Hello. I JUST got here cause I just finished being sick for the last 4 hours and dying in my bed of stomach pains...ehhh it was the worst thing in the world. But now I’m pretty good.
Anyways, guess what we did today? EXPLORED MINES....ahhhh it was totally legit but I was actually super mad when we left cause I found no gold and that’s the whole reason we went to explore :/... so we’re going to need to go back, other bad thing...I FORGOT my flashlight, and the phone light is tiny...but ya it was way sweet, walking though water and stuff...soooooo cool. and I took a sweet jungle picture where the mines are :)
Anyways, guess what we did today? EXPLORED MINES....ahhhh it was totally legit but I was actually super mad when we left cause I found no gold and that’s the whole reason we went to explore :/... so we’re going to need to go back, other bad thing...I FORGOT my flashlight, and the phone light is tiny...but ya it was way sweet, walking though water and stuff...soooooo cool. and I took a sweet jungle picture where the mines are :)
I FINALLY got all this mail that I’ve been waiting for ALL month. I LOVED reading all the other missionaries letters hahahah...Peter Johnsons was the best, and I am definitely going to need to see one of these ugly cats. Oh and about animals before I forget.... you know how Jesus watched out for his flock … his "lambs." guess what I did last night....SAVED A SHEEPS LIFE... ya...I went up to our roof and it’s like on a hill, and this borego was tied to a tree and slipped off the edge and it’s like a 4 foot drop and the rope was attached to its mouth/head but the rope wasn’t long enough so it was like hanging there barely touching with its back legs...and it was squirming all around and then I went to try to find the people who it belonged to but couldn’t and if came back and it had given up and was like just sitting there dying and its eyes were getting all huge, then RIGHT when it was about to die (this is what I think) I picked it up...and it was all fluffy and stuff and I thought it was going to be WAY heavier...and I picked it up and it didn’t squirm around at all and I threw it up a little to get back next to its tree. ahhhhhhhh I felt like the most wonderful person after :) and ALL I WANTED WAS A KISS from the sheep and I stood there for like 5 minutes trying to get it to come closer to me and even a hug would’ve been good. But NO. Later I went up there though and the baby sheep was next to the mom and I put out my hand to kiss it and it came over and I gave it a love tap on its face. OH, a drunk guy took my hand this week and kissed it like I was the queen or something, so great.
Anyways, about the other missionary letters, this was a legit quote that applies to my area too. "...the mindset of people in the jungle...they honestly have the mindset of children...it’s quite interesting." --Jordan Franks HAHAHAHAHAHAHH so great, it’s like EVERYONE HERE!!!! And I also got a letter from Johnna Franks, this was a hilarious part of my week to, I open it up and I was like ohhh sweet Johanna wrote me this two paged typed letter with pictures...then...as I read...some hints gave it away, I’m not from Idaho, I don’t think I went to the "senior ball," AND I definitely know what six flags is...hahahahah it TOTALLY wasn’t for me… ahh but it was great..thanks Johnna, it’s the thought that really counts :P hahha ah some lucky missionary got my 12 paged typed letter with a hundred pictures though...he’s gonna be happy, haha.
ANNIE---don’t worry, I’ll be there on the 5th for your graduation :) thanks for the invite haha :) and THANK YOU for your letters, I’ve gotten one-seriously every week I’ve gotten mail on my mission. I loved Jeff Yates letter too! And I WILL write you back! Everything you sent was so interesting and I totally didn’t even know my parents went to your parents baptism in England, and TOTALLY didn’t know your parents were the mission leaders… soo cool, but thanks a ton and I’m sending a package tomorrow I think and it’ll have letters in it :)
Dallin’s letter, ncmo hahahahahah ridiculous. also...guess what...something super bad, those granny b’s cookies, cause my District leader took forever to give us mail...they MOLDED inside. I had eaten like 3 and then the 4th I looked inside and it was all blue and green, but I put them in the fridge and sometimes I just eat them anyways cause they’re THAT good!!
Thanks Grandpa Dick and Grandma Nancy for the bunny filled with the Harry and David candy and the box full of candy too---I’m getting fat for reals---Harry and David gummi bears ARE THE BEST THINGS EVER...and their jelly beans ohhhhh myyy, I loved it, I looooooved all the candy---and I’m still eating it :) There’s only a little left :) and thanks for your letter too when you talked a little about china cause sometimes that kinda worries me haha :)
I hear cousin Allie is doing good too---thaaaaat is wonderful :) ahhh thanks for all the quotes mom and the updates and for sending me all my friends emails :) I love you.
