¡Vamos Mexico!

Hi Everyone!! 

So, for shout outs this week.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful, inspirational and beautiful mother this upcoming Saturday! i love you so so much!!

All my love to you guys... It was hot and I was sweating so sorry
that I look like I haven't showered in six days hahaha I promise
 I have. Oh, and our water is out again... hahaha Love you guys!

This last week was quite interesting! We had to go to the mission home suddenly on Thursday afternoon and were in the city of Cuernavaca (where this mission home is) for the majority of the day Friday. We didn't get home until 10 on Friday night. The drive to Cuernavaca from Acapulco is about 4 hours IF there isn't traffic. The trip back to Acapulco on Saturday night took 5.5 hours because of traffic. We weren't in our area for pretty much two days. My companion needed to meet with our mission president on Friday morning for personal reasons. Please keep her in your prayers. Also, I needed to work on some things for my green card so it worked out for the best. We are probably going to have to return this week or the next so that I can actually get my card. I just hope that they give us more advanced notice so that we don't plan important appointments for that day. There is a lot of work to do here in Acapulco!

Thursday was my companion's birthday! Luckily we didn't have to leave too early because I planned a little surprise for her! I planned to have us eat with a family that she gets along with really well (she can be picky with people sometimes haha). I also gave them some money to buy a cake! I made her a card which turned out extremely well actually and I am pretty sure it was only by the Spirit of the Lord haha. This I did not plan, but the father of the family asked her to give the blessing on the food and as she did he got out her cake and when she finished the prayer it was right in front of her and everyone started singing... well i didn't because I still don't know the song they sing here yet haha. She was very surprised and it really made her day! She loved it! I know it helped her with some stuff that she is struggling with!

This would be the card that I made for my companion.
 It's me and her.... she always wants me to carry her
haha and I didn't draw our faces because
 I didn't want to ruin it hahaha

Well, we didn't quite have the turnout at church this week but we have some excellent people that we are teaching! Tammy is continuing to read and prayer. She is so earnest in seeking and finding an answer about the gospel. She is incredible! We have a couple appointments with her and her husband this week. We have some great plans to help her! 

This last week was kind of difficult for a variety of reasons but everyday was excellent! It's crazy to see that there were difficult times and yet never have had a "bad day." We are really look forward to this week and working very hard to find people who even though they might not think it, are ready to remember the plan of love that God prepared for us since the beginning.

FAMILY! I am working on getting my family tree together! Our mission president has asked us to do this so if you could pretty please send me all of the information about our family that you have I would really appreciate it!

MOM, please cut this paragraph out when you put it in my blog.

I love you guys so much and miss you all like crazy! Thank you for all of the constant love and support!

Hermanaut

PS: In the spirit of the world cup ¡Vamos Mexico!

PSS: I love all of Enrique Iglesia's songs in Spanish. They are played in every taxi in Acapulco... hahah :)

I can't think of a a cool subject....

This would be the picture that my companion took
of me with my own camera the other night. We study
every morning but I have been trying to start and end
my days with God even more but sometimes
I am really tired. The heat gets to me, ok? hahaaha

Hey everyone!

SHOUTOUTS!!!

Happy birthday last week to my sweet little cousins Sadie and Maddie! I love you girls! 

Also, happy birthday and Happy Father's day to my dad! I love you tons!!

 

I hope that you are all having an excellent week! The weather here has been hot, hot, hot every single day! Saturday morning all of our appointments fell so we ended up walking around for 3 hours straight in the sun looking for less active members from a list that we have. It turns out the mojority aren't less active, they just don't live here anymore haha. 

This is my new zone after the transfer that we just had.
I got moved to the back because I am the second
tallest person in the zone.... rude. The other elder wanted
to be in front so he kneeled down haha

We had some really great experiences this week. We found a wonderful couple and had a really spiritual lesson with them. The husband said the prayer at the end of our lesson and cried. When he finally lifted his head he told us  that he wasn't ashamed to be crying because he knows that he has found something with us. He is really trying to find God and faith in Christ. He is incredible. His wife is in support of whatever will help him. They are really excited to attend church with their kids but couldn't commit to this Sunday because they already have plans but have commited to attending the next Sunday. 

Also, this is how we eat mangos in Mexico!

Yesterday, we had SEVEN investigators in church! 5 of them came on their own! Two, Tammy and Peter came with us with a member and said they were only going to stay for the first hour. They ended up staying for all three hours! Tammy is super awesome! She loved it! When we were in Relief Society with all the other woman, we were missing a couple days for the food from the families that provide for us and she raised her hand to give us food for one of the days! I was sitting with her while my companion sat with some other investigators and I just looked at her and said thank you so much! She patted me on the leg and said that it was the least that she could do. She looked like she was about to cry! We haven't been able to talk to Peter but we are hoping that he enjoyed it as well! He seemed to like it a lot in the first two hours!

