Christmas Day Skype with My Family, Plus Cambios this Week...

Hola Mamá, how are you? I’m doing good! P.S. I can’t even tell you how much I love the chocolate pb pie oreos you sent me!!! Anytime you are going to send me a package, please include more of those! and sugar cookie and cookie dough poptarts! but mainly the oreos! 😀

Last Monday was a super great day. We had to be in by 6:00 pm, for our safety, so I decided to cook fettuccini alfredo with a sausage that’s like kielbasa. There wasn’t as much as I thought there would be so then I made stuffing with mashed potatoes and gravy. We were super full when we got a message from a member family (Familia Angel) telling us they wanted to bring us food. They are an awesome family and brought us some type of BBQ rib meet, spaghetti, apple salad, Cheetos, bread and grape juice. 😮

Christmas was a super fantastic day! It started with district meeting where we talked about the attributes of Christ and figured out what which attributes we need to work on more. We also got a surprise visit from Presidente Urrea to tell us in person he wants each companionship to get 8 effective contacts for the day. Then we went to lunch with a really awesome young couple before we went to the casa of the familia Angel to Skype with you. I can’t describe how awesome it was to talk with and see everyone! Especially that I got to talk with Shawn in Spanish! After Skyping we only had a couple hours to contact so I asked my companion where he thought we should go. He picked a street that was super great and we were able to find 8 contacts!

Wednesday was kind of rough just because all our appointments fell through and because I felt horrible. We went to verify an appointment for the next day with one of our contacts who sells juices, shakes and what not. I had a cold so I got some juice to help me, but it didn’t set well with my stomach. As the day progressed I could feel something was wrong and I began to feel weak. So we went back to the casa so I could rest and try and feel better.

Thursday I was feeling better. We had a few appointments but only one person was home. One of the appointments we had was with Dalia, the woman who tried to poison me the day before 😬, but when we went she said she forgot about the appointment and was busy. I’m not sure how someone forgets about a cita when we verified with her the day before. So we rescheduled, but we’ve had to reschedule a good many times already so if it happens again we are going to stop trying and wasting our time trying to teach her. But after that we were able to find some really solid contacts, thanks to Heavenly Father!

Friday we had a quick lesson with a young guy named Esteban who we found the day before. It was just to get to know him and who he is, what his beliefs are, and if he has any doubts or questions about anything. He told us that for 2 years now he has had a sickness but doesn’t know what it really is because the doctors don’t know either. Because of his sickness he has a lot of weight and is having issues with his body. After he told us that we started talking with him about the Plan of Salvation and invited him to come to Church. He is an awesome guy and believes in God and is interested in learning more. He wasn't able to come to church this week, but we hope he can in the future and we can continue teaching him.

Saturday we were supposed to have a cita with Edith but no one answered the door and she didn’t answer her phone either so we went to another appointment with a woman and her son just to get to know them. After that we got a call from Edith saying she was busy so we invited her to church and she said she would definitely be there. Then we had a lesson with Nicolasa to finish lesson 3 and invite her to church as well. We also went to visit Dalia but she wasn’t there, so we are going to stop going by to see her. 

Sunday only one of the three people we invited to church came and that was Nicolasa. She has come to church three times and really loves it. We introduced her to the Relief Society President so she can start to get to know more members and have friends that will help her feel welcome and understand more about the church. We were able to visit a couple more people and make a few contacts before we finished the day.

So we found out cambios and guess what! We are staying the same! I am really excited about that! As far as New Year’s Eve, we have to be in early tonight and study – I’m going to buy pizza though haha! I gotta go but I love you so much! Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve Fettuccini

Added stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy

Awesome meal the Familia Angel brought us!

Christmas day meal of grilled cheese sandwiches and soup :)

Cool hat I bought!

A Great Week Visiting Old Friends, Climbing in the House Through a Window, and Finding New Investigators

Hola Mamá! Yes I’m still planning to get on and Skype with you at 4:00pm my time! Thank you for that quote! Last week was really good. Monday I went to buy candy and then we went to Villa del Carbón! We went and visited the family Hernandez Velazquez for a couple of hours. Laura made us food, breakfast tortas, and we talked and had a great time! Oh, when we got there, we were surprised to see Vianey. We even went and visited DateunRoll for a quick minute. Vianey tried to call Victor but he didn’t answer. Anyway, I gave them the chocolates and candies that I bought and they were kind enough to give me gifts as well! I can’t describe how awesome it was to be able to go back and visit them. 

Tuesday was our district meeting. Our district is super awesome! After district meeting we had a lesson with Edith. She was a former investigator; but we found her our first week here, and she agreed to let us come by and talk with her and her sons. The lessons are interesting at times, but we do our best to keep them on track and correct her for some things she doesn't quite understand right. 

