Week 24: No Cambios

We didn’t have cambios. Yeah! We were so happy because we have some grand plans for this coming transfer. We are going to lose a ton of weight and Hermana Vergara will be able to speak English! :)

No cambios! We had a fiesta by eating what we had in the
house! Tostalladas, frijoles, some wierd mexican queso,
and of course liquado.

We have a really funny investigator named Isarrarás. He is always so happy to see us and he tells us we are not allowed to leave the area, ever. We’re not exactly sure if he’s progressing in the gospel yet, but he’s reading and attending church.

We have been teaching the Garcia family. They have been listening to the gospel for over a year now, but they didn’t like going to church. Their kids always ran when we came to teach because they didn’t like listening. They thought it was boring. lol But this was a week of miracles for them. We invited their daughters to EFY and they said, “sure, why not”.  They went and they loved it! Their parents thought the first thing their daughters would say is how much they have missed them, but no. The first thing they said was, ¨We don’t care if you guys don’t want to go to church, we want to. And we want to be baptized!¨ I couldn’t believe it (jaw dropper). My companion and I had to try our hardest not to cry. They received answers to questions they had that we didn’t know about because they wouldn’t talk to us. Now their daughters are much friendlier and they seem to see us as normal people (which is nice). They went to church and liked it a lot more. The dad said he received his answer and he’s now ready for baptism! After so much time and many baptism dates, we think they are ready. :) 

My companion told me some interesting history. There are pyramids in Mexico and one tells of a Dios Blanco (White God) who will come again. When Hernan Cortez came to Mexico the people thought he was the god because he was tall and white, wore wealthy clothes and traveled in big boats. They gave him lots of gold, believing that the god had come again and all was well. People here understand and accept the Book of Mormon a lot easier because there is history here that they can link it to.

Week 23: CAKE!

It was a goodish week....goodish. lol

Wednesday: My birthday was AWFUL!!! Everything that could have gone wrong in divisions went wrong. Blah.

My district threw me a little birthday party and we ate CAKE!

Thursday: Some members in the ward threw me a surprise birthday party. Super fun and super CAKE!

Friday: We gave some fun service and for the lunch the members bought me ice cream and CAKE! Yum.

Saturday: We had divisions almost all day with two future sister missionaries. It was a great day and I loved it! My companion said her member almost beat up a man because he said something mean. Lol My member was really good.

Sunday: We sang in church with the elders. Everyone told us we sounded like angels. I hate singing in public. 

Monday: We went to the zoo. I like going to the zoo and seeing the animals, but they look so sad. It makes me sad. 

Week 22: Happy Birthday!

Saturday was my 5-month mark. Woo! Wednesday is my birthday. Double woo! Today I bought myself a little birthday present: 14 earrings and a necklace for less then 5 dollars. Things are a lot less expensive here. And I’m actually starting to like the watery cake, because you only have two options: watery, or really dry. I prefer watery.

My companion bought me a balloon for my birthday and forced me
to walk around with it. Quite embarrassing.

Thursday it was an absolutely beautiful sunny morning. Nice and warm and not a cloud in the sky, so we didn’t bring our umbrellas. We were walking to an appointment and these huge ugly clouds appeared out of nowhere and it started to rain like crazy! We took cover under something, but I´m pretty sure it was raining sideways because it did no good. Then it started to hail! We just stood there, “ouch, ouch, ouch”.  They were pretty big - big enough to hurt. So we made a run for it through the river roads. We arrived to our poor investigators house super wet. They are such a great family and didn´t mind. They helped us dry off and gave us sweaters so we didn´t freeze to death. I was explaining our fun experience to them, but I didn´t know how to say hail. I tried to say, “ice from the sky” but I said “helado de los cielos” which means ice cream from heaven. lol

Warming up over a cooking pot of corn.

Saturday was José baptism. He has been listening to the missionaries for a whole year now. He finally decided that the church was true and he was ready. Before he met the missionaries he was a preacher for the Baptist church. He has overcome a lot of obstacles in the past year. We had a great service for him and sang the song ´Te hallare mi querido amigo´. On a mission you quickly get over any fear of singing in front of people, because you do it every day. I’m super happy for José Jaime!

Jose's baptism.

One sad thing - because I don’t know the language people assume I’m dumb (or maybe it’s because of the way I act - lol). When we cross the street my companion always grabs my hand to walk. When we’re crossing the street with members they always say, “Hold on Hermana Johnston”. I’ve been congratulated for knowing how to count money. And the other day a member explained to me that fruit grows on trees, which grow from seeds. That kind of thing happens a lot. I just let it go because I know they mean well. It’s just sad to know that people think I’m dumb.

 I have been informed that Spanish is the most romantic language in the whole world. They like to say cheesy lines. The guys say some really corny stuff. It’s fun, but it’s a good thing I’m not Mexican. My companion tells me different stories of something a guy told her and she’s always disappointed because my reaction is always, “He seriously said that?!” lol.

We went to the cathedral today.
It was pretty, really big, and tons of people.

Week 21: Blah, Blah, Blah...

I’m doing great, all is well. Blah blah blah.... I’m sure you guys are sick of hearing my boring letters. I’m sick of writing them. Blah blah blah… But all is well here in Mexico. :)

View from our apartment roof.

Jose (one of our investigators) gave us each a jacket
he had from an order. We were pretty excited.

Week 20: Miracle Weekend

This weekend was ¨Miracle Weekend¨.

Miracle 1: We had a baptism for Amelia and her daughter Paola! They are great! They have been listening to the missionaries for over a year. The first few times the missionaries invited her to be baptized she said,  “Absolutely no. Not even if God told her to.” We had the service this week and she was so happy! Then we had a little pizza party. Yeah food!  

