante is asking the Reyes for tonight is a pair of church clothes (Los Reyes Magos is basically another chance for the kids here to get presents, what?! it`s pretty cool though).
Oh yeah...so I`m no longer in Cuernavaca, La Pradera...I`m in Iguala..with Hermana Silva. It`s pretty interesting because there are only 3 Columbian Sisters in the mission and two of them I`ve been able to train...and Hermana Silva is going home in 3 months (she`s the third), right before I go home! I`m pretty excited to be here in Iguala...It should be great, I can`t wait to get to know the ward a little better and the members too!.
We don`t have light right now in our house, but that`s okay, I guess we`ll get that figured out later, but I`m ready to get to work!
This week was Christmas! Heck yea! It was awesome because I got to talk to my family...and I basically had a little breakdown over Skype it was horrible! I´m sure if any of you would have been there you would have laughed at me, I was a laughing crying wreck! But that´s okay because the mission continues and we have 3 baptism coming up this Saturday! Heckka yea. Rosario and her son Dante, and Dave (Super Dave).
This Christmas I was able to do something really awesome for one of our investigators and I just have to share it because this is the best Christmas gift I¨ve ever given and well...it was free!! Dante is 8 and the only thing he asked Santa for this year was a little hymnbook...and Rosario´s husband lives in Mexico City on a military base and he went to the temple bookstore, but it was closed when he went! Oh no! So Rosario was looking everywhere for a little hymnbook and I told her to just take mine. We went 3 days later and the first thing he took out was his little hymnbook covered with Sesame Street stickers! Hecka yes. I think I just literally made someones Christmas and it was totally worth it. I´m going to attach a picture and you guys can be the judges of that smile.
The 24th was definitely the big day here....it´s basically just as big as Thanksgiving in the states. Maribel and her brother Aldo invited us over to eat with them and it was great. They´re the only Peruvians that I´ve met here in the mission and they´re legit. and they know how to eat! I loved eating with them! They also lent us sweaters and coats because all Wednesday morning in the storming and raining....which is really weird weather during this season ...so we showed up to their house soaking wet and cold...so they lent me this Peruvian pancho- scarf thing. It was awesome! Haha!
We were also invited to go eat at our friend Luz´s house. She´s so nice and she has a little puppy dog that really wanted to be invited to dinner too haha.
I´m really glad that I´ve been able to spend a second Christmas here in Mexico and I can´t wait to share you guys all my stories when I´m actually home, it´s been quiet a ride. Tomorrow I´ll have 14 months here in the mission.4 more to go!!
This Christmas I was able to do something really awesome for one of our investigators and I just have to share it because this is the best Christmas gift I¨ve ever given and well...it was free!! Dante is 8 and the only thing he asked Santa for this year was a little hymnbook...and Rosario´s husband lives in Mexico City on a military base and he went to the temple bookstore, but it was closed when he went! Oh no! So Rosario was looking everywhere for a little hymnbook and I told her to just take mine. We went 3 days later and the first thing he took out was his little hymnbook covered with Sesame Street stickers! Hecka yes. I think I just literally made someones Christmas and it was totally worth it. I´m going to attach a picture and you guys can be the judges of that smile.
The 24th was definitely the big day here....it´s basically just as big as Thanksgiving in the states. Maribel and her brother Aldo invited us over to eat with them and it was great. They´re the only Peruvians that I´ve met here in the mission and they´re legit. and they know how to eat! I loved eating with them! They also lent us sweaters and coats because all Wednesday morning in the storming and raining....which is really weird weather during this season ...so we showed up to their house soaking wet and cold...so they lent me this Peruvian pancho- scarf thing. It was awesome! Haha!
We were also invited to go eat at our friend Luz´s house. She´s so nice and she has a little puppy dog that really wanted to be invited to dinner too haha.
I´m really glad that I´ve been able to spend a second Christmas here in Mexico and I can´t wait to share you guys all my stories when I´m actually home, it´s been quiet a ride. Tomorrow I´ll have 14 months here in the mission.4 more to go!!