This has been such a great experience! There have been tough times and bad things that have happened but I have loved every second of it! I know that Christ truly died for our sins and for the tough times. He knows how to help us perfectly because He has already suffered what we are now experiencing. The plan the our loving Heavenly Father has for us is perfect! We have a divinity, a potential, that He has created for us. We can reach this potential when we are humble, completely rely on God, and have faith in Christ and His atonement.

I love you all so much! Have such wonderful weeks! 

Con todo mi carazon,

Hermanaut

4 Months

Hiiiiii Everyone!!

So some members in the ward found two of these
 little guys on their front porch! i don't know what
 they are but I got to hold one! Don't worry,
I washed my hands afterwards!

Thank you so so much for your love this week and for all of your thoughts and prayers for my companion! After being bedridden for about 5 days, on Thursday we were finally back up and running! We didn't leave the house Wednesday because the ladies who were going to help us fell through. We stayed in a napped and talked and ate haha. It was frustrating in the fact that all I wanted to do was be out working but I feel like we talked a lot and were able to have a better friendship because of it. Even up until this last Saturday my companion has been struggling. The doctor said that she could go out but we hardly got anything done because we had to rest a lot. This week seems to be better so far. We will see! Please keep up in your prayers!

Please meet Ian! He is a recent convert and
 we are working with his parents to get baptized!
The father needs to get divorced and
then marry the mother of Ian!

So it has been raining here like crazy! And even though we have all this rain we haven't had water in our house for four days... IT'S LIKE CAMPING!! :):):) haha so we have this huge container in the back porch with water for these days. Then we use a bucket and fill that with water and pour it in the toilet after we have used it to make it flush. Then when we need to shower we fill the bucket and use a bowl... and well shower. Haha it's not the most fun thing in the world but it's life IN MEXICO! haha but I do hope that we get water again soon because we are running out of the water in the back porch. Some of our neighbors told us that it sometimes goes out for three weeks! 

So about our investigators.. We have one couple that are BIEN PADRE!! (Super cool, sweet, awesome) We met them about two weeks ago and haven't been able to really tlak to them since for things like my companion being sick or them not being home when we wanted

Ian's family!

to look for them.We saw her walking one day and asked us why we hand't come by and she seemed alightly interested but not a ton. We finally got to talk to them yesterday and the brother in law of the wife, Tammy, started going on about religion and how all religion is bad and all sorts of stuff, Well Tammy and her husband, Peter, started DEFENDING US and the church! it was so awesome! We had only tlaked to them once with another couple in the ward and they were interested but not extremely then and now after this and after teaching them about the church and how it came to be they are extremely interested. She literally said to us "Can you give me homework?" We gave her a chapter to read in the Book of Mormon and she and her husband have committed to read it. They really want to find God in

Ian's mother! She is an excellent cook! 

Also, my hair is now curly in Acapulco!

their lives and know about Him more. They have never really had any religion in their lives. They love the face that they can go on a mission together as a couple and serve. They love the principles that this gopsel teaches. They also committed to a baptismal date for July 26. Tammy told us that she really wants to know the truth and feel the love of God in her life. It was one of the most spiritual experiences in my mission so far. With that said, PRAY FOR PETER AND TAMMY! Please! I know that you all will because you are all incredible :)

My first care package! thanks mom and dad!!

Thank you all so much for your love and support! A mission has been the best thing that has ever happened in my life!

I love you all so so much!

Hermanaut 

Hiiiiiiii :)

This is my zone right now. Yes, we are
the only hermanas and yes they are crazy.
That is all you need to know hahaha

Well, I am short on time like always but here are some updates....

The first, to get it out of the way, my companion has dengue. She has been ill for quite some time so the work has been hard. We weren't able to do anything on Saturday because she had to get bloodtests done in centro.
Yesterday we had to wait until we could find hermanas that are in our ward to do divisions, it has been hard. I have felt like a mother haha. I am praying for her health. We are in Centro right now waiting for more blood tests. 

In regards to our 60 year old Curtis.... well he broke our hearts this week. He is dropping us because he believes that he cannot live the law of chastity. He said if he could get baptized without following this he would He loves the church but doesn't want or "can't" follow this rule. We are still working with him though and I pray for him every night. 

