March Showers???

Sad news, our investigators are not doing so hot. We never saw Oscar again but there's still hope as Hermano José Abel is going to do what he can to get ahold of him and get us an appointment with him. Gotta love members with lots of excitment for missionary work! 

Fabiane and Andrea we think are slowly slipping away and we feel that part of it is because of their mother who has lied to us a few times to get us to not visit them. However, we're hoping to see them this week and to get them back on track.

We found out this week that Alejandro has a bit of a problem with drugs...great. His girlfriend told us. =) Seriously, sometimes I feel like a spy with investigators, trying to get information about them through their family and friends that we know. ;P The cool thing is that after our first lesson with him, my companion told me that she thought that he has problems with the Word of Wisdom, specifically drugs and it was confirmed by his girlfriend Fanny when we went to our appointment with him and she told us...afer a bit of prying but she told us. I've learned recently that if you want to know something about someone, the best way to find out is to ask directly without being embarrassed. It seems to work pretty well. =P 

I loved the conferences that we had this week, the zone conference and the stake conference. We talked about quite a few things in the zone conference but the part that I enjoyed the most what when we talked about anger...and I had a personal revelation while reading a talk from President Monson. I realized that I have been lying to myself for quite a while now because I always told myself that I don't ever get angry, I only get frustrated but then while reading I received the impression that although I don't get furious very often I still do get angry. Like President Christensen said (talking about when he gets angry) in the conference, "my blood boils a little and the Spirit leaves." I was also told that I needed to start admitting to myself when I get angry so that I can repent and begin to work on this little problem of anger that I have. Also, it was really interesting to see that after we talked about anger and how no one "makes us angry", we have to choose, we ended up talking about it almost every day with someone new, members and investigators. Funny how what we learn about the gospel comes in handy soon after we learn something new.

I also really liked a talk given by Elder Johnson in the Fuertes stake conference about being an example as parents. I loved his example that he gave in the beginning because when he began to give us intructions to clap when he had counted to 3, I knew there was a trick somewhere and that something smelled fishy. I told myself that I was going to do it exactly as he said and not waver. However, when he and everyone clapped on 2 so did I! I couldn't believe it. It's amazing how hard it can be sometimes to follow the instructions of someone you trust and they do something else. This not only applies to parents but also to missionaries. How can we invite people to come unto Christ if we're not doing the same? How can we teach them obedience to the commandments of the Lord if we're not doing everything possible to be obedient to not only the commandments of the Lord but also to each and every one of the mission rules. 

I can't lie, I'm a little nervous for transfers this week (they'll be letting us know at the earliest on wednesday) especially because I love my area so much and love working with Hermana Perez, but I am also learning to forget what I want and to let the Lord do all that He wishes to do with this year and a half that I promised to give Him. He's been teaching me alot about humility and dependence on Him. It's hard....really really hard...but I know that with time, I will be able to see and understand what He has in store for me and the person He is trying to mold me into, even if I'm really stubborn clay for molding. ;) 

Question for all of you:

If Christ was chosen as our Savior to save us from our sins, what was Satan going to save us from if he had been chosen as the Savior? o.O

(an ex-missionary asked us this yesterday and I studied it this morning. Hint: Liahona March 2015 Pg 25 excellent article and gives a great answer if you're looking for it =) ) 

Yes, the Easter package came in. I don't have it but it made it to the offices and I should have it on Wednesday...I hope. =)

Camille! Your hair is so freakin' long! Oh, and congrats on the YW Medallion! I'm so proud of you :D

Oh and no earthquake. We didn't feel anything. The only weird thing the earth has been doing out here is raining...a lot!!!

I'll tell you all about Easter here next week!...I think. I honestly have no idea how they celebrate it. All I know is that they have nothing to do with eggs and easter bunnies. =P

March 16, 2015

This week was an interesting one, we basically lost a day of work and didn't feel like we did much, although we had a wonderful finish. We lost two of our investigators for whom we had been planning to put baptismal dates. Although we were sad to watch them choose to not accept the gospel we were blessed with two new investigators that seem really interested...well I guess they all do in the beginning. However, we walked out of both of our lessons feeling that they were a blessing from the Lord. 

