Mexico Week 52 -- Listening to the Spirit

Buenas Tardes darling family!

How are you all?  I hope you’re doing well and smiling and all that jazz!  First things first ... the pictures! 

The food is a chile reyeno.  It is a chile stuff with cheese basically and I just love them! One of my favorite things here! 

Our electric stove finally arrived!  Now we eat more than cereal!  Ha! Ha!  Hermana Gonzalez and I ate an unnatural number of quesadillas this week! 

Hermana Irma has been making so many piñatas and they are just getting better and better! 

  

      

  

I have decided to better live the Word of Wisdom and that includes less coke.  Now just every once in a while, there is a mini one! 

This is Hermana Pamela.  Probably one of the toughest people I know. She’s had some pretty rough times these past few months, but she is so sweet and tries to serve the best she can at church. We love her!! 

Sunday night was a party!  Our Zone Leaders call and ask if three sisters can stay with us one night. We tell them no problem. We arrive at the bus station and there are seven sisters and four of them have no idea where they’re going. We are calling all the leaders, nobody knows anything, and well, we slept all nine of us in our house last night! The good news is that I got to chat with Hermana Valdez for a while! I love her too much! She is training right now and goes home in seven weeks! Crazy right?!  Ahh, she told me to tell you all that she loves you so much!  Thanks for her package … and she is just a little bit sad that you forgot to send her the promised iPod! LOL! 

I also got to see the MTC Crew!  They also slept in our house and we went to the city to sign Visa documents today.  It was fun to catch up and see where everybody is at!  We all just sat and thought … WOW!  Time is flying. 

I also got to see Hermana Buttars today!  We had a special conference early this morning to watch Meet the Mormons.  It was SO good!  I may have had a little moment at the end when the missionary is leaving and the whole family is crying, and then the little sister starts sobbing, but it was just a feel good movie.  You all should really invite people to see it!  I realized just how blessed I am to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  We know the truth.  We’re happy.  We know how to find strength and comfort in our trials.  We enjoy this life. We have felt the pure love of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, now we just need to share it!  Long story short, I loved the movie and it reminded me of so many blessings. 

This week we also had another special training with President Camarillo. It was so good!  I felt excited to work and like the batteries had been recharged.  We talked about how much the Lord is preparing people to receive us.  We worked with some members and practiced how we can practice with them to help them share the gospel.  I felt a hope to be able to increase and strengthen my faith.  Our President is so powerful and I know that he’s a servant of the Lord. 

Leaving our training, we go visit Hermana Elsa and Hermano Jose to put into play what we learned.  We asked them to think about someone that they loved a lot, someone they worried about, someone that isn’t a member of the church.  They both thought of a few names and we practiced with them how they could share their testimony and invite their friends and family members to learn more.  At the end, we knelt in prayer and Hermana Elsa prayed for every single one of those people.  She prayed for us that we could find people to teach and that all of us could have missionary experiences.  It was the best and wow, what an experience!  Visiting them another day, Hermana Elsa starts to talk about how one day on the bus she started thinking some of her friends who go to church and show their devotion few times a year.  She thought about the true gospel of Jesus Christ and how it requires a constant effort.  She says, “these people just don’t understand what Christ did for us.”  Leaving their house Hermana Gonzalez and I were in shock!  She has changed so much and wow, it just warms my heart seeing her like that!  In Gospel Principles we talked about faith and Hermano Jose raises his hand and says, Bishop, I just want to invite those that are here today to pray and fast to week, to really ask to see if they believe this is the truth, to ask our Heavenly Father for a confirmation.  It was so awesome!! 

We visited Hermana Judith this week and ahhh, what an experience.  She has been having a pretty rough time and Satan is really going after her. About a week and a half ago we felt impressed to give her a Word of Wisdom pamphlet so that she could read it before we taught her.  About a week and a half later, we felt like it was time to teach her.  We went and visited her in the store they’re working in and we start teaching about the Word of Wisdom.  She tells us that the first time she read the pamphlet she was kind of skimming when she was at work and she said, “NO COFFEE??!!”  The Hermanas lost me with that one, this game’s over!  She said in order to read better with more attention, she hides the pamphlet in her shirt and goes to the bathroom at work.  She started looking up all the scriptures and started to understand.  She said her coworkers started teasing her for wanting to be Mormon and one of them says, “How are you going to be a Mormon if you LOVE coffee?!”  She says, in this life we have to make sacrifices in order to follow Christ.  She’s so brave and just shares what she knows and feels with people.  She wants to be baptized with her son!  She tells us, “I just feel so privileged that you found me and that I know the truth.”  She is so special and her prayers are the best. She knows Joseph Smith was a prophet and in her prayer she says, ¨I know I’m on the right path.¨ We love her!! 

We also visited Hermana Irma this week.  It was an incredible experience. She had a lot of questions about the Atonement.  At first, they were cooking and we in the kitchen sharing a lesson, but as we testified and as the Spirit came stronger and stronger, everyone stopped what they were doing and it was silent, the looks on their faces said everything.  We just testified of Christ and what we need to do in order to receive all of the blessings of the Atonement.  It was a total wow moment!  We felt the Spirit so strong. 

We have some newer investigators that live with Hermano Victor.  They are Suleina and Miguel.  This week we taught them about the law of chastity and the importance of families.  They are praying and went to church and want to form their family right.  They loved church and we have a lot of hope in them!  They have a beautiful 2-year old daughter and she has blue eyes and is too cute! 

This week we also kept working with the Moreno family. We are looking for a family that can help them and just keep them in your prayers okay?  They need so much help.  On Fridays, we have our service project and this week we decided to work with their two kids that are really struggling in school.  Well, actually, they don’t go a lot and can’t really write or read.  Only one of them knows the alphabet.  We went all kindergarten teacher on them!  These kids just need a lot of help and they’ve stolen my heart! 