This week we traveled the Cuernavaca again to help my companion out with her visa. One 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 onboard 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 apoligized 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 cra and he tal
idk what happened.....I´m gonna pick off where I left off lol
ït´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!
Monday, December 22, 2014
This week was awesome because we had our Christmas conference. I got to see my old Columbian companions, Hermana Ayala and Hermana Iles! We also had our district skit...it turned out a lot better than we would have expected lol and it was pretty awesome getting all dressed up! One of my companions, Hermana Lopez (she´s one of the 8 sisters in our ward right now--she´s from Spain) made me some huge wings out of wire and my companion, Sister Durhman helped me make this green skirt too....I would have never thought that I´d be chosen to dress up like tinker bell haha, but it was pretty fun...and the food was AWESOME. We had this white elephant gift exchange and I picked out of the last numbers and I ended up stealing a pretty awesome gift from one of the sisters that is going home in 2 weeks....haha! I felt like the devil´s child doing it because everyone was like NOOO!!But it was pretty funny, sometimes life is rough! haha! I´m such a bad person! But seriously it was a great time to see everybody in the zone.
So my companion and I had an interesting experience...When we went to Tepotzlan I contacted this old man on the bus and I asked if he knew anyone else that would like to hear our message...so he told us that maybe his daughter...great! I gave him a card and we planned to meet with him in 2 weeks. We went to seach him out this week and it was in a part of our area that we had never been to before and we werent really sure where we were going...my companion stops to buy this bottle of water and shortly afterward this older lady in this big black and gray fur coat says hi to us and we introduced ourselves and she was sort of really creepy...she had long black eyelashes and bright red lip stick...she asked my companion for a drink of her water, but tells us we had to open it just in case it was poisoned...she then starts telling us about how her and her parents had been poisoned awhile back and it was just weird. We opened the bottle of water and just ended up giving it to her. She then wanted us to go talk to her dad because she told us that he´d definitely be interested in our message...HECK NO. So we just told her we had to go....it was definitely one of the creepiest moments that I´ve experienced in the mission. We finally found the house and two little kids opened the door. Apparently the old man who had given the reference wasn´t actually interested, but knew that his oldest daughter, Arlette was Christian and that she might want to hear our message. He later told us that it wasn´t until he looked closer at the card that I had given him that he realized that we were Mormons...and that Arlette was actually already a member....the same Arlette that we went to look for because a few weeks ago we were looking through the area file and we saw that she had given a bunch of references of her friends to other missioneries...but when we had went to look for her they told us that she had moved!....but apparently the old man on the bus is her dad and Arlette had JUST moved back home....crazy, huh? we´ve still got to met her, we went on Saturday to share a message with one of the little boys who opened the door (Luis Angel) (He´s super interested in knowing more about the church but his dad won´t let him go to church on Sunday´s so it´s sort of not letting him progress, but that´s okay, we´ll see what we can do. It was definitely awesome seeing how the Lord literally lead us to the house of an inactive member who had just moved back and whose little brother was interested in hearing about the church....my companion and I decided that the old creepy lady was definitely a distraction that was put in our way from attending to our actual job, who knows that would have happened if we would have went with her!
We have 4 awesome investigators right now....Super Dave, Rosario and Dante, and Jorge
1)Super Dave....he loves to sing and he´s so funny and loves to serve. When we first contacted him he didn´t believe in God and now he has a baptismal date for the 3rd of January. But.....he just got called for a job at the Gulf of Mexico today and flew out this morning...he works with electricity and we´re really hoping he returns on time for his baptism on the 3rd! He´s really progressing well though!
2) Rosario and Dante....mother and son who are amazing. They´re also going baptized on the 3rd and the only thing that Dante asked Santa for was a little hymnbook and Rosario asked me if I knew of a place that sold them so she could get one before Christmas....and so I just gave her mine, haha! So I hope Dante likes it! Oh and one of my 2 pair of shoes completely broke yesterday...and both pairs of my shoes have already had to be brought to the shoe repair place because the bottoms fell off....oops. I´m really hoping my other pair of shoes lasts me 4 months more!!! Keep those fingers crossed!