  One of them is named Oscar. He's an acquaintance of José Abel and we contacted him while he was talking to José. He accepted an appointment and when he came to the appointment, the Spirit became so strong. We had a wonderful lesson with him as we listened to his story of how he found God and found his way back after walking down a road of drug and alcohol addictions and the love that he had for God after receiving his second chance. He accepted the baptism invitation and asked if he could come to church with us next Sunday. We walked out of that lesson just feeling amazed and excited to begin working with him. His recent convert friend (Jose) is also really excited to see him begin to learn about the gospel.

The other new investigator is Alejandro. He's living with a less-active member and is really open to learning. We hope that his interest will really help him progress and that his girlfriend will be able to encourage him to read and pray. He has so much potential that I really really hope he makes it to the waters of baptism. =) 

Funny thing that happened when one of our investigators dropped us. We went into the lesson knowing that it would either be the first of a lot of good lessons or the very last that we would have with her. She was supposed to pray about Joseph Smith and if he was a prophet. Well, she did and she got an answer that all that we're teaching is true... but didn't want to accept it. We taught a little lesson to her and she agreed with everything that we said but thanks to her fear of being a traitor to her parents she decided that she didn't want to learn more. Okay, well there's not much that we can do about that, so when she told us we bore our testimonies to her that all that we had taught was true and that God had answered her prayers and that he would continue to help her and everything that she did. Then we wanted to close with a prayer (we had to go eat and had other appointments and couldn't spend any more time than was necessary on someone who didn't want to know more) but that was when she went off trying to justify why she didn't want to learn more, having already told us, and we kept saying that it was fine, we understand, we're sad that she doesn't want more but we're going to respect her decision, and so forth. After saying each of these things we tried to finish with a prayer but she wouldn't let us leave. For like an hour! Finally, I took the moment given to bare my testimony and offer to say the prayer. Finally, she let us leave. It was the weirdest thing, because generally when they say that they don't want more we're almost clinging to the door as they try to push us out but this time she was clinging to us saying that we had to go as we tried to get to the door. People are so funny sometimes. =P

This same day we went to a new part of our area and while walking along a lone dirt road we got hit by a wild hail storm. We were soaked in minutes and were being pelted by decent-sized hail. We ran under a little overhang and prayed for the Lord to help us make it to the chapel that wasn't too far away or for someone to find us and help us. The hail calmed down minutes after and we began to make our way to the chapel. On the way a less-active member that had avoided the missionaries before called us into their house and gave us shelter and coats. They then arranged for us to get a ride to our destination which was super nice. The best part is that they made us take their coats with us to keep us warm and gave us the best excuse ever to return and visit them this week. =) 

This week was ward conference and it's pretty cool here because they go ALL OUT for this kind of thing. They buy flowers and make invitations, boutiners, and the whole sha-bang. They take it very seriously and EVERYONE shows up. We had 10 less-active members and their families there and there were so many people that the majority of the classes had to be held outside of the chapel because we didn't all fit in our classrooms. *sigh* If only it were that way every Sunday. ;)

It has also been really interesting working with Hermana Pérez because sometimes I feel like I'm training again but because she's still learning a lot and sometimes I feel like she's training me from all that I've been learning from her. She's really great, even if we butt heads every now and then because of our stubborness or pride. I'm really enjoying my time with her and hope that we can get all the work done that we can in these last couple of weeks that we have. =)

I got the packages you sent, thank you mom! =) José Abel loved his scriptures and the candy that you sent with the bible was shared with my district (because we were in a district meeting), my zone leaders, and some members. The day can always be brightened with a little bit of sugar. =)

I hope you guys have a wonderful week! I love you all and don't forget that the Lord loves you and is always by your side. =)

Almost a Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well this has been an interesting week. I honestly don't remember most of what happened...it all just went by so fast. o.o However, I'll do my best. =)

To answer your question. My companion is awesome. She's from Mexico City. She speaks some English and tries really hard to practice. She loves working and gets frustrated when things don't work out but it learning patience. ;)

This Sunday, everyone forgot that they were going to give a talk and their subject on which they were supposed to talk...bummer. Good thing none of our investigators came to church yesterday. =P 

On Monday, we spent the day doing service....we later read in the our manual missional that we should try not to not plan activities on P-days (oops) however, it was a very fruitful project. We helped a less-active in the ward clean up his...well yard. 

