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. 

End of January...Where has this month gone??!!

This week was a week of traveling. 

First, we had companion exchanges. My companion went to Tlaxcala with her MTC companion (Now our sister training leader) and I stayed with Hermana Ibarra. Man, is she just the contacting queen! I learned a lot from her during that time and it was a good time to catch up a little bit and talk about the experiences we have had during our last 10 months in the mission field. We then did quite a bit of traveling to get our companions back and when Hermana Vazquez and I finally got back to our area, we had to go back to house to get the phone that I had forgotten in the house and were late to our district meeting. It also just so happened that our Zone leaders were there. Oops! They hardly ever get the chance to come out because we're about 2 hours away from them, so it's a rare occasion and....we were late for it. =P However, it was a good meeting so it wasn't too bad. =)

We also had interviews with President this week.  We talked about obedience and the four things he focused on during our zone conferences; Safety, Urgency, Informality, and Flirting. It's always a little nerve racking to have "alone time" with the President but I always walk out feeling refreshed and ready to work. Also, we talked to Hermana Christensen about the "My Family" pamphlets that they have asked us to begin to fill out and use. Speaking of which I'm issuing a "Selfie" Call to the family! I need pictures of my wonderful family to put on my pamphlet. Also, mom, I don't know if you have the most recent pictures of my sisters and I together. Or my sisters together? I would take them from Facebook but....I'm kinda not allowed to get on it. ;) 

Last Monday we learned how to make hand-made hawaiian pizzas from our ward mission leader. They were sooooooooooooooo good! Today, we learned how to make churros. I didn't learn to much how to make the batter because I was looking at all of the pictures that his wife was showing me of them and their life together. It was super cute. She also showed me all of the little cards that her husband has made for her during their 6+ years together. There's a lot that young men could learn from our ward mission leader. =P 

My companion and I had the wonderful experience of taking a talk given in General Conference this last October and using it to teach not only the less active family we visited but also those members that accompanied us. It was "Approaching the Throne of God with Confidence" and we had prayfully prepared which parts the members were going to share and how they were going to do so. It went really well and the members received answers to problems they had mentioned to us previously as they explained which was more than we had expected. It was great being able to walk out of the lesson feeling that everyone (including us) had benefitted from the lesson. 

Today, we have officially abandoned our house for a few days to let all the little fleas die that have been eating us the last few weeks. A few of the sisters from the ward came over to help us spray everything down and get a good cough attack from the spray. Hopefully everything will die so that when we move back in we will no longer be eaten in our sleep. =P 

Shout out to the CopperHills 6th Ward! Thank you so much for the pillowcase and the letter. It was a wonderful surprise to receive it! :)

I'm still getting green envelopes. Not sure how many have still yet to come but the other sister missionaries have been teasing me for almost constantly receiving them...Thanks to all those who sent me Christmas letters, I have really enjoyed them!!

 

January 12, 2015

This week was surprisingly very very long. =P 

This week we had transfers and so we said goodbye to Hermana Adam who is now a Sister Training Leader (Hermana Capacitadora (HC for Short)). She is going to be amazing! I wanted to thank you mom for sending me the Nashville Tribute cd. We made a copy of it for Hna Adam on Christmas and she absolutely loved it! She said that she had been passing through a rough moment in her mission and that the songs helped give her a second wind to keep moving forward. =)

We ended up going on a surprise trip to Puebla City so that my companion could stay in the country...she had to do some things for her visa. We ended up running into her MTC companion who's also an HC and her new companion, who is....drum roll please........rrrrrrrrrr.....Hermana Ibarra! My wonderful MTC companion! And even better, they're our HC's and so we'll be doing exchanges with them and everything. We are so excited! It was the weirdest thing to hear her voice coming out of the phone when she called to check in on us but I'm so proud of her for being such a wonderful missionary that the Lord has called her to help others be just as great. =)

As to the King' day. It's really kinda a late Christmas. Santa doesn't really exist here, mostly because no one can afford two Christmas's. =P However, from what I've been told, On Christmas, Santa brings clothes for the new school semester that's going to start and the 3 Wise Men bring toys to play with. Last Monday, the center of town was filled with stands selling toys, clothes, and other assorted treasures. People came from all around to pick up what the Kings would bring to their children so it was super crowded and lots and lots of fun to see.

