Baptisms, 8-Month Mark and Crazy Dreams...

Hola mama! First off, sorry about last week. Whenever it is really stormy here, the power to the town gets turned off and sure enough, just as we were writing last week, it did. Besides for my stomach today, I’m doing great! On Monday last week after we emailed, we went to visit Victor at his restaurant. He made us something called Alambre and then a taco Apabe and oh man they were so good. It was a bunch of meat and veggies cooked together with tortillas. While we were eating, we were talking with him and he told us how when he gets mad or frustrated he likes to read the Book of Mormon because he feels peace and the love of God when he reads it. He seriously is a stud and an example to me because of how faithful he is. 

We also had a district meeting and the zone leaders decided to join us. It was a good meeting. After we came back to our area we had a lesson with Vianey, Priscila and partly with Laura and Juan (because they were working). Before we had the lesson, Vianey told me she had a dream that she was in Miami and that she found me there too. It was funny because she was so confused why I was in Miami instead of here in Mexico. Strange but funny. It was a really good lesson though and they were both super excited for their baptisms on Saturday. 

Oh and random moment, but we were at DateunRoll to say hi to Andrea and Fernanda, and Fernanda showed us a place in Mexico City that is a cereal bar that has 150 types of cereal that you can eat. Oh how magical it would be to go there :). Other random fact that the only dry cleaners in all of Villa Del Carbon, doesn’t work with or help Mormons. I have no idea why but my suit and pants really need to be cleaned so I asked Andrea to take them to the dry cleaners for me. 

We were gone for two nights this week because we had to go have interviews with President in our zone and then had intercambios. The interview with President went well. He talked with me about what I need to do to improve and to always watch and learn from my companions. President and the zone leaders, and my leaders in my other area told me they can see that I have great potential here in the mission and also afterwards. That makes me feel very grateful and happy. Then for intercambios the first day I was in Campestre with Elder Rivera.

I don’t know what’s up with my stomach but most of the day on Thursday my stomach was hurting. It’s all good though. We switched companions again and I was with Elder Wegner in Lomas Lindas this time. He talked to me about contacting in public transportation. I’ve never done it before but he had me try it and it was actually really good. I talked with a lady while we were traveling on a bus about families because she had her 3-year-old baby with her. I talked about the restoration and how the gospel can help us have a better relationship with our families and bless them too when we apply the teachings of the gospel in our families. She is a really nice lady and seemed really interested in the gospel and told us we could pass by another day and talk more about the gospel. 

Friday we went to the learn what we need to do to fill the baptismal font. We started to fill the “tank” but shortly after, we found out that there was a leak where the water drains out when the tube is open. Branch President told us that because of the leak we couldn’t have the baptism there. His suggestions were to either go to the church in another town over an hour away, or to baptize in one of the rivers nearby. We talked with Vianey and Priscila and although they weren’t happy with either, they chose the river. We actually thought it would be an awesome experience to baptize in a river. Just in case though we decided we would try to fix the font. My companion tried to fix it with duct tape but that didn’t work. So then we decided to try something else; but before we could try that, we found out that Juan, the papa of Vianey and Priscila, had red silicon and replacement parts that we needed to fix it so we got it fixed with Juan’s help.

Saturday was my 8-month mark and it was a great day. We filled up the baptismal font or tank with no problems of leaky water. Then we went and passed by the work of the Hernandez family to see how they are doing. Priscila wasn’t at the house so we talked with Vianey and she said they were both ready and excited. She also told us she had another dream about me but this time we were in a war together. I’m not sure what’s up with her dreams but it’s pretty funny. When the time came for their baptism they were super excited. Vianey picked me to baptize her and Priscila chose Elder Aguilar. Vianey is older but she is a lot shorter than Priscila. After their baptisms, they told us they felt super happy and were looking forward to their confirmation. I could really see a difference in both of them. After the baptisms, they invited us to go to their house and celebrate with them. If I’m gaining weight, it’s because every time they give us food, Laura keeps insisting that I eat more food. She is hilarious. Their whole family is awesome. 