 

We knew he had a lot to take care of in his life and wanted to help him, however, he refused to open up to us. We started out all casual-like talking to him and his family and about the things that he's done, where's he been, and such and then the Spirit guided us into a conversation about him talking to the bishop and getting his life back into order.  As most people who had a lot to clean up in their lives, he was not excited about the idea, knowing that it was what he was supposed to do. At the very least, we left him considering it.
 

Yesterday, we went back to visit him and to see how everything was going, we ended up talking about the moment when we had opened our mission calls (he's an ex-missionary). I, of course, had the most dramatic story. ;P It was cool to hear his story and to listen to him. Once again, the Spirit led us into a conversation about him making everything right. (I know it was the Spirit because I don't remember how we got onto the topic or how we led into it). It was a great lesson. 

 

We talked a lot about repentance and the progress required by the Lord to be made clean and it amazed us how familiar his situation seemed. I've never been where he is but I knew exactly how he felt and still feels. The compassion I felt for this man surprised me. I was able to testify of every step of the progress that we talked about, the power of the Lord to cleanse and make one clean, the strength that our Heavenly Father gives to His children to help them overcome temptations and the promised blessing that await him if he were to gather sufficient courage to talk with the bishop. 

 

Not only did it cause me to feel compassion for this brother but also gratitude for all that the Lord did for me and still does for me to make me clean and to help me become little by the little more like Him. The brother made the decision to talk to the bishop and we have a date to work with as a goal for him and he's agreed to let the elders give him a blessing to help him got there. He's absolutely terrified but well decided. 

 

I'm so grateful for the authority given to us as missionaries to call God's children to repentance and the power of the Holy Ghost to awake the desire within them to do so. 

March? O.o

Well this week has been really exciting, what with the throwing of alcohol bottles through our windows and everything. However, I've also been able to see how the Lord has been answering my prayers. 

 

One experience was when we went to one of our little towns and I only had enough money to get us there and not nearly enough to get us back. As we left a lesson and started heading back to take the taxi in order to get home, I began wondering how I was going to pay for it. My companion didn't have any money and didn't know that I officially didn't have any. As I began to worry and try to make plans, a couple of members passed by us in their car and then gave us a ride back to Libres. They have no idea the great work they did for me in their little act of kindness towards the missionaries.

The next experience that I had was in the same little town. We had been running from Libres to get to an appointment in the little town over and I was a little worried to go into that part of our area because it was getting dark However, we had an important appointment there and so we went. I kept praying for the Lord to protect us. As we left the appointment, it was pretty dark and so I continued praying. Then when we asked some of the police for help they gave us a ride in a bike taxi (free) right up to the taxi that would take us home. They were so kind and were another answer to my prayers.

Today we got to do service for Hno Emilio and it was so much fun. We had been feeling recently that we needed to start visiting him although he always helps us out and we see him everywhere. It took some convincing but he allowed us to help him clean up his yard. We decided to do it today so that we could take all the time we needed. We had known a few things from his past and wanted the chance to talk about it but it turned out that a formal lesson setting wasn't best for him and we got the chance to talk alot while cleaning up his yard. We really hope that this chance and talk that we had with him will help him begin repenting and start moving forward. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week.!! I love you all!!

11 months!! .....waaaaatttt?!!

