Mexico Week 11 -- Teach and Listen by the Spirit

My dear sweet family!  First things first, Happy Anniversary to my dearest parents!!!!  I am so grateful for your example to me and I hope to have a husband and kids and be as cute as you guys some day! Happy 22 years together! 

Well this week just flew by!  Can you believe that I only have one week left of training?  Kind of crazy right!  It is also most likely my last week with Hermana Valdez.  That is going to be a really sad day - I even taught her to smile with your tongue!  Janille would NOT be happy!  The elders in our ward keep saying, “Hermana Valdez, ready to leave?” and “Hermana Rawe, ready to train?”  Ahhh, we’ll find out this week! 

So today we went to the Tianguis, basically it is like a huge market and I bought so much fruit!  Life is just great!  We have 3 other missionaries with us for the day so it has been a party! 

  

Mom, big big big thank you for the talk from Elder Uchtdorf!  I absolutely LOVED it.  It really touched my heart. I realized that I truly represent Christ every day. When I put my nametag on, I have to think and act like Him, not just act, but think too. It’s all about Him and His work. Even when I get annoyed or frustrated, it’s my job to swallow it and show love to everyone. It’s my job to minister.  He talked about Peter and how much he changed after the Resurrection.  I don’t want to have fear.  I want to boldly testify. I want to have an unshakeable faith that the Lord is always with me.  I want to KNOW that I can face any difficulty with Him by my side.  Thanks so much mom! 

I also have a new goal!  I’m going to memorize scriptures in Spanish! Hermana Valdez and I memorized Mosiah 4:2-3 this week!  We were practicing in the streets, and we were the only ones that had it memorized for the zone meeting. She recited it in English and I recited it in Spanish! Woo! Hoo! 

I would say that the biggest thing for me this week is that I am feeling the Spirit testify through me.  Part of my patriarchal blessing says ¨One of the greatest rewards of missionary work is to teach someone who is listening by the Spirit and will respond appropriately to the teachings and accept the gospel.¨  This sentence just hit me this week.  Maria Dolores is going to be baptized on Friday and she’s so ready!  When we’re teaching her, it is just all over her face and we really want to plan something special for her.

Paty Reynaga also just melts my heart (the kids I sent you pictures of are hers). Also, the other little girl is Maria Dolores´ great-granddaughter.  Last night we taught her about keeping the Sabbath day holy.  Sometimes she has to work on Sundays, but since we’ve invited to church, she’s come every week with the whole family.  She seriously has the strongest desire to obey.  Her face just broke my heart as we taught.  We explained to her that we give the Lord 100% and the rest works out.  She was talking about getting everything ready on Saturdays and staying for all the classes and arriving on time for the sacrament.  At the end of the lesson we extended the commitment to keep the Sabbath day holy.  She asked how could she really promise you this if I might have to work?  We just reminded her that the Lord loved her and knew her heart.  He would take care of the rest if she put her faith in Him.  She is so special.  She’s already reading the Book of Mormon with all of her kids.  They each have their own copy. 

Last quick story, so we met this girl in the street named María Margarita. She has a son who’s 3 and we had a first lesson with her.  It was harder to find her during the week. Then, we started our fast on Saturday afternoon.  Pause for a minute -- The Reynaga family invited us to breakfast, around 11am.  We’re thinking, sweet, we can eat and then have lunch again, and then we’ll be good to fast.  Well, they were a little late and so we literally ate two huge meals back to back.  We were dying and about to throw up!  Totally backfired on us missionaries thinking we’re smart!  Ha! Ha!  Now back to my story!  

Immediately after we started fasting, we run into María Margarita in the street!  She invited us to her apartment, we had a lesson, she accepted a baptismal date, and came to church with us and brought her 3 year old son!  Guess who didn’t want to stay in nursery?  He just needed a little Heidi and Dawni to show him how cool Nursery can be!  They kept bringing him to her, but it touched my heart that she stayed the whole time.  She’s 18 years old, living with someone and has a 3 year-old son.  She is the sweetest thing and I just want her to know how much worth she has.   I love that the Lord lets me see people the way he does. 

Love you all to the moon and back!