Transfers

I LOVE MEXICO!!!!

Buenas tardes a todos!!

This was our district. 

So we had transfers today! I am really sad to say that my companion, Hermana Canales has left. I was really hoping that we would have one transfer more together but the Lord knows that we learned a very important
lesson in the time we had. I have a new companion named Hermana Canaan! She is 20 years old and from Puebla, Mexico! So far she seems soooo rad. I feel like she is a mini me and not just because she is really short! hah! So far we get along really well so I am stoked to see what will happen in these next 6 weeks! Also... she loves popcorn and I love popcorn.... so you guys understand.

The elder on the right is from a super small town

 in California only like 2 hours from Reno! 

I had to say goodbye to Hermana Johnson last week. 

She honorably finished her mission and

 is on her way back home to Spain today! 

As for updates, I am really bummed to tell you guys that I had to go to the hospital on Saturday afternoon.... a-freaking-gain. In the middle of the week last week I started to experience some back pain. I followed the directions that we were given for back pain but everyday it got worse and worse until my hips and knees were hurting a ton. I got a check and the doctor said I have a problem with one of the nerves in my back and possibly an infection. They gave me prescriptions to have a complex b and cortizone (I think that's how you spell it) everyday as well as muscle relaxers and Tylenol and rest. I thought it was a little extreme as well as the mission presidents wife so she called the mission doctor in Mexico City and he gave me something else

Sister missionaries know how to multi task! hahaha

The coke here is a million times better than the US.
Not sorry about it.

We were in a trio for a few days because the companion
of Sister Morales ended her mission today.

to take daily and said the Tylenol and the muscle relaxers when I feel really bad. I will be doing this for a week to see what happens. I feel a little better. I had to take the muscle relaxers after we ate yesterday because I was hurting a lot but I didn't like it because although I didn't feel any pain at all I felt really weird the rest of the time we were working. I am really trying to do the best I can to make sure that I don't mess it up or I
anything I would just like one minute to complain... I am so sick of being sick or now, hurt. Honestly. I just want to serve the Lord with all my heart, MIGHT, mind and STRENGTH. It has been very frustrating for me in the mission to have been sick so many times. But I also know that there must be an opposition in all things. I have been trying to rely on the Lord even more to receive the physical strength that I need. I just feel so uncomfortable in every moment, walking, sitting, laying down. But yea, I am done complaining.

My new companion, sister Canaan!!

On Sunday we did have a miracle though! The dad of a family that we have been working with for a while came to church! Something has told us for these last three weeks to keep working with him, so we have AND IT PAID OFF! He is really great. We have seen little changes here and there in him and we look forward to seeing more!

Well that's all for now! Love you guys so much!

Hermanaut

I want you guys to see the new video that has been put out called "Because He Lives". It's super rad and talks about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  

helives.mormon.org

Peaceful

Hello everyone!!

Happy birthday to Little Reaganita! I can't believe that she is already two years old! Love ya hermanita!!

Welcome to Cuernavaca!

So what to say, what to say? I first want to give the biggest thank you that I can to you all. This week I was blessed many emails of pure love. Many of them made me laugh, smile, and tear up all at the same time. To be honest, I feel so very unworthy sometimes to have so many people that love me and show it to me so often. Honestly, after every monday of emailing I feel refreshed and ready to face the week that comes. You all are such a special light in my life. I am more than convinced that the love that one feels from another is just proof of God in our lives. God IS love. So as I feel all of the love that you all give me I feel so blessed to feel a part of the love that God has for us. I know that as we open our hearts and let love in we can never be sad because you just can't! It's a personal connection with the Lord that can never be replaced! It also makes me so happy to know that so many of my loved ones are being blessed so highly. I know that God works in our lives daily, we just need to be a little more sensitive to the Holy Ghost that testifies to us of the things of Him. 

We ate a really good hamburger this day!

Well, the first thing I want to tell you guys about it the relationship that I have developed with my companion. For the weeks that we were struggling I was constantly begging the Lord that He would open my heart to allow me to let her in as well as her heart for the same reason. I can testify that the Lord has done this for the both of us. In these last three weeks we have experienced so many things together. We are closer than ever. The Lord has made our hearts of stone become hearts of flesh. (see Ezekiel 36:26-27https://www.lds.org/scriptures/ot/ezek/36.26?lang=eng#25 ) I can't describe what has happened in our relationship and the effect that it has had in our work here. As we have learned to love each other, serve each other, and understand each other we have also developed the capacity to do the same thing for other

