Dear sweet family,
I love you all too
much! I hope that everyone is happy and having faith and learning from all of
life´s challenges!
This week was
AWESOME!! So like I told y’all last week,
they sent me to Guadalajara on Tuesday to sign my Visa again. Tuesday night we
get there at like 6:45 and I was kind of tired of being on buses. The next bus to the house in Cruz del Sur
takes like an hour and half. So, I called
the Elders and asked if we could just stay the night in Tlaquepaque. Not going to lie, I was hoping to run into
some people! I knew Hermana Gonzalez was
still there! I got shut down by Elder
Guillen, so we got on the next bus to Cruz del Sur. Totally funny, the minion piñatas that Hermana
Buttars and I bought are STILL THERE. We got to Cruz del Sur and the Hermanas start
giving me the update on all of the families! It was so awesome to see how much
they have grown! Maria Dolores is
getting ready to enter the temple soon! I’m hoping to be able to go with her! I felt the Spirit so strongly and decided to
write letters to everyone there. They all made fun of me because I was writing
letters all night. Ha! Ha! It was just
such a cool moment! It was so special to
see that everything we do makes a difference. I love those people.
Then Wednesday morning
we go sign our Visas and one of the Elders in the offices asks me, Hermana what
airport are you going home to? I whipped
around, “WHAT??!!” I did not believe
they were looking at plane tickets. The
Elder just laughed! All of the Hermanas
got so excited, “Wow! They are already
sending you home!” I just felt so sad! Kind of like...whoa, what a second! It is not time yet! I have so much left to do! I don’t like talking about it! Anyways, there’s a new mission map in the
offices that is sweet! This is me
pointing to my three areas!
So we head back to the
bus station to go back to Uruapan and there aren’t any more buses until
Thursday and it was like 3:00 in the afternoon. We called the zone leaders and they said they
would look into something for us to do until the next bus. That’s when my heart started beating really
fast … WELL, just so happens that Tlaquepaque is like 30 minutes from here. Like no one can see through that little
helpful hint! Five minutes later he
called us back and said to go to Tlaquepaque.
Hermana Gonzalez and Hermana Casanovas will be waiting for us in the
church. We hung up the phone and I
started giggling and yelling YES! YES! YES!
The lady in front of us in line started cracking up!! Literally, the whole time felt like a
dream. This is me in my chapel where my
heart will be permanently reside! Hermana
Gonzalez gave me the hugest hug and we almost get teary! She starts catching me up on everything!
They changed the boundaries and Hermana Elsa
and Hermano Jose aren’t in their area anymore.
I was so bummed! I kind of wanted
to see them and Hermana Gonzalez reading my mind says well hey, let’s invite
them to our appointments! Hermano Jose
comes with us. Ahh, just seeing him was so awesome and we go visit Hermana Irma
(the investigator that makes piñatas) She and her husband are going to church
now and reading the book of Mormon. How cool is that? Hermano Jose shared a powerful testimony and
then we went to see Hermana Ruby. Hermana Casanovas made it a surprise and
covered the Hermana’s eyes and then she saw me and just squeals and we hugged
for a long time and then we both start crying. She gave me a wallet, the ones
that Juan is making while he’s in jail.
As we left, she got all teary again and tells me that I can’t forget
about them. We took pictures with the girls and they want to be missionaries. Hermana Gonzalez and I talked all night! It was just the BEST DAY EVER! In the morning, Hermano Jose and Hermana Elsa
took us to the bus station. Hermana Gonzalez told me that the first time they
went to see Hermana Elsa after I left, she almost didn’t want to receive them
and said she wasn’t prepared. About a
week later, she let them come to visit. Hermana
Gonzalez told me that Hermana Elsa was crying a ton because she wasn’t
expecting me to leave and that she loves me like her own daughter and she never
thought she would love me so much. I got to see her in the morning and she
gives me a big hug and ahh, I just love them and the whole trip felt like a
dream.
As a bus left super
early on Thursday morning, it was all dark and we saw the whole city and I felt
empty ... like a huge hole in my heart and super sad. You know, like the
feeling when we leave Disneyland. I got a little misty eyed and just started
thinking about when I actually leave this country. It has all gone by so fast and it’s hard. It’s
so hard leaving. I thought about Christ in 3 Nephi when the people start
begging him not to leave, and it says that he had compassion on them and stays
a little while longer. That’s what I’d like to do! I made y’all a video talking about all of
this, but it’s not uploading. But anyways, it is like I saw all of the fruits
of my mission in like 2 days. I could see how everything we do matters. Nothing is in vain. It’s all worth it! It’s so incredible to have relationships so
strong, to love people so much and feel like they’re family. Mom, PRETTY PLEASE,
we have to come. You have to meet these people. You will love them! But yeah, it was awesome, so awesome and just
a tender mercy of the Lord.
The rest of the
pictures would be me feeling like my arms are going to fall off after being a
real woman and washing clothes and cleaning the house with my pizza!
After getting back
from Guadalajara we had some pretty cool experiences here in Jardines! Hermano
Mike isn’t really listening to us anymore.
He’s just not ready to give up some things. We finally found his wife after about a week
and a half yesterday and we watched the Joseph Smith movie! She loved it and said the most awesome prayer
afterward. She was pleading to know if it was all true and she thanked the Lord
for letting her know Joseph Smith better and asked for time to be able to read
the Book of Mormon. Her kids are also listening with her! Woo!
Hoo!
My companion also hit five months in the mission, so we had a little celebration for her!
We have another
investigator named Karla. She is 29 and recovering from breast cancer. She is
so tired but she went to church yesterday! She says she knows it’s all true and
wants to be baptized. She has been
through so much, but still has so much faith.
Last night we had a
pretty special experience with the Camacho family. Their mom has been super
worried and stressed lately and her oldest son wants to go and live with his
girlfriend. Last night, as a miracle, we found them all together and as we said
the opening prayer, I felt impressed to talk about prayer. We start talking
about prayer and her oldest son asks a ton of questions and kind of doubts that
Heavenly Father listens to us. As we talked he started realizing lots of answers
and his whole attitude changed, then he starts asking about eternal marriage
and we leave him some homework and an appointment for next Sunday. His mom
afterward gave me the biggest hug! I
think we hit just what he needed to hear!
I just love people. I love the opportunity to love them so much and just
try to help them and for all of the inspiration the Lord gives us.
I´m also still stuck
on thinking about the pioneers. Ha!
Ha! I was reading more today and there’s
a part where the Lord says that sometimes we have to suffer and pass through
trials in order to learn to be humble and obedient. We have to be truly
converted. In our ward conference, the stake president talked about that and
it’s so true. We have to sacrifice, we have to trust the Lord and follow Him
completely. I love Him and I love the gospel. The real world is scary and I can’t
believe my mission is already winding down, but I know that I love Him and that
together we can figure the rest out. I love y’all!!
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