Just happy :)

Well, I feel like I have a ton to say. I love my new area and my new companion. The weather here right now is PERFECT which is awesome because we have A LOT more hills and mountains in this area than I have ever had in the mission. Honestly, there are a ton. I am looking forward to losing to pounds haha. Honestly, I am just really happy. My companion and I are on the same page. We stick to 100% obedience. We have the same goals, the same thought process, and we are both OK with a little bit of healthy silence. We have expressed our desires for this change and I know that we will complete them. We saw a lot of miracles in the last week. We had new people every day to teach and all were very accepting of our message. We are working with a part-member family, the Gomez family. The mother is less-active and her two children, Monica (15)  and Abraham (18, almost 19) are very willing to build their faith in Jesus Christ. Hermana Canales and I have decided that we want to work a lot in activation. The ward is seriously huge and we are in the part that is the least cared for. It seems that we have a lot of less active families who live here. BUT the best thing is that we have the ex bishop in our area. Brother Martin (the ex bishop) worked very hard in his 5 years to expand the members in what was his small branch to a ward, then from a ward sharing a building with another ward, to having their own building. His succeeded a lot in his time. He loves missionary work. His son is the mission. And more than that, he is just a great man. His wife is suffering from a very difficult health problem. Her kidneys have completely stopped working. In the last 3 years her body has completely decayed. She can't walk, has a very strict diet, and it's just a very difficult situation. But I have never seen such a loving husband. He is very faithful in Christ and understands the Atonement and that the GOSPEL is true and real. But anyways, we are working with him because he knows the members in this area and so we want to activate a lot of people and we know that if we just work hard and be obedient and just love and have the best intentions the Lord will bless us. I

I have made some huge changes in these last few weeks. Well, I have tried. I say I have tried because I really haven't done anything but the Lord has done everything. I feel very different. I have been trying so very hard to put all of my confidence and faith the Christ. I have asked Him to give me strength to do things that I never thought that I could. He has blessed me in so many ways. I only have 6 months left. I have looked back at my time in the mission and feel very content. I see errors and imperfections. But I also see the huge change that the Lord has made in my heart. I know that I could have given more at some points or that I could have done something better at other points but I just feel grateful because this whole time I know that I was just giving the best that I could in those moments. And I see now that my best is still getting better, that although it's been up and down, it's always been going up. I have been blessed so much. I feel so grateful. I actually know what gratitude for blessings feels like. I realized a while ago that I was so prideful that I didn't even feel grateful when something happened. But now I just feel such utter gratitude. I have made changes here in the mission that I could have not accomplished in any other place. Maybe my reason to go on a mission in the first place wasn't so great but the Lord works in very odd ways to help us go where we need to go. He is so loving. God and our Savior Jesus Christ love us so very much. His plan is a plan of pure love to help His children come back to Him. I am really not sure what waits for me when i get back in six months. I know what I would like but I am giving up my wants and just letting God do what He wants with my life. I have made some decisions to help me let Him make of my life what He wants. They are small changes and decisions but are things that I think will help me put my life in His hands. I just feel different. I am just so grateful.

So I guess with that said I just want to leave my testimony. I know that this Gospel is real and true. I know that the Book of Mormon is pure and simple and testifies of simple and small restored truths that are one hundred percent necessary to be able to give our lives up to God. I know that what waits for us is what should motivate us to work harder every day. I know that Christ IS THE ONLY WAY. I love this Gospel. I know that as we come to understand it line upon line, precept upon precept, we learn things that we never thought that we would and it changes us in a way that we never thought we could change. I know that the happiness of our lives depends on the love that we do or do not choose to give to every single person in this world whether "they deserve it" or not. BUT EVERY PERSON IN THIS WORLD DESERVES LOVE. And if God loves us being the sinners that we are then why should we choose who does or doesn't deserve our love? I testify that Christ live and that He works in our lives daily. He is waiting to receive us with arms opened very wide. In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I love every single one of you. Thank you so much for supporting me in this time in my life.

Hermanaut 

Cuernavaca!!!