people. Last week we had one of the most spiritual lessons that I have had in my mission and one of the most spiritual experiences in my life. We have an investigator named Rosa who is blind and is missing a leg. Her mother and brother are members of the baptist church and they off and on listen to us. Well her brother left and her mother (her name is Maria) stayed to listen. We had decided to just read Moroni 10 from the Book of Mormon to them. ( https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/moro/10?lang=eng ) We didn't do anything. We just read. But as we read we both felt something incredible. We didn't even pause to give understanding to them because we botbh could feel the Spirit and KNEW that they understood because the Spirit was testifying to them. My whole body was really hot, but not an uncomfortable hot but a very peaceful heat. My hands felt like they were holding fire. My companion also felt something very powerful.As we finished reading we looked at Maria and she knew that everything was true and told us that it was. We then read to her Moroni 8 ( https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/moro/8?lang=eng ) because in the lesson before she expressed to us the guilt that she felt for baptizing her children when they were so young. Again the whole room was filled with the Spirit but even stronger. She then also testified of the things that we read. I can't express to you guys in an email all that happened. But it was such an incredible feeling. My companion and I were able to testify of and say things that we would have not have been able to say had the Spirit not been there. I know that these two women will never forget what they felt that day and neither will we.

I seriously love this woman. This is Sister Martha.
She is INCREDIBLE!!! And really short

I can't end this email without offering a few more thoughts about the things that I have experienced in the mission. God is so powerful and loving. That day when this lesson happened, we as weak and imperfect servants could not have said or done anything like we experienced without the words that the Lord gave to his prophets that are found in the Book of Mormon. This book is so important in our lives. Although the original writings of the Book of Mormon are in gold plates we still hold the most important treasure in our hands when we read it. I am weak and imperfect. I am nothing in comparison to the Lord but He in His everlasting love and mercy has made me all that I am. I know that as wel pray fervently to the Lord that He hears us. Although we may start out as lumps of coal, if we pay attention to the councils that He has given us in the scriptures that He makes us into something so much more perfect. I can't love as He can love, but I surely can allow Him to help me love and serve as He would have me do. I know that the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is the best thing that can happen in the life of someone. I know that Christ died for our sins but on the third day He was resurrected. I know that because of His resurrection we can become new creatures. (see 2 Corinthians 5:17) I KNOW THAT HE LISTENS. I know that as we let other people into our lives and ask the Lord to help us see them as He sees them and love them as He loves them our hearts will be filled with an uncontrolable amount of love and that we will always be full.

I love you all so very much. I pray for all of you. I invite you all to read the Book of Mormon with an open heart so that you might see what the Lord wants to tell you. I also invite you all to choose a person who is difficult to love or that you are afraid to love and ask the Lord in a fervent prayer to give you the strength to love them. And during this process I invite you all to serve this person with all that you have, even if all that you have to serve them is to tell them hello or smile at them. I know that if the Lord has been able to make my heart, a heart that was cold and closed, become bigger and more able to love that He can also do the same for you.

See you all so very soon,

Hermanaut

It Happened!!!

HI family!!!

SO I have more birthday shout outs!! BUT I need to clarify something, I think I got Uncle Glen and Grandma Hutch's birthdays mixed up but either way HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO UNCLE GLEN AND GRANDMA HUTCH! Also a very special happy birthday to my wonderful sister Heather!! I love you all so very much!!!!

Well this email is titled "IT HAPPENED" because it happened. As I opened my email today I received the dreaded "yep, you're going home soon so we need some personal info" email. It really just blew me out of seat. I may have almost cried. I just can't believe it. I have less than 5 months left to work in the best service in the world. Really, only 20 more weeks.... Yea, let's move onto another topic because this one is really sad and I don't want to think about it.

Well this last week we have a special zone conference. We hosted the visit of three general authorities of the church. We were able to hear from Elder Clayton, member of the first quorum of the seventy, Elder Clayton of the area presidency of Mexico, and Elder Mirón, area seventy. It was a really cool and spiritual experience. We really didn't recieve a formal training like normal. We were asked to study a topic and come to the conference with questions. We basically did a question and answer session for two hours. I really liked it because a lot of the questions that were asked were inspired and helpful to many of. I received a lot of personal revelation although I didn't ask a question. 

Special conference that we had. I am like right in the middle. This is half of our mission!