Wednesday after contacting for a bit, we were super lucky to be close to the zone leader’s house and ran into them in the street. So they let us go to their house and get our Christmas packages. Also, our power was out in the morning so we had to go pay the bill then go contacting a bit more. We were able to find more contacts; but when we went back to the casa, our power wasn’t on still. We called our landlady and she said because we paid late, we had to go talk to the electrical company. So we planned to do that the next morning.

Thursday we had a lesson with Orma about the Plan of Salvation. We taught using scriptures, analogies, personal experiences and it went really well. She understood and accepted everything we talked with her about and this time when we invited her to be baptized, she accepted! Her baptism is scheduled for the 23rd of February. We then went to an appointment with Nicolasa and taught her about the Plan of Salvation. It also went really well. Nicolasa is a special lady and is very interested in the church. We found out she actually went to church the past Sunday, just to another ward. She really liked what she saw, heard and felt and wants to come back again. We are starting to progress more in this area with investigators and teaching people and it is awesome!

Friday we had intercambios and I was with Elders Mencia and Ivie. It was super awesome. We found two new investigators. After the lesson we went to the church and had an FHE devotional that we planned where we talked about Christmas and Jesus, sang songs and had treats. It was really awesome! There was a ward party afterward and the members were nice enough to give us some food to take home because we couldn’t stay. When we got back to the casa, the other companionship wasn’t there and they had the keys to the house. We didn’t want to wait for them outside in the cold so we ended up climbing in the house through the window on the second story using each other and blankets to climb up. One Elder was having a hard time climbing so I had to basically grab his arms and just pull him up. Everyone was like “Oh holy cow you are so strong!” It was a fun experience so we took a picture to remember. 

Saturday was super cold while we were out walking from place to place and especially when we were coming back to the casa. Lunch that day was pretty rough too. The family we ate is a super awesome nice family, but I just couldn’t do it. They made us rice that was cooked in the broth of fish and had pieces of fish and crab in it. Then they served a soup that had huge chunks of fish and vegetables. I did my best and ate all of the rice and vegetables in the soup. Luckily they gave us coke to drink so I drank a ton to drown out the taste. I just couldn’t eat the soup and I feel super bad about it. Thinking about it, I actually don’t see what the big deal is about eating fish because it is a very healthy food. But when it’s in front of me and I can smell it, it makes me want to vomit. Maybe one day I will conquer this challenge. After we got back to the casa we prepared our talks as we were speaking in church on Sunday and singing in a choir.

The program we did in sacrament meeting was super awesome! My talk was about ministering to others as Jesus did and I was actually excited about it. And to make the meeting even better, one of our investigators (Edith) finally came to church for the first time! After church she said she really, really liked it. The environment, spirit, friendly people, our talks and song we sang really helped her feel welcome. She said our church is really different from all others. 

That sums up the week. Love you so much! Talk to you and see you tomorrow!

Baptism of Alfredo and Linda!

Hola Mamá, Yes we did end up having both baptisms this past Saturday and it was awesome! More on that later though. So last Monday our DL and his companion moved out so there’s only the two of us in our apartment now. We always had fun with the four of us, but oh well. Now the food we buy will last longer :). After p-day ended we went to look for some contacts and we found Sylvia who is a Jehovah’s Witness. This time I was able to give her a Book of Mormon and we talked with her a bit and are going to go back for another visit later.

Tuesday was our district meeting and we talked about how when we talk with people, whether in the streets or at their doors, we need to talk specifically about how the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored. We have a goal for us to talk with at least 25 people every day. We were able to talk to quite a few people that day, but weren’t able to get to 25 due to appointments that we had. It was a good day. Also, it’s getting colder and colder here!

Wednesday we had 5 lessons during the day. One was with the woman Orma. She has some very interesting ideas because she has studied with lots of other religions, read and heard from many people. She is still a kind woman and is willing to learn. Later we had a lesson with Alfredo, Linda and Angel. We finished teaching a majority of the commandments. They only needed one more commandment and lesson 5! They also planned on getting married on Friday so things were falling into place for them to be baptized on Saturday!

Thursday we had a surprise visit from the APs who came by to see how things are going with training, have a short teaching practice, take our status and check the house for cleanliness. Later, we had our lesson with Alfredo and Linda who were super kind enough to feed us dinner. So we ate first then had the lesson about Laws and Ordinances – the last lesson they needed before their baptismal interviews. Before we left we gave them all a blessing. They were feeling a little nervous but especially Alfredo and Linda who were feeling very pressured for their wedding. So we gave them a blessing of comfort and guidance and they told us they felt a lot better.

