Mexico Week 57 -- Teach Me To Walk In His Light

Dear Favorite Family, 

First things first...the pictures!

We ate with the Lozano family this week and her husband spent a ton of years in the United States. As we sit down to eat, I see A1 sauce on the table and starting telling her about Rach and the A1 sauce.  They start laughing and mentioning all of the American things in the house because of her husband...then she sends me home with a bottle of A1 sauce! 

We’ve been working with one of the recent converts here so that he can prepare himself to serve a mission. He needs a lot of help, but he’s great at drawing and drew me a picture of Ana!! His mom is also the sweetest and she comes with us on visits a lot, and she gave me this white chocolate basket! 

This week our food with a member fell through one day, but it’s all good because we got to eat in the Chinese Buffet we’ve been wanting to try! Not quite Panda, but it was good!

This is Hermana Equihua. She is about to hit one year as a member and is the sweetest. She went to the temple for the first time last week and last week we ate with her one day. Her son, Victor, is 5 and absolutely adorable. As we eating, he wants to play a board game and we start playing and I beat him 2 times. He gets all fired up and starts playing with Hermana Lopez instead. We invite them to the Noche de Cine and they say yes.  Victor tells me, we can be friends but tonight, I need to play with my other friends and not with you.  Ha! Ha!  After a few more minutes he comes back and says ... well, it would probably be better if I played with you tonight.  

A few hours later, we all show up in the chapel and start watching The Testaments.  Victor is not the most quiet kid and is all over the place and somewhere along the way, I turned into a human pillow. We’re watching the movie and he says, “Did you see??” “Did you see!! Jesus isn’t on the cross anymore!  He’s okay! He’s totally okay now.”

 This is the part where I get a little teared up.  After the movie, the Elders ask for comments.  After they see I’m teared up, they call on me first.  It’s just that, kids get it. They always get it.  In every house we go to, the kids are the first who naturally respond to the Spirit.  It’s Semana Santa here this week and there are tons of crosses and they reenact the crucifixion and it’s so focused on His death. I love that kids get it, He lives! I love the week of Easter. Also, I kind of felt like a mom and that was cool too. I love kids. I am so excited to be able to have my own kids and teach them about Jesus and well it’ll just be cool. 

After the movie he says he’s going to teach me how to run.  That would be the video, if it makes it through!  I’m pretty sure people here think I’m nuts! Crazy white girl!  Whatever it takes to make that kid laugh! 

Today there was a HUGE market in the center of the city with so many beautiful Mexican creations!! I brought y’all some treats #guesswhatsinthebags

This week we got to go to the General Women’s meeting! Awesome right? I love General Conference! I loved the video with the families singing. I was such a boob! Then the other family video starts and it was all just so centered on families. I hope it’s the Lord’s plan that I get to have my own family. I feel so excited to center my home on Christ, to put him in the primer lugar and just struggle and pray and work it all out in this crazy earth life. We need to serve! 

We got to visit the Ramirez family this week. They are active members. The daughter is divorced with a 6-year old son.  The daughter’s husband is an ex-missionary and they were sealed in the temple, but he just kind of stopped living the gospel and well, they got divorced. The mom reminds me so much of our mom in about 20 years. She is hilarious, so loving, and gives everything that she has. She also says things like they are and is always trying to raise the bar in the ward. Her daughter is pretty stressed with her calling and we were trying to find ways to help and support her. They are an incredible family. They don’t have a lot, but they give all that they can. They don’t complain. They live the gospel a hundred percent and get a little frustrated when others don’t get it. They are so strong and I felt like I was in my own house with them! It was just a special experience and come what may, the gospel helps us and we can be strong. 

The truth is ... this week we walked a lot and didn’t really find anybody!  Not the less actives, not investigators, not new people, nobody.  I was getting a little frustrated and I think the Lord wants me to learn patience. He just wants me to trust Him and wait on Him just a little bit more. One day I was pretty frustrated because we had four hours with a member and didn’t find anyone.   It always makes me feel bad when members take time to work with us, and then we struggle to find people during that time.

We decided to try and visit a recent convert and we found her! We started studying Mosiah 24 with her and it talks about how Alma and his people waited on the Lord. They trusted Him and were able to patiently bear their load, happily and willingly submitting themselves to the will of the Lord. I started to feel the Spirit so much and it was just as much as a lesson for me as it was for her! 

Ha! Ha!  So I am starting to figure out how you and dad can just teach a class at the last minute!  We’re in Gospel Principles on Sunday and the bishop calls us out of class.  Hermanas, he says, we forgot it was 5th Sunday and didn’t assign anyone the lesson.  Can you give the 5th Sunday lesson?  Our jaws about hit the ground, um, sure Bishop está bien. We were studying for about 10 minutes about autosuficiencia ... I don´t remember how you say that in English and we give the lesson! Oh the adventures here!! 

When we went to church on Sunday, I felt even more worried with the ward. I just felt like it was all a huge weight, like there is so much work to be done and I didn’t even know where to start. My head starting hurting and it was just a moment of overload! As we took the sacrament, I started to remember all that I had studied this week about the Atonement. I started to feel that it was the Lord’s work. He knows the ward and He knows who He called here. He has a plan. I just have to lean on Him more. I have to trust Him. I am so grateful to be learning these lessons now, to be learning about the Atonement and how to apply it now. It’s awesome. It’s hard, but I am so grateful for every experience that helps me to learn. 

I love you all tons and hope you’re all happy! See you soon!! 

Mexico Week 53 -- So Many Emotions

My dear sweet family! 