Josè Abel is still going strong. We've reviewed the baptismal quesitons and he's perfectly ready! Truly, the revision of baptismal questions is a little worrisome for me beause we don't talk about every, single detail in the questions (ex. Abortion) and so if the investigator has not been very open with us and we find out that they have a serious problem with something, it's possible that the whole baptism has to be canceled. However, he's ready and will be baptized on Saturday. He's really excited and so are we. He's so amazing. He told us yesterday that he's been taking everything so slow because he doesn't want to go inactive in the church after we leave, which is amazing. It's positively sad how a lot of the Less active members that we have here went inactive less than a month after their baptism. However, I thoroughly don't believe that that will happen to him. He's so excited to receive the Priesthood and go to the temple to do the work for his mother who passed away and other's in his family who are on the other side. I'm just so excited for him!

 

Funny thing, the other day we ran into more Jehovah's witnesses. They're everywhere! They were two teenage girls who positively refused to accept a card and then when we finally decided to give up trying to get them to listen, they gave us their webpage to visit and of course I did the same. It was priceless to see their faces when I told them we were the Mormons! Okay, yeah, I'm done. They are quite an interesting lot.

I have been having the experience of late of being almost constantly chastised by the Lord and I think the most surprising part is that I'm absolutely enjoying it. It really comforts me to know that He is willing to remind me of the little things that I do wrong or that I can do better so that I can become the best that I can at this time. My most recent reminder was yesterday. While my companion and I were walking home at the end of the day, we got the usual attention from the men in the street. However, one young man that was in his car kept driving slowly to say many things, that although were compliments, were said in a very very disrespectful kind of way. Usually the men just say one thing or whistle and that's it, however, this young man's persistence annoyed me greatly. When he was finally driving away, I retorted under my breath, very irritated. As I reflected on that moment, I looked for justifications as to being annoyed with the young man. For example, "It was so disrespectful!" "Does he know who I am?" "I have every right to be angry with him, what right does he have to say such things?!" "Doesn't he know that I'm a representative of Jesus Christ?!"

However, as I thought this to myself I saw in my mind the moment when our Savior was before the Pharisees and how they abused him verbally, physically, and unjustly. I then saw how he just stood there and took it. Not angry, or irritated, but simply calm. He loved them anyway. Despite everything that they did, he took it because he loved them and us. 

I was then reminded of the title I bear of Representative of Jesus Christ. Yes, the cat calls and wolf whistles and random phrases in English that I would rather not  hear are very irritating at times and make me feel rather frustrated with them, however, it's rather harmless. Just as the sister missionaries that received a one-sided food fight that were mentioned by Jeffery R Holland, the best thing to usually do is just keep walking. Saying nothing more than "Buenas Tardes" if anything at all. 

 

I'm very grateful for every moment that the Lord reminds me of things I need to change and for the strength He gives me to change and be better. 

 

FELIZ DÍA DE LOS REYES!!!! ENERO 6!!!

Happy Day of The Kings January 6th!!!  

This was a long but good week.

