Elder Spencer's Mexico Mexico City North Mission: A Casa with Concrete and no Insulation Makes for Cold Mornings

Hola Mamá! How are you? First off I wanted to ask if you liked the things I sent home :). I saw the pictures! As far as cambios, we don’t know what’s going on yet. Our Zone Leaders are going to tell us in the night.

Last Monday was a pretty great day. After our p-day ended we went to an appointment with a man named Juan who actually contacted us last week in the street. He told us he wanted to talk with us because he is looking for peace and tranquility in his life. It was a very good lesson and I was able to feel a very strong, calm and peaceful feeling while we were there with him. He has a chronic sickness and is a very skinny man because there are times he can’t eat with this sickness he has. He is a very smart guy and very interesting too. He knows a lot about the bible and religions and knows how to play a lot of different instruments and also likes to sing opera. We had a good lesson talking with him to get to know him and what we can do to help him.

Tuesday we had our last district meeting for the cambio and what made it sad was it was Elder Donkersgoed’s last meeting before he goes home. Because it was his last meeting the Hermanas brought him a pie and a poster that we all signed and my companion and I also brought dobladas that the family Avendaño Cruz were kind enough to make for us. We had a really good last district meeting and then luckily for my companion and I we were able to go after the meeting to eat lunch with the Familia Avendaño Cruz. The mom, Adriana, is basically the other mom here in Tula and she calls us her sons. After we ate lunch Adriana and her daughter Yarit asked us to give them both blessing of comfort and strength for some hard things they are going through. It was a really awesome experience. I know I didn’t say everything correctly because in blessings and prayers you talk in a different form that as missionaries is not normal, but I gave it my best. Later we had a lesson with Marcos. He told us he was hopefully going to be able to rest from work Sunday so he could come to church. To help him we fasted and prayed a lot. Oh it also rained a lot in the afternoon and evening and it was super cold.

Wednesday was a really cold day. Our casa is made of concrete and has no insulation and it was about 48 degrees. I was freezing in the morning. I bought a jacket though that is fantastic! I wore it throughout the day along with Nike spandex and sweatpants under my suit pants, two pairs of socks, a scarf and my Bronco’s beanie, that is oh so comfortable :). I was able to stay pretty warm throughout the day. We visited the girl Tania who is from Idaho to try and help her keep reading the scriptures and start coming to church again. Her two little daughters are so adorable too!

Thursday was another super cold day. I heated up my clothes on the radiator looking heater we have and was able to have warm clothes. One of the lessons we had was with a little boy who is a recent convert, and his family, about the Restoration of the Gospel. We used a picture book my companion has that is actually really awesome and made it super helpful to teach him. Later in the day we found a part of the colony we have never been to and were able to find a few good contacts but ran out of time as the night and darkness came. I think we will have lots of luck in this area so we were going to go back another day.

Friday was a lot warmer and it was fantastic! We went and had a lesson with Marcos about the Word of Wisdom. He told us that he only drinks alcohol every now and then and drinks coffee in the mornings for breakfast; but after we explained what the commandment is, why we have it and the blessings that come from keeping it, he understood it all completely. He told us because it made sense to him he is going to do his best to give up drinking alcohol and coffee so he can receive the blessings and promises that we told him. Because we have cambios coming up and don’t know what will happen, I brought my camera so we could take a picture with him. I want to remember Marcos and stay in contact with him.

Saturday we went back to the area we were in on Thursday. We found a bunch of teaching records from previous missionaries in that area so we took those records and went to search for those people and contact as well. While we were searching, we found a few of those former investigators and scheduled appointments for this next week to go back and visit them. We were also able to contact some new people as well and make appointments to go back next week. We have quite a few appointments this next week and I feel really great about that. Who knows what will happen with cambios but whoever is here will have a lot of people to visit.

Thank you so much mamá! I love you so much! have a fantastic week! Please tell grandpa I love him and oh! Happy Thanksgiving!