Jorge is a great investigator. He doesn´t have a baptismal date right now but is already reading the Book of Mormon for the second time and went to the Stake Christmas Choir performance so we´ll see what happens with him, I hope he keeps coming to church, he´s great!
I hope all of you have a great Christmas this Thursday, I´m so excited to talk to my family!
Oh and that big garbage bag is my Christmas gift I brought to the White Elephant! haha! The mission doesnt really give us lots of options for supplies!
So my companion and I had an interesting experience...When we went to Tepotzlan I contacted this old man on the bus and I asked if he knew anyone else that would like to hear our message...so he told us that maybe his daughter...great! I gave him a card and we planned to meet with him in 2 weeks. We went to seach him out this week and it was in a part of our area that we had never been to before and we werent really sure where we were going...my companion stops to buy this bottle of water and shortly afterward this older lady in this big black and gray fur coat says hi to us and we introduced ourselves and she was sort of really creepy...she had long black eyelashes and bright red lip stick...she asked my companion for a drink of her water, but tells us we had to open it just in case it was poisoned...she then starts telling us about how her and her parents had been poisoned awhile back and it was just weird. We opened the bottle of water and just ended up giving it to her. She then wanted us to go talk to her dad because she told us that he´d definitely be interested in our message...HECK NO. So we just told her we had to go....it was definitely one of the creepiest moments that I´ve experienced in the mission. We finally found the house and two little kids opened the door. Apparently the old man who had given the reference wasn´t actually interested, but knew that his oldest daughter, Arlette was Christian and that she might want to hear our message. He later told us that it wasn´t until he looked closer at the card that I had given him that he realized that we were Mormons...and that Arlette was actually already a member....the same Arlette that we went to look for because a few weeks ago we were looking through the area file and we saw that she had given a bunch of references of her friends to other missioneries...but when we had went to look for her they told us that she had moved!....but apparently the old man on the bus is her dad and Arlette had JUST moved back home....crazy, huh? we´ve still got to met her, we went on Saturday to share a message with one of the little boys who opened the door (Luis Angel) (He´s super interested in knowing more about the church but his dad won´t let him go to church on Sunday´s so it´s sort of not letting him progress, but that´s okay, we´ll see what we can do. It was definitely awesome seeing how the Lord literally lead us to the house of an inactive member who had just moved back and whose little brother was interested in hearing about the church....my companion and I decided that the old creepy lady was definitely a distraction that was put in our way from attending to our actual job, who knows that would have happened if we would have went with her!
We have 4 awesome investigators right now....Super Dave, Rosario and Dante, and Jorge
1)Super Dave....he loves to sing and he´s so funny and loves to serve. When we first contacted him he didn´t believe in God and now he has a baptismal date for the 3rd of January. But.....he just got called for a job at the Gulf of Mexico today and flew out this morning...he works with electricity and we´re really hoping he returns on time for his baptism on the 3rd! He´s really progressing well though!
2) Rosario and Dante....mother and son who are amazing. They´re also going baptized on the 3rd and the only thing that Dante asked Santa for was a little hymnbook and Rosario asked me if I knew of a place that sold them so she could get one before Christmas....and so I just gave her mine, haha! So I hope Dante likes it! Oh and one of my 2 pair of shoes completely broke yesterday...and both pairs of my shoes have already had to be brought to the shoe repair place because the bottoms fell off....oops. I´m really hoping my other pair of shoes lasts me 4 months more!!! Keep those fingers crossed!
Jorge is a great investigator. He doesn´t have a baptismal date right now but is already reading the Book of Mormon for the second time and went to the Stake Christmas Choir performance so we´ll see what happens with him, I hope he keeps coming to church, he´s great!
I hope all of you have a great Christmas this Thursday, I´m so excited to talk to my family!
Oh and that big garbage bag is my Christmas gift I brought to the White Elephant! haha! The mission doesnt really give us lots of options for supplies!