José Abel is still continuing to progress rapidly and is still on track for his baptismal date on the 17th of January. This last week he really began to study and as he explained to us what he had learned between our visits he just glowed. =) Also, during church, he leaned over and said, "Hermanita, what would you think if I went up and bore my testimony?" I said that it would be great if he wanted to and then  he got up and bore his testimony! Of course he didn't really know what a testimony was but it was still amazing that he got up in front of everyone and said how he was beginning to feel that all of this was true and that he's very excited to be baptized. We are too. =)

My companion especially because she's the one who contacted him in the street and is going to be able to see him through start to finish because we're going to have another transfer together!! :D We're both super excited especially for all of the plans that we can officially put into action now that there's no holidays or conferences to get in the way. =) Even though we didn't appreciate the joke our district leader and his companion played on us. My companion asked him to not call us if we didn't have transfers, so of course he called us to tell my companion that she was being transferred and she took it a little hard. After he confessed, I informed him that he officially owed my companion her favorite cookies at the next district meeting. =P 

Funny thing that happened the other day. We went to one of the little towns in our area and this man run up behind us and started talking to us. He was a little weird but said that he wanted to become closer to God and didn't know if we could help him. We gave him a Book of Mormon promising that whatever he was looking for, he would be able to find it there. He was really surprised that we were giving him a nice book for free but gladly took it. We both had been praying in our hearts to know what his intentions are and honestly we felt fine until his friend came up who was obviously drunk. We quickly contacted him and the funny part is that in the middle, I was talking to him and my companion was talking to the first guy and when we were finishing up the very drunk man looked at me and said, "I love the way your hair falls." Reaching his hand up to me, "Can I touch it?" I reached up, took his hand, shook it and said, "Sorry but no, we have to go." Then we left. later during the day, I would randomly look at my companion and say, "Hermana, I just love the way you hair falls." It became a new inside joke for us. =)   

I have realized that I am soooo grateful that I will not be here for another New Year's celebration!!. Here at midnight, they light scarecrows on fire that are stuffed with fireworks to celebrate the coming of a new year. The entire world was exploding for over an hour in the middle of the night. Didn't sleep a wink! Luckily, things have finally calmed down here and everything should be much more peaceful. =)

One more transfer with Hermana Vazquez, they are both very excited to continue the work they are doing together for the next 6 weeks

Happy New Year!!

This week was a little of a rough one because of Christmas and all but we got to experience a miracle at the end. Yesterday, our golden investigator came to church with the intention to basically tell us that he didn't think that he was worth all the work we were putting into him and that he didn't want us to visit him anymore. He was then going to walk out of the church and go back to the old life that he knew so well. Fortunately, our Heavenly Father intervened and prompted our bishop to talk to him and our ward mission leader to spend some time talking to him about how things were going and then spend most of the afternoon with him. We then had our appointment with him and had felt inspired to have one of his old friends in the ward and her husband accompany us. It was a wonderful lesson. By reflecting, asking questions, and listening during our lesson with him, we finally came to understand exactly how he was feeling and with the help of the members that were with us and the Lord, we were able to finally address the need we knew he had but didn't know what it was. He's had a very rough past and has hardly ever felt loved. This new experience of nothing but love from us, the members, and his Heavenly Father and Savior has been quite the shock for him. However, we were blessed with the Spirit during our lesson and his truly felt the presence of his Heavenly Father with him. 

I have never been so grateful to be a missionary and to have the privilege to be here than when I heard him pray at the end of that lesson. It's truly amazing to realize that I can't do anything more to help these people than invite them to come unto Christ. He truly changes lives and heart. I am so grateful for Him and for all that He does, not only to change my investigators' hearts or my family members' hearts but also my heart. 

I have been thinking a lot about what I wanted to put as my goals or even better, my gift to the Savior this coming year. I'm still working on deciding but I invite every one of you to think about what you can give to the Savior this coming year and then work for it. I promise that with His help and strength you will be able to do it. =)

Thank you everyone for your letters and testimonies! They brought a wonderful peace and help to me this week. 

I feel that these next 8 1/2 months are just going to fly by. Especially as we start the new year. Thank you so much for the countdown to Christmas. My companion absolutely loved it! And for the little extra money you gave me for her. She didn't have much to open on Christmas and it was wonderful to see her face as she opened the gift that she didn't know she would have! =)

 

Carlie was able to do a little bit of site seeing on P-Day.  They went to Cantona and saw the ruins