Friday we had one lesson in the morning that went good, one other fell through but then we had baptismal interviews with Alfredo and Linda. I didn’t find this family but I’m very grateful I got to be a part of helping them progress to their baptism. They also got married before they had their interviews. It was a pretty good day!

Saturday was super amazing. We went to the church to clean and fill the baptismal font. Everything went well with the baptisms. There were quite a few members that came to support them. It was just amazing! Right after the baptism, we had to go to the park in Atizapan as a zone to contact more people and give out Book of Mormons wrapped up like presents. We also gave out hot punch and doughnuts. It was super fun and we were able to contact 115 people as a zone. We were in the park from 4 p.m. until about 9:15; so we got back to our casas late, but President allowed it for the activity.

Thank you for updating me for things at home! Muy bien! I gotta go but I love you so much and we will talk next week!

Devocional Navideño y Fiesta!

Hola Mamá!! como estas?? Things are going good here and if all goes right then we will have 2 baptisms this Saturday! so the work is coming along. Yeah its super crazy and something even crazier is that today I only have 9 months left!!!!! I don’t like that time is going by so fast because I love my mission and want to keep working and helping people and changing myself! Oh we went to a Chinese buffet today before we came to write and it was amazing!

The ward here is big but there isn’t that big of attendance here. There’s about 485 or so members but we have between 80 and 100 people in church. Kinda of crazy but we are trying to help the members here as well as find new investigators.

So last Monday we spent the morning as a district practicing our song that we were going to sing for the devotional. Then we got permission to go to Walmart to buy groceries. I got two boxes of Waffle Crisp, a box of Fruity Pebbles, one bag of Colossal Crunch, one bag of S’mores Cereal (they have it here!) and two boxes of pop tarts. I love cereal!! Other than that we went and visited a few investigators and scheduled appointments to go back and teach them later.

Tuesday I woke up with a sore throat and couldn’t breathe super well. I got sick from Elder Loomis who got sick from one of the assistants. But when I realized I was starting to get sick, I quickly went down and made some tea, drank orange juice and during the day I ate halls which helped a ton. During the day we had 5 or 6 appointments and were able to go to 4 of them and actually have lessons! It was great! One of the appointments we had was with a woman named Orma, who is a really nice lady. She is actually the one who contacted us so she is very interested in the church and our beliefs. I see a lot of potential in her.

Wednesday we had a short first lesson with a woman named Cecilia, who is very interested in taking lessons from us so we started teaching her about the Restoration of the Gospel. She was busy though so we scheduled an appointment for another day. She really does seem interested with a lot of potential too. We have been really blessed by Heavenly Father to start teaching more people and it has been wonderful! I know that every person we contact and start teaching won’t be baptized but we are planting seeds for the future. 

Thursday we were finally able to go and have a lesson with Linda and Angel about some of the commandments from lesson 4. It was a lot but because they have their baptism coming up, we have to teach some things they still need by putting them together in one lesson. After the lesson they wanted us to eat dinner with them, but it was 8:30 and we were on the other side of our area. They were kind enough to make the food to-go for us and then call a taxi so we didn’t get home late, and thankfully we didn’t!

Friday was a super fantastic day! We had a short devotional to start, took pictures as zones, then went in the cultural hall to play games. We played minute-to-win-it, Uno, Jenga, Guess-who and a game where you have a plastic helmet and fill a small container on top with water then spin it. There are 8 safety sticks that you have to pull out 1 by 1 and if the one you pull out was the one holding the water, well the water poured out on your head! It was super fun! After games we went outside and hit piñatas, then we had a gift exchange, and ate lunch which was turkey, veggies, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls and cupcakes for dessert. After we ate we watched Jingle all the Way and it was super great! Then each district sang the songs they prepared, we did the Birth of Christ, and finally had a special surprise visit from Santa Clause who gave us each our own mug of the mission that has our names on them, a bag of treats and socks. I’m super grateful for President and Hermana Urrea and for all they do for us. 

Saturday we went as a zone to a park and separated into different parts then went and contacted people. If the people we talked to were interested and let us schedule an appointment with them and write down their address, we gave them a literature bag that had some candy in it. The goal for each companionship was to get 10 effective contacts and give out 10 bags of candy. My companion and I were able to do it! One guy we contacted is the Director of an Elementary school and was super interested in learning about the church. With each person we gave a bag of candy, I could see them light up and get happier. It was a really fun activity.

Sunday was a little crazy because after we took the sacrament, one of the bishop’s counselors got up and said we are going to hear from one brother and then after him, we are going to hear from the missionaries. I looked at the zone leaders and said “Que?!” We had no idea we were going to speak. So while the other brother was speaking, my companion and I quickly looked up some scriptures about missionary work. When it was our turn we went up and had to wing it with scriptures, share experiences and bear testimony. In the end, it went better than I thought. I don’t like being called on the spot to give a talk but it was a really good experience. 

