Wow, what a week! Where did it go?
o.O
First of all...rain....lots and lots
of rain. We are definitely in the rainy season. Remember when I told you about
that rainstorm that was just bien fuerte and turned the streets into
rivers. Yeah, we get one of those at least once a day now. The last couple
days it's been super duper hot about 30 minutes before the storm hits and
then it sprinkles like a lovely mist from heaven and then....it downpours. My companion's
umbrella broke on Saturday. I wish I could have taken a picture, I asked but
she said I couldn't. She had her black sweater over her head and her umbrella
folded around her like a taco. I couldn't stop laughing. We ended switching
umbrellas and now she uses mine because she has more of a problem with getting
soaked than I do. ;)
Second of all, Mexico lost their
game in the World Cup on Sunday..sad day. but awesome because now there will
finally be people in the street. No lie, we could definitely tell when Mexico
was playing because the streets would be dead...in the middle of the day! The
first time it happened and we saw maybe 3 people in the street in 30 minutes, I
turned to my companion and said, "We're not allowed to gamble but I would
bet that Mexico's playing right now." Totally true.
So this week we had a lesson with
one of our investigators named Nellie. She is just progressing!...Even if we
aren't able to count her as a progressing investigator because she doesn't
attend our ward on Sunday. We've been teaching her the lessons and with every
visit she talks more and more and has greater and bigger questions! At first
she would hardly speak and look at us with a terrified look every time we asked
her a question. She still gives us the terrified look but now she at least is
actively participating in the lessons. She absolutely loves the temple. She
went to the open house in Mexico City because they just finished remodeling it
and she really wants to go inside especially after we explained baptisms for
the dead. We told her that she absolutely could go inside....after she was
baptized. She wasn't too happy about that. =P
We have a baptism date! :D He name
is Manuel and he has a girlfriend who's a member and preparing to go on her
mission. He's been to church a billion times and likes a lot of the Gospel. The
only thing holding him back is that he's not attending our ward and is scared
of his parents and what they'll do if he gets baptized. They're super catholic.
They apparently don't like us teaching him but were the nicest people in the
world when we visited him for the first time. I think they're mainly concerned
that he's investigating the church for his girlfriend. We're still rootin' for
him though and trying our best to help him be ready. =)
The Zone conference was great! I
loved every moment! We got to eat delicious food made by Hermana Christensen
and I got to spend some time with two of the Hermanas in my zone from Utah,
Hermana Lowe from American Fork and Hermana Melton from Spanish Fork.
So I gave my first talk in church on
Sunday. Originally, in our missionary coordination meeting I was asked to give
my testimony, I was just about to say yes when my companion asks, "A
testimony.....or a message?" Elder Ochoa, the new elder in our ward (He's
fantastic by the way, I hope to be a missionary like him one day) says, "A
message! Then she can work on her Spanish!" :D I wasn't bouncing off the
walls about the idea but I accepted of course. I also had to prepare a lesson
for our gospel principles class. When Sunday rolled around I was kinda
stressed...just a little bit. The entire week I had been praying to know
what I should talk about and what I could say to help the members. I ended up
deciding to use President Utchdorf's talk "Are You Sleeping Through the
Restoration?" It went pretty well...for my first talk in Mexico. My
companion was so sweet and encouraging. She looked like a proud Mama just
smiling encouragingly at me every time I looked at her during my talk. Not
gonna lie...I read most of it, but who can say it better than an apostle of the
Lord?! ;) One of the Hermanas in our ward came up to me afterwards and said,
"Don't worry, I understood what you were trying to say." Sweet no? =)
It wasn't until Saturday night that
I realized why I had been given so much responsibility and work so quickly. I
had been asking the Lord to help me have a change of heart in my missionary
work and in everything that I do. I was reminded of the farewell talk my friend
Elder Christian Loftus gave before he left for Maryland. He told the story of
the Jaredites and how they needed to cross the ocean to get to the Promise
Land. The Lord promised to help them get to where they want to be and what does
He do? He sends a hurricane. When they made it to the Promise Land and gave
thanks to the Lord they realized that the storm that had caused so much fear
and worry and stress during their journey never stopped blowing towards their
destination. Wow, it spoke to me that day and speaks to me now. The Lord sends
storms into our lives to help us grow into the person we want to be and even
though it's hard, the wind never stops blowing us towards our destination and
just like the Jaredites, when we're buried in our oceans of troubles and cares
and feel that we will never resurface, the Lord pulls us back up again. =)
There's also a talk by David A Bednar "Bear up their burden with
Ease" That I was reminded of and like a lot about how our burdens give us
the friction we need to move forward in life. =)
Yup, we can see all three volcanoes
from where we are, two are extinct but they're all really cool to see. I'll
have to take a good picture of them when they aren't covered by clouds and
smog. =)
That's really cool about the rock
with Lehi's dream on it, we were actually picked up for lunch by Hermano Brian
(He's an American from Arizona who's married to a Pueblana here) and he was
telling us about that mural that depicts Christ coming to the Americas. How
cool is that?! I really hope I get to visit it while I'm here. =)
I'm glad Camille and Dad had a good
time at Bersten ponds. =) I actually totally suggested that to her in the
letter I sent on Thursday. =)
Tell everyone hi and send them my love! =)
Thanks Mom for everything that you
do and thank you to everyone for your prayers! I love you all! :D
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