Well I have two great announcements! One, today I was transferred to a new area IN CUERNAVACA!!!! This city is where the mission home is and I have wanted to be here since I got to the mission and it finally happened! I am in the Cuernavaca Zone in an area called Burgos C. There are THREE sets of sister missionaries in this ward! AND this is where my trainer finished her mission! I am stoked to be here and have this new start. Really, the area is pretty new. We don't have many investigators but I am super stoked to get things going! The other anouncement is that TODAY I complete 11 months in the mission! Whaaaat?! In one month I will have ONE YEAR. The time is going by but not too fast and not too slow.

Last week we went to the Lima familes house for New Years Even dinner. We ate Pozole with is this DELICIOUS soup dish thing. It's truly to die for. The Lima's lived the farthest away from our area and out house so we got to stay with the other sisters in that ward for the night. We really enjoyed it and we were able to start off the new year well! 

On Saturday we enjoyed the baptism of Roberta (10) and Frida (8). These beautiful girls and their parents came to us from another ward. The girls had beed waiting to get baptized for a long time. Their parents are not members still. They like to do a lot of worldly things still. They finally let their girls get baptized. I must say, this baptism was one of the most special and I am not sure why. Although they were both very young they worked incredibly hard to be able to get to this point. Frida, the younger one was very shy. In the beginning of the lessons with them if we asked her a question she would get nervous and scared and start to cry. We worked with her a ton to get rid of her fears. Yesterday was fast and testimony meeting where everyone who wants to can go up to the microphone and give their testimony. Well, as I sat next to Frida I suggested to her that she should go give hers. Well it took a bit but she finally told me that should would if I went with her. So we went up together. She held me hand the whole time and I stood next to her as she said "I know that this church is true. I know that God listens to our prayers up there in the heavens. In the name os Jesus Christ, amen." Well you all know me and know that I had tears in her eyes. As we sat back down with her dad he just looked at his daughter in amazement and kissed her on the forehead. Frida's parents had commented to us several times that she lacked a lot of confidence and was afraid to be away from her parents but as we have been able to teach her she has been a lot better. I feel so blessed to have seen this miracle. I know that Christ is merciful with all those that believe in His name and even with those who have hope for something better. He loves us and give us the courage we need to grow and be strong.

I am grateful for this new year. I am grateful to be in this new area. My companion just got done with her training. I am excited to work with her. I have been blessed with another Mexican companion, Hermana Canales from the state of Durango. I always get excited to wrk with sisters that have just gotten our of training because they have so much life, love and excitement for the work. I know we are going to continue seeing miracles.

Love you all and happy new year!

Hermanaut

uhhhhh

HELLO!!!! I HOPE THAT EVERYONE HAD SUCH A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

And please meet the baby Sofita! Today we washed our clothes and 

relaxed with a family here in the ward. The mom recently had little baby 

Sofie. I call her Sofita though! Before she was born I would talk to her 

and her mom started to tell me that she would always move A TON 

when I was talking. It was so special the first time I saw her. She is wonderful :)

Well this last week, Christmas week, was super weird and awesome haha. Here is Mexico they hardly celebrate Christmas. They celebrate more of Christmas Eve. Everyone goes to one house and eats dinner super late, like 8, 9, 10, 11...seriously. Then at 12 everyone hugs and they stay up really late talking and then on Christmas day everyone stays in there house and just sleeps. Also in Mexico they don't do anything like Santa Claus. They believe in Los Tres Reyes Magos which are the three wise man. This day in the 6 of January, that's when everyone gives their kids their presents. So anyway we are in vacations right now in Mexico so there is like literally no one here haha. It was super hard. We walked a lot cause a lot of appointments fell. On Christmas Eve we ate dinner with one of the families here. On Christmas morning I woke up sick again. I was throwing up, had um problems with my stomache, chills, sweats and an

awful headache. I spent basically the whole day in my bed. I left to talk to my parents at the church. The whole walk I threw up in front ov everyone. It was awesome haha. It was also super cold so that made me feel like home. When I finally just sat down and relaxed and started talking to my family I felt a little better but I was so tired afterwards. I have been pretty fine since. My body is really tired. Every morning when I wake up my whole body just hurts, I get a lot of headaches. I am not sure what's going on but I feel so blessed because the Lord has been strengthening me everyday. 