Sunday was really awesome and a super great day. I confirmed Priscila and Elder Aguilar confirmed Vianey. It was really awesome and super spiritual. After the confirmations and the sacrament, both my companion and I gave talks, then we taught the gospel principles class after that. Then later that day, I had a really strong feeling that we needed to go contacting to a part of villas where we have never been to before. We found one house that had a huge yard, the house was really big too. For fun we decided to knock and the man that answered accepted a pamphlet and told us that he was interested and that we could come back another day and talk more and teach his family. I’m glad that God prompted me and that we were able to find that man and a couple other contacts too.

Well I have to go now. I love you Mama! I hope you have a great week!

Elder Aguilar, Priscila, Vianey, Me

Two Baptisms Planned for this Saturday

Hola Mama! How are you? I’m doing good, although I’m trying to download pictures to send and the loading bar literally just went backwards..... I hear thunder outside so idk if the power is going to be cut or not....I’m doing my best though!

Last week we had a zone conference in Tepalcapa, so to save time and not have to wake up super super early and travel for 3 hours we went and stayed at our District Leaders Monday night. Before we left though we passed by the work of the Hernandez family because Laura wanted to give us food before we left. Their family is so fetching awesome and the food she fed us was super good! At our District Leader’s house Tuesday morning we had to shower with cold water because their boiler doesn’t work. Fetching fetch. :)

As far as teaching goes, last week we weren’t able to have a lesson with Alejandro but the family Hernandez is progressing and the 2 daughters are going to be baptized this Saturday!

I really love that thought you shared at the end of your email (which was: "Ministering can be considered the glue that holds Zion together."), the members here in this branch are struggling a bit but we are trying to help them!

Normally I would get more from him but I think the power went out again and never came back on cause that's all I heard from him. But I did get a few pictures so yay for that :)

An ice cream roll taco that I made.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Hola mama! Muy Bien! como estas tu? (Before sharing the week's experiences, first was a great spiritual experience from the week before.) When we are out knocking on doors we first look at the house to see if it looks like anyone is actually home. If it doesn’t look like anyone is home, we pass by and go to the next house. One house we were about to pass by but I had an impression to knock on the door and a young guy answered. We talked and he told us his grandma is a member in another city and that he talked with missionaries 2 years ago so he knew who we were and then he told us that he’s interested in the church and to come back on Thursday because he was getting ready to leave. How awesome though!

Tuesday was a good day, we had intercambios and I went with Elder Rivera to different parts of their area to find more people for them. We found 10 new contacts and 2 new investigators! We killed it where we went contacting! We walked and talked a lot but it was a good day.

Wednesday after we got back to our area we met up with Alejandro and had a lesson with him. He is a nurse at a nearby hospital and is a really good guy. He has lots of questions about how to know if the church is true and how to receive answers for the questions he has. We realized in the lesson that we were just talking and sharing scriptures and not really asking him questions or letting him say much, so we changed and started listening to and using the spirit to teach him and the last part of our lesson was a ton better.

Thursday we first went to see Victor. He owns a restaurant so he told us we could come by before he opened and have a lesson and talk with him. When we got there though he was already opened and busy cooking. We were able to talk with him a little bit about how he is doing. While he was cooking for the other customers he was super awesome enough to make us tacos as well and holy smokes those tacos were bomb. He is such an awesome guy, very humble and really wants to change his life and become closer to God. Our other appointments fell through for the day so we decided to go contacting for a bit. We were able to find a family that is interested but they were busy because Thursday was Mother’s Day here in Mexico.

Friday we had a surprise visit from our zone leaders Elder Wagner and Elder Talbot. They came to see how we are doing here in our area, study with us and take our status. We also had another appointment with Victor and it went super well! He really seemed to absorb and understand all that we talked about with him. At the end of the lesson we invited him to be baptized on June 2^nd. He told us he Is really nervous because that is soon and also because of what his family will think of his decision to be baptize. We helped him understand that if June 2^nd is the day that he should be baptized and if it is something that will make him happy and become closer with God, his family and improve his life that God will help him to know if it Is the time for him and will help him on this path.

Saturday was rough because my stomach felt like crap not long after breakfast. I had a bowl of WaffleCrisp that morning and then made eggs for both my companion and I that had onion, tomato, hotdogs and cheese. It was super good and honestly I don’t think that’s what caused my stomach pains but I don’t know. All of our appointments fell through that day too but we were able to go knocking and doors and thanks to God we were able to find 2 new contacts.

