So I learned a great lesson today as
I was trying to think of what I was going to write to everyone today. The
lesson is...write in your journal every day. It's important because I can
hardly remember what happened this week. However, I'm going to do my best.
This last week we had one of those lessons when you just
teach and say everything that the Spirit tells you to teach and say, and you
walk out of the lesson going, "Wow, did that just happen?" The lesson
was with two of our investigators Jordy and Angeles. They're boyfriend and
girlfriend, and have a little girl name Romina, who actually just turned 1, and
they have lots of problems. Especially Jordy, he's likes everything that we're
asked not to do regarding the Word of Wisdom. We had originally gone to their
house to teach Angeles and had planned on teaching them about baptism but when
Jordy got home , the Spirit guided us into a lesson about the Word of Wisdom.
(Looking back, we actually taught about the Word of Wisdom more than anything
else this week) He really wasn't all that interested in changing and was acting
like "whatever comes, comes and someone could do bad things, work hard for
his family, and does not have to change" attitude until my companion said
something really profound that caused his whole demeanor to change. I can't
tell you exactly what it was but it really hit home in the manner of, "The
next time you're faced with temptation, with your favorite sin, think to
yourself, 'Is my life worth giving into this temptation? If I had to
choose, would I choose my family, my daughter, or this thing that's bad
and I know it is bad?'" I'm reminded of the quote, "Don't give up your
eternal happiness for a moment of pleasure."
This week, my companion and I were looking at our money
supply and trying to figure out how we were going to pay for everything we had
to do, for all of the transportation to our meetings and my companion's doctor
appointments, the food we needed to buy on Monday, and really just how we were
going to stretch everything until the end of the month, at that point it was
two weeks. We were both really concerned and unsure how we were going to do it.
We prayed and prayed both personally and together that we would have enough
money to make it until the end of the month. I was also praying that my
reimbursements had gone through because there was no way we were going to
make it without that.And things kept coming up that made us become even more
concerned. Then, on Saturday, we checked my card and my reimbursements went
through! Not only that but members offered us rides to our Stake Conference we
had, and I found 100 pesos in my wallet that I swear I had used. Money kept
appearing and we now have more than we need to make sure we get to the end of
the month. Oh how the Lord loves His missionaries.
I met another American this week,
well he's Mexican but he lived in America for a long time. Yesterday, we were
heading home because my companion was getting really sick and as we were
walking down the street, we passed two people, a young man and an
older woman. The Spirit whispered, "Contact them. Contact them." I
don't know if I would have let the moment pass but as we passed them the man
said, "Hey girl!" My first thought was 'Oh no, he's going to hit on
me. I don't know if I can take another man hitting on me today.' I said hello
in Spanish and he asked, "Do you speak English?" I said that I did
and asked if he did also. I know it's kinda obvious that he did but you never
know how well people can speak English cause everyone tries to speak it when
they see an American. As it turned out, he was from Long Beach, California. He
had a wife and two kids back there but couldn't get back because he didn't have
his papers. His mother had lived there with him and she was the older woman
with him. He asked, "Are you Mormon?" With surprise I said that I was
and introduced myself as a missionary of our Church. He said, "Oh, I felt
so blessed to have had the Mormons at my house in California." His mother
told us that they really liked the Mormons and that her son had even been to
church with them a couple of times. We ended up talking to them more and
swapped numbers because they were still new to the area and didn't
know their address yet. I really hope we're going to end up
teaching them. You could just feel how much they need the Gospel.
It positively amazes me how the Lord puts us in the path of
others when we least expect i!
Also, this week we had La Comida (food) with one of my
favorite families, the family of Mary Carmen. She was kind of my first mom when
I got out here. (Now, for everyone who doesn't know, right now is the
World Cup and everyone is watching it. This morning we were walking to
the Frutaria and every house we passed you could hear the announcers
for the World Cup.) The day we were over for lunch, Mexico was playing and
so nothing was going to happen until after the game. After calming Dana down
because I had given her and Siyun each a CTR ring and Dana had lost her's at
school that day, I played with Siyun and Dana while the rest watched the game.
Siyun is Mary Carmen's daughter and Dana is her cousin. First we played
"Roca, papel, tijerras" (Rock, paper, scissors) in a very creative
way and another game where they would chant something and after saying
something about the face of their Uncle Julio we would all have to freeze. The
first person to move..lost.
After a while they got bored with the games and
decided to become missionaries. They borrowed my name tag, my companion's, and
our backpacks and headed out the door. Considering they had just stolen our
identities, we followed them. They walked down the street, around the corner,
and knocked on someones gate. From the end of the street where we were we could
hear them saying, "Hi, we're missionaries." I looked at my companion
and upon seeing her concerned look, I started busted up laughing. Naturally, I
made sure to take some pictures of our "Misionaras chiquitas". 
Funny side note, Mexico is playing right now in the World
Cup and just made two goals in less than 5 minutes, everyone in the Internet
Cafe was going CRAZY! With the exception of my companion and I, of course. =)
I also have been making sure to give out the stickers and taking
pictures of those that I've been giving them to, first there's Pamela, the
daughter of one of our member
families, she was really camera shy and I could
hardly get a photo of her. =) The other is Soy, she's the daughter of one of
our part member families that we found while contacting in the street. She
loved the camera...and the stickers...A LOT. =)
The young man is Joseph. He's one of our less actives that
we're been working with a lot. We gave him a CTR ring to help him remember the
decision he's made to turn his life around and, because he's learning English,
we gave him a Book of Mormon in English with the promise that if he reads the
whole thing out loud, when he finishes he'll be able to understand and speak
it. It's actually a really cool promise that my companion and I have been
putting to the test in our respective languages. Let me tell ya, I am never
more prepared and better able to speak to others in Spanish than when I've read
the Book of Mormon in my language studies.
I have my first Zone Conference this
week on Thursday. I'm super excited! I'll make sure to tell you all about it
next week. =)