Cristian was baptized with his classmate who is part of our ward,
Henry. It was probably THE funniest thing I have ever seen.
 They are crack ups!

Saturday we had the baptism of Cristian, the coolest 8 year old ever. We have been working with the Garcia family. Thy are pretty new to this area and kind of less active. Cristian is the grandson of the grandma. We baptized Maria and Uriel about a month ago, Cristian is Uriel's cousin. We have been working really hard on activating them and helping them come unto Christ. They truly are so wonderful. This week we will be hosting the baptism of Roberta (10) and Frida (8). They came to us from another ward. Their parents work pretty much all of the time. The parents still are not ready to be baptized but they are supporting and encouraging their daughters to because they know that it will be the best for them. 

Thank you everyone for the Christmas and Birthday wishes. They truly meant so much to me. We have transfers next Monday so we will see what happens! I love you all so much and have a great, safe and happy new year! 

Con todo mi corazon Hermanaut

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas...

I treated my comp to ice cream :)
It was excellent!

Ok, I am in Mexico so not really... but I do miss the snow. I never thought I would say it, but it{s the truth! I miss cold weather a little bit! 

This would be the family of Brother Kemish!
They threw a surprise party for me and
made some delicious flan!

My birthday cake :)

I really don't have a lot of big news for you guys. We are just trucking along. e have a baptism this week of an 8 year old named Cristian. He is super smart and super funny. We were talking about the Law of Chastity with him which is an awkward subject when it comes to kids but they need to know... So I first asked him if he had heard of the Law of Chastity before because his cousin and aunts and grandma are members. Well, sometimes he doesn't understand me because of my accent so he looked at me funny and then said "No, pero se que es la ley de hielo!" Which means, "No, but I know what the ic law is!" ....the ice law is basically when you and a big group of your friends ignore someone for a period of time. It was so funny. He's just awesome. His father is a recovering drug and alcohol addict. He invites his dad to pray with him every night and his dad is trying to give up coffee because he sat in with us when we taught the Word of Wisdom. 

The Family Lozada kids!

Two of the daughters of our second counselor.
On the left Yamilet Evolet and on the right Celeste Maelin

Well, uhhhh I am sick again ha. We found out that a sister in our ward has been serving us water from the tap which is a huge no no here. We realized that every time the four of us get sick it's after eating with her... We watched her a little more carefully the last time we ate with her and realized that she isn't using water from a gyraphone like everyone else does to make the drinks and cook.. I don't think she is doing it on purpose. There are people here who are used to using water from the tap. But we have been restricted from eating with her again. BUT she signed up to give u food for Christmas.... so we turned the tables round and said we would cook for her. I think she is actually grateful. She doesn't have much so while keeping ourselves healthy we are also doing a service for her. I feel blessed to be able to do this for her. We have had a lot of stomach problems so we are trying to get over them. I also hit my head super hard on a comi on my birthday. but harder than usual. Combis are like these little public buses that we use for transportation here. They are really small. And I often hit my head because i am so big compared to everyone else. But this time I hit it super hard and I think i might have a concussion haha.  My head has been hurting everyday since and I can sleep at about any moment. It feels like the other 4 concussions I have had. If it doesn't get better soon I think I will call the mission president's wife. :)

The last thing I just want to say is thank you to everyone for the Christmas an birthday wishes! My birthday, even though we were sick, was irritable!  A bunch on members and investigators called me. We ha three dinners. Two families that we are really close with threw me little surprise parties. It was honestly so beautiful. I felt so much love. I am still in awe in how much love was shown to me and I am so grateful for it!

Well That's all for this week! I am looking forward to talking to my family! But to everyone else, I love you all as well and I wish a very Merry Christmas to ech and every one of you! Your love, support, and prayers mean EVERYTHING to me!

Hermanaut

BUT HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MISS CARMEN HUTCHENS AND THAT BABY BUM AIDEN ANDERSON! I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY BIRTHDAYYYYYY!!!!!!

I wanted to show you guys what I meant about our activity in the lat email that I sent!