Also, we got soaked this week.. literally... and
my companion lost my umbrella at an
investigators house when it rained last... haha

We are really working with the less active members in the ward. A lot of them have a lot of problems so we are really working to strengthen them. Every lesson we have had with any one of them has been extremely spiritual. I love it. 

Ugh, you guys. I just want to get to work. I love working with these people and my endurance, spiritually, increases everyday. I love the people here. We have transfers this week so we will see what happens. I have been in Mexico for almost THREE MONTHS and in the mission for FOUR CRAAAAZY! 

I love you all so so much! I know with all my heart that this gospel changes lives. It changed mine and it can change yours.

Thank you for all your love and support. I miss you all and am working as hard as I can for every single one of you.

Con todo mi corazon,

Hermanaut

Acapulco lovin....

Happy Memorial Day!

This is the incredible burger that we
had last week. It was like
Awful Awful! AND HUGE!

Sooo there's no such thing as memorial day here in Mexico but that's ok because I am loving it in my heart! hahaha Actually... I didn't even know it was Memorial Day but now I do and I am happy!

 This has been such and awesome and silly week! I was sick starting about two saturdays ago until about Thursday of this last week. I had something called "gripe." I guess you get it pretty often out here from the heat. My companion and I decided that Mexico doesn't like me that much and is trying to kick me out by giving me parasites, cockroaches, and gripe. The beginning of the week was tough with this. My whole body ached, I sneezed every six seconds, I couldn't breath, my throat was swollen and I had a raging headache. It was crazy

GOD IS LOVE!

how the Lord strengthened me though because the only times I had relief were when we were with people and honestly that's all that I needed. But as I said, I was feeling better at the end of the week. So much so, in fact, that this last Saturday my companion and I decided to get back to running. BUT, since Mexico is mad at me, in the first 5 minutes I fell. I mean, I fell hard. Haha I have scrapes on my hands and elbow. The worst is actually my right hip. It has a cut and I still can't sleep on that side. I think I might have a bone bruise. BUT I was still strengthened to keep running! I mean people, they are bad. I am excited for the sweet scars though! Then about an hour and a half later, we left the apartment to but a jug of water (you can't drink the water here so you have to buy big jugs) and I left the keys in the house. We were locked out for about a half an hour once we could break back in. This happened between 6:30-9:30 saturday morning. It was excellent! Later, I had an older man read my palm. He was very invested in it and all that he said afterwards was SUERTE. Which means Luck. Things have been better ever since haha. I also have one of the jóvenes (teenagers) in our ward take my palm when he saw the scrape and poke it as hard as he could because he said it would help with the pain. It didn't help with the pain but he got blood on his finger. Karma? Hahaha 

The little kitten that snuck into our apartment
one night while we were studying. He was
sleeping on my companions scriptures!

This is the tree hous that one of our
 members live in and the HUGE BOOK
that the husband is reading! haha

 Rally it has been an awesome week. We didn't have a baptism or anything like that but we have found some relaly amazing people to teach and they are all so open to the gospel and ready! We have one investigator named 'Curtis.' Curtis is about 60 years old. Honestly, the first time I talked to him I was really scared. He is kind of intimidating BUT he ended up being the sweetest ever! I have loved getting to know him. He is Catholic but really liked church Sunday and is always so nice. He is like an uncle or something. He doesn't always understand what I say so sometimes after I say something he just looks at my companion and says "¿Que dice?" and nods  at me. It is so funny! He can't always remember what we say but he reads and tries to pray and always has questions. He is really trying to understand. We ended up having 11 people who have accepted a baptismal date this week. This is the most we have had in the mission thus far and we feel so good about ALL of them. They are all so interested. We also met a couple yesterday that we haven't talked to them about baptism but they are so eager to learn. We brought a member couple with us from the ward and they talked about the things that are offered for married couples through the church. This couple loves the idea that they could serve a mission together and be married for eternity. They have an odd schedule so we are looking to pass by for them later this week. 

The view from a little pathway in front of one
of the members house of one of the little cities on the
coast here in Acapulco

I don't have much time left but seriously you guys, this is THE HARDEST and THE BEST thing I have ever done in my life. I am recognizing the daily miracles that God send our way and it is beautiful. Through everything God has seriously strengthened me in everyday. He loves us so much and he is always here for us. I know that the Book of Mormon really in written by prophets that were inspired of God. I really do know that this gopsle changes lives because I see it daily.

I love you all so so much. Thank you for always supporting me and sending me your love. 

Hasta Lunes!

Con todo mi corazon,

Hermanaut

Street Vibrations 2014 Acapulco Mexico

Bueno!