This week I wanted to write about two of the people that we are working with right now. One of our investigators is named Jesus. He is 68 years old and had his own mechanic shop. Before we got here the other sisters were teaching him. Actually his first Sunday here was my first Sunday as well. Since I have been in this ward he has only missed church 2 times. He has presented us with an unusual challenge. He doesn't consider himself worthy to be baptized. He feels that the Bible condemns him. As he reads it, espcially the New Testament when Christ makes the 10 commandments more difficult he feels condemned because he fights with his wife and falls into temptation. I feel that we have tried everything to help him. He thinks it will be a couple of years until he will be worthy to be baptized. I really enjoy our lessons with him though. He is very kind and respectful of us. He doesn't like to pray in front of us but we were able to get him to pray last week! It was huge progress because he hadn't prayed before with us or the other sisters. He continues to read the Book of Mormon. Actually he has almost finished it. He is awesome honestly. We just strive in every lesson to show him the love that we and our Heavenly Father have for him.

We had some fun after the food! This is Sister Raquel!

 Another investigator I want to mention is a young mother named Ana. We found her last week as we were walking to the church after a lesson to meet up with a member. We were on the other side of the street and my companion told me "we should cross the street to talk to that girl" and I was like, "YEA WE SHOULD!" haha so we crossed the street and started talking to her. I gave her the proclamation on the family and talked to her about living day prophets and how building her family on the foundation of Christ as it explains in the proclamation would give her spiritual and even temporal safety in these difficult times. She was super excited and them explained to us that she has been searching for a church for a very long time. She said that she has visited a ton of them and wants to be baptized because she knows it's a commandment but has felt that there has not been a single one that has been the truth. We were able to meet up with her again on Saturday. We got to her house and she explained to us that her husbands family didn't give her permission for us to enter their house because they

are Catholic and we aren't. Fortunately, she lives right across the street from the church so we went and had our lesson there. It was a super spiritual lesson. We gave her the Book of Mormon and she is super excited to read it. It came to a very rough end though. She did the final prayer and asked that her husbands heart would be softened so that she can draw closer to God. She was crying because she explained that her husband doesn't allow her to do anything and that she would have to read the Book of Mormon in secret so that he wouldn't get mad. I can0t explain how much this lady has touched my heart. She desires more than anything to do what the Lord requires of her. She is really wonderful and I know that the Lord sees the efforts that she makes to draw closer to her and that He is with her in this process.

Ay, ok. I just have to say it. I can't believe the little time that I have left in the mission. It has gone by so quickly as I look back at it. I feel like a completely different person. I am so blessed although I will always be in debt to my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ for saving me from where I was. I was reflecting today about a call that I made to a friend of mine, Andre Hutchens before I entered the MTC. (Most of you know who he is.) The Sunday or Monday night before entering the MTC I called Andre crying because I wasn't sure if I could serve a mission.

I wasn't sure if I was doing the "right thing" because of my age. I didn't feel ready to teach about a gospel that I had just barely began to discover. As I thought about this today I have come to the understanding that I was right. I can't serve a mission and maybe I wasn't doing the "right thing" for my age, and I sure wasn't ready to preach. But the Lord was and is ready. He is always here to make everything right. I, alone, could not
have served a mission but when I have depended on Christ and His power He has helped me. For the world, to spend a year and a half of my life at 23, nor 24 years old wasn't right. I could have finished studying or gotten married. But it wasn't about what I was going to do as much as what the Lord was going to do with me. He has mercifully made me an instrument in His hands in this time. And truthfully, I didn't know anything but I had to learn to let the Spirit guide me in all that I did. HE has taught me in this last year. I am so different. I am 100% different. The Lord has made me a whole different person. I am grateful to know His restored gospel. I am grateful that I have been able to read the Book of Mormon so many times and I invite every single one of you to read it with an open heart waiting for the revelation that you will receive from it.

I love you all so very much. Thank you for all that you have done for me.

Hermanaut

10 Facts about serving a mission in Mexico

Today we went to a members house and ate tacos! (with la coka) 

HELLOOOOO!!!

I have shoutouuuuutttsss :)) You can all just imagine my face when I say that...haha HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my cutie cousin Gracie, the beautiful and awesomeee Jaclyn Anderson, and the bestttttt not really my uncle but I still call him uncle, Uncle Glen!!! I love you guys so much!!! I hope you all had a very wonderful birthdays!!

So this week, I don't have a ton of time but I thought I would just write some facts about being an LDS missionary in Mexico!