Can you believe that I've already been out here for almost a year?! I can't. It feels just like last month that I got here from the MTC, except that I can understand what everyone's saying now and I know what I'm doing...kinda. =P

This week has been rather interesting. I was really sad too to see Hna Vazquez go and even though we both cried a little after we found out, we knew deep deep deep DEEP down that it was a necessary change. She's now serving with in another stake but it seems that we will be seeing each other relatively often before she finishes her mission in May.

My new companion is Hna Pérez. She's from the Mexico City and is almost as tall as I am. I still haven't quite adjusted to having someone my height walking by my side everwhere I go. =P She's super excited about the work of the Lord and to make a difference here in this area.

Hermana Perez

Thanks to my companion's love of contacting, we currently have a new family to teach that consists of a mom and two daughters. They have a lot of problems between them and the mom accepted us with the hope that we could help her rebellious 12 year old that 's dating a 17 year old. o.O They are really sweet and attentive and we hope to be seeing a lot of progress with them over the next few weeks. 

This week I've been receiving the blessing of spending a lot of time on my knees. It was surprisingly hard having a new companion and getting along with her is easy enough but it's all mostly feelings that I bring upon myself. Sometimes, I don't know what to do with myself or with my companion and feel that I just can't do anything. However, I'm beginning to be taught to be grateful for the daily strength that the Lord gives me even though my problem doesn't get solved right away.

Sorry it's not much of what's happened this week but I have to go, we are going into Puebla today with our zone to see Meet the Mormans.

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Here are some pictures of the jewelry box Jose Abel made for me.

  Check out this GIANT asparagus we found!!!

February 16

We will be having transfers again this week and my companion will be leaving the area. She's had about 4 and a half months here and that usually is the average to be in an area. Everyone has been so sweet as they've told her goodbye. Our convert, José Abel, arranged a little lunch in honor of her leaving. He had promised about a month ago to make us jewelry boxes (quick background story: He usually makes little jewelry boxes for a craft store and when I saw one that was simple but pretty I asked him where I could buy one like it, silly thing to ask a carpenter, and his only reply was something to the effect "Don't worry Hermana, I'll just make one for you" and that's exactly what he did.) and unfortunately I don't have pictures this time but next week I'll make sure to send them to you. They are absolutely beautiful! He make us each one and I've never been so grateful. I told him that I had always wanted a beautiful jewelry box to put my important things in and that he hadmade one of my dreams come true. He seemed very happy with that.

Like I said last week, we went to Zacatlan de las Manzanas, something of Apples I have no idea what Zacatlan means. Anyway, it's positively beautiful there. We went to the center of town where's there a huge clock surrounded by what are flowers during the summer. We finished off by going to a beautiful waterfall. I'll have to double check what it's called but you have to go down 365 steps to reach the waterfall. That also means going up 365 steps to return to the car. ;P We certainly got our exercise. Funny thing about Mexico, any beautiful or ancient site that you want to visit, you have to hike to. I guess the native inhabitants didn't mind exercise as much as we do. =P 

This week we had another zone conference with our President. It was really good however I think I enjoyed the zone meeting before even more. We talked about being excited for the work and how the prophets from the Book of Mormon passed for the same things as us and yet, the Lord helped them to keep going. This is something that every missionary has the chance to see and is grateful for each day. 

Yesterday, we ended up going to Puebla on an emergency trip for money. =P My companion had almost 1,000 pesos stolen out of her wallet and has been without money for the last 2-3 weeks and so we've been living off my monthly allowance. However, with so many trips into Puebla the last few weeks, I'm basically out of money also until Tuesday afternoon. So, the elders in the offices said that they could help us out by giving us money but we had to go into the offices to get them. A 2 hour trip in bus. My companion and I prayed to our Heavenly Father, asking that if there was a better way to get to the offices than taking the bus that he would show us. Fortunately the other hermanas decided to accompany us and weren't as embarrassed as I was to ask Hermano Emilio to drive us down. We all pooled our money for gas and had a pretty fun road trip down to Puebla together. We did get lost on the way home but everything went well. We were very blessed and now will be able to get to Puebla tomorrow for tranfers. =) 

My Heavenly Father has been answering my prayers a lot lately and I have been very grateful for them. It always amazes me just how mindful of each of us he is and I cannot comprehend how he does it. However, I am reminded that right now I'm just a missionary and not a God, so I don't have to worry about understanding everything right now. 