Ok, so this week was good, FLEW by actually. We focused a lot on getting the menos activos to church on Sunday, as well as our investigators and following up with them and everything. Best part of the week, Wednesday, with Elder Olson, de Huntington Beach on divisions and I took him to Cuautempan and we hiked up the mountain to check on all our investigators (seriously, one day when you see it, you will know I do not lie---it is a HUGE climb) well, we passed by one investigator and she wasn’t home then the other we checked on and the mom was sick and said another time would be better but we asked if they had gotten an answer to their questions though prayer and THE DAUGHTER DID!!! crazy huh! She was like, yes, I think I did, I felt something super strong and good after I prayed and read. First of all, she READ the pamphlet, like nobody here reads, I can seriously say this is the first person who I have taught in Tetela who has ACUTALLY not been lazy and taken the time to read the pamphlet and pray...and LOOK bam you get an answer---it’s so easy I can’t believe more people don’t try it out hah...but really this kind of think doesn’t happen to me, here and Atexcac, in the "goma" where half the people can’t read or we just get straight up rejected...but yes…I was way amped and just shocked actually, same with Olson….AWESOME!! It happened with Claudia and Paco, but this situation was way different. This lesson with the mom and daughter, the first one, was in front of their car cause we couldn’t go into their house cause her husband...so the husband might be a problem, but FOR REALS how awesome is that?? I hope she can get baptized! We couldn’t teach them that day cause their mom was sick like I said and we passed by another day of the week but they weren’t home...but definitely this week we will find them and set a date and really work on getting her to church this Sunday, cause that’s the biggest problem, after reading and praying.
The church is finished, the people came from Mexico and turned this little warehouse into all these rooms and office and it looks so nice! I’ll take a picture next week :) The church plaque is HUUUUUUGE , it covers a little of the door. Sunday Hermano Manche came to church!!! It’s been like 2 years or something!!! We visited him at his house at the TOP of the mountain, it takes like 30 minutes to hike up there, but we’ve been talking to him a lot these past couple of weeks and reminding them of the importance of things and he came :) He reads the Book of Mormon all the time and has a super strong testimony, but due to some problems he and his whole entire fam of 20 (grandkids and all) stopped coming, but hopefully he and his wife will start coming more. Seriously when I saw him in the church I was so happy, it was seriously like a baptism for us. It’s so hard to reactivate people here and when we finally get through with one of the inactives, it feels ssoooo good. President Enoch came to our ward FINALLY, probably because of our letters to the president every week telling him things need to change and telling him all the problems and apostasy going on here but yes, it was legit. I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but get this...first my comp was interviewed for 15 minutes, then me for 45 cause I know all the problems cause I’ve been here for longer, and I told him EVERYTHING and then after, he talked to the president for about 30 minutes in his office.
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeew, so I think things are going to start picking up and people are going to start changing and things are going to happen. You can’t even imagine what kind of crazy problems go on here. Those were the big things of the week. I’m trying to really work on my patience too...with the testigos de jehova ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my, all they do is talk in circles and NEVER answer your questions. I’m trying to love them :) and work on my patience when my companion is talking to them, not to butt in and explain to them simply how they bible disproves everything they say :) but yes...we talked to a few this week. Oh and this is a great one that we love to share about paradise, and how there IS paradise after we die and we don’t just stay in the ground until the resurrection...and what’s legit about this is that I was reading the Bible and Jesus the Christ and I found all these and put them all together and yup it works perfectly. Luke 23:43. 1 Pedro 3:19. Juan 20:14-16. The robber on the cross said remember me to Jesus and then Jesus said that today we shall be together in paradise. So. Today--like that SAME day they would be in paradise. Then after, when he appeared to Mary he said not to touch him because he hadn’t risen to his father yet---sabe porque.. because he was preaching in the spirit world, the spirit prison for those past couple days leading up to his resurrection, which is said in one of those versus. It’s pretty clear. :) There is a paradise. but the better way to know is just to read the Book of Mormon, get a testimony of it though PRAYER and then, since you know it’s all true you will not question things like that where it is explained wonderfully in the Book of Mormon :)
I ate a piece of a habanero this week and my mouth was on a fire in a second and I drank like 7 glasses of water after and almost cried. I had tacos de puerco hoy and that’s why I think I got sick.