Baptism of Amelia and Paola

Miracle 2: After the baptism Hermana Vergara and I were EXHAUSTED. This week we began running every morning, then we were busy making preparations for the baptism, and we hadn’t gotten much sleep the past two or three days. We were completely physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted. I actually found myself thinking, ¨What in the world am I doing in Mexico completely exhausted? ¨ The next morning I found a little personal progress booklet and thought how fun it would to start it again someday. Then during RS the YW presidency came and talked to us about how personal progress is for everyone. We can start whenever we want to and work on it now. My companion and I got a book and we are working on it. My goal is to do everything in Spanish and finish by the end of my mission!

Miracle 3: Sunday morning Hermana Vergara was kind of sad because she was remembering how on Sunday’s her family always had a big dinner together with aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. On the mission you don’t really have family dinners with members. The kids are usually at school and the dad is at work, so it’s just us and the mom eating together. It’s something we miss a lot! For lunch that Sunday the member couldn’t have us over for dinner, so she gave us a sack lunch. We ate it after a lesson we had with an investigator and a member who joined us. We had a meal for two, but it fed four and we had leftovers! We are all really close, and we joked and had fun. It honestly felt like a little family dinner!

Through these miracles I was able to feel God’s love for me! Simple things in life can make you happy if you look for the beauty in them! I’m happy :)

Super sorry! I forgot my quote for the week.

¨Wherever you are, whatever your circumstances may be, you are not forgotten. No matter how dark your days seem, no matter how insignificant you may feel, no matter how overshadowed you think you may be your Heavenly Father has not forgotten you. In fact, He loves you with an infinite love. Just think of it: you are known and remembered by the most majestic, powerful, and glorious being in the universe! You are loved by the King of infinite space and everlasting time! ¨ -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

FHE with the Bishop and his family. It was so fun!
His kids are absolutely loco!

Week 19: Things That Matter Most

GUADALUPE GOT BAPTIZED! I´m so excited for her! She is so great and is an example for her kids. Pero the sad thing is that I left Lazaro Cardenas 5 days before her baptism. Super sad. But it´s okay, what´s important is that it happened :) 

Guadalupe at her baptism interview.

I´ve been studying 3 Nephi and I think it is my favorite book, at least for right now. I love reading the teachings of Jesus Christ to the people. One of my favorite scriptures is in 3 Nephi 13:19-21. I think I will frame this scripture and put it in my future house. 

19) “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal;” 

20) “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where theives do not break through nor steal.”

21) “For where your treasure is there will your heart be also.”

There are tons of distractions that can easily get us off course. We need to focus on Things That Matter Most: (this is a talk by Dieter F Uchtdorf, no?) the gospel of Jesus Christ and our family. These two things are eternal (and knowledge, but we´ll just count it in the gospel category). A saying I like is ¨If it doesn´t matter eternally does it really matter at all?¨ If we focus on the things that matter most we will find true happiness. 

And a quote. I always send a quote to the mission president each week and I really like this one.  ¨What is most important almost always involves the people around us. Often we assume that they know how much we love them. But we should never assume; we should let them know. Wrote William Shakespeare, ´They do not love that do not show their love.´ We will never regret the kind words spoken or the affection shown. Rather, our regrets will come if such things are omitted from our relationships with those who mean the most to us.¨ -President Thomas S. Monson    

Okay now some random stuff:

I´m freezing to death! Who would think that it would be cold in Mexico in the summer? During our studies in the morning I wear a sweater, coat, gloves, and scarf. I hope it gets better once I´m used to this freezing area.

 It rains like crazy! And the streets become like rivers. No joke. The other day we were trying to cross a street and we got drenched all the way up to our thighs because the water was deep and splashing up. We were freezing all day.

Okay, so this doesn't look very impressive
- but this was a calm area.

I can´t figure out how to pronounce my R´s. They are so hard! You have to do some magic trick with your tongue that I can´t figure out. I spend forever every day practicing. My companion finds it hilarious. I don´t! But she gets mad at English because we have letters in words that we don´t pronounce. lol

My comp is Hermana Vergara and we are getting along well. She is so funny and we have a good time! She is also a great teacher and I´m learning tons. 

We had fun doing some service.

FHE - Teaching Ephesians 6 and putting on the armor of God.

Week 18: Changes

I’m in a new area called La Huerta in Morelia. It is so much colder! I honestly don’t know what to do. I’m used to sweating all the time and dying, but now I feel perfectly cool. It’s weird.

We were all super surprised that I left my old area, because my companion has more time there then me. The elders in the ward were also leaving and being replaced by sister training leaders. My poor companion is so nervous because she will have sister training leaders in the ward with her. Sometimes they are very stern/strict - you have to be born with the personality to be a STL. Hermana Suarez is very friendly and loving, so she was stressing a lot. She was crying so much. When she cries I don’t know what to do! I feel like Sulley and Mike in the movie Monsters Inc, when they bring the little girl to their apartment and try everything to get her to stop crying. lol

My new comp is Hna Vergara and she is great! I´m so excited because she not timid in correcting me when I say something wrong. I can tell I will learn a TON from her.

My new area is a huge city. I thought Lazaro was a city, but it was nothing in comparison. The people here are a ton wealthier. Very different area, but I’m excited.

Some impressive graffiti that we always walk by.

Here is one of the gorgeous picture frames that 
Jonathan made for me and my companion.

Puppies!

We had a little fiesta because it was my companions 
birthday and Elder Hughes last week in the mission.

Yeah cake! Even if it does have lots of 
water in it.

Saying goodbye to one of my favorite families in 
the ward. I will miss them tons!

The last dinner with my companion consisted of 
old cake and stale animal crackers.