Mother’s Day was a super great day! The Hernandez family and Victor were able to come to the first two hours of church. Laura, the mama of the Hernandez family, got up and bore her testimony and it was great! Their whole family and Victor and super super awesome and really progressing more and more each week. Then I got to Skype with you! It was super awesome to talk with you and hear about what you’ve been up to and share experiences and stories I’ve had with you. I could have talked for hours, and I know mom could have as well. After we were done talking, we went to the casa of the Hernandez family and they made us hamburgers, French fries and gave us Pepsi to drink. The burgers were super good. Laura gave me 3 to eat and 2 handfuls of french fries. I ate it all but man was I so full afterwards. They are a super awesome family and Laura is like my Latina mom. She’s always making sure we are okay and that we have food and in general are doing good. It was just a really great day!

PS I don’t think I ever told you happy mother´s day yesterday so.......HAPPY MOTHER´S DAY! #ItwasMOM! I love you so much Mama! Thank you for everything that you have done for me! You are the best Mama ever! (With this he sent me a bunch of great pictures with sayings on them – totally made me cry while sitting at a work event J. Oh how I love him!!!)

The rest of the pictures are from when he first 

traveled to Villa del Carbón.

Showering with Cold Water and Teaching Some Awesome Investigators

Hola Mama! How are you? I’m doing good! I have a ton of pictures and a couple videos to send but they are taking forever to load again… I also don’t have a lot of time today because we traveled to the town center an hour and a half away to go to Walmart to buy stuff. I bought 3 boxes of waffle crisp, a box of fruity and cinnamon pebbles, cookies and cream pop tarts and Jiff peanut butter! :)

This last week on Tuesday we had a meeting with Elder Pieper of the Seventy who is President over this area of Mexico. It was the first time ever that all of our mission came together for a meeting. During his time talking to us, he talked about what it means to be a minister of the gospel, how and what we need to do to minister the gospel to the people of our areas and what we need to do to find out what our gifts are and how to develop them. It was a really good meeting/devotional to help motivate us to be better missionaries and work harder. 

After we got back to our area we had a lesson with the Hernandez family. They have been investigators for a few months now and are a super awesome family who actually work pretty close to where we live. Our lesson was about Mosiah 2 and as we read the chapter, we would stop every now and then and talk about the versus and how they can apply to us. It was a really good lesson and they were kind enough to give us snacks and drinks during our lesson. It’s great to be able to be in this area teaching them.

Wednesday morning we decided we were sick of showering with cold water so we heated up water in pots on our stove and put it in bucks and used that hot water to shower instead. It’s not the first time I’ve had to shower using a bucket and I know it won’t be the last, but it’s really not that bad so I don’t mind. At least we have water. That afternoon we stopped by the business of the Hernandez family because their daughter Vianey wanted to talk to us. She told us she really wants to be baptized and asked what she needs to do. After we talked for a bit I realized we really need to rely on God and his spirit to be able to know what to do to help not only her but the whole family too.

Thursday, after we paid our rent and got gas for our casa, we went to see an investigator and a recent convert. It was one of the ladies’ birthday a few days ago so we bought a pizza to celebrate with them. A bit later we went and met with Laura, the mom of the Hernandez family, because she wanted to tell us what is going on with her family and if we can help because they really want to be baptized. They want to continue progressing in the church and want to be baptized, there are just some things we’ll have to figure out how to help them with.

Later in the week we also talked to Priscilla, the youngest daughter of the Hernandez family, for a while. She has a huge desire to be baptized because she really feels so much better and happier attending church and thinks that being baptized will help her even more. She is right, that it will. We are trying to help guide her and her family on this path. It will take some work but I know we can do it with God’s help.

Also on Friday there was a huge thunder storm! It was awesome but crazy! I set my camera up to take pictures every 3 seconds for 30 minutes and I got a couple pictures of some lightning! I had like 600 pictures on my camera to go through, but I got 4 with lightning haha so it was worth it.

We are out of time now but don’t worry I will figure out a way to send all of my other photos. Love you so much mama! Talk to you on Sunday. Nos Vemos! Te quiero mucho!