OK, this is the good part. I did a lot of good studying this week and we read some great chapters in Preach My Gospel and I read some great stuff in the Bible and Book of Mormon and I’m not going to explain why I like EVERY single verse cause that would take forever and I don’t have my scriptures in front of me, but I’ll tell you some of the ones that stood out to me or that I thought were super sweet. First of all, the section "pray with faith" in chapter 4 of preach my gospel is SUCH a great chapter and you should all go read it if you have a PMG. :) Jacob 4:18 - sick. D&C18:32-36 about missionaries. 19-24 are super good too in chap 18. Mosiah 18:19-20 about teaching repentance and faith, and using the words of the prophets in our teaching more...through the scriptures of course. D&C4:4. D&C 0:4--it was kinda scribbled on my notes so I hope that’s the one :) but it talks about how we need to TESTIFY about what we know, so before we testify of something we need to have that assurity that it really is, and what we are testifying of is true. That’s why we need to have that testimony of the Book of Mormon, and prayer, and everything else in the gospel, so that when we go out and teach others we can testify of what we know, and the people who we are testifying to will really feel that what we are saying we mean, and the spirit will testify to them too :) That’s why we need to study and read and pray all the time, perseverar hasta el fin. Oh and I read one of my favorite stories again in Jacob, that of the olive tree, but this time it was in Spanish, but I always love it. Jacob 5:21-24...I applied it to my area right now, or what my area was, a "dry" part in the vineyard where the lord planted another tree, and it’s our job as missionaries to help this tree, or the gospel, grow in this part of the vineyard. And this is definitely a dry part of the vineyard, but we are planting lots of seeds and "watering" it I guess you could say and over time I know it will grow. I also like in verse 10 when it talks about the council of the Lord of the vineyard. Like we don’t know how the Lord thinks, so we should never question his choices, if he wants us to put a tree in a dry part of the vineyard, or good branches on bad ones, or missionaries in a hard or dry part for the mission, it is for a reason so we should never question him. so por eso I KNOW there are people here that need to be taught the gospel and I hunt for them every week....its like finding gold in a mine...its rare but I WILL FIND THEM someday, like that girl that got an answer...she lives super in the middle of nowhere on this mountain in Cuautempan 30 minutes away in a combi (bus)...like wayyyyyy out there. Same with the guy in Taxco that we are going to find this week (the problem is there are no rides back so I had to get the number of my taxi friend so he can come pick us up) But these are the most humble people and I love them. Margarita is going along great, we are just working out a few problems, the biggest being working on Sunday, being as it is the ONLY day she works. Everyone just needs to read and pray though, that’s the problem, and after that we’ll work on church, but they need to get their answers--to some its just not that important though--its sad, but everyone has their agency...and hey, Tetela could always be like Jacob 5:26 also hahahahah...true.
Oh, and I hear its like the second coming in the USA right now, Something in Texas and that tornado in Missouri or something... have I told you---I think the world will end in 2012, my comp has been telling me, and he has some good reasoning.
Elder Almeida and I --(do you like that mother, I used Elder Almeida and I...good grammar :) ) set up this legit tennis court in apartment last night and played with the ping pong balls and paddles...it’s obviously not that same but it was SOOOOOOOOOO much fun and I miss tennis a ton and am jealous of Joel that he got to play. It was so sweet, I made lines and everything. And Elder Almeida is on the ground cause a second before the picture he was beggggggging me not to beat him so bad at tennis the next time.
I would like to end this little weekly notito to you guy with a beautiful quote from one of my favorite poets -- "Never live so rushes that you don’t have time to watch some grass grow each day." ahh it’s just so magnificent and poetic and beautiful, when I found it I just recited it in my head for hours. It’s so wonderfully true. If we never just sit back and relax and are always in a rush, we will never have time to appreciate the wonderful things God has given us, like flowers, and dandy-lions, and other things that grow really slow---and grass. I love grass. They don’t have it here. I’m in Mexico :)
I love being a missionary. It has strengthened my testimony so much. I know this church is true with all that’s in me, and I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God through his prophets and I am confident in saying that the Lord ALWAYS answers our prayers. Its happened multiple times this week to me, He’s always there to watch out for us, and I’m so grateful to have such a blessing, the knowledge and testimony of all this, in my life.
Les Amo y Les Extraño!!!
Elder Bertha.