EL ES LA DADIVA

HE IS THE GIFT

Thank You!!!!!

This week my trainer came back to the mission with one of my 

first and beloved investigators! it was so great to see them! 

She still has not been baptized because her husband refuses 

to marry her BUT she still goes to church with her children every 

Sunday and is super fiel. It was beautiful to see and here this!

Thank you guys so much! I have recieved so many birthday wishes and I am so grateful! It doesn't even feel like it's December, let alone my birthday or Christmas! Your love is so special to me and it truly helps me start off my weeks! Speaking of weeks, we are in the 4th week of this transfer!! WHICH IS LOCO! This transfer has gone by sooo fast! I can hardly believe that we only have 2 weeks left! I only have 5 transfers left! After this transfer I will only have 7 months left in the mission! It has gone by so fast but we still have SO MUCH work to do! 

Anyway, this last week was so excellent! We saw so many beautiful little miracles. I have said this so much recently but I truly feel like God just keep Blessing us! Every one of the people that we are teaching truly have the desire to come unto Christ and it is inspiring for me. They teach me more than I feel like I teach them! It is so beautiful to have the point of view that I have right now. I can truly see the way that Christ changes the lives of people. Last

I don't have shoes on because I let Bet-Sua 

use them. She only had tennies and it was 

just easier for her to use my flats... haha

Friday we held a really cool activity. It was a multi ward activity. We have 4 sister missionaries in our ward and 4 elders that are in the other ward that shares our building. The activity was incredible! We started out with some games then we went into one of the rooms and did a really cool Christmas devotional type thing. When everyone

came in there were 12 wrapped gifts on the stage. We showed about 5 videos and had little talks and musical numbers in between all of the videos. The last video that we showed was the video that I shared with you guys a

few weeks ago, the "He is the Gift" video. In Spanish it's "El es la Dadiva." (You can find it at christmas.mormon.org) The other missionaries asked me to give my testimony after the last video. I really had a hard time saying anything, and not because I couldn't say it in any Spanish but because i couldn't say what I felt in any language in my vocabulary. The spirit was so strong in the room. We had about 150 members and investigators there and you could hardly find anyone who didn't have tears in their eyes. I finally mustered up the courage to start talking. As I gave my testimony we turned around the 12 gift boxes and each box had a letter spelling out "El es la Dadiva." Everyone was shocked. To be honest, everything that led up to the starting of teh activity was just stressful. People didn't show up with the food, the tech guy didn't come so we didn't have any way to show the videos. He was 3 hours late. BUT God has His ways to teach us. He taught us patience, and trust. Everyone left that room more edified than when they had entered. It was truly excellent and so spiritual.

On saturday we had the baptism of Joselyn and Bet-Sua! They are the best! We have been working with these girls since I got here about 4 months ago. As I said it has been difficult because their mom takes them our of town or sends them out of town a lot BUT this week we were finally able to help them complete their desires to be baptized. It was a beautiful service! Very spiritual! Apparently the water was really cold because as the elder stepped into the baptismal font he was making all sorts of noises. The girls were freaking out about it so before he turned arund I told him in english to knock it off because he was scaring them so he did haha. He turned around right after I told him that and said come on in to Bet-Sua! Although he had a huge smile on you could totally tell he was faking it. It was pretty funny but the girls didn't even care! They were so excited to start their new lives in Christ! the service was super spiritual! Their mom who is super supportive but is really into her Christian church started to cry and told us that she knew that everything that we had taught her daughters was true. She is now a new investigator :) 

WE HAVE BEEN SO BLESSED! I feel so blessed to be here and to be experiencing so many things! I fell that my faith has grown and that I have been truly humbled, even though i still have a long way to go. God truly answers prayers. I feel comforted in knowing that the work I am doing isn't my own but His. I feel so happy and it's just great!

I love you guys so much and I hope you all have a great week!!

Hermanaut
Also, I have been warned by many members the here in Mexico they SOAK people on their birthdays... we will see what happens! hahaha

Also, in the last package my dad sent me he sent me 

bazooka bubble gum for when I am in the house... 

This was the wrapper I got....

Don't worry, I haven't changed...