The 12th was the birthday of the virgin Mary (I don´t know who decided it was her birthday) and there were A LOT of parties. A LOT. Mexico went a little crazy and it all started the night before. There were a lot of fireworks--although I don´t know if they count as fireworks because they just shoot up in the air and make a banging noise...they don´t even light up!(there was this big castle shaped Christmas lit figure that said ¨Faith in the Mother¨ and that was pretty interesting) and people drinking...but even like that we were able to have some pretty good lessons. The interesting day should be the 24th, which is like the Mexican Christmas...they don´t care about the 25th, but they´re all partying on the 24th so we´ll see how it goes....Last year was pretty dead on the 24th for us, but we have high hopes.
The Pintor family is amazing. They´ve been working on their family history and theyre going to be going on a temple trip to Oaxaca on Thursday (because the Mexico City temple in closed for reparation still) to do baptizms for the dead. Love their family! Seriously.
Yesterday was the Primary program at church and all the kids were super cute and all of them passed up front to say their lines and I totally had Primary day flash backs from when I was up there saying my lines.
We also went to the Stake Christmas Program and the choir sang some songs and I didn´t realize it, but I actually sort of miss my ward choir...it´s just sort of homey.
Rosario, her little boy Dante and another investigator David are planning on going to on a ward temple trip to see the Christmas lights at the Mexico City temple and to check out the Visitor Center which apparently is AWESOME. I´ll definitely have to come back someday to check it out, probably when the Pintor family gets sealed, we´ll see.
This Wednesday we´re going to have our Christmas Conference and each district is going to be doing a skit and I was chosen to be Tinkerbell...sooo...we´ll see what kind of a costume we can throw together. My companion is the creative one and I think she has an idea so I´m keeping my fingers crossed!
This will be my second Christmas here in Mexico...weird right? It´s sort of hard being away from my family if I'm being honest with myself, but it´s totally awesome watching other families come together to celebrate this holiday season.
Oh, yesterday was pretty funny...we went to share a lesson with Pepé who is less active, but he was watching the Soccer game and didn´t want to be interrupted..but let us come in and we literally shared him the shortest lesson on patience ever because he was literally getting nervous that the tv wasn´t on, haha!! I kept telling him that the score would still have 0-0 when we turned in back on, but I don´t think he believed me lol
Have a great week!!
The Pintor family is amazing. They´ve been working on their family history and theyre going to be going on a temple trip to Oaxaca on Thursday (because the Mexico City temple in closed for reparation still) to do baptizms for the dead. Love their family! Seriously.
Yesterday was the Primary program at church and all the kids were super cute and all of them passed up front to say their lines and I totally had Primary day flash backs from when I was up there saying my lines.
We also went to the Stake Christmas Program and the choir sang some songs and I didn´t realize it, but I actually sort of miss my ward choir...it´s just sort of homey.
Rosario, her little boy Dante and another investigator David are planning on going to on a ward temple trip to see the Christmas lights at the Mexico City temple and to check out the Visitor Center which apparently is AWESOME. I´ll definitely have to come back someday to check it out, probably when the Pintor family gets sealed, we´ll see.
This Wednesday we´re going to have our Christmas Conference and each district is going to be doing a skit and I was chosen to be Tinkerbell...sooo...we´ll see what kind of a costume we can throw together. My companion is the creative one and I think she has an idea so I´m keeping my fingers crossed!
This will be my second Christmas here in Mexico...weird right? It´s sort of hard being away from my family if I'm being honest with myself, but it´s totally awesome watching other families come together to celebrate this holiday season.
Oh, yesterday was pretty funny...we went to share a lesson with Pepé who is less active, but he was watching the Soccer game and didn´t want to be interrupted..but let us come in and we literally shared him the shortest lesson on patience ever because he was literally getting nervous that the tv wasn´t on, haha!! I kept telling him that the score would still have 0-0 when we turned in back on, but I don´t think he believed me lol
Have a great week!!
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