Just one more thing!  This week, I realized something really important.  At the end of our weekly planning, Hermana Gonzalez and I had our companionship inventory.  We worked some things out that had been bothering us and I realized how many times in my life mom and dad, you’ve tried to have companionship inventory with me … I guess that is what happens when both of your parents served a mission! LOL! 

I was kind of too prideful to accept it.  When we talked about priorities, or taking care of Cody, or whatever, I just got defensive and didn’t listen and didn’t want anybody else telling me how I could be better or improve.  I was too prideful and wanted to realize myself in where I was falling short and fix it myself.  I realized that in the mission, my companions and I have listened to each other, we accept suggestions, we try to be better and we work together.  I am so incredibly grateful for my mission and all that I am learning.  I truly feel like I’m getting better and better and preparing myself to form my own family.  Life is great!  Humility is key! 

I love you all to the moon and back and I’m here for whatever you might need!

Mexico Week 28 -- The Lord is Preparing the Way

To all my cheerleaders, 

Did you know that today marks 8 months as a missionary?  How crazy is that??!!  Time is literally flying. Also, in one week we have transfers again...Holy Hannah! 

So fun fact, it was kind of cold some mornings this week! It’s been raining like crazy at night and sometimes I sleep in a sweatshirt and I got to break out my heating pad! The good news is it still gets hot in the afternoon. Actually, I think the coldest it’s been is like 70 or maybe 65 but I feel it! How on earth am I going to return to Utah!! My blood has already thinned! 

We’re a teaching a young pregnant mom and she has a lot of difficulties, but she’s really funny. We were talking with her and her mom the other day and somebody mentioned that I know English. She got super surprised and says ¨Sabes íngles?!¨ Ha! Ha! I told her uhhh yeah, a lot better than I speak Spanish most days! She was literally so surprised. Sometimes people crack me up. 

Rachel, we have these two old ladies in our ward and they’re sisters. They are like 70 and 80 years old I think, but they literally crack me up. They’re in Gospel Principles together and always leave everyone laughing. This week, I totally thought: “Hey, that is going to be Rach and I one day!!¨ Ha! Ha!  Old, kind of crazy, but still hilarious … just like us! 

This first picture says ¨Hi I’m Heidi’s twin!  I’m headed to the office in my black sweater, scrunched hair and comfort shoes!¨ Ha! Ha! Seriously, we’re twins!!  

This lovely PDay, we went to eat at a place called Quarto de Kilo. It’s a quarto de kilo of meat and well...it’s delicious! All of the missionaries talk about it and now we have officially joined the club! 

Also, I got my package on Friday! Fun fact, the black shoe polish exploded all over everything, but the nude one is in good shape! I LOVE my shoes and luckily they weren’t tainted by the shoe polish! Thanks so much for everything mom! We’re already putting the stories to good use! The kids love them! 

Okay now for the good stuff. 

We found a new investigator this week and she’s incredible. She has two young daughters and is a recently single mom. We found her in the street and she was in a hurry, but says, here’s my address.  You guys go ahead and visit me one night. We went by, she was home, let us in, and immediately trusted us. We started talking and she told us her story. She was with someone who wasn’t very nice and well they’re recently separated. She talked so much about how she just wants to forgive. She just wants to be with her kids and be everything that they need her to be. She accepted a baptismal date and she is my testimony that Heavenly Father is preparing people. We just have to find them! We are so excited to keep working with her! 

The other morning, I was reading an article in this month’s Liahona. It was about youth and the huge problem of pornography, not just in the world, but in the Church too. The question is when youth will be exposed to it, not if. It talked about spiritual scars of these addictions but it was more directed toward parents and how to help their kids. There was a part that made me think so much. A BYU professor said “at their root all addictions are maladaptive coping strategies.¨ It said that parents can help their children develop healthy coping strategies by modeling that behavior themselves. ¨When you are stressed, tired, or in despair, do you isolate yourself? Do you rely on entertainment to escape your problems instead of addressing them? Do you demonstrate that the healthiest way to solve problems is to rely on Heavenly Father the Savior and your relationships with others?¨

I LOVED these questions. I started thinking a lot about the example I’m going to give to my kids. The world is kind of ugly and it’s getting uglier. I just want my kids to be strong I want to talk openly with them about everything. A little 8 year old girl gave the sweetest testimony yesterday and I thought about watching my kids share their testimonies. I started to think about how much I’m learning here. I’m learning how to handle stress, how to work and persevere, how to be patient, and how to turn to the Lord in all things. All of these things will help me to be a better example. They will see everything and I just want to be the strongest and most developed I can be for them!  I have to work on my weaknesses so that my kids don’t inherit them ;)

This week I started getting frustrated again with my companion. Every week we have a companionship inventory and the purpose is to talk everything out and set goals. I have realized that Hermana Buttars taught me so much about being honest. Most of the time before I kind of tried to work things out myself. I didn’t really say when things bothered me ... almost never. She taught me that by saying these things we can work it out. We come to a common ground and we get better. Well my companion and I did just that! We talked for a long time and I feel like we really grew as companions. I think you could say that all of my experiences here are pretty much preparing me for life. 

Oh and tomorrow morning we’re going to the temple. I guess you could say I’m just a little bit excited!! Ahh! 

I hope that you all had the most fantastic week and that you are happy. I hope that you’re becoming better every day. I hope that you look for examples to share the gospel every day and that you love people. I hope that we are all working so that we can be an eternal family. I love you all to the moon and back!