Let's be honest....

Me and my mission president and his wife!

I know I didn't write a lot of you guys back and this will be super short... It's not the lack of love but the lack of time. My BYU app is taking a bunch of tiiiime. But the week was great! We had a Christmas conference and I got a sweet shirt in the white elephant that we did! This week we are looking to the baptism of Joselin and Betsua, two beautiful girls that are like little sisters to me! Prayers that everything works out! Sometimes their mom makes them go out of town! 

I love you guys so much!

Hermanaut

One of my good friends here Hermana Skinner from Utah!

Some elders that are in our zone. They are super funny! 

The only other person from Nevada! Elder Cook! but unfortunatelyis from Las Vegas! haha

Official.....Merry Christmas Time!!!!

We also helped a member decorate her
 tree outside! That sure was fun :) 

CHRISTMAS TIME!!! I can't believe it's actually Christmas time! I am so stoked. I definitely miss my family a little more that normal right now but it's also incredible because I don't feel that far from home. We have so many people here who want us to spend Christmas with us. On Christmas last year, we invited Elder Johnson and Elder Loveridge (now Brandon Loverdige haha) at my mom's house. They went bowling with us. They were a great presence to have that day. Although I don't think i will be going bowling I do know that I will enjoy my first and probably last Christmas in Mexico! 

This other dog is named Roy! He is crazy as well!
Yes, if you havent noticed, I am still in love with dogs haha

It was an excellent week for several reasons. We had an incredible miracle happen firstly! A mother, Maria, and her son, Angel were baptized on Saturday. We have been working with them for about four weeks. Maria wasn't sure about getting baptized because she truly understood the convenant that she would be making with God and didn't want to disappoint Him. We worked with her a lot, showing her who she could be if she would only put her faith in Christ, who could make her into a new person. Well, she did and on Tuesday afternoon she expressed to us that she was ready. The baptism itself kind of fell apart at the start. The ward leaders who needed to be there showed up later or didn't show up at all. The leader who had the overall for Maria showed up late and her whole family was there waiting. BUT thanks to the efforts of the other sister missionaries that share the ward with us and the elders who were going to baptize them that were there we were able to keep everyone busy until everyone who needed to be there was there. It was a beautiful baptismal ceremony. We sang Christmas songs before and after, and in the middle it was very spiritual. I just know that they have had such a true conversion to Christ. They truly desire to be the children that

God hopes that we will be. 

​Secondly, I found out that I am really am allergic to ants. I had a reaction one time to them and avoided them until Tuesday.... There were a ton in the house because we left the sugar out open... I tried to clean and had an allergic reaction haha. My eyes got big and swelled up. It was wonderful. I took allergy medicine that my comp had that night so I slept really well haha. Thirdly, a convert that we had about two months ago here, Julia, is just trucking along... She had an incredible testimony! She truly testifies that: "Christ changed me!" It's beautiful! Even at 65 years old she in accompanying us in lessons as well as the other sister missionaries, she is reading up to 40 pages in the Book of Mormon every day, AND yesterday she found us in the street talking with someone and openly shared her testimony with him and invited him to church with us.... without us asking her to! She here she is in this email as well as another with her crazy dog, Oaxaco! 
​I also got to cut my companions hair this week.. it was super fun! haha

But finally, what I would really like to invite every one of you to do is to visit the link below. And i would also like to testify of the gift that God gave us as we come into the Christmas time of year. As we get ready for the Christmas holiday, we find us focusing on the gifts that we plan to give. The truth of the matter is though, that about 2015 years ago we received the most important gift that has ever been given to us. Jesus Christ is the first and greatest example of God's love for us. This gift truly allows us to return to the presence of God and never leave it again. He is the gift. He is our pathway to finding true and everlasting happiness. Although the world waits for January 1 to be a new start and a new person, He offers this grand change in every moment of everyday. He is the most important thing that has happened to us. He changed the history of the world... we now even say Before Christ (BC) and After Christ (AC). As we find ourselves in the hardest times we can rely on Him to understand our pains and comforts us... not as the world comforts but as the Lord comfort. A comfort that is everlasting and divine.