The first is me and my companion in a fight
so we got put into timeout....hahahaha

First off,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FAVORITE HERMANITO CHRIS!!! You are sooo old you 22 year old!

Also! A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to my beautiful, inspiring and over all wonderful best friend KELSIE for graduating from the University of Nevada Reno Magna Cum Laude (with high honors) on Friday! You deserve this for your very hard work in school! 

I love you both so very much!

This week has been... just a week. No way to describe it. Honestly it felt like we had signs over our heads that said "run away from the Mormons" because there was literally no one that wanted to talk to us. A lot of our 

lessons fell through, we didn't have anyone in church this week and people were just not interested. HOWEVER, what I am so grateful for is that the Lord has helped me and my companion not lose hope or faith. I know that there are going to be tough times but we can be strengthened through obedience and love for all those that we encounter. 

The sunsets here are INCREDIBLE

ALL WEEK we saw TONS of motorcycles. Enough to where everyone is complimenting on how many there are. It was like I was back in Reno working Street Vibrations! But the whole time we would be walking downtown I felt this urgency like I should be helping someone find out where their booth is or helping a participant find VIP stuff. It was quite funny! We had to go to downtown Acapulco A LOT this week. We had our regular meeting on Monday, then Zone conference for all of the missionaries in this zone and stake conference as well. Also, last night we had a "Noche de Barrio" which was basically a Family Home Evening for whole ward. It was really wonderful actually. My companion and I, as well as the other companionship of elders taught about the Restoration of the Gospel to the ward. We watched a shorter version of the Joseph Smith movie and then afterwards we all did a kneeling prayer as a ward. It was really spiritual and we recieved a few references from the members. Afterwards, we had pan dulce (sweet bread, which is basically like just so good that I can't even descrive it) and hot chocolate! It was so good! The hot chocolate here has like cinnamon in it! YUUUMMMM!! 

I feel like my emails have not been very interesting these past few weeks and I am so sorry! We don't really have any investigators that are truly progressing. We have two families that sometimes are, but one of the spouses in each family has to get divorced and then married before they can get baptized so we are working

A little but of what Acapulco looks like... And an awful picture of the oceanboth were taken when we were driving
through the canyon so theyre afwul...sorry haha

on that with them. I am looking forward to this week and the things that come. Also, I got bitten 8 times in one hour yesterday by mosquitos. Yeeeeaaaaaa. Haha BUT I do have com pictures for all of you!! I hope you enjoy them!

As always, I love you all so very much! I am so grateful for each and every one of you!

Hermanaut

Rain, earthquakes, and flooding

Hola everyone!! 

So I don't have a ton of time to write this week so I am sorrrrry... The only interesting thing that happened was that on Thursday it rain, THE WHOLE DAY. It stormed pretty heavily until about 4 pm. In about one hours time serveral things accured. First, the rained started. It was literally like buckets of water just falling down. I have never experienced rain that hard before.. Then a little bit later our power went out and it started flooding from the front door of our house and finally we had another huge earthquake! It was crazy! The earthquake was not as big as the one we had a few weeks ago but we are closer to it this time so we felt it a lot more. It was the strongest thing I have ever felt in my life. It was so crazy! It literally shook our whole apartment. We had an apointment with a member at 1 and once we arrived at their house it started pouring and they wouldn't let us leave because it was so bad. And we were on the top of a hug muddy hill. We were at their house for about 4 hours until we could actually walk outside again. That day was crazy. Apparently at the end of this month and then the next month is like that everyday. I can't wait haha. But since then it has been SUPER hot. You can feel the rays on sun scorching your skin... ouuuchhh haha

We having been working with a list of members who live in our area. Whenever we visit someone we have the list of the people that live in that area and if the appointment falls through we visit all these people. A lot of them actually don't live here anymore so it also cleans the list up for the ward that we are serving in. We also are able to find families that are less active and need help. It has been wonderful. We are also able to contact others and find new investigators because we don't really know where we are going haha. 

This week has been great. I was able to talk to my family yesterday and that really gave me a booster. On top of that I have been studying the scriptures a lot. I always go in like I know nothing and just let Heavenly Father and the Spirit teach me. It is incredible what you can learn and begin to understand when you just give it up to God. He really is our Father in Heaven. We are stuck in a very cruel world, but I also know that we can live in this world but not be of the world. I have been studying in the New Testament about Christ a lot. I have realized, TRULY, how important it is that we just love every soul that is on this earth. We all need love whether we think so or not. I know that we are bound to each other through a force stronger than we can imagine. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve and to be a tool in the Lord's hands.

I miss you all and love you all so very much.

Con todo mi corazon

Hermanaut