I’m sorry I forgot to wish you happy anniversary last week so Happy Anniversary! Thank you for sending the package and I will be sure to keep my fingers crossed and pray hard that it gets here on time! Thank you for that quote as well! and updating me with things at home! Love you so much! Have a great week!

Feliz Navidad

Zone picture from Devocional Navideño y Fiesta!

This was the helmet game!

Yummy turkey dinner

Surprise package from home!

More treats that came in the package

I got this Christmas tree too!

I love cereal!!

A New Experience: Washing Clothes in a Bucket. Plus a Mission-Wide Service Project to Light the World

Hola Mamá y Papá! yeah it’s pretty crazy here but I am doing my best to have a good attitude about it all and really it’s not that bad! Every night is like a sleep over with the Zone leaders haha but it’s fun living with more than one other person, we are never bored! This past week we were able to find more contacts but no new investigators. It’s kind of frustrating because we are contacting tons of people but the appointments with them almost always fall through because they aren’t home or are busy so we have to reschedule the appointments. We only have 3 investigators in total so I think mainly this cambio we are here to find new people and prepare them for future cambios and missionaries, but it will be worth it! 

Monday was my 14th month mark and was the first Lunes (Monday) that I had to wash my clothes without a washing machine in all of the mission. It was kind of strange because I put my clothes in a bucket with water and detergent, then took a broomstick that had the top part of a coke bottle cut off and attached to the stick that I used to “churn” or wash my clothes. It really wasn’t bad just took a lot of time. Washing machines are a true gift and privilege from God – oh and dryers too! :) After I get home I will never take them for granted. I do love it here in Mexico though.

Tuesday we had a district meeting and talked about involving the members more. They are very important because they will be there after the missionaries are gone and can be friends with the investigators and recent converts, support them and be there if they need anything. After that we practiced singing a song as a district for the Christmas devotional this week. It’s a primary song called Estrella de Luz. The rest of the day was pretty rough, all of our appointments fell through. We contacted a ton of people but nobody was interested that day. It was disappointing but Wednesday was a new day :).

Wednesday we found a super great part of our area where we were finding quite a few contacts. Then we randomly got a call from one of our zone leaders telling us that we had 30 minutes to get to the casa. We didn’t know why but we were in the other end of our area so we started heading back as quickly as we could walk. About half way there we got a call again from Elder Mencia telling us that we didn’t need to go to the casa and that all is well. We wanted to go back to where we were before but it was too far, plus we had a couple of appointments in the other direction toward the casa. So we contacted until then and found a really awesome woman named Nicolasa. She was super open to talk and is very interested in learning about the church and loves to do service. We had an appointment later with a Jehovas Witness, but she got home late so we had to reschedule. 

Thursday we mainly spent the day contacting. We went back to the part we were in on Wednesday and found quite a few people again. It’s rough to contact here in the evening because it gets dark around 6 and people tell us a lot that it is very late to be preaching in the streets and no one will want to talk to us. That’s when the hooligans and troublemakers come out so it’s very dangerous and we need to be super careful. We are very careful though and try to avoid the dangerous parts cause we can’t go back to the casa until 9 p.m.

Friday we had intercambios with Elder Loomis and Elder Mencia. I went with Elder Loomis and it was pretty good. We had one appointment but he wasn’t there so we mainly contacted. We were able to contact 6 people, and a couple of them are super great. Oh the family we ate lunch with was super awesome. They have a son named Erick who served in Sandy, Utah. I actually got to meet him and talk with him a little during a stake conference we had when I was in Villa del Carbón. Now I’m in the same ward as him and it’s cool to hear about how his mission was in Utah.

Saturday our entire mission had a service project where we went to a park close by the offices to clean it up. It was a fun way to start off December and the Light the World initiative. We split up into zones to clean up the park for a couple of hours and it went really well. We had to go back to our areas after we were done and I was super drained but we went and contacted for a bit. After about an hour or so of not finding anyone, we decided to take a break and sit down to rest for a minute. While we were resting a woman came out of her house and invited us in to talk with her family. They wanted to give us some hot chocolate and sweet bread. It was great and they are a cool family. Oh I also found out that the Elders in Villa del Carbón baptized a little boy that Elder Zapata and I found while we were there! What wonderful news!

This was his reaction to hearing that we got to shake hands and take a picture with Elder Uchtdorf: Holy Fetch Seriously?!?!?!?! Que Genial!!!!!! Estoy super celoso! (Translation: How cool!!!!! I’m super jealous!!!!!!)

Thank you so much for letting me know how things are doing back home and for that super awesome quote! I love you so much! have a great week!