Mexico Week 39 -- Obedience Brings Blessings

This week we lived in buses! Woo! Hoo! Our Zone Leaders called Monday night and said that I was invited to a Leadership Training Tuesday and Wednesday in CRUZ DEL SUR! I loved visiting that church building! But anyways, two days of about 3 hours in buses!  Then today we had to go to the mission offices for our flu shot.  Like I said, we lived in buses!! 

I got to see Hermana Mansfield! Love that kid, she is training a new missionary right now! 

Today I saw my hija! She is training and opening a new area in Michocan...oh sea, bien lejos de aquí!

Happy Thanksgiving!! Please enjoy my list of blessings I made!

Mom, I officially own a hot glue gun in Mexico!  I made thank-you notes for everyone that participated in and went to the baptism. They loved it! 

Members are also starting to give us Christmas trees...love it! 

 So to start things off, this week I went to the 2-day Leadership Training.  It was awesome and I learned a TON! Well actually, I felt super overwhelmed and wow, some times I feel like I’m the worst missionary in the whole world!  At the end, we watched this video where all of the apostles talk about the purpose of leadership in the church. Let’s just say, I may have shed a few tears. It was so beautiful what they said. They talked about how so many times we are called and we have no idea what we’re doing, but we learn, and the most important thing is helping others to be true disciples of Christ. I loved this theme, we are just called to learn, love people, and help them grow. I love that the Church is so focused on other people.

We have a new investigator this week and his name is Jorge! He is the son of a less active member that’s coming back to Church.  He struggles so much with being an alcoholic. He always talks about how he sins every day and there’s just no escaping it. He broke my heart last night!  After we got home, I kept thinking to myself, “How many people in the world feel like that? How many people feel like there’s no escaping sin?  That we can’t rise above the things we do wrong? That we can’t leave? Or that we’re trapped?”  I love the peace that the gospel brings. As we learn to trust in Christ, we really can overcome these things, we can repent. 

Okay, this week was one long big story. Monday night, we go to the house of Oscar to see how he’s doing after his baptism. Their house was MAGIC. All four of them were together and laughing and having fun and the Spirit was so strong. His brother, Jose, has changed so much. He was cracking jokes left and right and we shared a really special lesson with them. Sunday after church I felt like we should invite Hermano Jose to listen again. My pride got in the way and I didn’t really want a repeat of the last time, so I didn’t say anything.  Monday, in the lesson, I felt the strongest Spirit that just said ¨Go on already, invite him to be baptized.¨  He accepted a baptismal date so fast and just said, “Yeah, I’m going to prepare and start working.” WOW!!  That same day Hermano Oscar tells us that his wife is going to live with his mom so that she and their son can get baptized. He talked with the bishop and the bishop told him it was okay and everything. We got super excited!! 

Jump to Tuesday ... after we arrived from the leadership training, we went to eat with Hermana Elsa, something felt weird to me, so I asked her if Karen really was going to live there.  She said that a few times during the week she was going to spend the night basically. This is the part where Hermana Rawe gets really nervous, because, really, she doesn’t live there and the bishop can’t give permission. Hermana Karen at FHE is super excited and wants to buy her baptism dress and is praying thanking Heavenly Father for letting her get baptized here. 

Wednesday, Hermana Rawe talks with President Camarillo after the leadership training and affirms what she was already thinking. Wednesday night, we tell Hermano Oscar and he gets super mad. We were teaching about the priesthood and the order of the church, and well ... he just got more and more mad, until he tells us that until his wife can get baptized here, he’s not going to church. This is the part where Hermana Rawe and Hermana Malacara leave their house to get home by curfew and sit on the floor and cry a whole lot, and then prayed a whole lot. Actually, in that moment, I was just thinking about Christ. I was thinking about how if I felt so pained and so sad for one person that was leaving the path ... how does he feel for every single person? I felt so angustiada y just sad, just straight up sad, and it was for one person. I literally can’t imagine how he felt everything for everybody. 

We go to bed and I wake up Thursday morning feeling terrible. At about 6:45, Hermano Oscar calls. “Hermanas, I am so sorry. I’m just really, really, sorry. I prayed. I prayed a whole lot and He told me that I had to obey, that His will was a little different than mine. Hermanas, I know that you have turned your hearts into this family, just like God has. You love us, you love us a whole lot and that’s why you do everything you do. I just ask you that you help me find the missionaries there because my wife really wants to get baptized.” 

Wow, the Lord taught me that we have to obey. Sometimes it’s really, really hard, and it would be easier just to bend the truth a little bit. Being obedient and being honest always pays off. I have learned so much about honesty and obedience in my mission. I started thinking about how much our investigators truly watch us. They are learning from us and how we do things how the church is and how it is run. I fully believe that we are training future leaders of the church and now they are going to know how important it is to do things the way they should be done, to be completely honest in all things. I loved it. I loved seeing how the Lord touched his heart and helped him to accept His will. 

Thursday in the afternoon, we teach Hermano Jose the Restoration. We go back Saturday and he’s read five chapters in the Book of Mormon and is praying. On Saturday, we saw beer in the house and started asking ¨cough cough, who’s is this??¨ Hermano Oscar says you’re not going to believe it, it’s the friend of Jose. He didn’t drink last night!  He was drinking soda. He’s also not smoking as much. We haven’t even taught him the Word of Wisdom yet!  Hermano Jose promised to go to church on Sunday and Sunday morning we were waiting for him! Sacrament meeting ends and no Hermano Jose.  I felt terrible. I was thinking NO!  We pressured him again and now he’s running.  He’s going to tell us the same thing he told us last time. At the end of sacrament meeting, he shows up, “I’m sorry Hermanas!  I stayed with a friend last night and well, I’m late, but I’m here!”  Woo! Hoo!  We are so exciting to keep working with him. Also, he should marry my sister, Rachel...for reals Rach! Ha! Ha!! 

I love you guys and hope you had a great week. It’s up and down like always, but we usually end up! I love what I’m doing!  Eat some turkey for me!