1. If you talked in your sleep before the mission, you still talk in your sleep in the mission... but now it's in Spanish, really loud, teaching the missionary lessons, and your grammar is better than when you are awake. (my poor companions...haha)

2. You are ALWAYS dirty because even the water you take a shower with is dirty haha.

3. If you put on makeup in the morning, at night time it's already been washed off with you sweat. Gross, I know.

4. You can't buy big packets of oreos like in the US. The big boxes come with only 6 bags of 6. 

5. You eat A LOT of chicken.

6. You never eat a taco of any sort without at least one glass of Coke.

7. If you're a white female, daily you are called "guerra" (white girl) in this really creepy voice.

we had arroz con leche afterwards!
 so gooooood!! (rice with milk)

8. You will go through more than 3 pairs of shoes from walking so much. (I am about to buy my 6th pair.)

9. You now know the words to the same 3 Latin American songs, "hablame de tiiii," "solo quiero darte un beso..." "no me quedo nada masss"

10. and the 10th fact, you have never, ever, in your life loved and appreciated Mexicans and their beautiful and inspiring culture.

I love this country and its people. I love the culture. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father that He has allowed me to come here and grow so much. I feel so blessed. Only 5 shorts months left. Believe me when I am saying that I am giving every ounce of me that I have in each day to serve. I know that it's worth it.

Love you all,  Hermanaut

A miracle is a miracle...

This would be us with the other companionship is our ward at
a member's house after eating last week. This family has a pretty
awesome view of Cuernavaca. My camera doesn't do it justice. 

  HELLO EVERYONE!

This last week was super hot. It's been rediculously hot recently... We are drinking a lot of water and trying to eat healthy so that we are able to keep up with the physical requirements. We also have so many freaking hills in our area it's unreal. I mean seriously. I am actually going to start doing more strengthening workout in the mornings for my knees because they have began to bother me. But other than that all is good.

My companion and I have been seeing some very special miracles. Truthfully, it's not anything crazy big, but this week I learned that a miracle is a miracle, it doesn't matter how big or little it is. 

 

This is a picture of a HUGE iguana! 

 This first one we saw was the baptism of Kristal as well as her confirmation. She was at the church on time for everything, to te very second. She was so excited and ready. She understood the new commitment the she was making to serve the Lord and wants so very much to change. I have come to know that a conversion is a miracle. Whatever person who truly converts to the Lord is a miracle. There are so many things that can impede us it would seem impossible to some, but the Lords ways are not our ways. He truly has allowed us to be instruments in His hands and I am utterly grateful.

This would be us with Kristal on the day of her baptism!!

This is la hermana Yadira! She has helped up out
a ton here in Burgos!! I love her so very much
but will be leaving us this or next week :(

This is Kristal with Brother Martin and Sister Lolita!
They are also a HUGE help in this work.
I explained to you guys about this matrimony a few weeks ago.
They are truthfully a huge example for me.

 This is a picture of our ward building. It's super new and super sweet!
I didn't know I was in the other picture!

Me and a member named Tzitzi! She is the daughter of
sister Yadira! Honestly, she will be an incredible missionary!

The other one that I would like to mention is something that happened yesterday. We planned to go and pick up some people to go to church with us. We went to the house to pick up Yazmin and her son Angel. In the few times that we have gone to teach her, her sister in law has also been around, she hasn't sat down to listen and didn't ever really show any interest to listen. Saturday before the baptism we went by to confirm with Yazmin but she wasn't there, however,

This is a huge statue of somebody
I don't know is el zocala de cuernavaca! 

 

We do love each other :)

 her sister in law, Elizabeth answered. We also invited her and she said that maybe she would come if she had time but would pass the message to Yazmin. Well Sunday morning we went by their house again and Elizabeth answered and asked us, "can you just wait a little I just need to brush my hair?" I, in shock but with a ton of excitment told her "OF COURSE" haha. Well, she told us the Yazmin and her sons planned on leaving so they wouldn't be able to attend with us but she and her 3 year old son, Lalo, accompanied us. Although it wasn't easy for her to pay attention she stayed for the whole first hour. She showed a ton of interest and now wants to listen in the next visit that we have with Yazmin. I felt a lot of gratitude. Although it's nothing certain I know that it was a way of the Lord telling us to keep working the best that we can.
I just want to comment about something I just keep understanding more and more everyday. Missionary work is truthfully a work of faith. I can't tell you guys how many times everyday that we are rejected. If I had a dollar for every time we are rejected I would be super rich, seriosuly. But any and every time that someone accepts a visit or just even listens is a miracle. And even of these that accept a visit or just listen there are very few that truthfully accompany us or REALLY accept our message. But we just keep trying because our message is more important than giving in to rejection.

I love you all so very much. Thank you so much for supporting me in this last year. 5 months from tomorrow I will be home... I can't even believe it. This is the best decision I have ever made and I owe so much to so many of you that have helped me in this. Thank you

Hermanaut