I must admit that I am sad to be seeing Hermana Vazquez leave the area, I'm not quite sure it's completely sunk in yet, however, I am so excited for her and for the next three months she will enjoy as she ends her mission. I have been very grateful for my time here in Libres with her and I don't think I've been happier in my mission. Although I am nervous or a little scared for tranfers, I am reminded of something that Jeffrey R Holland said, "Faith is moving forward, believing that the Lord has something better for us than what we now have."

I hope you have a wonderful week! I love you all!

Heeelllloooo...February!!!

 Where did January go? 

This week was probably one of the more boring and yet exciting in my mission!

On Monday, we fumigated our house. We left all of our clothes laid out all over the house and we were basically kicked out of the house by the sisters from the Relief Society that came to help. They were very excited at the idea of killing tons of bugs. =P We had planned things out so that we would have clean clothes during the couple of days that we would be out of the house and officially moved in with the other sister missionaries in our ward. It was fun having a whole missionary sleepover where everyone is asleep by 10:30 but we were so ready to be home by the time Wednesday came along. We ended up being without clothes until Friday I think, because we just kept running out of time to go and get them from the Lavanderia. It was amazing to see little surprises coming up of the Lord blessing us. I.E. My companion finding a clean skirt in her suitcase and me finding a clean pair of socks in my backpack that I had forgotten I had put in there. It looks like the fumigation did the trick for now and I have officially stopped touch dogs!! With all considered of the not really doing much because we took a few days to get the house back together, we're really excited to get back to work. 

Our recent convert Josè Abel has been doing well. He's just learning so much! He also had a very eventful Sunday and blamed us completely for it...in the best way possible. =P He received his first calling in the ward (counting heads during sacrament meeting), gave his first spiritual thought during Sunday School, and received the Aaronic Priesthood. We had asked the ward leaders to help us work towards these things to help him progress in the Gospel but we never expected it to happen so soon! I've been rather impressed with our Elders Quorum leader because he always seems to be just one step ahead of us to help Josè. 

This Sunday was really good. I actually really enjoyed fasting and I think it was because I had something really special that I was fasting for even though it scared me half to death to ask the Lord for it knowing that the outcome was going to be hard regardless but I'm also really excited for the chance to watch Him mold me again. 

Today we went to Puebla for a Zone activity. When they first invited us we said "thank you but no thank you" because we would have to travel 2 hours for a couple of hours of playing and then return and there wouldn't be time to complete everything we need to do to prepare for the week. However, they continued to insist and moved everything around so that it would be easier for us to go. In the end, I think I only went because I felt bad for all the work they had done to put it together and to make it more convenient for us. It actually was a lot of fun. I haven't been to an activity in a while and we all enjoyed it. We played soccer, volleyball, and basketball. All of which I'm horrible and yet competitive at, but we all had fun. 

I can't believe the month of January is already gone. I knew that the year would begin to pass super fast after the New Year but  I didn't think it would be that fast. Anyway, transfers are coming soon and it'll be interesting to see what happens. Usually we all start to receive a bit of personal revelation at this point, as President starts making the changes, but my companion and I both feel that anything is possible and so I guess we'll see. =) 

Thank you for all that you do! I love you all and have a wonderful week!

 

 

Here are some pictures of some service we did this week. The older woman in Hermana Agustina, the most loyal member of the church I have ever met. The man with the straw hat is Hno Emilio, a less active who's trying to come back and the man in the cameo is the less active that we have to drive 45 minutes to go visit. We were helping to get corn ready to be stored

This is hno Emilio's son. He's the cutest thing ever! At Jo'se Abel's baptism day, Emilito brought me a beautiful white rose. =)

 

Two day old baby goats at our ward mission leader's house.