Well it turns out that today is transfer day and I am no longer in Guadalajara.  I have been transferred to Uruapan in Michocan! It has been 24 hours of just too many emotions.  I’m not too good with transfers!  Our zone leaders call us last night and well I left and Hermana Gonzalez stays there! Hermana Casanovas is with her (remember when I wrote y’all about her at the beginning of my mission?) She is the best! They will work miracles there! 

My new companion is Hermana Lopez. She arrived here with Hermana Gonzalez and just finished her training! We are going to work a ton! 

So anyways, they call us and then we get a little teared up and then we decide to make videos about our feelings and we cry some more. I was up until about 2am packing and then we left super early to go to the bus station. Hermano Oscar came to say goodbye and brought me a Guadalajara temple poster, with a note on the back.  A note that may or may not have made me cry, but it talked about his promise to make it there. As I boarded the big bus (like Greyhound but a lot nicer), I just started looking out the window and thinking. I felt the Spirit so much and I realized I wasn’t angry like the last time I was transferred, sad and with a big whole in the heart, but not mad. I trust my Heavenly Father more and I trust His plan. I just felt filled with gratitude that He’s let me be a missionary. I feel so blessed to feel this kind of love for people. I love this country … I mean I really love it. It sounds so cheesy, but I just feel like it has become a part of me.  In a way, my areas have been like home. I am excited for my new adventure even though I will miss Hermana Gonzalez lots!! I am excited to work and just give the best of me. Serving a mission is truly the best decision of my whole life. 

Okay now that the cheesy is over .. Let’s get these pictures explained! 

We ate out pretty much every day this week! The Hermanas gave us money instead of inviting us to eat and well I think we’re sick!  Ha! Ha!  Enjoy Cuarto de Kilo and the dehydrated life with mil suers. 

Hermana Irma passed herself with this Spiderman piñata .. it’s 3D! 

I have a new habit of always going to Reforma’s zone meeting! The sister training leaders wanted to be able to attend both meetings so I traveled to Reforma again! There are more hermanas there, and we have a good time!

This dog is like Cody’s twin, just a lot bigger! Every day we walked by there and he just gets so excited because he recognizes us! He wags his tail and jumps and runs to get his ball and then we keep walking and we runs to the other side that’s like a store and puts his front paws on the table.  He loves us! Ahh, I need a big dog! 

These young adults are Jessica and Javier. They’re cousins and Javier is a returned missionary. They work a lot in the ward and they’re just good kids. They’re not from here, but they are just great. 

Hermana Elsa was too good looking yesterday!  We told her we needed pictures because she was so beautiful!  She has progressed so much and I just love her and her whole family a lot. They’re just a special family. 

We had the most special lesson with Hermana Karla and Hermano Alejandro yesterday. They are having quite a few difficulties in their marriage and we talked about service and the pure love of Christ, how they can serve inside and outside of their home. We all ended up crying and we ended with the family hug. Ahh, I am seriously going to miss them and our families.  Marriages are so important! 

I also hope you love our video journal this week. We had so much fun doing it, but I don’t know, it made me feel the Spirit so much and I imagined showing them to my kids one day! I just love my mission! 

Our investigators really opened up this week and listened and listened and listened, and testified and testified and testified. So many people are losing hope in this world.  They’re losing hope and they can’t find relief or solutions in their problems. We have to help them. We have to testify of Christ and help them learn how to use His Atonement. I know that Jesus Christ lives. I know that He loves us. I know that He understands us, that He knows our pressures, our stress, our worries, our responsibilities, all of it .. He knows it all and He helps and strengthens us in these things. I want to always by strong in my testimony of Him and I hope that as a family we can always bear powerful testimony of Him. 

I hope y’all had a great week and that this week is even better! I am here for whatever y’all might need and I love you all too much! Next week I´ll give you more details about the new area!

Words of Wisdom -- From My Mom

One of my favorite prophets is President Hinckley.  He is one of the most optimistic people I have ever seen, and his sweet wife was just as amazing!  Everyone has worries or concerns on a daily basis, and some people even give themselves a little pep talk in the mirror every morning.  Think about that .. what do you think President Hinckley said to himself every day?  He gave us a little hint when he said:

"It isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is.  It all works out.  Don't worry.  I say that to myself every morning.  It will all work out.  If you do your best, it will all work out.  Put your trust in God and move forward with faith and confidence in the future."

Isn't that amazing?  Someone like President Hinckley reminded himself every day that things will work out if you do your best.  Foreign languages are perfected .. School and degrees are completed .. Right marriage partners appear ..  Callings are fulfilled ..  everything works out if your do your best and trust the Lord.

John Bytheway told an analogy once using a football game.  In today's world we often record games or races to watch at a later point in time.  Inevitably, someone or our phone lets it slip who won.  So we are left to watch the game already knowing the final score.  Some of these games can be real exciting when you don't know how it will turn out, but there is much to be learned even when you know the final result.  Bytheway found an old football game from 2002 and started watching it.  At halftime, his team was down by 27 points.  Every time the other team scored, he laughed and laughed because he knew that his team would win the game .. and they did .. the final score was 35 to 34.  Now you most likely won't laugh if Carlos doesn't respond to the lessons, or if Saira doesn't get baptized this year.  There are going to be days and even moments during the days on your mission where you are down and maybe even getting "creamed" by investigators who aren't progressing, or members who are less than helpful, or strangers who are not so nice.  You are in the middle of a tough fight, but it will okay.  The Savior has already won the game.  You know the final score.  You wear the Lord's jersey .. so get you get off the bench every day and you fight.  You fight the good fight because you know these things to be true:

**If God be for us, who can be against us? -- Romans 8:31

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**Be still, and know that I am God. -- Psalms 46:10

**There is hope smiling brightly before us!

Keep that focus on the Savior and your heart will be filled with peace .. peace regarding the language .. peace regarding your investigators .. peace for the future.

Love you sugar!

Mom